CommunityFortress

Well, XPL looks to be turning out nicely. Although, there is a funny twist to it that seemed to catch my eye as soon as I glanced at the list of registered teams. It’s like someone took a bowl, tossed in every league of competitive TF2, and stirred it up to create some sort of foreign…thing. I have no idea if I’m supposed to love it or hate it. Isn’t TF2 grand!

On a serious note, XPL|Charles has told me that for XPL S1 they will be creating mini-divisions occupied by 5-6 teams. Each team will play each other inside each division (4 games), and another 1-2 games cross-division with finally, another 1-2 games cross-conference. Looking ahead, it looks as if we’re going to be expecting a skill-based conference in XPL S2, depending on the volume of registered teams of course. What we need to do now is give all the feedback we can to this season so they can improve it as much as possible for S2.

I like this format they’ve got going for S1 though. It seems like some crazy hybrid form of TWL, and with any luck it will improve match compatibility, and make it so teams aren’t steamrolling their first few games by sheer luck of being paired up to lower teams. I like this, I like it a lot.

As for the maps, I think it is fair to say that it’s a pretty damn solid rotation. You have the classics of Badlands and Granary, to the rising popularity of Gullywash. All I can say is thank god it was done by vote, and we didn’t get any random Indulge-type maps tossed in the rotation. My rage is caged! Also, Badlands, Granary, Freight, Gullywash, Viaduct, and Gravelpit are the playoff maps. Can anyone say “golden”?

To add, it seems like XPL has an anti-cheat in place for S1 as well. Although, half the people can’t download it, and another portion of the people that can download it say that it doesn’t work properly, and doesn’t update as it should. I’m sure it’s no big deal and the XPL Anti-Cheat Staff will probably have it fixed soon enough, but competitive TF2 has its history with clients. Yeah, I am looking at you ESEA.

Overall, XPL TF2 looks to be sharpening up. I look forward to what they can bring to the table once the regular season starts. It’s going to take a lot of time and organization to lift XPL TF2 off the ground successfully. One thing I personally love is the attention to detail and organization of the main website. You can easily add to rosters and change Steam ID’s without asking a friend what to do. Heck, I remember asking friends where to go on TWL’s main website for certain things multiple times. Its ease of use is something they definitely have going for them. I guess we’ll just have to keep our eyes open and see what happens next. I personally predict a bright future for XPL, as do many others.