Entrance Requirements for iTrials

At my most strict I would only STRONGLY PERFER all people in a league to already be 50+ if I'm involved with a specific attempt at a Master badge run. I think it's only fair to the people trying to get the hard badges that all the characters involved are as capable as possible to maximize the chances for success at getting those badges.

But even then (as Liz Bathory mentioned) I think almost any league can tolerate a few non-maxed out characters. Ultimately this game is not THAT hard that it requires 100% perfectly min/maxed characters in all situations.

Bottomline if specific Master badges are not an issue then I think just about any reasonable PUG can finish any given iTrial. Even the two new trials will eventually become "routine" for 99% of the leagues who run them. Any league organizer who's being any more picky than that is simply being too anal/dictatorial about it. *shrugs*

I am feeling very silly now because when I was asked what my level was I also replied "50".

But I still was invited and joined in on the trial and was only asked if I had ever run it before and I told the asker I had not done any except in beta last year.

I have all but one incarnate power and upgraded 2 of them. Is there some way to see our 50+ level for ourselves?

To the OP: That is complete and total B.S.

First off, I hate discrimination of any kind, so this pisses me off right away.

Secondly, most people running trials now have been doing so with the same characters for a while. Which means that most characters are at least 50+1 (unless you're odd like me and don't feel any of your current 50s' concepts call for that level of power). So the majority of any league at this point will most likely be 50+, and unless you're doing a Master Of- run, I see no reason to call for that.

Got any server transfers stocked? Come over to Pinnacle. None of my current incarnates are plus-anything (for my own odd conceptual reasons), and I've never been shunned.

Sounds to me like the recruiter was a feminine hygiene product.

On the rare occasions I form a trial, I let anyone in who can get in. Level 50 with nothing at all slotted or level 50+3 with tier 4s in every slot. It matters not at all to me.

I'd much rather play with people who have the same goal as me: Having fun playing a video game.

Playing with people whose goal is to complete something as quickly and impressively as possible, regardless of how they treat others to achieve said goal, make me not want to play the game.

OP: Ignore the recruiter who smells of a Summer's Eve and find a different group of people to play with who aren't so demanding that you play how they specify.

I think forming leagues with enforced entrance requirements makes sense sometimes. For example, shooting for certain badges (not all of them, certainly) being +3 helps a lot. Beating down an enraged Marauder goes a lot faster with +3s. for example, and there's less chance of someone dying to Antimatter if he's +1 to them and not +4. I think the easiest thing to do is to make such requirements (or preferences) part of your recruiting broadcast. "Forming a badge <x>, prefer +3s, PST" or some such.

However, I don't think that's necessary for most leagues. I do think you need to pay attention to how many people with no level shifts you have on the league. Even a BAF can fail if you have too many +0s, and a UGT can be downright ugly.

Unfortunately, having level 54+2 AVs in the newest iTrials is going to be a problem for direct damage folks (as oppoed to support folks) who have no level shifts. Because of how little damage they're going to do against the AVs, I think they're going to be excluded more. I really do think people with low shift count should to stick to Lambda and BAF and maybe Keyes until they get one or preferably two shifts (or get their Alpha shift using TFs and WSTs). I realize there's other stuff in the new iTrials such characters can fight usefully, but I still expect unshifted folks to get increased grief from more trial leaders who get blinders about the AV fight.

There are ingame requirements already for these, so I think using terms like discrimination and elitism is a tad hyperbolic. That said, a lot of the bad feelings can be avoided if the league leader use courtesy and careful planning.

1. Don't invite and then check requirements.
2. Be clear what you want up front when recruiting. Don't just announce a trial and sort it out after invites are given. Announce what you are doing and who you want to do it with you. Don't blanket announce and then sort; that makes people angry, and it should. For all they know its a normal trial run and you invited them. Nobody expects to be kicked after they join.
3. Only do this in situations where it makes a difference. Master runs, UG, new trials. There is no reason to slap a bunch of requirements on vanilla standard Lam or BAF runs.
4. Be fair and consistent. Don't kick one person for not having the requirements, but allow someone elsee along because, 'well I know they know what they are doing', 'they are a friend' or 'well its just the last spot'. Sometimes things slip through the cracks and you have to clean up a situation (they were out of zone and you thought they fit the requirements and didn't find out until later...yes sometimes people lie) If that happens see No. 5.
5. Most important- Be POLITE. There is nothing wrong with 'please, thank you and I'm sorry'. Don't just kick someone without a reason. I'd even contend once you invite (unless you physically can't start the trial) you are stuck with them (See No. 1) But if for some reason someone needs to go, be nice. It's totally free.
6. Have fun. Relax. No drama.

People do get frustrated failing trials over and over; and sometimes the league does have too many +0's and not enough +3's for a harder trial. I can understand the occasional league trying to recruit only the highest incarnates for a trial. But, a few unshifted characters on a trial doesn't seem like a serious problem to me -- one of those +0s might be a very skilled player with powers that'll really help. Regardless, if a league's recruiter simply must have more shifted characters, I'd think it would be appropriate to say so in the recruiting message, so people don't join and get kicked right away.

This sort of rudeness has been leaking into CoH and not just for I-trials.

Last night was on a posi 1, unsurprisingly there were more titanic weapons present than in the average dodgy movie. So 5 brutes, tank, scrapper and blaster went in. A level 42 brute proceeded to die (the only death at that stage) complain about the debt and leave saying "recruit some support instead of me". I sent him a tell explaining that wasn't possible on a TF and it became clear he knew that, but wasn't prepared to play on that badly designed a team.

I have to say my experience of other MMOs is that it's much more common there. It's largely the absence of this sort of thing in CoH that keeps me here.

It's easy enough to get +1 doing TFs. I don't know why you would bother going into a trial without that.

Not only will you appease those few groups that want higher people, but will also remove a good deal of the frustration and cut down the number of times you need to run the grind.

To the OP;

Their trial, their rules.

If you want to include unlevel-shifted people in an Incarnate Trial, run one yourself.

Everyone gets what they want.

Problem solved.

Hey All,

Thanks for all the replies! There have been some very good points raised.

I guess it mainly comes down to rudeness. The Trial Leader did not state any entrance requirements in their post, and never replied to me after my initial reponse of my level. They carried on recruiting and ignored me. I was left wondering if the entrance requirements to enter a Trial had changed overnight.

Yes, it's true that the individual leading a trial can have their own set of requirements, but I don't believe that being rude to other players, and not communicating specific entrance requirements is any way to run a League.

I've been on alot of Trials with other characters of mine (level 50 to 50+3), and teamed with some fantastic leaders, I have even lead a few (although I find leading a Trial to be quite challenging at times).

Again, thanks for all of your comments, and thanks to all the good leaders out there, your efforts are often unrecognised, but they are greatly appreciated!

Not to mention that 150 Vanguard Merits is a hell of a lot if you haven't participated in a mothership raid. Threads arguably drop more often.