Guild Wars 2

I feel like almost anyone has one for a character of theirs and half the time either they dont know what theyre doing in wvw, they dont do wvw at all, or just farmed so long that they just decided to buy one. Do people buy it for aesthetics just to have a star next to their name? Or does anyone actually use it for wvw experiences purposes.

You’re confused, the star next to the persons name means they have finished map completion. The commander icon is the blue arrow that shows above their head.

Ooooooooooo that makes total sense… Thank you quick question. Does that blue symbol always show over Ur head or is it when your in wvw?

That crazy, so many people have ran through the world that quickly

As far as I know, you can turn it on/off at will. A lot of people wear their commander icon in town, but it’s sort of frowned upon by some (not myself, personally).

Edit: By the commander icon, I mean the blue arrow.

Ya i can see how it can be abused

The Commander icon means nothing more than that the person who has it had more Gold than common sense.

Oglaf.1074:

The Commander icon means nothing more than that the person who has it had more Gold than common sense.

Thats funny

Oglaf.1074:

The Commander icon means nothing more than that the person who has it had more Gold than common sense.

False. While I may not like to see it in PVE, there are some really good commanders out there who deserve to be recognized and followed, this is aided by the icon.

Jrunyon.3012:

Oglaf.1074:

The Commander icon means nothing more than that the person who has it had more Gold than common sense.

False. While I may not like to see it in PVE, there are some really good commanders out there who deserve to be recognized and followed, this is aided by the icon.

Definitely, but some just get it for show, and i think he meant the people that do that

Well there are some good commander indeed. Fact is, imho, commander shouldn’t be a “i’ve got gold so i’m a commander”, but “i’m distinguished myself in battle, i’ma. Commander”. Could ve been that after kill and conquered many enemies and fortresses, you get the elegibility, like a title or an achievement. Or something like that.

Sure there are some decent ones, but also many poor or undeserving ones.. that’s why being able to purchase your Com Tag is a bad idea by ANET.

I would much rather have a ranking system based on players voting on each others performances after events or WvWvW battles / PvP zones.
When a player reaches a certain amount of votes they gain a rank up the command chain and then when they reach a ceertain level they are offered the tag by way of achievement.
Not as easy as it sounds to implement i guess, especailly in WvWvW where the players are zoning in/out all the time but I am sure there is some bright sparks out in the ether that could cobble something together.

I’ve also seen the commander icons put to good use organising guild events or group farming runs – makes it a lot easier to keep up if you get separated from the group.

Well then having rank an prestige is just like in RL. Some people earn it by putting the effort in and some people buy it.

Bloodstealer.5978:

Sure there are some decent ones, but also many poor or undeserving ones.. that’s why being able to purchase your Com Tag is a bad idea by ANET.

I would much rather have a ranking system based on players voting on each others performances after events or WvWvW battles / PvP zones.
When a player reaches a certain amount of votes they gain a rank up the command chain and then when they reach a ceertain level they are offered the tag by way of achievement.
Not as easy as it sounds to implement i guess, especailly in WvWvW where the players are zoning in/out all the time but I am sure there is some bright sparks out in the ether that could cobble something together.

I don’t think this will work either. So what happens if there is a server which lacks interest in PVP, and where you simply cannot get enough votes to meet the criteria?

Offering the rank for just being in PVP a lot doesn’t work either. Some people PVP all the time, and still don’t know what to do and/or how to lead.

Pretty much all the games I ever played were PVP games, and me and my guild are mostly world PVPers. And from the trends I’ve seen, I think I can make some observations:
- By far most people are not interested in leading. Really leading is work and requires quite a time investment.
- There are a lot of wannabe leaders out there, in every game. They shout a lot, tend to troll in the global channel about how bad other leaders are, or even try to countermand orders from people actually trying to lead. In this game, sadly, they can also buy an icon.
- Real leaders tend to stand out by ability. Those who PVP regularly, find out fast who actually knows what they’re doing

I actually think the whole personalised commander icon thing was one of the most horrible idea ever to be implemented in any game. I would have vastly preferred an ability to form ’warbands’* like in Warhammer (24 people groups or so), with internal communication that cannot be disrupted by the trolls I mentioned above. This also makes it a lot easier to send out coordinated parties to different targets. But no icons please, not even for warband leaders… it makes it WAY too easy on spies, for one.

Edit: Please note, I’m not talking about a squad (that only a commander can make) but about a group that ANYONE can start. I honestly think 50 is a bit much, it strains flexibility. And making it so that only people who spend 100 gold can make a larger grouping is just absurd.

Oglaf.1074:

The Commander icon means nothing more than that the person who has it had more Gold than common sense.

All it really means is they have the gold for the icon. Dun mean they can find their butt with both hands, GPS and a field guide, tho. Watched one kitten away all the supplies in our tower yest (GoM) during a breakout siege buying an outfitter upgrade. Because that was so much more important then being able to make repairs and build siege weapons. Needless to say, we immediately went from winning that siege to loosing the tower. Then Bay. I see more people abandoning ship after this week.

Bloodstealer.5978:

Sure there are some decent ones, but also many poor or undeserving ones.. that’s why being able to purchase your Com Tag is a bad idea by ANET.

I would much rather have a ranking system based on players voting on each others performances after events or WvWvW battles / PvP zones.
When a player reaches a certain amount of votes they gain a rank up the command chain and then when they reach a ceertain level they are offered the tag by way of achievement.
Not as easy as it sounds to implement i guess, especailly in WvWvW where the players are zoning in/out all the time but I am sure there is some bright sparks out in the ether that could cobble something together.

+5000 this. Getting a commander icon should be merit based o the view of the people you play with. Not loot sold from dungeon crawls and market manipulation. I know a number of folks I listen to over some “commanders”.

Jrunyon.3012:

Oglaf.1074:

The Commander icon means nothing more than that the person who has it had more Gold than common sense.

False. While I may not like to see it in PVE, there are some really good commanders out there who deserve to be recognized and followed, this is aided by the icon.

The keyword here being some. Far too many stupid people with it.

I agree buying it with gold is kitten it should be bought with WvWvW badges at least.

Sleel.8365:

Bloodstealer.5978:

Sure there are some decent ones, but also many poor or undeserving ones.. that’s why being able to purchase your Com Tag is a bad idea by ANET.

I would much rather have a ranking system based on players voting on each others performances after events or WvWvW battles / PvP zones.
When a player reaches a certain amount of votes they gain a rank up the command chain and then when they reach a ceertain level they are offered the tag by way of achievement.
Not as easy as it sounds to implement i guess, especailly in WvWvW where the players are zoning in/out all the time but I am sure there is some bright sparks out in the ether that could cobble something together.

+5000 this. Getting a commander icon should be merit based o the view of the people you play with. Not loot sold from dungeon crawls and market manipulation. I know a number of folks I listen to over some “commanders”.

‘Merrit based’ has problems too, though. Based on PVP badges? Just participating and earning badges doesn’t make you a good leader. Based on votes? What’s to stop people from just having the entire guild and/or alliance vote for them? I can assure you that this will not be an improvement. Also, some of the best PVP leaders I’ve known were from really small guilds, where they were not even the guild leader.

Broom.2561:

Sleel.8365:

Bloodstealer.5978:

Sure there are some decent ones, but also many poor or undeserving ones.. that’s why being able to purchase your Com Tag is a bad idea by ANET.

I would much rather have a ranking system based on players voting on each others performances after events or WvWvW battles / PvP zones.
When a player reaches a certain amount of votes they gain a rank up the command chain and then when they reach a ceertain level they are offered the tag by way of achievement.
Not as easy as it sounds to implement i guess, especailly in WvWvW where the players are zoning in/out all the time but I am sure there is some bright sparks out in the ether that could cobble something together.

+5000 this. Getting a commander icon should be merit based o the view of the people you play with. Not loot sold from dungeon crawls and market manipulation. I know a number of folks I listen to over some “commanders”.

‘Merrit based’ has problems too, though. Based on PVP badges? Just participating and earning badges doesn’t make you a good leader. Based on votes? What’s to stop people from just having the entire guild and/or alliance vote for them? I can assure you that this will not be an improvement. Also, some of the best PVP leaders I’ve known were from really small guilds, where they were not even the guild leader.

It may have its problems too, but it is certainly better than buying it with gold or gems.

I have seen “Commanders” in LA (not the overflow) that I have never seen in WvW, so some people are buying it just to show off.
In WvW there are commanders of varying skill, and I know of a couple of very good commanders where they did not have the money to buy it themselves (too much of their own money spent on siege and site upgrades) where their fellow guildies all chipped in to raise the money.
I do agree that it is too easy for idiots, farmers and market manipulators to get commander when they don’t really have the ability.
I think what they should have done (but too late now) is add an extra WvW achievement for cash spent on site upgrades and then had an additional requirement for commander that you must reach a certain level in each of the WvW achievements that shows at least an experience level and a dedication to WvW – it would have at least weeded out those who just want to run around with the icon giving orders without making a real contribution.

I think there ought to be 3 different ones.
Maybe
Blue bought for gold as they are now
Green earned via WvW playtime and achievements
Red awarded by fellow players and some formula proving WvW leadership success.

Now, you guys, figure it out. :-)

You can turn them on an off, my guild finally raised enough money for mine. kudos to all commanders in wvw, it is stressful and often under appreciated.

That said some people certainly just buy them to look cool in LA

Almost every good commander has the commander title, but the majority of people with commander titles aren’t good commanders.

Ashanor.5319:

Broom.2561:

Sleel.8365:

Bloodstealer.5978:

Sure there are some decent ones, but also many poor or undeserving ones.. that’s why being able to purchase your Com Tag is a bad idea by ANET.

I would much rather have a ranking system based on players voting on each others performances after events or WvWvW battles / PvP zones.
When a player reaches a certain amount of votes they gain a rank up the command chain and then when they reach a ceertain level they are offered the tag by way of achievement.
Not as easy as it sounds to implement i guess, especailly in WvWvW where the players are zoning in/out all the time but I am sure there is some bright sparks out in the ether that could cobble something together.

+5000 this. Getting a commander icon should be merit based o the view of the people you play with. Not loot sold from dungeon crawls and market manipulation. I know a number of folks I listen to over some “commanders”.

‘Merrit based’ has problems too, though. Based on PVP badges? Just participating and earning badges doesn’t make you a good leader. Based on votes? What’s to stop people from just having the entire guild and/or alliance vote for them? I can assure you that this will not be an improvement. Also, some of the best PVP leaders I’ve known were from really small guilds, where they were not even the guild leader.

It may have its problems too, but it is certainly better than buying it with gold or gems.

It’s not really all THAT much better though. You would still get people who ‘buy’ the icon, either by manipulating the vote or by manipulating the achievements. I’ve met people in other games who’d gotten their PVP rank through PL services… just saying.

I mentioned Warhammer previously because the PVP game was similar in some points, but it worked without any commander icons. Those who led warbands made a reputation purely by their actions, and it was interesting to see. Some leaders were very successful, but were constantly calling everyone names, so if there was an alternative, people outside their guilds tended to avoid joining their warbands alltogether. Others were known as armchair quarterbacks, with pretty much the same results. And yet others were so successful AND charismatic they actually had to appoint lieutenants to lead secondary warbands, and people would be /friending them and sending them tells as soon as they got on line, begging them to come take over. And this is how it tends to work in pretty much all games that have massive world PVP.

Basically, I’m saying DITCH the kitteny icons, give everyone their gold back and be done with it. Enable everyone to make squads, and let the players themselves determine who they want to follow. It worked in other games, so why not here?

It lets people play follow the leader.
It’s nice to have someone to follow when you’re new to WvW and don’t know anyone.
Granted, it doesn’t mean they’re competent; just that they’re willing to invest 100g in something for WvW.

I talked with a commander before who said he never does WvWvW, he just wanted the icon. He also had it on more than one character.

If you want it make sure you buy it sooner rather than later. At some point I can definitely see them changing it as when more and more come around it will become confusing and defeat the purpose of said icon. Not to mention cluttering event maps, towns, etc etc.

I know it has its uses and I like the above poster’s idea of having different ways to get one, being signified by differentiating colors. IMO, commanders that have the icon and got it as a result of good motives and skill should also be humble enough to turn it off in Lion’s Arch and other non-pvp zones where it’s completely unnecessary.

After all, none of us need a “commander” to find our way around Lion’s Arch or Shaemoor Fields. That would be Tour Guide Barbie’s job.

I think the icon shouldn’t even appear outside of WvWvW.

kangaroo.8753:

Well there are some good commander indeed. Fact is, imho, commander shouldn’t be a “i’ve got gold so i’m a commander”, but “i’m distinguished myself in battle, i’ma. Commander”. Could ve been that after kill and conquered many enemies and fortresses, you get the elegibility, like a title or an achievement. Or something like that.

There are good commanders out there that happen to be very poor PvP players. Comes from those two things being based on different qualities.

You should be able to look up a commander and see how much stuff they’ve done in WvWvWvWvWvWvW.

Maybe the basic level commander should be bought, with higher ranks available as you gain more kills and badges.

Though I would rather have ranks associate with kills rather than badges so you don’t have a WvW jumping puzzle master as a leader.

while I dont use mine in LA, I do use it to organise guild pve events, we recently took 20 people through the mini dungeons, was a lot of fun. Looking forward to the knew guild events

i instantly hate any player who has their commander tag active anywhere but wvw…

Seren.6850:

while I dont use mine in LA, I do use it to organise guild pve events, we recently took 20 people through the mini dungeons, was a lot of fun. Looking forward to the knew guild events

This is what my guild has our commander icons for. We do quite a few events where it’s easy to get separated. The commander icon is very useful in that regard.