There's no such thing as a free lunch. The TF2 team clearly sees some potential here and want to explore it. Investing developer time when they could've produced another standard tf2 update says as much. Whether they continue on and invest money into the scene is another question entirely

http://imgur.com/a/2eOcD

The minor update to fix searching is now live on Google Play. Download the update if you already got the app, or download the app if you haven't yet- still in time for the first game of the tournament!

Hey guys!

I needed a project to work on this summer to broaden my programming skills and keep me a little busy learning new stuff. I took a bit of inspiration from boulder's TF.TV viewer, and decided to make a mobile app to find and view logs on Logs.tf. Zoob isn't involved with this project other than giving me his approval, so send any complaints my way :)

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lucas.tflogs

Check it out! I'm glad I could release the app in time for i58, where you can all use it to view stats from the games being played right away on your phones, at the event itself.

I have a list of potential improvements that I'd like to make, but I'm heading back to school in a couple weeks so I'm not sure when I'll have the time to make them:

• Extended stats- medic stats, kill / kill + assist / death stats broken down by class (similar to the website)
  
• Most recent logs on the website on the homepage of the app- similar to the homepage of logs.tf. Currently, you can only search for players, go to their profile, then find the log you want.
  
• Button on players' profiles to mark them as "favorite", and a button on the homepage to go directly to that profile (similar to the functionality you get on the website by signing in through Steam)
  
• Better indication of content loading progress and network errors

There are also some bugs I'm aware of but wasn't able to fix soon enough before i58 while also making sure the app would be available for use during the event:

• Back navigation using the arrow in the top left will sometimes show blank screens. Use your phone's built in OS back button in the bottom left and it should work better.
  
• one or two minor formatting problems on very small screens, on the logs page. This shouldn't affect your ability to view any content.
  
• Player sorting on the logs page doesn't work on older versions of Android.

If you have any feedback, feel free to leave it in this thread, or in a review for the app. I hope to make some improvements based on your thoughts when I have the chance.

EDIT: A last minute change broke searching. Serves me right for not testing a final time for even the most trivial of changes (I've even worked in QA, come on man!). The updated app with this problem fixed is now available.

I have no 6s demo experience, but one thing I remember b4nny saying on stream stuck out to me. Somebody asked "what should my mindset be while playing demoman?" and he replied something along the lines of "Always think 'Who is going to try to kill me, and how can I stop them?' "

Based on what you said your hours are, you started playing competitive fairly early in your TF2 career. You will keep getting better- compare yourself to when you first started playing. I'm sure the improvement has been monumental, and it's something you should be proud of, really!

Don't judge yourself based on whether you're winning straight up DM duels against players on tf2center. In general, I've found they tend to be pretty disorganized, and have players with relatively strong DM who do random shit cause it's "just a lobby". There's no shame in missing pipes against a scout with 5 times your experience in competitive TF2. Just keep playing, and you'll keep getting better like you already have been :) also try to find a team to improve and work with, it will make the world of difference to your overall play.

It's been incredibly fun to watch you play on a team again, so on a personal level I'd like you to play again next season

@Orang3 I think you said in a previous post here that you get really low FPS, like 20-30

I have a 60hz monitor and i just about get those 60 frames consistently, and I know it hinders me. I can't imagine playing with unstable fps below half that, I assure you that if you find a way to get better FPS it'll be like playing a whole different game, especially playing scout.

Overall, scouts counter soldiers in 1v1s as long as they have some terrain to work with, and aren't in enclosed spaces. Don't tunnel-vision 1v1s, though :)

It's a reasonable thought, it sounds intuitive at first, but it comes down to two simple questions:
With scouts and soldiers limited to 1 per team, will 6v6 TF2 be more fun to play, and more fun to watch?

The answer is simply no: Soldiers and scouts are capable of dynamic aggression and fast plays, while the alternative classes that would take those two slots in the team excel in denying aggression. The end result is slower, more passive, less skillful, less dynamic, and, as a result, less fun to play and to watch.

How are you enjoying streaming so far? Your personality beyond the memes everybody associates you with actually seems to suit it really well, you're entertaining

Doze on the go PogChamp

is that a sneaky custom skin preview in the picture? PogChamp

damn you guys are some fraggers

Isn't the biggest thing it comes down to is that there just isn't enough money in the scene? If Valve in some way could show that they'll provide a cash flow, that would make the biggest difference. A lot of top players don't care enough to try, a lot of top players have left because there's been no indication they'll ever be able to make a reasonable amount of money by investing lots of time into the game.

Hell, if Valve had committed to giving 25% of the revenue from competitive passes (only needed to be purchased by players without mobile authenticator, $10 at first and $20 after the initial sale is over) to the i58 prize pool, it would have been the statement of intent a lot of players have been waiting nearly a decade to see. The talent drain at the top level of the game is painful to watch.

Valve could also have done something as simple as sell cheap cosmetic badges, for each of the teams at i58, with revenue going half to the teams and half to the prize pool. Of course these are just small initial steps to what we need, but we aren't even getting that. Valve have been (slowly) improving the game and setting up (with a fair amount of difficulty) the groundwork for the playerbase to see the game more competitively, but there needs to be some sort of monetary investment or we'll stay stagnant at best

I think that's not quite true. If it were, players who visit Valve HQ and meet the TF team wouldn't come away with gushing praise of how talented, capable, and intelligent the devs are- both b4nny and Slin have, off the top of my head, said as much after visiting.

The dev team is probably just way too small. This game has had almost a decade to get pulled in as many directions as possible- competitive, casual, mvm, SO many gamemodes, community servers, cosmetic items, countless unlocks... The game is HUGE. It also has had just as much time to have code obfuscate and become more complex and bug-filled. The task of "improve TF2" is absolutely gigantic, let alone "fix TF2". There are obviously people at valve who work on assets and artwork for multiple games, but excluding those... How many people have their primary focus on TF2? It's almost undoubtedly a single digit number.

The TF2 team is actually doing better in the past year than they did the previous couple, I think, but it's still not near enough- and I think they just don't have the manpower to achieve what our competitive scene needs.

I don't think I'll ever be good at aiming with a mouse. I'm 20. TF2 is my first ever FPS and I started playing it when I was 18. As far as aiming is concerned think I missed out on all that time in one's childhood where you develop skills rapidly. I wasn't playing quake or counter strike or TF2 when I was in middle school and high school. Which is a shame, because after 1,800 hours of TF2, starting competitive around 700, I'm in love with this game... I just can't click on people.