1. generally an inferior alternative, but pugs allow you to practice simple things like dm or other classes

2. experience. someone who plays your class and has at a high level for a long time will be able to weigh in on lots of tiny things that will improve your gameplay dramatically (given that you listen)

3. this is usually not a good way to think about a team environment, but people not being receptive to criticism are generally going to "hold a team back"

4. situational; do you like all 5 people? will you have fun for another season? is winning more important than enjoying your time doing it? ask yourself these questions and more when the time comes

5. i'm not even sure what this question is asking

6. depends. little things like positioning/movement/ammo management, and obviously an invite player is going to perform better than a main player on that class

7. depends on class. for me personally:

• scout: K/D + heal % (and accuracy % if ur funky like that)
  
• soldier: damage per minute vs. damage taken per minute, heal%
  
• demo: damage per minute vs. damage taken per minute, heal%, deaths
  
• medic: deaths, heals per minute, drops, heal %s per class

8. this depends on your role on a team. if you're not maincalling, calling your position, what you're fighting, damage numbers, say what you want to do before you're already doing it

9. yes. some people just have the gift, cukei went from pubber to invite in <5 seasons (with cheats, apparently).

10. airshots produce more dopamine in my brain than heroin

1. Pugs offer the chance to meet new friends and make contacts with others, also getting known across the community for a chance that someone might pick you up too if you're not in a team and they see your potential. Also, when your team can't scrim and you want to play comp, play a pug!

2. Someone who is kind enough to help you on your way to improve, not just belittling and blatantly saying what you did wrong in this one specific situation in a demo review. A good mentor will inevitably become a good friend, and you'll get to play with them soon one day if you get to their level

3. Dependant on the comms for some games, the tones of people's voices when they speak can imply a lot on what they actually feel - they might think that you are holding the team back if they start sounding or talking negative when interacting with you. Also applies vice versa.
I would argue mindset is just as important as mechanics. And logs can show some blatant things, like a scout consistently getting far fewer dpm/frags than his teammates or enemies

4. Depends if you guys enjoy playing with each other in all honesty. Some may want to stick around and help their teammates improve (chad play), others might wanna find greener pastures in a higher skilled team. For a team leader, it's a tough decision to make if the rest of the team simply don't enjoy playing with a person, either with results or with comms. In my opinion, a team should do the best they can to try and get everyone on the same wavelength, but if people aren't passionate enough to improve with each other then it might be a lost cause

5. No

6. By looking them up in RGL ofc! Aside from that, I guess it's ultimately their decision making, information retainment and mechanical skill that can be seen or heard from if you manage to talk to them whilst they review their own demos

7. I would read a log looking at who got the most impact in the game, maybe look at the dpm of some players (k:d if they went off the rails), deaths, heal allocation from both medics - logs don't tell the full picture though. E.g. A non-medic player can get less kills and less dpm than the server but can have a huge impact on how the game went according to how he played (i.e. based on his position, his timing, decision making etc.)

8. Record a game with your team's audio involved. Watch a high level team, focus on what they're calling, which class specifically is calling and when they call it relative to the game state (e.g. stalemates, teamfights, sacs).
Now review that recording of your team and compare the differences

9. Yes. While I do believe some people are just naturally born with the power to learn super fast, ultimately it's just relative on the time you take to "get good". Some who has 2 season of 6's that goes straight to invite can be labelled as naturally talented, someone with 20 seasons of 6's that is in invite can be labelled talented too.

10. Because my class is fun to play :) I wanted to learn comp, so someone told me of tf2center. Having no experience, I recalled this one Doctor Who episode where the David Tennant doctor said "If you want to know how a restaurant works, work in the kitchens" (or something like that idk exactly). I interpreted that into tf2, with "restaurants" as a euphemism for a comp team, and "working in the kitchens" as playing medic. I played a fuckton of medic lobbies and eventually people knew me as a med main, and then I found pugchamp out - played a couple pugs in EU and NA and during those times I found medic the most enjoyable to play

Alright, judging by these questions, it looks like you're a scout main that feels like he isn't pulling his weight around in the team enough; you really want to improve but not too sure on how to, so you want a clear specific route to get good
It's not that easy, and honestly I'm a learning player myself so there will be undoubtedly be somethings I previously mentioned which are wrong - but that's all my opinion and what I know anyway.

Just try to enjoy the game and make it enjoyable for the friends around you :) gl hf!

play the game thats all i can say

1. PUGs are a great opportunity to practice personal aspects of your play (DM, general positioning, other classes) but scrims will always be the better option if you want to improve 'across the board'. Nothing beats practicing 6s than playing 6s properly.

2. A good mentor is one that helps you grow, not someone who is a walking encyclopedia of knowledge. Any invite/prem player could give you tips, but a mentor that works on your own playstyle and you as a person is infinitely more valuable. Certainly, a mentor with extensive knowledge on the game is important. However, if you are struggling with the non-game elements (communicating properly, working with your team, avoiding tilt) that is going to be a major roadblock to your success as you progress.

3. A player is only as good as their team, and vice versa. If there is an issue within your team (e.g. your flank dies very early in teamfights or your med drops a lot) that's a conversation your team needs to have. Thinking in terms of "X is holding us back" or "I'm holding them back" is the wrong way to approach that problem.

4. A lot of well performing teams are ones that have stuck together for a long time, or at least have a good portion of the team who have. This is because you become friends with one another, communicate more naturally and develop in-game dynamics with one another. If each individual splits and tries to find teams, more often than not you'll be joining a team of complete strangers or being new in an existing team. In either case you have to get to know one another before you can learn to play with each other, which takes more than one season.

5. Whichever mode of practice you pick (DM, MGE, Offline, Jump), whats important is what you get out of it. Theres a term in psychology known as Deliberate Practice. In simple terms, it refers to a structured approach to practice that focuses on identifying areas of improvement and developing sessions to develop that specific area. In terms of TF2, you could, for example, find that your Scout vs Soldier is pretty poor. To improve this, you spend the next couple of weeks before scrims doing some Scout/Solly MGE to warm up and figure out where you can get better. There is no BEST way to improve DM or Movement, but determining your weak points and focusing on that will make improving feel more natural.

6. Just through spectating, Invite Players appear to make correct choices more often. In actuality its hours upon hours of practice and years of experience. Main Players seem to make more mistakes, which is to be expected.

7. Pretty much what carter said.

8. Improving comms, much like anything, takes practice. But generally speaking good comms do one key thing, they let people know about something they do not currently know but should. The odd spam rocket is not worth calling, but that spam rocket hitting 4 people probably is, for example. Determining what you as an individual should say and how your team as a whole communicates is just something you need to figure out with your team, it all depends on how they work.

9. Natural talent is definitely a thing, but the cases in which things just 'click' for an individual is incredibly rare. Practice and mentality is a much bigger contributor than raw talent.

10. Soldier goes zoom, airshots make brain feel good.

just stopping by for the obligatory "new player resources" / "how to improve" post!

newbie.tf &
discord.newbie.tf

1. Is there anything pugs offer that scrims don't in terms of learning or are they just an inferior alternative?
airshots

2. What makes a mentor a good mentor?
airshots

3. What are signs that you are holding your team back or your team is holding you back?
airshots

4. Should you still stick together as a team if you feel like there is a gap between each other's skills?
airshots

5. Do you have a strong opinion on the differences/advantages/etc between dm servers/mge/offline maps?
airshots

6. How would you tell the difference between an invite [insert class] and a main [insert class]?
airshots

7. How would you read a log?
heal percentage

8. How do you improve comms individually and as a team?
airshots

1. becoming comfortable in the roles of the other classes helps you on your main as well
2. they don't get autistically caught up in their favorite playstyles and pushes and instead focus on the gaps/mistakes in your team's gameplay that are losing you rounds
3. discrepancy in the amount of time spent practicing
4. yes if you are friends
5. Do whatever you can stand to do long enough to practice, don't torture yourself
6. positioning and speed (to push/sack/fall back etc) - by main level you should be near fully comfortable with the raw mechanics of your class
7. I compare my dpm to damage taken, look at # of deaths, and look at the heal spread to make sure I'm spending the appropriate amount of time near the medic (class dependent)
8. keep in mind what the rest of your team is and isn't aware of, don't need to yap about a player in front of 4 of you but you DO need to call out unseen bomber, backcap attempt, damage that can be followed up on, etc

Bonus:
9. yes, in every element of life not just games
10. it's the one that I am the most comfortable/automatic on mechanics so I can focus on teamplay

Offline maps like walkway, rocket shooting, juggle (and the new denial), I find are more helpful for experienced players to warm up, and for very new players to get comfortable with a mouse & their sensitivity.

For more experienced players mge & dm would offer more chance to improve your 'actual' aim, but even then there are a lot of pitfalls that I have myself previously fallen into.

Mge players often develop intricate strategies with no functional use outside of mge, and use those to get a higher elo instead of actually improving aim & movement. Dm players can often get very mindful of their KDR instead, and will pick and choose fights to an obnoxious degree; like running away if you take any damage to go get a healthkit or wait for regen etc.

If you avoid these pitfalls, I think both are good, but I prefer DM as you get to practice more fast-paced situations against different combinations of classes.

i dont think i agree with u on this one

What don't you agree on? open to discussion

most of it.

Care to elaborate?
I honestly am open to my views being changed, nothing snarky at all

Like the core of it.

god this is so lame just respond to him normally bro

Im sorry about it, i have been having a rough couple of weeks and i thought i would be a funny guy and try to bait rahmed into responding. I didnt even read his post, this is the problem a lot of the time i dont take other peoples feelings into account. I know what i need to fix in my behavior and yet i continue to make people feel like shit. Im sorry.