Marvel Heroes Fun Teaming Guide

Marvel Heroes Fun Teaming Guide by JohnnyStrong

I wrote this guide back at the end of April 2013 during the closed beta. The information is still relevant, though I’ll update it when I’ve played more after the official release June 4th.

Why did I write a teaming guide for a game in progress? Well, this guide is essentially for people that would like a little help getting started with teaming. I find games more enjoyable when there’s a bit of collaboration and camaraderie, and this guide is for gamers that feel likewise.

Note that this guide does not discuss or use the Auto Party feature (toggled in your Options), which essentially slots people onto teams automatically when they enter an Instance. This guide has more to do with manually forming your own pickup teams, be they friends or people that happen to be in your zone.

In this guide I also convey the philosophy of teaming that I’ve used to great success in other games. Note that my primary focus is on building fun pickup teams, so I’m going to provide advice about how to effectively recruit people and communicate with your team.

Zone Recruiting ( /s or /say )

• Zone recruiting is where you use either /s or /say for zone speak.
• Aside from any Friends that happen to be online, you’ll need to recruit from whatever zone you’re in.
• The trick is recruit in the zone that has the missions that you want to complete. This way, you’re narrowing down your recruitment to people that are roughly intending to do similar missions.
• You don’t want to (say) recruit in Avengers Tower because you don’t really know what missions people there have in mind. Being in the tower, they could very well be taking a break or trying to figure out how crafting works.

Other Channel Commands

Some quick notes in case you aren’t clear with the channels:

• /s or /say for zone chat
• /l or /local for local chat (heard only by people that are relatively nearby)
• /p or /party for party chat
• /g or /guild for guild chat
• /t or /tell [name]
• /r or /reply [space] to automatically reply to the most recent tell

Recruiting Friends

• If you’ve built up a list of people that you like to play with, then that’s going to be exceptionally convenient for you.
• If you’ve been using my teaming philosophy, then your friends will already be familiar with how you run a team, which means they’ll be the foundation for your team.
• Once you all know what missions that you’re going to do, you can perform zone recruiting to fill out the team.
• And if openings occur on your team, then check your Friends list to see if anyone has become available.
• Often, friends that know you run teams will ask to be invited, and if your team happens to be full at the moment, then just tell them you’ll give them priority when a spot opens up.
• For people asking to join, I like to be fair and accept them on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Recruiting From Your Guild

• Though I’m not part of an established guild, I’m aware that some players are part of guilds that move between games together.
• Great stuff, since this is like recruiting friends with whom you are intimately familiar with their moods and sensibilities.
• Like people from your Friends list, guild mates are the foundation of a strong team that encourage working together.

Initial Recruiting

• At the time of writing, there is not an easy way to see what level of mission completion your teammates are at.
• Until this changes, you will need to state the mission name in your zone recruiting messages.
• So you might say something like, “Two spots available on Find the Hood team, just beginning, hands up or send tell to join.”
• I tend to give a minute for people to respond to a recruiting message, and in /party chat I say something like, “Give it a minute to see who responds”
• Myself, I use a timer to make sure that I’m giving adequate time. Remember that people who might want to join could be potentially looking at their Character screen, which means they’re not seeing the recruitment messages.
• A timer is also necessary to avoid letting teammates prompt you to leave ahead of schedule. You need to make it clear that you’re busy dealing with recruitment messages.
• When the minute is almost up, I’ll say something like, “Last call for spots on Find the Hood team, hands up or send tell.”
• Often you’ll get a straggler or two at this point. Regardless, your team is ready to head out.
• But wait, who is doing the leading?

Assigning Point

• I refer to the person on “Point” as being the designated person that is setting the pace of moving towards the current mission objective.
• I almost always ask for a volunteer to take Point, and myself I bring up the rear.
• This allows me to watch over the group, and to focus on recruitment messages, such as someone asking to join, or when I periodically try to fill a team spot.

• To the team, I ask them to keep things tight on the Point, but to make sure nobody falls behind.
• In Marvel Heroes, I notice that some zones have a continuous stream of enemies, such that it’s easy to get bogged down. In such cases, I advise the team to keep moving, though to continue moving together incrementally.

• So with the Point guiding us, and everyone trying to keep with the Point, that enables me to spot anyone who might be in trouble.
• So my job, bringing up the rear, is to help lead that person back to Point.
• Rarely will the Point need to come back for us.
• Similarly, for doors that lead to side-instances, I can ensure that everyone knows to enter the given door, rather than having someone wonder where the team went.

• Sometimes the Point doesn’t know which way to go, but someone else does.
• Tell the team that you’re reassigning Point to the person that knows the way, and that they are to follow the new Point.

• Likewise, when you have a new person join the team, remind the team, “Note that [Name] is on Point, please keep it tight on them and follow their lead.”

Effective Communication

• As Team Leader, always remember that you’re trying to facilitate communication within the team, and to make sure that people have a say in what the team is doing. Once a decision has been made, keep the team focus on that objective.
• Sometimes for long missions, the team needs to cross a wide zone that has many distractions. If an event starts, and someone wants to go chasing after it, you need to call a quick vote to decide what the team is going to do.
• Whatever the majority seems to want, ask the Point, “[Name], please guide us to [Objective], everyone else, keep it tight on Point.”
• In other words, judge the situation as best you can, and hopefully you’ve made the correct decision and gotten the team moving in timely fashion.

• Sometimes there will be someone that is going the wrong way.
• With the current minimap, it is easy to get turned around, or not notice that Point has reversed direction or otherwise adjusted the path that the team is following.
• In /party chat, ask whether [Name] is okay, or whether they need help.
• Your query will help them realize that they’re getting separated from the team.
• Tell them what direction to go, if you think that will help.
• Sometimes, a person has the minimap zoomed in too close, such that they can’t see the other team members.
• Also mention that the Options panel can set [plus] and [minus] keys for zooming the minimap.

• When your team reaches a waypoint, state that there is a waypoint available, and allow time for everyone to click it.
• Always be watchful for situations where it’s easy to breeze through without letting people have time to look around.
• Be aware that some people might be playing the area for the first time, or its been a while and they’ve forgotten.
• When in doubt, slow things down briefly to ensure that everyone is on the same page.
• If the team is always rushing ahead to the next objective, then that can be discouraging to some members.
• Likewise with respect to contacts, it is a good idea to confirm with your party that they have spoken with the person that the party has encountered.

Taking Breaks

• At the end of each mission, that is your opportunity to judge the team mood. Ask if everyone is doing okay, and whether they want to continue with another mission.
• However, DO NOT merely declare the next mission and expect everyone to continue, as this will make people feel obliged (i.e., uncomfortable) to continue teaming.
• Remember also that Marvel Heroes is a loot game, so people’s inventories are going to get full.
• Plus, people need to get refreshments, feed the pet, etc.
• So when there is a good moment, such as after a major boss fight, ask the team whether this is a good time to take a 5-10 minute break.
• Make sure that everyone knows that the Bodyslide button (top-right of the screen) will transport you back to Avengers Tower, and that clicking the Bodyslide button a second time will return you to where you left the zone.
• And once everyone has left on break, set a timer to manage things, and remind the team when the break is almost over.
• For example, if you’ve all agreed to a ten minute break, state that you’re starting a timer.
• When there’s a couple minutes left in the timer, state as such in the Party channel.
• Remember, you’re facilitating the communication, which includes periodic updates.

• Breaks are also natural times where some members want to drop from the party.
• In this case, you might want to return to the zone slightly early and do recruiting.

Resolving Disputes

• Having the star does not mean that you get to order people around. Instead, you’re more like a moderator that is seeking to help your teammates work together effectively and have fun.
• At best, ask someone to do a task, but ask for a volunteer if they can’t do it. For example, asking someone to help another teammate that is struggling.
• So the star actually requires quite a bit of responsibility toward watching over the team, taking quick votes to decide what to do next, communicating what appears to be the best decision at the moment, and then watching for anyone that needs clarification.

• Sometimes people can get confused and just need you to restate or rephrase what the team is doing (i.e., it could be a language issue).
• People sometimes are troubled after a bad day, and they just need a little more time, such as going back to Avengers Tower for a few minutes until they’re ready to re-join the team.
• Maybe a teammate has been teaming long enough for now, and they’d like to drop from the team and possibly rejoin later.
• Sometimes a teammate is annoyed by what another player is doing, and it is necessary for the teammate to express what is bothering them, and hopefully you can understand the situation.
• It may help to simply acknowledge a situation, and then remark what the team can do to instead just have a good time.

Dispute resolution on a team can be quite situational, and it largely involves being observant as to what might be causing an issue. And resolving these cases *does* come from practice and experience, so don’t get discouraged.

Kicking People from the Team
However, even when a team is generally doing well, there can be times when a team member is not working out, and the Team Leader has to trim the roster in order to protect the team.

• It is YOUR responsibility to manage the team, which involves recognizing what is necessary for the team to work well in everyone’s interests.
• Much of the time it is sufficient to let the team gauge what they are capable of.

• Sometimes it is sufficient to state in the Party channel what people should be doing.
• Sometimes sending a Tell to a teammate is better at getting their attention.
• Occasionally, it makes sense to give Tells to avoid cluttering the Party channel with directions that are meant for an individual.

• However, if they ignore the Tells and continue something like soloing a boss before the team is ready, then it becomes necessary for the team to know what’s going on.
• For example, a good technique is to state in the Party channel “[Name] I’ve asked you twice already to rejoin the team.”
• This informs the team that you’ve been leading like you’re expected to, and that the person has been given warnings.
• At this point, the person will typically smarten up.
• However, if they continue to be a problem, then state in the Party channel that they’ve been given their warnings, and that it is time for them to go. Kick the person at this point.
• State to the party that [Name] has been kicked, in case it wasn’t already clear.

In practice, kicking someone is a last resort after moderating and seeking a compromise. Out of hundreds of hours leading teams in the fashion that I describe, I’ve kicked maybe 2-3 people, and those were not easy situations.

Disbanding the Team
Despite whatever success your team has been having, at some point people are going to get tired. It then becomes your responsibility to decide whether to continue the team, or to disband.

• If people *really* want to continue, and there is still enough of a “team core,” such that you’re not essentially forming a pickup team mostly from scratch, then the team is still workable and you have the option of continuing.
• However, if you are not able to recruit more people, then state as such and indicate that it is time to disband.
• In a situation like this, it is better to discontinue gracefully, rather than dissipate the team mood by waiting on a slim hope that someone appropriate will become available.

• Also remember that you are allowed to become tired and leave the team. In this case, state that you need to rest, and ask for a volunteer to continue leading the team.
• Unless someone requests the star, DO NOT arbitrarily assign leadership.
• If nobody wants to lead the team, then state as such and declare that you are disbanding the team.

• Likewise, if the team has been doing exceptionally well for several missions, then sometimes you can sense that the team is satisfied with what they have accomplished.
• In this case, state that the team has been doing well, and that you’re going to disband the team on a high note, rather than risk people getting fatigued.

• Once the team has accepted the disbanding, then let each of them drop from the team when they’re ready.
• Sometimes people like chatting a bit more before heading out.
• If people have had adequate time and things seem to have settled down, then just boot them.

In Conclusion

• Leading a team puts you in a moderating role with an opportunity to guide your teammates and help everyone have a good time.
• Much of this involves being observant and listening to your teammates. Doing this successfully is an art that takes practice.
• Though organizing can sometimes be awkward, much of the time there will be people available to join your team, and being consistent about how you invite people to the team will ensure a certain quality of camaraderie.
• And as long as you are clear about what the team expectations are, then there is no leeway for someone to attempt petitioning for something that is in conflict with the team’s best interests (i.e., nothing to distract your team from successful missions, good experience, fun banter, and interesting challenges).