Guild Wars 2

This is exactly why we need Anet talking with us. These decisions are so bad its actually funny. We had a CDI a few months ago to figure this kind of thing out. Colored pins weren’t the problem. The problem was people wanting to run with guilds or pinless not having a way to follow others.

Then when you look at something like PvE, its purely a status symbol already. The colors will just make it worse. Yellow outfit, might as well wear a yellow commander pin to match that.

Hopefully this reaction by the community let’s you have plenty of time to reconsider, and change things before the patch hits.

Pavel.8531:

Xillllix.3485:

And 300g for a color is almost an insult for people who have been playing a game mode neglected for a year.

Almost? It’s waaay beyond that point. Let me be figurative here: It’s to the point where after years of ignoring us they suddenly come to us, start mocking us, then knock us out with a punch, start kicking us and at the moment they are urinating on us. That’s how it feels like.

And then poured sugar in your gas tank for good measure.

I am really starting to think there are team meetings where they discuss options for doing worse. There’s no other explanation for how these kinds of decisions are made and get stamped off by someone.

But where is that tag that only shows up for your guild? That was the important one.

Personally I see the reason for this.

They are decreasing the gold sink that is Commander tags (despite increasing the price) quite a bit, since it is rather usual for commanders to buy multiple tags to put up depending on situation, now they only need to buy one.
So for every commander that would use more than 3 different characters the gold sink is decreased with the new change.

And as such another gold sink would be needed to counter-act this. While I agree that 300g might be a bit steep, I think it is good for the economy of the game overall.

One thing that they should do however, is to allow everyone that does have a tag prior to the update to choose which color they want after the update, so that they could organize between different commanders on the server.

zen.6091:

There’s no other explanation for how these kinds of decisions are made and get stamped off by someone.

Yes, there is.

lordkrall.7241:

Personally I see the reason for this.

We have our own prime example of the kind of “thinking” and “reason” that occurs.

The reality is quite simple. The majority of us who would have taken advantage of the new colored-commander system will not do so, and ANet will have no way of measuring the real ill effects of their ridiculous decision, because they’ll gather no relevant data.

Khalic.3561:

But where is that tag that only shows up for your guild? That was the important one.

2015 Feature Pack. $84 USD.

I’m glad that different colour icons are finally being implemented and happy that Anet has listened to the community in that aspect, however the implementation method isn’t the appropriated one.

A lot has been said about the costs above already. What I think is the biggest issue is that this doesn’t cater to the specific needs the WvW community talked about in the CDI.

With this implementation, as far as we know, there is no option for guilds to have a ’’private’’ commander icon. Neither is it feasible to organise defense and offense better. Sure there might be seperate colours now but with this way of implementing there are plenty of people who acn just ‘’troll-buy’’ the commander tag.

As mentioned in reddit perhaps an idea could be to have seperate icons for PvE and WvW. Make the WvW tags cost 10k badges of honour or more, this way the WvW commanders who go for a different colour actually want to have it and at the same time assure that the WvW-oriented commanders are able to more easily get the tag. A seperation of community might not be what Anet wants but the current solution will just add more confusion to WvW.

Let’s say hypothetically there is a yellow commander on the map and yellow is the colour to follow for the defensive commander. The current yellow commander doesn’t know this and is running around attacking gates, as well as the blue commander. A new yellow commander comes in and wants to take over, this is then impossible because there is already a yellow commander in the map.

The purpose of the coloured icons was to assure that worlds were able to distinguish between different commander ’’roles’’. The current implementation doesn’t make this a possibility yet.

FoR Raids:
Maybe even make players able to more easily remove a tag from the map rather than joining a squad.
The ability to right-click on a commander tag in WvW and turn it off (until you leave the map) could be an option.

I hope you listen to the community and make some changes to this implementation method to help the WvW community.

This is so wrong in many ways:
1.) Buying tags w/o wvw ranks
2.) 300g for each new color
3.) WHY BLUE IS CHEAPER THAN THE NEW COLORS?! So colorist!!!

Lol whatever, can’t say I’m shocked, this game had the tri faction open world pvp in the palm of their hand, all they had to do was pay attention and even that was to much for them to handle.

Ah well new games on the horizon, some will stay but I have a feeling that an already dwindling WvW population will slowly become close to non exsistant. Nail in the coffin for many of us.

If they release the color tag in this way they gonna need a lot of wvw forum moderators…

How they can fail in something so simple?

You got it all wrong. 300 golds per color is unreasonable. You need ability to change between different colors for colors to be useful, paying 300g per color defeat that.

Also, color is not the only feature we wanted. Tag only visible to guild/squad were a BIG one.

If you want to make people pay for more tags feature it’s fine but do it right. Here is an example of how I see tags should cost :

Tag Level 1 : Private Commander Tag

Only visible to squad and guild members
Color : Gold (Yellow)
Price : 100g

Tag Level 2 : Public Commander Tag

The commander tag that we all know currently, visible to everyone on the map.
Color : Blue
Price : 200g
Requirement : Have the private commander tag

Tag Level 3 : Colored Commander Tag

Like the public commander tag but you can switch between 5 different colors
Color: Blue, Red, Pink, Green, Orange
Price : 200g
Requirement : have the public commander tag

All tag’s levels are account bound.

Very nice structure, I support this idea.

I’m going to guess that arenanet will be reading all these complaint threads about the rainbow tag “feature” and will see its not going down well at all and change it somehow. I have to give them some credit because in the past when the community has gone up in arms about something they listened and made changes, I’m expecting the same thing now.

They’ll need another year to program and test this, and won’t “feel comfortable” talking about it until Sept. 2015.

Pricing is in general wrong, when you have to pay for QoL changes, that you use to coordinating teams. So no, bad idea. Not a step back, not a gold given for this BS.

Paying for colored commander tags totally defeats the point of them. Most commanders dont have much gold anyway, so they are unlikely to buy any of the colors.
If they cost 300g per color it will just be a new prestige object.

“Be careful what you ask for…"

I’d bet, there is some “philosophy” that all tags ought to be public, period. (Given that the currently stated implementation leans heavily in favor of PvE use, not WvW.)

So, I’d assume what ANet would do is:

1) Leave the current Blue tag as totally Public and at 100g.

2) Have “vanity” tags – different colored ones at 300g each.

3) Have the ability to get a Golden (guild/squad visible only) tag for 300g plus (pick one of the following: x number of dragonite, badges, bloodstone dusts, laurels, empyreal bricks – and/or a couple of vision crystals – and/or guild influence – whichever they feel would be harder for WvW players to acquire.)

They will change it, already plenty of complaint threads up, and they will only increase until this idea for tags gets reworked. I feel confident this wont go live and will be changed to something more reasonable.

Vavume.8065:

They will change it, already plenty of complaint threads up, and they will only increase until this idea for tags gets reworked. I feel confident this wont go live and will be changed to something more reasonable.

You mean like the new trait system………..

morrolan.9608:

Vavume.8065:

They will change it, already plenty of complaint threads up, and they will only increase until this idea for tags gets reworked. I feel confident this wont go live and will be changed to something more reasonable.

You mean like the new trait system………..

No, he means like the entire “WvW Discussion” sub-forum for the past 12 months.

Why don’t they just allow us to still buy a soul bound commander tag with the color of our choice for 100g? And then an option to buy an account bound one for 300gold?

It seems to me like this would at least be the same as before, only with variation in colors. I mean for crying out loud, at least with my suggestion there would be progress. They took a step backwards…

Why not increase the amount of Badges of Honor needed to buy a tag for WvW instead & keep the 300g cost for PvE? Between the costs of food buffs, keeps, etc, WvW’ers have a hard enough time making gold. All this means is that the people with already deep pockets will get new tags, not people with experience.

This is just another one of the bone headed decisions that’s beep chipping away at WvW. As if fracturing the server communities which support WvW with Megaserver, & adding in a snowballing mechanic in the form of Bloodlust weren’t enough.

So even after that massive CDI thread, and all the ideas thrown in there…they implement 1 of them, hike up the price and kitten over the playerbase some more.

Whoever is in charge of this decision should be fired quite frankly, they do not know a lick about gaming or it’s community, and should be better put somewhere where their skills are put to use…something that doesn’t involve fun, because they seem to want to ruin it.

ArchonWing.9480:

I made a hyperbole about what if tags suddenly went up to 300g…. and this crap happens.

Honestly, I think I should just buy one for lulz but I don’t know. >.>

You jinxed it!

Charging the WvW community for the new commander tag colors is the biggest mistake Anet can make. Not only did it take a year to implement a feature that should have been easy to add, you’re charging the very community that came up with the idea in the first place.

Hardcore WvW players don’t have massives amount of gold, commanders regularly spend gold on upgrades and seige and miss out on quite a lot of PvE content.

I for one have never had more than 300 gold at anytime and I’m still nowhere near buying my precursor. This game needs gold sinks, but not for items that will benefit the longevity of a game.

Charging the community for a utility that’s designed to help with communications and tactics is like charging players with a gold fee to unlock team and map chat.

I ask that you please reconsider charging the community to access the commander colors, because you’re making a huge mistake. The forums are evidence enough on how the community feels.

If you read this post, please take a moment to support this topic with a reply.

Well I dunno like everyone else, but its true that the tags are purely cosmetic, it makes it pretty useless for the Gold you ask us to pay for these coloured tags.
They are essentially the same thing; just coloured with the chance of the same coloured tags clashing, if I’m not wrong? Why is there no option for Guild specific tags then?

Luckily there is enough time for you to reconsider and listen to the feedback from the wvw community.

Charging for a QoL change for the game mode that yields the least income…..I’m done, going to uninstall the game and find something else if it is released like this.

TinkTinkPOOF.9201:

Charging for a QoL change for the game mode that yields the least income…..I’m done, going to uninstall the game and find something else if it is released like this.

In a subscription model, this would have me cancel and uninstall.

In a buy-to-play model, I’ll just keep playing the parts I do like, but will refuse to pay any more.

Every idiot move like this one raises the bar higher for the when I’ll feel inspired to buy from NCSoft again. They’ve already guaranteed I won’t buy Wildstar, and it’s been a year since I paid anything into GW2.

Anet is slowly becoming just as bad as Comcast.

I hope its not true Anet.
Because if it is true, than you will kitten more players that will be happy with tags.
If I got it right, you would need to farm a lot of spend like 12 000gems to buy gold.
That is quite ridiculous.

It also means that to buy ONE color you need to spend same ammount as for THREE unlimited harvesting tools.

This cant be right. This must be mistake.

Might as well buy a precursor if you plan on having an account tag and a color, you’ll be half way there.

What a joke.

pretty much what you said

You’re not allowed to petition for support to your topic. We’ll all get infracted…

Community is pretty clear on the issue though.

It feels like anet wants ppl flaming after all they do who is making the decisions???

Nope, Anet hates us.

Command the rainbow for the price of a precursor. ROFL.

ConfusedDave.4271:

Surely the whole point of having different colours is so people don’t get confused who they’re supposed to be following around. Making someone pay another 300g just to have a different colour completely negates the ability for people to switch colours to suit the situation and who else is on the map.

Biggest utter fail in design history ever!

It’s not design fail. You are misunderstanding Anet’s intent.

You think the purpose of tag colors is to give WvW easier organization and communication, but it’s not.

However, WvW is but a very tiny consideration in this decision. It’s clear the main intent is to make some quick money.

Charging players for a tool designed to help organize is a joke. Who did Anet higher from Comcast?

One of the things I look forward to the most with patch information is seeing how ArenaNet can take a good idea and completely turn it into something bad. Honestly who could have seen this coming? No one! It’s that stupid of a decision! I have to applaud ANet, for what they lack in creativity elsewhere in the game they certainly get creative when trying to flip a good idea into a terrible one.

Normally when criticizing things like this I try to point out the flaw and give a solution, but come on. This is basic logic, the idea of different colored tags was organization/tactics and not only increasing the price on the commander tag but charging per color completely negates those things since most won’t be able to afford it. As someone else said it’s $42 if you trade gems for gold, $42 for a color! Most people are going to get a single color so swapping simply won’t happen.

The failure that finally made me lose hope.

leader of my WvW guild and noted core driver Arus aka King of Maguuma on this change:

“Paying 300g per tag colour, an integral quality of life UI enhancement which will break up zergs and encourage more organization and strategy, is not a darn tootin laudable end game goal”

Well, let’s break it down nice and easy if any devs actually read this and care.

1. WvW should not be pay-to-command in the first place. The commander icon should be something you eventually earn through playing WvW. Anymore on most servers, you are basically doing a public service for WvW to actually throw up a tag to drive pugs around.

2. The different colors and account bound aspect of the tag should have been features for the commander tag from day one. This is two years in now.

3. A guild tag that is visible to guild members only, hello?

4. The commander icon itself is still has woefully inadequate visibility in typical WvW fights. P.S. so does the cursor. Again, we’re two years in now.

5. The cost of the new tag is hysterical. Many WvW players that have been playing since day one have never even had 300g at any point in time, and they had to beg / scrape together 100g for one tag.

What universe are you guys operating in?

Why would you make different colour tags unlockable by gold (and lots of it) instead of a WvW ability? One new colour per rank in “Rainbow Commanding” or whatever the hell you want to call it would make so much more sense.
WXP and Badges are the currencies of WvW not Gold.

10/10 Devon Carver, great trolling there.

And for those questioning their cheezy intent…

Anet didnt charge anything for the PvE lfg tool. Why? Why didnt they charge 500g for the lfg tool (100g extra for each dungeon available)? Its the same kind of organizational tool. Anet is kittening over WvW.

This is probably one of the worst, most out of touch decisions I’ve seen Anet make. And that is saying something. It completely defeats the purpose of being able to swap colors and split up. Nobody is going to spend over 1k gold on colored tags, when siege, lemongrass, and upgrades cost so much and WvW rewards minimal gold. Pathetic.

zen.6091:

Well, let’s break it down nice and easy if any devs actually read this and care.

1. WvW should not be pay-to-command in the first place. The commander icon should be something you eventually earn through playing WvW. Anymore on most servers, you are basically doing a public service for WvW to actually throw up a tag to drive pugs around.

2. The different colors and account bound aspect of the tag should have been features for the commander tag from day one. This is two years in now.

3. A guild tag that is visible to guild members only, hello?

4. The commander icon itself is still has woefully inadequate visibility in typical WvW fights. P.S. so does the cursor. Again, we’re two years in now.

5. The cost of the new tag is hysterical. Many WvW players that have been playing since day one have never even had 300g at any point in time, and they had to beg / scrape together 100g for one tag.

What universe are you guys operating in?

1. I began commanding in my first month (October, 2012) when a friend bought it for me because I was too busy playing WvW to earn gold through play. I had already given ANet money by buying the game, and wasn’t going to buy gems yet.

4. I thought it was hilarious, the day they changed all blue capture point map icons to the same color as the commander pin, where before the pin was a unique blue.

5. It is still common (at least once per week in tier 2) for people to say in chat that they would command the WvW map, but can’t afford the icon.

ANet (and/or NCSoft) water coolers are all spiked with tamazepam.

100g for each black lion vendor tab unlock. Can’t buy new skins until you unlock the vendor tab.

At least they are giving warning of the large price increase. While a few will get a nice gold bonus. The idea of getting it cheaper now makes me want to buy it but the commander tag is just a icon and does nothing.

Ulion.5476:

At least they are giving warning of the large price increase. While a few will get a nice gold bonus. The idea of getting it cheaper now makes me want to buy it but the commander tag is just a icon and does nothing.

Example of the kind of player that we don’t want commanding WvW. Sorry, that’s just not the right attitude for it.

It’s not the icon, but the person whom wears it, which matters. The icon doesn’t need strobing lights and speculars.

Amelia Knox.9362:

Make the other color Free, don’t make us rage even harder, after months of 0 communication!

That says it all. I don’t see why anyone with an intact brain would pay 300g for a colour, especially if you already have a tag.

Simply make the first icon you get 300g regardless of the colour it has, then make the other colours free or if you have to put a price on it something reasonable like 10g max.
Actually, make the colours available through tasks as in “Get the yellow tag for capturing a t3 keep during prime time while being tagged up. Extra condition: only when siege was being used put down by you” or some stuff like that … something which makes it actually something more fun than just paying a ton of money for just another colour with no additional benefit other than it looks fancy.

Not to mention the tag only for guild thing, but well since the blog post is not up yet I have 0,3% hope for it.

Food for thought, maybe they decide what to implement using RNG?
- Account bound command tags? roll .. yes
- Make it more expensive roll .. yes
- What price should it be? roll .. 300g … omg, but hey that’s what rngesus says ..