Big Changes are Coming to the Commander System

[Karizee]

Big Changes are Coming to the Commander System

by Jessica Boettiger on August 20, 2014

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/b...mander-system/


Greetings, Tyrians!

We are pleased to announce some changes coming to the commander system.

With the arrival of the September 2014 Feature Pack, Commander’s Compendiums will transition to be accountwide unlocks. You’ll always be able to use any character you’d like to help lead your comrades!

We’re also happy to announce that once you are a commander, you will have access to a variety of colors. Choose from red, yellow, purple, or classic blue to customize your commander icon!





Up until now, commander tags have been character bound. With the added functionality of becoming account bound and the addition of new colors to choose from, the price of the Commander’s Compendium will be adjusted to 300 gold. Whether you have three characters, thirteen characters, or even more, you will need to make this purchase only once!

Existing commanders will be grandfathered into this new system. If you’re already a commander, please enjoy this additional upgrade.





This new assortment of colors will facilitate a range of tactical uses. For example, in World vs. World, you could select one color to represent an assaulting commander and another to designate a defending commander. In open world events, you might coordinate your efforts with other commanders by tagging up with different colors to help organize groups. Or you can just grab your favorite color to stand out from the crowd!

Moving forward, we’ll be evaluating future possibilities for recognizing experienced and prestigious commanders. Right now, we’re excited to empower commanders with the ability to use all of their characters and choose the color that best fits their needs! We can’t wait to see all the ways this feature is put to use.

[zed zebes]

Did they change on the color issue? It's not clear enough via wording to say.

[Deleted]

I like that there'll be different colours, but IDK about bumping the cost up to 300g. I never intend on getting a tag myself though so it doesn't affect me.

[lawow74]

It sounds like one price buys all, but it's not explicitly stated.

[Karizee]

Confirmation from Twitter, yes we get all the colors. Players who currently have a commander tag are grandfathered in to get all the colors.

https://twitter.com/GuildWars2/statu...33727343169538

[zed zebes]

Good Job ANet on listening and responding.

[barackopala]

Thank god! time to get my blue dorito for future wurm tries.

[Fencers]

This doesn't really seem like a "big" change to the commander badge system. It's kinda speculation w/r/t gameplay.

What an awful marketing department. So eye rolling.

[barackopala]

This doesn't really seem like a "big" change to the commander badge system. It's kinda speculation w/r/t gameplay.

What an awful marketing department. So eye rolling.

The commander colors and how it changed its pricing is valued by some pve players and will prolly be liked by T1 servers, it'll make TTS wurm tries (and my guild wurm tries) easier to coordinate and will allow T1's to organize WvW only guild runs.

[Karizee]

The change was based on player feedback:

Hi Guys,

Just wanted to clarify that we did indeed change our plans based on your feedback. What was said during the interviews at Gamescom was correct at the time but after listening to what you had to say we decided to make a change to the feature be in line with what you felt was a more balanced approach to the change.

Thank you very much for your feedback and we hope that you enjoy this upcoming change.

Thanks,
John

https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/foru...10#post4313965

[zed zebes]

I still don't understand why they had that approach originally, but at least the arguments got through to them.

And yeah this isn't a big change to Commander system. People still want better squad functions. They mention something that sounds like a reward structure for Commanders, but it doesn't sound like that's coming with this feature patch.

[Edge-]

Maybe this is their new marketing strategy. Make a stupid change, then backtrack on it and show the player how much you listen to them and value their feedback!

Hopefully this will lead to them putting Super Adventure Box back in : D

[Meledelion]

They never said they'd remove SAB, they only said they're not actively working on it ATM.

[Karizee]

Maybe this is their new marketing strategy. Make a stupid change, then backtrack on it and show the player how much you listen to them and value their feedback!

Too late, Edge. That rumor has already flown and been squashed.

https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/foru...10#post4314087

I’m just going to squash this rumor right now. Before the strong negative feedback received after the interview at gamescom, every intention was for each color to cost 300g. Pending QA, that version was ready to ship for the feature pack.

When the flood of feedback came in, there was a flurry of emails working out the best course of action, and in the end Zach and Tyler worked the weekend to make sure this change could be made on time for 9/9.

[sergel02]

The whole system seems good for organized guilds, but for a solo player it seems to costly for what it's worth.

Never stops folks. I swear I see more people with those tags on a map than normal players. Always wondered what they were for.

[Edge-]

Too late, Edge. That rumor has already flown and been squashed.

https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/foru...10#post4314087

Sure : P

Still totally ready for them to backtrack on the SAB removal citing, "We had no clue folks loved it so much and we listened to the fans!"

[Valeron]

They only said that SAB wouldn't be put into the Living Story. That doesn't mean it will be permanently removed.

[barackopala]

Sure : P

Still totally ready for them to backtrack on the SAB removal citing, "We had no clue folks loved it so much and we listened to the fans!"

A) Watch woodenpotatoes statement, feels a bit more logical.
B) Take a read on WHO the people interviewed were, people like snowcrash are on the lead for Living story season 2 and are very hyped but they dont interact with other branches of the dev teams.


*It's still important for us as a community to show how good content is appreciated compared to most living story content so far, a little joke content ended up being way more compelling than the ls.

[zed zebes]

woodenpotatoes video was kind of dumb

It's not a communication issue entirely. It's not that people didn't like the way ANet said things. It is the actual facts of what they said that's a problem.

They were candid about the state of SAB and it backfired. I am not sure why he would think they'd be more forthcoming when finally being forthcoming is what created the bonfire. Also, it's a bit misleading of him to infer that SAB is still coming. SAB was put on ice indefinitely awhile ago. Only the protest and anger would bring it back. If SAB was never brought up in that interview, I doubt they'd have plans to look at it again.

[Karizee]