First off, I just want to say that I am glad that Trials is back. Being a big PvP person, the lack of PVP driven content since TTK dropped has been a drought for my happiness. I had alot of fun this weekend running with CruelLEGACEY, Ottermack, Sammy, Korny, Lichtonatus, Argent, and Charlie. The highs were high and the lows were low. My biggest realization after playing, was to be bold, and don't be afraid to change things up. My thoughts are as follows.

Before playing Trials alot of people had the same thought I did, "I don't know what to use for my Trials Weapons." I had no clue what I would be the most consistent with in the Trials. I switched guns about 5 times in Trials before I settled. Before my first match I brought my Hawksaw (vendor roll) up to 310 thinking surely this will be the best for me. I was wrong. I found myself losing engagements at range. Up close it was great, but during this Trials that was rarely the case. I went to Jade Rabbit, and did OK with it, but then I was finding myself in close range engagements that I was losing. Eventually I settled on Nirwen's Mercy (Vendor roll). It is excels at range, but is better than a scout rifle up close. Third Eye was definitely a lifesaver. This gun easily became my favorite. Keep in mind this gun was a let down to me when I first got it.

As far as special weapons go, ever since TTK dropped, it has been shotgun exclusively. I started off trials with shotguns, did OK with them, but found myself getting sniped or out-shotgunned by Higher RoF shotguns than my Conspiracy Theory. While I did make it to the lighthouse with a shotgun my first ticket I found I was doing it wrong. I found myself rarely being able to use my shotgun, so I pulled out my Stillpiercer on my hunter, and went OFF. I consider myself above average sniper, but haven't touched it since before TTK. Now I can't stop.

Lastly, switching up the strategy worked out. Our first ticket we stayed together, covering sightlines, but once one of us went down it was a mad scramble to get to over and relocate to pick up the lost sightlines. During my second run we just spread out, we sent one to the far left by the special and edge of the map, one in the bases up top on balcony, and one to the upper little courtyard with the tree. THIS was the best way we found to control this map. If one player went down the other 2 were relatively safe, and chances are unspotted. Having this full map visibility allowed us to control where the enemy team went. Most times we would pick off 1 over-zealous enemy, then it was game over because we had the orb, and knew where they were. This strategy of splitting up may only work for this map, but boy does it work.

Other side notes:

Hammers still OP, defintely lost some good games to hammers, won some as well.

Light level differences didn't seem to show. I never found myself dying or killing any faster (was around 308 on all characters)

Heavy rounds are less scary, I think I got 2 heavy kills through all my tickets. I think alot of people just don't have reliable or high enough Attack Year 2 heavies to bring to the fight. This will probably change as people acquire more/better weapons.

Tether is great if you use it correctly. You are pretty much guaranteed to die if you are in it and can't get out. If it turns into capture the zone, throw it on there and its game over.

TL:DR If you are having trouble in the trials, switch it up. I found myself blaming different things for my problems before I finally said OK this isn't working and I know I am better than this. Maybe you, like myself, have become too complacent, which is why you are not doing so well. Try and keep it fresh.

How did your trials runs go?