~what qualities do you look for in your teamates when working in teams; also, what makes a good team to stand apart from the rest as, great?

Hm...first thing I look for is don't use hacked item, or seriously alter their character statistics beyond what was intended by the game designers.

I look for team work, and team play. A FO should put priority to Shifta/Deband/Jellen/Zalure/Resta and attack as the lowest priority.

In PSO, I will wait at the enterance of the next room for the rest of the team to catch up...so we all enter and begin fighting the enemies all at the same time.

PSO is played as a team...all team members should stay together and fight the same enemies together.

I also consider it polite, as I always do when I join a room, to ask if it is ok to join the game. I will say something in the effect of "Hi, may I join?" I think it is necessary to ask, but sometimes I am given a bad look...like..."duh, are we going to prevent you from joining?"

I would look for players that are more interested in having fun and playing together VS how much damage they can do to an enemy or how fast they can kill enemy. It is a game to have fun...why rush normal play? In challenge, the objective is time, but it is so relaxed and you can have fun in normal mode...why do people not do it?

I find it very difficult to find a player these days that meet these above. These are some of the most annoying things that I would like to tell the people...but never do in a game.

Just some thoughts, I am sure everyone here that plays PSO knows all this!

Pretty much what Sheik said, but I value the speed of completing a stage as being the best possible team effort.

Force prority is this:
Jellen/Shifta/Zalure/Deband in that order. When doing Forest, Shifta becomes first over Jellen.

Resta is on it's own priority. Depending on the force you are, being able to heal more often or less is dependant on your resta range. A resta merge can be equiped, but a serious hit to the forces DFP is the draw back. I think resta is key for a force, but if the force isn't near enough, just use a mate. It's not worth dying for because the HU/RA is too cheap to pop 300 mesta dimate. More on resta later...

Any tactics that allow the team to wipe out a room faster then another team is most important. There really is no real goal outside of clearing the stage, finding rares and leveling up. Brute force, using the proper weapons for the right situation, understanding melee combos(why you should delay against certain enemies and not on others, when you should and shouldn't do 2 hit combos over 3 hit combos) and being able to exploit an enemies AI is what it's all about.

So, this is how I see it:
If rare hunting and leveling up is the primary goal in PSO, the faster I can kill enemies and clear stages, thus allows me to achieve this goal in a more effective manner. So, I determine any team tactics that allow for speed to be most valueable. Most PSO based support abilities allow for the team to kill sutff faster and easier(support techs and traps). So, using your support abilities is important for being a more effective team.

My one gripe:
Dying isn't a big issue when relating it too teamwork. Yeah, dying slows the team down a bit. If a teammate dies in one team but not in the other, it sounds like the making of a bad team for the one that had a death, although, if a team focuses on being more aggressive with only the neccessary support, while another team is waaaay slower and overly supportive, the aggressive team wins out everytime. So what if one team uses 4 moon atomizers, and the other doesn't? If the other team needs to make a pioneer 2 pit stop to restock, they are being less efficient. Dying does slow the teams performance down, but it really isn't as huge a drawback as it sounds. I don't complain too much, because if they pulled some exp-loss bullshit, the game would blow.

Supporting should not limit the teams ability to clear rooms at maximum speed, it should only increase it.

Like resta, if a Hunter gets knocked on the floor, when they get up, having to resta themselves wastes time. Also, in EP2, if you get knocked down and cast resta, you get knocked right back down again. If I resta them before then get up, they can just keep swinging. Level 30 resta casts way faster then level 15 or level 20 resta. A HUs damage output is higher then a forces, so their sword swing is better then one of my rafoies. After they get hit, it's more damage effective for me to heal them then for them to heal themselves. If there are no enemies in the room, there really is no excuse outside of the HUs being too cheap to resta themselves(bots are the exception). If they use dimates and trimates, they will run out eventually. Having to make a pit stop wastes time. A strong team can clear many rooms in the same time it takes to make a quick pitstop. Thus, resta plays an important role for clearing a stage quickly. When doing easier stages, it plays a less important role.

Speed becomes unimportant when survival is key. If you need to be slow to live, then you have to be slow. Rather you complete the stage slowly then never being able to beat it at all. Hence the reason why people make a pit stop before falz.

interesting..

for myself, i'm the advocate for synergy of trust & skill...a great team is one where all involved intuitively knows where everyone else is, & watches out for them as well as themselves without thinking twice; also, any team that can work together in complete darkness without even having need of turning on lights of any sort in ruins - w/ or w/out traps & onslaughts of baddies & survive ~ that impresses your's truly.. ;)

*reflects* in playing experience, however, i tend to play more for the enjoyment rather than tournament, & this is reason why i seldom play c-mode or deal with the nonsense of various quests outside of endless ~ just give me swarms of baddies to take down & i'm happy.. ^^

This is why especially I like challenge mode of play. It focuses more on team work and having fun...not necessarally for best time, but that can also be fun.

Depending on the stage that I play I change my support tactics. C6,7,8,9 require Shifta constantly and Zalure for some enemies like the Belra. Resta...depends on the team. If the request I resta all the time I will, but if they do not, they can use the mates. The exception for this rule is C9 because of the boss at the end of the stage. There must be plenty of mates available for the Hunters at the end of the stage, so resta many times is ok...but the team should be good enough to not constatly need it. This goes back to strageties on attacking the enemy correctly and with the correct weapon.

If I play normal level up play I will do this order:
Shifta
Deband
Jellen
Zalure
Resta

I will try to resta the team when ever it needs it. Especially bots...they must use mates and it really sucks when the FOnl or HU with resta refuses to use it but for them selves. I can play in teams that I NEVER use a mate the entire game, because I am able to dodge attacks by the enemy and other team mates that have Resta will cast it when required. If hit, I will continue to attack the enemy if safe or un around to a character that has Resta and they will usually see this and cast it, especially a Force character, as their priority should be support, not attacking in a game.

I am really eager to level up my FOnl again...I miss the supportive part of the game. It really does make a difference in a team when you have good support. I can tell you this from playing a HUcl. It is not fun to have a selfish force character that likes to play what I call FOcast...in other words a force character that attacks like a Hunter, but is really more effective with support.

If I play a Force character, or I am a character like a HUnl then I will take on the support role, if my character is the best at it. I played with a friend who was a HUnl in ULTIMATE at level 90 or so....and we had NO problems in ULTIMATE caves playing 2 player. This had to do with his support, for if it was not for the shifta/deband/jellen/zalure/resta the stage would have been a lot harder.

On a side note, depending on the style of play you wish to employ, I believe that if you are hunting with friends for a specific item...and you know your team mates quite will the clearing the rooms as fast as possible is good. On the other hand, if you are playing in a open game with people you do not know, you should be having fun enjoying the game. Not necessarally using the most powerful weapon that you have or trying to 1-combo kill the enemy. Have fun with the stage as there are always team mates that will support with resta ifyou get hit. I have stopped using my Vulcans in open games for this reason...I think they kill too fast and some players really dislike them. Everyone should be able to get at least one hit on every enemy. I try my best not to kill an enemy all my myself. I think it is a little selfish as think the game should be fun for everyone to enjoy, especially in level up play. In challenge mode, rushing into the next room and killing everything as fast as possible is very good, but in level up play...you should wait for the party to enter the room together and kill the enemies together. Not leaving a team mate behind...rushing into the next room. I see this happen so often now that it kinda disgusts me and makes me wonder why I am playing with these people.

Anyway, I think you should just have fun with PSO and follow the golden rule, do unto others as you would have done unto yourself. If you would like a team to show support and good team play, then try your best to be a team player also.
--Sheik


EDIT: I do not disagree with HC's order of support techs...they can be cast in the order needed. Sure, maybe Jellen must be first to be cast in a room, especially if it prevents a player from being 1-hit KOed. It all depends on the situation, and playing a supportive role, it changes on the situations...these are just general guide lines to follow. And on a side note, I try to shifta/deband BEFORE it wears off, this is extreamly important in C6,7,8,9 in challenge mode...it allows for the extra damage and less hits to kill an enemy. This is also very appreciated by players in level up play...as do I appreciate it. I should NEVER have to ask a player to cast shifta/deband/resta. They should be watching the team well enough to answer this question.

Cmode has it's own set of support rules, differing from regular game modes depending on stage, current TP/fluid amount, and situation. Yeah, all support techs are subject to change depending on the stage. Jellen is useless against all forms of Dark Falz, but getting all exact with the stages is bothersome.

Although, the aspect of team dynamics is important(and something I didn't list). A team that can adapt to change is far more deadly then a more rigid team. Team dynamics play a slightly more minor role in PSO because the random stages and enemies are far too static, unless your doing ep1 Cmode. Even in cmode, there are basic set guidelines on how a team handles which enemies first and last. After you begin to "master" PSO, it becomes very rigid.

The only time team dynamics comes into play very heavily is when you do a new quest for the first time and everything is new. A more solid team(as a whole) can overcome and learn from the challenges much quicker.

Kinda like when you do Seabed for the first time and fight Olga Flow.

ahh...a great team is one where you can keep smiling even if you're getting stomped. ^_^
Like last night 2 friends and I tried Battle7 for the first time. We sucked so bad, but could'nt help but have a good time.
A team that knows it's capabilities and limitations is one worth spending some time with. Like if you've got a team of lv100- wanting to go to the seabeds, then they don't know what's in store. (headaches, frustration, anger, etc...)
But a team where each player knows their character, and knows them well, then that's a team worth playing with.

~~meh, i seem to have repeated myself in there somewhere. =O