RPS WvWvW Commander?

[jha4ceb]

Our server, Gunnar's Hold, is going through something of a tough shake-up in WvWvW. We've lost some big guilds and now I hear that on top of this, Dibinka has also left (to Aurora Glade with KISS)? This means that we've lost a lot of capable leadership in one go.

Given the RPS guild's relatively high participation in WvWvW, and engagement with things like server Mumble channel, perhaps we should at least consider banding together to nominate an RPS commander and purchasing a commander book for someone on behalf of the guild. Maybe this would help to fill the potential power vacuum and add another rallying point for the server.

I'm sure we could scrimp together the cash between us, though we might have to save a bit. I'd certainly be willing to contribute some gold.

On the other hand, of course, we'd have to find someone who was willing to carry the commander mantle. We have lots of experienced WvW-ers in our guild, but it's not clear whether many favour a stereotypical offensive commander-playstyle; many prefer to ninja, roam, upgrade or run supply. But then again, maybe it would be a good thing for our server if there was a commander upgrading and running supply -- maybe there's something to be said for new commanders with very different styles and priorities.

Anyway, I don't know -- what do others think?

[Feldspar]

How much are commander's hats BTW?

You are right in that the sticking point is finding someone with the dedication to wear the hat. My own WvW excursions are just a daft jaunt and I'll never contribute much other than being another target to soak up damage, but I enjoy working in a team.

[Prester John]

100 Gold for Commanders Tag

RPS could help by upgrading keeps etc which costs influence i think. Would be cool if we had someone who could do that too.

[Krathor]

The tag costs 100 gold, Feld.

It's a good idea Sap and something that I've been thinking about since I began to accumulate a fair amount of gold myself.

I say we see how we can put the logistics in place to actually get the funds for a commander (or maybe two, depending on how easy it is to get the gold) and then draw up the volunteers who would be interested.

[jha4ceb]

That sounds like a good plan of action. In order to get it done we'd need to have the assistance of one of the guild high-ups who can manage the centralised facilites, I suppose -- the obvious way to gather cash is through the guild bank.

[Timofee]

Its a fair idea and one we'd discussed in the past but the difficulties are that the person needs to play a lot, favour one char only, and like you say actually want to roll with the zerg and post in map chat.

If we can find that person I'm happy to chip in what I can spare, which I think would be about 4 gold, not logged in for a while (sorry!).

A bunch of people do have the ability to claim keeps and activate upgrades, we were also making sure to gradually replace them while ensuring 100% uptime on guild magic find and karma - if that's not happening I'm happy to add some others with ability to queue upgrades.

[squirrelfanatic]

Good idea, we already have a few commanders running around the Borderlands (or EB) but it surely wouldn't hurt to have another one that is acutually listening in to the Mumble and communicating more directly with Jess, Roo, Slaught, Nid, Pad, etc. . As a consequence, we might even draw more people in RPS or RPS people into WvWvW, which would be neat.

I would chip in some money too!

[hawksbane]

I agree with the general comments, and am happy to chip in a bit of cash. I was thinking that I should start to play a more leading roll in WvW, but don't want to be a commander though and haven't worked out the talking, typing & running thing yet.

still an promotion from peasant would be nice; not least because I had my eye on that sigil of smoldering in the guild bank (if it's still there).

[hawksbane]

also; and this may have been suggested before; but it may worth organising some major cross guild events in WvW to try and get some more people active.
If we had a monthly get together, it might persuade some more people to try it out and discover that we're not all hardcore gamers and actually don't have a clue what we're doing.

[jha4ceb]

That's a good idea, hawks!

[squirrelfanatic]

That's a good idea, hawks!

We are already trying this with the GH community, albeit with mixed success. But I would be up for that. Best case would be if we'd get a bunch of ~6 of our people together with 1-2 guys instructing newcomers while the rest of the gang is "acting out" what the instructors are talking about, like setting up siege, using said war machines, or running in small packs while chaining swiftness buffs.

Maybe we should start with looking for potential candidates for the RPS commander role. I nominate Icepop and/or Krathor. Those guys now what's good.

[hawksbane]

That could work, we definately have the people to run some instruction; but we don't want to make it too much like a lesson. It is a game after all.

we could setup 2 ninja groups for capping camps & dollys and then use commanders for capturing & upgrading towers. One can capture while the other upgrades - then they swap over. It could make the zerg a bit more interesting.

[jha4ceb]

I'd second those nominations, squirrelfanatic.

[squirrelfanatic]

Also, hawksbane, you are now a Knight of the Endless Bear.

[hawksbane]

*jumps up and down & screams with delight*

[Krathor]

Thank you for your nomination guys. I enjoy interacting with the community on Mumble and heading up small teams. My hectic work schedule can make it difficult for me to commit to say, weekly times (like today when I finished at 8 at night and therefore missed the meeting) and so I can't say for definite at the moment whether it'd be 100% worth it for me to be a nominee - but I'll get back to you about it as the commander fund grows by the end of the week.

I also concur Icepop would be an excellent commander. While I'm often bailing to take more keeps, he's the one who stays behind and makes sure we defend the shit we have already.

I absolutely agree that, by organising events (even within just the guild) we can get more people involved. At the moment I'd say that we have up to 15 people in our guild over the course of an evening and I'm sure if we do something official we can increase that number.

[Quine]

Thanks for the votes guys, but I also have a hectic work week and generally can't get on until 8PM at the earliest, although I can usually put some time in at the weekends.

The whole commander badge thing is an interesting issue- on our BL the experienced guys on mumble actively avoid using their badges unless they really need a point for people to group up. Having said that Dibinka used to regularly lead random groups to the frontlines and get stuck in and his presence will be missed. We definitely need at least one commander on each map if only to focus the "where's the zerg" guys into a useful force. On EB it's even more important to have someone who has a clue as sadly there are a lot of people milling around most of the time.

Recently we had multiple commanders on some maps and that worked fairly well. I'd favour grouping people by role or location a bit more myself- defensive and offensive commanders perhaps, or possibly east/west or north/south groups so people can easily join a group that suits their style.

The day I think it was TDA who took a Ring of Fire keep and held out against both sides until they were recalled to help defen our borders- they said they did it to attract more people onto the enemy maps and this is something we could do with more of. Ninja capping supply is a good move for points and disruption as well as to show we can still attack the enemy lands, but the AG zergs seem pretty fast at responding to their many scouts so taking and holding a keep might be a better move this week.

If you're not aware we defended our Bay several times over the weekend against the massed forces of KISS, UNTY and a ton of others with no supply and few upgrades for hours at a time against odds of at least 3-1 and often much greater. The walls were destroyed by 5 or more guild catapults and they got as far as the lords capture circle at times but they lacked the will to make the final push to finish us off when their portal bombs failed and we drove them out and captured their supply in the end both times. This was easily the most fun I've had in WvW that I can remember and a good showcase of our fighting skills and ability to use chokepoints and defensive siege and not give up when the walls came down.

We're not going to find even numbers in the field this week so a few more focussed defences would be a good use of our time, and I'm not just saying that as an AOE elementalist who loves to rain fire down on enemy crowds. I'd guess we have a load of guild buffs ready to go so maybe holding a tower and encouraging some others to help out would be worth a go sometime. This is where a commander icon could be useful.

Does anyone know if we have many people in RPS who might be interested in trying WvW out? It's looking like Whiteside Ridge and Dzagonur next week- WR were fun to fight as they weren't too zergy last time so could be lots of fun and a good introduction to the action.

I've got xmas festivities to dodge or attend this week but I'll probably be on later at night and Sunday.

[Choca]

I don't have a lot of time to play these days but if money is needed to pay for the commander thingy, I'll be happy to chip in.

I only have around 2 golds on each character but since I have 12 characters, it does add up.

[squirrelfanatic]

That's nice of you Choca. I think I can also contribute around 10-20 gold to the title. And then there are the 20 Globs of Ectoplasm that Bankrotas donated to the guild, so were are almost halfway there.

[Malfious]

I haven't been playing much lately & I just cba with pve, but I have about 19g, i'll chip in with 10!

:Edit: could do with someone queueing up WvW upgrades whenevr possible, noticed there's no upgrades queued at all a few times and usually missing the WvW boosts. Also, the guild siege is mighty useful at times.. can those only be queued once they've been used too?