Guild Wars 2

Ok, a little about myself. I’m a guildless Sylvari Guardian on Kianag thats been playing since early release. For the most part all I do is WvW, once in awhile you could see me grinding on Cursed Shore. I have +3k kills in WvW, and I love it in general.

When I first started playing I remember thinking how awesome it would be to be a commander, and the minute I got my 100g I was going to do it. Now that I actually have the required gold. I don’t know if I want to.

Do I want people constanly following me around, asking me question, and looking for advice? Plus you have all the people that are going to troll you. I mean it would be nice to get the help I ask for if I become one and people would acutally kinda listen to me.

So this is mainly aimed at commanders, but I’d like everyones opinion too. Is being a commander worth it and the gold?

If in an open field battle, or out in a BG where the symbol shows on the map, there is a person with a commander tag who is giving legible instructions and not acting like a tool:

I will follow his lead.

If this is what you are looking for, do it, it will work.

It depends on how well known and respected you’ve become in WvW so far.

Do you already find yourself giving a lot of advice? Does your server have a shortage of good commanders, in your view? Can you handle the occasional trolling that every commander will get, just because you have the icon? Do you feel like a leader?

It also comes down to the question…when you get your icon, will folks on your server be asking “Who’s this new guy?” when they see your new icon? Or will most of them during your playing hours be saying “It’s about time you got that!”

If the answer is yes to questions in the first paragraph, and the latter statement of the second paragraph, there is no question that you should spend the 100G on it!

The thing is, you have to actually know battle strategies. It also probably wont be as effective as if you were a part of your respective alliance. I find guildless, non-alliance bound commanders to be a little less than useless, but a little more than annoying if they take their symbol and lead people away from where they need to be at other commanders. So consider finding a guild as part of your alliance on your server first. Or start one.

Also, most people do not troll you if you act with dignity and make fair calls, if you don’t, you are likely to gain a bad reputation for the rest of your in game life.

Also, you know you are ready to become commander when people start asking you when you are getting commander and/or suggest you should be a commander on a regular basis because of your leadership skills in WvWvW.

True to what Toble said too. Also remember, and I know this is not much of a consolation after spending the 100G, the icon can be turned on/off whenever you like in the party panel.

It’s all on you pretty much.

The main question you have to ask yourself is: do you want to lead “a server army” in the field?
If you basically say yes to this question, you have already a better premise than most of the people that have the commanderbook.

You dont really need to know battle strategies, there are plenty people in the field that have good ideas and would also buy the commanderbook if they had the money for it. You could team up with them, take their advice and learn to be able to make own calls once. However, this of course requires that you already know people that try to lead without commander book.

Additional to that, you can always turn off the commander if you wnat to be left alone.

I dont have a commander book myself since i dont farm or buy gold, i spent gold regularly on crafting mats for my secondary chars be it getting their jobs up or craft gear for them.

I actually disagree with Toble on the guildless being useless part aswell, I think a guildless commander will work with the server alot more than a commander that “only wants to have the sign for his guildies”.

Its all on you and what you want, the duty you get by having the commander on is, that people will follow you and will ask you for commands, but also will message you ideas and what probably a good move would be, the final call will be still yours, since you’re visible to everyone of your server on the map

I’m close to getting the commander title and I have been studying the terrain, maps, and military strategies very closely.

Really what is lacking in WvW (unless you’re in a solid guild) is dividing up your forces. 99% of the time people use their total force as a sledge hammer when you could split your forces into 2 or 3 different echelons to hit the enemies flanks.

Also, phased defenses work very well. I.E. you build two consecutive lines of siege vehicles behind your forward ones and fall back to them when you get overrun. I’ve seen 10 defenders using this strategy wipe out 30 people with ballistas.

Here is an interesting read: http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/army/fm100-2-1.pdf

Thanks for the feedback guys. I’ll probably hold off for now and see how it goes. Not like my gold is going anywhere.

I still curious how having 100 gold from farming or buying it off ebay makes one a capable leader? can anyone answer this for me?

cole.2450:

I still curious how having 100 gold from farming or buying it off ebay makes one a capable leader? can anyone answer this for me?

It doesn’t. Badges of Honor would have been better, but that still wouldn’t help. Best way would be some kind of voting system.

Harbinger.8637:

cole.2450:

I still curious how having 100 gold from farming or buying it off ebay makes one a capable leader? can anyone answer this for me?

It doesn’t. Badges of Honor would have been better, but that still wouldn’t help. Best way would be some kind of voting system.

I hear ya man, the commander title in this game has nothing to do with WvW accomplishments, it doesn’t even make sense. I transferred to another server(larger one) the other day just to check things out. Those guys thought they were the greatest thing since sliced bread for having that commander tag. one stated to me “if they have earned the commanders title they know what they are doing and you should follow them!” i had a lot of fun w that comment

Toble.2968:

The thing is, you have to actually know battle strategies. It also probably wont be as effective as if you were a part of your respective alliance. I find guildless, non-alliance bound commanders to be a little less than useless, but a little more than annoying if they take their symbol and lead people away from where they need to be at other commanders. So consider finding a guild as part of your alliance on your server first. Or start one.

Also, most people do not troll you if you act with dignity and make fair calls, if you don’t, you are likely to gain a bad reputation for the rest of your in game life.

This is true for the most part. Another problem is however is you will indeed encounter trolls, you have to learn to ignore them. If you are good the people who matter will follow you. The worst thing about WvW I find as a commander, is that times you will find people who do not listen, and contradict you because they are zerg fanatics.

I would say get it if your server is lacking them. If you find a commander already leading in you BG however follow them dont split your forces. Or kindly move to another BG that does not have one.

On the troll matter though I was not good at ignoring them last night, we went from total map control. By the time I was sick of the troll in my BG and left. We lost almost all of the map. So in turn just ignore them or even block the bad ones.

cole.2450:

Harbinger.8637:

cole.2450:

I still curious how having 100 gold from farming or buying it off ebay makes one a capable leader? can anyone answer this for me?

It doesn’t. Badges of Honor would have been better, but that still wouldn’t help. Best way would be some kind of voting system.

I hear ya man, the commander title in this game has nothing to do with WvW accomplishments, it doesn’t even make sense. I transferred to another server(larger one) the other day just to check things out. Those guys thought they were the greatest thing since sliced bread for having that commander tag. one stated to me “if they have earned the commanders title they know what they are doing and you should follow them!” i had a lot of fun w that comment

Badges of honor + WvW comms would be the best part…Even the gift of battle. It is way to easy to get at this point.

Speno.1874:

Toble.2968:

The thing is, you have to actually know battle strategies. It also probably wont be as effective as if you were a part of your respective alliance. I find guildless, non-alliance bound commanders to be a little less than useless, but a little more than annoying if they take their symbol and lead people away from where they need to be at other commanders. So consider finding a guild as part of your alliance on your server first. Or start one.

Also, most people do not troll you if you act with dignity and make fair calls, if you don’t, you are likely to gain a bad reputation for the rest of your in game life.

This is true for the most part. Another problem is however is you will indeed encounter trolls, you have to learn to ignore them. If you are good the people who matter will follow you. The worst thing about WvW I find as a commander, is that times you will find people who do not listen, and contradict you because they are zerg fanatics.

I would say get it if your server is lacking them. If you find a commander already leading in you BG however follow them dont split your forces. Or kindly move to another BG that does not have one.

On the troll matter though I was not good at ignoring them last night, we went from total map control. By the time I was sick of the troll in my BG and left. We lost almost all of the map. So in turn just ignore them or even block the bad ones.

It’s a little different in Northern Shiverpeaks. We are growing a pretty strong sense of community and my guild is known on the EB map specifically and is widely known to help and have good strategy. There are only 1 or 2 trolls usually and 1 of them is already in my pocket. (Pocket trolls can be useful)

The only severe problem is having unallied commanders in large zerg guilds who feel like doing whatever they want because it is “Funner” (I know that isn’t a word)

The only thing you can do is work to gain higher respect than them if it is a cooperation issue.

You have to work hard and have a personality as well. I find the best commanders are the ones who can laugh, lead, and take responsibility even when things don’t go right.

:) Hope this all helps!

I’m waiting for people from competing server to transfer servers and get the Commander title and run around the maps, intentionally leading mindless zergs all around while actively working against the server’s strategy.

I’ve also been tempted to buy the title, hop into WvWvW, and start complaining about people following me everywhere.

I’d say don’t bother as the mind set to start ignoring those with the commander tags is growing. 90% of commanders have no idea what they are doing and often lead groups of people into death traps or wrong places at the wrong time. I wish I could turn off the commander icons on the map and seems to be a popular suggestion.

Want to be a real commander for free? Notify the “team” with useful information on if something is going down, their numbers, any kind of siege and ways to counter their attack. Group standing around not sure where to go, say follow and start running. Most players will follow especially if you keep leading them to kills and capturing

“With great power comes great responsibility”.

Ask yourself this, Would spiderman spend the 100g?

If you can answer this question, you probably need a girlfriend.

Live Long and Prosper.

/out

And look, the trolling has started even before he bought the book! haha

j/k, I thought that was a witty response, BlackRabbit!

commanders arent leading anything. they end up just annoying people most of the time like a really terrible gym teacher that doesnt hate his horrible job yet. If you’re a commander dont start thanking guilds or player or any of that ignorant stuff that just annoys more people than you know.

One thing that I think should be part of commander etiquette: if you’re a commander leading a zerg, you can tell the zerg what to do – but it doesn’t mean you get to tell the entire map what to do. Everyone thinks whatever they’re attacking or defending is the most important attack or defense on the map, and then get to pointing fingers when they don’t think enough people showed up to help. In my experience that’s when /t devolves into arguing.

BlackRabbit.1259:

“With great power comes great responsibility”.

Ask yourself this, Would spiderman spend the 100g?

If you can answer this question, you probably need a girlfriend.

Live Long and Prosper.

/out

Spiderman would not in fact want Commander. He would like to retain a stealthy ability and make snide and witty remarks without having such a famous status (Being that we all know Peter Parker and fame add up to some very bad incidents)

I would love to have a girlfriend if my boyfriend were okay with it.

We could make out and talk about comic books all day long.

Also, what kind of horrid servers are some of you debbie downers on? I find lots of NSP commanders to be helpful, Ocularis, Snowglobe, Lianna, Samusen, myself shortly. Often times, they coordinate and it is easy to call targets based on the position of the commander icons. You guys need better server leaders.

Or support whatever commanders are already on the field, send them whispers, etc. A lot of TC has been doing this and it’s working quite well.

Another way to get the 100 gold that some of our commanders have gotten is to ask people to donate. Now, I’m not saying beg… However, if you’ve proven your ability to lead, often times a group or many individuals will gladly donate to get you that blue button on the map.

When a real leader speaks, people listen. I think thats the most important thing. We have commanders that really are incredibly persuasive in a way that is very hard to explain. People in mumble will put their absolute faith in them. Even if it doesn’t work out, thats ok. The point is that they were the rock that everyone was clinging to in the storm. They had the best plan, they attempted to put it into action, they communicated it in very clear, concise terms and they stepped up when everyone else fell silent.

Things to pay attention to if you have a good commander: listen to the way they talk and the language they use. A good commander doesn’t coerce subordinates and they don’t lose their composure when things go wrong. I’ve seen people in leadership roles who understand strategy and have good technical knowledge of what they need to do, but they fail as leaders because they cannot communicate what they want to their subordinates effectively.

A real leader can influence people to do things for them which are also good for everybody. A real leader understands what is and is not possible with the people they have and can change the way they communicate to get the job done. But I think the main thing is that when you listen to a commander, you feel that anything you do right or wrong, is in pursuit of a common good. So a real leader doesn’t send his troops to deal with an impossible situation and then bails out the back door because that isn’t a common good.

Scorpio Shirica.1286:

Or support whatever commanders are already on the field, send them whispers, etc. A lot of TC has been doing this and it’s working quite well.

Another way to get the 100 gold that some of our commanders have gotten is to ask people to donate. Now, I’m not saying beg… However, if you’ve proven your ability to lead, often times a group or many individuals will gladly donate to get you that blue button on the map.

I was one of those Commanders in Tarnished Coast who asked for donations and was able to get enough to buy the icon. The reason people donated was because I could effectively handle and move a zerg size group. It didn’t happen overnight but over time, people would become to trust me to lead in Eternal Battleground. You have to know many variables, such as tower upgrade levels, how many supply your zerg has, how many of the opponent has, ect. You should learn how to move a zerg around without the icon as well. I did so for three weeks using techniques and thinking outside the box.

Being an effective commander takes experience and thought while being on top of things. I was lucky to get noticed early WvW as it may be harder for newer potential commanders to get noticed.

To the OP, if you haven’t had experience in leading groups (15-50), it better for you not to buy it until you have gotten more experience. There is another method that is decent replacement if your only leading 10 or fewer folks around. Bad commanders will be quickly noticed and people will begin not to trust you. Hope this helps you decide better.

A good commander can lead without the icon. A bad commander can’t lead with or without it. If people follow you without it, then you know the money will be well spent.

I’m not a great commander, I don’t read up on strategies or learn the ins and outs of every map and I generally don’t have the time to command every night of the week (usually one or two nights per week for me due to long hours of work). What I do though is treat my server with respect, listen to good advice (and learn to filter out bad advice).

One important strategy I use that works for me is that I don’t order people to do anything, I communicate with them what my intentions are and word my requests so they don’t generate animosity. For example, If I am planning a keep assault, I tell them that I need X at this location or I need Y supply camp capture to cut supply to the keep. I don’t order people to do anything, I just tell them what I need to get the job done and the majority of the time it gets done. People that want to help are always around to help, people that just tag along are helping just by boosting numbers.

< Commander here.

Only thing I can say is, you always gotta be moving. You have to have planned 3 steps ahead, and 80% of the time you are running with your Map screen open. Once you take a supply camp, you need to know where to go right away. As soon as you stop somewhere for longer than 5 seconds, people start questioning you “why’d we stop, why are we stopping, lets go, blah blah” and you start losing your zerg.

If your group wipes, you get kitten. If it a large group without a commander wipes, it’s all haha and let’s try again, but if a commander was leading that group …. then there’s a singular person to blame.

It’s a lot of pressure. At least you get good karma and xp

Another Commander here, I decided it was worth it even though we already have competent commanders on the map. I’ve learned some new strategies is to not just lump the commanders but use them based on map strategy and splitting up zergs (if there are no other commanders).

People always think at first that you should be leading the zerg; you should actually be designating parties, groups to hit certain points, and to have a group of pugs following you where you need the main force to be. I tend to be non-partied, or I ONLY accept people in my party to be my scouts. That way when someone in my party says over teamspeak or party chat that they see 10 enemies or 15 enemies heading a certain direction, all I have to do is check their dot on the map and I deduce the enemy movements from that. Being a commander you have to know how to use your party dots to your advantage to lead the group that you control.

I’ve learned that this is a very efficient way of leading. Invite only people who are willing to not follow you in your party, and send them to scout or yak duty or watch a keep/tower. It will help tremendously.

WvW is all about zerging. With AE damage only hitting 5 targets, there’s just no way a small group can outfight a big group. In DAOC, the small group, with some surprise and enough AE, could potentially kill the big group — happened all the time, in fact. In GW2, that can’t happen. It’s prevented from happening. The big group will always win because the small group can only hit 5 people at a time with AE anyway.

So being a commander is critical because it enables you to keep a herd of people together more easily. That’s how you take big targets and win big fights: by diluting enemy AE with a sea of friendlies. (When you’re in a crowd of 25 people and 5 people AE you, it’s basically like being AE’d by 1 person. That’s what I mean when I say that big crowds “dilute” AE damage.) You don’t want to hit the door with 5 people — you want to hit it with 40. The more you bring, the less damage you’ll take.

Arguably, zerging is exploiting a faulty game mechanic but it is what it is. Zergs are stoppable only by other zergs, which often means another commander.

Yes, you can sort of try to do it without the commander tag but keeping 40 people together without a symbol on the map is somewhere between difficult and impossible, edging towards impossible as you get further away from any plan more complicated than “attack the nearest enemy door”. Commander = Zerg. Zerg = protection from AE. Protection from AE = easy wins.