Feedback:User/Tennessee Ernie Ford/Squad Commander Vetting
Squad Commander Vetting | |
|---|---|
| User | Tennessee Ernie Ford |
| Categories | Mechanics |
Squad Commander Vetting[edit]
It's too easy for someone to promote themselves to the role of leader, but there's no way for other players to know if one leader is going to drive them into the Charge of the Light Brigade, to Blitzkrieg, or something in between. That has the potential to waste a lot of time and create unnecessary frustration; it divides the community, rather than builds it.
Instead, update the system so that, as in RL, players must first prove themselves on the field of battle.
For example, create three new types of tomes:
- Adept's Commander's Compendium (similar to the current Commander's Compendium). Allows creation of small squads (e.g. up to 10-15 players).
- Master's Commander's Compendium (costs both coin & karma and has additional prerequisites). Allows creation of platoons (e.g. up to 25-35 players).
- Grandmaster's Commander's Compendium (costs both coin & karma and has additional prerequisites). Allows creation of companies (e.g. 60 to no cap at all).
Costs & pre-requisites[edit]
- Adept's
Using this tome allows any player to lead a small squad (e.g. 10-15 players).
- 10 gold (about a tenth of the current cost of the CC), i.e. one gold per allowed player.
- No other requirements.
- Master's
Using this tome allows successful adept commanders to lead platoon-sized groups (~30 players).
- 25 gold (about a fourth the current CC cost)
- 150 karma points (implies completion of at least five events at the Gold participation level)
- Lead squads of at least five players during at least five successful events (any level). (This is a proxy for measuring leadership in-game; it can be substituted for any other measurements which do a better job.)
- Grandmaster's
Using this tome allows the player to lead squads of any size.
- 100 gold (same as current CC cost)
- 300 karma points (implies completion of at least 10 events at the Gold participation level)
- Lead Master-level squads through at least five successful events (any level). (This is a proxy for measuring leadership in-game; it can be substituted for any other measurements which do a better job.)
Background[edit]
The squad commander idea is a great way of allowing PvE and WvW players a chance to combine forces beyond the default zerging that PUGs tend to resort to. Unfortunately, anyone and their sister can easily meet the requirements to lead a squad (a player with a Napoleon complex can simply buy the title with cash converted to gems and then to coins, but it's also not all that hard to earn 100 coins if that's your goal).
Accordingly, the game should provide an internally consistent way to reduce the number of people claiming to be leaders by offering one or more additional levels of leadership.
- The basic (adept) level can be bought by anyone, but it limits the size of the squad.
- The next level up requires that players prove themselves. This is measured in two dimensions: karma (which shows participation) and stamina (the ability to take a squad through successful events without quitting).
- The highest level removes any caps and has a scaled up version of the same prerequisites.
This system doesn't ensure that GM Squad Leaders will be awesome, but it does make it more difficult for truly inept tacticians to offer themselves up as Balthazar's Gift to WvW.
Other ideas[edit]
There are lots of other possible ways to filter out poor leaders from the mix, so the above suggestions are meant to illustrate the idea. For example:
- Require payment in skill points (since these are more difficult to acquire early on and have limited, but important other uses).
- Introduce a new currency, Leadership, which is earned by successfully leading squads. Can be spent on Master's and GM's compendiums or converted into coin/supply/tokens.
- Allow a guild to promote members to Squad Leader by spending influence. (Perhaps limit this to 1-2 people per month or based on the guild's size.)
- See also: the talk page for other, more complex ideas.
