dam this thread was actually looking like it might go somewhere before spyro showed up :(

I don't really understand this weird this-or-that that seems to exist in all these arguments about TF2. It's like if TF2 can't be one of the biggest esports of all time, then it can't exist as a competitive game at all. Being popular is a spectrum, not a finish line. TF2 can absolutely grow. If we play our cards right, we can absolutely get big enough to support more than just b4nny. Sure, the millions of gamers that made the Fortnite devs millionaires overnight will never give TF2 that same attention, but as the number of older gamers grow, and as new games get less and less "shiny" when compared to old ones, TF2 stands a better and better chance of drawing bigger crowds. Plus, think about the difference between HL1 and HL2, and then compare HL2 to modern games. Each of those has a 10 year gap between them, but I think everyone can agree that HL1 and HL2 differ far more, both in terms of mechanical development and in graphical improvement. TF2 is far more relatable to the general gaming audience of today than anything released in 1998 was to gamers in 2008, and I think that translates to a greater ability to draw in viewers as a game ages.

If you're not convinced, I'd also like to offer this: playing and supporting TF2 isn't just important for TF2, it's important for the future gaming in general, and for your continued fun. If developers see there is a dedicated audience for a certain type of game, they'll want to make stuff for that audience. There was a thread recently about games that play like TF2 does, and it seems like the closest equivalent is Overwatch. There just aren't any other games that offer good movement, balance, teamplay, and the satisfying type of strategy that TF2 does, but if we make TF2 as great as it can possibly be, there exists a far greater chance that someday, someone will actually make something for us.

I won't pretend to know exactly what the best move for growing TF2 is. An important requirement for keeping the game growing optimally is to keep the game fun at high levels, and if Faceit doesn't accomplish that, and doesn't plan to make necessary changes for at least another two years, I don't see how it's actually good for the game. But I do know that the more people adopt this defeatist attitude, the faster the death of TF2 comes, and fuck you if you rob me of a few years of fun.

I have to start off by saying how much I'm thankful for everything WolfMachina and the other staff at Essentials are doing for the scene right now. I think the fact we aren't consistently and easily getting 16 teams for these monthlies is indicative of how this community goes beyond looking every gift horse it has ever received in the mouth. It's more like we fucking cut out our eyes and shove them down the horse's mouth.

Unfortunately, while I could write paragraphs about how frustrated I am with the community, that's not what I'm here to rant about. From the perspective of a team captain, this weekend's European cup was a god damn disaster. The only saving grace was that it didn't actually die like the NA cup did earlier this month, and I haven't seen it acknowledged in any capacity just how much of a failure it was.

From the top: these monthlies have next to zero advertisement. Do you guys make any attempt to find other players to play your cups? Like, maybe make a Reddit post or something? The only place I see these cups advertised is on a TFTV thread that isn't even stickied, so I feel obligated to come up with some bullshit to post and bump it for visibility. I don't know exactly what's going on behind the scenes there, but it would surprise me to learn that TFTV isn't willing to help out. I'm more inclined to believe that Essentials staff simply haven't reached out.

Player feedback. You guys are clearly making an attempt to iterate on your tournament format month by month, but besides general response forum posts, where are you getting the data upon which to make those decisions? I've never seen any specific requests for feedback. Especially with numbers dwindling the way they have been, don't you think it'd be important to try to find out exactly what's going on? Maybe ask what days would be most convenient for players, or if your whitelist is driving people off, or if people are just taken with happenstance, like needing to take exams or something? Speaking of the whitelist, have you actually gathered any data whatsoever on how often those unbanned weapons are useful? Have you watched demos of them being used, or maybe just looked at the logs? Because near as I can tell, you haven't asked any players how they felt about the weapons being used. Even the cow mangler, which was unbanned and tested less than 5 seasons ago and found to be frustrating to play against, continues to be unbanned in your cup, and to what end?

That leads pretty well into my issues with communication. Maybe you have done all this stuff. Maybe you have been advertising heavily on some other platform, maybe you have been asking for feedback on your Facebook page or some shit, but it hasn't been here. As someone who exclusively uses TFTV (and very, very occasionally Reddit) when it comes to TF2 related stuff, I have seen nothing on those fronts. But your communication issues don't stop there: the greatest failing actually happened this weekend, during the tournament itself. I've no idea if anyone outside the teams that played this weekend are aware, but the Essentials website broke after round 1 and teams had to sit through an hour of doing nothing while waiting for the Essentials staff to try to fix it, fail, and eventually just recreate the entire cup on Toornament. No ETAs on the next round. No clear communication on what exactly had broken. Actually, there was literally nothing for about half an hour, not until players started spamming the monthly chat in discord out of boredom. Me and my players just sat in mumble, playing around, expecting another match any moment, that entire time. No moderation on the monthly chat, forcing me to go back and scan through a ridiculous amount of spam in order to find out what was happening. Mods themselves contributing to some of the spam. And even once Toornament was up and running, I had to go back to the Essentials site to find out who was on the other team in order to get the match set up! My team came within an inch dying right then and there. And while I managed to keep everyone together through 3 more rounds, by the end of the day, we did die, along with about half of the other teams that had signed up to play. It's hard to blame any of those players for quitting after the unmitigated shitshow that was the start of the day.

I dunno. I've no doubt running this shit is hard. And, thank god, after the first 2 rounds the rest of the tournament seemed to go by relatively painlessly. But this shit needs to be addressed, because I really want to see more of these cups in the future.

i got him a card that makes fart noises when you press the buttons

hes more like prequel little babby annie tbh

so is this thing happening or

literally just got 6, heres hoping i get in before signups close

if any of u euros wanna sub for team freedom hmu fam

i count 16 teams on the page :O

trying to put together another pug team. anyone still lft, add me

I don't think you even need major changes from Faceit in order to (at least partially) fix the whole "good player gets stuck on medic" thing. All you gotta do is implement a rule in TF2PL stating that if you don't play the class requested by the captain, you could get a ban. You don't even have to make that a rule for beginner or amateur, just for advanced. There are definitely changes that Faceit should make to ensure easier enforcement of a rule like that, like more detailed logs, but I think it'd still be helpful to have right now.

Unfortunately, everything else requires some input from Faceit. We need more than 12 players in the draft if there are more than 12 available, and we need a sub system. There are a bunch of other nice things that should be made available, but I think those two are the ones getting bitched about the most.

More than anything else, there needs to be some guarantee of iteration from Faceit itself. You're dealing with a community that has spent 10 years getting jerked around by game devs. Without visible progress, there is absolutely no way the people who have spent years playing this game are gonna wait around to get fucked over by devs in their pug system, too.

5 teams? Really? Are both the NA and the EU monthlies gonna die together? Why tho?

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seriously what the fuck are you talking about. plus the euros have been getting paid on the reg, so its pretty clear that late payments are the fault of the sponsors and not essentials itself. sure, what was promised is payment within 30 days of the cup itself, but being late isn't the same thing as no prize pool at all. people just jump on any stupid opportunity to be negative i guess

Literally one month i cant play and shit falls through, smh guys

It shouldnt tbh. Its way less intense than pubg, it starts in like 5 seconds for me and on low graphics i get a consistent 150+ fps on a mid range cpu.

also it is still free for like another day

this is important

me and a friend figured out the secret to getting games as a group or solo. success rate is MUCH higher if you INSTANTLY ready up. so if ur solo, as soon as the ready up button is visible, instaclick it and you'll usually get a game. as a group, once you invite ur bud, the very instant you can see his character model, you both click ready at the same time. 100% success rate not guaranteed, but literally every time i've gotten a group game it's with this method