Guild Wars 2

I have a potential solution to some of the issues (breaking up zergs, new player being lost, small guilds looking to help out the war effort, etc.) with wvw and a method of potentially increasing the overall skill cap for wvw. I think it would improve wvw if commanders are given dynamic event like tools. The commanders could place the events (not suggesting rewards for completion) on the map for those in their squad (attack, defend/hold, build siege @ X location, etc.). There could be feedback in the system indicating if the desired number people are at the objective, so the squad members and commander can know which objectives are being done and which need more to complete. This will break up the zergs (reduce culling) by allowing a commander to easily hit multiple targets at the same time, forcing each side to respond in kind by attacking/defending multiple objectives. Thoughts?

Pretty fun idea! I just thought it’s very similar to the already implemented defense events when you go to a tower and the timer counts down but with more options. It does give people an incentive to follow commands but I’m not entirely sure how everyone will react. There is the “Join Squad” option which is handy but there are players who don’t even know that option exists. I do agree that there needs to be some kind of improvement for commanders; give them a little more to work with! :P

This is a pretty good idea, given that commanders won’t have too much power. It should say which commander placed the order, and should have an expiration.

Oh boy… does that commander and squad system needs work. But it seems that Arenanet thinks it’s working fine. Two ways to group in the game…. either 5 people or less… or use a system that has no flexibility for different guilds or players styles.

I like this idea. Are there limits to how many people can click on a commander and join squad? If not, then only people in that commanders squad should see the commanders objectives to avoid 100 commander objectives on the map

Making squads /private or /guild only would also solve the problem by allowing only those in the squad to see the pin. That way guilds have a way to group up with more than 5 people and not get flamed and harassed for putting a pin up and not leading the whole zone.

I think this idea needs to get to the devs. This is awesome. As a commander we are very limited to what we can do. Sure we can see who is in our squad and how much supply they have. However, when we are in the middle of attacking a tower across the map, and a bunch of people just get in. Where do they go? What do they do? Run to the zerg? Sure they could, but what if our camps are being attacked or a tower? This would be perfect to say ok guys by lowlands go X, or Y., or set up counter treb here. Then on the map it would show us what is going on. I am a very firm believer that commanders need ALOT more tools to really be more effective. Its so hard to sometimes be running around while hitting M every other second lol.

This looks exploitable.. lol
I could sit in a corner dropping siege n people farm it.

And you just explain what usually happens on servers with good guilds that communicate O_O

Only problem i have with pins… is that sometimes people been leading a map for 2-4 hours and someone new log and puts a pin/pulls people away from the objective.

Also all the random people that goes to EB gate and try to pick a fight while the commander trying to get klovan/oggerwatch/durios. You have 20-30 people being dumb without accomplish an objective.

I don’t know about it being exploitative, but I would expect the commander to sit back and play the map (they already do it to some extent by hitting M and getting reports from scouts). I guess in my mind I envision the commander sitting in a keep getting information from the scouts and placing objectives on the map for their squad to accomplish. I fully agree that most guilds/servers manage the battle to a lesser or greater extent using voice servers and websites. The in-game tools we have available limit the extent a commander can micro manage the battle. It is difficult to micro manage the militia in-game due to chat suppression and the rate at which a commander can type the objectives in chat. It is very taxing (under current tools) for a commander to keep many things going on at the same time, this leads to why I believe zergs are popular. It is easy to say everyone stack on me, follow, supply on me, etc. I believe most of us would agree while zerging can be fun, most of us would prefer a well organized overarching battle where tasks are assigned and the individuals of the squad accomplish them. It should be noted that zergs have lots of limitations, one of which is true map control. One or two zergs can’t control the map if many strikes are being done simultaneously. I believe that with a greater sustained micro management of the battle (aided by in-game tools) the zergs will fall by the wayside and the wvw experience will progress to something even more enjoyable for all of us. Thank you everyone for your thoughts so far.

Great ideas Horobi! I cannot add anything else…

Bad idea. WvW is too dynamic to drop events in the middle of the map and sit and wait for people there. sometimes it takes a ton of time to gather people for a safezone breakout event, besides good half of commanders are just wearing the badge being pretty useless.

I think the issue with the breakout event you are referring to is due to little to no players being on the map. It is very rare for a med to full map to have a breakout event. I am suggesting a solution to dealing with the situations where there are many people on the map constituting the militia and they need to be organized into the war effort. Thanks

—Especially— on the full server, with a lot of people moving around the map, stationary dynamic events are pointless.

I think this is a great idea!!! This would bring a whole new level of tactics I think is needed to help organize the militia.

This would help more casual players join a commander squad to assist with the war effort.