Why DON'T you Squad Lead?

Sometimes i do comms exclusively on chat.

I used to run public platoons, which I would compare to trying to herd a bunch of blind cats who all really hate each other.

Needless to say I stopped partaking in such activities from fear I would die from cardiac arrest, I now lone wolf all the time unless my outfit is running official operations.

Too drunk most of the time, plus a noob.

I think the later is more of an actual reason, though.

I experimented with it six or more months ago but I never felt comfortable trying to push random people into doing things. So I decided that my squad leading will be limited to fire teams of my friends/family. Though I do participate in the proxy chat army from time to time.

I am almost never not squad leading (I feel naked without my squad bacon). And I always start a public platoon if my outfit hasnt already made one and always volunteer for Platoon lead if the current one leaves. Its not that hard and I find it very rewarding though by now I have probably done a couple hundred hours of platoon leading by now and you get used to it pretty quick. i spend more time platoon leading than not.

Public platoons are hard work and you are almost guaranteed not to get everyone on point but you cant be too harsh, alot just have no idea what is going on and some cant hear voice chat properly. One should always be polite as well although its an order it is a game and in the end they dont HAVE to listen to you.

For those consistently not following objectives though, I usually just give them a couple minutes to redeploy to join their squad/platoon or I kick them.

To be honest I dont really understand what people dislike about it so much. True alot is staring at the map and planning the the next couple of moves and fallback options. But other than that its fairly straight forward.

My reasons:

1. no mic

Of course, that then begs the question of why I don't make the effort to get one...

I only get sporadic play-sessions - and hour here or there - and squad leadering involves pulling the team together, keeping them on track and making sure stuff goes down. Good squadleader-ing requires a good 2-3+ hours of solid dedication each time, and I just don't have time for that.

That said, some of my best ever gaming has been when leading squads in PS1. Taking a single squad and holding back the red tides... nothing else in computer-gaming beats it.

It's also exhausting; I come off squad-leadering more tired and in need of a break than I do going in. When I'm using the game as a break...

I personally can't deal with the ignorant pubs in this game, I feel like my head is going to explode when I see the 50 ******* standing at one doorway being impeded from entering the room because there is one engineer with a mana turret holding the stair case. The ****ters kd is already low; why do they hesitate to run in and take a hit for the team? I have to literally blow up proximity chat yelling at the idiots to charge in that I'll be resurrecting them as they fall. Only then do they listen.

No shame in it. Too bad I'm not on Miller to check you guys out. Your recruitment video definitely looks legit.

All of the points you make are right on point. There is just an overall lack of incentive to do anything other than run around like chicken with it's head cut off. Capping points and waiting around for 6-20 minutes is undoubtedly the most boring thing I've ever experienced in a game; especially because the capture XP does not seem proportional to the length of time you have to wait.

I've many times considered starting my own outfit. However, I just don't have the time to run one. Plus, when I get fed up with certain games, I will not play them for months on end; which is not a good quality for a clan/guild/outfit leader, lol. I haven't touched my Xbox one in almost 2-3 months. My buds on Battlefield 4 probably think I'm dead.

It is good to know that there are good outfits out there that can play like organized human beings, without sacrificing fun. I believe that fun can be had through the use of teamwork, but too many players aren't willing to attempt it.

Leading tools are lacking....an international MMo shoulndt rely only on voice chat to communicate, We need a lot more commands and voice overs , even BF2 with a lot less players to organize had better leading/order tools...

i made the mistake of unlocking command chat and those guys never shut up

Three reasons:

One, I don't like managing people, I am not a leader, I don't want that responsibility especially in a videogame.

Two, people don't listen, and then I get angry and kick people out, and the people that replace them don't listen either, and then I give up and what was the point.

Three, and the biggest reason, managing a squad or platoon ruins your actual game. Your score and K/D will plummet, certs will be a distant memory. You spend half your time on the map screen and the other half chivvying everyone along, getting your squad delivery galaxy shot down or jumping through hoops trying to Sundy or beacon up a spawnpoint for your guys. When I play I want to score. I score best as part of a platoon, given waypoints and being free to go at it and mow down opponents and drop mines and c4 and spawn tanks and generally play the damn game and earn certs under the direction of whatever poor schmuck is leading the platoon to feel like a videogame general while he makes 0 certs. I've said since alpha that the leadership structure in PS2 needs a cert mechanic to reward leadership, because you have to be an idiot to want to do it as it stands.

I've stopped leading platoons and bigger squads because I wanted to play the game more for myself.

Spent most of my game time since launch trying to do things for the good of the TR, now I'm really just in it to get xp for myself and a few friends. I only even join platoons when there is an alert, otherwise I just lonewolf it or run in a squad with around 6-7 people.

I never lead a squad while being the platoon leader.

It hurts the performance as both. I wish SOE would take the thumb out and finally revamp the leader tools. PL should get all the same tools as squadleads. Right now you dont get smokes or requests, not to even thinking about PL specific tools.

Without people leading this game would just devolve into giant TF2 match, we allready have the hats ! I wish SOE would notice this.

I usually try to refrain myself from squad leading, because I know how I work... For me personally, squad leading takes a lot of motivation. If I feel up to it, I do it to the best of my abilities and usually have a really good time. But if I'm not excited or motivated to run a squad, I know I'm just going to half-a$$ it, and that will take out some of the enjoyment for everyone.

Second reason is that squad leading takes me away from playing the game sort of speak... I'm spending more time looking at the map and getting beacons up for my squad, than I'm participating in the actual fight. And I really enjoy fighting... Compared to soloing, my kills and score per hour drop by 50% when I'm playing with a squad, and they drop even further if I'm running the squad.

Squad leading in general is different level of the game, getting a pubbie squad to stick together and be organized can be challenging at times, but man can it be rewarding as well . As for platoon leading, personally I think my strengths (if I have any) are in combat leadership, instead of thinking about the bigger picture and tactics that go with it. Hence why I almost never platoon lead and prefer to keep my boots on the ground barking orders in proximity chat

I'm more curious what the devs were thinking when they put KDR into the game

Because I don't have a mic...

I do a damn good job at leading. It's ******* headache and I rather use mumble to communicate with others who may or may not use voip or understand me.

To answer as Miller NC. I got tired of it. Mostly I got tired of leading even RTRS squads on casual days and leading public squads most of the time is for me a practice in futility.

As a squad leader I feel responsability to bring people a good fight and for last 6 or so months there weren't that many good fights on Miller. Sure there were exceptions, but day to day, it was hard to do. And if I don't find a good fight to enjoy, I fail as SL or PL. Furthermore, I have hard trusting people I lead to get job done (I can't evaluate people skill well enough).

Squads? What squads? I just lonewolf all the time

I do - A lot!