How to get into commanding? Any tips for someone who wants to learn would be great.

0. Have a tough skin
1. Learn all the in's and out's of WvW
2. Follow other commanders and learn what they do
3. Tag up
4. ????
5. Profit?

I don't know if there are any good resources on commanding in WvW but if you all know some it would be awesome if you could share. I would like to hear the experience of people who've had success doing it and how they went about learning it. I'm not sure if I should do a ton of studying up before hand or just kind of learn on the job.

@"Sleepwalker.1398" said:

6. Profit? ......in WvW? you in the wrong game mode yo.

The salty tears of my enemies are my profit.

@Zexanima.7851 said:

@"Sleepwalker.1398" said:

6. Profit? ......in WvW? you in the wrong game mode yo.

Ahh...in that case, i would say "Morale".Don't just tag up and go straight for an enemy zerg.Start with something small like take a camp or tower, build up morale and then go for fights.

well I haven't commanded before but here are a few things I appreciate in commanders:

• be vocal and welcoming. sort of a given but it makes a huge difference. don't kick ppl out of hand just cuz theyre not on a meta build (unless squad is full, chances are tho if youre new to commanding this wont happen).
• do a bunch of different things. take some towers, fight some zergs. keep in mind your limitations, if theyre bigger try to lure them into a choke. if youre getting steam rolled don't be afraid to withdraw to a tower and siege it up. winning > pride.
• know where all the good siege spots are and bring your own siege.
• keep in mind your teams morale. helps to not try the same thing over and over, or get into siege wars.
• don't be cocky, don't blame wipes on anyone or anything, be open to suggestions, lay the law down if someone is being a punk. basic stuff.
• learn to bait enemy bombs, when to push, when to kite. all comes with experience I guess. youtube could help I think. don't forget about your backline, which will consist of a lot of ppl not in squad. these ppl aren't worthless, they are part of the effort and abandoning them is giving the enemy a huge boost (also chances are if youre new to commanding that this squadless backline will be rather large since ppl don't trust you yet).
• last but not least, don't get discouraged! wvw needs all the good commanders it can get. it may not seem like youre doing much but trust me commanders really make wvw possible.
• remember one of your primary jobs in zerg fights - managing cd's. ask for ppl to x up if they are a certain class, assign them a number (you know, bubble 1, bubble 2) etc.

cheers and gl.

edit - added a bullet

Be in GvG guild. Most important one if you ask me, you can learn everything you need to be a commander from there.

I don't have a guide for commanding, but I do have a video of me commanding on Monday with coms. Not sure if it'll help but...

Biggest thing is to know the capabilities of your group. Know when they'll follow and when they'll scatter. Learn all of the meta builds and skills so you know what to call for

Know where to place siege and how much

Sometimes you'll run into fights you won't win or structures you can't take, know how to keep morale up in those circumstances. It's better to lose some good fights than run every time, that just makes people bored

Most wvw guilds will have commander training, either on non- raid days or after the main raid. Just that them know you're interested.

One tipp i always give to new commanders is:

Learn who are the wvw players with knowledge on your server.

You will get alot of (worthless) feedback as a pug commander from random „i know everything better“ pugs.

The feedback from a handfull of „pros“ is by far better then the feedback from 100 pugs.

@"DanAlcedo.3281" said:The feedback from a handfull of „pros“ is by far better then the feedback from 100 pugs.I'm a pro.

Just a few weeks back we where fighting against a guild with our pug guild, couldnt beat them. About half a dozen fights. We could sustain and fight them a while but they always got us. So I said "kitten this just push them hard, they wont expect that". The commander and everyone in the party was like "noooo we'll die we cant push that, we need to manouver around them". Then the commander said alright just watch us die now, see what good this straight in push does.

We pushed them hard. They died. We won.

So trust me, I'm a pro.

Just push them.

If you're getting 5 - 10 people dying instantly on every fight.. give up? Some "communities" just aren't there for PvP. If you go for PPT loot farming know that alot of the wvw'ers will leave you and pursue defensive fights.

It's actually really hard to find a good server now that all the wvw'ers are gone. Until anet resets the stacking or releases alliances there is no reason to play as a community.

@Dawdler.8521 said:

@"DanAlcedo.3281" said:The feedback from a handfull of „pros“ is by far better then the feedback from 100 pugs.I'm a pro.

Dude... you CAN’T adjust tactics on the fly... that’s not allowed!!

@Dawdler.8521 said:

@"DanAlcedo.3281" said:The feedback from a handfull of „pros“ is by far better then the feedback from 100 pugs.I'm a pro.

I was following a commander last night doing the exact same thing. I've been noticing if a commander hesitates it usually ends up in a lose or draw. Especially if there are a lot of pugs not in comms. The commander will try to push then pull back and bait the enemy but the people not in comms don't know that and will commit to the fight. Each time they do they lose a couple and start hemorrhaging numbers so when they do finally commit they're a lot weaker. Hitting hard and fast seems to be the best route most the time unless you are severely outnumbered.

Commanding is like playing RTS game with the additional of having to vocally give out commands.

Just like a RTS game, you have to know the capability of different units, map awareness, make quick judgement and decisions, etc.Then, just simply convert them into words and actions.

Fortunately, unlike RTS game, even if you are bad, the good players can carry you.

Keep that PMA

Positive Mental Attitude

Because you're gonna need it when your zerglings start hating you for losing a single fight and they all leave and start hating you as a person too because you ain't takin none of dat

Wait no

But really, that's my piece of advice. Don't get discouraged from losing fights or people crying, try again, maybe try something else if that still doesn't work.Learn to organize groups, or get somebody to do it for you.

I don't tag but these are some basic things good comms possess:

• organised squad comp, communication in discord + in game, proper siege placement, knowledge of enemy server active guild playstyles, fight orientated
• clear call outs easy to understand, fast paced intent in fights + strategy
• taking on opponents reasonably (not leading pugs to their death 20 vs map blob)
• time management, knowing when to move on + focus different objectives, listens to scout call outs + responds accordingly
• does not babyrage if mistakes happen - asks the squad what happened, why they think they lost x fight or why x person died early (if people stay silent about these things no one learns and they will keep making the same dumb mistakes)

Find a guild that can let you train as comm they will share their tactics on the field with you. Every server has different folks some like to fight and can handle themselves others are more PPT orientated so you're gonna need to entice the ones that actually want to be around you and the rest will follow suit. A rolling stone gathers no moss I guess. Tag regularly and be concise (proper squad comp + communication goes a long way).

I recommend you go look up some montages of recent fights; familiarize yourself with the meta and see what tactics other comms use. GvGs, scrims, anything to give you the upper hand.

Hope that helps.

@"Zephyra.4709" said:

• time management, knowing when to move on + focus different objectives, listens to scout call outs + responds accordinglyI would say, listen to good scout callouts and purposely ignore the rest. Commanders might have a will to learn, but the average pug will just ramble on. I cant even begin to count the many times one have had to literally interrogate people in chat because they wont say location, numbers, direction. Its like... "hills contested". Ok. So what? Do you need someone to go there? Are you there? Are you on the way? Then its "outer almost down". Ok. Is it actively being attacked or is it just broken? Numbers? What outer? And finally it will be "20+ is now on inner". Ok fine we go there, we're 25 in squad hopefully enough, what inner? "Inner door". Yeah that really says everything. Lets kill these... uh... wait... its a 50 man zerg with a 20 man guild backing it up. Well kitten.

@Dawdler.8521 said:

@"Zephyra.4709" said:

• time management, knowing when to move on + focus different objectives, listens to scout call outs + responds accordinglyI would say,
  listen to good scout callouts
  and purposely ignore the rest. Commanders might have a will to learn, but the average pug will just ramble on. I cant even begin to count the many times one have had to literally
  interrogate
  people in chat because they wont say location, numbers, direction. Its like... "hills contested". Ok. So what? Do you need someone to go there? Are you there? Are you on the way? Then its "outer almost down". Ok. Is it actively being attacked or is it just broken? Numbers? What outer? And finally it will be "20+ is now on inner". Ok fine we go there, we're 25 in squad hopefully enough, what inner? "Inner door". Yeah that really says everything. Lets kill these... uh... wait... its a 50 man zerg with a 20 man guild backing it up. Well kitten.

Yeah, it's why I put 'respond accordingly' but now that I've re-read it, I could've worded things better. Agreed, there's definitely laughably vague call outs. You have no idea how many times I've seen stuff like "halp inner wall down" or "enemy inside". Like... which wall... what tower... how many... which server. Basic stuff. Also the ones that ask "which BL?" when there's literally an option to show chat map tags in chat/options e.g; [EBG] so you know which BL it's coming from. Now that I think of this, I wish it was default settings to show all chat map tags so new players don't get confused.

@SloRules.3560 said:Be in GvG guild. Most important one if you ask me, you can learn everything you need to be a commander from there.

why? i didn't know quitters were good people to learn from.

@shiri.4257 said:

@SloRules.3560 said:Be in GvG guild. Most important one if you ask me, you can learn everything you need to be a commander from there.

I'm yet to see a good commander that has no association with a gvg guild.

@SloRules.3560 said:

@shiri.4257 said:

@SloRules.3560 said:Be in GvG guild. Most important one if you ask me, you can learn everything you need to be a commander from there.

I've found a pretty good GvG group to join up with, been running with them for almost a week now. I tried tagging up the other day for fun in ebg (cause just got my tag) and was so lost as where to go and what to do, despite having many hours of experience following other commanders and roaming.

@SloRules.3560 said:

@shiri.4257 said:

@SloRules.3560 said:Be in GvG guild. Most important one if you ask me, you can learn everything you need to be a commander from there.

i've yet to associate quitting with "good."

@Zexanima.7851 said:

@SloRules.3560 said:

@shiri.4257 said:

@SloRules.3560 said:Be in GvG guild. Most important one if you ask me, you can learn everything you need to be a commander from there.

I highly recommend you join 3 GvG guilds then. you might be able to play for at least 3 weeks before they disband and claim to be "good."

@shiri.4257 said:

@Zexanima.7851 said:

@SloRules.3560 said:

@shiri.4257 said:

@SloRules.3560 said:Be in GvG guild. Most important one if you ask me, you can learn everything you need to be a commander from there.

Pretty toxic group of 50 people in my experience

@shiri.4257 said:

@SloRules.3560 said:

@shiri.4257 said:

@SloRules.3560 said:Be in GvG guild. Most important one if you ask me, you can learn everything you need to be a commander from there.

It is the meta though.

1.) Form a guild, and heavily self promote2.) Everyone thinks you're good, since you talk a lot.3.) Beat randos and remember to make long highlight videos about them. Remember to go to the TP and link [250 heavy loot bags] to impress people.4.) Lose horribly and everyone realizes you are a fraud.5.) Quit the game with some drama and DED game so everyone will talk about the drama and not about your lack of skill.6.) Wait 1 month (everyone should have forgotten by now)9.) Reform with exactly the same people but different name, and go back to step 1.

Quitting is the key ingredient to this cycle!

@Dawdler.8521 said:

@"Zephyra.4709" said:

• time management, knowing when to move on + focus different objectives, listens to scout call outs + responds accordinglyI would say,
  listen to good scout callouts
  and purposely ignore the rest. Commanders might have a will to learn, but the average pug will just ramble on. I cant even begin to count the many times one have had to literally
  interrogate
  people in chat because they wont say location, numbers, direction.

Looks like you need more Batman.