I don't think I've ever felt so… BAD at this game!

Even though we went 8-1 in trials (again), I just felt like not only could I not really kill anything, but I didn't ever feel like I was in a good position to either support my team or get kills.

I'm open to any ideas for weapon selection.

As for decision making, it was kind of startling how much things improved when I just tried not to die. If you think you can run off and get the flank… you probably can't.

This could be one of those lows that CruelLegacy was talking about… so yeah. This first lighthouse run is gonna feel amazing. Someday. I'm working on it guys.

I think you're being a bit hard on yourself. You did great most of the night... you just happened to have a rough game during that last match, when we were up against a very strong team. It happens to all of us :)

Not to mention the fact that we've never done Trials on that map before, so we were still figuring it out as we went along. I think we played at our best for the first few games when we were being extra conservative and waiting for the enemy to come to us. I'm going to post some videos later today or tomorrow, because I think they'll be helpful for getting an idea of how this map controls.

As far as loadouts go, I'm in a similar spot as you in that I haven't found anything I really like using. None of the year 2 weapons have really clicked with me. I think most of us would agree that year 1 featured a few overpowered primaries (Messenger, Thorn, Last Word, Hawkmoon). But the thing is, while I agree they were overpowered, I had gotten used to their handling abilities and overall effectiveness. So every year 2 primary I try feels frustrating to use, because none of them shoot exactly where I expect them to, or hit from as far away as I expect them to. It's something I'm sure I'll get used to over time, but for now every single match feels like I'm fighting with my weapon.

For the time being, Pulse Rifles are generally the way to go. Chaos was tearing it up with his Last Word/Sniper combo, but he's a far better sniper than either of us so he can rely on it for long-range encounters. I usually go Pulse Rifle/Shotgun, but this week's map favors snipers so I switched my secondary.

In terms of specific Pulse Rifles to try, the Trials and Iron Banner PRs are both strong (and nearly identical to each other). People seem to love Hawksaw, but I never clicked with it. Doesn't seem to be effective enough at long range for me. I do like the vendor version of Apple of Discourd as well; it has headseeker and great stability perks.

It's all good man. I was getting a little irritated and I do apologize, sometimes I get caught up in everything and forget, its just a game. I don't really think weapon choice was the biggest problem you were having, but just being rusty. I haven't seen you on much here lately, that seems to be the way it is for everyone lately, myself included. I think we definitely were at our best in terms of winning towards the beginning of our run. After about our 5th win on our second card, the redbull couldn't save me from the fatigue that was setting in. Long story short, I think if we play together more, and just slow things down, we will be fine. Most of the teams we lost to were our fault. That last team was good, but we had alot of missed opportunities to beat them. Also hammerbro didn't help. ( I know what I'm using next time!)

As far as weapons go, pulse rifles are the best all around right now. The villainy is OK, but the vendor roll hawksaw is much better IMO. Even though it appears to be shooting everywhere, even at range I am consistently landing all of my hits. Hawksaw is better than Nirwen's up close, but overall Nirwen's mercy wins. (obviously it will be a pain for you to get one without doing IB). Jade rabbit is also really good, it shines at range when you have the jump on someone, plus with good impact the body shot damage is great. Jade rabbit fails 1v1 where the enemies is actively hitting you, the impact of their shots and this gun just dont allow me to reliably hit them. That being said, I CAN kill 1v1 often, but its not as intuitive as other weapons. Another weapon that looks good, with the right rolls, is the .25 spare change. Recently, I have been using The Last Word. Year 1 I never touched it, but I gave it a go, and love it. The ADS is less than reliable, but using it with hipfire as intended, makes this gun a truck. I would not recommend it in trials until you get the feel for it, but once/if you do, it opens up alot of options for you. For me it works great in combo with my sniping, I am not sure the benefit would be the same if you were using a shotgun/fusion rifle because you wont have any range.

Secondaries depend on your skillset. If you are comfortable sniping consistently the Stillpiercer is my go to. For other classes 1000-Yard stare is the way to go. Both are high impact models, so you can snipe people in the rez animation. The rest of pretty much self explanatory, you need the right rolls. Fusion rifles suck for me, you seem to do well with them however. Shotguns are probably a better alternative to the fusion rifles however. Conspiracy theory D (the one you get from completing main quests) is great. Range finder makes it a beast. Its feels similiar to felwinters. I have also had alot of luck with the vendor Patch-A. Party crashers have year 2 variants, so if you can land a decent one of those youll be set.

All in all, last night got a little stressful for me. My skills steeply declined about an hour into our run, mostly from fatigue, partly from overplaying last night. Don't be so hard on yourself, and I apologize for any irritation I may have displayed, it wasn't warranted. Keep at it, and I am sure we will be back on top in no time. It is worth noting, we beat alot of good teams, all of our games were well deserved wins. They did not want to die easily.

Also no more charging on heavy round.....

I don't think I've ever felt so… BAD at this game!
This could be one of those lows that CruelLegacy was talking about… so yeah. This first lighthouse run is gonna feel amazing. Someday. I'm working on it guys.

I wish I could relate. Being so awesome 100% of the time like I am takes its toll; I always feel so much constant pressure to live up to how good I am that it causes me anxiety just to watch a match of Trials. One day I hope to be as bad as you are, man, just to get this pressure off my chest... <3

It's tough to recommend a certain loadout, since I'm just so good with whatever's in my hands, but if I had to recommend anything, I'd say that Smite of Merain is the closest that we have to the Messenger in terms of punch and accuracy. It has a bit of a spread, but I've found that to be a benefit more often than not, since it's easier to hit moving targets consistently. Haven't played with the new weapon update, so who knows. If you have Jade Rabbit, Sammy's been destroying with that.

As for Special, the Defiance of Yasmin is perfect for long and short range. Having very little zoom, you can tag someone who's rushing at you fairly easily, while also being able to quickly adjust when you bring it up for long range. It really has no downsides at long range, short range, or even when you're in the air:

As someone who ran shotgun almost exclusively, this has been just as reliable at the same ranges that I usually engage...

And regarding Heavy: lol heavy. Don't go for Heavy if you want to win.