Maybe some of you guys killing it in Trials can weigh in here with some advice or pointers or suggestions. Simply put, I am STRUGGLING with Trials of Osiris. In turn, that's affecting my experience in House of Wolves overall. I've never played a game in which endgame success felt out of reach for me until now. I've played every major PVP based game since Halo 2 and that includes miscellaneous ones like WoW or SC ranked / arena /ladders. I've never been that guy who is always at the top, but I've always been a solid team player/communicator/support guy. Some games at the top but mostly in the middle. Of course a bad game on occasion. Now with Destiny I've mostly focused on raiding as I do with most mixed RPG type games but still dabble in banner or crucible with buddies. I've spent many hours figuring out VOG and CE before messing with provolone and cheddar, and patiently taught players encounters over many hours on many days over many months. The way I see it you improve your overall player pool that way so more people know how to succeed, then over time most players you randomly group with know basics and encounters and everyone wins. For the most part people are willing to stick around and learn, get the hang of things and mesh with teams. This is where my struggle with Trials comes in. The pool of players is much smaller, the patience level of those who have a propensity for success (seems to be) nearly nonexistent. It's frustrating to see Lighthouse Guardians quit on teams they just formed over 1 loss or 1 bad Passage. Especially for someone who spent so much time teaching other Guardians, from my perspective it can take time for a team to mesh together properly. It's also very limiting. I've had an extremely hard time finding groups that will stick together and then on top of that, won't go AFK or have to leave due to parent or wife and such things. And because the Fireteams are so much smaller, the chance of finding that one person or two you can Friend for later goes drastically down as well. You also can't do any meaningful practice games and hope to meet people that are there looking to improve and are less pressured to win and thus more patient... Because elimination ran all of what, 4 days one time? So anytime you have an opportunity to play Trials it's do or die, and it feels like everyone approaches it has an urgency to constantly win or declare any Passage that doesn't result in a Lighthouse trip as a failure and waste of time. Maybe I'm the minority here but I have yet to see a piece of Exile gear/ 5 wins. I've spent entire days off in ToO (between matches, orbit time, new passage time and forum hunting) and have NOTHING to show for it. Now it's in my head and anytime I'm in a Trials match, I'm playing outside of my comfort zone and end up overthinking things and making mistakes. It's almost stressful to worry about being labeled as a weak link on a team and have people move on to someone else over a bad round or two (and those of you that do this know who you are). When your teams don't stick together success seems unattainable. This isn't a static endgame raid encounter, this time the enemy is different every time... Drastically. The only thing you CAN learn and adapt to is your team, so in a way THAT is the true test (at least to me). And I get it, I know people don't want to waste their time and who knows how many bad matches people have dealt with... But I feel like overall my performance isn't too much different than most others, yet I get the brunt of the blame because I'm usually getting picked up by a pair of buddies and I'm the odd man out. I guess my question is, am I just unlucky to run across this many impatient or AFK or early quitters that's I can't break past the Silver Tier category? Is there something I should be doing differently when it comes to finding players or some advice or tips someone can give that I'm maybe missing about ToO gameplay? It seems simple enough: high intellect build, stuck with team, Max weapons launcher, be 34, communicate, Rez your teammates, push when the enemy starts dying, use choke points and grenades. I farmed Etheric Light and maxed my thorn, high impact shotty and launcher with a phat PVP roll. Am I missing something? And yet... Every week that goes by I feel left behind more and more as players are looking for Lighthouse Guardians only and shaking down profiles to see that they own the Emblem or card for it. Like they came out of the gate themselves with a Lighthouse pass or something. I'm dying for a taste of endgame success and it feels more and more like a job to get there, causing me to play less. I already have a job you know? And finding a team who knows how to succeed and is willing to bring a third in to adjust, seems like an impossible task. I can't possibly be the only one. If anyone sees this who wants to lend a hand, GT is Veilsix on Xbox One. Otherwise, your advice would be appreciated. I know this will get flamed of course but that's life, and to those who lend a hand I appreciate it. To be clear, I'm looking to put in the work, not asking for hand me downs or carries. I think the top tier gear should always be earned through proper effort, and enjoyed by the people willing to put in the time. This isn't a "change the way it works" post, except that I'd like to see a practice mode built in. TLDR: how do you succeed as a single player in TOO when Fireteams constantly quit and you can't break silver tier? Where can I find solid teams willing to onboard a third support type player? Am I alone in the universe? Help me obi-wan, you're my only hope. EDIT:::: just want to say a heartfelt thank you to everyone who has stopped by to either relate and empathize, to offer advice and tips, and to extend a hand in friendship & help. I expected to get flamed and such but everyone has been supportive and really cool about this. You guys really have shown we have a great community in this game, and I appreciate you all. As an update, I almost went flawless already! One loss short of it, and it was due to my bungling a boon. Like I told the guys I was with (one of whom reached out to me after reading this post): I'm actually glad it didn't happen because I learned so much from them that I didn't feel I could go around flashing flawless emblems and not live up to it. They did a fair share of carrying me and that's not how I want it to go down ( though I did really well in some games and saved some rounds so I was pleased), I want to earn it!