Guild Wars 2

I have recently engaged in playing Edge of the Mists more often and have grown familiar with the map layout in general as well as the various tactics commanders use throughout the map yet I consider myself no total expert in this field of game play nor have I ever pinned/tagged up to carry the burdens that may naturally arise as being a commander in general, however, there are times where I COULD HAVE stepped in to give assistance but held back due to the impression that I am probably going to do an inferior task of it.

I merely wish to further improve my knowledge and experience(s) at EoTM and possibly having a go at taking up the task of commanding in EoTM if assistance is needed and I think it would greatly help if any EoTM commanders out there could give some advice they have, their experiences or if you could take the time to answer any of the questions I have in this post below. Furthermore, I think discussing said questions or answers would help others out there stuck in a similar situation as mine.

Foremost, I encourage anyone and everyone on their thoughts about this particular question – What do YOU think makes a good/decent/swell EoTM commander?

The following question(s) are more in-depth, aimed directly at anyone who has/does command in EoTM and would be further appreciated if answered/discussed amongst yourselves or your own personal experiences:

1. If you command in EoTM what is the first thing you try to do and/or what are the prime objectives you go for when commanding in EoTM? (e.g 1; things that should be done first above everything else or depending on your team’s situation e.g 2; you’ve lost a lot of your BLs to the enemy or you already own a lot of territory)

2. You are familiar with the map; what way(s) do you go about capping objectives? (e.g; do you cap as you go, skip certain things etc)

3. Multi-tasking can be overwhelming at times (e.g; actions to take next, listening to map/team chat, know where you’re going, who is doing what and so much more). Do you take the time to try and sort things out or do you continue on with what you’re currently trying to achieve and hope to resolve things afterwards?

4. What BLs are your preference or find the easiest to dominate during gameplay due to the map/terrain/mechanics design(s)?

5. Is it okay to have a vague plan of what you want to cap next and if things go awry do you have a back-up plan or do you simply move on to the next closest objective?

6. Tagless commanders. Despite the immense amount of players buying tags before the price increase I still see players commanding/running zergs without a tag/pin – Is it difficult and how do you go about maintaining a dominant role if you don’t have a tag/pin? (e.g; keeping & informing players where to go etc)

7. Siege. Very straight forward – whether it be bringing down walls or ramming in gates how do you go about using siege in EoTM and do you have any tips for siege placement and/or siege placement hot-spots within the map?

8. Defending. Straight to the point – Are you experienced at defending a certain objective and how do you go about preparing an objective for defense via siege placement? (e.g; reasonable spots for siege placement when defending)

9. What are some ways to keep an eye on the actions/movements of your enemy? (e.g; do you have someone to track enemy movements or do you merely keep an eye on the minimap and guess the enemy location/intentions)

10. When you encounter an enemy zerg what is your first move/decision? (entirely depending on your current situation, your own zerg’s state & placement. E.g; engage at whatever cost, defend or build siege such as AC’s, Balli’s etc)

11. Every EoTM commander would have experienced some form of negative intent on them. How do you go about ‘keeping your cool’; do you even try to stay calm?

12. What do you enjoy most about commanding in EoTM?

13. Is there anything you dislike about commanding in EoTM?

14. If possible, please share a positive and/or negative experience you had as an EoTM commander?

15. Have you ever made any regrets as an EoTM commander?

16. Have you ever given up a session of commanding for whatever reason? (e.g; the enemy is relentlessly dominating, little to few allies on to make it worthwhile etc)

17. As an EoTM commander is there anything you would not recommend and why?

18. As an EoTM commander is there anything that has made you better yourself at commanding in EoTM?

19. As an EoTM commander what do you expect from your fellow followers/players/zerg?

20. How do you deal with inner conflict within your zerg as an EoTM commander?

21. If you command in EoTM and have an active zerg how do you go about communicating with them to get your idea/point across? (e.g; do you repeat your motives just in case)

(Rest of questions and summary in my second post)

(Continued)

22. Your zerg is split up/half missing or to put it bluntly – a long, snaking line at times. What would you do? (e.g; ignore it and continue doing your thing, wait for players to catch up etc)

23. It is understandable that a commander cannot be in all places at once. When do you find it appropriate to revive fallen/dead allies/downed players? Do you even bother aiding these players?

24. When is it a good idea to regroup when you are commanding in EoTM?

25. Your level of skill, gear & intended role/play-style when commanding in EoTM:

(i) How experienced would you label yourself as an EoTM commander?
(ii) What gear do you prefer to run when commanding in EoTM? (this ranges from gear/weapons/traits – you name it!)
(iii) What role/play-style do you run when commanding in EoTM? (e.g; survivability, outright offensive via damage, support or whatever you feel like equipping yourself with under the impression/knowledge that you’re surrounded by many other players to help you out)

The above question is vague but from my own personal experiences I’ve seen a few EoTM commanders clad in full tanky gear/traits so as to ‘stay alive’ the longest for whatever reason ranging to EoTM commanders who get downed so quickly it makes me ponder if they were willing to fall prone to death so fast or simply ran mindlessly head-first into enemy firing lines.

Feel free to discuss that question further.

26. Do you have a specific class/profession you choose when commanding in EoTM and why do you use that class/profession? (e.g; Mesmer, Warrior etc)

27. Funny moments. I’m sure we’ve all had some good, memorable times when commanding in EoTM. If you come across a specific opportunity would you take it regardless if it succeeds or not? (e.g; ‘portal bombs’, surprising an enemy zerg via veil(s) etc)

That is all for now. Yes, this is quite a lengthy post and I’m dearly sorry but I’ve been brooding over solutions for quite some time. As previously stated, feel free to discuss any of these questions amongst yourselves or if you have any feedback regarding said question(s) don’t hesitate to inform me – anything is greatly appreciated!

It’s too much for me to answer each question, so I’ll just share my general opinion/limited experince:

The best you can do to learn, is to just switch the tag on. 95 % of the players will be happy and follow you without complaining as long as they are happy. I generally try to avoid doing the stuff other commanders annoy me with.

I command seldom ankitten ot the best (I’ve definitely seen worse though), but when I do, my first aim is to avoid fights against lager zergs for a while, which usually will lead to a growing own zerg. People also seem to be more forgiving for getting wiped two, three times, if they gathered enough points beforehand. When I feel “in the flow” I will check on the amount of uplevels and take on fights though. But after losing once or twice avoid hopless fights, as half the zerg will just flee by the sight of an enemy.

Alot depends on what colour you are though, or rather which colour are the highest ranked server/s is/are (at least in EU). So what works on one day/week, may not work the next time.

I prefer to run on my Necro, as it’s my main and I have the most experience on it and I’m not tempted to rush ahead with annoying dash and port skills. It’s best to stay as compact as possible. I try to get a Guard or two into the group for Stability etc. as a dead commander is quite bad in Eotm, but an invincible Commander who loses half his Zerg jumping into the enemy is just as bad.

If we die, I say sorry but also try to give some advice incase I noticed anything particular that went wrong on our side.

One of the best commanders I ran with a few times a while back, had reoccuring commands macro’d, so he just had to press the relevant button to give quick instructions. It worked quite well, but for some reason I’m too lazy to do that.

Two last things: Imo a bit of wvw experince (not necessarily as a commander) is advantageous and don’t take EoTM too serious.

In EOTM you really only need two things; get karma and keep a positive morale. Do your best to cap things even if the odds are against you. The majority of people are there for leveling alts or farming mats/karma. Some people are there for fights but don’t try to please everyone unless you’re capable of doing a mixture of both. And when you wipe, because odds are, it will happen, keep a positive morale. I personally don’t command all that often but I’ve never gotten anything but compliments. I keep my zerg happy by making jokes, having conversations with them and allowing them to give their input on what we should do next instead of making them feel like they have no control over where we go. If people are still smiling after a wipe they’ll keep following you instead of leaving the map, so make sure not to put people down or to create a negative atmosphere. Positive morale can go a long way, trust me.

Just going to chime in really superficially here.

If you wipe, dont blame the train.
If tower is paper and wall is damaged, Cata > Ram.
Do not use regular rams in enemy territory.
It is your responsibility to carry food you think your train should have.
Do not call anyone an idiot for doing something that is even slightly beneficial to you, even if it was not called for. *
*If you wipe, do not make the same mistake that got your train wiped unless your land is [outnumbered] and there’s nothing else to do.
*Port golems back when not in use.
You should at least carry -some- siege if not all siege you plan to need for capping objectives.
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Those are a lot of questions, but I’d like to answer a few that I feel strongly about.

26. Do you have a specific class/profession you choose when commanding in EoTM and why do you use that class/profession? (e.g; Mesmer, Warrior etc)

I prefer Guardian/Warrior if only for their sheer tankiness. If they get focused, they are easier to keep alive.

5. Is it okay to have a vague plan of what you want to cap next and if things go awry do you have a back-up plan or do you simply move on to the next closest objective?

Yes. Your plan should loosely follow cap→supply→cap and if that chain is broken anywhere in between, fall back either to the keep or last capped objective, regroup, and continue in a different or the same direction.

11. Every EoTM commander would have experienced some form of negative intent on them. How do you go about ‘keeping your cool’; do you even try to stay calm?

Realize that you are going to suck at least half of the time. No matter how good you are, every battle is a coin flip. you can either find someone more or less prepared than you driving. You will get just as much negativity as you do positivity though, if you are doing your job.

8. Defending. Straight to the point – Are you experienced at defending a certain objective and how do you go about preparing an objective for defense via siege placement? (e.g; reasonable spots for siege placement when defending)

Aim catas at doors from within walled objectives to keep meleers away from doors.

Place arrow carts as far back toward the inner edge of a wall as possible. If it is virtually untargetable from outside you’ve done a good job.

As the above poster stated Dont take it serious. you will -need- to tag up to learn. people are going to say you suck.
Just remember that you decided to tag up instead of them, and that you’re willing to lead. At the same time though, you need to remain humble. Take note of every defeat and always accept some portion of the blame for the defeat. use that defeat to learn, and endeavor not to make the same mistake.

Youll be a good commander in no time. you’re asking all the right questions already.

So many questions.

I think the most important thing is to know your own zerg.

What is your number? Are there many uplevels? How tight do they follow you? How quick do they response to your command? Do they read chat? These are often ignored by some commanders. And I think these determines the actions you can take.

Should u fight or karmatrain? Uplevel, outnumber, no point to “fight” and get the zerg wipe. And sometimes it’s better to just skip the heavily sieged FR south gate.

How many defeat did you have? One or two defeat is fine but if you have more, zerg will leave. So it would be better to just karma train if you feel the moral is low.

Is it possible for the zerg to skip objective? If the zerg don’t even read chat, circle away from the objective to skip.