After quite a successful 'beta' phase, our good friend [/flag][b]cinq[/b] decided to drop every one of his blueprints and tool-belt to answer a few of our questions about the new system/channel. Now, some of you may be questioning why make the move? Others may be very confident that the system we have now works just fine, but for anyone who wants their pug experience to be further enriched just let our friendly Quebecker ease your mind, body, and soul.

Alright here we go!

[b][iq]Explain the difference between the current pug system and what you have in store. [/iq][/b] [ia]The main difference between the two channels is how people are guaranteed to play in a realistic amount of time in #tf2mix. You get to play at least every 2 games. Over the years running #tf2.pug.na I got a lot of feedback from the new users regarding how much of a deal-breaker for them to not get picked for a full night idling in the channel. Most of these guys never came back and I can easily understand why. Knowing how much of an issue it was for so many users it pushed me to always think about a design that would suit as much the new players than the more dedicated one who have experience.[/ia]

[b][iq]What does the current one do wrong? [/iq][/b] [ia]The current one is too exclusive. It hurts the growth of this community by denying too many new players to even get a chance. In my opinion #tf2.pug.na needs too much dedication from the players to gather to large enough crowd to get out of a circle-jerk state. The channel is also not reliable. It can be a waste of time to too many players, you are never guaranteed to play in a PUG.. It's also even harder to get picked on a special classes like demo.[/ia]

[b][iq]What can you guarantee will be right about your way? [/iq][/b] [ia]I think the wave system is going to be more balanced, it will offer a fair trade in between the regularity from which you are sure to play a PUG and the level of the player you are playing against. I also think it will offer more possibilities to reward the players with good behaviors and bad behaviors. This was planned all along but I had to came up with the first prototype first and had a feeling it's a project that has potential before going further on this path. One simple example I can give would be the possibility to have a floating wave for the invite players so during peak hours you could get a very high level PUG waiting to get played on top of the other 2 regular waves. This is just one example from many.

An other aspect that would get improved would be the team balance. Having to chose players that are added as multiple classes makes the picking harder for the captains. At the end it sometimes left the PUG open to captains picking players that are not even added as the classes they chose to add. It's also makes the judgment of what the next captain is going to pick harder. It's also great for the players, it guarantee them to play a class they chose to play.[/ia]

[b][iq]Can we be assured support in the turn of problems? [/iq][/b] [ia]Technical wise I will be supporting the channel for at least a year that's for sure. When I left the leadership of #tf2.pug.na in the first place it was mostly because I didn't like the channel by itself, I was sick of dealing with the system I did consider broken for so long and I couldn't fix it myself. Admin wise I won't be as evolved as I used to. It's a part I don't really like to deal with and I will leave that to the other guys. Also, all the system I am using is open, anybody can have access to the code, fork my work and start again. I proved in the past that if I eventually leave I won't take down the project with me.[/ia]

[b][iq]Can we be assured the power stays away from current abusees? [/iq][/b]

[ia]This is a very important one for me and probably the most important one for a channel like the one we are starting. The quality of the games played in the channel is directly related to the quality of the admins we have. We need to have the best admins to take the right decision regarding the miss-behaviors the players are doing during the games. Over the time I developped a circle of people I trust in this community, they are either people that are contributing by various projects or people I met in person at LANs. I also have a list of admins I trust from the past from the great work they did, just to name a few: thrasher, mythikal, grillz, etc.. Also, if the channel actually grow bigger it has the chance to get out of a circle-jerk state where admins are dealing with personal issues against other players, this would add more pressure from the userbase on the admins and would probably help out to get the admins more neutrals.[/ia]

So there we have it, now I know as well as you that any further questions cinq will be very happy to help you out in #tf2mix on gamesurge. Go there and PLAY!