Article Two, Series “Into the Unknown”... A little series on breaking into the competitive scene.
Pick or be picked?
Alright, let’s continue where we left off last time. Let’s say you wanted to become the next carnage and started to DM nonstop. After a while, you decided to enter the lobby, and to your pleasant surprise, you can keep up a positive KA:D against scouts with over a hundred lobbies under their proverbial belts. (Note while the number of lobbies one has attended does not necessarily equate to an epic pro, the chances of them being better are higher.)
Then, you decided you want to take things a bit more seriously, and decide to visit the CommFT forums (I’m not just saying this to have more traffic on this site. The only alternative to this would be GotFrag, and let’s just say there’s a tiny infestation of trolls in the area). After reading the rules, and posting an ad for someone to pick up the uber amazing mini carnage (remember, post as low), you wait.
If you’re seriously trying to get picked up by a team, then after you post, attach a ‘Looking to your name. For example, Alar Ensis ‘Looking. This way, when you lobby, people will know that you’re looking for a team, and if they see that you are indeed, epic pro, they will contact you. Another benefit to this would be that if someone is on the forums often, and find your name (provided that you dominated his Schweinhund rear), he may post under your name a positive statement like, “He’s good, DM’s are definitely better than a low.” Of course DM’s aren’t everything, esp. if you’re a medic. That’s why it’s important to have a mic.
As for what exactly to “comm” is a different question altogether. I’ll get to this later, probably in a different article. Let’s fast forward the time a bit, and your attempts at joining a team have met with a rather frickin’ unbelievable silence. Your bumping attempts have ended with more lackluster silence, and your lobby count is slowly growing. What to do?
Well for me, I decided start a team of my own, through a combination of a few factors. First was the promise of a possible server (now unfortunately invalid). Second was the fact that as a medic, I needed to be able to command without question, and the best way to ensure leadership is to actually start the team. Thus, I was off, ready to start a team that would take the TF2 world by storm.
So now, what to do? Well first off, you need to know what kind of team you wish to create. Then, you will know what type of people to recruit. Remember, go for lows. Even if a low+ is looking for a team, your team probably won’t be able to keep up with his experience, leading him to rage or ragequit. So it’s better to start off with people all around the same level and experience: zilch.
As you stalk the recruitment forums (and yes, you can use GotFrag as long as you don’t post a thing), you may come up with a startling conclusion. I don’t want any of these people. At his point, you may want to either consider: quitting (and saving years of your life), keep stalking the forums, or go back to that trusty pub you’ve always frequented in your childhood era of TF2, where huntsman spam was considered cool.
Now as for what I did, I chose the third option. I went back to my old community (any Refuge guys reading this?) and friended the guys who I thought were good, and asked them if they wanted to join.
Simply put, yes. Now with that, I had a team, but it wasn’t without its many faults. But that’s for next time.
tl;dr? Go to gotfrag.com, it’s a great place with supportive members. And carnage huntsman spam is cool.
Well then, til next time~
Alar Ensis (Pronounced Ah-Lar Ehn-cys, NOT Ae-Ler En-cise)
BTW, it seems I’ve made a habit of referencing different coL members – first Solid, then carnage. I guess I’ll work to continue the pattern, and then move on to different teams.
