http://tf2center.com/lobbies
this is dying but a replacement is coming soon(??)

welcome to the game

in house pugs are the best pugs
tf2center has a lower level pug type service(however people of all skill levels play them).
mge, dm for aim
if you want to join a league, the largest are UGC and ESEA for NA, and ETF2L for euros.
other fun things to do that improve your game are bball, ultiduo, and tr maps (walkway, rocketshooting)

Welcome!

First off, here is a hub for deathmatch/ mge (1v1 training mod)/ jump/ surf servers: http://www.teamfortress.tv/servers

You'll find that you want to just play pubs a bit to get used to the class roles in the game, along with aim mechanics. After a few hours of doing that, you can head over to newbie mixes, which happen every friday at 9 est: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/na6v6newbiemix

There are various pug services (both in house and public), but those are generally designed for players with a few hundred hours in the game but little competitive experience.

Here's a really solid guide on getting into it all:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o15AaDYvyWE

Your best bet to play some competitive as a new player is tf2center, despite the site's controversy it still remains the best option for beginners.
After that and as you get more experienced there's plenty other pickup services out there like pug.me for na or tf2pickup for eu.

I would also advise you to pass by comp.tf which is a competitive focused tf2 wiki which can give you a very solid base of knowledge to the competitive meta.

As for deathmatching and improving your aim, I would recommend playing deathmatch servers or play MGE which is a 1v1 training mod that runs on a lot of competitive servers and is widely used by competitive players

About leagues, and since you're starting out you should look into UGC as it accommodates the lower levels of 6v6 in NA and also Highlander

There are two gamemodes played in competitive tf2, 6v6 and highlander, if you are interested in matchmaking, I would focus on 6v6 since it is probably going to be the only supported gamemode when matchmaking is released.

You can start by playing tf2centers, which are just lobbies for 6s and highlander. I would recommend joining mumble required ones (mumble is the voice program of choice in tf2). These have a large amount of higher level players fucking around and players that are absolutely terrible so don't take them too seriously.

If you want to practice your aim, you can play in DM servers or MGE servers, which can be found in the servers section of this website. It's generally implied that you should only play 6s classes (scout, soldier, demoman) in these servers.

If you want to find a team as an American, UGC is the place for beginners, and it is free (it has 6s and highlander), and ESEA also has a higher level 6s league that you need to pay for.

edit: dang we all wrote this post at the same time, what a waste!

First off, welcome to the community! You made the right choice in coming to TFTV.

http://comp.tf/wiki/Main_Page is a good place to start. It has a ton of guides on classes, maps, players, events, and other things.

One of the first things to understand is how the game is played. Pub tf2 is wildly different than comp tf2. There are two main formats that we play competitive in: 6v6 and highlander. 6v6 is probably the one most comparable to any other esport, and is the one we focus on in TFTV. 6v6 is played with 2 scouts, 2 soldiers, a demo, and a medic. While there are many different map types in TF2, in 6v6, the ones most played ar Control Points (also known as cp) and King of the Hill (also known as KOTH). If you want to get familiar with the maps we play, check out maps like cp_badlands, cp_granary, cp_snakewater, and cp_process final, as they're all official and rotate on valve servers (and community ones). The community also has updated versions of stock maps (like koth_viaduct) that fix balancing issues and FPS problems. While there aren't too huge of differences between the stock version and ours, it's important that you look out for them and understand how they're different. Our versions of maps aren't stock, so you'll have to get them from somewhere else.
Highlander is a 9v9 format that utilizes one of each class. It plays more gamemodes, like Payload (pl_), and is often easier for people to get into. However, Highlander doesn't have an official ESEA League, or LAN. It's more accessible, but you're not likely to get as far competitively with HL as you would for 6v6.

As for practicing, there are several methods. One is called MGEMod (or just mge). It's hosted on community servers (you can click on the servers tab at the top to see them all) and is a 1v1 training mod. It simulates the control points of several maps for a 1v1 DM fight where you can learn about positional advantage as well as get your raw aim up to par. Another popular method is Deathmatch (or DM) servers, with instant respawn, small maps, and 8 players to a server, to simulate the chaotic fights that TF2 is known for.

As for places to practice, there are several as well. The lowest-level is http://tf2center.com which is a lobbying service for lower level players (although it's currently embroiled in some controversy). KevinIsPwn and company also run 6v6newbiemixes which are very good for getting into sixes. More info can be found here! http://steamcommunity.com/groups/na6v6newbiemix.

Once you start getting better, you can head over to http://tf2pug.me, but this is generally used for people that at least have a season of ESEA experience.

Hope this guide helped!

and i swear if kevin posted before me

don't forget after you play the newbie mixes KevinIsPwn linked to check out Newbie PUGs, a welcoming entry level pug group made of newbie mix players.

DANGIT KEVIN

Just so you all know, I'm reading every single comment and clicking every link. Thank you so much for all of the advice guys!
If anyone has any additional help, please don't hesitate to say something, I need it!

If you really do have no idea about how the game is played competitively you could do a lot worse than watching some casts to get a feel for the game. https://www.youtube.com/user/TeamFortressTV posts high-quality high level 6s casts regularly (6s is generally agreed to be the more 'serious' gamemode and is certainly more deathmatch-oriented). https://www.youtube.com/user/CommFT posts highlights videos as well as focusing more on Highlander matches.

I recommend checking Marxists mentoring videos, found here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL757vsS-wvM4kwvSGBJ00yEOo5A2G7_Al

All of these focus around 6v6, and he has precept videos focusing on each class played in 6s. He also has old and new demo reviews submitted by viewers. I've found this as one of the best resources for getting into comp tf2.

Hope you have fun in this great community!

you should definitely be looking to pug as much as you can. maybe because youre really new just play tf2centers until u start being pretty good.

leagues like ugc arent that important and ive heard there are a good amount of cheaters there.

after youre familiar, grind dm/mge to get those mechanics up then play in open if u want competition

if you start out in lower levels of ugc, make sure that the team is actually committed and not gonna die after 2 matches, and also be prepared to dedicate a lot of time to the game. 8:30-10:30 pm eastern is the common times for scrims and I can't speak for 6s but lots of highlander teams scrim on weekends. this site is more focused towards 6s, so head to ugcleague.com if you wanna play highlander.

gl and have fun playing comp tf !

- find a mentor for the class you main.(high open at a minimum imo) ask them anything thats on your mind
- hang out with ppl that are better than you
- join a pug community
- pick a single class to main
- DM/MGE servers
- watch demo reviews/pov's
- 24/7 harvest
- have mad motivation
- dont waste too much time in other games
- avoid toxic people. (its kinda inevitable but good luck anyways)
- dont get too caught up in trading
- 144hz monitors are essential
- the beginning is always the worst.its easy to give up. dont let it get to you
- play in a comfortable position
- get a hitsound
- get an interp config
- do yourself a favor and find an appropriate sensitivity, try not to change it
- i prefer to play on flat graphics so i have an easier time visualizing instead of getting distracted by unnecessary useless textures.FLAT textures dx level 8
- turn off viewmodels
- custom huds are an option
- learn from other people, dont try to figure out everything by yourself, its impossible
(list is not in order of importance)

EDIT: these are just options, my word isnt law ofc. try these with a grain of salt if it wasnt already obvious enough???
have a nice day

not essential only recommended don't be scared by a paywall of sorts

You can play high level TF2 without a 144hz monitor (just take a look at SDB^^)

A lot of this is bad advice and/or down to personal preference. There are high-level players that use default hud, viewmodels on and/or change their sensitivity every other day et.c. Find a setup that's comfortable for you.

I'd really advise against blindly picking a main class without fully understanding the meta and the roles of the different classes in 6v6. Play the newbie mixes on a few different classes and get a feel for 6v6 before setting your heart on one (however, in my experience players from a cs background tend to favour scout). Even then, plenty of people change main class after years of playing one.

Also, you don't need a mentor. It may be useful to have someone to answer any questions you have. BUT I don't think someone spoon feeding you 6v6 will actually help your understanding. The simplest way to learn is simply by playing, and every time you die. Question it. Think about why you died and the mistakes that led to it, as long as you don't assign it to some bullshit out of your control (omg I lagged; he's cheating; what an idiot; blahblah) then you will improve.

you seem to nit-picking everything. dont over think things, idk why you took the time to write a bigass paragraph. my word is not the law, they are options. im just saying things that tremendously helped me.

tbh this is all you need

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlCRfTmBSGs

He took the time to post because your advice is straight up bad, playing 1000 hours of scout on harvest with your seanbud meme hitsounds is a less then perfect way to advance in competive tf2.

i usually go on harvest after a match kindof like a cooldown, sometimes as a warm up too :^| i use quake 3 but okay, whatever will fuel your ego trip. the majority of my scout hours come from DM servers, MGE, and tr_newbots.

all im saying is that tdm servers are a method to practice aiming ability. b4nny also said it live. except he didnt say tdm servers, he said pubs. who knew actually playing the game would help you get better at the game

like yeah pubs will make you improve better than sitting on the toilet will, but they're still not a good way to improve.

yo fats pls stop ego tripping

you're giving an excellent image of the community by arguing in a thread like this

Slim, don't assume that everything that a tf2 streamer says is right for everyone. Deathmatch servers might work for some people, might not work for others. Take what they say with a grain of salt, and don't blindly follow what everyone else is doing. Do your research and experiment what works for you.

Zar work on your written communication smh....

thank you, thats all im saying

It may sound stupid, but hardware is somewhat important, it will ease your progress.
120-144 hz monitor is not needed, but it helps at some point.
Good mousepad and mouse. (Quicksteel Qck+ is a good mousepad for its price for sure....)
mechanical keyboard is not necessary imo. (even tho i love mine)
Not having a ridiculously high inches per 360 also helps aiming at stuff.
Id say generally most scouts use 6-14 inches?
Soldier 5 - 12 inches?

Of course it's all preference, but scouting at a decent level with 2-3 inches is RARE. (altought possible)

Making sure your FPS is on a decent level enough to not having to being bothered during a scrim / match. (Usually 120 constant is alright)

But like everyone said, practice, gamesense and gameplay over hardware. but imo, it does help.

Welcome to the community!

http://i.imgur.com/l9lffwf.gif