Guild Wars 2

Hello everyone,

I am here to discuss and propose a more interesting system of leadership and communication in Guild Wars 2.

So the dev team made a beautifull work on the WvWvW, but I fear that this will not keep players playing it for a long time as it is too mutch causual oriented, witch is good, but no options are in for players who want to invest more time in it.
WvWvW is a strategy oriented war game, keeping dongeons under your control, taking towers to the ennemy, not falling into the trap of attaking an easy target as you won’t be able to keep it for a time. All this needs leadership and communication.

So the GW2 groups are 5 people groups… Great for small ambushes but not for real war stuff. So comes into play the Commander book and the squad system. Seriously? This is the stuff that you put into game to make WvW be a war game and not just a big pvp map? A small symbol above the head of the commander and a squad that nobody heard of it nor joins it? A map that displays only people that are around you even if you are a commander? There is like what, 100 people on the same side in a WvW map, and the communication system is done by the “map” chat?
I will stop whining and start proposing ideas, as I have a good experience in leading as well as IRL or in other games like EVE Online, which Arenanet dev team should learn.

The Ideas, an overview:
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? The hierarchy system :
As the grouping in Gw2 is 5 people like said over, the Squad system should work like an assemblage of those said groups into a bigger, but not just for beautifull purposes but also for communication. Every group having his own orders system, as the leader (and there should be a group leader in PVP as even the communist army has a general) can distribute them to his group, lock his group from the squad/division commander and give a group name. Then comes the squad leader (let’s say a 50gc book for being it should be good) that can make 5 people groups assemble under his orders, I think 3 groups should be good, he then can give orders to the group leaders, communicate to all groups in squad chat as the commander, move members from one group to another and give a squad name. Then comes the commender, that can assemble a division that would be consisted of let’s say 3 squads, making like this a 9 groups division. The commander can then: give orders to squad leaders, move members in the division to another part (group or squad), talk in the division chat as the commander and give a division name.
So here is the tree of the new hierarchy grouping:

1. Division Commander
1.1 Squad Commander
1.1.1 Group Leader
1.1.1.1 Group Member
1.1.1.2 Group Member
1.1.1.3 Group Member
1.1.1.4 Group Member
1.1.2 Group Leader
1.1.2.1 Group Member
1.1.2.2 Group Member
1.1.2.3 Group Member
1.1.2.4 Group Member
1.1.3 Group Leader
1.1.3.1 Group Member
1.1.3.2 Group Member
1.1.3.3 Group Member
1.1.3.4 Group Member
1.2 Squad Commander
1.2.1 Group Leader
1.2.1.1 Group Member
1.2.1.2 Group Member
1.2.1.3 Group Member
1.2.1.4 Group Member
1.2.2 Group Leader
1.2.2.1 Group Member
1.2.2.2 Group Member
1.2.2.3 Group Member
1.2.2.4 Group Member
1.2.3 Group Leader
1.2.3.1 Group Member
1.2.3.2 Group Member
1.2.3.3 Group Member
1.2.3.4 Group Member
1.3 Squad Commander
1.3.1 Group Leader
1.3.1.1 Group Member
1.3.1.2 Group Member
1.3.1.3 Group Member
1.3.1.4 Group Member
1.3.2 Group Leader
1.3.2.1 Group Member
1.3.2.2 Group Member
1.3.2.3 Group Member
1.3.2.4 Group Member
1.3.3 Group Leader
1.3.3.1 Group Member
1.3.3.2 Group Member
1.3.3.3 Group Member
1.3.3.4 Group Member

? Now the joining system
As we need to do if as instinctive as possible, for casual players to fit in easily and the more experienced players to get in fast here is how I see a good joining system:
The UI should have a new window as you get into WvW: a joining window. This should show the divisions that are formed into the map. The player chooses witch division he wants to join, then a division and then the group (if not neither locked nor full).The player will be able to see what members are in a division/squad/group for him to find is friends easily. As well in the chat system there should be a “click to join group/squad/division” system. Let’s say I am a Group leader, I need two more people for my group to operate effectively, I go to my group window, shift+click the name to ping it in the local chat. Then all the people will see my group name in the chat and they just need to click for them to join my group.
Let say a new division commander arrived on the battle; he then can form a Division by inviting squad commanders to his new created one. This works as well for the squad commander.

? The changes in what you see :
In the map, the commander should be able to see every key person in the field. That means squad commanders, group leaders and other division commanders. Like this:
The squad commander should see the group leaders and the commander:
The group leader and a group member should see of course the commander and the squad commander:
A not in division player should see no change in his map.

? Chat changes :
Well like I told there should be the ability to ping a group/squad/division for “click to join” purposes. I also talked about new chats: the division, squad and command ones, let’s take a look, those work as easily as any other chat in the game, any player in the division can talk in the division chat, any player in the squad can talk in the squad chat, and any player in the group can talk in the group chat. How does both the division and squad commanders fit in? They have the command chat, in which only the division and squad commander can chat.

? Reward changes :
Well of course we need reward, if not why do such a thing as the division?
Commander gives an order to a group; group leader accepts order group members receive order. They now need to accomplish the order in a particular time. Why? For rewards! Cumulative rewards of course. Like drop bonuses on karma, gold, and insignias given in the event complement rewards.
For a group:
5 orders accomplished: +2% bonuses on karma received for events
10 orders accomplished: +2% bonuses on karma received for events
25 orders accomplished: +2% bonuses on karma received for events
50 orders accomplished: +2% bonuses on karma received for events
100 orders accomplished: +2% bonuses on karma received for events
For a squad:
50 orders accomplished: +2% bonuses on insignia drop rate
100 orders accomplished: +2% bonuses on insignia drop rate
250 orders accomplished: +2% bonuses on insignia drop rate
500 orders accomplished: +2% bonuses on insignia drop rate
1000 orders accomplished: +2% bonuses on insignia drop rate
For a division:
500 orders accomplished: +2% bonuses on gold received for events
1000 orders accomplished: +2% bonuses on gold received for events
2500 orders accomplished: +2% bonuses on gold received for events
5000 orders accomplished: +2% bonuses on gold received for events
10000 orders accomplished: +2% bonuses on gold received for events

So what it basically means that the more time a division is on the battlefield the more rewards it will have. Well yes! And the only possible way for a division to cease to exist is that the commander leaves it without nominating a new commander. Same for squads.

The ideas, a resume:
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-Added squad commander and functionalities
-Added squad and command chat
-New joining system
-New hierarchy system
-Added group leader functionalities
-“click to join” functionality
-Improved orders system
-New reward system

That’s seems like a lot of things but in the end it isn’t. I think this is the start to make World versus World not just another massive pvp mode but a good one.
Thanks for reading and please post if you like or have some corrections for the devs to see! (three posts due to long text)

EDIT :
I give the permission to Arenanet and any other company working on the game Guild Wars 2 to take these ideas and act as if they are their own.