Apprenticing Commanders

As I was running with Signal, and learning more about the group dynamic of WvW, I had a thought. Signal knew a lot of about what we were doing, and even thought tonight's battle didn't go as he had planned, it went well and it was fun. I was sitting there wondering where his ideas were coming from, things I wouldn't have guessed.

That made me realize that even though I'm decent as a branch of the group, and improving by running with Sig, I would be next to worthless as a WvW leader.

What I would like to know is if our existing, talented commanders would take on an interested guildy or two to teach them to become commanders. I think there might have to a few provisions to this, just because of how the Gaiscioch leadership system works, but I think it'd be pretty cool. The only limitations that I see is the fact that GSCH Leadership starts at Lorgair, but I'm certain there is more that could be brought up.

Right now, I am enjoying running as a simple thief, high dps output, and the ability to get away and live to fight another day. I like being able to zip off on my own to scout when needed, or being able to rain heck down on a group with my shortbow. But, someday I would like to lead in the WvW field, when I have more knowledge and my work schedule has settled down, and would be totally up for joining in with anyone who would want to teach me to be a commander.

I know Signal is doing an excellent job at training on the group aspect of WvW, and I'm certain that he could do a great job teaching leaders too. I also know Fog and Spartan to be great WvW commanders as well, and, if interested, any of these three could train more commanders.

If anyone decides to train future commanders, that'd be awesome!

I think Prissy is taking several people through commander training at present, check the calendar for her posted events, and make contact with her :)

» Edited on: 2013-06-13 01:27:11

I'm doing a Friday 4-5:30PM WvW Commander Training each week as well.

I haven't wanted to step on any toes or stepped out of my place, and I still don't, but if no one minds, I'd be happy to take any family folks out and share my knowledge with them, teach them some tips and stuff. I need to level Sekk and I've been thinking about doing a "WvW leveling" something or other, but can't find a Calendar spot. I just won't turn on Sekk's Commander icon for a family event unless I have permission, though.

Fog does have his WvW commanding training that he does, but that event is mostly for people that are pretty close to knowing what they're doing and that's just the last step in fully realizing a role as a GSCH commander. If you want somebody to teach you the complete ins and outs of being able to lead a force, it wouldn't be a bad idea to do one of Prissy's events just to get your feet wet. If you're looking for somebody just to share their knowledge with you about commanding on the field, send me a message and I'll be more than happy to share with you everything that I've picked up from following Spartan, Pookha, Fog, and leading myself. I'll be more than happy to give you some pointed man. =3

Thanks for the kind words Ragmar. I'm glad you had fun last night. I did as well even though I wasn't prepared for us to be involved in direct conflict. We were asked to help though so I sort of threw you all in to the fire. That said, that we only wiped as a group twice in three hours, at times against some fairly sizable TC forces, is a testament to how well you all played. Every participant did extremely well and made my job easy. I don't think there's a commander in GSCH that wouldn't do a bit of mentoring if asked. I'm not an "officially sanctioned" GSCH commander and I'm not sure that's even in the cards for me, but I'll help wherever I can. The best advice I can give though is just get out there and WvW as much as possible. Follow as many different commanders as you can and be very observant of how they do things. Being on voice chat with them is an absolute must and, if you don't mind a bit of foul language here and there, I highly recommend joining the SoR TeamSpeak server (ts.zerodrama.org). It will take time but you will learn a lot of invaluable lessons for when you begin commanding. Following is how I learned everything I know about leading.

I would highly recommend not commanding with the Thief though. I found it incredibly difficult to command even with full soldier kit and a Shadow/Acrobat build. It's in hindsight that I truly wish I had waited to get my Guardian or Ranger to 80 before I committed my book. Not that it matters now as I rarely get any time to play since work/study ramped up.

Yea, that's why I rolled Sekk as a Guardian. Allows me to be aggressive and at the front, and have the chance to move, observe and multi-task at sieges, because he's not ranged and tempting me to shoot people on walls. You can see how much Fog likes to shoot things, too, LOL. I gave Sekk one book and I might put a book on Tabitha a bit later, depending on needs for PVE commanders. I think we're well covered right now, Prissy is booked full into July for potential PVE event commanders. Plus, its nice to just be a member for once and let others drive. Although I am getting an itch to take the RvR wheel again.

I'm also willing to help or answer any questions you may have. Here are some pointers: Any class can command effectively though certain classes like (guardians and warriors) can be more effective as front line (melee) commanders while others like (eles, necros, rangers) are often better suited for backline. Remember to play the class you enjoy or you won’t have any fun out there in WvW (That’s the point of it right?). Once you have your class try out different play styles in WvW while leading tag less (don’t worry this family has plenty of exp WvWing w/o a tag) until you find a style that works for you. This will help you feel out those that follow you and allow them to learn how you react in a fight. Also Signal hit the nail on the head; the best way to learn to lead in WvW is to follow. Try to make every posted GSCH WvW event, hop in TS and follow some of those commanders, just get out there and WvW. We have a great community on this server and we’ve gotten to this point by correcting and supporting each other’s actions. If you give to the community they will give back to you. There is an awful lot to learn, but remember to take baby steps. I can tell you from experience you cannot control and entire borderlands alone, there’s just too much information to keep track of and you will start to let things slip. So start small, ask for help, and focus on improving yourself. If you have any questions feel free to ask me or any of our other commanders. -Pookha

Would a thief be possible as a backline commander running shortbow? I enjoy my thief a lot and would feel much more comfortable playing on him. I run Power, Precision, Toughness gear on my thief, with skills built such that I hit hard and crit hard, but I can survive a little longer with my higher toughness. Some people probably think this is a horrible idea, but I've done pretty well with it in both PvE and PvP. I've tried a guardian in WvW, but I haven't gotten the feel for it yet. I also have another question. What are some skills that I would want to utilize as a commander. I know that people call for portals and timewarps from mesmers a lot. Besides water fields for heals, what are some other abilities on other classes I should be aware of? What are some good support skills that I can use on my thief?

As a thief you will make a great back line commander. Your mail job as back line commander is to support the melee train. The melee train will be "downing" the enemy players and your job is to finish them off while at the same time keeping the melee train alive and their targets CCed. If you plan to use the front line back line setup then you need to find another commander to train with. The two if you need to know what each other are going to do in a fight without having to say it and that takes time. As far as skills you can bring to the table as a thief, your cluster bomb is a super blast finisher. When you call for a combo field on the melee be sure to send two cluster bombs in on top of it. Things like that will help a ton. You can also act as a "sniper" for example of you spot the enemy commander (ranged or melee) you may consider marking him for your group (who should be all ranged) and switching to melee to quickly go in for the kill. If you can drop the enemy commander you will generally win the fight. Just be sure you can survive the engagement. Breaking off from your train is not wrong as long as you have a good reason. Often time when i'm running melee I'll spot the enemy back line commander. If I fell the melee can push to them safely I'll simply ride the lightning to him/her and start my rotation (which can hold you for at least 8 sec) while I'm CCing the commander I'll call for the melee to re-rally on me, thus bringing my happy ball of death right on top of the ranged group. once they are broken their melee loses all its support and they are an easy wipe. Most open field fight are won in the first 10 second of engagement. There is a lot that happens in that short amount of time. The best way to get a feel for it is to follow a group using the front line back line system. Just hop in a BL and look for two commanders running tight on each other. Just follow watch and learn. -Pookha

That's a very good point Pookha, I've been lurking in the late night zergs this week with Lorthos as melee commander and a back line commander supporting him.  It's very educational and I actually feel useful in their zerg with the majority of my initiative being used on clusterbomb blast finishers.

Hm, I'll have to jump out there some evenings and shadow Lorthos around.  I've surfed with his squad a couple of times, he's a very capable commander, but I did not realize he used the frontline/backline strategy.  Now that I know what I'm looking for, I'll have to watch it being used by a good commander.