Folks, I love competitive TF2. I love it to death. I give it great big, lung-crushing hugs, and when I feel something needs to be said about competitive TF2--be it a player, a team, or a league--I come right out and say it. Today, I want to talk about something near and dear to my heart, something that touches on one of the cornerstones of competitive TF2: maps.
You see, by and large, 6s has maps figured out. CEVO, ESEA, and TWL have more or less sorted the bad from the good, the good from the great. More importantly, admins and players of those leagues--particularly the top-level players--have been vocal about about discrimination against bad maps. That makes me happy. That tickles my happy glands.
Highlander, however, needs to get that sorted ASAP.
Before I get started, a bit of bad news - a computer failure removed the text files containing the responses to the emails I sent out however long ago. Unless there's a big want for them, I'm just going to move on and talk about some of the changes that the TF2 Beta has made and how they could affect the gameplay.
Yes, there's been a decent amount of tampering with the Misc. slots. No, the Noh Mercy shouldn't have been made a misc. Moving on!
The Reserve Shooter can now be equipped by the Pyro. This is an interesting decision. On paper, it appears to be a median between the Flare Gun - one shot, guaranteed crits - and the Shotgun - six shots, no crits. In-game, it's essentially another excuse for a Pyro to use M2 to blast enemies back before ripping them a minicrit shot. The problem I see is that, if you're close enough to airblast and shotgun, you're close enough to airblast and crit flare. The damage output isn't high enough, though you do still have a simple Shotgun to fall back on. I'm 100% onboard with sharing weapons but I doubt replacing the Flare Gun will happen soon.
Ladies and gents, welcome back to Screaming Eagles.
Do you play competitive Team Fortress 2?
Do you know the great sins of the game?
Hint: there are many. Using Sandman? That's bad. Using Tomislav? Well, that's pretty bad, too. But the kind of bad I'm talking about is something altogether worse. I'm talking a kind of evil that oozes up from the Black Pit of Hell Bear's Lube Station, a thick and rank sludge that bubbles black and viscous. There are chunks in this evil goo. Chunks of what? Nothing of this Earth. That's all you need to know.
Well, almost. What you also need to know is the Five Great Sins of TF2. Behold, dear reader. Behold and know redemption.
Casted by eXtelevision, this is a LAN rematch of the massive upset in the ESEA lower bracket finals between these two giants of North American TF2. The Experiment have a lot to prove tonight as they try to show everyone that they can take out the ESEA-I S9 runner ups. The action will be intense and fast paced with plenty of HUGE AIRSHOTS (<3 u duder) and back and forth vying for points. Last time these two teams met on cp_badlands, the Experiment gave Mixup two rounds before coming back and taking the next 5. Can they repeat the performance, or will they have a lukewarm showing reminiscent of their duel in the LB finals? Tune in to twitch.tv/extvesports tonight at 10:45 EST to find out.
Each "match" will be a best-of-3 endeavor, with the first two maps pre-selected by ESEA out of the 8-map pool used during the regular season. In the event that a 3rd, "tiebreaking" map is necessary, each team will eliminate one map from the same pool (minus the two maps already played), and then a map will be randomly picked of the four remaining options.
Since this is a traditional double-elimination tournament bracket, the team from the Upper Bracket is only required to win one best-of-three match, while the team from the Lower Bracket must win two straight.
11:30AM CST - eMg (Dashner) vs a51 - STV IP: match over 2:00PM CST - ex. vs mix^ - STV IP: match over 4:00PM CST - a51 vs mix^ - STV IP: match over 8:00PM CST - eMg (Dashner) vs ex. - STV IP: match over 9:30PM CST - mix^ vs ex. - STV IP: match over
Sunday, September 25th:
2:00PM CST - Grand Finals - eMg (Dashner) vs mix^ - STV IP: match over
Ladies and gents, stair-stabbers and dutiful crafters, welcome back to Screaming Eagles.
LAN is coming up! CEVO has started! The CommFT Zalman Tourney is in full swing with amazing teams slugging it out for sweet prizes! There's an awful lot to be pumped about right now, but I got to be honest: I'm having trouble staying awake.
Free, you say. Why so tired? Are you haunting fair Philadelphia by night, stalking Washington Square, engaging in furious break-dance competitions with elite B-Boys?
No, good reader, not since the infamous hair spray incident of '98. My fatigue is the fatigue of the just, of the victorious. So, make with the clicky and read more after the jump!
It looks like The Experiment is pretty much set to go to Dallas for the ESEA LAN. The team ended the ESEA-I S9 season with a 14-2 record (qualifying for the LAN's second seed behind eMg), all of the players have their transportation arrangements sorted out, the hotel is lined up, the T-shirts have arrived, and the players are training hard. As of this posting, they also are midway through what could be a victory in the Comms vs Pros II Summer Sizzler event.
Our fundraising total remains at $1242.97 ($1942.97 with Nahanni's personal donation included) and it looks like, at the moment, we will come up around $200 short in terms of total cost. carnage's ticket ended up costing more than expected, plane tickets are steep as hell in general, and currently the cost of the T-shirts is on my personal account. We welcome any more donations that the community has to offer to round out The Experiment's account. To donate, click the Paypal button on the front page. We appreciate everyone who has donated thus far.
I will keep everyone posted as we progress into LAN weekend this next weekend (YES, that's right, IT'S NEXT WEEKEND) so stay tuned to the front page. Check out my last LAN update post for pictures of the team T-shirts.
The first round of the single elimination stage of the CommFT-Zalman tournament wrapped up this past Tuesday and the winning teams proceeded into the second round. The bracket can be found HERE. The match-ups and results for round one (winners in bold) were as follows:
We are hoping to get more and more of the matches casted since they are becoming less lopsided as we progress into the later rounds. So stay tuned for eXtv cast info and feel free to contact me on the forums if you notice a match that ought to be casted.
#tf2.pug is back! #tf2.pug was the predecessor to #tf2.pug.na and is run by the same great admin group plus your favorite CommFT Mentor Program Admin (me! haha). It was eventually replaced by TF2Lobby, but the skill level of lobbies has deteriorated and players had demanded that #tf2.pug be brought back.
Well it's finally here! Thanks to Pingu and the other great #tf2.pug.na admins, this lower level North American pug channel has been brought back to life.
#tf2.pug is a great place to pug at a level that is higher than TF2Lobby but lower than #tf2.pug.na.
That's right folks, the Communities vs Pros II Summer Sizzler is going down tomorrow at 9 PM EST. The event pits CommFT-sponsored The Experiment, playing their normal 6v6 line-up, up against a team of 9 community representatives playing as a Highlander team. The maps to be played are pl_upwards, cp_yukon, and pl_barnblitz. The rosters are as follows:
Scout: Francis / Thugnificient (2fort2furious) Soldier: Free / Dunceiam (Magical Frolicking Unicorns) Pyro: Chronos / Cryogentic (Vengeance Clan) Demo: GLN / Volbeat (Hard2Kill) Heavy: Sorin / Black Falcon (Union of Polite Gamers) Engineer: Mikal / Riddle (Reddit) Medic: Bug / Otis (Former Apocalypse Gaming) Spy: Frank West / Maxxuss (Community Fortress) Sniper: Robin Walker / Racoon* (Valve) *Not a part of valve
Sponsored by EOReality, PubComp, and eXtv, this is going to be an insane event. Be sure to tune into the EOReality Events page at match-time to watch it all go down!
The #tf2.pug.na Draft Cup is going down tonight! Tune in to eXtelevision.com to check out all of the action. eXtine's press release detailing the event is below:
This unique tournament will feature four of TF2’s top medics of all-time, Casey, Harbleu, Pyyour, and SeanBud, as team captains. The captains will be tasked with drafting a winning team from a pool of 25 selected players. The entire 4-team tournament, from the draft process to the finals, will be broadcast live by eXtelevision.
The opening round will take place Tuesday September 13th at 9pm Eastern/6pm Pacific with both matches being played simultaneously, covered via http://www.twitch.tv/eXtvESports and http://www.twitch.tv/eXtvESports2. The 4-team cup is single elimination, and a 3rd place match will immediately follow the opening matches.
The Grand Finals will take place on Wednesday, September 14th at 9pm Eastern/6pm Pacific. This final showdown features a more traditional format with a best of 3 series utilizing first team to 5 round wins, 1-hour long matches on Granary, Badlands, and Gravel-Pit. If the teams are tied after the 1-hour set, a Golden Round will decide the winner. Gravel Pit will be played as a stopwatch series, first to two sets.
Blaze i made a mentee app (http://commforums.com/scout-cevo-vanilla-pinkushin-t6515.html?t=6515) let me know if u can help me out even if its not an...
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