Whatever happened to Twitch Jon anyway?

I'm just a statistical sub contractor. My loyalty goes as far as my pay... so not very far

Why is it my responsibility??

When tftv staff aren't organising then they're outsiders to the key information just like you are.

Also Multiplay has had some significant internal reorganisation this year, it appears communication isn't as smooth as it once was as we all saw from the delayed announcement of the tournament itself, and things like tournament format need to be cleared with them.

There are a lot of reasons why information might be slow to come out, the more parties are involved the more scope for delays and confusion there is.

What's wrong with 55 and 58?

Rewind 2 is probably going to be a bigger deal at this point

Nice concept, hope you hit your target

Believe me nobody pays to cover TF2

Sounds like exactly the kind of small thing that gets lost when you've got a small team trying to focus on a big overhaul tbh. It is what it is, no excuses, just the way things are.

I think they're trying to address people bitching from all sides that competitive/traders/casuals/whoever get all the updates and whoever is bitching gets nothing, so they want to release stuff for everyone at once. They're just screwed by having a small team really.

Very long periods of cold darkness

I was beginning to think nobody was going to mention Europe's airstrafing deficiencies.

If NA is losing a lot of top level talent now it's something that EU suffered before i58 really. I think ESEA has helped NA retain some players it would otherwise have lost more quickly, but there's no holding back the tide forever.

I would hope for, at the very least, an Olympic mod where players play in that familiar unblemished blue indoor environment with wooden or canvas flooring as appropriate, wearing team coloured leotards (both IRL and in game).

If someone makes cp_blue with the 5 rings logo TF2 might still have a chance.

For EU teams at i46 and for years before it was more of a split social gathering/competitive event. People played to win but there were unstable rosters, frequent local mercs (i46 Epsilon played with Shintaz) and hangovers. Even though there was hype about the NA teams attending there was also some complacency, it was a commonly held view that the EU teams would win.

When the NA teams came they were all business and won the event handily in an all NA final, EU teams became more focused and serious after that and formed stronger teams stacked with talent that stayed together specifically with the intention of winning I-series, and EU players that previously wouldn't travel made the effort to come. The Epsilon/Broder (TCM at i49 itself) period that followed i46 was the high water mark of EU TF2.

Can you look at player data? I was wondering if it's possible to compare player turnover as well as teams and raw counts. It would be interesting to see if the falling numbers are due to sources of new players being choked off or old players leaving in increasing amounts, or a combination of them and to what extent each is a factor.