Guild Wars 2

I dig it.

15 chars

After a year of playing I saw my first three devs on Devonas in WvW this last two weeks.

A new condition Dhummfire has been added. Deathshroud skill 5 and a condition named torment has been added. There were also changes with epidemic. Those were the big changes. A quick scan of the monthly release notes for necro will bring you up to speed.

I am not a pug whisperer. I lead my guild or I don’t lead unless asked. Once I tag up though I will execute and let the chips fall where they may. You won’t be a new commander forever unless you quit now. Grow a thick skin, grow a reputation for success and people will flock to you whether they are in guild or not.

Some folks will complain about commanders that try to lead the general population without success but I have posted many times before. The responsibility for success isn’t only the commanders it is shared with the other players. This isn’t the Army it is a game.

Tyrone- Good luck leading, here is some fun reading for you. It is good for perspective and not terribly long.

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2085/2085-h/2085-h.htm

CYROPAEDIA THE EDUCATION OF CYRUS
By Xenophon

This is only a message to share an expectation of format and structure. The last discussion went from concise submissions to " my wish list and 2 paragraph suggestion" in less then 5 pages.

Zosk concise and efficient comms are effective if people are familiar with you as a leader. Jocksys is right though in as much as a non guild member will do as they please and your directions can be short and clear but if they are not followed they mean little.

Lord Madman is absolutely right about being condescending, blaming, or being disrespectful. I have guested in channels where people will isolate participants for ridicule or harp on other leaders habits and methods. Maintaining a positive and effective environment is part of the leaders responsibility. As to the use / non use of TS that falls back to what can you influence as a leader. Your guild and perhaps those in alliance with you then maybe your server mates. I mostly see map channels or guild channels used for organizing in TS but I have heard of one big server channel being used. The cross chatter in there would be horrific without some serious admin work and comms discipline. LMM- yes anyone can follow a sigil but there are limits to the effectiveness of following someone around. Clear command and control through voice communications with a responsive, familiar and well coordinated team is a combat multiplier.

With defense against guards and guard killer these are even easier to wipe out. I think the sentry points and the entry to north supply camp on borderlands should be buffed up. Yes they are an indicator of enemy force movement if you don’t have scouts and not much else right now. I would like to see them as a momentum changer at least as strong as a supply camp. If you choose to engage them you commit to some time where the enemy can locate you and fix your position. I like the idea of selecting trap types and siege types on upgrade. Pushing a 10-15 man force off ne tower from garri and having a few folks working from the improved sentry to slow the enemy retreat would be fun.

Offense is about momentum and portals allow for maneuver and momentum. Thieves can be survived and destroyed with good coordination. We had a 4 thief team hitting our ten man team last night for close to 45 minutes of play. On more then one occasion we were able to kill all 4. We were able to take 3 camps and two towers while skirmishing on the move with these thieves and had a enemy guardian and warrior join in a few times as well. There was also a mesmer thief pair in hills that took us 5-10 minutes to eliminate they were very good.

“Also when you’re in transit to a location it’s okay not to talk much. There isn’t much to say when you’re going to a supply camp across the map”

I make sure that we discuss next tgt and positioning in transit then I clear the channel for scouts to report. No one wants to get on TS and hear me talk in a continuous river of commands all night. It is fatiguing to the speaker and listener. You get 20 or more in voice comms you have to have a clean channel, especially in larger skirmishes. Comments like “oww” " OMG" " sooo many of them " are all useless chatter that distracts and fatigues. If you are leading the fight in voice comms set the standard up front in a very clear statement and make sure you keep that standard. It will give you time to think and people will hear your directions.

I have organized our parties by class and skill mixes. I have also asked them to establish specific wxp skill sets and I know my ac, ram, cata, cannon and treb people so on flips or defense I can give clear direction to specific people or groups. I call out which group I want to clear NPC’s and which I want to build. I call out which group I want to scout in which direction as pickets and which group I want to work as intercept on reinforcements. Once I am past the individual or small group tasks I start to use land marks and triggers. As stated above corners are good landmarks. So are stairways, small cliff jumps, ramps. Some of the best land marks are a matter of habit for a particular objective. If you rehearse a assault your team will know where portal one two and three are dropped. In the open field use land marks like a tree, a choke point or high ground. When you say push say how far. When you say fall back say fall back to" " somewhere. So push to the small hut on left and stack for small water field. Fall back to choke point and form up on left drop water field, heavies get in front. All of this helps the fight but your people have to be in the habit of following as well.

SE borderlands tower seems to be the best kill box location in WvW. There is a steady stream of opponents as they are close to their spawn. The backup treb shots from hills provide some high cover. I have seen two walls and a door down in this tower and huge forces unable to take it.

Where is your favorite kill box spot in WvW and how do you best set it up?

Yes getting that defensive mindset is a very real challenge. I lost a treasure in the departure of a skilled and committed siege builder / manager/ defensive minded player. Finding the people that will establish and maintain defenses is a real challenge because their commitment takes time, funds and you have to bring the maneuver force to bear when they need reinforced.

I do not think they should be buffed. I am on Devonas Rest and we have plenty of time being on the bottom of the pile. I still would prefer to see them stay as they are. Current game mechanics allow for decent defense if you commit to it. In order for a opposing force to mount an assault they should have people, supply, siege and time. Reduce any of those as a defender and you improve your outcome. Kill their people or demoralize them by executing a stiff defense. Use defensive siege in clusters at chokes and send sorties out to push them off of offensive siege. Reduce their on hand supply through supply traps, trebuchet mastery, destruction of partially built siege. Reduce available supply through upgrades, fast counter flips, forcing them to burn it on repairs. Take out siege as it is placed or force them to make poor choices by waiting for siege to be placed and built at close range before engaging and destroying it. Reduce their time by having a supporting force working on the enemy borderland drawing them away or striking them around the edges until they feel unsafe and flee or angry and pursue off of the objective. Of course if you have the man power just rolling over them and kicking them in the face is a method.

We had 7 people on multiple AC’s cata’s, trebs , cannons and ballistas in Langor last night. From that fortified tower with a small group of 5 skirmishers we were able to stymy an assaulting force of over 40. At the same time from the same location we opened and recovered our keep. So leave walls and doors alone they are just a small piece of an overall strategy.

An internal solution to keeps without buffs is a claim and buff roster. If you have enough guilds scheduled to claim, buff, and release on 12 hour increments you should be able to run full buffs on 4 keeps on 4 maps and never be without buffs.

The concept of factions based on color or just pairings where high and low pop servers coordinate was brought up in the collaborative thread. I like the idea as it expands access for the queued upper tier forces and provides a needed boost of forces to the lower tier servers. I would prefer the faction over the pairings so that a guild could move throughout every tier for a match as long as the there was room for them. We could make many new friends and allies and based on rotation of matches we could end up getting to know a much broader segment of the population.

NO- Do not add a cost to claiming. I claim supply camps every 5 minutes based on my location. I am continuously moving my buff with my force. Why on earth would you want to tie down a maneuver force to higher costs in order to operate? If you don’t know your community well enough to find a member of the claiming guild that is your fault. It is called involvement. I know the leadership of over 90 WvW participating guilds on my server. If there is a need to reach a guild that is a part of our WvW community we can find them. Establish cross guild membership with the WvW guilds until your guild has membership in over 50% of the involved guilds then you can pop open the owning guilds roster, find a member with rights to claim and move the claim.

Again with the cost what about guilds that pop their full array of buffs on multiple maps? That buff set is only good for so long so to maximize it’s effectiveness it should be used on every map in at least one location. So you would have our guild dropping 10 gold to claim a keep on each map. That full array of buffs can be built and used multiple times in a week. How much would you expect a guild to pay to support their server in a single match? Enough cash is burned on armor repairs, siege and upgrades. Increasing the cost to play is bull kitten.

Are you new to DR or looking to find a new home on a low population server? You can’t go wrong rolling with BRL. Contact me in game or send a PM here on the forums to join us.

As Chuck Z posted above with a greatly out manned force defeat seams imminent. Slower if you fight hard but still in time you lose. I have commanded for close to 10 months. I wasn’t the most frequent commander but for the last 30 days I have lead forces almost every night. Some times I sigil sometimes I don’t. Looking at the OP comments of " The commander carries the responsibility of the server winning." I have to strongly disagree specifically because of FanWong’s comment " This is a game, not army."

In this game a Commander has no authority. They can direct but they cannot order. They can suggest and cajole, shout beg or whatever other method of communication you please but without actual control and authority the responsibility for victory is not the commanders. It is shared among the population. This is a game, there is freedom, even if i find myself frustrated by a lack of organization I know that that freedom is part of the draw for people to enjoy the game.

The sigiled commander is responsible to do the best with what they have available at the time. I sigil when my guild is with me. I have some authority over them. They will listen and execute my directions. The population in their freedom and personal wisdom may be fickle or less responsive but a well built force that is trained, loyal and confident can make a huge impact on the ease of command and in victory.

OP- "Commanders aren’t above the people they command – without a zerg there’s nothing but a nice easy target. " I disagree here as well. You say Commanders aren’t above the people they command then you heap the responsibility for victory on their shoulders, Which is it? Your just another guy or your the servers savior / excuse?
“They’re there to lead the zerg.” – this comment , wow just wow. You think that command can be condensed to “lead the zerg” really? You have to know how wrong that is and all of the reasons.

If you are part of the top of the rankings and tired of waiting over an hour to get in game or your guild can never get together to play because half of them are in queue then you should come down here to DR. We have room for you to field that 80-200 player force you have built.

I roam to lead a small group and refine their lethality. When you get the five or ten man team working together and they move fast and strike, maneuver and reengage, flip objectives and take bites out of zergs it is fun.

We had five new players join BRL this weekend. One has been playing for two days another for two weeks and the three remaining were seasoned veterans. It doesn’t matter if you are old and crusty or wet behind the ears, if you want quality WvW game play look us up.

I endorse GVNC. These folks are good players and a good team. If you haven’t found a home elsewhere on DR then take the time to talk to their leadership and see if they fit your play style.

Black Rose Legion is a small quality focused guild. We have a long term goal of 25 members that are fully equipped, trained to their class and all styles of play and regular participants in the game. We currently have 52 members with peak activity of 20 and regular team play of 10-15. Our members are treated like family. We help each other level, gear up and learn the ropes of the game. Our core membership includes myself and my brother along with five close friends that have been gaming together for over 20 years. We also have multiple couples who have found BRL to be a stable and well-knit team experience.
Our primary focus is on WvW. We currently have 6 members with commander sigils and have had a consistent involvement with Devonas Rest WvWvW play for over 8 months. We are an integrated part of the server community with multiple alliance memberships and VOIP communication through Teamspeak, Ventrillo, Mumble and Raid call with multiple guilds across our server.
Take a look at our website and say hello on the forums. We are looking to round out our team. If you want to be part of a solid group where teamwork and fun can be found at every log in then look us up.
http://blackroselegion.guildlaunch.com/

“spirit of collaboration that we want to foster between players” –Collaboration is based on necessity and preference. I have people that prefer independence over integration but for those that do become part of a team the tools are not in the game to expand the collaboration. I have 4 different voip programs installed to facilitate collaboration within my server community. The guild structure is there but in order to facilitate communication across guilds I have to join other guilds and my members have to join even more guilds so that we can find active WvW participants and organize. And of course membership and participation are dynamic so the 20 person guild you worked to establish contact and coordination with can be gone in a day.
“we don’t release specific numbers in terms of populations, queues, etc.” – My request was for ranges and proportions not specifics.
“discussion about the design principles”- The title was Collaborative Development: World population. Title it design principles of GW2population distribution and it may have sent the conversation in a different direction.
“why people think that the population causes the scoring issues”- The story about a ball team that plays a 9 inning game and only fields their team for 7 innings is the most accurate depiction of why coverage determines scoring issues. Coverage is based on population. Coverage gaps are the most acute example of population imbalance. WvW population is not equal to World population.
“design of various aspects of the game and how the team and the players view them” You have seen plenty of our viewpoints on population what is the teams viewpoint on population?
“The original idea behind WvW was that this would happen of its own accord, but I haven’t seen that in practice. I think it could be much more of a part of the game if there were a way to do this.” This point takes me back to the very first one – What tools have been put in the game to facilitate cross server(opponent to opponent) coordination? Yes 2nd and 3rd place have a shared opponent in 1st but that doesn’t make them allies. Even if the servers choose to ally based on leaders’ communication the individual players can invalidate that agreement. It won’t happen consistently in a controlled manner unless you as developers facilitate it.
In closing I saw the post about morale having a significant impact on participation. I concur and believe this is a huge factor. Leader moral, general player moral, guild organizations, alliances, server communities as a whole all are enduring fatigue and frustration while trying to make the time spent in game worthwhile without the tools needed to improve or overcome the acute effects of coverage gaps and WvW population imbalances.

What makes a WvW player when we are discussing measurement of WvW population?
Time committed to the play of WvW. Where do we set the bar? It has to be spread across the life of the account. The player may have spent three months in WvW and turned away due to frustration with the dynamics. You don’t want to discount that committed time unless the player has not actively logged in in over 45 days because they are likely no longer part of the population. Average play time per day as a snap shot is good to know information. Does the player go into WvW for 45 minutes and then go spend 5 hours doing dungeons? So percent of played time in WvW should be a factor. What about the folks waiting in long queues to enter? Do you include the queue time as WvW time since the intent to play was there?
Time should be measured over life time of account.
Should be measured as a percentage of play
Queue time should count toward WvW play time.
Players that have not logged in for over 45 days should be considered inactive and dropped from the calculation.
Once WvW players are identified then calculate the percentage of the population they comprise.
Show us by percentage the split between WvW players and the general population. I would also like to see a from the WvW population a number of guilds involved with a floor of 5 people as the smallest increment. Then sort the WvW guilds by server to size and show us guilds by size in a range split of 50 person increments starting with 5-50. There will be a portion of the WvW population on the server that is not representing or not a within the range of 5 or more in guild in WvW. Place this remainder in the pie chart. None of this information would betray the specific numbers of people on a server it would only display as percentages of population.
So this would give us a overall percent of WvW players per server and a breakdown of organized participation by size vs general WvW players. It will provide guild leaders with a clear picture of which servers are best to move their force to based on population. This is key for those who are trying to make an informed decision to move. Right now the movement process involves servers recruiting, guilds sending representatives forward to recon the community and play style and a then a rough integration that can easily fail because you moved to a server that didn’t have room for you or the culture that fits your play style. Of course the decision of individual players to move would be better informed with this same information. If you wanted to be part of a vibrant small man team community you could see where that is happening. If you wanted to know where the huge guilds are it would be apparent. This would eliminate the finger pointing between tiers about who does or does not small man.

This is snap shot of Devonas Rest WvW guild population as of July based on personal interviews with 92 guilds that I verified participated in our WvW community.
84% sized 50 or under(mostly 5-10), 8 % 50-100, 7% 100-150, 1% over 150.

I like the idea of incrementally greater rewards for capturing objectives that belong to the server above you in second or first place.

I would also like to see a clean split between PVE and WvW world commitment. Freedom to participate on any PVE world and perhaps have two WvW worlds you can participate in so long as they are not matched against each other.

OK simple response- Don’t like to see them swapping build a 75 man guild , lead it and stomp the opponent into the ground. It is no different then the guys that hate fight club and roll through the middle of it.

Inter server communication is another dynamic of the fight.- party joins, voip, forums, friends on opposing servers it all happens. Politics is a source of influence and strength in conflict. If you can effectively manage the politics of the match to gain an advantage that is a skill not a matter of failed ethics. As to " There’s nothing that any individual player can do about it" this is entirely untrue. It takes time and effort to establish political strength and effectiveness. You can’t just hop into WvW and say everyone obey me we now have an alliance with server X. There has to be enough of an advantage to any proposed action that you can persuade the majority of those within your realm of influence to action. Setting aside alliances look instead at overall tactics. Each commander differs in methods, effectiveness and communication habits. Those differences will cause friction that has to be resolved for them to succeed. That same influence established through effective operations is what allows you to have an individual impact on political action for inter server activities.

This is a good initiative in looking for a skilled resource. I would recommend talking to your current WvW community leaders. Find their voice servers and look into the coordination and training they are willing to provide. You know your own people and have completed the hardest step in assembling a active force. Get to know your community. I have a primary and secondary point of contact for over 40 guilds that WvW on our server. I have reached out into our community to build teamwork and lasting relationships. We have 45 in guild but last night we rolled with 5 different guilds in an organized assault. With your size the politics and relationships in your community will be as vital as the basic player skill of your people.

Thanks for sharing the site. I like the detailed stats. Q- Was the same asuran stealing candy canes during winters day?

It took a well organized force to rip the fully fortified Hills from GOM BL last night. BRL RED ZERG COC and all who followed and participated. Well done. Our majority force worked hard to recover DR BL Garrison and GOM had to choose. Hold garrison or loose hills. At the end of the night they had lost both and I would wager everyone enjoyed the good fights. Well done Dark Jean on your persistence in recovering DR BL garrison. GOM well fought. AR? did you play last night?

You can rep more then one guild. Use map chat in WvW and in LA to find a WvW focused guild. A full third of my guildies are folks that rep other guilds for PVE but roll with us in WvW. Get the knowledge and the habits of working with a team that knows the WvW side of the game.

Welcome to WvW Glad you are enjoying it.

Also- Come at me ya green horn loot bag squishy!

If you are stuck waiting to get into WvW and every fight is a lag fest come on down to Devonas Rest. We don’t have those problems.

Rolled RESET with ZERG, COC, DTGA and BRL in AR BL. Had blast, good organized work. Enjoyed seeing the minion zerg this weekend as well. Hope to see good momentum all week. Fight on DR!

1. WvW population balancing- Break out WvW environment to separate servers from PVE sort of like different dimensions allowing players to belong to one WvW home, one PVE hom and guest PVE like now.
2. Command and control system- guild tags, squad structure, squad leaders if you want to manage the zerg and create loyalty to each other and the game allow us to build functioning units
3. Alt friendly rewards – I shouldn’t handicap my game play by being on an alt.

Gab Superstar has valid and accurate input. If you want to show actual commitment prove him wrong.

RED is revitalized! There is solid leadership involvement and RED is in the game to make it fun for it’s members and the server. Take the time to check RED out if you need a guild.

BRL is open for membership. We have a solid membership but room for 5-10 more. If you want a active and engaging team look us up.

DDLG is still running solid and improving their quality of game play with large force coordinated in teamspeak. Don’t miss an opportunity to join a enthusiastic team.

SoCo is still a solid place to spend your time on Devonas Rest.

I endorse GVNC!

I endorse WoS.

I endorse TBE. Solid players with good leadership.

Out numbered? WT(? really that is an important change? How about downed state health in Necros? If your going to have PC matters are we eliminating the drinking games next?

I have almost 1400 hours into the game and most of it has been in WvW on Devonas Rest. Server commitment, part of a solid guild team, planning, communication and coordination between guilds make the time enjoyable. I know the leaders of over 50 guilds and can call on them for help or support their lead. The battle is give and take. There are always new people that need to learn the mechanics and we have small man roaming teams that do an awesome job of influencing the battle. You can make that commitment on ET. Put the time in and become part of the community. Be the guy that knows enough and cares enough to teach the new person. Play hard and earn the trust of your peers. It doesn’t matter that you lose fights, battles or match ups. What makes the difference is the effort as a team. ET does not lack for skill or effort. See you on the battlefield.

Swapping claim from a guild with expired buffs can take time. It isn’t the same as capturing but if I claim a camp in order to release claim on a tower there is a short delay before the tower clears. As far as owning multiple locations a guild can claim one location on multiple maps and the buffs will be active on each claimed location.

I love the idea of bringing the WvWvW concept into the PVE maps of our opponents. Instead of calls in Lions Arch to defend bay it will be a call to rally in LA and move to the cursed shore to close the breach. It would make that PVE commander tag relevant. I would also like to be part of that five man roaming team that invaded and started ganking the unsuspecting PVE lama’s. The tears would flow!

Well done Sir enjoy each breath and the peace before the battle.

OMG the battle coms…