The TF2: Ozone Open Cup #4 with 32 slots kicks off this Sunday, July 28th, at 16.45 CEST. The shorter schedule seemed to be more convenient for most teams so I’ll keep it that way.
The schedule is tailored for European teams and all matches have to be played on European servers. I will not reject any signups from other parts of the world but please bear in mind that time- and ping difference can cause huge issues that you will have to deal with.
The signups are open NOW. Please do not forget that you need to check in your team. Check-in will open 2 hours before the tournament start (at 14.45 CEST) and remain open until about 16.30 CEST, after which the brackets will be created. The times on the tournament page are in GMT by default and in your local time, when you are logged in.
I personally had a lot of fun watching last week’s tournament and how teams adapted to certain unlocks. Unfortunately, the feedback I got after the cup directly from players was scarce. At this point I want to give a huge shoutout to Epsilon eSports, who are doing a very good job at giving detailed feedback regarding specific unlocks. My ears are always open, I would love to hear feedback from more top players on last week’s unlocks as well as more suggestions for unlocks to try out.
One thing that became apparent is that the Short Circuit in its current form can be used to completely shut down soldiers and demomen due to its low cooldown. The item will be banned from all ESA tournaments and will only be tried again, if it receives a significant nerf.
The Scorch Shot of the pyro was barely used. For this reason, it will be replaced with the Detonator.
*Update: Removed the Quickfix from the allowed unlocks list
The full list of allowed unlocks for all following ESA tournaments is:
- The Quickfix
- The Black Box
- The Winger
- The Gloves of Running Urgently
- The Cozy Camper
- L’Etranger
- The Detonator
More unlocks will be added (or removed, if they turn out to be horrible) in future ESA cups.
Premium Payout Explanation
The prize pool for this tournament is £100 (top 8 payout) and uses Premium payouts, which means you are only eligible to win a money prize, if you have an ESA Premium account. The prize pool is based on the number of Premium subscriptions and can be increased by simply buying a Premium subscription for yourself. If you do not have a Premium account, you can still compete for the Ozone Gaming Gear hardware, that is up to win for anyone, Premium or not.
Check-in
ESA tournaments are using a check in system. Only teams that checked in will be added to the tournament bracket. The check-in starts on Sunday, July 28, at 14.45 CEST (I've extended the check-in time to 2 hours) and lasts until 16.30 CEST, after which the brackets will be generated. If you miss this deadline, you can not play in the tournament. Only one member of the team has to check in the team.
ESA AntiCheat
Over the past months, ESA has developped its own AntiCheat tool, which will become mandatory soon. It was already tested in for CS:GO and many bugs have already been ironed out. The requirements to hardware and internet are minimal and should not mess up the game's performance. To optimize it for TF2, it needs to be used and bugs need to be reported.
To improve this tool, ESA needs your help. This tool won't become mandatory for at least another 2 weeks so please use this time to test the tool in cups and report any bugs or issues to ESA staff (if possible with screenshots). If it is absolutely not working for you, please get in touch with an admin and explain your issues as good as you can (if possible with screenshots). This tool runs on Windows systems only.
ESA AntiCheat requires no installation, you can just download the tool, start it up, log in with your ESA login credentials, enter your match ID (which can be found e.g. in the URL of the match page) and click "Start Scanning". Please make sure to make yourself familiar with the tool and what it does. For example, you should not leave any confidential or sensitive information open while the tool is scanning, because it takes automatic screenshots of your screen. Only run it during matches.
More information and the download link can be found on the AntiCheat information page.
For questions, pop in at #esa on Quakenet or just ask in here.
One Night Cups
Kuferl and I are hosting a series of short 4- or 8 slot one night cups for low- and mid skilled teams only on most evenings. The reason for this is that ESA will start hosting tournaments with 3 skill tiers in August that replace the open tournaments every Sunday. Each bracket will have prize money but to participate your team needs to have a ranking of either low, medium or high. To get a ranking, a team needs to have a certain amount of matches under its belt. While the higher skilled teams usually survive the first few rounds in the open tournaments and can easily get the needed amount of matches to get ranked, lower skilled teams get kicked out in the first round most of the time and have a hard time getting the needed matches. All tournaments will be using the same set of unlocks as the Sunday cups.
If you would like to play in the skill tiered tournaments in August, please consider signing up for a few of these cups – or create community tournaments and play in them. All matches contribute to your team’s ranking. Check out the tournaments page over at ESA, it will be updated frequently.
The [url=https://esagamer.com/tournaments/56/TF2-Ozone-Open-Cup-4]TF2: Ozone Open Cup #4[/url] with 32 slots kicks off this Sunday, July 28th, at 16.45 CEST. The shorter schedule seemed to be more convenient for most teams so I’ll keep it that way.
The schedule is tailored for European teams and all matches have to be played on European servers. I will not reject any signups from other parts of the world but please bear in mind that time- and ping difference can cause huge issues that you will have to deal with.
The signups are open NOW. Please do not forget that you need to check in your team. Check-in will open 2 hours before the tournament start (at 14.45 CEST) and remain open until about 16.30 CEST, after which the brackets will be created. The times on the tournament page are in GMT by default and in your local time, when you are logged in.
I personally had a lot of fun watching last week’s tournament and how teams adapted to certain unlocks. Unfortunately, the feedback I got after the cup directly from players was scarce. At this point I want to give a huge shoutout to Epsilon eSports, who are doing a very good job at giving detailed feedback regarding specific unlocks. My ears are always open, I would love to hear feedback from more top players on last week’s unlocks as well as more suggestions for unlocks to try out.
One thing that became apparent is that the Short Circuit in its current form can be used to completely shut down soldiers and demomen due to its low cooldown. The item will be banned from all ESA tournaments and will only be tried again, if it receives a significant nerf.
The Scorch Shot of the pyro was barely used. For this reason, it will be replaced with the Detonator.
[b]*Update: Removed the Quickfix from the allowed unlocks list[/b]
The full list of allowed unlocks for all following ESA tournaments is:
[s]- The Quickfix[/s]
- The Black Box
- The Winger
- The Gloves of Running Urgently
- The Cozy Camper
- L’Etranger
- The Detonator
More unlocks will be added (or removed, if they turn out to be horrible) in future ESA cups.
[b]Premium Payout Explanation[/b]
The prize pool for this tournament is £100 (top 8 payout) and uses Premium payouts, which means you are only eligible to win a money prize, if you have an ESA Premium account. The prize pool is based on the number of Premium subscriptions and can be increased by simply buying a Premium subscription for yourself. If you do not have a Premium account, you can still compete for the Ozone Gaming Gear hardware, that is up to win for anyone, Premium or not.
[b]Check-in[/b]
ESA tournaments are using a check in system. Only teams that checked in will be added to the tournament bracket. The check-in starts on Sunday, July 28, at 14.45 CEST (I've extended the check-in time to 2 hours) and lasts until 16.30 CEST, after which the brackets will be generated. If you miss this deadline, you can not play in the tournament. Only one member of the team has to check in the team.
[b]ESA AntiCheat[/b]
Over the past months, ESA has developped its own AntiCheat tool, which will become mandatory soon. It was already tested in for CS:GO and many bugs have already been ironed out. The requirements to hardware and internet are minimal and should not mess up the game's performance. To optimize it for TF2, it needs to be used and bugs need to be reported.
To improve this tool, ESA needs your help. This tool won't become mandatory for at least another 2 weeks so please use this time to test the tool in cups and report any bugs or issues to ESA staff (if possible with screenshots). If it is absolutely not working for you, please get in touch with an admin and explain your issues as good as you can (if possible with screenshots). This tool runs on Windows systems only.
ESA AntiCheat requires no installation, you can just download the tool, start it up, log in with your ESA login credentials, enter your match ID (which can be found e.g. in the URL of the match page) and click "Start Scanning". Please make sure to make yourself familiar with the tool and what it does. For example, you should not leave any confidential or sensitive information open while the tool is scanning, because it takes automatic screenshots of your screen. Only run it during matches.
More information and the download link can be found on the [url=https://esagamer.com/anticheat]AntiCheat information page[/url].
For questions, pop in at #esa on Quakenet or just ask in here.
[b]One Night Cups[/b]
Kuferl and I are hosting a series of short 4- or 8 slot one night cups for low- and mid skilled teams only on most evenings. The reason for this is that ESA will start hosting tournaments with 3 skill tiers in August that replace the open tournaments every Sunday. Each bracket will have prize money but to participate your team needs to have a ranking of either low, medium or high. To get a ranking, a team needs to have a certain amount of matches under its belt. While the higher skilled teams usually survive the first few rounds in the open tournaments and can easily get the needed amount of matches to get ranked, lower skilled teams get kicked out in the first round most of the time and have a hard time getting the needed matches. All tournaments will be using the same set of unlocks as the Sunday cups.
If you would like to play in the skill tiered tournaments in August, please consider signing up for a few of these cups – or create community tournaments and play in them. All matches contribute to your team’s ranking. Check out the tournaments page over at ESA, it will be updated frequently.
no kritz or gunboats??????
no kritz or gunboats??????
CondescendingCandlestickno kritz or gunboats??????
Those are allowed anyway and so is Boston Basher, Pain Train, Escape Plan, Overdose, Übersaw and Crossbow, I just listed the extra unlocks that are not allowed by default in the current EU TF2.
[quote=CondescendingCandlestick]no kritz or gunboats??????[/quote]
Those are allowed anyway and so is Boston Basher, Pain Train, Escape Plan, Overdose, Übersaw and Crossbow, I just listed the extra unlocks that are not allowed by default in the current EU TF2.
The only problem that I'm having with the site is that you have to be 18 to be eligible to compete at those tournaments.
As far as I read out of the rules from ESA the resoning behind is that you have to be 18 to get cash prizes which seems weird for me since ESEA does not have such a thing, take little lansky for example who is 17 but still gets that sweet lan money.
The only problem that I'm having with the site is that you have to be 18 to be eligible to compete at those tournaments.
As far as I read out of the rules from ESA the resoning behind is that you have to be 18 to get cash prizes which seems weird for me since ESEA does not have such a thing, take little lansky for example who is 17 but still gets that sweet lan money.
ESEA has people who know how to avoid that kind of legislation by setting their model up in a slightly different way I assume.
ESEA has people who know how to avoid that kind of legislation by setting their model up in a slightly different way I assume.
Goat_The only problem that I'm having with the site is that you have to be 18 to be eligible to compete at those tournaments.
As far as I read out of the rules from ESA the resoning behind is that you have to be 18 to get cash prizes which seems weird for me since ESEA does not have such a thing, take little lansky for example who is 17 but still gets that sweet lan money.
You only have to be 18+ for tournaments with entry fees (P2P). The rest is free for everyone.
[quote=Goat_]The only problem that I'm having with the site is that you have to be 18 to be eligible to compete at those tournaments.
As far as I read out of the rules from ESA the resoning behind is that you have to be 18 to get cash prizes which seems weird for me since ESEA does not have such a thing, take little lansky for example who is 17 but still gets that sweet lan money.[/quote]
You only have to be 18+ for tournaments with entry fees (P2P). The rest is free for everyone.
Removed the Quickfix from the allowed unlocks list. It will only be readded, if it receives a nerf.
Removed the Quickfix from the allowed unlocks list. It will only be readded, if it receives a nerf.
CanFoRemoved the Quickfix from the allowed unlocks list. It will only be readded, if it receives a nerf.
oh no :/
[quote=CanFo]Removed the Quickfix from the allowed unlocks list. It will only be readded, if it receives a nerf.[/quote]
oh no :/
I still think the GRU are a terrible item for 6s, if only because watching heavies is the most boring thing in the world.
Excited to see more unlock shenanigans though.
I still think the GRU are a terrible item for 6s, if only because watching heavies is the most boring thing in the world.
Excited to see more unlock shenanigans though.
I don't see the justification for banning the QF and not the GRU or Cozy Camper. The QF was the most interesting unlock that was used in this cup, removing it is a bad idea imo. It was nice to see tactics develop and it was the unlock with the most potential to change the meta and get unbanned in europe really.
I don't see the justification for banning the QF and not the GRU or Cozy Camper. The QF was the most interesting unlock that was used in this cup, removing it is a bad idea imo. It was nice to see tactics develop and it was the unlock with the most potential to change the meta and get unbanned in europe really.
SideshowI don't see the justification for banning the QF and not the GRU or Cozy Camper. The QF was the most interesting unlock that was used in this cup, removing it is a bad idea imo. It was nice to see tactics develop and it was the unlock with the most potential to change the meta and get unbanned in europe really.
While I personally completely agree with you and think the Quick-Fix can be a good tool to shift the meta game and make medic play more exciting, it looks like most of the EU TF2 elite do not. Check the comments over at VTF2 http://www.vanillatf2.org/2013/07/esa-tf2-ozone-open-cup-4/ or the post-game interviews on VTV or TFTV to see what I mean.
[quote=Sideshow]I don't see the justification for banning the QF and not the GRU or Cozy Camper. The QF was the most interesting unlock that was used in this cup, removing it is a bad idea imo. It was nice to see tactics develop and it was the unlock with the most potential to change the meta and get unbanned in europe really.[/quote]
While I personally completely agree with you and think the Quick-Fix can be a good tool to shift the meta game and make medic play more exciting, it looks like most of the EU TF2 elite do not. Check the comments over at VTF2 http://www.vanillatf2.org/2013/07/esa-tf2-ozone-open-cup-4/ or the post-game interviews on VTV or TFTV to see what I mean.
The thing is, allowing the GRU *while excluding the Quick-Fix* is just a double standard. There's almost nobody in high level 6s that thinks the GRU is good for midfights, and there are a lot of people who think the opposite. The QF on the other hand is just a raw point of contention. There isn't even a consensus over it yet. You can't use the "The QF was just changed a lot!" excuse because you're starting *way* after it was done, and if you're just looking around for people who happen to be upset at the unlocks you wanted to allow then you're doing the wrong thing because people naturally *will* talk about things that were recently changed *more* than old stuff.
You are making a terrible naive mistake and it's really going to hurt this.
The thing is, allowing the GRU *while excluding the Quick-Fix* is just a double standard. There's almost nobody in high level 6s that thinks the GRU is good for midfights, and there are a lot of people who think the opposite. The QF on the other hand is just a raw point of contention. There isn't even a consensus over it yet. You can't use the "The QF was just changed a lot!" excuse because you're starting *way* after it was done, and if you're just looking around for people who happen to be upset at the unlocks you wanted to allow then you're doing the wrong thing because people naturally *will* talk about things that were recently changed *more* than old stuff.
You are making a terrible naive mistake and it's really going to hurt this.
The GRU is still in because it makes heavy viable, and the consensus is that it'd be cool to have more classes viable for use (but really I hate the idea of a heavy on mid in most maps, it's more boring imo). The idea is that there is more choice if heavy becomes an alternative, which opens up more strats for midfights and transitional plays.
The GRU is still in because it makes heavy viable, and the consensus is that it'd be cool to have more classes viable for use (but really I hate the idea of a heavy on mid in most maps, it's more boring imo). The idea is that there is more choice if heavy becomes an alternative, which opens up more strats for midfights and transitional plays.
>because it makes heavy viable
Heavy is already viable.
>but really I hate the idea of a heavy on mid in most maps, it's more boring imo
So what's the deal? You want to make the only expressly unique part of a round boring most of the time?
>The idea is that there is more choice if heavy becomes an alternative, which opens up more strats for midfights
Having a heavy at mid does not open up more strats for midfights. All it does is force the enemy team to focus fire him down before he deals too much damage. Any other class you could get to mid early would be so much more interesting, but no, you're thinking about the bland DPS-tank whose only meta is positioning.
>and transitional plays.
Transitional plays are already one of TF2's strongest aspects. What you're looking for is probably more like "avoiding stalemates". Which encouraging heavy play inherently does *not* do, *specifically* and *exactly* because he has so much health when buffed.
>because it makes heavy viable
Heavy is already viable.
>but really I hate the idea of a heavy on mid in most maps, it's more boring imo
So what's the deal? You want to make the only expressly unique part of a round boring most of the time?
>The idea is that there is more choice if heavy becomes an alternative, which opens up more strats for midfights
Having a heavy at mid does not open up more strats for midfights. All it does is force the enemy team to focus fire him down before he deals too much damage. Any other class you could get to mid early would be so much more interesting, but no, you're thinking about the bland DPS-tank whose only meta is positioning.
>and transitional plays.
Transitional plays are already one of TF2's strongest aspects. What you're looking for is probably more like "avoiding stalemates". Which encouraging heavy play inherently does *not* do, *specifically* and *exactly* because he has so much health when buffed.
qf slowing down the game in the long run. People will avoid the qf to build their kritz - the qf team will hide from the kritz = stalemate.
qf slowing down the game in the long run. People will avoid the qf to build their kritz - the qf team will hide from the kritz = stalemate.
eu players can't deal with new weapons
what a twist
eu players can't deal with new weapons
what a twist
NA players cant deal with qf if it makes a mediocre mixup shake up invite.
NA players cant deal with qf if it makes a mediocre mixup shake up invite.
That 3rd place ESEA team is so mediocre, totally unlike that even 3rd place ETF2L team.
That 3rd place ESEA team is so mediocre, totally unlike that even 3rd place ETF2L team.
i think the fact that everybody in eu still jumps their own side on mids and spams slows down the game a lot more than qf ever will
i think the fact that everybody in eu still jumps their own side on mids and spams slows down the game a lot more than qf ever will
i dont see why you guys wouldnt at least try it for ONE cup though
its literally one small tournament and itd provide some good insight on how a variety of teams use it
i dont see why you guys wouldnt at least try it for ONE cup though
its literally one small tournament and itd provide some good insight on how a variety of teams use it
quickfix could still use some more testing, seems odd to cut it after a single cup for such an important unlock
quickfix could still use some more testing, seems odd to cut it after a single cup for such an important unlock
the quickfix was used in cup #3 mason that's partly why it was banned
the quickfix was used in cup #3 mason that's partly why it was banned