Trial leadership .. what is going on!

Re: 3), I prefer to rearrange teams while inside the trial map because any closed league loading into a trial gets teams scrambled, and any open league loading into a trial gets scrambled too if at least 1 player joins from the LFG queue.

My only advice is to go and talk to the people who have very successfully done Mothership Raids to the point of making them feel like a tourst run, and I mean that in the most positive sense. Virtue has Mothership Mondays, and I did a bunch of them when Vanguard costume parts still could be earned with Merits.

Not only did the experienced leaders have their instructions macro'd and concisely directed at the Request channel so everyone could see without distraction, they also were incredibly gracious and welcoming (a welcome message also being macro'd and showing a ton of class) and were able to answer any question that came along.

At this point on Virtue, I've only seen one or two people I'd trust on Trials (Paladin from Virtue being one of them) and these are the people you want. We've been so very good in this game in offering the helping hand to those learning the game or experiencing TF's or the like, we could do worse in bringing that same level of courtesy, professionalism and fun to Trials.


S.

lets just say, i tried my hand at leading a league this weekend, the other members helped a lot with their patience, but particularly in the set-up stage, things get a great deal more hectic than you would think. people are switching and you dont want to leave them behind, you dont know if the new person sending you a tell is that person back again or someone else , the bars look pretty similar between 7 and 8 members at a glance and once you establish that you are leading, you get absolutely swamped with more requests than you can take, including pairs of people who you dont want to upset by splitting. like i said, the people on lib were patient, good humored and everything went off well, but a non-patient crowd that likes to make personal insult threads on the forums, i can see why people would say screw it. ,so maybe these new leaders, particularly ones that havent dont it often, could get some slack. People that put themselves out there to lead these things basically set themselves up to be sniped, one starred about and treated badly by people who will never themselves take the responsibility. I really do have to agree with lemur that if you think leaders are so bad, lead a few and tell us how easy it is.

Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.

Your first 2 examples sound more or less like poor leadership, but this third example stood out to me for a few reasons.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wicked_Wendy 3. Today a group of us were standing around and someone said "Okay since no one else wants to I'll form a Lambda and we can do the BAF afterwards.. Sounded perfect until the teams formed. Team one, the leader's team btw, was nothing but brutes, tankers and scrappers. Team 2, the one I was placed on, was nothing but blasters, an MM, a corruptor, one tank and one SoA. In short team 2 was going to spend a LOT of time face down on the floor in phase two.

I think your prediction here may very well have been inaccurate. I have seen many support/non melee characters that dominate the temps phase of the trial, whereas some melee struggle. Level shifts and Destiny buffs go a long way as well. Teams that stick together also have an easier time collecting temps. I can't count how many times I've seen a +3 melee run off to solo the temps and and die while the squishies who stuck together were just fine. Bottom line: the success or failure of a team is often more than the sum of its ATs.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wicked Wendy I figured after he was done recruiting the leader would juggle but NO and not only that he announce that team 1 would be doing acids and 2 would get grenades. Acids always seems to be a little easier than the grenades .. less lag and a simpler route. Then this idiot actually q'd us up.. I was assuming all the time he was joking but he actually intended to run the league that way.

Here, you make the assumption that the leader is not going to balance the teams at any point during the trial. As others have pointed out, many trial leaders adjust the teams after they zone because of the highly prevalent team jumble that occurs. However, even if the leader actually did intend on keeping the teams as is, you could have suggested or requested that they be balanced at some point.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wicked Wendy I decline the q and quit. Now I don't give a crap if I hunt acids or grenades I have done enough trials to have both routes memorized but DO NOT put together a team that has failure written all over it and expect me to hang around so you can giggle at my frustration.

Unfortunately you decided to quit rather than communicate. A little communication here could have gone a long way. For example, you could have clarified what his intentions actually were rather than assume. You could have made suggestions on how to better balance the teams. If your teams weren't revised, you could also communicate with your team and suggest someone familiar with the map take point so you would have an easier time of staying together, etc.

It is understandable that you became frustrated after having multiple bad experiences. Your third example has a 'last customer of the day' tone to it, where you're tired of dealing with people and just want to go home. Sometimes it can be challenging to not let our past experiences dictate our assumptions, forcing us into hasty decisions. However, consider this: even though some leaders may be incompetent or inexperienced, the vast majority form trials with the intent of being successful. Their methods may be ineffective or misguided, but I find it hard to believe your league leader deliberately sabotaged your team so that you'd constantly die and not be able to collect the temps. At the end of the day, we all want to get our Astral/Empyrean merits and be on our way. Sometimes leaders need pointers on how to make that happen.

Others have suggested you try leadership for yourself. I also support this suggestion. Not because I think you don't have a right to criticize leaders without having direct experience, but because I think the steps you take should ultimately improve your situation. That may involve leading trials, but that could also involve making suggestions and giving constructive feedback during trials if necessary. Regardless of what you choose to do, in the future I would at least try to exhaust all reasonable options to help improve a trial before quitting.

I have run my share of BAF/LAM and I agree with Rian. Its an extra burden for the trial leader.

When I run I give fairly minimal orders as I dislike micro-management. I treat all of the players as professionals and I am not running the league to babysit. By not micro-managing my trials take a little longer but they do complete just fine. BAF the only orders are where to pull the AVs, where to locate on the prisoner step and the keep Siege and NS heath close to even. For LAM its who goes to lab/warehouse and how many doors to leave open.

Doorsitters and hospital sitters get one stared, noted and kicked. Cutscene bombers get one stared and noted.

Running them isn't hard, just an extra burden and some nights I don't want to run them.