Guild Wars 2

Hi all. My guild is having a bit of a dilemma of assigning our Commander’s Compendium so I’m posting this thread hoping for some helpful feedback.

We essentially want to give it to a guild member that goes into WvW frequently and knows what going on and the basics. We’re a small guild and mostly PvE but we’re getting into WvW more and more and hope that our presence increases. Our main problem is that the Commander title would be stuck to one member and we tend to rotate roles between 2 or 3 members given that some members might be busy at times (school, work, etc).

We also want to keep in mind some other factors like will ArenaNet make any changes to Commander’s Compendium in the near future (such as making the title transferable within a guild).

Thanks for reading & please feel free to post any advice you would deem helpful, it would be greatly appreciated.

Is your server lacking commanders in the field at any time? If the answer is no, I’d say participate first without and see what your guild can contribute to the server as a whole. It’s wvw, not guild vs guild. Too many commanders tag in the field often times just causes unnecessary chaos.

In my opinion, the commander’s tag is nice, but a commander tag doesn’t always mean you’re a good leader. If you have multiple leaders in your group and you know they’re good, people will begin to follow you regardless of a commander icon or not Tatania’s point is also something you want to keep in mind. If you have enough commanders on your server just keep saving up and see what arenanet does in the “big February WvW revamp” Hopefully, the commander icon will become more useful and you can do more things with it than currently.

The criteria for creating a commander should be:

- Availability. One should be present at the WvW to be known and to learn.
- Leadership. The commander should have the ability to carry on his commands. Making good decisions based on wise choices is always a good starting point for people to know who to follow.
- Presence. The commander will lead a zerg. (People tend to follow the blue icon). So he must be aware of the current changes that happens on the maps all the time and decide based on that.
- Humility. If there are other good commanders on the field, you can spare you that burden. Using the title to promote yourself or a guild just because you have the gold to do it, is not good.
- Agenda. Commanders should always have a good agenda. PvE events on the map is not one of them.
- Communication. Preferable a good commander, should be able to carry his commands in the Voips and also in the chat. If you can drive the pug zerg, it’s a benefit for you.
- Tranquility. People will rage at you when you make bad choices, and no1 will thank you for good ones. Don’t rage quit nor play flame wars.

There might be some more, but these ones are the ones that i believe are the most important.

I understand your dilema but another couple of facts would of helped. Have your guild gamed together pre-dating GW2 or know each other in RL.

The person you assign it to needs all the qualities listed in the above post but also needs to still have a great love for the game, no good assigning it only for the player to quit sometime soon.

I’m assuming it’s not been brought yet, maybe consider splitting the 100g and offering 50g each to 2 people who volunteer to be commanders and will put forward 50G of their own money.

Age.9320:

Hi all. My guild is having a bit of a dilemma of assigning our Commander’s Compendium so I’m posting this thread hoping for some helpful feedback.

First, let me confirm your fears. 99% of your concerns, both voiced and held private are very real.

IMHO, a single commander pin serves one purpose — influence. And you face two threats in this area:
1) Will the person you pin actively promote the interests of the server over the interests of the guild or their person agenda? (counter-intuitive: should be yes)
2) Will the person you pin have and maintain a determined presence on the maps through thick or thin, success or failure, win or lose?

It is critical that whomever you choose to pin fronts a significant portion of the cost. They should have already been raising funds on their own. They should want it so badly that they fully intent to self-fund their own pin. If they don’t want it enough to front at least 25% of the cost, then you need to understand that it is HIGHLY likely that you are throwing your money away. Odds are such a person will not be playing in 30 days (or not be commanding) and your investment will be a waste.

If you are just wanting to award a commander pin strictly to lead guild forces on the field, then you’re missing the point. Commanders are your guild advocates among the server leadership. If you only have a single guild pin, make damn sure that individual is a Type A, charming extrovert. If they are not willing to socialize, interface, coordinate with other commanders then your guild has wasted 100g.

Respect is earned. And any commander that doesn’t communicate well (or worse, communicates poorly) will not only have difficulty earning respect but will constantly be trolled and have a challenging time rallying support.

Commander pins come with vicarious liability. The actions, words, and deeds of your guild’s commander(s) transfer to your guild. If he or she delivers for you too much drama and/or baggage, you will find you are in quite a pickle.

It is best to assume the worst…

I have seen too many guild giveaways go south. If you are unsure in the least about your first choice, consider splitting the funds and award the funds only after your candidate(s) work to make up the difference. It is the least that a member can do to demonstrate their commitment. And it is no dishonor to the membership nor the individual to demand the highest standards from those with whom you are willing to invest with the highest possible award.

Personally, I believe it should be a goal to have every guild member “qualified” to lead and a part of succession planning. But this is very culturally sensitive. I believe you should build a pipeline of talent and nurture everyone to reach for brass rings that are just beyond each members grasp. A guild that is not “growing its members” (as opposed to growing its membership, note the distinction) is stagnating and dying. But this is a social philosophy that goes well beyond your basic topic.

I hope my ramblings have been helpful. I’ll leave you with this final thought:

Where ever you go there will be tigers and savages. Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and blaze a trail for others to follow!

Best wishes finding your footing…

Though I’m a fairly new Commander, I feel I have some insight to share on this. Anyone who starts wearing the commander tag has a dramatically changed WvW experience. Almost every element has a positive and negative effect. I’ll just rifle of the big ones I noticed:

Integration with the community: I used to primarily WvW with my guild. We’d cap camps, sometimes towers. It was a good show. Now my communication with the people I play most with is me briefly asking them in Vent if they can handle something for me because the main group I’m with is tied up. If you still plan to play only with your guild, Commander is likely not for you. On the other hand, you become much more acquainted with the server’s WvW regulars (who are awesome on Henge btw). Random people will come and talk to you all the time, often bearing compliments. Generally people are far friendlier than to others on the server, if only because they recognize your name.

Pressure/Stress level: You never just get to play. Any time you’re in WvW people will assume you’re going to put something together. If you’re not, they’ll make it very clear that they think you should. Most people don’t mind if you turn the title off, but if you’re running around the map, not giving direction with Commander on, people will be upset, especially if you’re losing ground. The first thing I noticed was that I literally had to increase my map-chat use x10, and even then no one tells me I talk too much.

Relationship with the other commanders: Commander fights in map chat get noticed by everyone. People pick sides. Everyone suffers. If you already dislike the other commanders, or if there are a lot on the map at all times, this may be an issue. On the other hand, two/three Commanders who work well with each other and coordinate well are an asset to the server.

Ability to be respectful, all the time: People won’t respect you if you’re constantly raging in ALL CAPS. You have to be nice, or at a bare minimum civil, to a lot of people. Some people are very good at this, some display their anger too much. This includes all the times your tactical moves fail, because no one came around the back gate, or your zerg gets stuck attacking guards instead of following you. Often, a large part of the job is cheer-leading. People need pick-me-ups and to know they’ve done a good job. When things work out, this makes you feel like a champ. But you also need to be that person who can rally the map when you’re trapped at the inner gate of your last keep.

The take home from this, is that you really need someone social who can handle stress and has thick skin. If you enjoy talking to people and can communicate well, this is something you’ll likely enjoy. Tactical knowledge on their part is important, but is not the defining characteristic. People in whatever Comm program you use can tell them what to do, they just need to present the public face of your guild/server. I know I sound negative through much of this, but I do enjoy it immensely, and I wouldn’t trade it in if I could. I just think it’s important for people to know that it’s not for everyone.

A couple things affect your decision, and ultimately, the server. As a commander myself, I know enough that when things are going smoothly on a map, I keep my tag off. Your guild’s commander should know when to throw the tag on, or when to keep it off. Guild loyalty will play a big role in your decision. Although there are many potentially great commanders out there, if they won’t be loyal to your guild, there’s no point in promoting them. You should evaluate your trusted officers; if they fit the loyalty criteria, move on to another aspect: leadership. As stated before, the commander should be aware at all times of what’s going on in the map. Personality also plays a factor. If he/she likes to yell and boss people around, chances are people will get annoyed. So a great commander will have the respective personality, what ever that may be.

If I were in your position, I would consider, first and probably inclusively, your most trusted officers—those who’ve been in the guild before and during (or soon after) that launch. Also, have your candidates shadow some commanders on the map. Have them see what the commanders are doing wrong and what they’re doing right. If they can see the problem and find a way to a solution, then short list them to your final decision..

No matter the case, I wish you best of luck in finding a commander! It is a great honor; it’s just a shame that there are too many icons out there with very little knowledge on the dynamics of the WvW system.

Hi all,

Sorry that I didn’t get a chance to check back. Thanks for all the amazing feedback! There are some things I didn’t even consider! I’ll definitely include most of the feedback in the decision!

Just a bit more info for anyone who reads the OP: We communicate with the other guilds in our server and our guild does bring out some capping reversals in order to comeback from time to time. Our leader and high ranking members, including myself, know each other from GW1 so trust or drama isn’t much of an issue.

Since your guild does not have a strong presence in WvW yet I suggest that whenever you guys play with one of the 2-3 “commanders” you have, each guild-party following him should target (default CTRL+T) the commander of your choice, so that everyone in your guild knows who to follow, even if he is not wearing his title (you can also do this for sneak attacks btw)

The people outside your guild will not know that you have a commander running, but it would probably be a good idea to test this within the guild first. It’ll probably also make it easier for your guild to decide who should get the commander title first.

Not sure if I explained it well enough, but I hope these old screenshots below will clarify. (had to do some digging :P)

We do that too… but is 10x more effective leading multiple guild grps with our own commander pin. This causes trouble with other commanders at times. We NEED the ability to have either /private or /guild squads where only people in the squads can see the commander pin.

PS Arenanet – Great game but your grouping system is no good. It needs to be more flexible for different playstyles. No private grouping system for over 5 people?!