Yep, an indicator that you are squad leader is a must. I'm a (fairly) competent squad leader and sometimes i just flat out don't realize i'm leading. Whoops!

MAG's squad list system was perfect. In the corner of the screen was a small list that showed the names of the people in your squad, an indicator beside the squad leader's name, indicator if a member needed a medic, and the time countdown to next respawn of each member. All of that is crucial information. If the window was too distracting to you you could press a button to collapse it. I'm not a total MAG fanboy. The fact is that system i describe was perfect. You have every vital piece of info you need at a glance.

Also, It's really not beneficial to be leader as i always seem to get less SP and less ISK than my squad. That shouldn't be. As leader I spend more time fiddling with placing orders than i do hacking or killing. That's to be expected with anyone in a position of leadership (to not work so hard physically), but usually they get a much higher pay grade than the grunts do. The leader should be rewarded far more so that he actually wants to be leader and wants to do it well. Currently players either pass it off like a hot potato or just ignore the fact they are leader entirely. ::facepalm::

Agreed. It's known that alot of us MAG players have moved to DUST and i do hate when people on the forums say " DUST should be more like [insert favorite game here]" But the fact remains there are legitimate aspects of MAG that would lend themselves well to DUST since both games strive to value and reward leadership and teamwork. MAG wasn't perfect by any stretch, but alot of things worked very well. If MAG never existed i would likely recommend the same features anyway, it's just that MAG did exist and implemented alot of useful features that you can easily point to and say "do it like that, it works".