Advice on getting an ls out of a slump?

[Leroy]

Ok, my ls was good, we kicked major ass for a long time considering what we were. We never had more than 24 show to anything ever, and usually every thing we did was with 6-17 people. We were all members from my old first sky linkshell that never beat a sky god besides Genbu. After a 6 month break I reformed with my old friends into our current shell.

Since August, we've went from a few remnants of a fail shell to beating multiple Kirins with as low as 12 people, we moved into Limbus and consistently pumped out an Omega set a week with 12 people and got us all some homam, we took up farming dynamis and recently moved into killing jailers, easily handling the lesser ones like lolfort/justice and building up our first JoL pop set.

We were never omgwtfbgleet, we were just a group of long time friends that used more strategy to overcome our lack of numbers. And now our members are slowly growing, and shit seems to be going downhill all week. It's gotten ugly as hell. How ugly? In the past week we've not done more than 2 gods per sky run, lost a kirin and a seiryu with 18, lost to Ultima and then Omega, haven't won a single Dynamis of our last 3 runs, lost Ix'DRK, Jailer of Faith, and Jailer of Justice, and on top of all that, lost to KSNM99 Wyrm, Behe, Turtle with 6 BLMs.

What the fuck is happening? We hadn't lost a single event prior to this week. Is it bad luck? Do I just forget abut it and move on? I have no idea. Has anyone else had a situation like this (though not nearly as failtastic)?

[ismarc]

The only thing I can tell you is never underestimate the power of stupid people.

How many blms does it take to lose KS99 Turtle? Just one.

How many people does it take to flail KS99 Wyrm? Just one.

How many people does it take to CFH on Kirin? Just one.

How many people does it take to kill Genbu? Just one.

[Karbuncle]

I was going to say...

If your Linkshell is getting more people and from that, you're losing more fights.

You just accepted a bunch of stupid People. Boot them. Or just do more checks/Intellegence checks on your New members before accepting them.

All acceptable, But really, if your numbers are going up, and success is going down, look at who's causing the problems, and try and help them better themselves, if they give you shit, boot them, cause they aren't going to get better if they ignore advice.

[Meian]

Have to agree mostly with the above. It depends also on part of those who get lazy from doing the same repetitive thing and not being "anal" with them when needed to get their attention again. I don't normally like to get anal with my ls that I co-lead Limbus with but I'll do it if I have to (in a fairly nice manner nonetheless).

Try to avoid overpopulating the LS and occasionally check up on who they are (references are nice sometimes like if a senior LS member knew such and such who wanted to join).

Overtime people got their items and left so we're a bit smaller now but we're just as efficent in our <Mega Boss> fights now or more so than before. It also helps to be a leader that can befriend most of the people in the shell which can lead to greater focusing on both's part.

Of course, this is all my opinion and experience. Others may agree and disagree with me.

Edit: In terms of booting people... I never figured out how to handle this effectively. If they are doing their part but are causing occasional drama is it really best to kick them for that purpose? This has become apprent with one person my current shell and the other leader says I should remove said person but I am a bit skeptical. It takes a lot to anger me to that point but now it is just becoming frustrating...

Without making a new thread for this, what would mark a reason to kick someone from that shell that isn't so obvious?

[Linktri]

With more people, you're going to suffer communication problems. The newer people to the Linkshell need to be told that you have a method of doing things that that is how you expect them to be done. If they don't agree with how you are running an event, it's no big deal. They should just seek another shell. Many people come into a linkshell and have ways that they want to do things. People raise objections midfight and try to change strategies without notifying others. This causes poor communication and can lead to a break down in command structure. Don't allow it. Tell people what you expect of them. If they are unwilling to perform, cut them loose. If they are unable, train them or let them go. Some people's asses might get chapped but do you give a shit?

[Meian]

On the communications note, if they can use ventrilo/teamspeak/whatever else it tends to help so long as they aren't screaming and interrupting the leaders of the party/ls.

[Starr]

Steal the LS bank and swap servers, it will be forgotten in time.

[Howard Roark]

your new talent sucks

our LS is merely social at the moment but we low-man what we can with our core of 5-9 players, and honestly i'm not here to train someone how to play like me or any of my good friends

we boot people all the time, our LS is small but no one sucks and no one is annoying (except maybe me but deal with it)

learn to balance your need to grow with cultivating/keeping good members; don't keep tards in your LS cuz you're low on PLDs and RDMs

[Zoot]

What does your application process currently consist of? Reforming your principles around whatever practice you use could help improve your additions. A common mistake people make is just to ask for a needed job and accept them based on general statistics (sky access, sea access, having said job at 75).

What's often left out is how well people mesh with your current group - in terms of general respect and amiability, what merits they have in each particular job, how much effort they put into their gearsets, how well they perform given specific tasks and especially under pressure.

[isladar]

Edit: In terms of booting people... I never figured out how to handle this effectively. If they are doing their part but are causing occasional drama is it really best to kick them for that purpose? This has become apprent with one person my current shell and the other leader says I should remove said person but I am a bit skeptical. It takes a lot to anger me to that point but now it is just becoming frustrating...

Without making a new thread for this, what would mark a reason to kick someone from that shell that isn't so obvious?

People seem to operate under the misconception that it requires some kind of massive, THIS SHIT IS ADVANCED kind of drama to explode all over their LS before its time to take steps and kick people. The best time to consider removing someone from your group is when a pattern of consistent, annoying, and/or just-shy-of-unacceptable behavior becomes apparent. Because I guarantee that if -you- notice it, a good number of your LS has as well.

Here's a less wall-o-Islasophy way of looking at it:

-Member displays annoying behavior and aggravates LS members
-Nothing is said about the behavior
-Behavior continues
-Annoyance escalates [YOU WANTED TO SEE ???? HERE DIDNT YOU]
-Any small incident incites dramabomb
-Yucky parts

The better course of action is when the behavior manifests itself IMMEDIATELY inform the perpetrator that its not appreciated/acceptable in a kind, informative way. Head off persecution complexes at the pass. If the pattern continues, you now have a previous interaction to point to, either as another helpful reminder, or as a reason why you're kicking them from the group.

One of worst things you can do in any kind of interaction is assume someone else knows that they're being annoying, or knows that they're annoying your personally. If I'm sitting somewhere and humming, and its driving someone else mad, and they don't tell me, I'm going to keep on humming until they freak out and stab me. Of course, they could avoid the "Go directly to stabbing" card by saying "Excuse me, can you stop humming, its making my teeth itch" as soon as the annoyance registers.

[Linktri]

I have a very low tolerance for bullshit drama. It's a good thing I'm only a sackholder and not the LS leader.

We have a process for the removal of members. Unfortunately, it's hardly pleasant to be put in a situation where you have to confront someone and tell them they are no longer wanted. These are some of the reasons I've had to remove people from our LS. Even so, I can't do it without the approval of one of the higher officers in our shell and I need proof of a lot of the shit or I can't get a kick order.

1. Failure to adhere to LS expecations.
2. Blatantly biased remarks or attacks with intent to cause emotional distress to another member.
3. Attempting to usurp LS leadership.
4. Making deals or forming groups whose interests run counter to the good of the linkshell.
5. Exceptionally poor attendance.
7. Cheating, lying or deceiving members.
8. Association with RMT.
9. Dodging required events.
10. Being an insufferable prick. (I've been accused of this one a few times lol)

It's better to remove an unstable or unwelcome element than to let that element remain and corrupt the goodwill of your LS.

[Valisk]

we boot people all the time, our LS is small but no one sucks and no one is annoying (except maybe me but deal with it)

The sucks part or the annoying part? Or both? OMG burn.

[Howard Roark]

we boot people all the time, our LS is small but no one sucks and no one is annoying (except maybe me but deal with it)

The sucks part or the annoying part? Or both? OMG burn.

trying to have a sense of humor lol;; sure i make my mistakes but i hope my LS values me!

but ya, if somone is constantly forgetting shihei, silent oils, rr stuff, doesn't have key spells/abilities/maps/knowledge of NM locations and routes ater a few runs and is unwilling to work for them, moans in town about how to make money more than they go out and make money/xp or instantly hits on every female in LS get rid of em (aside from this last point I don't do or tolerate any of that shit)

we all know THAT GUY

and for the record (cuz i know val is still hanging around haha) I make inappropriate comments to everyone equally, equality is your friend!