We are back with more coverage from the other side of the fence, twl! A lot has happened, many teams have moved from one seed to another, some have triumphed some have failed miserably. Through it all competition was thick, and great competition though it was. Clearly something has to be done to help organize the team’s classifications better, as division one Is essentially three teams, one of which is amazingly high above the rest. However, hopefully this will be fixed in the following season of twl. So…

Here’s the standings:

Article One, Series “Into the Unknown”... A little series on breaking into the competitive scene.

In response to the call for new writers in the CommFT site, I’ve been recruited by the powers that be to write.

So here I am.  Since I’m a nub in terms of competitive TF2, I’ve been persuaded into writing the blogs instead of botching up whatever articles I may have written in terms of league coverage.

And in lieu of this, I am taking the helm at a unique project, which I like to call Into the Unknown.  Quite simply put, this will be a rather anecdotal series in which many of the veterans can laugh at my attempts to break into the TF2 scene.  But in the end, perhaps it will be useful for some of you pubstars who wish to get into the action yourself.

I have seen a ton of new faces in the North American competitive TF2 community the past few months and I thought that it would be good to write up a post that details all of our site's features in addition to some other important TF2 websites. I know that new players always feel bogged down with information upon joining an online community and as a competitive site that wants to reach out to these players, it's our role to make it easier on them.

In terms of CommFT, our home page shows all of the articles that our team of contributors produce. The top buttons that are labeled "News", "League Coverage", "Predictions", "Blog", and "LANs" simply function to sort articles by type so folks can easily read through pure blog articles or pure league coverage articles. The button labeled "Forums" is just what it appears to be and links to a separate URL that hosts our vBulletin forums installation. Likewise, the "Wiki" button links to a separate URL that hosts our competitive TF2 wiki. If you make an account on the main site, this account can be used to log in to both the forums and the wiki. The final three buttons on the top bar are pretty self-explanatory as well - the "PUG" button opens up a Java-run in-browser IRC client (you can read about pick-up-games HERE on our wiki), the "Files" section is a place to upload and download files related to competitive TF2, and the "About" page explains the purpose of CommFT and the people who make it all happen.

We also have a number of accounts on social networking sites with which we can stay in touch with our readers. I link all of our articles on Twitter, we have a YouTube Channel, and our admins post updates on our Steam Group. Of course we also have an RSS feed built into the site if you are old school like that.

Beyond CommFT, there are a ton of websites that you should have bookmarked. Most deal with North American competitive TF2. I will list them below:

TF2.com - The blog run by Valve where they tease us about updates and promote community events.
TF2 Steam Forums - The forums run by Valve where tons of people, mainly pubbers, argue about crazy TF2 ideas and the like.
TF2 Wiki - A general wiki run by some community members. Refer to it for general questions about TF2...our wiki is focused exclusively on competitive TF2.
TF2 Reddit - The TF2 reddit section that's run by a bunch of TF2 players. A great place to find weird and important stuff alike.
TF2 Lobby - A great place to play pick-up-games without needing IRC or using our website's built-in IRC applet.
TGBF - A casting website that casts a lot of higher level competitive TF2 matches.
PwnageTV - Another casting website that does less TF2 but still has some big matches on occasion.
CEVO - The first league to host TF2 events in North America and the largest league running today. Has divisions for both upper-tier and lower-tier teams.
ESEA - An exclusively pay-to-play league that is focused more on the upper tier of competitive play.
TWL - An always-free league that is focused more on the lower tier of competitive play.
UGC - An always-free league that is focused on new players and non-6v6 formats.
XPL - A brand-new league that is trying to encroach on TWL's territory.
ESEANews - A TF2 news site run by ESEA with great articles written by rk.
Ubercharged.net - One of the oldest general TF2 blogs.
MantaEngie - Some crazy dude.
Friendly Fire Podcast - An older TF2 podcast.
Kritzcast - A TF2 podcast that's popped onto the scene recently.
TF2 Strategy - A website focusing on the strategical aspects of both competitive and pub play.
AsiaFortress - Asian league and community TF2 site.

Outside of North America, these are some important TF2 websites:

VanillaTF2 - A good place to read European competitive TF2 news and gossip in English.
ETF2L - The biggest and oldest TF2 league in Europe.
TFPortal.de - A German TF2 website.
OnlineGamer.se - A Swedish TF2 website.
TF2Sverige.se - Another Swedish TF2 website.
TFortress.no - A Norwegian TF2 website.
TF2.fi - A Finnish TF2 website.
TFHQ.fr - A French TF2 website.
teamfortress.pl - A Polish TF2 website.
TF2Portal.es - A Spanish TF2 website.
2fort.cz - A Czech Republic/Slovakia TF2 website.
TF2.ro - A Romanian TF2 website.
TF2.co.za - A South African TF2 website.
OZFortress - The biggest league in Australia (also a community site).

And of course...for all your server needs...Apoplexy Industries! Let me know if I missed any good websites, regulars.

On Monday, June 28th the CEVO-A finals will commence. The match will be Best-of-Three format between 22d and Knockout Gaming.

22d is coming off of a perfect season, ending with a stunning 10-0 record. Incredibly, this team has only had eight rounds taken from them all season. It’s clear that 22d is a powerhouse in today’s Amateur divisions. This team is lead by a strong confident medic in Tragic, who’s greatly supported by a strong group of core players such as pt_, terminator, and Flappy.

Knockout Gaming is a team that should NOT be counted out. They’ve been k0’ing teams all season long, and have also secured 10 wins. They also hold three losses, making their win percentage slightly above 75%. Noobina and defiance have both looked strong this season. I’m anxious to see if that pattern continues.

These teams met before in Round 4 of these playoffs on cp_granary. 22d stomped out a win 5-0, but that doesn’t mean Knockout gaming is down for the count. They now know what to expect from 22d, and have surely practiced hard for the coming match.

It’s safe to say the finals will be an entertaining match to watch! Look forward to seeing you all in the STV.

The addition of new content has obviously been a major factor in keeping Team Fortress 2 fresh. This article aims to analyze the balance of four other non-standard weapons: the Gunboats, the Dalokohs Bar, the Homewrecker, and the Pain Train.

The Gunboats

The Gunboats, a replacement for the Soldier's secondary slot, reduce the amount of damage taken when rocket jumping.

Why use this weapon? Rocket-jumping is a major tool in a Soldier's arsenal. Getting above the enemy is crucial, especially against faster targets such as Scouts. Oftentimes the ground is the only nearby surface to shoot rockets onto, unless you aim for a direct hit.

Rocket-jumping normally deals in the neighborhood of 30-50 damage, depending on the type of jump you're attempting. However, the Gunboats reduce damage by 75%. This means that you'll be doing, at the most, about 12 damage to yourself when rocket-jumping.

It occupies a passive slot, meaning that you can't switch to it. It's a lost weapon slot. You now have your rockets and your Equalizer (you are using the Equalizer, aren't you?). Kind of limiting, especially when everything runs out of ammo. Your biggest opponents will be enemies you can't hit with the rockets reliably - the aforementioned Scouts. The advantage you have with Gunboats? You can jump above them without suffering too much damage and pound them from midair.

But is it really worth all that? Is the lack of a hitscan weapon too much to bear for the Soldier? Shotgun blasts are for more than Scouts, after all - basically anytime you run out of rockets and the enemy is closing, a good Soldier switches to the Shotgun and tries to get a couple meatshots off. With the Gunboats equipped, all you can do is reload and pray.

So, while the Gunboats are a blast to play around with, they simply remove too much damage output from the Soldier's arsenal. Not balanced for competitive play.

[Further comments on this topic have revealed a major benefit when rolling with the Gunboats: the ability to push to mid faster on 5-CP maps. It also makes pushes that much faster since health is less of a problem.  However, the meat of the article still stands, though the Gunboats are indeed better than I had originally reckoned.]

Doing it up big, TGBF.tv will be covering two ESEA-Open playoffs tonight from the Upper Bracket.

First off at 10:00PM EDT 7PM PDT is Harmonic vs Exult. Harmonic took 3rd place in the regular season and is filled with grizzled community veterans like Flame and Boulder. Meanwhile Exult just won the Cevo-Main playoffs against Just 4 Fame, in a match shoutcasted by TGBF.tv yesterday night. Coincidentally, Harmonic put a beat down of their own on Just4Fame the day before beating them 5-0 on ColdFront. Exult faced a tough first round test, taking a tight 4-3 victory over Mobility Gaming (a name change for the newly acquired SpaceWhales). It should be a very close match on Koth_Viaduct. Stream will be live with eXtine and m0lk around 10 Eastern followed by rosters and pre-game once the server starts filling up.

Following the first game, Flame will be joining the cast for a post-game interview and act as a commentator for the second match of the night. Scheduled for 11PM EDT and again on Viaduct will be the #2 seed Vicious Gaming taking on LogJammin. LogJammin finished 10th this season with Heero, Hubes, and Xep, the latter who appears in the upcoming May Top 10. The Infamous VG clique draws from a large pool of very good players. Droog, Sheep, Lange, and eHfk are just a few of the names who will be showing up.

It should be a very exciting night of top-notch TF2 action. Viaduct madness.

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Although Community Fortress has experienced incredible growth in the past six months, we have been unable to maintain a consistent group of writers. I frequently post writer recruitment articles on the front page and we end up getting a few interested people but they typically fade away after posting a few pieces. Consequently, the article side of the site is being held together by the efforts of our few consistent contributors: eXtine, djfivenine, Kuiper, bcarr, verticaL, MutatedMan, and forsaken. Jesus has dropped off the face of the earth and many of our old writers have stopped playing competitively or just don't have time to contribute.

Considering the growth of the site and the North American competitive Team Fortress 2 community, there is no excuse for this recent trend of community complacency. CommFT receives more than 40,000 unique visitors a month with anywhere from 2,000 to 10,000 visits per day while TF2 is being played by 15,000-60,000 people at all times. In terms of leagues, CEVO had around 90 teams to start Season 5, ESEA had around 50 at the outset of Season 6, and XPL has 62 teams at the start of its first season; these numbers mean that there were at least 540 active North American competitive TF2 players in the past few months (and undoubtedly many, many more considering the number of teamless players and casual teams). Yet despite this strength, CommFT has around 12 people helping run the site's programs and write articles.

The CommFT YouTube channel has more than 4,000 subscribers with nearly 800,000 upload views primarily due to the hard work of eXtine but also because of Lange, Jesus, and VinnytheBoss. The channel has been one of CommFT's strongest projects but despite its success and popularity, eXtine's calls for new video contributors/editors have been largely ignored. As can be seen on our About page, we currently are looking for an individual to take over the role of Head of the CommFT Top 10. Lange no longer has the time to review and edit submissions to the Top 10 and as such, we need a replacement (but don't worry, he's finishing up the May Top 10).

In a manner similar to our Top 10 difficulties, we are having trouble finding a replacement for Fzero as the head of the TF2 Mentoring Program. As detailed on our About page, the program is set up to help bridge the skill gap for players new to competitive TF2. One of the main problems with getting into competitive play is how different it is compared to public play, so the mentor program has been set up to help ease the transition. The community should not be divided between seasoned players and newer ones, so the program is made to help the community grow, thrive, and live within a positive atmosphere - rather than look down on players new to the community. Although Fzero has stepped down from the position, there are dozens of new mentees looking for help and quite a few mentors still active. Nevertheless, we lack someone to organize the program and connect these two groups of players. We feel that this program is a great feature of our site and vital to the growth of the community but it is disorganized and in need of new leadership.

Although we need help with special projects like the CommFT Top 10 and the TF2 Mentoring Program, we are lacking in contributors for a number of our regular operations. In addition to needing devoted wiki, Blog, CEVO, ESEA, TWL, and XPL writers, we need Heads of Coverage for some of these areas of coverage. The role of Head of the CommFT competitive TF2 wiki is filled by Grimm but we need Heads of Coverage for CEVO, ESEA, TWL, and XPL. I had hoped that we would get a lot of writers for these leagues so that I could promote promising individuals to the roles of Head of Coverage but this hope has not materialized. The people who fill these roles will try to organize and manage the coverage of their target league while contributing in the form of articles and other content; essentially Heads of Coverage write articles about their league of choice while communicating with other writers so that CommFT has comprehensive coverage of that league. We need folks to step up for this role in the four different leagues listed above. Likewise, we need tons of new writers to help make my comprehensive coverage dream come true.

If you guys are interested in helping fill any of the aforementioned contribution roles, please contact me on the forums (my username is Graham there as well) or add me on Steam. For the management positions, I am looking for community members with good communication skills and significant knowledge of the task (i.e. the Head of Coverage for ESEA needs to know all about ESEA). For the writing positions, I am looking for folks with GOOD English writing abilities and decent knowledge of the task. I have found that many people are afraid of contacting me because they are new to the community and don't want to be harshly judged for their lack of expertise. At CommFT, this isn't a problem as long as you are willing to learn and perfect your mistakes. eXtine himself was a total noob when he came to me and he worked hard at learning about the community from the first day that he was in contact with me. bcarr is brand new to the community (hell, he's a MAC GAMER!!!) but he's making tons of progress and flooding us with good information on the leagues. You don't have to remember the TGL Roughneck Challenge, the PTV Shotgun Shootout, pangu, or team Comedy Option to be able to contribute...we just want people to help out and give it their all.

TGBF.tv will be casting the CEVO-Main Season 5 best-of-three finals match between Exultance TF2 and Just 4 Fame tonight at 9PM Central. These teams met in the upper bracket during playoffs with Exultance coming out on top 5-0 on cp_badlands. Each team will get to choose one map from the season for their half of the bo3 with the tiebreaker being cp_gravelpit (chosen by CEVO). You can check out the playoffs bracket HERE.

Yes, Vuvuzelas. That's right. I said it... Now, that being said, a Vuvuzela in TF2 isn't exactly what I want, it's more of the concept instead of the constant buzzing. Sure, an alternate Buff Banner Vuvuzela model would be good fun (maybe?), but this idea is deeper then that.

One of the things most astounding about the world cup is seeing the devotions of the fans as they cheer for their teams. During the course of the game you'll see some fan get on their feet to scream in exuberance while other fans may be wallowing in misery. The most important aspect of watching sports with friends and strangers, is the ability to cheer loudly and emote with others.

A fond memory of mine thats relevent to this conversation about spectators is from a Manchester United vs. Glasgow Celtic exhibition game. Sat about a row down and half a row over from me was this family of scottish fans that were most definitely not local. Three boys and a dad all clad in the newest Celtic Green and White Hoop Uniform were singing songs and cheering very loudly before the game started. Once the game started however emotions started to swing the other way. I dunno if it was when Man-U went up 3-0 or 4-0, but the best part of the game was when the Dad stood over his sullen sons, shook out two fierce outward peace signs, and shouted out language not fit for GotFrag.

You evoke those sorts of emotions in people, and allow them to express it, then you have them hooked.

On the other side of the coin, one often hears professional athletes discussing the amazing atmosphere at big games, the roar of the crowd, and how great it is to play in those situations. I think even as an amatuer/school/semi-pro athelete it's often comforting to hear the cheer of the crowd, even if it's just 20 people with friends and family cheering for you.

Right now, one of the drawbacks of watching STV relays + live games is the ability for fans to express themselves. For very justifiable reasons, players are limited to how often they can speak in the STV chat. Writing a very long sentence is not always the best way to connect with a reader/audience/strangers/friends, especially during a live game.

I thus propose that Fans should be allowed to cheer.

I think that unlocking the voice chat, is unrealistic as 1 mic spammer could kill an event for 200 people. Plus there could be bandwidth concerns, fans would already be in seperate mumble parties, and an efficient mute system would have to be put in place. It could happen + work, but theres a better solution.

Valve should create a cheer button. When in a STV relay, spectators should be able to hit a button, spark some voice work and have that cheering be communicated to the rest of the fans, and even potentially to the players. So basically, the spectator would go "OMG" and hit the cheer button, relaying that info to the stv relay server. The relay simply keeps a tally of what percentage of the crowd is cheering, and then includes that information as packets get sent to the client.  Depending on what percentage the server returns, the cheering will either be quiet, a smittering of hurrahs, or a raucous cacophony of celebration. The cheer button can fade / toggle off. So it's a 2-second cheer, unless jabbed multiple times or held down for tooo long (30 seconds?).

I mentioned the ability for players to hear it, but certainly that should be a toggle in the beginning. TF2 isn't quite as sound dependent as CS is, but hearing quiet sounds is still a large component of the game. However, it'd just be such a great thing for the game if players were able to hear some sort of feedback. This would make a huge change to the atmosphere of spectating TF2, whether it's Complexity whipping the crowd into a frenzy, stalling tactics in an Invite game on Granary leading to a snooze-fest, or even a low level team with just a few friends sitting in the stands.

It would be an innovative step forward for the process of watching eSports, while also totally being able to highlight the personality of the Team Fortress 2 world. Pick out a few cheer noises for each class, and let spectators choose who they cheer as.

Also. Everyone loves door prizes: Item drops at a reduced rate for spectators in active matches. Voice your support:

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