let's just go play cevo. A lot of people have bad memories of it but it's under new leadership and the admins seem to genuinely want the input of the community. They're already offering cash prizes and a growth in numbers would only see that increase (hopefully).

The problem is the community isn't like-minded on what to join. So far, the replacement alternatives I've seen include UGC, CEVO, NA ETF2L, and Nahanni's potential league.

I CAN'T LEAVE HIM, I LOOOOOOVE HIIIIIIM

literally who

I recommend etf2l. It's a great league, well run.

.

I want an invite player to actually say they won't play without lan. I've only ever heard non-invite players saying this.

The general consensus is that it would take a lot of planning to organize a LAN not held by ESEA in NA. So why not just fucking go ahead and put in a lot of planning? We're already at the point where relying on ESEA is already a laughable idea, putting a year or two into brainstorming our own LAN is by far a better option.

This and also that may only be applicable to the 2 teams that are a shoe-in for lan. Aside from them 3rd and 4th spots change every season. The teams on the lower half of invite would probably still play in invite without a lan; we just need these actual invite players to voice their thoughts.

ETF2L or UGC. I prefer a community run league with community interests in mind. I have no doubt that if CEVO ever becomes big it'll become just as greedy and hard to work with as ESEA. A lot more highlanders/pubbers would join if we played UGC.

If people are going to quit because there is no more lan, the let them go do something else with their lives. 95% of competitive tf2 players shouldn't be held hostage to a shitty league because 12-24 people need a trip to dallas every 15 weeks.

I really don't want to have to deal with etf2l's questionable anti-cheat shenanigans.

ETF2L seems like the best solution imo, It's been running the longest, and is already accepted as a really good league, especially with our friends on the other side of the pond. Get a few invite teams to switch and you got yourself a good solution.

Ftfy

I believe I've seen harbl say that he'd quit if it wasn't for lan, to which I fucking laugh at him because he was playing this shit for years for no pay and plays ugc anyway.

Organizing a new league would be the most time intensive but would probably yield the best results. Enabling the 6s community to come under the purview of a fucking psychopath like infinite is asking for more trouble in the future, but CEVO is actually a fairly attractive alternative.

CEVO's new staff has already proven on several occasions that they're willing to support the community, it's free, there is a client for those who doubt the community's ability to police itself, and all of those complaints about corrupt admins seem completely unsubstantiated since the only admin I remember ever being notably shitty was glue who was actively playing for loaded at the time.

Infinite is more or less uninvolved in teh day to day operation of UGC as far as I'm aware - they also seem willing to make changes to the league in some cases. INF also never really had any involvement in the day to day management of 6s.

I think Marxist is responsible for 6s. I might be wrong.

I am not any longer pot - I didn't have time anymore I backed out several seasons ago, but I have a relationship with the folks there still and provide advice from time to time. I would be more than happy to step back in and provide an active voice for changes that we'd want as a community if need be, and the folks from UGC that I've talked to see more than willing to accommodate changes within reason.

We need to make a decision and agree on it. If we can all leave esea and agree on one league to move to, The league in question will be ready for the influx of players as a result, as well as everyone who wants to play the best players don't have to play in 7 leagues to do so.

I personally am not a huge fan of UGC because of the lack of a client, servers, and a really poor setup for match comms/scheduling. ESEA doesn't have a great website and in a lot of ways it's really really shitty, but at least it's not that hard to navigate it to at least find when your match will be. I'd need a better layout to really consider UGC as an alternative. Would they be doing a paid league, Marxist? Or just more free divisions?

.

As of right now owl I can't answer that question. It would depend on how interested people were in a paid league, and I imagine it would start out small to begin with because there are certain tax considerations that would have to be coped with.

B4nny take the wheel....

While Infinite often makes terrible posts in public, he pales in comparison to the Evils of LPKane. Infinite is also just one of a multitude of UGC Admins, instead of a 50% co-owner.

What I'm getting at, is that UGC isn't a bad option. While I agree that perhaps something else could be formulated by the community, I think UGC should be viewed as the immediate answer.

UGC doesn't have money prizes, integrated stats, automatic STVs, or automatic demo uploading. What they do have is a very well put together website ("UGCLIVE" compiles all casts of UGC action on YouTube), schedule system, and player base. While other plans come to fruition, neXt season of 6s should be UGC.

I'm sure the admins are more than willing to accomodate an influx of Invite and IM/Main level teams. If players wanted the top division to have a pay-in and a pay-out, it could probably be accomodated.

I disagree with the idea that we need a community consensus.

The community will be split, but there's nothing preventing anyone from playing multiple leagues for a season or two.

From my experience, CEVO's a solid option - while it's missing a LAN, it has a decent client and cash prizes.

UGC has neither a client nor cash prizes, but is f2p and easy to get into.

It may take a season or two for the community to solidify behind one of the alternative leagues, but the simple decision of "stop playing ESEA, explore other options" should do it.

At this point after ESEAs shit, I am fine without a client, it never really caught anyone. Even worse is when an owner says this when it comes to install an admin backdoor on peoples computers.

i think his hands are busy right now

from My Custom Platinum T-Shirts thread

regretable but also makes room for some new blood.

This season of UGC Plat 6s was horrible. Barely any teams played (my team has 4 forfeit wins out of 9 games played), and only the bare minimum of support is provided (prediction tool wasn't updated either). Maybe if better players came in, it would be taken more seriously.