Sad times in DCUO....

We have a fairly tight group of leaguers that have been running stuff together for years now, all are older and (used loosely ) fairly mature. We have our ups and downs, and I tend to the b*tt of many jokes. But all-in-all, you just need to find some people you get along with and run stuff with them.

I generally prefer pugging in an MMO, by far. I find no matter how good the league is you always end up waiting for people and eventually irl issues crop up. I've led successful teams in other MMOs for years and it's more trouble than it's worth, looking back on it. The upside is that the leadership experience you get in an MMO, if you're good at it, is more in depth than what you can generally hope to find irl. It's like herding cats with no real commitment to beyond how successful you are and how enjoyable your company is.

Pugs add the challenge of occasionally getting sub-par members or of people turning out to be ****** canoes, but I find you also build more connections with other players in them. If you're in a league, especially not a top 1% league, you've got no choice but to play with or even carry league fellows at times. If you make friends via pug and you often invite each other to stuff, that's a relationship based on a respect for each others' abilities.

You "applied" for these leagues? Wow. Uhh. I can tell you one of your problems with your villain toon. The best leagues on USPS3 villain side don't use sites as a recruit tool. They don't ask people to apply. They talk to you and run with you on a regular basis for a couple weeks. If the personality fits and you have skills they take you on a trial basis. No application process. I of course am not counting One Pieced in this. I don't know how they do their recruiting, but they have taken a couple of people I know who really weren't good enough. They just had a lot of gear and big egos.

Leagues can have a lot of drama. The ones that last typically do not, though. As for older leagues needing you so get to T5 on your own, that's not the case with Squad, at least. We run all levels of content. Last night, for instance, we ran FOS 1,3, then Subconstruct. Even those of us at T5 have lower level alts that need the lower content.

I disagree...Good leagues run ALL content. I mean whats the point to running on BIA/FAM/Nexus/Paradox only? It only takes a short time to be full T5 97+ in this game even if you PuG occasionally. It gets very boring running just these 4, I have actually caught myself falling asleep in them.

I would define a good league as active core players that enjoy running content together, helping each other get SP on mains and ALTS.
Most importantly they have FUN...it is a game after all.

To the OP, sorry to hear man...I have been in 2 very good leagues Obliteration & WarParty. I have also been part of 1 horrendous when I first started similar to your experience of late. Keep looking, they are out there.

semi untrue if you are in a league and need help with lower content most of the time all you have to do is ask and said league will help most of the time it will be a short man of some lower end raid that you get dragged through just for marks so you can get up to the content the whole league is running. I my self go out and pug hunt for people from time to time Its not about the gear your in because you can get t5 ready in 1-2 weeks tops most of the time its about attitude and can you play your class
any league out there asking for any more then those 2 things is crazy

It all depends on what a league means to you individually. This is a very subjective thing. Some people, especially newer players, often feel that a League is designed to walk them into content, even gear them up quickly. At times they develop a sense of entitlement, feeling that when they ask for help everyone and everything must stop to help them. Veteran players are more about the camaraderie,
the guys, not the game or content. Personally speaking, half the server is a bunch of ****** bags. They may be highly skilled, but not likeable people. Thus for me, a good league is cool people I like running content with. Nevertheless, I don't NEED them to get my content done, or require them to help me get my content done. I can do that on my own. However, I like running with them.

^this as well....

Our league still runs all the old stuff mostly for styles but we occasionally have fun stuff to see how it goes.... Nobody can block this instance, weapons only, only 4 people in the raid, only dps'es and one healer, etc.... That and one of the guys in our league is our DJ and plays crazy random music through the headset and takes requests so you'll frequently see his toon just standing there doing nothing for minutes at a time... LOL

Boy OP, those leagues sounded terrible.
Keep lookin... You'll find one that fits you if you do..

Agreed. My league has players who aren't at the level of most of the core group yet. We still run stuff with them and for them. Of course it only takes like 3 seconds to complete if we run 8 guys through so it's not a waste of time. It's an investment in the league's future.

If people stay. I find a lot of times that winds up creating a revolving door scenario where people get boosted up, then want to do more of the harder stuff and less of the low level stuff, so they leave.

Stay away from leagues unless you like HS drama or your to weak to survive on your own

This is a turbulent time in DCUO. GU 28 has ruined and driven away PvPers and their leagues. DLC 7 has done the same for many PvEers and their leagues. For PvE, many leagues still can't beat the new raids and are frustrated. Many who can beat them are frustrated with the lack of rewards for doing so.
There are still many who enjoy the game. Have you considered starting your own league?

Not always...sure there are those that are like the HS cliques and full of crap like that. There are also alot of really solid leagues are NOT like that. Find one of these & you'll never want to PuG again.

A few people in my league go out of their way to help others level up. We also have regularly scheduled feat nights. But here's the thing, and I hope my next comments aren't taken the wrong way but it is what it is so here goes. There's not much in the way of toon advancement when I help someone do Bludhaven or finish a T5 Op that I've already done for the day. I also have many friends outside of my league and am constantly being asked to help out. It's not uncommon for me to get multiple invites as soon as I log in. As much as I enjoy helping out others, I have to find a balance between helping out others and helping out myself, and I'm sure many others have this same dilemma.

I took a guy under my wing in my league to try and help him, but he's never on much. And when he does get on all he wants to do is run battle for earth duos. LOL...

I enjoy the league I'm in. It's not a lot of drama..Yeah, sometimes things can get tense....but that's just human nature. For the most part though we just crash stuff and get loot. But I still PUG quite a bit...It's a good balance for me...

I've shared similar experiences to you; I've joined and left a lot of leagues. Since I'm Premium, I couldn't start my own league, but I did join a league that had just started, and allowed me to set up their site and have full admin powers over member access. I figured I could help shape it as though I owned it. It's not easy running a league. It end up with me being the only one who was ever on, and I kept in it just to avoid ninja-invites while I was in the middle of doing things. Now, I'm trying out a new league, as a result of chatting with someone who also frequents the forums. People in his league are also on the forums, and I tend to agree with their posts. So, I'll see how it goes.

What I'm looking for in a league might not be what you're looking for. In all, I think this has good advice, even if you're not looking for a top-player league, but a reputable league:

I'll let you join are league only if u call me captain no stop.

Well my league is a great group of players... Some lower level but a lot t5 players.. However we are a rough group... Not for the feint at heart... If u get ur feelings hurt easily? Then we aren't for u!!! But since we are soooo open we rarely argue and we have a ton of fun!!!

Check it out!!

http://emperors.guildlaunch.com/index.php?gid=308736