Newly acquired commander tag, is there etiquette?

Hi everyone, so before the release of the warclaw, I found that i had 300 gold to spare so i got myself the catmander tag for aesthetic reasons. And then it turned into me using the tag a couple of times but always worrying about if I'm breaking some hidden rules or not. Is there any sort of like general etiquette that i should be aware of? (apart from don't tag on top of another tag, that seems obvious to me at least).

I'd say don't pop your tag on a map with an active event that already has a commander running it?

There really has been no etiquette since they were allowed in PvE and the introduction of the Mentor tag. It's pretty much your investment and do what you want with it.

The only thing I would suggest is don't tag up if you're doing the same event as the other tag.

@kharmin.7683 said:I'd say don't pop your tag on a map with an active event that already has a commander running it?

This is the only one or at least check what that comm is doing so you don’t clash or cause confusion to those on the map. If you are clearly not interfering then it doesn’t matter.

And being respectful. Apart from good manners, many comms pick up a wider reputation from their attitude alone

There's no strict or universal rules, but my advice would be:

• Don't turn it on without a reason, except maybe in cities. I know you said you got it for aesthetic reasons, but if people see a commander tag they expect something to be happening there.
• Don't tag up for an event if another commander is already doing it. In rare cases 2 tags are needed for the same event but most of the time it's just splitting people between squads, doubling up or conflicting instructions and causing confusion.
• Be patient, polite and helpful. Being a commander means putting yourself into a leadership role - you're expected to know what to do and what you want everyone else doing as well.

Also don't forget you can set whether the squad needs an invite to join or if it's open to everyone, and whether everyone in the squad can send invites. It's worth taking a moment to think about how you want to set that up, especially in WvW where every random who joins the map adding themselves to your squad could be useful or could totally mess things up.

if youre going to use it in wvw, there are some videos on youtube on where to place siege in the right places, checklist for commanders etc. look for those. also watch a few videos to get a feel for how to command in battle.

Also, don't tag up and then stand at a waypoint, even in a city. It makes it harder (or impossible) for people to use the waypoint.

@Randulf.7614 said:

@"kharmin.7683" said:I'd say don't pop your tag on a map with an active event that already has a commander running it?

I agree.

I will use this to tell the anecdote of how back when I actively commanded Istan our meta bugged out after we got the prompt to change map, so we all did and entered a map with another commander. That guy was extremely upset to not have the sole squad on the map and insulted me and everybody who "followed that kitten tag" and spammed that he was at 50/50. I explained them why we joined that map and that since we were doing the very same events anyway there shouldn't be a problem, especially since his squad was filled completely as he kindly liked to point out to us anyway.

Some people are oddly territorial about this. I could understand if this was because we were doing something wrong, like killing mobs or doing events out of order, but the mere fact that I existed seemed to make that one particular guy angry.

A couple days later HE joined "MY"map, started a squad and used his "popularity" to continually poach people from my squad as we went on until I stopped playing for the day anyway.

Since then I always use my tag whenever I see him, making sure I absolutely partake in whatever his squad is doing.

@Palador.2170 said:Also, don't tag up and then stand at a waypoint, even in a city. It makes it harder (or impossible) for people to use the waypoint.

It also makes it a lot harder for people to click on your tag and join your group.

Thank you all, I really appreciate the input. I guess I'll use the tag for aesthetic pleasure in sun's refuge and take a lot more care about when I use it in PvE and WvW. It also seems like I'll have a lot more to learn about the game and start paying more attention to what commanders do and why.

Well, if you want to have some casual fun showing it off, you can use it to flag an event on the daily events map--just remember to turn it off when you think its too late for anyone to benefit from chasing the event down, and probably don't do it while the map's World Boss/meta event is active. (Silverwastes and Dry Top are possibly exceptions to this: events are everywhere in Silverwastes and no need to flag them, and be careful in Dry Top, because if there is an organized group trying to run the sandstorm, they have a particular optimal order to do the events in so that the zerg gets to take part in as many as possible.)

if you are tagging up for meta, know exactly how the meta works and the mechanics, otherwise dont put it up

i.e. Chak Gerent Rata lane "CC!!! Break that bar!!!" *me facepalm at the lack of knowledge of noobmander*

@"crepuscular.9047" said:if you are tagging up for meta, know exactly how the meta works and the mechanics, otherwise dont put it up

i.e. Chak Gerent Rata lane "CC!!! Break that bar!!!" *me facepalm at the lack of knowledge of noobmander*

Alternatively get someone else to actually lead.

I've occasionally tagged up for events I don't know well (or at all) because the group was insisting we needed a commander tag and apparently I was the only one there who had one. So I explained the situation, tagged up and assigned someone who did know what to do as a lieutenant. They gave all the instructions and I ran around acting as a portable map marker.

(Personally I think people sometimes insist on having a commander in situations where one isn't really needed. I once did Dragons Stand on an overflow map, it was full but we only had 2 commanders and a mentor on the north lane. The other groups kept on complaining the north lane was empty and we were going to fail no matter how much we told them there was a full group, and in spite of the fact that we were clearing our events faster than they were. As far as they were concerned no commander meant no group, and nothing was going to persuade them otherwise.)

don't tag up if you don't know what you're doing.

I can only think of three things.

1. Have some basic understanding of the mechanics of whatever you're leading.
2. Communicate well.
3. Be aware of meta events and other other squads on the same map

@"Cragga the Eighty Third.6015" said:Well, if you want to have some casual fun showing it off, you can use it to flag an event on the daily events map--just remember to turn it off when you think its too late for anyone to benefit from chasing the event down, and probably don't do it while the map's World Boss/meta event is active. (Silverwastes and Dry Top are possibly exceptions to this: events are everywhere in Silverwastes and no need to flag them, and be careful in Dry Top, because if there is an organized group trying to run the sandstorm, they have a particular optimal order to do the events in so that the zerg gets to take part in as many as possible.)

yeap, generally core Tyria maps are fine except SW and DTmost world bosses are pretty much brain dead spamming 1 key, except for Tequatl, Shatterer, and definitely dont tag up for Triple Trouble

HoT maps pre-meta events are fine, just follow the NPCsVB meta, basically no one does it except Matriarch then leaves, so no point taggingAB meta, mechanics are pretty easy except for south gate, east is especially easy aka. PANIC@AFKER laneTD meta, scar is the most straight forward, just kill any and everything in sight

PoF, Bounty Trains

@"crepuscular.9047" said:if you are tagging up for meta, know exactly how the meta works and the mechanics, otherwise dont put it up

i.e. Chak Gerent Rata lane "CC!!! Break that bar!!!" *me facepalm at the lack of knowledge of noobmander*

Ya know, ANet totally should change this because it's counter intuitive. There shouldn't ever be events where breaking the bar fast leads to increased likelihood of failure.

As for the tag, for WvW, I'd say to set the squad message to something appropriate, like stating "new commander, still learning!" As for PvE, I use mentor tags when doing stuff where I'd want help, but that may not hold interest for players, whereas I set the commander tag as a way to publicize "everybody get here now", usually for meta events. I find it acceptable to have multiple tags on the same map when: the map is well populated and it makes sense to do so (eg: at sandswept isles there might be a tag doing the storms meta while there's another doing the experiment lab one).