this notion is something that I very much disagree with.

first of all, the notion of not needing an analyst, even for relatively new viewers, is not a good one. the play-by-play/color combination is used by every professional casting pair, from real sports to larger esports. if done correctly, every viewer should be able to follow the action while also getting a sense of some of the larger tactical themes encompassing them.

second, I do not believe that being a professional casting personality must entail no negative comments about the teams and players. any good analysis requires some level of judgment of the teams, and to deny that from the viewers is to rob them of a huge part of the game. if froyo beats mix^ there's obviously a reason for it. was it better dm? fewer mistakes? better chemistry? better overall playstyle? or did they get lucky in some way? obviously there's never only one right way to answer such a question, but fans appreciate that type of analysis.

there was a time when casters and streamers got 5$ per night but even that is more symbolical than an actual payment..

Yeah, I was just giving my viewing perspective of things. I think a lot of people stop listening to commentators after a while. It's nice to have in-depth analysis but my point is that it doesn't "ruin" the cast(as some people are suggesting) if it isn't there, as long as the newer viewers are still guided through the game properly so they don't stop watching out of confusion; I think that's the main job of a caster. Though analysis is preferable, it is not the main job of a commentator, in my opinion. I did prefer having The Fragile next to Gecks, but I wasn't tearing my hair out like some others seem to have been when it was just Gecks and Getawhale, if you see what I mean.

As for the "not saying anything bad" part, I was referring to iffy comments which may make the organisation(in this case eXtv and TFtv) look bad. I agree that casters should just call what they see and explain things even if it may be negative towards a team's performance or abilities. I just think that not every invite player would be... appropriate on the microphone. Long story short I think Gecks and Getawhale do a good job of representing our community, which I find more important than providing in-depth analysis.

Omfg the first few posts i thought you were trolling and it was funny. Are you actually this mad about tf2 casters ?? its gonna be okay manlife goes on! Never seen such an aggressive reaction to casting a video game. Hope you can enjoy the rest of your weekend after this ordeal. HahahahhahahahahahahhaahhahahahaHAHAHAAHAHHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

ITS BEEN FCUKIING S[POIKLED
imagine if u came home early from school on friday expecting some great games and you're so disappointed you just go to sleep
thanks extv

hey dingo what about you use your non existent money then fly over your country and cast or do production for free?

ok

STVs cannot and will not be posted, the servers here are only accessible on lan because of the way network traffic works.

STV demos are being collected and will be distributed after the event once I get a chance to sort through them.

clockwork.... you literally just arent fair.

The secret is that TFTV is a bunch of volunteers spending a shitload (more than you think) of money and time on making quality content for this game. We aren't perfect, there are issues that we do our best to fix. We are also using consumer equipment, largely purchased by ourselves from our own money or obtained at the result of months of negotiations with sponsors that you guys have no knowledge of, design of assets such as the fancy animated overlays that takes literally hundreds or even thousands of hours by multiple people. Then you have people like thesupremecommander and gentlemanjon and bluee and mathsad and more who you guys don't hear about but put in possibly more work than anyone making plugins and overlay systems to make it easier for us to bring you such a high quality broadcast.

What we are capable of doing with TF2 streaming is nothing short of a miracle. A year ago we streamed with png overlays that we had to make in photoshop every cast, we had binds to make changing POVs easier and we (in Europe) had a cheat feed to help us catch the action. That was it.

Now we have a highly configurable, easy to use web interface that can control the entire overlay system including scene transitions. We have plugins that can give you outlines and health bars and player names and stopping the scoreboard from hiding the player list and showing the currently equipped mediguns and for fixing the hud after pauses as well as the cheat feed (which is getting US use) and player binds.

We can even go further than that, such as getting some of the biggest sponsors we have ever had, and doing more for our sponsors such as having their advertising in game. Having more, bigger sponsors for TF2 that we can impress is only a good thing for this game.

This is all the result of thousands of hours of work, most of which the community has no idea even happened. When you essentially say "the entire stream is ruined because I don't like the casters and the colours are a little off" that is the biggest of first world problems in TF2.

TF2 has grown immensely recently and everything we have achieved with this game has been a community effort. The community is the best thing about this game, no other game has this.

I'm not sure why some of you are biting the hand(s) that feed you. I use to play competitively when ESEA was hosting S3. All I can remember was connecting to the STV and hoping it wasn't going to lag/lag out. When ESEA hosted S5 with LAN there still wasn't much coverage besides carnage and others filming stuff like this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZVc5MhL7aU). Now it is completely different.

I thought the LAN and coverage was great. I didn't expect a full blown ESL CS:GO production because the community is still small but damn has it grown. I can't remember when I quit to pursue college but after graduating and reminiscing about my short low/mid career (is that even a term anymore? Shit) I wanted to play TF2 again. First thing I did was look up matches to catch up and tf.tv showed up and I was surprised to see the production of the streams/VODs and to even see Europeans playing because I don't remember hearing much about them back then. Maybe I was easy to please but regardless I was hyped about it all and still am.

The GXL casters might not have been on point at all times but I was able to step away from the screen and listen. I enjoy having high-level players casting such as tagg, fragile, b4nny and others to give insight on plays but I still enjoy the regular casters regardless.
Even the little mistakes on the stream were not all that bad either. I probably laughed far too long at Seanbud commenting on having to take a piss. I don't think other streams/events can get all that personal like that. It adds personality and shows this community is more tight knit than others.

When ever I get my post-college life situated I'd love to help out or even help cast/stream just because it is another part of the community and looks fun. Maybe use my tiny audio degree to help out with audio, microphones, equipment, and more during future events/streams.

Yeah, I enjoyed the coverage. Thanks Fragile, Lange, Getawhale, Gecks, truktruk, the players, and whoever else was involved. Please work on those hour(s) long delays though; those really need to go.

personlly i think the casters deserve some sum of money wether thats a group fundraiser divided into all of them or a buck here and there

its their time they're spending

if they didn't love the game they wouldn't cast
i mean theres gunna be a problem here and there no matter how good u r

and btw

the hud was pretty atrocious

IMO the hud wasn't pretty, but it was damn easy to read, even on my shit 480p connection I could see player health. Which made it overall more accessible. There are a tonne of people out there who may not watch at source or even high quality on twitch so that is a bonus. The casting I actually enjoyed although it would have been cool to hear some of the classic voices of tf2 for a couple games (cbear, maybe djc.. idk) GetAWhale and Gecks killed it, especially when you consider they don't have the experience with the game that other casters do. Hopefully gxl i big next year, I may have to start saving my nickles and make my way out. Looked like a blast!

I think the casting got better as time went on, I didn't enjoy it a lot for the cevo finals but it was good for the gxl invitational

I do play this game, and competitively.

Yes, I never played invite, or at a super high level, but I do play by play casting. I'm not required to know every facet of the game, that's what the color caster is for.

Thanks for your opinions from throughout the event.

Correction: I play this game competitively.

are we counting UGC silver?

I have an understanding of the game that extends beyond Silver. I have a pretty decent understanding of the game, but not good enough to try and explain whats going on at all times. Sorry I'm not the invite level caster you were looking for.

gecks u did alright for somebody ive never heard of or seen in a 6s server ever

thank you for choosing to spend your entire weekend talking about a videogame when you could have probably had much more fun playing it

people (including dingo) offered pretty viable feedback which while not explicitly pointed at you was still accurate

i think you could learn a lot and be a pretty decent caster down the road if you calmed down a bit, focused on REALLY understanding the game and knowing where your thoughts were going before you started them

i dont think you should be talking down to or dismissing anybody (especially people who play the game at a high level and have for a while) at this point, though thats probably just me

good work and good luck, this game hasnt had any good casters in a while

yes gecks i hope you understand all of the constructive criticism everyones giving you. Please let us know were all on the same page so i can finally get some sleep tonight

I agree, there was feedback that was absolutely useful. And there was also some that was just complaining, and offered no help. And I appreciate your feedback as well, anyones for that matter, as long as its something constructive. I'm a caster that tries to improve the quality of my work constantly, so any useful feedback is appreciated. And by that, I mean something besides "know the game better" because yes, I know I don't know the game well enough. I've honestly heard that enough for now.

I've played this game for about a year, and competitively for the same amount of time. I'm not going to know everything about it yet, but thats why I continue to play and improve my understanding. Having the opportunity to watch these players also teaches me a lot about the game, and I'm glad I get to do that.

With all of that being said, I'm not going to understand this game fully overnight. Its going to be a process that continues to develop over time. I'd gladly continue to take any feedback that can help me improve.

Also, I thoroughly enjoy talking about video games. Just as much as playing them.

I thought you did really well all things considered gecks. I hope you stick with it.

Despite how much we'd like to be able to pair up a play by play caster with a colour/analytic caster, it often just depends on who is available. I.e. we need more casters. If you want to give casting a try then just, we could always use more. On top of that, as much as we'd like to get invite/prem analyst casters, they're usually busy playing.

Here is the playlist of vods from the LAN: more are uploading
Will be putting up Pictures later tonight

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-Qj_noNsq_PX5IV6S2sXBEYYHGGcUd5F

I want to try casting

assuming I don't sound like a chain smoker the rest of my life

Just watched the Twitch vods. I sure enjoyed it. Thanks to the production crew and the rest of the team behind it. Shit was dope.

As for teams:
Froyo clearly need to try less hard. A not 5-0, 5-0 final would be nice.
Mix^ were fun, hope they're still planning to stick around. Enigma+Harb combo was freaking stellar.
eLv needed more of the miraculous pull-it-out-of-his-ass plays from Alfa.
Street Hoops didn't get to play in a casted match, which is a shame.

But yeah, all-in-all, fun stuff. Congrats to Froyotech.

i can 100% back this guy up
I've known him for a while and i think he'd be a perfect caster.

all honesty.

Kace sounded exactly like this all weekend: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYRsx5Ues_c

I felt bad but it was so funny

were there any STVs from the CEVO or GXL tournies? (for download)