Since the early days of this game, you have been an inspiration as a player and through your quiet competence as an administrator, been one of the unspoken pillars that the global TF2 community has gotten used to leaning on. Thank you for the time and effort you put into the TF2 community. I wish you the very best as you step into the wild world of politics. Good game and well played, Sir Kalkin. Your absence will be severely felt.

Correct me if I

Everyone has the right to be the Auditor General and question the motives behind money being collected, yet few step up to the plate to understand the effort it takes to bring such a production to the community. Now before you ask, "Who needs this thing, ANYWAY?", consider for a brief moment the millions of pubs you've played where a marauding band of unskilled, un-nerfed newbies are wandering around thinking they're the pinnacle of TF2 evolution in a daddy-paid unusual hat. They need this movie. They need you. If only, for a brief moment, they're able to see that competitive players are (Yes, yes, yes) far more than the Brass Beasting, Phlogistinating, Double Donking (No disrespect to any pubstars here) sycophants.

We need this movie. If only to remind ourselves that there is a better player inside of each one of us. The kind of player who uses a Chargin' Targe in a competitive match, the kind of player who ubers a spy and then gets clean away from not 6, but 9 players and finally, the kind of player who combines that lethal trisulphate of skill with the fluid, pulsating energy distilled from pure grit to create a resplendent, glowing TF2 masterpiece orbiting itself in endless spirals of glowing excellence. You know the kind - the one who spends hours on tr_walkway perfecting that one mid-air-airshot, the one who gives up TV dinners to run camera on the late-night stream of a low open match just because she loves the game, the one who gets in the server early, simply to warm up and make a good fight out of a match against an obviously overpowered opponent. Yes, you. I'm talking about you. The you in us and the us in we. THAT's who this movie is for. Damnit, kid, it was always for you. Goodnight.

So what is the Quick-Fix OP in comparison to? A metagame that has remained much the same for 3 or 4 years? I remember several people crying foul about the Gunboats. Most roamers make their living off it now.

I believe we need to look long and hard at why we have a problem with the Quick-Fix as a weapon and if it has to do with OUR lack of adaptation, our stand may not be credible. Over time, players and teams will learn to adapt to the QF, counter it or even adopt it.

This is exactly what Robin Walker was talking about when he spoke of 6s needing a shake-up. (ref: Extine + Sal's convo at Valve) How have suddenly decided that 6s TF2 has already reached the pinnacle of evolution and needs no more tweaks? Valve forbid, they may release a map that changes the way 5 CP or Koth is played. So what? We adapt, adopt and learn. That's the only way this game will remain playable and sustainable.

It's easy for us as sixes players to feel entitled to royalty treatment for the thousands of dollars we have spent in-game and for those of us at the top of the game to look down at Valve's effort to promote competitive play because it does not match up to our expectations of what Blizzard or Riot Games do for their competitive communities. I respectfully suggest we taste a slice of humble pie and look at what's being attempted here.

From a business perspective, 6s TF2 carries far less weight than Highlander because it relies on a well-established metagame in terms of loadouts and general strategy that appears stagnant as compared to the variety of the individual and teamplay in highlander. I must say that I agree with Robin's assessment of the game today from a business perspective.

While this may not be the voice of the Valve competitive community, are we the ones fielding (and paying) developers? Does most of Valve's revenue come from the competitive 6s community? We look at SC2 and DOTA and want to be paid $200,000 for winning a LAN, sure. But we don't realize how low-value competitive 6s are in terms of drawing in revenue. That can be changed, but unless we come up with a workable idea of how to do it, It's not a decision I would back.

I took another look at what's being done here and I see the beginning of something that could benefit TF2 for many years to come. After all the years of complaining that Valve does not support competitive TF2, it is not appropriate that we, the custodians of competitive TF2, whine like spoilt children when the first step to supporting competitive TF2 is taken.

I think eXtine and Salamancer's effort is admirable and Valve's decision to back competitive TF2 in the form of Highlander is a landmark that deserves our support. While it may not be the Utopia scenario, I think it is a first step, and a big one to making a mutually beneficial competitive scene that hopefully can be nurtured to do justice to the game we love and play.

Big ups to all who made this happen again. Every single CvP has delivered, and how!

Great voice, fabulously mixed. Kudos.