I swear the game runs worse on dx8 with every patch. I have an old system and I switched to dx98 to take some screenshots with a "hi quality" config and was surprised to find it ran at 300+ fps... what the hell?

I don't trust emails with that many explanation points unless it's written by a nigerian prince.

Looks like he's about to take his talents to this tournament:
http://edge-gamers.com/contest/

May want to give the organizers a heads up

non-fiction is where it's at. Learn important history while also being entertained!

http://www.amazon.com/Over-Edge-World-Terrifying-Circumnavigation/dp/B002DMJTUU/

The most recent one I really liked was this book on Magellan...also 6 bucks apparently.

Other topics of interest: civil war, our dicking of native american's, WWII, WWI, history of the catholic church...um a lot more. Really it's whatever pique's your interest.

Ambrose has some really good WWII books.
http://www.amazon.com/Citizen-Soldiers-Normandy-Beaches-Surrender/dp/0684848015/

Rather that mess with the existing 5CP maps...if you want a faster style fix the CTF gamemode as I described in the other thread here:
http://teamfortress.tv/forum/thread/678-why-does-ctf-suck/2

Basically it adopts an OvD format and promotes a lot more risk taking for the offensive team. IMO it would create a lot more action, fun for both player and spectator. Now that I think about it quickfix might be a more viable option for the attacking team...that would be interesting in itself!

I've chimed in on this before so hopefully I'm not repeating too much...

As a long time CTF player this is why I believe CTF doesn't work in TF2, and what would need to happen to make it work:

In TF2 dying is punished severely due to long spawn delays and for "offense", long travel times. Together with the uber /medic mechanics it forces teams to push as one unit to be most effective. This conflicts with the offense/defense setup common to CTF, and when you require both teams to do both at the same time it becomes a half compromise between both roles. It becomes a push and control game, and at that point you might as well stick to CP maps because that's what they are designed for.

So To make CTF work in TF2 you have to do a few things:

Most importantly, you should design the maps to be played offense vs Defense, then alternating rounds. This eliminates the compromise of having to play defense at the same time as offense as a unit. When on offense all 6 (or whatever # players) on the team are now focused on the same goal- get the flag and bring it to the capture point, and try to get as many captures as possible during the round. Without the threat of the other team steamrolling back into your base you can take a lot more risks on offense. Likewise for defense. Lock them down, get flag returns by preventing any further touches. The nice thing is it wouldn't be a ton of work to modify existing ctf maps to work this way.. you basically cut off most of one base amidst the other changes described below.

The second is to reduce the punishment for dying, and to provide reasonable spawn distances for offense and defense. Since there are no concs the offensive spawns could be a little bit closer, but most importantly with zero spawn delay. The defensive spawn's could maintain a small delay, enough to make it worthwhile for them to be out of commision for a short period of time. (I'm thinking 5 seconds, but it could be instant if the spawns are located appropriately).

Third is to port over more CTF maps with more open flag rooms (i.e. something like openfire), to allow for more room for the offense to make attempts on the flag.

By reducing the penalty of dying you open up the door for more risks taken by the individual players, especially on offense. More risks = more aggressive attempts on the flag = more aggressive play in general. More aggressive play equates to more opportunity for spectacular plays, in my view. It's also a lot of fun because every run you can pull off some crazy stuff. Flag carrying doesn't require a controlled push and hold- It's an instantaneous thing. (flags should be timed returned, not touch return....touch return sucks!)

I'm trying to clean up the ideas here to make a proposal to Erik @ valve to see if it's something they'll look at as introducing as an official game mode, but it would be nice to get some aspiring mapmaker on board to make some modifications to an existing ctf map to try it.

DM'ing was a lot more interesting in tfc than in TF2 with the movement skills/concs/grenades. A lot more options at your disposal for both DM or trying to juke someone to get by them...or a mixture of both. I feel like every time you encountered a defender/offensive player in TFC it was a chess match, while TF2 dm is pretty straightforward.

Also instant spawn, faster action, less reliance on teammates and more ability for big individual plays has it's own appeal.

Still using:
e6600
8800gt (from winning a tf2 tourney at pdxlan... about 4 years ago?)
4gb ram

The sad thing is that I've been working at Intel for 6 years and get a 50% discount on processors...yet I've yet to use it for myself. Used it for my dad, a gamer buddy and my sister-in-law.

as some support for thorn's point... there was a guy who played TFC at the top level WITH HIS FEET. He had no hands. Sure it probably prevented him from being in the absolute top class of players and his aim wasn't the best of the best, but he competed at that level with his feet for crying out loud. He was better than 95% of the general player population who had two hands...

hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard...

You need both to be top. Yes there are people born with genetic pre-disposition towards physical skill and physical gifts but it is only part of it. Generally early recognition of those gifts leads to encouragement to develop those gifts, which leads to "work" developing those gifts that other kids do not perform because they aren't encouraged similarly, which leads to hobbies which surround those gifts which leads to further development and an increasing gap over these other kids...yada yada yada.

If that early talent is ignored it will degrade, while someone less talented originally can work hard to surpass them.

About FPS "talent":
Most male's excel at tactical planning, tracking motion and seeing detail at a distance compared to women, because those are skills developed for thousands of years as hunting was necessary to survive. Those that were better at those things survived and passed on their genes. Those traits and abilities became part of our evolution (just like our physical abilities). Wouldn't you know it those strengths translate pretty well over to FPS games, so thank Krogor and Dirk your friendly cavemen for the groundwork they laid for you so you could play video games at a high level in 2012.

You would probably find this book interesting:

http://www.amazon.com/Outliers-Story-Success-Malcolm-Gladwell/dp/0316017922

Seeing all the nice gear you young whipper schnappers got I realize I don't spoil myself enough, geesh.

Are there cheaper 10keyless keyboards than the filco that don't suck (the Rapid?)? My regular 20 dollar keyboard is getting pretty bad and I have a tiny desk, but the filco ones are over $100 bucks which is hard to justify.

I'm pretty sure you put 5 in instead of the multiplier for 5/11 which is .75.
This would make your "/360 to 6.8/360, which sounds about right.

6.7 -> now 6.5"/360 pubscrub

This is what happens when you give a douchebag even an ounce of power

g400 doesn't have prediction assuming you are buying it new.
http://www.esreality.com/post/2024663/mouses-using-flawless-sensors/

Also Logitech customer support is amazing. They will basically send you a replacement mouse no questions asked. I had a cord get a bit damaged on a previous mouse that made the mousewheel lose some responsiveness. They sent me a brand new one and I didn't even have to send the original back. This was after using it for over a year as well. Turned a "crap I have to buy another mouse" into "awesome, consider me a lifetime customer".