This is honestly more of a problem with TF2 (or maybe comp games in general? idk I haven't been in any other community) where teams don't stick together, so more often than not, if people win a div, they likely won't stick together. Some will play low adv, others will go back to main on offclasses. Also, I feel like the only teams that benefit from sandbagging are high main teams, and while it's important to bridge the gap between main and advanced, by having sandbagging you also increase the gap between high main and mid-low main, as the low teams gain 0 benefit virtually from being rolled. Overall, I don't really think having sandbagging benefits high main teams enough to justify the negative effects on fairness and enjoyability of the lower divison teams.

Definitely, this is something I mentioned with making playoffs advanced and sandbagging in main with the other admins, same I think could apply generally across the league. I think sandbagging becomes worse the more skilled players are, as when players are experienced enough, they tend to pick up other classes way quicker than normal, meaning by the end of the season they end up becoming the best or second best team (while may be effective for them to learn a new class, but certainly not fun for the people that have to play them).

In hindsight I'm really not a big fan of the decision, and it's up for debate if it's valid or not. We're seeing this across a lot of divisions actually, where players may be offclassing but the brain gap/prior experience creates a wide enough gap to be unfair (particularly playoffs adv players playing main). I assume in future seasons it will be a focus to force these teams to play the division up as it both makes the higher division stronger and the lower division more fair. I have a lot of thoughts on skill gap between divs and within the same div, which kind of goes along with this. I don't have the time right now to write something coherent and in detail to describe why restrictions are incredibly fluid and difficult to make because of this, but I may get around to it at some point.

Please point to the COI you are referring to? Fluey played on No Limit S6, Camper played on No Limit S4 and S5, they were never together on the same roster for this team, nor any other season of TF2. It's possible they played together at some point but again, even if that is the case decisions aren't made alone for div placements (refer to my previous post I linked for nukanga below).

Logs of you playing soldier in what seems to be invite HL matches.
https://logs.tf/3050801#76561198251245566
https://logs.tf/3050684#76561198251245566
https://logs.tf/3045015#76561198251245566
https://logs.tf/3044973#76561198251245566
Upon looking further these aren't invite HL matches, they're main matches, which is why I'm wondering if y'all had reached out besides what was said above? I'm not sure IF you contested the restriction, but from what I understand the only message Fluey or any of the admin team received was from what you posted above. We're not infallible to mistakes and I'm sorry this happened, but how can we correct something that we don't know is wrong? I guess being better/more thorough is the answer but alas, mistakes happen.
Refer here for a full explanation of derivation of class restrictions and contesting them https://www.teamfortress.tv/post/1061654/rgl-class-restrictions .

100% will admit that the original ruling for roster move ups (1006.5) reads like garbage, as the admins and I have since discussed. However, you left out part of the ticket specifically stating what rule we generally go by when approaching these situations.

https://i.imgur.com/Sr0h9o4.png

There is a clear contradiction in the rules that I won't deny, it's confusing upfront and we are looking into removing 1006.5 entirely as 1006.3.3 covers our general approach in better detail. Now for why this team is allowed to play AM is out of my domain as I have no idea about the relative skill of the players. But honestly if there is anyone I trust to make correct decisions about div placements/restrictions or really anything league related it is Camper. I assure you it wasn't a decision made hastily or without deliberation.

We are going to miss out on stuff, the admin team is not perfect, and frankly, if I had the time to go through all the rules and think of every possible scenario they could apply, and change them accordingly, I would. We do genuinely make changes and adjustments to rules when we come upon situations like this where there are clear contradictions or things that aren't in line with how we currently operate. What I'm trying to say is that these situations are appreciated by the admin team because we don't exactly have the time to refine every rule in the best way we can.

TFTV is a meaningful platform to talk about issues and kick admins in the ass for being stupid or having contradictory rules. IMO, and people are free to disagree, you posted this thread mid-convo with admins, I feel like it's a bit unfair to post out-of-context without getting a proper/full response from us. I think we try and be genuine and as thorough as we can, which is why threads like this that more or less don't give 100% context and immediately accuse admins of being corrupt undermines both admin longevity/tolerance and overarching community opinion about RGL admin efficiency. I will never be able to control when/what people post, but I'm hoping that in the future people will continue to use the ticket system to it's fullest extent while also considering that admins may not be able to clarify rules in the way that you would like them to, and attempt to further discuss contradictions without making accusations. If further discussion leads nowhere, post away.

https://clips.twitch.tv/ResourcefulRelentlessSeahorseFailFish-bBG9OnlrY19GFN1e

https://i.imgur.com/zgJaAR6.png

Tbh, the only reason the engi restriction exists is for consistency but I agree in that I don't think it affects the gameplay that much. That's in contrast to pyro/heavy/sniper where those classes have way higher skill ceilings so I think a class restriction is way more valid (we've had a lot of issues in the past in lower divs with HL players on those specific classes). Though I can see an argument for why people should be allowed to play their HL classes, it can massively hinder the development of lower level players as they never actually get to play 6s meta. It makes the game really difficult to learn/play if people spawn up HL classes instead of giving the opportunity for teams to learn the meta. To clarify, because we want lower divisions to be healthy in terms of competition/growth, and because HL gimmicks (essentially) do not work at higher levels, it's in our best interest to add restricts as to not turn players away. For example, an advanced team knows how to deal with a pyro/sniper much better than a newcomer/amatuer team (lead with and chariot scouts in fights/bomb and pressure the sniper with your projectiles).
Tl;dr the mechanics and gamesense of lower level players is not nearly adept enough to deal with offclasses, restricting allows for these players to get a sense of the actual game as they attempt to transition to higher divs.

https://i.imgur.com/LwArE29.jpeg

Pain.

None of the restrictions come out of nowhere, they have statistical backing from logs, league experience, etc. We don't pull class restrictions out of our ass, we genuinely do a lot of research and investigation to try and validate every restriction we can. Most of the admins are involved in class restriction, a lot of times, admins with lower experience levels know better about players in lower divisions than say I would (the same affect in reverse for higher divisions). We also assist each other in looking at the logs/experiences of players when we are having a hard time deciding whether or not a player should be restricted. Sometimes we miss details and that leads to us overlooking some restrictions or being a bit too harsh. To be clear, restrictions are not set in stone and can be contested, and we acknowledge we are not perfect. I have on several occasions over the past year removed restrictions that were too harsh, or tried to work with a team to find the best situation for league stability and their enjoyment. Additionally, sometimes personal bias can really sway class restrictions in a bad way, so we try to stay as objective as possible.

TL;DR The admin staff has plenty of experience and support around them to make restrictions, they are not always absolute, and they don't just come from nowhere.

Invite/adv HL players often get restricted in lower divs off their main classes. This is mostly to prevent invite pyros, snipers, etc. from tearing up a division on those classes. I've witnessed IM/AM players get torn through by invite HL players on their respective mains, so for consistency and balance sake, HL experience can translate into a 6s class restrict.

GGs Soup epic comeback in the second half, gl to the HOMIES of Testosterone in Playoffs :)

When Shylo was last playing he had a lot of potential, was 100% on track to becoming a solid invite demo. Also pretty friendly and adaptable to a lot of environments, if he's able to play next season he'll be an absolute steal in advanced.

You can't cut your medic then go 9 and 41 in the most important match of the season bro lmfao.

https://i.imgur.com/G6PDuuu.png

Praying for Ukraine. If this is where people can find their sense of community to talk about the situation let them lmfao.

https://streamable.com/7cb09w
Don't need to talk shit when this is what is happening to you the entire match.

Holy shit wonder sucks LMAO