Guild Wars 2

hey everyone,

I know that Arena Net is working on making commanders more usefull, and me and a guildie have been thinking of some stuff.

people tend not to join squads, while squads are very usefull because of the placement of attack and defence orders (I experimented with them and use them to show our attack and defence objective etc) and its more useful to quickly see how much supply you have.

I was thinking, maybe its possible to create a mechanism that the commander can activate a squad buff, that would add a bonus to all players who join the commanders squad.

also, I sometimes have a friend with me who watches the map etc, but he likes to see other commanders, so as example, give a option to show other commanders on the map but with a different icon/other color.

also it would be nice to have a small commanders interface, in which you can select what tower/camp/keep/castle you want to place your rally/attack/defence orders.

Often we have commander pins up for no other reason than guilds are trying to coordinate. Give us options to form squads of any size for whatever reason we need…. right now the commander/squad is for zergs ONLY.

How about having a private option so we can actually create specific or medium size forces? Sometimes we want to coordinate 3-4 groups together without a shiny blue “zerg magnet” inviting everyone else in the zone to come to our position.

They need a way to hide the commander pin AND still retain all the functions of the squad system for guilds and medium sized forces who wish to coordinate privately.

actually a guild commander icon, only visible for a guild and that can only be given to people by a guild leader would be great

Vayle.7964:

actually a guild commander icon, only visible for a guild and that can only be given to people by a guild leader would be great

I know my guild would love this. Being able to have a couple smaller pin’s for guild groups to follow along with an overall commander pin to guide the zerg to where its needed would be a boon for strikeing several targets at once.

Vayle.7964:

actually a guild commander icon, only visible for a guild and that can only be given to people by a guild leader would be great

This has been suggested since BW1. Tons of feedback on the commander/squad grouping system but it simply feels like no one is acknowledging anything or it’s simply not a priority.

Grouping mechanics and social interaction should be a main focus of MMO’s and the C&S system feels like an afterthought.

Vayle.7964:

hey everyone,

I know that Arena Net is working on making commanders more usefull, and me and a guildie have been thinking of some stuff.

people tend not to join squads, while squads are very usefull because of the placement of attack and defence orders (I experimented with them and use them to show our attack and defence objective etc) and its more useful to quickly see how much supply you have.

I was thinking, maybe its possible to create a mechanism that the commander can activate a squad buff, that would add a bonus to all players who join the commanders squad.

also, I sometimes have a friend with me who watches the map etc, but he likes to see other commanders, so as example, give a option to show other commanders on the map but with a different icon/other color.

also it would be nice to have a small commanders interface, in which you can select what tower/camp/keep/castle you want to place your rally/attack/defence orders.

A persistent low percentage armour buff applied to all squad members within a limited, but useful, area. Call it “Commanding Presence”. Right now there is absolutely ZERO reason for most to join a squad and there is absolutely ZERO indication that you are even in a squad unless someone happens to say something in /squad chat. Right now, the ONLY thing the Commander’s tag is useful for is to indicate someone to follow, and even that is questionable some of the time. Having a buff like this would actually give people a tangible benefit to being in a squad.

I would like to see the squad icons expanded to something more along the lines of the LotRO system which has a selection of maybe 12(?) different icons. The commander can place an icon above a squad member’s head which indicates a certain role and serves as a way to sub-divide the squad (I would like to see at least 10 different icons – one for each class and one each for defence and attack). The commander and the person with the icon on their head can then paint that same icon on a target for everyone in that party to move to or focus fire on. It would also be incredibly useful for a commander to be able to paint the ground with an icon for the different siege weapons so that people know exactly where to put their siege equipment.

Hmm…

How about adding a 50g “Sergeant” tag? This would allow you to form a “platoon” of 10 people (let’s face it, a “squad” isn’t 30 people, so why not?). Using the above suggestion of expanded icons, the sergeant has all the same tools as the commander. BUT “Platoon” members do not count towards the squad limit. ONLY a sergeant can join a squad – you either join a squad or you join a platoon, unless you’re a sergeant you cannot do both. A sergeant is indicated on the map by a colour-coded icon depending on the icon they actually have over their heads. In this way the commander can put all of his Guardians together, all of his Mesmers together, all of his siege masters together, or whatever group is needed and direct them to do different things – everyone in the platoon led by the guy with crossed swords over his head attacks, or moves to, the target with the crossed swords, for example, or everyone following the guy with a dolyak on his head goes to attack the camp/’yak indicated by the corresponding icon.

Also… please, please, please, please give us some UI indication about being in a squad and who is in the squad with you.