Guild Wars 2

As a guild leader I ask all of my guild members to come on teamspeak. Our guild is entirely WvW focused and members know that when joining. We used to use a private ventrillo server but have moved to the Devonas Rest public teamspeak so that other members of the server and our peer guilds can work with us. The value of strong guild alliances and coordination has been a huge benefit to the quality of gameplay our members enjoy. Along with the many valuable points given above about battle command I would like to add the following.

1. You own your channel you have to maintain the quality of communications in it.
During operations there is no" did I tell you about my girlfriend?" conversations
Keep it clean- no swearing, discrimination, sexism, belittling other players in channel

2. Don’t expect everyone to talk and DO limit traffic to battle information only. There are other channels where you can make friends and chat about your cool guardian build.

3. Maintain a clear and even temperament during combat, people will respond to steady confident leadership.

4. When you have multiple guilds in channel identify primary / priority speakers from each and reduce traffic from all others to allow leaders to command their forces.

I am totally convinced that voice communications can be a vital tool to build cohesion, enhance momentum and effectiveness. It can also be a draining and corrupting experience if it is used poorly.

OP- as to the how of getting people in I would say a couple things
1. make your channel a valuable place by keeping it clean and professional so it isn’t draining to listen to.
2. There are people you don’t want in teamspeak as they have diarrhea of the mouth and can’t shut up, stop begging, whining etc.
3. Direct engagement one on one makes people want to commit to a method. Recruit guild members one to one recruit teamspeak participation one to one. The time it takes to have the conversation and set the standard for use will make the new persons participation worth it.

Carzor Stelatis.9435:

I think the problem isn’t one of utility – people get the idea – but of trust. On our world for example, the ‘official’ TS server (which was nothing of the kind of course, but I digress) turned out to be run by a scammer who was using it to harvest personal details.

What server was this?

In my guild its a requirement even for dungeons and fractals… It makes things so much easier, the team more responsive as a whole. It is the fastest and easiest way to communicate information PERIOD. I don’t care how fast you can type, voice is faster and it doesn’t diminish your ability to control and react on your character. It really shows in the terms of success your team has and how simple mistakes are avoided. If someone refuses to get it we just don’t take them, if you want to play team oriented content with us you got to be a team player.

Is their no voice tool that would put speech to text in a way usable with text chat?

Reverence.6915:

There are commands the commander says in TS that you won’t get in mapchat. Stuff that will keep you alive and get you bags, or stuff that will help you win the fight, or stuff that will help the whole server in general.

As an example, in TS, a commander gets a call to push X server’s keep because they are pushing on another map. In this map, you’re outnumbered, but you know that if the other map is successful, your PPT will spike sharply. So you start pushing, fully expecting to lose engagements. As a commander though, you want to keep most of your people alive, so you will move around the engagement very quickly. If you’re not in TS, you’ll miss most of that and either 1. become rallybait or 2. fall behind the main force and miss out on your bags.

Basically, my view is that anyone not in TS is rallybait and not worth trying to keep alive. If they can’t make the effort to help the server, then I’m not going to make the effort to help them get wxp, bags, karma etc.

No. It is possible to play well without TS, if:

1) You are willing to concentrate;
2) You understand game mechanics;
3) You have some experience of what is commonly said on TS (or you watch lots of streams, etc);
4) There are already other people on TS.

Here’s how these things fix the examples you and other people have given. If the commander calls to push X instead of Y, you simply follow the commander tag. You don’t need TS to do that. If the commander calls to stack for group push, and there are already people on TS (#4 above), you’ll see everyone stick together and applying fire fields, etc. So you stick next to the commander, and move when he does. During the fights themselves, the commander will typically say things like “go left, double dodge, drop all your AoEs on my tag”, etc. All these things you can emulate if you know what the commander is likely to be saying (#3), by applying common sense, and sticking close to the commander (#1 – it takes concentration to mimic his movements while using all your other skills). Then there are things like the commander calling for Veils, Time Warps, Null Fields, etc. All these things an alert player can emulate with common sense if he understands game mechanics (#2).

Does this mean that not being on TS is not a disadvantage? No, because #4 still requires some people to be on TS, because sometimes the commander may say things like “do we have any mesmers?” and there’s nobody else playing that profession that has a microphone, and because there are a few (rare) cases when the call is not obvious yet there is no margin for error. An example of the last was a situation I was in a few days ago. BG were sieging Wildcreek with 4 catapults, and JQ were defending. Then SoR shows up on the other side, sandwiching BG. After some skirmishes the commander decides to break out and run to Rogue’s. In this case the decision to break out is not obvious (since there were skirmishes earlier, and all the time the main zerg fell back to the catapults), and TS matters. Finally if you are not with the main zerg, scouting reports can be communicated much faster with TS than not, and in some cases every second matters.

I find the beneficial effects of TS to often be exaggerated. In particular the idea that TS helps prevent you from dying is ludicrous. I played a Mesmer from level 2 to 80 solely from WvW. She still doesn’t have max exotic equipment, no Toughness or Vitality mods, etc, and yet if I do die in zerg vs. zerg the allied zerg typically dies shortly afterwards. Sure the commander gets stuff like Water fields on him, so it’s preferable to stay close to him, but you don’t need to be on TS to stay close to him (although it takes concentration #1). Comparatively I’m much likelier to die when roaming, when the lack of max equipment has a more pronounced effect. The idea that a person not on TS may fail to get bags is even more ludicrous. He just has to move with the zerg.

I’ve played with and without TS a lot, and I’ll say that there generally isn’t much difference. When the situation demands it, or if lack of organization is clearly showing (i.e. there aren’t enough people on TS, #4), I’ll log on to TS, but otherwise I generally prefer to listen to music.

I’ve used my servers TS a few times. Honestly, I get more from the people there than the Commanders. Most often the Commander is just yelling skills to drop and for people to stack on them. Even casual players can figure out to stack on the tag. If they don’t know what skills to use.. well then that’s a whole other story.

There is one good aspect of the TS though. You do get better scouting reports and can react faster to that. To say you need an entire zerg in TS though…. meh. Not needed IMO.

Jeydra.4386:

No. It is possible to play well without TS, if:

It is also possible to play with your feet, that doesn’t mean you are at the same skill and communication level as you would be with your hands.

No one is debating the usefulness of TS but rather how to encourage others to use it and also how to communicate with those that don’t.

Khayoss.2019:

I don’t think there’s anything you can do, unless you are also recruiting those people into a guild that makes TS mandatory. Best bet is to assign 1 or 2 assistants to relay everything important into /t chant and relay what is said there back to you so that you don’t miss it. Active fighting of GW2 doesn’t lend itself to typing and fighting, really… But the stubborn ones or very casual gamers will never be convinced or care enough for it to make a difference.

This. Don’t ever expect everyone to use voice chat until a game comes out that forces the issue. If you assume you need this to win you already lost because you are not adapting to the situation. If you feel that strong about it you need to have a couple of people that will re-issue instructions in chat and have those same people keep you informed of chat information. Is voice faster, for the most part yes, but its still not a fail safe. Its better to plan not to have it then to have it act as a crutch. Good hunting.

To many neckbeards taking kitten to seriously in public chatrooms.

Some Commanders are annoying to listen to, but then I usually just join another Map/Commander or do something else.

Sometimes my TS and GW2 lag if I have both on at the same time on my PC. I could turn GW2 off, but I don’t want to get TS-addicted. There are times I have fetched my Laptop for TS while I play on my PC, but that isn’t always worth the hassle.

Sometimes I rather listen to music.

Summed up I’m on TS 90% of the time I follow a Commander but I can play effectively without if I concentrate. There ofc are these moments TS would have been a life saver. You only have to check you’re inventar a sec, not see the enemy from behind (which was announced in TS) and zack … dead.

Trying to say you can’t do anything if people can’t be bothered. All you can do is advertise (in a friendly way) and don’t have too high entry-barriers. If somebody doesn’t want to join on TS reasonable arguements won’t work.

Mireles Lore.5942:

Jeydra.4386:

No. It is possible to play well without TS, if:

It is also possible to play with your feet, that doesn’t mean you are at the same skill and communication level as you would be with your hands.

Undoubtedly, but the impact on performance by playing with one’s feet is far larger than playing without TS.

Everyone already knows the importance of TS. Thing is, most people would rather do worse than have to listen to the random crap that is always spewed on TS/Vent/Whathaveyou.

If gamers stopped being awful annoying idiots on things like TS, you would probably see more people willing to get on. But when most are 75% people crying, being annoying, or rattling on about how high they are and 25% (at best) useful info, you won’t get people on.

Firstly I agree entirely that TS makes everything easier.

But I find it ridiculous that there is an expectation for every player to use third party software when in WvW. Casual players are not interested in following intently on chat channels, it is something that is enjoyed largely by the more serious players.
People need to stop expecting everyone to be an intense player looking to play a game intensely, many, like myself, play it to unwind.

I would say keep offering complete information about how to join voice communication for your server, and keep saying it makes a much bigger difference than you think. Staying on the tag is not near knowing where the tag will go. Watching the tag on the map is not nearly as effective as being able to respond to commander calls for specific classes’ skills and positions. We win with voice communtions.

Another thing is, playing with other human beings is way more cool if you talk to them. It is just way way more fun. Install and use voice comm.

XacTactX.6709:

What I have noticed about my server (Dragonbrand) is that unless there is a guild group on the map, only 25-50% of the players in our zerg will be in the TS channel. I advertise our server’s TS as much as I can to get more people listening but the number of people never goes above 50%. I feel like a lot of the players who join our map zergs do not understand how important voice chat is for winning zerg fights. How can I show the usefulness of voice chat to people who don’t use it, and don’t want to try? I want to change the culture of our server, because I have a feeling that the casuals on the T1 and T2 servers are more likely to use voice chat than we are.

I think this is a serious problem for my server, I’ve seen situations where our zerg was the same size as the enemy’s but our commander would not engage because he knew the enemy was more organized (staying tight, stacking might, etc.).

Go back to your horde Zergling, being in TS isn’t going to make you and your friends/guildies/randoms any smarter or better at the game. What you want, isn’t going to come to fruition, period. I for one have tried getting in TS with people and absolutely hated all the kitten talking, if I wanted to listen to nonsense I’d turn on some kitten Miley Cyrus……

Parktou.4263:

Go back to your horde Zergling, being in TS isn’t going to make you and your friends/guildies/randoms any smarter or better at the game. What you want, isn’t going to come to fruition, period. I for one have tried getting in TS with people and absolutely hated all the kitten talking, if I wanted to listen to nonsense I’d turn on some kitten Miley Cyrus……

Well you just get on TS with wrong people.
This is not possible without TS because commander cannot stop in middle of fight and write “double dodge” or “push”

On RoF we have really good community on TS. Yes you can find 2-3 people that are not so great to listen to, but you always may mute them.

Playing organized team games without voice is like driving a car without power steering or hydraulics on your brakes. You can do it and still get from place to place but …..

All I can say is take the plunge. Go to EB on reset, start commanding, have your core group with you, get everyone else you can on it by asking, then go voice only. Ignore map and team chat completely except for call outs of threats on locations to respond.

You’ll get some bad text QQ at first, but it will calm down and you’ll have better people left with you that makes up for the sheer quantity.

So when the text chat complaints start, just have one of your guild mates type “sorry guys, we’re voice only, heres the info if you’d like to join us” and that’s it. Ignore all else.

Being in comms instantly makes you a better player.

Barbaric invader filth, such as the denizens of your server, on average, are incapable of displaying the level of intelligence needed to embrace organized voice communication. You seem to be some kind of anomaly.
I would give up in this foolish endeavor. If you want to play on a server that embraces organized use of server comms on a regular basis, by both guild groups and militia, you should come to the Tarnished Coast. We have all but mastered this method of warfare, through diligence and strategic deployment of karaoke.

Be warned that all new petitioners will be required to pass loyalty tests involving bloodshed and sacrifice, and you will be forced to denounce the false gods of your homeland and worship the Golem God.

I wonder how people in this thread define “casual”? If you’re a part of certain SoS guilds simply being a part of a small guild makes you “casual” and “noob” and “commanders should be able to kick them from the maps”.

Nearly a year of faithfully logging on to TS for WvW followed by a week of having to listen to the same commander belittle casuals in small guilds – clearly with little desire to understand that people have different lifestyles, playstyles, and responsibilities and cannot meet the guild requirements for the larger active guilds.

I play WvW for fun, I can put up with language, I can put up with abuse, I can ignore most of the crude sexist chat (which to be fair is fairly minimal) but listening to the ignorant harp on about how they should be able to kick people like me from the map for no other crime than because we can’t meet the membership requirements of the big guilds… My WvW time is better spent listening to music while following the blue tag. Experience, not TS, has helped reduce my deaths per session.

I don’t know how you can get people on to TS and I’m not sure TS trumps experience. But I can guarantee you that if you offer them a good environment they are less likely to find something more pleasant to listen too.

DB TS is not really the benefit you describe. In my experience, the best benefit of DB TS is the scouting reports, not the often remedial instructions from the pug commander that could be followed by simply observing the tag and using common sense.

I’m sure the public server is used to great effect on other servers and our guild always uses it for raids with higher level strategy. So, I understand the great benefit of voice communications in general.

Plus, if everyone joined TS then you could not blame wipes on the “pugs” and would instead have to evaluate the tactics used in the fight.

There’s certain commanders I’m always happy to follow in WvW. I’m also pretty sure their English is limited. I can keep up with them without being on TS. When they get a rhythm going, game play becomes fairly intuitive and we can wipe zergs bigger than we are, and switch effortlessly from defense to offense. Basically, once you know an experienced commander’s style, you pretty much know what to expect. I only ever fall behind is due to real life happening or FPS dropping, neither of which TS will fix.

I do have TS and occasionally go on, but in general, listening to gamers speak is like listening to the prattle of the dead (sorry.) I’d rather have on music. And sure, I could mute people, but if I’m muting everyone, may as well not be on TS. If people don’t want to be on TS, they don’t have to be on TS. It’s a third party program. You can make it mandatory in your guild, but you can’t make it mandatory in the game. Remember, it’s everybody’s game, not just yours.

The best thing you can do is let people know that TS is available to them and politely state the benefits every now and then. The worst thing is to harp on it and call people names, or to make TS unpleasant for those who do give it a try.

If all else fails, recruit Morgan Freeman. I’d totally get on TS to listen to him.

Hule.8794:

Well you just get on TS with wrong people.
This is not possible without TS because commander cannot stop in middle of fight and write “double dodge” or “push”

What makes you think people are unable to double dodge or push without TS? Double dodging is a matter of common sense; pushing is a matter of following the blue tag. It’s not hard.

To be perfectly honest, because TS offers me no more information than if I’m actually in game and playing, as a veteran player of MMO’s, I use TS less and less the older I get because it’s really not needed once you grasp the fundamentals of a game or in this case the genre.

Sometimes I do get on TS, and It does have value for sure, especially for newer players. but 9 times out of 10 there is little to no extra information and it’s a hassle to deal with people interrupting each other and breathing into their mic while they eat their hot pockets.

tl;dr TS has it’s place but I’m not gonna be on TS for every zerg fight.

Plain and simple this game should be ran in guilds (big or small, good or bad, etc) and the TS/Vent/Mumble/Raidcall should be ran within those guilds.

Everything is much more successful with guild groups doing things, rather than massive pug forces throwing 50 rams at every gate and never having supply.

Guilds are the answer.

Neeho.3859:

You have to remember that some people just play to unwind after work or school… giving 100% attention to a game is not on their priority lists, nor their wives/husbands/kids.

I fall into this category. Most of the time I will not jump on TS, I don’t need to. I’ll usually join if I am playing small organized guild play, or if I’m learning a new fight like I did with Tequatl, but aside from that, I find it completely unnecessary.

I play a ranger, it’s nearly pointless in zerg battles because I don’t offer the group much help outside of sheer damage, and I don’t usually die to being with.

People have to keep in mind, if you (commander), or the guild, or people in your TS are even somewhat aggressive, foul language, or just being plain idiots, or have a history of any of those, don’t expect anyone to ever join up in TS, unless they are extremely serious WvW’ers, which the vast majority aren’t.

At least on Tarnished Coast, get Mumble installed and use it. Listen to the commander. If you have a problem with four letter words, deal or change servers or something, but get off the zerg. Go guard a tower and take care of the yaks.

If people blame zerg problems on people not being in TS, then when everyone is in TS then they’d fine new excuses for why their zerg sucks, like zerker builds, or no skill pugs.

You will never get everyone into TS. Raging about it just makes the people not in it want to stay away from it more.

we have good success with people are in voice communications. Maybe it is because the commanders who use voice comm are better, but it really makes a difference. Movement is so refined, timing is refined, left-right, up the stairs, pvd or dont, wait, go now, go left, go right, all of it matters a lot

water field, fire field, dodge roll, wait

The pugs who dont hear any of that are so obvious

Jeydra.4386:

What makes you think people are unable to double dodge or push without TS? Double dodging is a matter of common sense; pushing is a matter of following the blue tag. It’s not hard.

Oh double dodge is a matter of common sense, but the timing is not.
You have an ele in your party right? He has trait that dodge will cast Cleansing wave.
Ok, so ele will double dodge that your common sense will double dodge too but thanks to it he will miss cleansing wave. Or Guards healing.
Yes it is not so hard without TS when you outnumber enemy, but try it when you are outnumbered. That is just a different story and TS will sometimes help you win.

Why should the commander to tell that the Elementalist needs to cast Cleansing Wave now, but not the Elementalist? Why should the Elementalist miss Cleansing Wave anyway? It’s not like it’s that hard to aim.

I generally will not fight open field when outnumbered unless I have advantages behind me (siege backup, I’m pre-stacked enemy isn’t, etc). Perhaps TS might help win more equal fights, but I think it’s rather foolhardy to try in the first place. Also as I said, if I get the feeling that we need that extra oomph that TS provides (not often), I’ll log on to it.

It is not that Elementalist will miss Cleansing wave but the rest of the group will miss it as they will dodge back to regroup and blast heals, but guy with elementalist taht is not on TS will not know to dodge back and his cleansing wave might be the difference the group needs. And often there are people so low on healt that 2k heal make them live long enought that their own heal is out of CD.

I did not say anything about openfield, but rarely i found in open field group with exact numbers as we are(yes we stack before, talk with enemy let them count their numbers, we count ours and if one group is missing some people that we dont fight)

And if you seen my video, 9 people were standing and trying to defend tower with help of TS, we hardly get inside, and we succeded defending it.
This is not rare inGW2, but possible only with TS as that group defending needs to work tight, not writing in chat.

As a newer player to WvWvW, being in TS for our server has already helped me become a better player. I found my initial confusion about WvWvW would be clarified as I went with the commanders and their guilds on organized runs.

Our commanders seem to really care about our community and are very helpful to those listening. I don’t even speak, I do still listen to music, I just mute my mic just in case. I appreciate the time they are giving to everyone by staying tagged up and making WvWvW more organized and thought I’d give it a shot even though I was skeptic about joining it at first too.

Saying the same things… I’d rather listen to music or I don’t wanna hear chatter while playing the game and/or I know what to do… follow blue tag and live blah blah, etc.

I went from dying constantly to just once in a blue moon simply because I know when we are moving as a group and when to finish off the stragglers etc. With that said so far, I can see why “experienced” players may not want to join the TS server. They already know what is expected of them and that works for them. I just find fun times in TS on our server. What encouraged me to jump into TS as a new player?

Persistence of the commanders on our server. They casually suggest it, no chat lashing or trolling, just good ol’ fun and strats along with scout discussions. It is my personal opinion that my servers TS MAKES WvWvW more fun to me.

If I am roaming then odds are I won’t jump in, but even then it’s nice to know which way the opposing server zergs are moving so I can plan my roam accordingly. There is a lot of good in TS. I realize there is a lot of bad and so far have only come across 1 commander I had to leave TS on but he was still doing well at commanding, it was just too late for me to deal with his mannerisms

Point being, keep trying with your servers strays, some will listen(not all ofc). Getting verified “seems” like the most annoying part but I totally agree with it and if your server has good admins then it is easily done.

Bogey.5423:

I have ran into problem that I can’t get into our TS, which require verification. Even though have asked multiple times for verification, never got one, so gave up even trying. Might be that I just have really bad luck with it.

^ THIS

I’m a recent transfer from a Gold league server to a Silver league server. I moved to hang out with friends (tired of guesting and not being able to WvW with them). Buuuut, the server TS is making me insane. It took me days to get verified the first time, and then I logged in recently and was locked in the lobby again. Can’t find an Admin to verify me in the hours that I’m in WvW either. I’m not new to WvW, I just like hearing what’s going on while I fight. This inability to get in the voice comms has diminished my fun overall in WvW. Sad but true, I’m planning to transfer back soon if this remains the same.

@OP – What worked for me when I first began using voice chat years ago was the realization that I’d no longer have deaths due to typing. No more discovering in the middle of a fight that I was mistakenly typing 2222343ssswwwwwwww dead because my cursor was in the chat window still. >.<

Shout-out to Lotro PvMP yo!

Commander should detag and run tagless and communicate movement via teamspeak.

The main reason why I don’t like TS is random chatter that has nothing to do with what is happening. I get that people get excited and want to express themselves, but you cannot control that. I am alright without the use of TS to know what to do thanks to my long WvW experience, plus there are many other ways to help your world other than following that blue tag on the map. But when I do choose to follow commanders I don’t just follow them mindlessly into battle like I know a lot of people do. You can quickly tell an organized zerg from a bunch of pugs just by what the people do when the zerg is confronted by enemy forces. You can adapt your build prior to jumping into a zerg as well if you know they will be organized, and do what you’re already used to doing in it… all without the use of TS.

Now even I recognize that there are times when TS is necessary, and you all should know that this is when multiple commanders are in the map, and they are actually doing a decent/good job.

But then for those of you like me who don’t enjoy all that TS talk, you don’t need to ask anyone what to do, just press M, take 5 to 10 minutes and look at what happens in the map.. heck you can do this while you roam. But for the experienced players, just looking into the map from time to time can tell you the tide of a battle even before a commander can do something about it. That is because you don’t need to worry about commanding a zerg or organized zerg, you can scout for the commanders, you can take camps and build siege even before a commander gets to a location (especially if you join a party) you can even rally a bunch of roamers and make a significant force of pugs who aren’t in TS to help flip the tide of a battle fairly quickly.

But why not just follow a commander? Why not tap into TS and make your life easier? Maybe you don’t enjoy following commanders and want to contribute on your own. That is all allowed, everyone has a part in the big scheme of things, but if you do want to be part of the big picture then learn to think like a commander, that’s far more valuable than tapping into TS and following orders from a commander… they aren’t super intelligent deities that you have to follow or die either. TS is important especially in zergs, but what matters the most is what you do to contribute.

Eternal Rain.9376:

Just tag off and force them join on ts if they want follow u.

LOL, a BG commander tried this once. Mass revolt, and almost the entire map decided to follow someone who wasn’t being a kitten-head.

There will always be people who aren’t on TS. Playing at work (naughty!), playing in a room where other things are occurring, being deaf, and other reasons. If you don’t put anything in chat as a commander, that’s your loss. If you tag down to prevent people from following you, you’re just a kitten.

Allow me to address the original poster’s server in particular (Dragonbrand). I don’t know a single commander on DB running anything sufficiently complex to require TS. There are guild groups on DB doing such things, and using voice coms to coordinate. TS is helpful if you are trying to do something like “aegis chaining” in GW1—that is, you have multiple players of the same class that use a skill with a recharge longer than the duration, and you want to tell these players when to cast so they don’t overlap or waste their skill. There is almost never a non-guild group on DB doing anything remotely like this (guild groups have been known to use TS/vent/mumble to do so).

If you find that what you hear on TS is “stay on tag” and “we’re going for X next” then have your commander make a macro, and use team chat.

I can’t think of any reason that would require everyone to be in TS, or even a large percentage of people. And since you’re pretty much guaranteed that a large percentage will not be on TS, it’s up to you as a commander to deal with it.

Always gonna have rallybots follow the big blue dorito just feint push chokes and get them killed.

Kai.9182:

Always gonna have rallybots follow the big blue dorito just feint push chokes and get them killed.

And you’ll become known as the commander who’s always getting people who follow him killed. I like it… weeds out the lame commanders.

dadada.1306:

Kai.9182:

Always gonna have rallybots follow the big blue dorito just feint push chokes and get them killed.

And you’ll become known as the commander who’s always getting people who follow him killed. I like it… weeds out the lame commanders.

Well the ones in teamspeak don’t die and you become the hilarious commander. kapeesh rallybot?

I actually find it really boring and annoying listening to somebody scream at me for fire fields, I would rather listen to some music.

Kai.9182:

dadada.1306:

Kai.9182:

Always gonna have rallybots follow the big blue dorito just feint push chokes and get them killed.

And you’ll become known as the commander who’s always getting people who follow him killed. I like it… weeds out the lame commanders.

Well the ones in teamspeak don’t die and you become the hilarious commander. kapeesh rallybot?

You’ll quickly become known as a troll and people will simply refuse to follow you. After that you’ll be like “guys I need everyone on me” and “if you’re not on the commander you’re doing it wrong” and “omg why do we have so many PVERS who don’t know how to follow commander on this server?!” and then ragebuy 1800 gems to transfer elsewhere.

All a matter of marketing and expectations Advertise your TS:

Bag-rain at quentin, be prepared, listen to the weather forecast at <address>
Battle-news, live reporter everywhere, follow us at <address>
Goooooooddddd Morrrrrninnnnng <Server>, <server> broadcast at <address>

If the people expect entertainment (and you do not fail to deliver entertainment in TS) they join you.

Watch “Good Morning Vietnam” and learn how to get or loose listeners

Thanks for all the responses guys, I’ve gotten some good answers to my question in the last 100 posts or so. Let me go through and list some of the notable ones.

1. Run tagless so only TS users can find the zerg. This would encourage people who are committed to WvW to get on TS, but those people usually are already on TS, they’re not the problem. The casuals who I need to target would probably not see a commander on the map and move to another borderland.

2. Make the server TS into a community hub where we run dungeons and other open world content like Teq. This sounds good, we used to do Teq 5 days a week and during our runs we could get 100 people on TS. If people feel like the TS server is one big guild family they might enjoy getting on more.

3. Take the time to explain why TS is in the best interests of the players and the server, how to download it, etc. Good idea, in the end not being on TS is a matter of mindset, the players who don’t get on think they can’t gain anything from it, or comparatively little. Some may not have it installed, and may not know where to download it.

Finally, I’d like to address some of the skeptical responses I’ve received. I’ve read several dozen responses along the lines of “I’m proficient enough to not need to be on TS, as long as I concentrate on following the commander”, and “I don’t like talking to strangers and hearing them talk about random things”, and “You can’t force anyone to get on TS!”. All of these responses are beside the point, the casual players I’m talking about aren’t proficient enough to stay on the tag all the time. Even I, without being on TS, lose my focus and squirrel, or I get too far away from the tag to be prepared for an unexpected zerg fight. Having to talk to strangers and sometimes have off topic conversations can be problematic, but if you get on TS often enough you’ll start to see friendly faces. When I get on TS I recognize about half of the names that I see and the voices that I hear. The commander on TS can also get priority status so that no one can talk over him. Finally, no I’m not forcing anyone to get on TS, there is no way for me to compel people to get on if they don’t want to. In an ideal world, the players in WvW will want to win badly enough to take advantage of all the available resources, and having a zerg on TS is one of the biggest resources they can take advantage of.

People simply don’t want to get on TS for their own reasons and commanders have to learn to accept this and simply…deal with it. There are loads of reasons described above for people not wanting to do it, such as listening to their own music, friends in another call or simply not wanting to listen to screaming and shouting/crappy music from some TS music bot. There’s also wanting to keep their PC’s resources better used too but this varies from case to case.

What commanders shouldn’t be doing is excluding those people using bully boy tactics shutting off their tags. Pugs WON’T simply leave a map, if there is a queue to get in they KNOW something is going on and will simply wandering around looking for said action through the swords icons or chatter on map chat, get killed by roaming zergs or otherwise make a server slot wasted.

If they are following the group at least they are contributing their power toward overall team fights, so what if they aren’t able to smell your breath and keep up with you, at least they died helping you.

The stupidity of commanders trying to strongarm people into teamspeak is mindboggling. In a choice between excluding and accommodating pugs, I think the choice should be obvious. Some of those people might actually think better than some random scrub who paid 100g for an attention tag and might make a bigger difference in teamfights if they knew where they people that need their help is.

Well said, Sarevok. Agreed.

In the end, the WvW organization is based on volunteer participation.

It is not a corporate structure, nor is it a military institution.

All three of those require vastly different management approaches.

Commanders who do not understand those important distinctions can alienate their volunteer fighting forces.