No, I mean that on the first time I used -dxlevel 98, which is when I did the benchmark, it said "DirectX v9.0" and yet I still got an increase in fps. I guess I'll have to run more benchmarks to see if that fps gain was just an anomaly or something

Trying this out.

Lenovo Y50 laptop, no graphics config but low settings except for trilinear filtering, medium textures.

dx90: 2639 frames 42.506 seconds 62.09 fps (16.11 ms/f) 6.624 fps variability
dx98: 2639 frames 37.178 seconds 70.98 fps (14.09 ms/f) 6.755 fps variability

However, in-game video options say I'm at dx version 9.0, with launch options "-novid -dxlevel 98" during the second test.

???? but thanks I guess it helps for me :)

https://www.politicalcompass.org/yourpoliticalcompass?ec=-2.63&soc=-4.67

I think to get a better idea of what you want to do in the future, and how this decision and the others that follow will affect that (whichever way you decide) will be informed by answering this question- What do you want from your future jobs and career?

I'm not a fan of the dropdown being right above the forward spawn on 2nd. I don't think it would be too much of a problem in organized play, but if this map is eventually added into the game, I could foresee it being really frustrating in competitive and casual matchmaking. It seems really easy to just stand above the spawn door as spy and drop down on players who just spawned, or just camp it from above as any class that does damage.

Would it cause much of a problem to move it over to the left, so it's not right below dropdown? I think this matters in the long term. http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=736877582

I really like the look of the map overall. The setting and aesthetic are sick (even with a lot of dev textures), there's a lot of really novel structure that look fun to play in, and it was really fun to jump around in as soldier. Great work Phi and b4nny so far!

Following up on Pert's post, I've always thought that midfights would really benefit from a 3rd person view. With first person, I tend to feel like unless I'm watching a player make a huge play and win the mid on his own, I'm just watching somebody play tf2, and then all of a sudden one of the two teams is winning the mid.

I think a third person view for midfights specifically would provide a much better experience- you can see the two teams posturing and sizing each other up, and watch as the aggression unfolds. You could see a roamer bomb, for instance, while also seeing 11 other players react to that action. Watching a whole team fight develop instead of watching first person frags seems really appealing to me. There may be some reasons why this isn't ideal, anybody is free to educate me, it's just something I've never understood

• Improve voice codec so that comms are easier to understand, and have less latency. It's not very good right now and people don't talk enough as a result.
  
• Some sort of ranking changes. In the current system, a gibus engie main who wins 15% of his games will forever be the same rank as somebody who wins 50% of their matches
  
• Limit 2 of each class, 1 medic
  
• Do everything you can to optimize performance. It's challenging work, but with (imo understandably) locked settings in competitive, many of my friends don't play it due to FPS issues.
  
• Allow queue times to increase a bit, if it will allow for more even matches- games are found pretty quickly but in my experience they're often not balanced (in skill or in rank)
  
• Incorporate some of the changes from koth_product into the stock koth_viaduct map. Important changes include fixing symmetry so the map is equally fair to both teams, adding the "connector" opening next to the point, and modifying the bridge called "china" to reduce the number of possible sniper locations. For a list of the major changes and the reasoning behind them: http://www.teamfortress.tv/34648/koth-product-the-overdue-changelog

balance changes:

• Nerf darwin's danger shield: Bullet damage resistance only applies on non-critical hits
  
• Nerf Pomson: remove uber drain mechanic (engineers can spam chokes and potentially catastrophically deny an uber, with no risk to themselves)
  
• Righteous Bison: Increase base damage, no other changes necessary
  
• Natascha: Find some way to rebalance this weapon without its slowdown effect, which is hugely frustrating and not fun to play against
  
• Most importantly, understand that many good players just don't use the "dumb" or "broken" weapons like the danger shield, sandman, or pomson. Players who are not as good are more likely on average to use them, decisions about balancing based on statistics from matchmaking have to take this into account.

There are some experienced players who prefer highlander, but I think a huge portion of this comes from players who don't have much (or any) experience in either format. I know that when I first began looking into competitive TF2, I was drawn more to highlander than to 6s, it seemed a more intuitive format. After playing multiple seasons of both formats, I strongly prefer 6s.

I think that most of those highlander votes are players who don't have the experience to know which one they actually prefer playing, just which idea appeals to them more in theory. Over time with matchmaking, I'd expect this balance of opinion to shift.

Exactly. We want them to. That's the goal

I don't think locked viewmodels in comp matchmaking is that important. In addition, Valve has (through b4nny) explained their reasoning, and even if we don't all agree with it, there is some sense. TF2 needs to be as attractive as possible to potential players when they see it being played, and valve want to make money off skins.

I think a far more important issue with competitive matchmaking is the in-game voice communication. It has unacceptable latency (not even factoring in ping) and the quality is very poor. The latency is especially important.

An example where this is very harmful is a medic being flanked by a scout, his/her pocket doesn't realize. The medic says over voice "Help, scout on me!" But in the time it takes for the pocket to hear that, the scout can take multiple shots, and kill the medic before the pocket fights back if he hits his shots.

Competitive TF2 is (apart from stalemates) very fast paced and fluid, and relies heavily on knowing where your teammates are. The poor quality and latency of in-game voice chat doesn't encourage communication- when your entire team in matchmaking is silent, it's very frustrating because you almost feel like you're playing alone.

So, TF2 team, I hope you're reading this- it would be hugely beneficial to both competitive and casual to improve the quality of voice chat.

And to my fellow players, let's stop focusing on just the one subject of config restrictions. Let's talk about other important issues, like this one.

I was just in California! I really recommend checking out Monterey (the aquarium is amazing), and San Francisco is definitely worth at least a day or two. The museums there are really enjoyable, and the museum of modern art was tolerable even for me, when I had no interest in going originally. If you're into that sort of thing I wouldn't miss it.

Holy shit, I've never met a single other person who's ever said they every played SW Galactic Battlegrounds. That game was most of my childhood gaming experience, I absolutely loved it. What was your favorite faction/team to play as, Sage?

This is absolutely fantastic, a lifesaver, a godsend, I cannot describe enough how great this is. Thank you so much yttrium <3 Also great job on the VERY easy to use, intuitive installer, it's flawless.

The only thing I found lacking is the fact that the Rescue Ranger is classified under "All shotguns."
I'd like to be able to see the rescue ranger because it fires projectiles and I'm used to aiming with it on, while having the other shotguns disabled.

Thanks again!

Sideshow's camera ends and so does my life FeeslBadMan ̿̿ ̿̿ ̿̿ ̿'̿'\̵͇̿̿\.

when you abandon, it automatically counts as a loss- abandoning does not save their elo