Guild Wars 2

Soo as the title asks, how much experience/ WvW levels should a commander have? I really want to become a commander and I feel like I’ve been immersed into WvW for a good amount. But I don’t want to be completely hated/ignored by people because I’m too inexperienced/arrogant like some people on my server……

I dont know tbh.
When you lead the first time or two you’ll probably be bad but its more about sticking with it until you get good. Some people have no patience for newer commanders and you’ll get grief from them so you’ll probably need fairly thick skin to last long enough to get the experience you need really.

:( That’s unfortunate, but thanks for the advice

You should check out this Commander guide:

https://docs.google.com/a/scienceworksmuseum.org/document/d/1ooTfxO2ZJ6vO0KB9nLT31OnipVV_3yqWNigjl8wIwBM/edit

Here is a small part of it:

Commander Jadon

Why Become A Commander?

Alright so, let’s say you want to be a commander, or you already have a tag, great! Now, the big question you want to ask yourself, is why do I wish to become a commander? As WvW stands currently, commanders are what makes it all click and work. Without commanders, WvW would fall into a general mess of chaos and suffering that no one would really want to be apart of. Now, it IS possible to roam WvW and direct/command in WvW without an icon, but generally speaking you won’t be commanding without one. Now, let’s say you are trying to decide… here are some questions that will help you make the final choice to commit to becoming a commander:

-Do you wish to give extensive time and effort to help your server, continuously?

-Do you not mind being placed in the spotlight with the possibility to face heavy criticism or stress?

-Do you love WvW and feel you understand it decently?

-Do you feel you are able to work well with others and control your own emotions more often than not?
-Do you have the willingness to become a possibly figurehead for your server and promote the health of the community?

For the most part, for your enjoyment and for the benefit of the server, all of these questions must be answered YES or at least the majority need to be if you wish to become a commander. If not, you should probably stop yourself right there, not buy the tag, and save it for your shiny legendary or something, otherwise please continue reading!

Enjoy!

If you have guildies willing to scout, sit in keeps, and type for you you are ready.

Are you commanding solo? By that I mean do you have some guildies that will be following you? I can’t speak for lower servers but there has been a few solo (guildless) commanders pop up on Blackgate and they are at a huge disadvantage when it comes to getting followers. Everyone has there favoret commanders and guild commanders, so those people probably won’t follow you unless there is no one else and even then its maybe. Also on a server like blackgate there is normally always a few commanders around with a following so it may be hard for you to get a squad going.

Commanding is kinda a popularity contest (for lack of better words) you basically build a reputation on your server and people will remember it. If you do bad the first couple of times pugs won’t follow you, if you rage in /m people will call you a troll and basically end any chance for you to get things going.

My suggestion for any new commander is find a guild with good to ok commanders and a WvW force. Ask them if they are willing to train a new commander. Even if its not full on training, most the time people are very helpful because they want the best for there WvW community. And who knows you might be the next Sacrx or something.

And lastly, be vocal, use VIOP, and if its your first night (or first couple of nights) commanding let people know, ask if they have suggestions or comments to help you improve. Find out how your server coordinates commanders and guilds. Also Don’t get down on your self, some people are mean and will give you a hard time because you aren’t giving them the karma train they want.

Anyway good luck!

It’s easy, follow other commanders around until you think you have a basic idea of what they do (buffing before combat, movement in combat, utilities and food to use and siege placement). If you think you know something about that, just tag up early in the day when there’s not as many people and start your commanding. You will only be a good and experienced commander if you start of unexperienced and learn from your mistakes. Even the best commanders were a noob once.

as strange as it may seem, start small. don’t just come in and turn on your dorito. come in and try to get a 5 man party going. use that to learn the map as you travel around, as well as learning to read enemy movements based on the map. you’ll begin to build up a reputation with the people you plan on eventually commanding. work as hard as you can, and remember that no job it too small. people will take notice, and you’ll be earning their respect. slowly and gradually begin working your way up, leading slightly larger groups each time you get comfortable with the current size you have. by the time you’re comfortable leading 50 man zergs, you’ll have built up a fantastic reputation for yourself, and people will know to listen to you. not because you popped a dorito, but because you’ve proven time and again that you know what you’re doing.

if you don’t have the gold for a dorito, you can earn it during this time as well. if you do well, you’ll even get donations from people who were impressed with your leadership. it’s best if you don’t ask for these donations, since that will just end up working counter to the work you’ve been putting in. a dorito that is paid for by unsolicited donations from the people you’re leading is far more valuable than a dorito that was paid for by countless hours farming PvE.

furthermore, don’t just limit yourself to just one aspect of WvW, become a student of all of them. become a complete commander, so that when the fur starts flying, people know you’re someone they can rely on to get the job done, whatever the job may happen to be. if that means escorting yaks 4 hours a night for a week, escort those yaks. if that means setting up defensive siege and paying for upgrades, set up that siege and pay for those upgrades. if that means tying up a waypoint for 6 hours, tie up that waypoint. if that means leading a zerg, then zerg. if it means capping camps to cut off enemy supply, cap those camps. the more dependable you are, the more respect you’ll earn, and you’ll get to a point where people listen to what you say whether you have a dorito on or not.

Enough experience to know how to use ebay.

None?

Its not really his WvW/player experience that make a commander good. Its his ability to lead and inspire his men, which has more to do with personality than anything else.

Ultimately, we’re all in it for the fun. Even a mediocre, silent commander can be fun to follow. You can easily tell this by following commanders and simply observing the flow of battle. What does he do? What did you want to do? What did the other players do? Hindsight is fantastic, but you can also imagine what you would have done in the same situation. Did people die for nothing? Or maybe there was little choice. If players followed the commander willingly to their deaths, its a good commander

A classic thing often seen is a commander that cant predict what his own zerg does. Assaulting a keep, door is breached, but Commander By-The-Books move back, spout “stack!” in the chat and proceed to have his zerg killed off because 1/3rd went through the door, 1/3rd followed him to stack and the rest are running like confused chickens between the two. A clever commander would have realized that there’s no stopping the wave of rabid players, so stack up before the door is breached and then look for a gathering point inside (if need be).

Guild commanders of course have considerably more control, but I assume we’re talking random commanders.

When people you know often say, “I thought you already were a commander…”

Big hint: Please and Thank You.

Dawdler.8521:

Its not really his WvW/player experience that make a commander good. Its his ability to lead and inspire his men, which has more to do with personality than anything else.

I would contend that you can’t effectively lead unless you have a good amount of WvW experience, which you can mostly pick up following good commanders/groups. Too many bad encounters will demoralize your server and people will leave the map.