COME ON ENGLAND

EDIT: GET IN ENGLAND

Pings are going to make a HUGE difference I think

Isn't it just straight up hosted in Europe because it's ETF2L? Either way murica has this in the bag.

England to get dunked_on

I dunno

the us can win this using even like mid plat players if they live in the northeast and get 100 ping or less on a uk server

if they try too hard to use the best people even if they ping like 200 thats where it gets tough

luckily I think xalox and deadbolt are usually ok ping-wise

We use european servers

European servers. So far we haven't had anything too bad ping-wise. We had one where Skarlett had less ping than he had on a CEVO match server that night.

nvm

full uber med dc, push

Twice.

yeah england should've waited for the stopwatch to run out

GG. It was a close and fun game. Bummer it ended like that but they can't exactly just let the stopwatch run down.

While I think the more unfortunate aspects of today's match were due to Steam being difficult, the ping differences do raise an interesting question.

In normal ETF2L competitions it makes sense that teams have to play on European servers unless both teams agree to play elsewhere since ETF2L is a European league.

However-

I don't think this rule makes the most sense when applied to the ETF2L Nations Cups. The goal of the Nations Cups is to get countries from all over the world involved, but, with this rule in place, European teams (unless they are incredibly generous) will always have the ping advantage over teams from Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Canada, Brazil, the United States, etc. For these cups, why not use a server equidistant between both countries, or, at the very least, alternate between servers for each map?

build a server in the atlantic ocean

fragga would be proud

That round should have been replayed, if there was any logic to it. I can't blame them for how they played it during, but given how close the match was it was super disappointing to see that outcome immediately accepted. Well within their rights, but I don't see how anyone, player or spectator, could possibly be happy with how that went. Oh well.

The goal is not to get countries from all over the world involved, that aim is completely impractical due to timezones and ping issues. The competition is aimed at European countries, however other countries are welcome if they are willing to play under EU timezones/pings which I feel like is made quite clear.

You can never ever have a truly International Online event for the reasons I listed above, and this certainly isn't an attempt at one.

defence with mini-sentry on Upward from USA was very strange decison for me.

when you do not have enough time to build that is the only other option.

I just went minis when I felt I would be harassed too much to get up a lvl 3.

sorry, my mistake then.

It wouldn't be the easiest to manage, but it is certainly possible. That aside, I believe the confusion stems from the event being called the "Nations Cup" for "the best players of each country to band together and prove their country is the best at Highlander!". Neither the opening announcement nor the updated announcement mention that this is mainly aimed at European countries.

If this is the case, then I'd suggest future Cups include that bit of info to help countries outside of Europe understand why, if they choose to enter, they will be probably be playing with a handicap. As I said in my original post, it makes sense that non-European teams would have to adapt for normal competitions, but I think for something called "The NATIONS Cup", a little more explanation would help.

It's not like you can just sign up for the nations cup. You have to be at least reasonably well informed to become captain of a team...

UGC currently has 66 active HL teams from Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and South America. I'm sure many of those team leaders would qualify to put together a team for the Nations Cup and it wouldn't be unreasonable for many of them to be surprised they would be forced to play only in Europe for something entitled "The Nations Cup".

I'm not trying to argue policy here, I'm merely saying that it should either be a global Nations Cup with fair pings, or it should be mentioned in the announcements/specific rules of future Nations Cups that the event is designed for European countries and that although countries outside Europe are welcome, they are expected to play on European servers and times. It's not a clarification needed for every tournament ETF2L holds; it's only needed for the one(s) whose name suggests it encompasses more than Europe. That's it. One small sentence which could potentially save a bit of hassle and/or frustration for people down the line.

It's in the General Rules, which apply to all competitions on ETF2L.

5.2 European server recommended

The ETF2L is a European League, you cannot force opponents to play on non-European servers. We strongly recommend using servers located central in Europe, such as the Netherlands or Germany.

Yes, I know that. That's why I said I think it "should be mentioned in the announcements/specific rules of future Nations Cups", since, as I've said repeatedly (and has been the main point of my earlier posts), it would be easy for a team leader to think the NATIONS Cup would be an exception to such a thing. Although I understand it probably would have been too limited or less catchy, had it been called the "European Nations Cup" there would have been less room for confusion.

I played in the ETF2L Highlander Challenge, I've led teams in 3 seasons of ETFL2 HL, and I've led a team in a ETF2L HL Fun Cup - and before this thread I thought the goal of the Nations Cup was to involve as many countries as possible, much like the goal of the HL Challenge had been to introduce new players from across the world into highlander. The reason I posted to this thread in the first place is because I was discussing the ping situation with a European friend who plays for a Euro National HL team (and has more than once), and he too wasn't sure why fair pings weren't sought out. I might be an American who pays more attention to the American HL scene, but he's an involved Euro player who also thought the Nations Cup was an invitation to all countries.

It almost feels like you're replying to me as though I'm trying to nitpick or say that ETF2L is in the wrong. I'm not. As awesome as it would be to have a true, fair Nations or Worlds Cup or something of the sort, I don't think there is anything wrong with ETF2L wanting it to be mainly for the European countries. I just think that given its name, it doesn't hurt to be more specific about that fact when opening up the event and inviting teams to join.

Ultimately, it's up to you guys. Maybe you don't think enough people could possibly be confused to include a sentence on the announcements for the Cups about the Cup's Eurocentricity or to simply include the aforementioned line from the General Rules to reiterate that the event is aimed at Europeans. I'm content in knowing that I've pointed out something I believe could be improved upon, plus there exists the possibility that players who do get confused will find and read this thread and have a better understanding of all the Nations Cup is and isn't.

There's no such thing as fair pings. Either you play on an NA server and the Europeans get the ping disadvantage or you play on a European server and the Americans get the ping disadvantage, there is no middle ground.

Being forced to play on EU servers really isn't a big issue (for US at least). European teams might get a ping advantage over us but we have the luxury of a much larger and more talented pool of players to draw from so it kinda balances out. I mean we won the nation's cup pretty handily last year so it can't be that unfair can it.

Yeah ping wasn't a big issue. Sure it sucks and forces us to change our normal playstyles but it's not the be all end all.

I do wish we weren't jerked around with scheduling so much though. Despite many many games being played weekends we were never given that option until yesterday. The games I tried to handle we were never given our first, second, or usually third choice of match time just outright. I felt like we were more than accommodating with our use of backups and match-times, but we didn't really get much of that in return until this weekend.

I still think it reflects really poorly on the league to allow the match to end like it did yesterday. Great back and forth match between two good rivals, 3-hours long, casted and viewed by 400-500 people and it was just like "gg sorry you got fucked by steam but we're just gonna take that win". Was pretty personally disappointing to me as it's pretty likely the last match I'll ever play.

Honestly most of my personal experience with this tourney has just been dealing with really poor sportsmanship from every team. Your league, your rules though I guess.

Versus Slovakia: No proposal from either team.
Versus Scotland: Your 2nd proposal was picked over Scotland's.
Versus Lithuania: Neither teams proposals were picked.
Versus Belgium: No proposal from your team at all.
Versus England: Your 1st proposal was picked.
The fact is that your team came out way better at any match you've actively scheduled.

The way ETF2L works is that both teams get a schedule week and a play week. That's how it has been since the start and it has been this way in the two previous NC's the USA has participated in.

Going on to your next point: No scores are final until the admins verify them. Submitting the scores is one step, the opponents verifying the scores is another, but nothing is final until we say so.
England offered your team a replay in the ingame chat. Rather generous of them but besides of that, I haven't seen any one of team USA come to us and work something out. For the sake of sportsmanship I don't think any admin would be against a replay of the third round if you presented us with that question.

Nobody on this level is interested in a win that they didn't deserve, not even England. There were far too many people watching in STV and stream to think that would be the case. There are far too many people spending their time enjoying some quality highlander games.

Sorry for stating it so bluntly but I'm Dutch and we don't really understand how tact works.

That said, stary is massive cunt

I am also disappointed with how it ended, however you cannot blame the admins for the technical issues, it isn't their fault and they have a deadline to adhere to. Furthermore I was willing to replay the round myself, most of my team were not as they had played for 3 hours and waited a long time for the 3rd map, understandable but I did not feel right winning on those terms.

I also apologise for my players but it wasn't just my team that were spitting daggers - It definitely isn't ETF2L's fault these things happened and when we agreed to play Sunday it was the last day before the deadline, the match finished literally 20 minutes before the results deadline, wasn't exactly time to reschedule. All we could have done was replayed the round, like I said I was happy to and still am but I highly doubt admins want this extra delay and my team would likely laugh at me.

It's a shame, it was an enjoyable and tense match and I had fun up until that point. What is worse for me is we're not talking about how well we played (England) as we did play really well, especially on Upward + Gpit, the first round we played some really good TF2 but rather than remember that all we're going to remember the drama.

Speaking of sportsmanship btw Huey, my team's Pyro is a big fan of yours and all he wanted to do was add you after the game and wish you a good game and thank you for the opportunity to play versus you. You declined his friend request and declined his dreams, #sniff.