Guild Wars 2

Hi guys I’m a new WvW Commander ( just bought it today ) and I’ve been in WvW for months beforehand so I know how this all works. And actually running a Zerg is tougher than I thought.

I plan on running my Guild ( CoSA ) in the upcoming Spring Tournament which is I think 4 days away? Point is I need to make sure I have some stuff 100% down before I start so give me a hand will you?

1. Is it alright to ask my Zerg if anyone else can drop Siege? Ex. Flame Rams because I run out here and there and I don’t know if that’s ok to ask. ( Zerg = Guild + Random people )

2. What’s the best Siege to carry? I run with Arrow Carts, Catapults, Flame Rams, and Trebuchets. That’s the essentials right?

3. How do you calm angry Zerglings? I be respectful and apologize for a mistake but if you mess up once some people just explode on you and it’s really moral dropping to be a Commander. know I’m new at Commanding but I try my hardest 100% 24/7 but one mistake will bring upon SF’s wrath on me :/ my mistakes are never intentional and are never ment to wreck someone else I’m just learning you know?

4. What does Claiming things do? I hear a lot of different things so I thought I’d just ask.

5. I don’t know about you but attacking keeps is one hard job to do! I mean no one defending it isn’t to bad but Jesus once a Zerg comes and defends it you are out of the game! Any advice?

6. So I have had small exposure to “Dual Commanding” where one Commander is on one side and the other ( me ) is in the opposite side is this a smart strategy of pushing for map domination?

7. Rally problems: So I pop my Tag and no other Commander is on and people come to me but I’ve had a problem once or twice where a person who cussed me out for my mistakes would alert the Zerg that I’m a bad Commander and new. People like me but it takes one person to say something and half my Zerg leaves me :| I know I’m in a high Rep WvW Guild but people just need to let me show them what I can do! Any advice?

Thanks guys for reading all this! I just needed some feedback on new Commanding! Zerging and being the Leader are very different roles! I’m sure ill get the hang of it but I have these present problems! My guild is expecting big things from me from this Tournament and I don’t plan on disappointing.

1. Ask for siege donations. I would guess that golems, rams, and catas will be needed most of the time.
2. Every kind. But rams, catas, and acs are priority.
3. Ignore disrespectful people. Tag down if it’s your whole server raging. Explain what you’re doing before doing it and they will have no excuse if they didn’t follow instructions.
4. Guilds have buffs you can train in Art of War that can add a variety of useful buffs. A common one is +5 supply to camps.
5. Remove as much enemy siege as you can. Starve them of supply to repair.
6. If most of you are in voice comms it is, otherwise people will become easily confused.
7. Same as #3.

Lastly, I would suggest that you don’t constantly throw undergeared, upleveled, teammates at higher numbered opposition repeatedly. If you notice the same people dying all the time inquire about their gear/ spec. Have your guild mates lead by example.

Let me see if I can give a light to your issues…

1 – Yeah, that’s bad… Almost everyone expect that the commander drop the siege for them, because of the usual “Don’t drop siege for the commander” police… Of course, if you take too long to make your move, someone might drop a siege at random and complain you’re doing nothing. So fill your bags with the blueprints, and try to plan where you gonna drop them beforehand.

2 – Always carry all kind of siege… Golems can be left aside tho, they are more for specific ocasions, not for general ones… But always have Arrow Carts, Ballistas, Trebuchets, Catapults and Flame Rams. Principally the last ones. Some superiors also come handy.

3 – Being a commander require having a really thick skin, because one can’t simply calm a angry zergling… If you make your intentions clear, and saying why you are doing that, you’re likely to keep the zerglings quiet. Of course people will likely get upset if you get them wiped over and over and there is no god that gonna help you with that.

4 – When a guild claim a objective, all the active WvW buffs will affect players within the zone of the objective… The most popular one is the +5 supply carry buff, which people give to camps, but there are many others that you can check on your guild upgrade list unter the Art of War tab.

5 – Some keeps are easier to attack than others. A sieged keep can be even more dangerous than a upgraded non-sieged keep… You might want to scout around your objective (to check for any siege you can spot) before going for it, and find a way to go around the defenses (if possible). A unprepared attack toward a T3 keep is likely to fail if there are defenders around.

6 – Coordinated efforts are always a great play… Rolling a 100man zergball is counter-productive if you enemy is playing Divide-and-Conquer (thus, being able to cover more ground than you).

7 – Unless you can get someone already known in your server to tell people to give you a chance, the only way to prove your worth to the others is going out there and make stuff happening… Try don’t argue with the trolls that will say you’re bad, because they problably don’t even have balls to take up the commanding role and will give excuses like “gimme 100g and I’ll do it” just to be able to get away without getting on the responsability.

Jeknar.6184:

Let me see if I can give a light to your issues…

1 – Yeah, that’s bad… Almost everyone expect that the commander drop the siege for them, because of the usual “Don’t drop siege for the commander” police… Of course, if you take too long to make your move, someone might drop a siege at random and complain you’re doing nothing. So fill your bags with the blueprints, and try to plan where you gonna drop them beforehand.

2 – Always carry all kind of siege… Golems can be left aside tho, they are more for specific ocasions, not for general ones… But always have Arrow Carts, Ballistas, Trebuchets, Catapults and Flame Rams. Principally the last ones. Some superiors also come handy.

3 – Being a commander require having a really thick skin, because one can’t simply calm a angry zergling… If you make your intentions clear, and saying why you are doing that, you’re likely to keep the zerglings quiet. Of course people will likely get upset if you get them wiped over and over and there is no god that gonna help you with that.

4 – When a guild claim a objective, all the active WvW buffs will affect players within the zone of the objective… The most popular one is the +5 supply carry buff, which people give to camps, but there are many others that you can check on your guild upgrade list unter the Art of War tab.

5 – Some keeps are easier to attack than others. A sieged keep can be even more dangerous than a upgraded non-sieged keep… You might want to scout around your objective (to check for any siege you can spot) before going for it, and find a way to go around the defenses (if possible). A unprepared attack toward a T3 keep is likely to fail if there are defenders around.

6 – Coordinated efforts are always a great play… Rolling a 100man zergball is counter-productive if you enemy is playing Divide-and-Conquer (thus, being able to cover more ground than you).

7 – Unless you can get someone already known in your server to tell people to give you a chance, the only way to prove your worth to the others is going out there and make stuff happening… Try don’t argue with the trolls that will say you’re bad, because they problably don’t even have balls to take up the commanding role and will give excuses like “gimme 100g and I’ll do it” just to be able to get away without getting on the responsability.

Wow thanks for writing all this out it was a huge help and I will defineatly get to work on all this stuff thank you

1. Carry your own siege. This discourages your zerg from placing more blueprints than you have supply for and shows that you really are in charge. Commanding is expensive, don’t expect to make money doing it, but a successful commander can also draw in siege donations to offset the cost. One of our guys was mailed 250 superior rams recently, though I think he burned through them already.

2. Superior everything, and I mean everything. Guild catapults if you can afford them. If you don’t want to throw down omegas all the time that’s fine, but sometime it can make a difference if you’re in a fix. Normal prints are fine too as a budget option for less hectic scenarios.

3. Be ready to acknowledge your mistakes, but don’t apologize too much. Your zerg expects you to be in charge. It’s up to your community to make a welcoming environment for new commanders, and if they don’t, try to get that conversation started. Some people are just trolls and you can ignore them entirely.

4. The most important reason to claim is for +5 supply, combat bonuses are nice too. Keep in mind that if the capture isn’t “credited” to your guild, you won’t have the option to claim for a few minutes.

5. It depends on the keep. There is always a way in, there is always a way to counter defensive siege, but it comes down to knowledge, experience, and preparation. Know how keeps are typically defended, know when to persist and when to give up. Sometimes just by prolonging a siege you can drain supply, but that defensive advantage makes it very hard if your forces are otherwise matched.

6. Sometimes it is, I think it depends where you play and what kind of opposition you have. In this case make sure you are always communicating, then you can help each other out either directly or indirectly.

7. As long as you don’t get emotional or upset you won’t drive people away. Do what you can with the group that you have, and more will start to follow. Most people understand that more can be accomplished in a group than can be accomplished alone. If you’re clear about the fact that you’re looking for more experience and will listen, there should be people among your zerg who are willing to help you out with the learning process.

You say you’re in a WvW guild. Go ask them. Different guilds have different methods for commanding.

1+2. Get your own siege – they’re not expensive. You should have hundreds, if not thousands of badges by now. convert to siege, convert to superior siege. Only the commander throws siege because you have to manage your zerg’s supply. If you can’t manage your supply, just tag down and let someone else command and observe until you can.
3. Don’t apologise. You have to be a leader. Leaders don’t apologise. They acknowledge mistakes and fix them.
4. Guild buff related. If you’re not a guild officer, well, talk to your guild.
5. It’s supposed to be hard. You can’t seriously be expecting to pvdoor keeps down can you? No tips here. Your only teacher is experience.
6. Get in voice comms with them. Don’t be a kitten and command without server voice comms
7. Experience and time will fix this.

katniss.6735:

1. Ask for siege donations. I would guess that golems, rams, and catas will be needed most of the time.
2. Every kind. But rams, catas, and acs are priority.
3. Ignore disrespectful people. Tag down if it’s your whole server raging. Explain what you’re doing before doing it and they will have no excuse if they didn’t follow instructions.
4. Guilds have buffs you can train in Art of War that can add a variety of useful buffs. A common one is +5 supply to camps.
5. Remove as much enemy siege as you can. Starve them of supply to repair.
6. If most of you are in voice comms it is, otherwise people will become easily confused.
7. Same as #3.

Lastly, I would suggest that you don’t constantly throw undergeared, upleveled, teammates at higher numbered opposition repeatedly. If you notice the same people dying all the time inquire about their gear/ spec. Have your guild mates lead by example.

Awesome thanks for writing all that out an for the advice I will definitely get to work now!

Bertrand.3057:

1. Carry your own siege. This discourages your zerg from placing more blueprints than you have supply for and shows that you really are in charge. Commanding is expensive, don’t expect to make money doing it, but a successful commander can also draw in siege donations to offset the cost.

2. Superior everything, and I mean everything. Guild catapults if you can afford them. If you don’t want to throw down omegas all the time that’s fine, but sometime it can make a difference if you’re in a fix. Normal prints are fine too as a budget option for less hectic scenarios.

3. Be ready to acknowledge your mistakes, but don’t apologize too much. Your zerg expects you to be in charge. It’s up to your community to make a welcoming environment for new commanders, and if they don’t, try to get that conversation started.

4. The most important reason to claim is for +5 supply, combat bonuses are nice too. Keep in mind that if the capture isn’t “credited” to your guild, you won’t have the option to claim for a few minutes.

5. It depends on the keep. There is always a way in, there is always a way to counter defensive siege, but it comes down to knowledge, experience, and preparation. Know how keeps are typically defended, know when to persist and when to give up. Sometimes just by prolonging a siege you can drain supply, but that defensive advantage makes it very hard if your forces are otherwise matched.

6. Sometimes it is, I think it depends where you play and what kind of opposition you have. In this case make sure you are always communicating, then you can help each other out either directly or indirectly.

7. As long as you don’t get emotional or upset you won’t drive people away. Do what you can with the group that you have, and more will start to follow. Most people understand that more can be accomplished in a group than can be accomplished alone. If you’re clear about the fact that you’re looking for more experience and will listen, there should be people among your zerg who are willing to help you out with the learning process.

Thank you for writing all that out! I’m seeing a trend of things I need to work on thanks again

Reverence.6915:

You say you’re in a WvW guild. Go ask them. Different guilds have different methods for commanding.

1+2. Get your own siege – they’re not expensive. You should have hundreds, if not thousands of badges by now. convert to siege, convert to superior siege. Only the commander throws siege because you have to manage your zerg’s supply. If you can’t manage your supply, just tag down and let someone else command and observe until you can.
3. Don’t apologise. You have to be a leader. Leaders don’t apologise. They acknowledge mistakes and fix them.
4. Guild buff related. If you’re not a guild officer, well, talk to your guild.
5. It’s supposed to be hard. You can’t seriously be expecting to pvdoor keeps down can you? No tips here. Your only teacher is experience.
6. Get in voice comms with them. Don’t be a kitten and command without server voice comms
7. Experience and time will fix this.

Awesome thanks for writing! I was planning on using my BoH but with the Spring Tournemt coming soon wasn’t to sure if I shud do that because maybe merchants or whatever!

Also, don’t neglect to type some instructions into Map/Team/Say chat for the militia who end up tagging along with you. Not everybody will be on voice comms, and just writing a few small instructions like “Drain supply before moving on”, or “Everybody grab the Devourer buff. We’re hitting Red Keep next”, or “This is a diversionary attack for the guys in EB. This is NOT a full assault. Be ready to retreat on my word.” can go a long way to making your squad more effective.

Oh yes, random tip I missed that relates to point 1: Use /supplyinfo

Make your zerg stack up where you are standing then type that command to give you a supply count. If you’re standing next to a depot, call out the people who don’t have supply. Before you start a siege you need to know how much supply you have, and for god’s sake don’t get hit by a supply trap or a trebuchet cow. You may need to bring extra in case people wander off or waste their supply.

^ Not a Commander, but out of curiosity, what sort of supply numbers do you need for various WvW activities? (e.g. Assaulting a Tower, Assaulting a Keep, Assaulting Stonemist Castle)

Tag along with another commander and see how he does it. I can’t speak for your server, but a lot of CD commanders will let you tag along or take over and let you practice while they advise.

I think most realise that everyone has to start learning somewhere.

Cosa has plenty of commanders that can help you, did you try asking any? Or anyone in[Farm]?

Posted this in the your first thread, basically the same stuff Bertrand said:

1&2) You can designate a siege dropper, but if you want to be prepared you should have all the siege types available. About the only thing you really needn’t worry about are regular ACs and Alpha golems. It you are K-training you should probably pack at least a hundred superior rams for a multi-hour run. Even if you never intend to do a large golem rush you should have a few omegas handy in case you need to deal with a well-sieged target. If you are low on anything buy more and/or ask for donations.

3) Mostly ignore the ragers – acknowledge a mistake, crack a joke and move on. Never, never, never waste time arguing, or dwelling on screw-ups. If it gets really abusive or obnoxious block them.

4) The only reason to claim things is if your guild is running buffs for WvW, the most common is a +5 supply buff that will allow players to carry 15 supply. There are also stat, MF, exp, etc. buffs.

5) Attacking a well defended and properly sieged keep will most likely require several omega golems, and a minimum of 200 supply (after the golems are built) in your group. Strats vary depending on the situation and location, but the basics consist of target siege first in order of danger to your attack; and block reinforcements both on foot and from the WP if there is one. Re-contesting WPs wins keep fights. Be sure to control and burn any enemies who can rez the lord.

6) Dual commanding is great so long as you both have enough people.

7) The rally issue will self correct as you get better and are better known. If your guild is going to be supporting, you’ll draw people. Significant numbers of pugs will bail on you on a wipe, unless you are very well-known and liked. You should also be very active on the voice coms. Directing, driving open field fights, letting people know where you are going etc. Doesn’t hurt to tell jokes and just generally be entertaining too.
Above all else stay positive, and don’t respond to the haters. If you make a bad call, just give out a “Sorry, bad call” and learn from the mistake. Discussion of your failures should be kept to private communications with more experienced commanders. To do so publicly will invite trolling, and will demotivate, and demoralize anyone following you.
Remember mistakes happen to everyone. One of my favorite guys to follow on my server still occasionally gets a jab (from me usually) about that time he threw catapults down to hit the north side of Klovan.

Zaxares.5419:

^ Not a Commander, but out of curiosity, what sort of supply numbers do you need for various WvW activities? (e.g. Assaulting a Tower, Assaulting a Keep, Assaulting Stonemist Castle)

It just depends. Baseline effectiveness against an undefended paper target:

Towers) 100 for two superior rams
Keeps/SM) 200 for two rams on each gate.

You can go cheaper, and do one ram per gate but it’s gonna take longer. I’m sure you can see already see the issue. What if you have to cata? What if you need to build an AC to kill enemy siege? What if the target is upgraded?

Ultimately it comes down to what defenses you face, and how fast you want to go. Our big K-train commander likes to penta-ram if we have the numbers to support it. He also usually won’t bother with something like a buffed up garrison or EBG keep unless he’s got at least 400 supply.

Triston.7639:

Hi guys I’m a new WvW Commander ( just bought it today ) and I’ve been in WvW for months beforehand so I know how this all works. And actually running a Zerg is tougher than I thought.

I plan on running my Guild ( CoSA ) in the upcoming Spring Tournament which is I think 4 days away? Point is I need to make sure I have some stuff 100% down before I start so give me a hand will you?

1. Is it alright to ask my Zerg if anyone else can drop Siege? Ex. Flame Rams because I run out here and there and I don’t know if that’s ok to ask. ( Zerg = Guild + Random people )

2. What’s the best Siege to carry? I run with Arrow Carts, Catapults, Flame Rams, and Trebuchets. That’s the essentials right?

3. How do you calm angry Zerglings? I be respectful and apologize for a mistake but if you mess up once some people just explode on you and it’s really moral dropping to be a Commander. know I’m new at Commanding but I try my hardest 100% 24/7 but one mistake will bring upon SF’s wrath on me :/ my mistakes are never intentional and are never ment to wreck someone else I’m just learning you know?

4. What does Claiming things do? I hear a lot of different things so I thought I’d just ask.

5. I don’t know about you but attacking keeps is one hard job to do! I mean no one defending it isn’t to bad but Jesus once a Zerg comes and defends it you are out of the game! Any advice?

6. So I have had small exposure to “Dual Commanding” where one Commander is on one side and the other ( me ) is in the opposite side is this a smart strategy of pushing for map domination?

7. Rally problems: So I pop my Tag and no other Commander is on and people come to me but I’ve had a problem once or twice where a person who cussed me out for my mistakes would alert the Zerg that I’m a bad Commander and new. People like me but it takes one person to say something and half my Zerg leaves me :| I know I’m in a high Rep WvW Guild but people just need to let me show them what I can do! Any advice?

Thanks guys for reading all this! I just needed some feedback on new Commanding! Zerging and being the Leader are very different roles! I’m sure ill get the hang of it but I have these present problems! My guild is expecting big things from me from this Tournament and I don’t plan on disappointing.

1. Try to come stocked with siege, if you do run out or you are randomly elected to command (will happen alot once you start to command more and get well known).

2. Rams/ Sup rams (both are important, using sup rams on a paper tower gate in whcih noone will defend is overkill). Sup ac’s (normal ac’s are usesless), Sup Cata’s/guild Catas, Trebs/sup trebs and Omega golems also Sup ballistas.

3. that’s a culture problem, i think i’ve had it too good on SoS where i’ve accidently wiped my zerg by fall damage into a zerg and noone was angry. we just had a laugh about it, honestly nothing you can do about it but just remain calm and apololize if you make a mistake if anyone speaks up ask them to command (always gets kitten’s to shut up).

4. When you refer to claiming a camp/keep it means having your +5 buff or guild buffs active most commonly used is +5 supply buff.

5. Attacking a keep is fine if you can beat them open field, test it out lure the enemy out to the open field and if you beat them gg set up trebs or omega’s if not go do something else.

6. Dual commanding is more effective then single commanding, but make sure both commanders are in direct contact with each other usually with Ccoms.

7. Again SF must be a pretty bad server ngl, you don’t see that kind of stuff on SoS people are usually very supportive of newer commanders. You can change this yourself by getting good members to call out people who complain about commanders eventually the culture will skew the other way of positivity.

First : understand that this is a game and also that not everyone is a judgmental players waiting on your first mistake to humiliate you.

So try not to get personally offended by any kind of comments. Just ignore it and move on. If the player won’t stop, telling him off nicely (adding a " ^^ " can do wonders) might be needed.
Also acknowledge your mistakes.

And don’t be that type of commander who thinks that because he bought a tag for 100g he’s the king and everyone should kiss the ground he walks on. Don’t be disrespectful to anyone, no matter how stupidly they act. Don’t treat your zerg like kitten, a commander can only go as far as his zerg will let him go.

And don’t keep bashing your head on the same tower/keep over and over again without changing tactics.

I’ll chime in too

1. It’s alright to ask them but you can’t guarantee they’ll drop the amount and kind of siege you want. I’d give it a 80% chance to get the siege you want, but a 50% chance to end up with 1-2 extra of it placed.

2. Superior siege. You’ll want a loadout like this one. Emphasis on the rams though. If you’re karma training use the normal rams on everything.
- At least 30 superior rams, and at least 90 normal ones. You’ll use the normal rams on paper objectives (wood walls or gates).
- At least 20 superior arrow carts. Don’t bother with normal ones players shrug the damage off.
- 20 superior and 20 normal catapults and trebs
- some ballistas. The uses for them are far and inbetween but you may come across a spot where you want one so it helps to have one.

3. Keep calm and remember your towel. You can do two things to calm the rage. First: ignore the guy raging. He’s trying to troll a response out of you. Second: make all attempts to not repeat the mistake you made. Do keep in mind that your zerg is as much at fault for a failure as you are. You dictate the strategy. It’s their part to execute it. If your strategy was sound then you’re not at fault for a failure.

3 b: You’ll wipe… a lot. So long as your guild stays on you you’ll do fine.

4. Claiming an objective lets you apply guild buffs to the objective based on what your guild has unlocked. The best buff you can get comes early on too: Guild Fortified Supply Carrier (something to that effect) adds a +5 carry capacity to the camp you claimed.

4b When an objective is taken the majority guild in the circle for that objective gets priority claiming rights on the objective. These rights last 3 minutes from the time it was flipped. After that any guild can claim the objective. It behooves you then to make sure your guild has majority presence during the capture such that you get to claim it and put the buff on it.

5. You’ll need to employ creative strategies to defeat the zerg. The zerg even with all the mobility ANET adds to this game is still a slow force. It can only respond to a single target at a time. To respond to more it has to subdivide. You can use that to your advantage. I’ll give you a strategy that works for this situation.

5a. The Bait and switch. Your objective is a southern target on a borderlands, say hills or bay. Whichever is closest to your spawn. The southern towers are especially vulnerable to this.
First push north. Make sure you’re seen going north by enemy scouts if they have em. You’ll attack a northern center camp (west or east, opposite the side you want to attack btw). Then you’ll push up to the tower adjacent to that camp. Say you want bay, you’ll push stargrove and cragtop. You’ll want to make the attack look convincing so place a superior ram. Don’t build it. Just place it. Any militia you picked up will probably build it. If your attack draws orange swords all the better. When their first responder shows up back off the tower and waypoint. Resupply at the camp towards your objective keep and then hit it.
The Bait and Switch moves the enemy zerg to respond to the tower up north that you’re “attacking”. They can respond fast, their WP is right there. But then you waypoint back and hit the keep they were attacking. They are now severely out of position and have to run back to the keep. If you do the BnS with the south towers you can almost guarantee a capture. With the keep you’ll be in through outer with time to hide a mesmer, setup a killzone with siege, or to just go for inner.

6. This is a good way to push a map SO LONG AS both armies under those commanders are capable of winning the fights they come across. This is how I recommend you control Eternal Battleground. There you need an active attack on both sides to prevent them from pushing your side. If you’re green your goal is to control Quentin Lake and Anzalias. When either tower drops your side is vulnerable through the NPC camp on that side. You should only combine forces to protect your side if it is open or if one force is incapable of winning fights while evenly matched. Win the fights and the PPT will come.

7. This goes with number 3. Your guild should be loyal to you. Don’t worry if the pugs come or go or if they curse you out. Your guild has your back and will stay with you. Let success speak for you. If they see you pushing deep into red’s territory and flipping everything in your path they’ll come back. If you successfully defend your side’s fortified objectives they’ll come back. If you wipe to red in stonemist they’ll go away for a bit then come back. Let your guild be your zerg and the pugs will come and go as they please.

All advices given are sound, though I’ll chime in on four points.

haters’ gonna hate…
If someone on your server bad mouth you, keep on doing your thing and prove your effectiveness. Not sure how to be effective? Follow other commanders with a commander eye. Note what they do well, and inspire yourself of it. try to get along with people, when not commanding. Speak in map chat, speak on TS, give sound scouting information, help out fellow players. People knowing you will be nicer – less rage and more constructive comments.

Learning to lead.
Some people have it naturally, others have to learn. If you are in the second situation, try to have an experienced commander on a whisper list with you, so that he can tell you what you did wrong, without it being heard by everyone.

Time
Some times see few leads, some days are easier to start.
People will usually be nicer when noone want to tag to the new commander than they would be when better known commanders are on. In most MU, mistakes are bad at the beginning, but don’t matter much at the end of the week. Between tagging up at reset VS taking it right before reset, prefer the later… way less weight on your shoulder…

Guild
If your guild backs you up, lead guild runs before pugs, and accept your guildies advices…

As a commander you are justified to ask for cooperation, but demanding it will have the opposite reaction.
If things get to the point where you are not getting cooperation, tag down and run with only your guild by having them target you.
You can always tag back up later if ppl start saying they need a tag.

Drop siege yourself, its the commander that have the function to see how much supply the Group have and better to get 2ram on outer and 3 on inner then 4 on outer and 1 inner gate.

Sooner or later you will start to curse players that never take supply in camps, that are rallybots or simple drop random siege

Triston,
Your guild has a solid reputation and as an opponent I know that CoSa can fight. Now it is up to you to maintain and enhance that reputation.
1 & 2 Siege. Before you even log into WvW you need to stock up on siege. I maintain a stock of 100 superior rams, catas, acs. Talk to your guild members about making sup siege for you. Give them the money to buy blueprints and mats.I have two guild catas in inventory and always rebuild them in the upgrades section so all 5 are ready. Trebs and golems should be in your inventory but not in the same numbers. I keep 20 each regular and sup trebs and the stock point for Omegas should be ten. You will also want to have ten each supply traps and stealth traps. As far as other people dropping siege, I have a standard load for my guild members. They always have minimum three of each siege and ten supply and stealth traps. As a commander you will be primarily responsible for offensive siege but you need a capable team around you to allow for a responsive force. If another player is going to throw siege have them call out their name “Thyra has the regular ram drop” so that you don’t get multiple drops. Take the time prior to operations to identify 3 ram masters and 5 cata masters that are running with you. Prioritize them for using siege and make sure they are your operators. Having lvl 5 ram/ cata masters can make a huge difference. Treb and golem use is very situational as stated by an earlier poster.
With all of the above advice in place I finish my siege comments with- it is all about supply. Learn to use the /supplyinfo command often. Know what your team has on you what it is capable of building and always be thinking of the next two places you will get supply. Blue prints and mastery mean nothing without the supply.
3. Calming your peers during a fight – Get into teamspeak or whatever voice comms your server uses. Give commands with even patient concise directives do not blather. Talk to your team about what your intent is. Have patience during the assault. Have a step by step plan for each defense. Your people will hear the confidence in your voice. They will respond and fight harder for you when they know you have a plan and the resources to execute it. Discuss improvements after any very difficult fight and listen to the feedback. Encourage and praise those around you when they do well. It is basic but people will fight for you when they know you are watching them as individuals.
4. Claiming- I intentionally run with a primarily guild force in order to claim locations for the plus 5 supply buff. Supply means momentum. Both in offense and defense, the advantage of the plus 5 buff can be huge. Your guild has to be the largest majority of the force that took an objective in order to claim it on take without waiting for the buff to come down. If that isn’t the case coordinate with your peers and find out who can make the claim. Never let your guild plus 5 supply buff be inactive. A guild can claim one location on each of the 4 maps at the same time.
5. Keep attacks- while undefended – sending 5 person teams to hit a keep while you are in a skirmish across the map can be effective. Having four small teams hitting multiple objectives is better.
Keep attacks while defended- Force your opponent to defend multiple gates / keeps. Force them to come out from the keep to skirmish and work to cut off supply. Take the camps on the entire map, hit a northern tower with a ten man and take the majority of your force to hills / bay. Be patient.

Hi Triston,

I tried to compile a bunch of tips and tricks from the GW2 Community’s pool of excellent leaders, here’s what I was able to collect from them:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/wuv/wuv/Militia-Cooperation-tactics-and-styles/first#post3753723

A lot of what is in that thread is echoed here. Definitely be very patient with your map players. When I command in Eternal Battlegrounds, I copy and paste a WvW tutorial from my guild forum into map chat, to make sure that everyone is on the same page, and has the same understanding of the flow of combat.

If you’re fighting a force that either grossly outnumbers you, or out-skills you, then you need to change the tempo of the map by forcing them to react to you, instead of having their position be the focus of attention.

basically, be very, very mobile, control supply camps, and start damaging their structures. over a period of time, you’ll starve them of supply which will make taking their structures much easier.

Art of War documentary on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMNaULHLH9c

outdated, but still very useful PDF : http://guildwars2.ro/Ghid-WvW.pdf

Not speaking as a commander but as a defensive player, I suggest you figure out who the true siege masters on your server are, especially the ones who know how to place defensive siege, and utilize their knowledge and skill when you are defending an asset. A lot of times they’ll know the precise spot to place counter siege, whereas a commander might have a rough idea, or the wrong idea entirely, since they’re main focus is normally to be on offense. A good commander doesn’t have to know everything, but they’re wise to rely on trusted individuals who might have more expertise in certain areas than they do.

I second Slingblades recommendation and will tell you to treat those defensive siege experts like gold. Send them siege and funds. Make their job easy and always trust when they call for help.

Triston.7639:

Hi guys I’m a new WvW Commander ( just bought it today ) and I’ve been in WvW for months beforehand so I know how this all works. And actually running a Zerg is tougher than I thought.

I plan on running my Guild ( CoSA ) in the upcoming Spring Tournament which is I think 4 days away? Point is I need to make sure I have some stuff 100% down before I start so give me a hand will you?

1. Is it alright to ask my Zerg if anyone else can drop Siege? Ex. Flame Rams because I run out here and there and I don’t know if that’s ok to ask. ( Zerg = Guild + Random people )

2. What’s the best Siege to carry? I run with Arrow Carts, Catapults, Flame Rams, and Trebuchets. That’s the essentials right?

3. How do you calm angry Zerglings? I be respectful and apologize for a mistake but if you mess up once some people just explode on you and it’s really moral dropping to be a Commander. know I’m new at Commanding but I try my hardest 100% 24/7 but one mistake will bring upon SF’s wrath on me :/ my mistakes are never intentional and are never ment to wreck someone else I’m just learning you know?

4. What does Claiming things do? I hear a lot of different things so I thought I’d just ask.

5. I don’t know about you but attacking keeps is one hard job to do! I mean no one defending it isn’t to bad but Jesus once a Zerg comes and defends it you are out of the game! Any advice?

6. So I have had small exposure to “Dual Commanding” where one Commander is on one side and the other ( me ) is in the opposite side is this a smart strategy of pushing for map domination?

7. Rally problems: So I pop my Tag and no other Commander is on and people come to me but I’ve had a problem once or twice where a person who cussed me out for my mistakes would alert the Zerg that I’m a bad Commander and new. People like me but it takes one person to say something and half my Zerg leaves me :| I know I’m in a high Rep WvW Guild but people just need to let me show them what I can do! Any advice?

Thanks guys for reading all this! I just needed some feedback on new Commanding! Zerging and being the Leader are very different roles! I’m sure ill get the hang of it but I have these present problems! My guild is expecting big things from me from this Tournament and I don’t plan on disappointing.

1. I typically ask them to send it or ask people I know are mastery to drop for me prevents you from having to cycle siege ect to get a master on

2. I tend to need everything on a regular basis but golems (more situational) and ballistas (only really used to take out siege).

3. Always keep a positive attitude, and never take blame for something you didnt do. On the opposite side though always take blame for something that is your fault (leading them off a cliff or into a blob you didnt realize was that large), this helps keep calmer heads and most people respect commanders who learn and admit their mistakes. Also try to incorporate their ideas that are good as this make people more invested in their commander.

4. Guild have buffs claiming things puts said buffs on the place claimed.

5. Make multiple sweep before taking a keep, and take out their defensive siege. The first time you get the outer defenses down DO NOT PUSH TO INNER sweep the whole outer kill all their siege. Keep rinse and repeating until most of its down than use outer walls and siege to take out their inner siege allowing for easy taking.

6. Dual pins are very effective if you can work and learn off each other, having two pins that arent getting along can be a disaster though.

7. Best bet is to ignore and not feed trolls. If someone is trolling your pinning just continue operating like usual, unless someone else brings it up than react accordingly. Get to know your trolls so you know who they are and what they are doing in a fight (i.e. not stacking, being 1500 range out ready to run ect…) Most trolls are the people who sit and do nothing while people fight and tend to be looked down on for it.

Just my 2 cent if you have any questions feel free to message me I am always happy to help other commanders as it makes the game stronger and better for everyone.