keep the look you look good = better casting, but i found it annoying when you and tagg were casting you guys kept interrupting each other

http://i.imgur.com/FhLFF0C.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/KL5N1ZH.jpg

Before the 'constructive criticism' rolls in one thing I wouldn't have you change is the energy you bring to the mic. The enthusiasm and excitement you express when key/clutch events occur only serve to accentuate and convey the importance and rarity of such events.

I'm going to piggyback on this and it's so true.

Really, you did a fantastic job. I feel a lot of the casters I get really tired of, they have stale commentary that doesn't grab the intricacy of the team's decisions paired with the individuals' plays. You capture it very well.

The only thing I think all the casters can work on is losing their "hot word". "Essentially", "basically", "aggressiveness". It's very nice that you guys boil it down to common themes, but there's other commentary you could be doing that doesn't focus on summarizing and talking about, "if the team wants to win, they will have to attack" type stuff.
Speaking of which: it seems all casters have a miniscule meltdown whenever there's downtime or stalemates. There's plenty to be talked about, and as a viewer, I don't blame you for having to fill in the time I can't be watching. Talk about who you met at the LAN that day, or about something going on in one of the player's lives.

I guess what I'm trying to say with all of this boils down to "you got this".

You also looked very sharp, and your suit looks comfy to be in too.

Finally, thanks for doing your part too, all the best to you!

I hate how most of the good casters speak. everything is like this

"B4nny goes in and he DOES get the medic. Cozen DOES go down. Elevate WILL be pushing with a disadvantage"" it's like everyone emphasizes helping verb that doesn't actually add meaning to the sentence. Just say "B4nny goes in and he gets the medic".

I didn't notice it in your casting that much but during i52 and the last esea LAN I was cringing.

http://i.imgur.com/iOFLp.png

but really, thank you for coming out and helping! It was so awesome to cast with you in person.

I was really happy that you chose to wear a suit for casting at GXL. It added a professional feel that competitive TF2 as an esport has been missing.

I brought a dress shirt and two ties to GXL and regret not wearing them! I was expecting casual dress, and Lange thought the same, and then this handsome man comes and shows everybody up! I'll know for next time.

+1 for Stylin'

Plz where whatever you want, TF2 may be missing a "professional" side, w/e that may mean, but:

I'm so glad this game lets each name truly be more than even just a face. Wear what makes ya'll feel good, and it's such a pleasure to feel I know you guys to some extent even if I've never gone to a LAN, nor am a known name. This type of stuff ties this game together more for me than I can convey, and I'm so glad we all play it. Sorry for the feels, just even someone like me got hit by GXL in the heart.

I dunno, I feel like that little pause then emphasis on "DOES" accentuates the intensity of the whole moment. Cause even the casters are excited to see if the player will pull the clutch play.

I felt like quite a few viewers were really fucking harsh towards many of the casters (and cameramen/production crew) at GXL. I thought everyone did a great job, including yourself. Of course there is room for improvement, and a few people have been really good about the way they have displayed their criticism. Others, not so much.

Well done for not letting some really bollocks comments get you down. I'm looking forward to hearing more casting from you in the future and seeing how you develop your casting.

^ I feel like the only people who were unnecessarily harsh are always like that though. I didn't feel like people were harsh in general.

Yeah, I agree. Alternatively, they could say "B4nny goes IN and he GETS the medic!"

I really like the energy and excitement you bring. The main criticism I have is you sometimes don't realize that something happened until 10 or so seconds after or not at all. For example if a medic was forced, someone died, etc. I'd imagine it's pretty easy to lose yourself in the game but i think paying a bit closer attention to your spectator hud and the kill feed would go a long way. Other than that you do great and thanks for bringing us more tf2 content.

Someone and myself were watching some of the games live at GXL and were discussing how, between the voice and just how you speak it has a real professional sports caster sort of feel. So yeah man, you sound really nice and it's a pleasure to listen to you cast.

you're a great play by play caster, despite not having much exp with 6v6.

it's all experience. You can't just "know the game better" without having multiple seasons' experience--if someone somehow expected you to watch a few demos the weekend before GXL to be able to analytically cast high level tf2, they're fucking retarded.

Well, if you guys were stumped for things to say to fill time, I hope the EVL Battle Royale promotion request was at least something to work with. :3

the "invite player" shirt was legendary.

Also, thank you everyone for the feedback. I'd love to keep hearing opinions, good and bad.

I think this is where gecks and I do just fine, because he leaves a lot of the analyzing to me. He might not have much experience with the game, but I fill in most of what needs to be explained.

My boy got it.

Yeah I don't get the complaints people have about casters, their job is to talk about the game. All the GXL casters did great. If all you need is invite experience, why don't all the invite players who bitterly complain try casting a game? Oh yeah, I forgot you were all unprofessional and uninteresting.

I just rewatched a couple of your casts in an attempt to make a post with good feedback for you. I've really enjoyed your casts and would love to see more of you, so hope this helps.

[li] Sometimes you seem to be speaking about the team in general too much. Somebody (djc i think?) said that their casting style was basically to watch one player and narrate their actions. I think more of this would help you a lot. An example is a couple of mids you would say "both demos getting to mid now...". Instead, maybe say something like "kaidus is going big door, beating out duwatna, gets a stick on choke early" or whatever.

[li] You mentioned in one cast that I watched ([url=http://youtu.be/DbmZ10hccMU?t=32m35s]street hoops vs. mad men on sunshine[/url]) that you didn't know the game very well and so weren't sure why something happened. Obviously this is anecdotal but in general I think if the caster just says what they think it's more interesting and professional than hearing someone doubt themselves. Cbear is a great example of this: I remember once he said enigma got off the point when capping on viaduct and it was a huge mistake when really mix^ wanted to avoid fucking up their spawns. Instead of saying: "hey im not sure why mix^ is doing this" he said it was a mistake. Even though he was wrong it was still much more fluid and better sounding than if he had wondered aloud why it had happened. He also semi-regularly messes up unlock names but he doesn't pause to ask what it is he just steam-rolls ahead lol.

[li] Something quick and (relatively) easy to learn that would help a lot would be map names for locations: a couple times you would just say "flank" or "choke" which began to feel monotonous. Using cheese or africa or window or lower or whatever is much more interesting.

[li] A couple habits of yours, not necessarily a terrible thing but it does get monotonous to hear the same language. You say "a lot" frequently. Ditto with ending sentences with "though", "here", or "there". You say "demolishing" a lot too. In general there were a couple phrases that seemed to always be used for a certain situation: "bleeding players", "going down", "as well". Mixing up your language, again, isn't necessary, but if you intentionally make up new ways to say things and use them it improves the viewer experience tremendously.

[li] A habit that I like a lot is when you say "They're going to be able to cap last here, 4G is." or "they're going to be pushing last with full advantage, 20b is." You don't seem to overuse it and it's a nice break/change of rhythm.

[li] Several people have said this but I can't emphasize it enough, I LOVE the [url=http://youtu.be/DbmZ10hccMU?t=40m47s]passion[/url] you bring to casts.

[li] Sometimes you're talking about the last round when the next one is already starting. If you're analyzing the previous push onto last then this is excusable but the couple times I saw it it seemed more like dilly-dalling than anything else. Because of the fact that mids can be over in like 15 seconds once the demos arrive I think play by play is very important here to make sense of the carnage 8).[url=http://youtu.be/fYm0Va1_gOw?t=16m45s]here's an example[/url], [url=http://youtu.be/fYm0Va1_gOw?t=35m7s]and another[/url].

[li] You sometimes have these [url=http://youtu.be/SR2uvXhcgDc?t=15m55s]rather awkward pauses[/url] in the middle of your sentences. Not a huge deal, but pausing BETWEEN sentences to change up the flow of the cast and emphasize the next one would be much better.

[li] This is a kind of weird one, but something I loved about both DJC and cbears' casting was how they involved stuff that wasn't tf2. Cbear made the same dumb joke about teams putting on the black (when teams change color at the half) and going to the wall like four times. Referencing something from pop culture (my little nemo) or bringing in a different sports analogy, or even talking about the weather outside or something just seemed like a kinda nice break. Something I touched on above was how when I was rewatching your casts they just seemed a little... flat, or monotonous, or something. This might help spice it up a little. When cbear and djc did their thing it was obvious they were just having fun with it, and that sort of casual and relaxed style when the games not super intense would complement your passion very well.

Keep in mind that I was re-watching these games with the sole purpose of critiquing your casting so maybe I'm being too picky but my only goal is to help you along, sometimes other people see things that aren't totally obvious to you. Hopefully at least some of this wall of text is useful and will help you mature as a caster more rapidly.

I was happy with what I heard outta' most folks. I mainly only watched the first day of GXL and the latter stages of day #2, but casting so many games in such a setting likely did a lot for your confidence lol.

Anybody complaining about casts in the last 1-2 years really ought to have been around when twitch casting was just getting going - there have been some truly cringe worthy casts, but those mostly stopped happening a *long* time ago and most of the people involved are long gone lol.

The other big thing for a caster is the kind of rapport you have with your co-caster I imagine GXL prolly helped that a bunch since you had a live person setting next to you and *most* of the folks who cast were there.