Guild Wars 2

Anet should never have started selling this title. 99% of the people who have them wouldn’t know strategy if it whacked them in the head, and most people many of us trust to lead don’t have the title.

A few problems with it, besides the obvious one of selling it:

1. What the heck was Anet thinking that would make selling this title a good idea? All it shows is that some people know how to generate gold, or buy it from a farmer. Not good.

2. It gives people not familiar with wvw the idea that all they have to do is run around following the commander’s blue dot on the map in zerg after zerg; as I said, 99% of them don’t know strategy, so as soon as something gets taken, if they aren’t stopped cold, it immediately gets taken back right after the zerg leaves, making it pointless, and it gets very old very fast, making wvw boring. And when you get nowhere with so-called commanders, you lose, making it no fun.

3. Most with the commander title and blue dot, when they get it, act superior and gather around them loyal minions, turning the entire time they are on the map into a popularity contest. If someone who actually knows strategy wants to add ideas or work independently, many times they get ridiculed by the commander, and no one wants to be part of something outside of what a popular but unknowing commander wants to do, getting the entire server nowhere.

With earning the title instead of buying it, everyone would have the general idea that this person has at least some knowledge of how to lead….not that it would guarantee it, mind you, as there would always be those who never stop their bad habits. But I think most would agree it would make for a more interesting, explosive, in-depth experience on the wvw battlegrounds, what Anet intended I’m sure, than just running from base to base in a ridiculous zerg for hours on end.

There are other problems but I’m not here to write a book.

This was just an all around bad idea. There is absolutely no reason why Anet couldn’t have made this commander title something to be earned, not bought. Such as a certain number of kills….by the time you get to X number, you will have known all wvw battlegrounds and what to do good enough to have earned it, is just one example. I personally won’t spend 100g for that garbage, and don’t care what people think whether I have one or not. I know how to strategize these battlegrounds, it is easy, and not just zerging everywhere. The way things are it is only going to drive good thinking people away from this game, as well as those not familiar with wvw, for getting boring fast, as it is basically the only fun thing to do after reaching max level.

I think 100G is a high barrier for those new comer not easy to get with. I can’t say just use 100G to get a commander title is a good method, but at least it can prevent people abuse it since I really don’t want to see whole map are commanders LOL. And how about the competent of tactic knowledge, i can say, it is difficult to judge. However, for most of the commander, they already have their own team from their guild. of course I have seen some commanders really bad, so just leave them and follow others.

Victim of #3 recently so I can corroborate that it happens.

We seem to be having trouble keeping our northern supply camp and left side tower but are dying for supply on the right side tower. Then, the zerg is coming in to take supply for their siege consistently.
I go to a supply camp and someone talks about upgrading it.
They start saying they only have 40s and someone else says they will do it.
That person didn’t but ran off.
The other person then petitions and gets someone to upgrade it and then I got enlivened by their attempts and put up siege to help protect it. I think they even bought a few upgrades themselves. Both of us were fairly broke but team effort and server pride let us at least “try”.

This was the only supply camp we held on the entire map, surely people will protect it, I thought. Surely they recognize the value of it and since it’s upgraded it is worth keeping plus it’s right near our only waypoint so bonus.

Then a new build hits after we build the siege.
People return and a new commander pops in that wasn’t there previously.
I was excited to see that the siege and upgrades lasted so I stay at the camp and protect it. Others come and go but the zerg gets on a rampage. I’m calling out when the supply camp is under attack and people seem to respond but in small numbers. The commander asks it each time they see swords and ask status of it.

Someone calls incoming on the supply camp and it’s large. The zerg does not respond and continues taking their tower.

I put in map chat that the camp was taken and that I think it was a waste to spend that much money on siege and I wouldn’t be doing it again.

All of a sudden the commander starts asking us to stop “demoralizing” the chat and keep that in map. Us is pretty much me since I was the only one commenting on it.

So ok, it was fine for me to give them status updates before they went on their mission. When we call out that it needs defense, they don’t come. But I’m demoralizing by calling it out, poppykitten. Anyway, we had our words and they started smarting off asking what guild I’m in – whadya’ gonna tell on me lol (kept that to myself, didn’t say it but oh how I was thinking it) until finally they said that IIIIIIIIIIIIIII wasn’t good for the server and that I would go on ignore.

Yes me, that <insert expletive> that wanted to defend something I sunk money into and was trying to protect. Yeah, that’s demoralizing but their mission was wholesome and sound because 10+ ppl followed the blue icon.

Anyway, I gave them my view, you want someone not to say something, expect it in YOUR group, not the /team chat. No captain, some of them believe that /team is theirs because they bought that indicator. I still disagree and I tried to be helpful to them at the start and give them a chance to show proper sportsmanship but it didn’t work. They went for their goals because this was their party and I suppose I was just someone with my nose on the window if my goal wasn’t zerg zerg zerg till the clocks rang 5am.

It does bug me that the only reason they thought that they had any validity to order around what the entirety of the server would do OR SAY was because of that stupid icon. Especially when they “care” about things like morale. yes, sarcasm.

I don’t have ideas on how to deal with that commander tag than I have to get people off of facebook giving out their private info constantly believing that “likes” mean quality or that your life should revolve around how many friends you have that you barely know. Because of some of the egos and the expectations that icon should bring, I admit that I rarely zerg because I don’t want to be their little puppet that they can put in danger and port away – we do have some of those commanders that vanish in the heart of battle saying they “went for supply” mmhmm. Or the ones that ask others to drop siege all the time and get supply. What exactly are you a leader for if you don’t come prepared and you don’t have any flag buffs or incentives. Oh yeah, you bought the big icon for everyone to find you with, that’s it but you want to be a dictator not a true leader.

I’m a senior developer where I work which means part of my job is taking input not just saying, this is what will be done because I proclaim it – all other goals be washed away by my superiority. I have to envision that some of these people have never been a leader in real life and think they know how it’s done, their way.

just because you can afford the title is no reason to get it, when you dont know what youre doing on a battleground, is my point. ANYONE can get it, even those who have never set foot on wvw maps and wouldnt know a keep a supply camp. and simply ignoring the incompetent commanders for the ones who use their heads is not what i meant. what it comes down to is the overall bad idea for the entire game of letting any schlub with 100g have it. they should have to earn it.

My guild leader was aspiring to get a “Commander” title a few weeks ago. But we soon realized how weightless it has become.

I lost all faith in Commanders I don’t know when…

One tried to build Siege in spawn and asked why it wouldn’t let him put it down. Then proceeded to leap off the cliff and place two trebuchets within catapult range of a gate and within enemy arrow cart range.

…and…

another Commander later that night was absolute sure that ninja-capping the supply camps would “weaken” the enemy server. The enemy server at the time owned the entire zone, and had every structure(besides camps) fully upgraded, as well as stocked.

The best part was that each of the Commanders had rather large followings that believed he was the best thing since internet pron. They begged everyone to follow him(after multiple failures I might add), and if we did, it would turn the tide of the war. Anyone who didn’t were worthless idiots, and the cause of our server’s horrible score. Questioning him or giving suggestions was the highest form of mutiny.

I would have liked the Title to not only cost gold, but require a certain;

- amount of time in WvW
- number of kills
- number of supplies used
- number of objectives captured, of each type
- number of players “supporting” said player, each of which have met the same conditions as above, but to a lesser degree.

First four would allow the Commander to at least have some knowledge as to how the basics work. The last one I’m unsure of, but I assume you know what I’m getting at.

Psirca, the only lesson I learned from your post is don’t get too attached to supply camps. They’re right, you’re being demoralizing by saying you won’t sink money into things again. Although I don’t know what priority the tower was, your commander’s decisions seem fairly sound. Your team put 40s into the camp, but maybe the enemy had 80s sunk into the tower? Your issues with commanders asking for people to get siege and supply seems also misplaced, since the commander is only one player.

The rest of your rant makes me wonder whether at least some of the people complaining about commanders not listening or being democratic wouldn’t act as badly if not worse in a similar situation.

My opinion on this is that WvW commanders should have been picked through achievements or maybe mayor population voting. Now the idea of gold isn’t bad either. How for one if someone wants to be a commander out of the blue he needs gold in trucks, thus making him buy gems like a crazy M.F. thus making profit for Anet. ANet gives us a lot and most of us give them so little.

Now on the other side a WvW heavy guild could ask their people to help uniting money for the commander title. 50 silver for a 200 members guild for example. Nothing out of the world as I make 1.5 golds or more an hour in WvW. Now my policy for commanders is:

Does he knows wtf he is doing?

Yes: I follow him.
No: I go solo crap around and build my WvW kill achievement.

Is he respectful and listens to others?

Yes: I follow him as long as the above is met.
No: See above.

My server got about 7 commanders. From those I believe about 3 are real good stuff. Other 4 meh haven’t seen em doing anything special besides walking around saying follow me.

I barely get affected as for me Killing multiple enemies is the most fun adventure this game can provide. Now this also lies within the server current status. Are we loosing bad because we are out numbered or because we are Q_Qing and not doing anything? So on it goes. Over all if you dislike your commander so bad you still got time to move to another server. I recommend the low pop ones as we are having epic battles all the time now with low or no Que times..

SoggyFrog.4170:

Psirca, the only lesson I learned from your post is don’t get too attached to supply camps. They’re right, you’re being demoralizing by saying you won’t sink money into things again. Although I don’t know what priority the tower was, your commander’s decisions seem fairly sound. Your team put 40s into the camp, but maybe the enemy had 80s sunk into the tower? Your issues with commanders asking for people to get siege and supply seems also misplaced, since the commander is only one player.

The rest of your rant makes me wonder whether at least some of the people complaining about commanders not listening or being democratic wouldn’t act as badly if not worse in a similar situation.

More than that, there were 14 siege weapons at the camp, 10 of which I bought and as mentioned it was completely upgraded by others.

While it was about money for me, a server with no supply camp is more restricted than one without a tower. I consider your only supply camp worthy of protecting, can’t build siege without it or you could pillage a tower for supply but all the goofy people already did that.

I respect that you think it was demoralizing but one comment made without insults is not in need of restraint. I didn’t harp on or call ppl names because they didn’t come. I am a person that spent time protecting something that someone “in charge” didn’t want to protect when they thought they could usurp more but feigned interest in protecting previously by asking for status updates which I offered.

I still don’t agree with that tactic and since they had the manpower to come back, they have to take the brunt of that and must have felt it to be bothered that I would comment on it and try to erase my speech by putting me on ignore. That is not befitting of a leader. A leader will take all criticism and have arguments against it if they know they had to take that path. This to me was simply overextending and pushing too quickly, it’s a rookie mistake made in lots of pvp exchanges and in turn, a nasty attitude and overreaction for me making one comment about it. The comment wasn’t directed at their group even, it was the entirety of the players that didn’t show up to defend that are to blame, they took it personal because they knew that they didn’t intend to show up and that it was a farcical display to ever ask for information as their intentions were not to return. I don’t need theatrics from leaders just realism.

lyonell – you kinda missed my point. every server is going to have people with commander titles they dont like. but anyone with the gold who has never set foot on a wvw bg can get one. then unknowing people go and ask ‘im new, what do i do?’ others say ‘follow the blue dot’, when that blue dot is some nub who doesnt know what a hole in the ground looks like…..it doesnt matter if i like them or not, its the overall picture of the entire game; when people who dont know how to lead, lead, they make servers lose, which makes the game not fun and boring for everyone. and when you get to max lvl and have nothing left other than wvw, which is full of incompetent ‘commanders’, you already know what to expect…..to leave for a different game.

I play on Far Shiverpeaks and I agree with some of the stuff the OP says. 100g is hardly an issue for someone that only plays PvE. At some point those PvE’ers want to do WvW or you know, as on FSP, lead a full pug into the jumping puzzle…

I know, I know, we should tell the people following him not to follow him.. But most simply don’t listen. So when we asked him nicely if he would atleast take his Commander badge down while he was doing the jumping puzzles you would get some smart kitten remark a 10 year old would come up with.

The Commander title/badge should be one that is created through a democratic way. I dunno, maybe create some kind of voting system or whatever.. I hardly have any good ideas to solve the current issue but everything is better than having 5 commanders on a map, 3 of which are dicking around..

@Same – that leads back to the popularity issue…getting the title should not be voted on by anyone, that would only continue the clique-ish ‘you dont do what i say so im ignoring you or making you look stupid so no one likes you’ thing. it should be an individually earned title, nothing to do with anyone but what you alone have achieved. then, with your blue dot, as commander you earn the trust of people on the battlefield by leading them in a competent way. they know you have been there and done that, and will help them win.

Full ack. Just because you farm 100g in PVE or dungeons you will not be a good leader.

The Achievements thing i see a bit critical, because every one will have them sooner or later.

The Commander has to be elected and not bought. Could be something like a 7 day “buff” but nothing permanent.

Guilds can still support their leader, bigger guilds have an advantage but that is okey i think.

So… clearly everyone agrees that it’s a poor reason… but what would be a better idea on how to get it? lol.
You can’t go to college for tactics for 4 yrs in gw2… You don’t have experienced Generals to offer you a commission in gw2… Heck, even in real life there’s tons of terrible commanders, lol.

I understand the complaint. But if you have no solution, it’s just bickering, nothing else until then.

It needs to be a WvW achievement not a 100g I fail button, so that people who get it have done Wv3 enough to know what to do with it. I’ve seen countless commanders who have the icon and just wreck the whole map with their bad strategies and opinions. Also making this account bound is needed and making a commander icon for PvE so the casuals won’t feel left out is needed. The PvE one can be paid for with gold because it’s PvE and no one cares, but the Wv3 one needs to be worked seriously.

Just add a few stipulations to becoming a commander. 100g, 100 hours WvWvW, 1000 players killed WvWvW ,100 keeps/camps defended. I’m sure more can be added

@balidor – as i suggested, besides the X number of kills;

having used a certain amount of supplies in repairs, upgrades, building sieges etc

number of keeps, towers, supply camps etc captured

how many of your own towers, keeps, supply camps etc you have defended

should be several things, but not by voting. that will most certainly only lead to the ‘mr. popularity’ garbage we dont need. when you earn your title on your own, you must prove to others you know how to lead by doing it after you get it, not by handing it to you that way.

I don’t care if at some time we could see 10 Commanders on the field. If you have guild support and you have at least 20 people from guild that stick with you, pugs will follow, other commanders will dig some ore and pick flowers on the map and that’s it. After some time people realize who is good or bad, no1 will follow commander that have no clue and no support on the field.

Having achievements give a title doesn’t work either because either you have to scale the achievements over time or in 2 months everyone that plays WvW will have the commander title.

@same – ya, whatever man. i dont work at anet so its not my job to know exactly how to do this. make the title achieves as hard to get as 100g is, which isnt easy at all. im not saying just hand them out. what i do know for sure is buying this title is an extremely bad way to go, and it needs changed to be earned by people who actually know how to wvw and have learned from their experience.

It should be a recuariment that you are officer or higher in guild that have rank 5 or higher in PVP too before you can buy Commander title.

This is why I am glad that Maguuma has a public mumble and encourages all the commanders / guilds to hop on. Even if you are a rookie commander you can learn a lot from the experienced people on mumble while utilizing your title to lead the pubs around and eventually do your own leading.

psirca, I know that in our server we have people calling out incomings to camps and commanders always listen. Sometimes it is simply not possible to respond but most times we try to send an appropriate amount of people back to defend, especially the camp closest to spawn.

This is one of the reasons I stop going into WvW and the fact that after 2 weeks I dont recognize any of the names after a break.
Its a popularity contest.He who has the most gold wins and that is not fun in my book.

Guilds want to group up, that’s the big thing. Anet added the Commander as a way to do this and as a gold sink… unfortunately it does cost a lot and although we regularly have a couple of guys leading 10-15 guildies around in WvW, we don’t have Commander. I honestly don’t care about random folks following us… but it would be nice to see where our leader is, without paying 100G. It’s not a big problem for us, more of a minor annoyance.

Perhaps adding a Guild Commander in upgrades would work (In L5 Politics perhaps) as an alternative.

The commander title allows more than just WvW, a large squad size is a huge boon for guild events and PvE stuff.

What does need to be changed is the functionality of the title as well as how it’s procured.

I have quite a large followers list, and there is no way I can tell who is in my squad, where they are or to be able to sub-divide them into seperate teams(That i’ve found)

Personally I have no intention of turning mine on in WvW until I know i’ve learned enough to give anyone in my squad a decisive advantage.

Also, contrary to popular belief you can turn it off and should do so until you are actually using it.

Badges of Honour.

It might not help gem sales but using the WVW currency seems like the simplist solution. 50,000 – 100,000 badges should surfice. It would be near impossible for a guild, group or solo player to obtain without having become very familiar with the game mechanics of wvw. The added benefit of this is that guilds and groups would be less likely to give the commander to anyone besides the most active or best wvw players. Which i’m sure would create an overall better average of commander ability than we currently see.

The number i’m of badges needed i’m sure would need looking at, i’ve no idea how many a large guild generates. Also the fact they are account bound, I think, would be an issue. But I still think in terms of gameplay that this is the more simplistic and sensible way to obtain the commander status.

Edit: On a side note, what happens in 6-12 months time when dozens or even hundreds of people have the title? Is there a cap on how many can be active within a borderlands? If not… “oh dear”, if so, are they first come first serve? I foresee problems on the horizon.

As soon as you join the squad of a commander you trust, all the other fools are removed from your map.

Problem solved.

It should cost like… 2000 badges of honor or something.

Something that proves the person has done hundreds of hours of WvW.

What Badwrong said. Should cost badges, not gold.

2000 isn’t even a high amount once you start learning to tag downed bodies.

But the point would be, someone with 2000 badges has to make the choice of not buying a legendary gift or other PVP items.

Someone with 100g to spare obviously has some great skills in the trade post or something (or guild funded)… so they have nothing to do with WvW strategy.

Allow commanders to select the color of their dots please. Up to 10 different colors would be great.

Some guilds, or groups of guilds, have two or three commanders and it’s beneficial to see them all. Joining squads is a hindrance, and pain to reorganize when needed (reinforce one place, move here, move there, tactics require this). It’s also beneficial to see where one commander is even if not working directly together, to know where his or her group is quickly without requiring time wasting whispers or VOIP constantly.

As it stands, seeing six people with a blue dot on the mini map all the while trying to mouse over to see the one I need to follow or rally on is horrible—not to mention group member names always seem to get in the way as well. A different color for each would allow quick recognition on the mini-map and save loads of time.

Please! Thank you in advance.

I disagree with badges only, due to it is easy to get.

Roll a thieves, get full exo, 3 hit everyone else=1/2 badges per person. I’ve actually able to get atleast a stack with a full day on WvW. How? Hop to Kaineng, and beat the kitten out of the other 2 low pop/levels server players.

Maybe 2000 badges+200g+achievement in WvW. That will work.

The point of badges is that you would need to actually be in WvW to get them. Gold can be farmed, bought, etc. outside of WvW.

If going around as a thief hitting non-tanky people works well, then cool… it still will take time in WvW to accomplish.

All WvW map completion would be good to have to do too.

Naw badges ONLY won’t work. I rather if someone get the full WvW achievement+gold+badges. You need to be that good to be a commander imo.

Buzzcrave.6197:

I disagree with badges only, due to it is easy to get.

Roll a thieves, get full exo, 3 hit everyone else=1/2 badges per person. I’ve actually able to get atleast a stack with a full day on WvW. How? Hop to Kaineng, and beat the kitten out of the other 2 low pop/levels server players.

Maybe 2000 badges+200g+achievement in WvW. That will work.

that’s a terrible suggestion

The vast majority of Commanders I have encountered are relatively good, in fact in my WvW playtime I can only think of one that was not ‘worthy’, but the community weeds them out.

Often Commanders on my server are open to feedback and with a quiet confidence explain if things need to be proritised (myself included) and they can’t always mobilise their squad to aid you immediately.

My advice to folks with this problem is to as folks above have said join the squad of a Commander you trust – sometimes engage the Commander if they are doing something irrational in your POV (eg trebs in arrow cart range, lol), you might be surprised: they might have an unorthordox reason for what they’re doing or at least learn something.

Having said that I do agree there should be another mechanism of earning the icon, badges of honour or community nomination sounds good to me, especially with the rate of gold inflation. Personally having spent the majority of my time in WvW following and leading without the icon, I have come to learn it isn’t at all always necessary to have your icon on, only when it is needed – as cliched as that sounds.

Lastly I would recommend folks who are confident in leading and have the strategic know how in WvW, to do so. Some of the best times in WvW for me has not only been under the leadership of competent Commanders but also with regular non-icon folks.

Well on Fort Aspenwood we have this huge zerg guild that is full of horrible commanders. They will run face first into a line of 10 ballista, and of course the sheep will follow. Their guild is huge though and they fund the gold that way to get commanders.

Having that icon on dumb players is just not good.

Let me shed some perspective on the other side if you will. I am a commander, but do not have it active more than 50% of the time when I am in Wv3. Why? Because having it on often leads to more frustrations than having it off. It’s still usually people shouting over each other in /m trying to force the group to go where they think the best place is, this is even worse when you have multiple Commanders on the map if they don’t communicate with one another.

I spent great deal of time leading forces in DAoC where macro fighting was a major piece. But, I didn’t spend the time farming gold and taking donations from the guild to get the book to try and be a realm leader again. I got it specifically because I felt Commander would make it easier to move our guild group around the map. It has failed miserably in that respect. Sure everyone can see where I am, but I cannot see where the members of my squad are (they should be a colored dot on the map much like groupmates are).

I think part of the problem that leads to confusion and drama on the map is that the players on the map don’t always have the same goals on a given night, this is especially true late in weeks where there is a rout in effect. Part of the map is still trying to score points (take/hold fortifications), part of the map is farming karma/money, and part of the map is merely looking to fight other players. I think that it is important for any commander to communicate their goals often during the night so people outside their guild/alliance are aware of what is going on. While not eliminating it.. I feel it would dramatically reduce the drama.

As an aside, a few days ago I was looking to get back into small group fighting and waiting for someone to pass lead of the main group to. I finally saw another Commander come onto the map and was going to drop my tag and let him/her run the main group, but then I watched his/her tag run up to the jump puzzle area… then leave. Wow.. if that’s your plan, fine. But please turn off your Commander flag first, it leaves a bad taste with many people to see that.

Bottom line.. Commanders are like Guild leaders in one respect: Successful guilds are successful because of their members not the leader. A leader can however ruin it for everyone. A good leader places people in a position to be successful. Its up to the individuals to make it happen.

If I end up with one it’ll be entirely self funded ‘vanity item’ as I don’t have a large guild to pony up the gold (I have 71G on me, WvW doesn’t pay well) and to be brutally honest with myself.
There is usually a commander on EBG where I mostly play, even with 11000+ kills, 380+hrs in wvw, well known as I’ve been on the server since pre-launch, more badges than I know what to do with (please give me something useful to spend them on Anet…)
-I don’t know if I’d be a good commander or want the responsibility, plus I spend all day yelling at 20-30 people to do their job, so its kind of like taking work home!

That is something people should give consideration to if they’re planning on dumping gold, is it just going to be a vanity item or are you actually capable of making a difference? Plus, you’re really only as good as your last job, if you screw up very badly don’t think people won’t notice.

Otherwise, just spend it on siege and keep upgrades- which do make a difference. Then just go murder a few hundred people a day because its fun.

Thresher.3049:

Plus, you’re really only as good as your last job, if you screw up very badly don’t think people won’t notice.

As a commander it can get frustrating when others in the map do not follow you or give up after two wipes. Taking a fortified tower, keep is not easy especially when well defended and full of seige.

Do I make mistakes sure yeh I do, do I make bad decisions, yes, try getting all decisions right when being double teamed by 2 servers.

The reason I highlighted the above is because sometimes what I try fails miserably for any number of reasons. Does that make me a bad commander? Does that mean everyone should take notice of that failure and stop following me?

Show me a commander who never fails or makes the wrong decision.

Commander title allows me to find those NOT to follow. They spent 100g for me to know where they are on my map, and there for avoid them.

I have found far more better players that don’t have the title, and those are the ones I hang with.

Blue Arrow = Here’s stupid

@Offski.4897: Everyone makes mistakes, Some keeps you can try to take over, If it fails who cares! Wouldn’t say that is a bad commander.

But. I saw so many people running around the map. Capturing towers and don’t defend anything. Best example: We got the keep in front of the enemys base. Fully upgraded it. Then they rushed in with 15-20 man. And our commander said, Yes we help, but we first take the tower that is in our way (they didn’t attack it at that point). In the keep we where 3 or 4 people. We tried our best, but they got a golem and it was lost very fast.

Other Day, Commander was fighting in Ethernal-BG. We owned a lot of the map, also in the small BG. Then an other server toke over a small BG only our last keep was left with the orb in it (Noone from my server was there to defend). I wrote in the eternal BG we need help, i wrote a PM to that commander, No reaction. My group tried it’s best. It was a 5 vs 50 I think you know how it ended.

Or enemy Zerg fights the big Grub. Wrote it in chat, that it would be the ideal time to kill them, but no, take that tower and the next camp … . And that was no minute they would have to walk there. But Let’s fight the door

It is like Crawfort said -> Blue Arrow = Here’s stupid (90% of the time)

Or am I totaly wrong here?

The problem is that a blue pin doesn’t give anyone the right or power or knowledge to command, but it misleads a LOT of players into thinking these are the people they need to listen to and follow and do what they say.

Some commanders are guild sponsored, and recognized and very good. I look for them on map first because the blue pin is easier to find than running around looking for them. And I’m glad they have it on.

But many are just players with blue pins, nothing more. And once I learn who they are, I ignore them unless they’re saying something that might work.

The problem is not the blue pin so much as it is the title ‘Commander’. It’s misleading. "Guild Rep’ would be better, or “Accomplished Player” (even that one is a stretch). Commander implies that we have to follow these people blindly because as one of them put it “If everyone doesn’t listen to me and follow directions, we’re going to lose.”

Pffft.

Some of them are so arrogant too. I had one allcaps me because I provided intel instead of ‘doing what you were told’ to do. “We don’t need intel, we need players on x!!!”

Well, I died running supply at this person’s request, and was hit at camp by 40 + invaders. I thought he’d like to know that there was a group of 40+ at camp, I even said just an FYI.

He and several other allcapsed me to stop defending camps. One even mocked me saying I had bad math skills, 5 points is not worth 30 etc etc etc. “Was providing information, not defending. If you don’t want eyes on the ground, just say so.”

“I WANT EYES ON ‘X’ NOT ON CAMP. GO TO X. GET IT???”

I explained one more time that I was ambushed running supply, as I was asked to do. I died and took a quick head count. teleported to spawn point and was providing it as information as I was making my way to ‘X’ and that I would not be providing any more information on numbers or locations of enemies unless specifically asked from then on.

You know how this ended…

TLDR: The name Commander is misleading. People think they have to follow the blue boy. Change the name to “Guild Rep” and we’re good.

I am all for stopping commander books for 100G. We already have enough AFK commanders in Lion’s arch (While us active commanders are leading and in need of rest/break, we have at any given time 4-5 commanders just spamming guild recruitment and afk in LA with their icon on as if it actually means anything at all.

It feelsbatman to see all that wasted gold as a e – peen badge.

Further, when said afk LA commanders actually jump into a WvW map, they afk with icon on or just walk around blindly offering little/no assistance (since most afk LA are CC commanders; they lack the common knowledge of how to WvW) other than “zerg supply camp that does not have supervisor buff with our entire server”. Which as we all know is the most helpful thing a commander can do.

I think supply used should be part of the variables in deciding commanders. Defended Keep/Forts should be used (Karma train commanders know nothing of defending). Badges would be a nice requirement too. Overkill on the requirements might stop this influx of ego tripping people who bought the icon and use it in PvE to generate new recruits.

Commanders are also capable of changing a servers morale, they actually do influence player morale. I have seen terrible commanders insult their teammates because of their fail tactics, I have seen terrible commanders lead to Stonemist wall with infantry and ragequit upon realizing you cannot attack the walls with swords (with our entire zerg on a reset), and I have also seen commanders boost morale so much that said WvW map becomes full with a queue when only minutes before that commander waas on there were only 20 people on said map.

Commander capabilities too valuable to cost mere 100g, and upping coin cost will do nothing to solve the problem; we need account requirements only attainable via WvW.

It’s pretty obvious commanders should be chosen through some sort of election process rather than just be something you buy for 100g. But that wouldn’t generate money for a-net from people buying gems to trade for their blue pin…

Blue icons mean head the other way or shadow them cause great opportunity arises from the mindless minions that follow them. At least let us turn on and off the icons or designate the icon we only want to see. Yah the folks that bought it already might be upset about this sort of option but who gives a crap whay they think? not me

I’d say that some sort of ranking system would be a good idea; just a simple levelling system, just like sPvP, and as you rank up you unlock more rewards. One of those rewards is the commander book. Players with higher ranking get higher priority when it comes to deciding commanders.

I agree that the commander title is too easy to obtain. It should be purchased with Badges of Honor. Although I really don’t know how many would be the right amount. Perhaps 1000.

Anyway, after playing WvW, you figure out which commanders are worth following and which ones will only lead you to armor repair bills.

Stop selling commander title? No thanks.

Are there players with commander title that shouldn´t have it? Ofcourse!

I like the commander title because it´s a good indicator on the map and because of the purpose of the title. Being a commander is a sign that this player knows how to win in WvW, however as we all have experienced this is mostly used only as a “status sign”.

I like the idea of the requirement of having achievements before you can get commander title but the issue is that everyone will sooner or later get them. The solution for this is simply add one more things to it. I´d like to have a requirement of having a minimum achievements completed in WvW, be a guild leader of atleast a 50 man guild just to be able to buy commanders title for 100 gold.

Most of todays commanders are green but I hope that those that have the commitment will learn and earn the role they purchased.

In the end players will learn which commanders to follow and who they should ignore. Players that frequently play will learn from eachother and as time goes by they will be the ones to teach the new players, not a commander.

Commander is not just for herding pugs / randoms.

I personally plan on using it so my guild can see me on the map. Since there is no raid group functionality and you can’t see the icons of people in your guild who are not in your 5 man party.

For everyone else that has to see me and has a problem with it: get over yourself. Until there is real raid group functionality this is going to be how it is.

Said this elsewhere: Anet should change the commander title to only viewable by those in the same guild.

It’s called Guild Wars, not donkey Zerg Wars..