I actually lost a normal island expedition

As the title Implies, we were however all below 120. They are one of the easier forms of content in the game, the group was actually just following me, which makes me feel much worse.

This whole situation has me feeling like a complete moron.

it is easy to lose if the other team gets a lucky spawn point with loads of rares and stuff close.
also what helps is if you actually go after the other team that way you hold them off by forcing them to respawn.