Why DON'T you Squad Lead?

Serious question. This thread isn't to criticise, but to gage public opinion.


Why don't you dip your toes in squad leading, specifically public ones?
Bonus question: What about platoon leading?

All answers appreciated, even if it's because you don't find it fun.

For me it's because I'm too busy leading the outfit and making sure it's the best experience possible, and also that we're always improving our performance and ability as an outfit, as individuals and as a team. I can't do that if I'm using up my time leading "blues" (NC Random's). Plus they take up more attention, and the lack of platoon management tools makes it a pain. Lose your PL because of a disconnect to a blue and you're screwed.

- This question comes after the apparent lack of regular blue organisation on NC Miller, aside from Zukhov & the uncommon outfit open platoons.

Too many blues running with little/no guidance is actually quite annoying from my perspective, not including the lack of platoon management tools (ban, mute, remove squad, disband entire platoon, etc) or the ability to coordinate more than 4 squads in a platoon.

I can't fault anybody who doesn't lead, but I would like to take note of the " why's ".

Been there and done that for two years in another game ( Leading up to 80 people ) so now I'm playing this game for myself and it's a much more relaxing playstyle ..

Our outfit runs open platoons pretty often.

Sometimes we chose not to because... yeah, it's a lot more work and whoever is officer would rather kick back and focus more on playing than keeping 48 players constantly engaged and properly deployed to good effect. (Outfit only doesn't need much guidance, and with only 1-2 squads it's easier to find a decent fight than for 48 players)

In short, leading is work.

I will never ever lead a public platoon, I will only lead people i have played with before, public platoons can be a lot of work during prime time or when you have a large number of trolly/new players to deal with. and as far as i know there is no "ban from platoon" option, so you kick a trouble maker and they just jump back in your public platoon to try and troll some more.

I'm an antisocial nerd who doesn't like talking to people, nevermind trying to herd them while they run around like headless chickens.

I like to jump between fights a lot. Trying to pull 11 other people with you is more hassle than its worth.

I think most people probably find it intimidating. They are probably worried about making mistakes and looking "dumb" to their team. I think leading is actually a lot of fun but it can also be frustrating when people don't listen.

cause i have no self-confidence to order pubbies to do something i can organize inventive and successful guerillia tactics when i have good day with outfitmates, but for the most part it is already hard to ask those who frequently do shenanigans with me, if they want to do shenanigans with me

I don't know about others but for me I can't keep the standard a leader should. I often need to go AFK at random times for family and work duties. Normally can't use mic because it distracts people around me (Home office, study and reading area.) Both suck for the people relying on you to keep things organized and responsive so I don't inflict that inattention on people. To the people that kill me while AFK...you lucky buggers at least say thanks for the free XP.

Because I'd rather not wait 15 minutes to perform a transition outfit mates can make in 2.

Because I don't like talking to people vocally.

I'm part of a well organized outfit with the best leaders I could ask for, thus there's no need for me to lead.

And of I don't play with my outfit I play with my friend, which isn't really a squad leading.
Flying in lib, getting roadkills in Harasser, making everyone jelly with Halftoned Vanny and overall just jumping from place to place wherever seems to be signs of fun atm.
Herding another 10 people along isn't really much appealing.

That + On European servers you get all nationalities and not everyone is comfortable with speaking English. And even if you are, it's always a nuisance to herd half of your team that has problems understanding. So leading randoms always comes down to placing a squad waypoint and hoping that at least half of your team moves itself to somewhat vicinity of it.

Pretty much this, plus I don't really like playing with a headset on.

And this...

I just go all over the place, hop continents, switch fights, etc. Especially when I find myself surrounded by sheer incompetence all around me... its time to go find a different fight!

Most squads especially public ones, are on a one track road to some fight that will turn sour. With the lattice, you almost don't even need squad objectives to figure out where you'll be asked to/asking them to head to next.

I play solo 98% of the time, simply because I hate being tied down by other people's decisions. I could, of course, lead public squads and then people would have to do what I say, but I move around a lot - the moment a fight gets boring to me, I jump across the map to a better one. I don't think I can expect pubbies to be able to keep up.

Sometimes I manage to get a group of real-like friends to play with me, and since I have the most PS experience, I'm always squad leader by default. They just expect me to lead. This is with a very small group (at most 4-5 players total including me). Even then leading is frustrating because some of my friends are terrible at the game and can't even keep up with where we are during a fight. Other friends are super impatient and even as I'm looking at the map trying to figure out where we should go, they're all like "What are we doing standing around? Give us a way point!"

I wouldn't call it extremely stressful, but there is some degree of stress. When I play solo, there is zero stress. Even heavy, hectic fights are relaxing to me, because I only have to focus on myself.

I've lead a public squad a few times. It's incredibly frustrating because most people don't follow orders, and few have a mic. Before that I would get mad because squad leads would never lead the squad, now I know why. Public squads are a crapshoot and not worth my time.

It is quite a lot of work if you want to do it effectively, and is quite intimidating as some people already suggested. I only led a squad a few times so I can't say much about platoon leading, other than that it seems like a daunting task. Of the few times I led I had some really rewarding experiences where there are communications between squad leaders, platoon leaders, and the squad members.

All in all I just want to give props to the great leaders I had a chance to play amongst. Its is definitely not an easy job for most.

No one listens.

I don't because most times it's a waste of energy. It's too frustrating to try to be a coordinated element, when very few, if any, members listen (even outfit members). There is very little incentive for them to listen at that, seeing how they can make just as many, if not more points doing everything other than working as a team.

This is one of the reasons real militaries hold Servicemembers under contract by law, so they stand to lose more by being insubordinate, than just going with the flow. If one of my Soldiers in real life acted like most of the players i've come across in this game, they would be hating their life right now. Although if we were in the combat zone, they would have probably got themselves and others killed. If the players has nothing to lose, then why would to comply? I'm not trying to imply that every leader is some great tactical genius, but damn, people can't even follow simple directions of "Guard this objective, don't leave it."

For that reason, I avoid leading, to keep my own expectations of gamers to a minimum. Don't get me wrong, I in know way expect gamers to be military-like. However, PS2, like MANY other FPSs is a military shooter. But many players only want to exercise the run around and kill part, and not the rest of the military experience of using team tactics to overcome an enemy. Or even a simple tactic of staying inside of the Cap Point building, and forcing the enemy to come to you. This not only decreases the chances of death, but also increases the chances of getting kills, as well as securing an overall victory. How many times have you done the Tech Plant (or is is Amp Station?) Horizontal/Vertical Generator dance, where one gets repaired just as you destroy the other? Simple solution is to keep a standing force there to guard. How often is it that even members of the same outfit/platoon can sit there long enough before running of, leaving the generator open for repair?

The ideal scenario for me leading, would be with a group of players that at the very least WANT to follow directions. Where if I call out, "enemy mag rider to the east, pull heavies and kill it," they move to do so immediately (along with myself leading from the front), rather than allowing that MagRider to repeatedly farm them as they try to cross in front of it hoping the tanker doesn't see them... Or, if we are going to assault a base, I can have specific squad members pull specific classes to sustain our assault and defense of the point (such as engineer AI turrets on the stairs, infiltrator to hack vehicle terminals so we can pull sunderers, and medics). What normally happens? Everyone brings an LA or HA, and we get rolled with no way of reviving (other than myself who dies trying to get get/keep everyone up), or respawning in that area. It's frustrating just thinking about it, lol.

In all that, don't get the picture that I'm a chat spammer. I believe that being courteous and respectful to people will go a lot further than trying to be a *****; so that is my demeanor.

Anyway, rant complete.

Edit: I actually have more success using Proxy Chat to coordinate with randoms around me, to pull of a team effort, than I do formally leading a squad.

I lead a public squad/platoon whenever I play this game, or else I cant set up a bacon and farm certs.

I never talk with my squad members with a mic, however they do obey the order in a short time (except your moving the waypoint from one side of the map to another side). And I have some high BR guys in my friend list who are always willing to join my squad and farm with me.