Here is some more information that you might be interested in... This statement was not written by me, or anyone at Mythic. Instead, this is from your friendly neighborhood team leads, who would like you to know their role within DAOC. Read, enjoy. --Sanya It has become very obvious that many players don't understand the role of the testing teams and the Team Leaders now that the game has gone live. This post is to clear a few of those misconceptions. First, the Team Leaders are players, NOT Mythic employees. They are volunteers who have chosen to spend some of their free time helping to make the game better for everyone, often at the expense of being able to play the game for fun. So be aware that they are players, not employees, and don't aways wear the Team Leader hat when in game - please respect their choice if they ask you to post your feelings, observations, or concerns to some message board because they are playing and not testing at the moment. The testing teams were introduced to help the individual developers stay on top of important issues that might otherwise be missed. These teams are to delve into the strengths and weaknesses of each area in depth, and note bugs, issues, concerns, and areas where there is imbalance. Each class has a testing team, there is a quest team for each realm, and a tradeskill team. These testing teams include players on the live servers as well as on the Pendragon test server. The primary role of the Team Leaders is ensuring that the realms are balanced against each other, and bringing bugs and other concerns to the developer's attention. Their secondary role is to act as a class advocate; making suggestions to keep the class fun to play while not being overpowered or underpowered within the limits of the vision for each class. Team Leaders and team members are encouraged to dabble with other classes to get a feel for their balance and a fresh perspective on their own class. Please note that their highest responsibility is to help create a balanced game, not looking out for a particular class or realm although they are advocates for their area. Many Team Leaders have called for strengthening their class when its weak, and called for weakening their class when it's too strong - that is their role. However, they are not the last word on class balance. They provide feedback and suggestions, and then the developers make their own decisions internally. The duties of the Team Leader include reading the closed Team Leader boards, reading and moderating their area forums on the closed Pendragon test-server boards, and maintaining contact with the player base beyond that as they see fit. Their presence on any board other than the Pendgon test-server board is not mandatory. They must test any changes that affect their area as they are implemented on Pendragon, keeping in mind the overall balance and vision. It is then their responsibility to collate the opinions, observations, and data pertaining to their area and present that information in an unbiased fashion to the developers. This usually happens once a month with a Team Leader Report that they may choose to share on public boards if they wish, though they are not required to. The Team Leaders are not involved with developer discussions once their reports and posts on the Team Leader board have been made, nor are they part of prioritizing changes, new content, and new features. They are not informed of changes being made before the patch notes are put on the Herald and the Pendragon test-server boards. Team Leaders are not customer service representatives. Many of them have their /advisor flag set to "on" when they play, but they cannot make changes in game, unstick characters, or perform other CSR functions. The Team Leaders are volunteers, in many cases they have spent over a year putting in a daily effort to make DAoC a quality game. They continue to provide data, concerns, and support for the players and the developers, asking for little more than being treated respectfully.