Guild Wars 2

Hello fellow WvWers,

I kinda wonder if I’m the only one with a bad taste of the current commander system, you pay 100g (which isn’t really hard to come by imo) and become a commander, but in no way that shows you have the abilities to lead a group, not to mention some people don’t seem to understand the concept of being a commander AT all. Only half of the commanders in my own world are capable of what they do, I’m sure this is an issue in all worlds though.

I kinda wish Anet would pay back all those bought commander and make commander earned in the future, maybe throught influence points (specifically for WvW perhaps), this way your guild HAS to be active in WvW, you will need to be leading a fair amount of players already in WvW before unlocking the commander title.. this is just an idea, but with this idea you’d already have more WvW guilds, perhaps a little less zerging and more tactic etc.. because this game has so many toys to play with and we hardly use them.. and most of all, you’d have players that are used to leading a group and not just buy the commander title for “lulz” because it is what it is now..

Maybe it’s just me feeling this way? I hope not. I’ve always wanted to become a commander in WvW because I see myself fit for it, but there is no point really with a zillion (uncapable) commanders roaming just one boarder already.. :/

If you lead them they will follow period. Who cares about the icon above the head if u see it u don’t have to follow it But it is a great reference point

I just feel like something went horribly wrong, how could you make something like being a commander bought with ingame money, there’s way too many commanders and half of them are unable to lead a group. The title should also not be permanent but be there for as long as you and your guild are actively playing WvW.. the influence thing was just an idea, perhaps the are better ideas, except for buying commander with ingame currency, that is just stupid imo.

Agreed. It’s a completely failed idea. The notion that someone who pays 100g is going to be the leader of a group, or a server is ridiculous. WvW should have earned ranks and those ranks should be visible to other players.

The current commander system is an indulgence of little boys who want to play with toy soldiers.

I really don’t know a good way to do it. Leaders are normally elected. So maybe you could purchase a lieutenant tag (maybe it only lasts 24hrs a purchase) and then your server somehow has to give you say 100 likes and it you would be eligible to purchase the commander tag.
Or again, purchase this temporary lieutenant tag and lead x number of camp/keep flips which then makes you eligible for the commander tag.
Also there should be a map limit to commanders, 4 at the most each.

I agree entirely. I’m from Ring of Fire – and as I’ve been playing I’ve noticed a severe lack of communication alongside this.
People are just blindly following the commander icon, and the word “zerg” has been used in chat more times than I could possibly remember.
Let me give you guys an example to back up OP;
We were under siege in a tower – the enemy outnumbered us immensely and the only way we were going to survive was clever use of siege and blocking them at a chokepoint when they inevitably downed the gate, since it was the Breakout event. Our “commander” told everyone to jump off the walls and charge the siege.
Everyone that did that died.
I then told him my plan, that another commander (a competent one) had used in the exact same situation and succeeded – he ignored me and told everyone to rush out of the gates.

Everyone died, and we lost the tower.

This is one of many examples of the unacceptable and downright ignorant leadership some of us serious WvWvW’ers are dealing with.
They have no concept of tactics whatsoever, they don’t flank, feint, ambush, anything.
All they know how to do is mindlessly zerg.

Sceinna.3561:

Hello fellow WvWers,

I kinda wonder if I’m the only one with a bad taste of the current commander system, you pay 100g (which isn’t really hard to come by imo) and become a commander, but in no way that shows you have the abilities to lead a group, not to mention some people don’t seem to understand the concept of being a commander AT all. Only half of the commanders in my own world are capable of what they do, I’m sure this is an issue in all worlds though.

I kinda wish Anet would pay back all those bought commander and make commander earned in the future, maybe throught influence points (specifically for WvW perhaps), this way your guild HAS to be active in WvW, you will need to be leading a fair amount of players already in WvW before unlocking the commander title.. this is just an idea, but with this idea you’d already have more WvW guilds, perhaps a little less zerging and more tactic etc.. because this game has so many toys to play with and we hardly use them.. and most of all, you’d have players that are used to leading a group and not just buy the commander title for “lulz” because it is what it is now..

Maybe it’s just me feeling this way? I hope not. I’ve always wanted to become a commander in WvW because I see myself fit for it, but there is no point really with a zillion (uncapable) commanders roaming just one boarder already.. :/

Commanders make a name for themselves by reputation and past accomplishments. On any given day multiple Blue dots may show up but I will be honest with you there are only a handful on my server that I will seek out and follow and am sure other servers are no different.

commander tag should only be visible to members of same guild.

KillEveryoneElse.3940:

commander tag should only be visible to members of same guild.

Commander has the option to turn his tag off if he don’t want outside stragglers following his coat tail and run as a guild pack using voice chat.

Difficult concept I know

scootshoot.6583:

Commanders make a name for themselves by reputation and past accomplishments. On any given day multiple Blue dots may show up but I will be honest with you there are only a handful on my server that I will seek out and follow and am sure other servers are no different.

Yeah I agree, commanders with a bad reputation won’t have many followers but that doesn’t make the current system any better, I find it annoying to see 5 commanders spread all over the map, with only one of them doing something useful.

And why are you able to turn on commander (a WvW tool) in Pve lol, but that’s not too troublesome, I just find it funny.

Sceinna.3561:

…I’m sure this is an issue in all worlds though.

Nope. Many of our commanders were leading and playing before they had the icon and players donated their money to them to get it. Who cares how you get the icon? People should know by now when to stop following someone with bad plans or that’s leading you to a needless death.

GuardianOMS.8067:

Sceinna.3561:

…I’m sure this is an issue in all worlds though.

Nope. Many of our commanders were leading and playing before they had the icon and players donated their money to them to get it. Who cares how you get the icon? People should know by now when to stop following someone with bad plans or that’s leading you to a needless death.

That doesn’t sound ideal to me though? Everyone I spoke to, even most of our commanders, agree with me it should be earned.. at anyone who activily plays WvW will agree with me.

So basically, you are saying only those players with a boatload of time and nothing else to do should be commanders? Seems to me that you are narrowing the field pretty radically.

Commanders will show their true colors eventually. In how they treat the people following them to their basic game knowledge. The current system gives “us” the power to choose the commanders we follow.

Sceinna.3561:

And why are you able to turn on commander (a WvW tool) in Pve lol, but that’s not too troublesome, I just find it funny.

I see PvE commanders leading Karma zergs in Orr when I am farming Orichalcum/omnomberries etc

Raf.1078:

So basically, you are saying only those players with a boatload of time and nothing else to do should be commanders? Seems to me that you are narrowing the field pretty radically.

Commanders will show their true colors eventually. In how they treat the people following them to their basic game knowledge. The current system gives “us” the power to choose the commanders we follow.

Nope, your statement didn’t make any sense AT all, because 100g is not THAT easy to come by, a lot of people don’t even reach that amount of money lol.

The system that I “recommended” but is just an idea, is for you to lead a guild before leading huge groups in WvW, buy commander with influence points you earn as a guild. So the big WvW guilds will provide you with commanders, that’s the way WvW was intended to play imo.

As a friend told me “Imagine you could buy jobs in real life, wtb president of the united states for $100”.. of course jokingly, but it kinda feels like that with commander, it’s not because you can afford it that you are qualified for it.

Sceinna.3561:

GuardianOMS.8067:

Sceinna.3561:

…I’m sure this is an issue in all worlds though.

Nope. Many of our commanders were leading and playing before they had the icon and players donated their money to them to get it. Who cares how you get the icon? People should know by now when to stop following someone with bad plans or that’s leading you to a needless death.

That doesn’t sound ideal to me though? Everyone I spoke to, even most of our commanders, agree with me it should be earned.. at anyone who activily plays WvW will agree with me.

I don’t think it really matters who agrees with you and you doesn’t. Suggestions aren’t based on a popularity contest so that’s not really a good argument. The fact is regardless of who earned it by your standards, they can be good or bad. People will listen to those with confidence and solid ideals. Different commanders also have different play styles that are effective, but other people might not agree with so people can choose to follow who they wish. My server has proved this with the fact that we don’t need icons to do anything, they are just an added bonus.

Commander icons are cosmetic, just like legendaries. Who cares who has one? Just because someone has something pretty doesn’t mean they earned your respect. Get to know the people leading and the fact that they bought or earned the marker above their head won’t make a difference if they’re good.

Sceinna.3561:

As a friend told me “Imagine you could buy jobs in real life, wtb president of the united states for $100”.. of course jokingly, but it kinda feels like that with commander, it’s not because you can afford it that you are qualified for it.

Viewing it from this angle, the commander system is surprisingly realistic oO

You can’t compare President vs Commander, that is completely devoid of any thinking and no where near the same. You still have a CHOICE to follow a commander. It is not the same as a president where there are legal repercussions for disregarding their law.

well, the fact still stands, both becoming the president and becoming commander are impossible to achieve with talent alone. You simply need enough funding, the rest doesn’t matter. From this angle, the current system works fine.

GuardianOMS.8067:

Sceinna.3561:

GuardianOMS.8067:

Sceinna.3561:

…I’m sure this is an issue in all worlds though.

Nope. Many of our commanders were leading and playing before they had the icon and players donated their money to them to get it. Who cares how you get the icon? People should know by now when to stop following someone with bad plans or that’s leading you to a needless death.

That doesn’t sound ideal to me though? Everyone I spoke to, even most of our commanders, agree with me it should be earned.. at anyone who activily plays WvW will agree with me.

I don’t think it really matters who agrees with you and you doesn’t. Suggestions aren’t based on a popularity contest so that’s not really a good argument. The fact is regardless of who earned it by your standards, they can be good or bad. People will listen to those with confidence and solid ideals. Different commanders also have different play styles that are effective, but other people might not agree with so people can choose to follow who they wish. My server has proved this with the fact that we don’t need icons to do anything, they are just an added bonus.

Commander icons are cosmetic, just like legendaries. Who cares who has one? Just because someone has something pretty doesn’t mean they earned your respect. Get to know the people leading and the fact that they bought or earned the marker above their head won’t make a difference if they’re good.

Yeah, but you are probably playing on a more popular server with big WvW guilds, not a server like mine where people join and quit WvW all the time and have no clue who to follow or what to do.

These people don’t know who are actually capable, especially with 5 commanders in one border..

I know it’s not about “me”, but I’m sure many people share the same opinion as me, I want those voices to be heard lol. Commander should be earned not bought, I respect anyone who doesn’t feel that way~ but I’m throwing my opinion out here.

GuardianOMS.8067:

You can’t compare President vs Commander, that is completely devoid of any thinking and no where near the same. You still have a CHOICE to follow a commander. It is not the same as a president where there are legal repercussions for disregarding their law.

You’re ripping it out of context though, she gave it as an example to me “imagine if you could buy jobs in real life, wtb president..” she obviously only meant, it’s not because you can buy it you are qualified for it. Some people have it and are completely useless.

scootshoot.6583:

KillEveryoneElse.3940:

commander tag should only be visible to members of same guild.

Commander has the option to turn his tag off if he don’t want outside stragglers following his coat tail and run as a guild pack using voice chat.

Difficult concept I know

i know, the point is it shouldnt be visible outside there guild/group

i know a few commanders who bought commander just to badge farm/karma farm for epics without caring about the game at all.

KillEveryoneElse.3940

i know, the point is it shouldnt be visible outside there guild/group

i know a few commanders who bought commander just to badge farm/karma farm for epics without caring about the game at all.

Agree 100% again! Having a commander pin doesn’t mean someone wants to lead the whole zone. It sometimes means they want to help organize their guild or friends to be more effective in doing what they enjoy. The problem arises when to many pins appear and distract people from following those commanders that DO want to lead.

They need a /private option for commanders pin so that just people currently in the squad can see the pin. This is the easiest way to allow the commander system to be used for all playstyles and situations.

Ahmrill.7512:

KillEveryoneElse.3940

i know, the point is it shouldnt be visible outside there guild/group

i know a few commanders who bought commander just to badge farm/karma farm for epics without caring about the game at all.

Agree 100% again! Having a commander pin doesn’t mean someone wants to lead the whole zone. It sometimes means they want to help organize their guild or friends to be more effective in doing what they enjoy. The problem arises when to many pins appear and distract people from following those commanders that DO want to lead.

They need a /private option for commanders pin so that just people currently in the squad can see the pin. This is the easiest way to allow the commander system to be used for all playstyles and situations.

People currently in a squad can already see only that one pin…, the biggest issue is that almost no one joins a squad.

MrKnieves.4162

People currently in a squad can already see only that one pin…, the biggest issue is that almost no one joins a squad.

It’s not about having people in squad seeing the one pin…. it’s having the people NOT in the squad seeing the commander pin. Too many pins in the zone causing confusion instead off having one or two commanders leading.

You should be able to turn off (flag private) the commander icon and only those people in the squad can see it. This is what guilds have been looking for, a way for multiple guild groups to coordinate better in-game without hindering those commanders leading the zone. Some guild commanders don’t want to lead the zone at times, and they don’t want an additional 25 people following them if they are doing fast hit and run tactics with their guild.

Needs to be more flexibility with the system. Guilds and players have different playstyles and different ideas of what is “fun” for them. It’s not about being “elite” or excluding people from grouping in WvW, there will always be public commanders.

It doesn’t cause confusion at all, well, only of you are OCD and need to be on all places at all times. Different commanders might have different objectives, once you map in, listen for team/map chat for a while and select who you want to fight with. Is not that hard or complicated. When commanders work together having all the icons on screen is beneficial for the server as a whole to know whats going on by just looking at the map.

If you don’t want to see that many icons, then join a squad, problem solved. The current system works just fine.

A few things:

1. Commander is for use in WvW AND PvE. If it wasn’t, it would disappear when you zone out of WvW, similar to sPvP armor/gear disappearing when you leave sPvP.

2. Gold is the only currency that is shared by both WvW and PvE. There is no other equivalent currency for the badge that can be used in both game types. 100g serves to be a deterrent to everyone and their mother buying Commander, but is obviously not going to be the perfect system.

3. It takes a lot of guts to lead an army. A commander tagging up in a map and trying to lead a force takes skill, intelligence, resilience, and any number of other leadership traits. If you have no ability to command, you are not only publicly embarrassing yourself, but those who are following you will remember if you were incompetent at your job.

4. Most servers have loved and trusted commanders that have earned their stripes. I commanded maps on a level 40 something character at launch because I stepped up and did what needed to be done. Eventually, my guild funded my commander tag and others who we wanted to be commanders based on their leadership and performance.

5. If you want to run a guild group, turn off your tag and use VoIP. You are a pretty garbage team if you can’t figure out how to put a target on who you are following and operate in combat unless someone has a blue chip over their head.

6. If a commander is bad, DON’T FOLLOW THEM. It’s a revolutionary concept that involves joining the squad of a commander that you would like to follow and then you won’t see ANY other commanders on the map. If you want to run in a small guild group and not follow a commander, your presence on the map interrupting supplies, taking camps, or ninjaing towers is invaluable to the leader of your map’s main forces.

In summary, 100g is fine, every complaint thread that I have ever seen about commanders does not seem to understand the very mechanics that they are complaining about, and if commanders are really that bad and keep tagging up, then your server has greater organization problems since they clearly can’t figure out how to use a squad or have enough dynamic talent in PvP to not follow a blue dot mindlessly.

MrKnieves.4162:

It doesn’t cause confusion at all, well, only of you are OCD and need to be on all places at all times. Different commanders might have different objectives, once you map in, listen for team/map chat for a while and select who you want to fight with. Is not that hard or complicated. When commanders work together having all the icons on screen is beneficial for the server as a whole to know whats going on by just looking at the map.

If you don’t want to see that many icons, then join a squad, problem solved. The current system works just fine.

The problems I’ve seen is people with commander pins up being harassed for not “leading properly” or “why are you doing that?” comments. Some people are using the commander pins for their multiple guild groups and are not actually trying to lead the zone. Or you get so many pins up that people are spread all over the place following different commanders or pulling players from those commanders that are effectively leading.

Let me give you an example:

A few times our multiple guild groups would take a camp (usually astral) and ambush those enemies coming to take it. We’d hit them on the way, let them engage the camp and then hit them… it was what our guild enjoyed. But when you try that with the commander pin up (to coordinate our 2-3 guild groups) the random people follow you. So while our guild groups are staying out of site for an ambush, random players who were following our pin, are running around killing mobs, gathering and jumping up and down on the road. It effectively prevented us from doing what we enjoyed.

We always use Ventrilo when running with multiple guild groups, but it’s much more effective running with Ventrilo AND having a visual commander pin up. So most of the time we end up not using the commander pin, simply because it causes confusion. So we have the best in game system for coordinating multiple guild groups…. and we don’t use it.

Allowing a /private option to the commander pin fixes that. Absoultely no one sees the commander pin in the zone except for those people you’ve invited to the squad. I would think it should be fairly easy to implement with the current system.

I certianly disagree that the system is working fine… not when see guild commanders being harrassed for having pins up and not “leading” properly.

Esoteric.5490:

A few things:

very awesome post

AMEN!

But this posts makes too much sense for some people to understand. Cause, you know, they know more about the game than the people who designed it.

Esoteric.5490:

If you want to run a guild group, turn off your tag and use VoIP. You are a pretty garbage team if you can’t figure out how to put a target on who you are following and operate in combat unless someone has a blue chip over their head.

That’s pretty much what we have to do. We’ve ran using just VoIP and we’ve ran using VoIP AND the commander pin. It is much more effective running with VoIP and the visual commander pin.

It just seems silly to not use the most effective in game system for coordinating multiple guild groups because yoiu don’t plan to lead the entire zone. In this day of MMO’s there is no reason to not be able to flag a commander/squad as private.

Ahmrill.7512:

Esoteric.5490:

If you want to run a guild group, turn off your tag and use VoIP. You are a pretty garbage team if you can’t figure out how to put a target on who you are following and operate in combat unless someone has a blue chip over their head.

That’s pretty much what we have to do. We’ve ran using just VoIP and we’ve ran using VoIP AND the commander pin. It is much more effective running with VoIP and the visual commander pin.

It just seems silly to not use the most effective in game system for coordinating multiple guild groups because yoiu don’t plan to lead the entire zone. In this day of MMO’s there is no reason to not be able to flag a commander/squad as private. This way everyone is happy and play the way they want.

:)

I agree with you there. It would be lovely to have a private option, but if you are a sizable group, randoms will still come along and run with you. Typing in /say is usually the best way I have found to be the proverbial ambassador to non-guild players They typically respond very well to being included in the group instead of sitting in silence because they can’t be in your VoIP. Maybe even invite them to your voice server if they want to run with you!

MrKnieves.4162:

Esoteric.5490:

A few things:

very awesome post

AMEN!

But this posts makes too much sense for some people to understand. Cause, you know, they know more about the game than the people who designed it.

No reason we can’t improve the system! Everyone has different playstyles and ideas of what is fun for them. Some of those playstyles can be hindered with the current mechanics. Not having /private option for commanders is the thing that doesn’t make sense to me.

Ahmrill.7512:

MrKnieves.4162:

Esoteric.5490:

A few things:

very awesome post

AMEN!

But this posts makes too much sense for some people to understand. Cause, you know, they know more about the game than the people who designed it.

No reason we can’t improve the system! Everyone has different playstyles and ideas of what is fun for them. Some of those playstyles can be hindered with the current mechanics. Not having /private option for commanders is the thing that doesn’t make sense to me.

I don’t think anyone is questioning that there could be massive improvements to the commander system, the UI especially, but the acquisition of said commander tag is currently the most balanced it could be given the intended uses.

Ahmrill.7512:

MrKnieves.4162:

It doesn’t cause confusion at all, well, only of you are OCD and need to be on all places at all times. Different commanders might have different objectives, once you map in, listen for team/map chat for a while and select who you want to fight with. Is not that hard or complicated. When commanders work together having all the icons on screen is beneficial for the server as a whole to know whats going on by just looking at the map.

If you don’t want to see that many icons, then join a squad, problem solved. The current system works just fine.

The problems I’ve seen is people with commander pins up being harassed for not “leading properly” or “why are you doing that?” comments. Some people are using the commander pins for their multiple guild groups and are not actually trying to lead the zone. Or you get so many pins up that people are spread all over the place following different commanders or pulling players from those commanders that are effectively leading.

Let me give you an example:

A few times our multiple guild groups would take a camp (usually astral) and ambush those enemies coming to take it. We’d hit them on the way, let them engage the camp and then hit them… it was what our guild enjoyed. But when you try that with the commander pin up (to coordinate our 2-3 guild groups) the random people follow you. So while our guild groups are staying out of site for an ambush, random players who were following our pin, are running around killing mobs, gathering and jumping up and down on the road. It effectively prevented us from doing what we enjoyed.

We always use Ventrilo when running with multiple guild groups, but it’s much more effective running with Ventrilo AND having a visual commander pin up. So most of the time we end up not using the commander pin, simply because it causes confusion. So we have the best in game system for coordinating multiple guild groups…. and we don’t use it.

Allowing a /private option to the commander pin fixes that. Absoultely no one sees the commander pin in the zone except for those people you’ve invited to the squad. I would think it should be fairly easy to implement with the current system.

I certianly disagree that the system is working fine… not when see guild commanders being harrassed for having pins up and not “leading” properly.

All I see here is failure to communicate. If someone is harrasing you, explain to that person what you’re doing, or intend to do, if he keeps on harrasing the /ignore. If you are already on Vent and have a team effort going on having a pin become useless at that point, and it’s your prerogative to turn it off. If you fail to do so then you need to communicate to the map what you intend to do.

I’m not a guild commander, im a pug commander because the guild I belong to doesn’t have a strong WvW presence, so I have to rely on pugs to to what I think is right. And so far it has worked just fine. Whenever I need assistance capping a camp or tower I turn it on, ask for help on map, and once done turn it off until it’s needed again. No one, unless zerging, needs to have the pin on at all times, unless, you know, you need to inflate your ego.

MrKnieves.4162:

All I see here is failure to communicate. If someone is harrasing you, explain to that person what you’re doing, or intend to do, if he keeps on harrasing the /ignore. If you are already on Vent and have a team effort going on having a pin become useless at that point, and it’s your prerogative to turn it off. If you fail to do so then you need to communicate to the map what you intend to do.

I’m not a guild commander, im a pug commander because the guild I belong to doesn’t have a strong WvW presence, so I have to rely on pugs to to what I think is right. And so far it has worked just fine. Whenever I need assistance capping a camp or tower I turn it on, ask for help on map, and once done turn it off until it’s needed again. No one, unless zerging, needs to have the pin on at all times, unless, you know, you need to inflate your ego.

I think that some of the best commanders, all around, in this game are those who started with no guild or a smaller guild in WvW and had to rely on players outside of their guild and VoIP. They know how to best relate to the other players on the map and communicate effectively in team chat.

People of every server learn over time which commanders to trust and which commanders always lead them to a death trap, I know I did the hard way. Another thing is that people may be easily able to get to the 100 gold milestone, I didn’t but I am not sure about others, but logically one would think whether or not they should get the commander’s compendium or not. Nobody will just blow away 100 gold just to get a tag that will be a deterrence to other people after they recognize him as a bad leader.

You guys just want to get rid of the randoms… Tell the truth and stop hidding behind well structured texts…

MrKnieves.4162

All I see here is failure to communicate. If someone is harrasing you, explain to that person what you’re doing, or intend to do, if he keeps on harrasing the /ignore. If you are already on Vent and have a team effort going on having a pin become useless at that point, and it’s your prerogative to turn it off. If you fail to do so then you need to communicate to the map what you intend to do.

I hear what you are saying but it’s easy to fix. Every couple of days I see someone getting flamed in /map because they have the pin up in a jumping puzzle or killing centaurs or farming mats instead of “leading”. I remember one time I kept having to tell people we had the pin up for a guild event that I just turned it off…. I was spending to much time explaining instead of playing. Or I see people asking guild commanders to turn off their pins as it’s causing confusion and nasty comments start flying.

Anything that prevents drama or harassment is good in my books. Most MMO’s that I’ve played the last decade had some kind of multi-grouping system or raid frame that you could flag “private”.

If having a system to turn of the commander icon, reduce drama and harassment while still allowing guilds to use all the benefits of the commander/squad system…. how is that a bad thing?

Jeknar.6184:

You guys just want to get rid of the randoms… Tell the truth and stop hidding behind well structured texts…

To be honest, not everything can be done with randoms, no matter how much you try to communicate. Capping a few towers, camps, even SMC might be alright, but things are somewhat different on the Borderlands and might require more advanced tactics that can only work with team cohesion.

But at that point you either belong to a full WvW guild that communicates through either Skype, vent, ts or whatever and having an icon becomes rather… useless.

Jeknar.6184:

You guys just want to get rid of the randoms… Tell the truth and stop hidding behind well structured texts…

There are times, not all the time, where you want to work as a guild. It’s hard to be a stealthy, fast moving strike force when you have an additional 40 people following your pin and tagging every mob in site.

:)

MrKnieves.4162:

Jeknar.6184:

You guys just want to get rid of the randoms… Tell the truth and stop hidding behind well structured texts…

To be honest, not everything can be done with randoms, no matter how much you try to communicate. Capping a few towers, camps, even SMC might be alright, but things are somewhat different on the Borderlands and might require more advanced tactics that can only work with team cohesion.

But at that point you either belong to a full WvW guild that communicates through either Skype, vent, ts or whatever and having an icon becomes rather… useless.

We pretty much only use VoIP. But the times we’ve used VoIP AND the commander pin were more effective. It’s just not worth the hassle using the commander pin for the playstyle our guild enjoys.

Hence my desire to have commander’s flag /private. That way we can use VoIP and the commander pin without disrupting anyone else or taking away from the people leading the zone.

Buying a blue commander badge is ok.
However I think there should be “ranks” within commander tags, and colors to identify.

Warmer colors for offensive achievements, cooler colors for defensive, Neutral if both defensive and offensive are equal.

Then again that would require Arena net to add in a whole new concept of rankings on commander badges, and such.

Ahmrill.7512:

MrKnieves.4162

All I see here is failure to communicate. If someone is harrasing you, explain to that person what you’re doing, or intend to do, if he keeps on harrasing the /ignore. If you are already on Vent and have a team effort going on having a pin become useless at that point, and it’s your prerogative to turn it off. If you fail to do so then you need to communicate to the map what you intend to do.

I hear what you are saying but it’s easy to fix. Every couple of days I see someone getting flamed in /map because they have the pin up in a jumping puzzle or killing centaurs or farming mats instead of “leading”. I remember one time I kept having to tell people we had the pin up for a guild event that I just turned it off…. I was spending to much time explaining instead of playing. Or I see people asking guild commanders to turn off their pins as it’s causing confusion and nasty comments start flying.

Anything that prevents drama or harassment is good in my books. Most MMO’s that I’ve played the last decade had some kind of multi-grouping system or raid frame that you could flag “private”.

If having a system to turn of the commander icon, reduce drama and harassment while still allowing guilds to use all the benefits of the commander/squad system…. how is that a bad thing?

Sometimes some commanders deserve that abuse. Yesterday when I logged in we were in the process of losing Durios to Yak, I saw a commander so I was checking the map to see his movement, and oddly enough, he was at Durios even tho we lost it. Apparently he died at the door and was waiting to be ressed so he could portal everyone in and retake the tower. It was a nice plan, until Yak started attacking Brovost, QL and Dan simultaneously. They took all towers except Langor and the dude was still there waiting to be ressed, on top of that he was blaming me for drawing the zerg away from him.

Anyway, I do agree that the system could use some improvements, and I’m sure several things will change with the next patch.

Buying a commander badge is fine. I like the thought that if I got it into my head I could save 100g and have the blue dot and I didn’t have to have a huge guild or huge time-sink or whatever other word for “grind” you want to use. (And yes, I actively WvW.)

A rather simple fix would be to allow players to turn on/off individual Commander badges for their client (as well as letting the Commander do so for broadcast). You love Commander A, keep their badge on. Commander B couldn’t lead their way out of a paper sack? Turn em off.

Or you could just mouse over them on the map and ignore the useless ones. Just like now.

Lanny.6987:

Buying a commander badge is fine. I like the thought that if I got it into my head I could save 100g and have the blue dot and I didn’t have to have a huge guild or huge time-sink or whatever other word for “grind” you want to use. (And yes, I actively WvW.)

A rather simple fix would be to allow players to turn on/off individual Commander badges for their client (as well as letting the Commander do so for broadcast). You love Commander A, keep their badge on. Commander B couldn’t lead their way out of a paper sack? Turn em off.

Or you could just mouse over them on the map and ignore the useless ones. Just like now.

See, here lays the problem. When I see a commander icon on WvW I see a person that loved WvW so much that wanted to spend either his time or money, or he was able to get his guild to help him get it. The end result was the same, he/she is trying to make a difference in a positive way.

But most people see it as “OMG THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS!! HOW DARE HIM HAVE AN ICON AND I DONT! THE SYSTEM MUST BE BROKEN!!1!!!1!1!11”

It’s either all or nothing. Either you lead the zone if the pin is up or you leave it off. but it could be used for so much more if you can turn it off so ONLY those people in the squad can see it.

Is it really that hard to add /private function to the commander system and let people use it to fit their playstyles?

I say with the upcoming addition of ranks to WvW they remove the commander tag completely from public view! That means the only way you see the icon is if you are already in the squad.

MrKnieves.4162:

See, here lays the problem. When I see a commander icon on WvW I see a person that loved WvW so much that wanted to spend either his time or money, or he was able to get his guild to help him get it. The end result was the same, he/she is trying to make a difference in a positive way.

But most people see it as “OMG THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS!! HOW DARE HIM HAVE AN ICON AND I DONT! THE SYSTEM MUST BE BROKEN!!1!!!1!1!11”

This is not correct and is the same as making a sweeping generalisation. Someone trying to make a difference in a positive way should listen to constructive criticism and viable objectives instead of the 99.9% usual response they make about how they’re the commander. Some throw temper tantrums because a siege failed and apparently it’s everyone elses fault and they storm off the map.

Someone trying to make a positive difference shouldn’t be so incredibly arrogant that they buy an icon without any actual experience or idea of how to actually command large groups and then emo cry about how they’re never appreciated – people like this shouldn’t be put in charge of wedding invitations let alone commanding a server. I don’t think anyone has a problem with a new commander who is trying to learn properly.

Some people buy the icon simply because they want to be seen on the map. We have one ‘commander’ on our server who apparently commands the JP only and argues with other commanders when asked to switch off his icon. THis is not making a difference, this is someone playing the fool.

We have a commander on EB who shows up and generally gets wiped every objective he goes to, in fact, all of last week, if I were on an opposing server, I could have marked his movements like clockwork – the exact same objectives over and over again, and when it fails, hey lets go back because it wasn’t as much fun wiping 5 or 6 times already. Then the guy throws a massive emo fit about how he’s not appreciated if anyone says anything about it. No, after several months of the same absolutely poor commanding, it’s not appreciated and this person should learn from someone who actually can command. Again, this is not someone making a positive difference, it’s someone arrogantly locked in a stubborn mindset and refuses to change.

Or there’s our self-proclaimed ‘monarchy’ who will exclusively command from behind walls never venturing out to the battlefield, because you know, they’re too good for that and might die. This person has also watched me solo home supply camps, then just trotted in for the claim.

We have RP commanders who will come on the map ONLY to run their RP event which usually consists of putting up ridiculous amounts of siege at supply camps (12 flame rams, 6 ACs, 17 Alpha’s and 5 ballistas I counted at freaking RQ as one example – the Alpha’s ended up getting stolen by a group and actually put to some use). They will -never- respond to people actually asking for their help on keeps and towers because their event is oh-so important. They also have a knack for losing their chosen objectives at breakneck speeds. It’s almost comical how these particular RPers don’t seem to want to RP as the heroes and actually do something useful instead of flat out refusal.

100g for the icon was a very silly idea, paying money shows absolutely nothing other than you’ve made 100g, it doesn’t speak about any Wv3 experience whatsoever, not any ability to lead or understand simple tactics.

MrKnieves.4162:

Lanny.6987:

Buying a commander badge is fine. I like the thought that if I got it into my head I could save 100g and have the blue dot and I didn’t have to have a huge guild or huge time-sink or whatever other word for “grind” you want to use. (And yes, I actively WvW.)

A rather simple fix would be to allow players to turn on/off individual Commander badges for their client (as well as letting the Commander do so for broadcast). You love Commander A, keep their badge on. Commander B couldn’t lead their way out of a paper sack? Turn em off.

Or you could just mouse over them on the map and ignore the useless ones. Just like now.

See, here lays the problem. When I see a commander icon on WvW I see a person that loved WvW so much that wanted to spend either his time or money, or he was able to get his guild to help him get it. The end result was the same, he/she is trying to make a difference in a positive way.

But most people see it as “OMG THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS!! HOW DARE HIM HAVE AN ICON AND I DONT! THE SYSTEM MUST BE BROKEN!!1!!!1!1!11”

I made this topic about a month ago, thing is, I’m not like “most” people, I am actually a very active commander in one of the best guilds my server has (which in the end is nothing impressive because we are from a lower tier server: Underworld). Here’s proof of me being commander however: http://i.imgur.com/cplHk1G.jpg (I did not have commander back when I made the topic, I had plenty of money to purchase it but me thinking the system is broken, held me back from purchasing)

I know high tier servers with dedicated and organised guilds don’t care about a simple icon but in my server it’s very essential, we don’t have a lot of dedicated guilds, I count 5 on my server perhaps and the one I’m in is by far the largest (and we only manage to get 20+ people together on set dates aka events), so you can imagine how imporant the icon is to us. I think the current system is very broken because being able to drop 100G doesn’t make you a good leader, hell I can drop 2000g and purchase a tag for my entire guild if I wanted to lol.

I still feel commander is something that SHOULD be earned and the best thing (for both WvW and PvE) would be influence points and making the tag expire after a period of time and having to repurchase the icon, this means you need to run a large and active guild and actually prove you are able to be a leader.

I don’t want the acquisition of commander being easier, I want it to be different.. different in a way you need to prove you are a good leader, which imo is by purchasing with influence points, this way only large guilds will provide you with a commander, this would mean you are either leading a guild or have a part in leading it.

Sceinna.3561:

I still feel commander is something that SHOULD be earned and the best thing (for both WvW and PvE) would be influence points and making the tag expire after a period of time and having to repurchase the icon, this means you need to run a large and active guild and actually prove you are able to be a leader.

I don’t want the acquisition of commander being easier, I want it to be different.. different in a way you need to prove you are a good leader, which imo is by purchasing with influence points, this way only large guilds will provide you with a commander, this would mean you are either leading a guild or have a part in leading it.

That would make small guild not be able to buy it (If it’s kitten expensive), or medium-big guilds will be able to buy enough to flood the map (if it’s not expensive).