Guild Wars 2

Ashley.5761:

As a leader, why would you have the attitude of trying to demoralize your players?

• This is a video game
• Being a commander does not make you a leader
• Some people believe the way to teach players is through tough love
• People are, and can be jerks
• This is a video game

Yes, you get all sorts of people and all ages in this game. From the best to the worst, oldest to youngest and everything in-between. And all you need for the Commander badge is a doting parent.
Some commanders are good, very good. It just takes a while to figure out which.

But you shouldn’t have logged off. Don’t let somebody else spoil the game for you. There’s nothing they can do to you that won’t get them a ban. In fact, I would probably have put a report in for harassment. Certainly I would have said that much.

There was once a commander on FoW who was like a big … you know, he was not a nice guy. I won’t say a name. Players who were arround at the time he was in our server know, who I’m talking about. He could be very nice, if all went very good, but the moment we lost momentum, or didn’t even gain any, he went berserk in the chat, insulting the whole server in the worst manner sometimes.

But he moved to another server (maybe you encountered him now^^) because we were to bad for him… now most of the time FoW map chat is nice and all about friendly WvWing (friendly to us, not to our opponents^^)

Contiguous.1345:

And all you need for the Commander badge is a doting parent.

Erm, I worked for my tag, ran cof till my mind was numb, did fractals and all that kitten, I’d appreciate it if you respected those of us that chose to farm/grind our tags for the better of our servers wvw, we didn’t get handouts and farming 100g is a nightmare. So to say all of us are children or getting the money from our parents is a very inaccurate/offensive claim :/ I’m not saying that all commanders farm/work for their tag but don’t bring us all down with comments like this.

It really is a thin line…Having played WvW since shortly after release, only got my tag a few weeks back…So now I have been on both sides, and I can tell ya its a thin line between negativity, tough love, constructive criticism, etc….

The long and short of it is that people will follow you, with no intention of “following you”, there are just there for the ride. So when we are “giving commands”(for lack of a better term), those people are off chasing squirrels, throwing BS siege, pvping, etc…

I have gotten very frustrated at times (before tag and after) with the PUGs, but you have to be careful of what you say otherwise you lose credibility/respect.

My server takes to it very well though I must say, usually if I say something like “Why are you people over there in that breach when I asked for supply on these catas?” Usually I get 2-3 people shouting something like “SUPPLY ON THE COMMANDER NOW”…That really goes a long way in saving the commander’s sanity, and reducing the amount of raging that likely goes on.

Now if someone is just outright raging: name calling, belittling, berating etc…Just don’t follow them, over time they will either straighten up or people just won’t ever help them.

Hey !

All servers have some good/bad commanders. You don’t have to follow a commander if he treat u like that, but sometimes i understand that “attitude”. Because of some players who spoil the game and YES it’s only a game, but for someone it’s hard to think about that.

You don’t need to follow them, go with other or defend the tower or grab your friends and do stuff there. You don’t need to listen to all the …. that he saying. Some people don’t care about that “attitude” of a bad commander, but some yes.

I think they just lose patience. As has been said, getting the tag doesn’t mean you’re a great leader or anything, or that you can keep your own morale while people yell at you or won’t do what you say, or blame you for everything. There are some great leaders and great commanders on the maps, but it takes some time to learn who. Some are best ignored (just like some “normal” players are best ignored too.)

Your post was deleted… did you log off because of the commander? If so I recommend logging back on, following someone else, or just generally leading by example that bad commanders don’t deserve the attention.

VaaCrow.3076:

Contiguous.1345:

And all you need for the Commander badge is a doting parent.

Erm, I worked for my tag, ran cof till my mind was numb, did fractals and all that kitten, I’d appreciate it if you respected those of us that chose to farm/grind our tags for the better of our servers wvw, we didn’t get handouts and farming 100g is a nightmare. So to say all of us are children or getting the money from our parents is a very inaccurate/offensive claim :/ I’m not saying that all commanders farm/work for their tag but don’t bring us all down to the standards of those that do.

I didn’t say everybody with a Commander’s tag got it the easy way, I said it was possible. I don’t know how you read that into my post.
All you need is 100g – that’s roughly £100 sterling or US$150 (last time I looked anyway).

I’ve got a couple of hundred gold stashed away, that I got mostly playing WvW. I’ve got no intention of buying a tag because a) I wouldn’t be good at it and b) I don’t have time for it.
I appreciate those who do have one, that they worked for, who are good at it and who treat the ‘pugs’ like me with respect.

That doesn’t alter the fact that SOME of them are idiots and some of them are just plain nasty.

Well bad commander does not mean rude commander.
Bad commander for me is a guy who can be polite but simply does not know game mechanics. I have seen many guys like that. And also I have seen guys that shouts on TS, writes bad words in chat, just because he was doing great, but wiped by 2x larger zerg.

@Contiguous – what will you do with all that gold? Better to send me than left not used :-D

It IS a game. We play a game.
But it’s not JUST a game, it’s a hobby as well. And you want to excel at hobbies, and when that heavily depends on other people, it can get irritating.
I’m not saying anything is justified or that people shouldn’t get tough. Everything is different.
But it’s not ‘just’ a game.

Curious hair-splitting there Lokyate.

It’s a completely, utterly frivolous waste of time whatever label you want to put on it.

There’s no excuse for losing your sense of proportion at any point in life except possibly the penultimate moment. Even less so for losing it while playing a game.

Contiguous.1345:

Curious hair-splitting there Lokyate.

It’s a completely, utterly frivolous waste of time whatever label you want to put on it.

There’s no excuse for losing your sense of proportion at any point in life except possibly the penultimate moment. Even less so for losing it while playing a game.

@Hule:
That’s nothing to the tens of thousands I’ve got on my WoW account that I haven’t played in over a year and probably never will.

Personally im a commander one of the better ones (i hope) in crystal desert and i see a lot of dumb things lol but im not negative just quick to point out what someone is doing wrong and teaching of course. But im not going to lie the dumb things can get to you after long hours of wvw leading which i do. so recommend they take a break, or even yourself go get a drink and start up again it would help a lot for most people.
for CD i havent seen any negative commanders so might want to come here ^^.

Most commanders i’ve run across and followed have been pretty nice, no rude ones, yet, seem to know what they’re doing and don’t cost me repair bills as they know when to pull out and when to push forward, i do find running in a zerg boring though, so like to run supply, upgrading, siege towers up, tap siege, run yaks, you know the general stuff.

I do remember one commander shouting alot in map chat, he did say we were all useless which we all thought was funny.

I believe commander tags should be earned in wvw so these commanders know all the maps, where to place siege etc.

Anyone can farm a 100 gold it is easy, but i wouldn’t say it is at all easy being a commander.

What buy commander give to you:

• A tag
• A card written: “I spent 100g on this tag”

HAHAHA TSARAZI LOOOOOOOOOOOOL

I usually don’t like to be the only one tagged up, but one time I was trying to rally our dazed and confused militia after the commander on the map rage-quit on us.
This is the speech that finally got some people to follow me around. Feel free to plagarize , but not criticize

"I’m not here to tell anyone how to play. However, if you don’t like dying follow a commander. It doesn’t have to be me or anyone else, but if you don’t group up you will do nothing but rack up repair bills"

As for negativity, sometimes you need to dress down people when they are being stupid and not listening; but do it respectfully.

Keeping people sharp is one thing.
Being lame, crying and then quiting is another.

I all caps at my dudes sometimes, but its only when they are being bad. We do not have the numbers to be bad.
And I don’t quit after it, I’ll sit there with them until they get it. And when they’ve got it, we tumble roll stuff.
The quiters leave, and what I’m left is a reliable zerg which keeps tight and organised.
Its the secret to being a good commander, having good players. Teaching them if need be.

I will only follow certain Commanders in my server.

Hodge
Lyc
Garnet

Commanding pugs is like herding cats. It can bend done, but it is frustrating, and painful. Don’t be a cat.

Don’t like em? Don’t join them.

Eh, what’s wrong with being a cat?
I like cats.
Any fool tries to herd one gets what he deserves, which is how it should be.

The lesson should be ’Don’t be a fool’

(I never understood the one about the sheep and the goats either)

Hi guys,

When i fly my tag i try to realize that my goal here is to provide a measure of coordination to a group of people who otherwise may lack that. I try to make it fun and help guide us to a victory. Sometimes that means i make a call out and try to be firm about what needs to happen, othertimes it means just following the bloodthirsty zerg to bring us all together.

A tag means (at least for me) that i wanted to invest in the ability to bring people together. My favorite times in EB are when i have people whispering me advise, alerts, suggestions and tips. The whole server can come together to accomplish a goal. That is why i love my tag

I agree some tags are bad/jerks. That is the nature of the game. but like a lot of people have said, if the tag is bad, just ignore it. I tend to do that to a alot of tags personally until i see that they have the interest of the server ahead of their personal power trip.

my 2 thoughs

oh, 1 last BIG thought. I almost NEVER tag up when there is another tag running. Only for very specific circumstances. Nothing is worse than 2 tags not working together. Ungh

Even when kitten hits the fan (poor kitty) and everything goes to kitten (yay kitty) most commanders in my experience just state what went wrong and move on.

However, as with anyone in WvW, if a blue dorito person starts losing their rag in chat and generally being rude, call them out for their ridiculous kitten behaviour and report away if they start getting truly offensive. You’d be surprised just how many people will buckle and cease their rude, rampant ramblings after a good telling off.

Simonoly.4352:

Even when kitten hits the fan (poor kitty) and everything goes to kitten (yay kitty) most commanders in my experience just state what went wrong and move on.

However, as with anyone in WvW, if a blue dorito person starts losing their rag in chat and generally being rude, call them out for their ridiculous kitten behaviour and report away if they start getting truly offensive. You’d be surprised just how many people will buckle and cease their rude, rampant ramblings after a good telling off.

Blue Doritos are people too, sometimes they can lose perspective. This is good advise imo

People with commander tags are no different than with someone without one. This is why they need to look over how commander tags are achieved now. Almost anyone now can get a commander tag just for prestige and think by having it they are one up on everyone else.

I would like to see separate tags for wvw and pve.

Commander tag for wvw should be achieved by participating in wvw activities. Perhaps time invested or achieving certain goals in wvw goes towards a tag.

PVE should have a similar tag, again for doing things outside wvw/pvp. Perhaps call it a Captain or Leader tag with a different colour.

Have the tags only turned on when you’re in that part of the game.

Still that doesn’t stop those who do get the tags to be they way they want to be, but it does turn away those who just want to get it just because it’s something to spend racked up gold on.

A commander book is a power tool nothing more nothing less. Some people are good at using power tools to get a job done, while others are more than likely going to hurt themselves or others while they figure out how to use it. Just because you have a tool, doesn’t mean you know how to use it.

I could I suppose grind up some gold for a Commander tag and quite a few people on my server have even offered to assist me in that endeavor. However with the way the Commander tags are bought now I do not have the desire to get one.

What ruined the Commander thing is that it is just not WvW’centric. It can be and is used outside of WvW for squads, etc. I wish they would make a version of the tag for WvW only and use the following parameters to earn one.

1) It is purchased with badges only.

2) You cannot purchase one if you do not have certain thresholds met in WvW such kitten many towers captured, so many towers defended, so many pieces of siege built, etc. They already track all of that stuff anyways. (okay interesting on the inserted kitten)

3) Once purchased you start as a low level Commander, able to lead a small squad, and given a certain color for your tag. As you are successful in leading groups with your tag on and using again the parameters above, you will gain Commander ranks. Each rank allows such things as larger squad and other possibilities.

If you are still lousy as a Commander and people refuse to join your squad you do not gain those necessary points to advance your Commander rank. A Commander that switches servers drops to the lowest Commander ranking until he garners enough points to advance.

In that manner a Commander tag for WvW has to be earned both from being involved heavily in WvW and also but earning the respect of your fellow players.

Theftwind.8976:

I could I suppose grind up some gold for a Commander tag and quite a few people on my server have even offered to assist me in that endeavor. However with the way the Commander tags are bought now I do not have the desire to get one.

What ruined the Commander thing is that it is just not WvW’centric. It can be and is used outside of WvW for squads, etc. I wish they would make a version of the tag for WvW only and use the following parameters to earn one.

1) It is purchased with badges only.

2) You cannot purchase one if you do not have certain thresholds met in WvW such kitten many towers captured, so many towers defended, so many pieces of siege built, etc. They already track all of that stuff anyways. (okay interesting on the inserted kitten)

3) Once purchased you start as a low level Commander, able to lead a small squad, and given a certain color for your tag. As you are successful in leading groups with your tag on and using again the parameters above, you will gain Commander ranks. Each rank allows such things as larger squad and other possibilities.

If you are still lousy as a Commander and people refuse to join your squad you do not gain those necessary points to advance your Commander rank. A Commander that switches servers drops to the lowest Commander ranking until he garners enough points to advance.

In that manner a Commander tag for WvW has to be earned both from being involved heavily in WvW and also but earning the respect of your fellow players.

A ton of zerging noobs with no clue how to command would have the tag then.
And they would never turn it off because they want ‘levels’.
So the map would be filled with lvl farmers screaming to follow them because they are the bestest.

If you feel a commander is truly bad, don’t follow them. (Plenty to do when waiting for a good commander to badge up, run dolyak, keep upgrades going, scouting and securing as allies/neutralizing hostile npcs etc)

If they are verbally abusive, report them.

If they spam chat with their ego driven posturing, use block/ignore.

Even more important is to be supportive of the good commanders. This could include sending them any siege you have as commanders tend to know optimal placement, and it is best if they place the siege so you don’t end up with too many put down and not enough supply to build/overkill. Or mailing them feasts that can help those who follow the commander. (sending the commander feasts helps to get the most out of that tray much as with siege) Saying thank you can also go a long way to let those good commanders know they are appreciated. Pretty much everyone likes to be told they matter and are appreciated now and then.

Vote with your feet.

Kind of hard to scream and rage a tower gate down by yourself.

Contiguous.1345:

Even less so for losing it while playing a game.

Is that the message you’d give to an amateur football team, where one player is being chronically obtuse and kicks the ball out of the field all the time?
Just because some commanders are jerks doesn’t mean you have to go into the other extreme. Online games with other people are not any less real than any other form of social activity.

GuardianOMS.8067:

Ashley.5761:

As a leader, why would you have the attitude of trying to demoralize your players?

• This is a video game
• Being a commander does not make you a leader
• Some people believe the way to teach players is through tough love
• People are, and can be jerks
• This is a video game

WvW is PvE..why are you a headless lemming needing to follow someone in WvW, Anywho? What are you? 5?

Mute the person, buy a tag and lead your self or..stop whining?

Check my elite pvp video for an example of how I would command.

Commanders also cop a lot of crap. They tend to carry a heavier burden than everyone else so when things don’t go well, a lot of people blame them. One of the more frustrating things for commanders is when the enemy is using a really simple and easy to counter strategy and the commander is trying to get people to rally up and execute it but people are running around panicking and generally not helping. It’s especially frustrating when a commander works hard for several hours (most of the good commanders I know will pull daily 4+ shifts) to accomplish a lot, but loses it because people don’t listen. Bonus points if the commander dropped gold on upgrades. It’s not always the case, but if a commander is going negative, look to what you and your allies are doing (or not doing) to contribute to how he feels.

People get upset with negative commanders, but quite often the same people won’t build siege, won’t defend upgraded towers or camps and won’t drop their own money to upgrade.

The best/most successful commanders I’ve seen always had the backing of their guild. A great commander has guildies who are disciplined and build siege (carry supply), move quickly, follow orders and help create a centre of gravity around the commander to control the zerg. The most successful commanders I’ve seen who accomplish the most and are the most threatening only run when their guild is online. You never see them commanding pugs without a strong backing from their guild, and that’s because commanding is frustrating as hell without reliable followers.

The average pug commander’s day looks like this:

Some commanders lose it and are just negative kittens that probably need to take a break, but a lot of negative commanders are justifiably frustrated with the co-operation they get from people (especially when the alternative is no commander and getting pushed off of the map).

- Learn to play so you don’t get shouted at by good commanders.
- Learn to ignore bad commanders.

Warthog.6870:

- Learn to play so you don’t get shouted at by good commanders.
- Learn to ignore bad commanders.

Why would you let someone bully you and shout at you in a video game or even otherwise…?

Rob.7624:

A ton of zerging noobs with no clue how to command would have the tag then.
And they would never turn it off because they want ‘levels’.
So the map would be filled with lvl farmers screaming to follow them because they are the bestest.

You did not read completely. If nobody joins a Commanders group they will remain as an entry level Commander, easily recognized as somebody not to follow. If you like the Commander, join his/her squad so they can garner points to level up their Commander tag.

A negative, arrogant commander who is too full of himself can drag your whole server down in WvW. He doesn’t just make himself lose, he makes your whole server lose. He wastes everyones hard work including time and money put into upgrades and siege. That is frustrating.

GuardianOMS.8067:

Ashley.5761:

As a leader, why would you have the attitude of trying to demoralize your players?

• This is a video game
• Being a commander does not make you a leader
• Some people believe the way to teach players is through tough love
• People are, and can be jerks
• This is a video game

1. This is a video game.
2. Being a commander does make you a leader
3. Tough love is the way you teach players, by telling them bring this this and this and wear this and that.
4. People can be jerks, bad commanders are
5. It is a video game but it requires commitment dedication and if your players are messing around whip them into shape or you will keep dying!

Also USE COMMUNITY TS, its there for a reason!

Yza.2437:

Warthog.6870:

- Learn to play so you don’t get shouted at by good commanders.
- Learn to ignore bad commanders.

Why would you let someone bully you and shout at you in a video game or even otherwise…?

I’ve asked myself this question many times in my lifetime.
I think some people actually like it.

In fact I suspect most people like it.

My guild alone has about 9 commanders and only 2-3 of us ever tag up.
Good commanders have to be vocal, have to give criticism without bias or emotion (or singling anyone out) while encouraging the group as a whole.

When you are commanding and the PuGs dont’ want to listen, tag down and walk away. It’s not worth disabling your keyboard from mashing out commands in all caps. Just say “alright, you are on your own” and walk away.

Ashley.5761:

I ended up deleting my post, I think I was just upset and wanted to vent about it a little. OKAY SO I’M AN EMOTIONAL GIRL, hence me deciding to gtfo before I sent him a message about how he hurt my feelings and that it wasn’t a very nice thing to do.

But as a side note, it wasn’t just a random commander. I mean, it was one of the main ones on our server that I see on every single day.

I just want to say that I think your reaction is a very common one and that people deserve whatever time they need to process an upsetting incident. Vent away!

The other thing I want to say is that we have a commander that sounds similar on our server. Some people follow this person but others vote with their feet by grouping up with their guildies or other friends and doing small ops when this person is tagged up and berating everyone.

I could really use some help with sentry on my server. New people will help. Please stop chasing them away.

Well I care. I see how this stuff forms people’s spirits. We identify with what we do here, dreamlike. It is not trivial.

Those words are nothing alike. Please don’t be offensive and compare them like they are. tia

ok this week we have sactom of rall and blackgate? LOL

ok you guys, please stop denigrating newcomers, find a plan to help them, ok?

I have about 80% of the commanders on my ignore list. They usually demoralize teammates, or are so bad at WvW and can’t prioritize or lead whatsoever, and most are just snobby rich kids who just so happened to have 100g to waste and like to boss people around.

The rare (and I do mean rare) good ones know how to lead and don’t expect gold donations, siege donations, or expect to be regarded as a god-like figure.

Having multiple levels of commanders would be very helpful with this problem. People who want to run after the egomaniac could go do that, the rest of us could follow others who want to succeed instead of just show off.

I really hope multiple types of commander tags are implemented. As it is now, there is usually just a choice between whichever ego is driving your server off the cliff at the moment or freelance.