Here's a recent Steam announcement I posted. Sorry for not posting it here straight away too.
Ultiduo/MGE Mixes
Moving forward, we will be turning Ultiduo and MGE into a weekend mix tournament, rather than the previously announced seasonal structure. The technology behind this new tournament type, which we've codenamed KOTH, is exclusive to TFCL. It's sort of like a mix between a lobby and a pug. This tech will also be used to power our upcoming Heavy Boxing tournaments. We'll have more information for you guys as we get closer to launch. This does not affect our current alpha tests.
6v6 Alpha
This test is a full 8 week season, for a total of 16 matches. There will be two matches per week, with bye-weeks enabled for the test. Details below.
Signups: December 7th - December 31st
Tournament Start: January 1st
Tournament End: February 25th
Default Times: To Be Determined (vote here - http://www.strawpoll.me/11755495 )
Playoff Start: March 5th
Playoff Bracket: Single Elimination
Playoff Teams: 8 Teams
Divisions: Single Division
Prizes: To Be Determined
Rules: Coming Soon
Whitelist: Universal Whitelist
4v4 Map Test
We will be hosting a single day event designed to test koth_avalanche for eligibility within TFCL's 4v4 rotation.
This event will take place on Saturday. Team registration is open now.
To sign up, go to http://dev1.sidular.com/ and register a new 4v4 team. Get 4 players onto your roster, and then ready your team up. You'll be scheduled automatically on Friday, and must play your match on Saturday at the same time as everybody else. This is a set schedule and cannot be changed or altered, so be ready. :)
Date: December 3rd, 2016
Time: 8:00 PM Eastern
Map: koth_avalanche (TFCL version)
The map will be available to download tomorrow. We'll post an announcement when it's ready. (note, this map is different from the public version of avalanche)
Payload & Sixes
We are developing our own payload map designed specifically for 6v6 play. The map will be far smaller than your typical payload map, and should provide a fair and balanced competitive structure that's good for all levels of play.
We'll have a public test in the near future. So stay tuned for that.
Whitelist
We plan to use our own custom whitelist for both Highlander and Fours, and will use the Universal Whitelist for Sixes.
LAN Tournaments
This has been a constant request. We hear ya, so shut up about it already. :p
TFCL will host or otherwise sponsor LAN tournaments hosted throughout North America and Europe beginning early 2018.
Speaking of Europe...
We hear you loud and clear on this too. For now though, we cannot expand TFCL beyond North America, as quite simply, we don't have the capabilities to do so. However, launching into other parts of the world is definitely something we're interested in doing. Just hold on, alright? We're not even out of alpha yet, so give us time to further flesh out our league before we consider going international. :p
Prizes
Unlike ESEA, TFCL will prioritize physical products and digital goods or services, instead of straight up cash prizes. We will be working with some well known brands, though can't announce anything specific just yet. We will ultimately end up experimenting with different prize types based on player feedback, so if you want to see cash prizes, let us know. It's typically easier to get product sponsorships though, so do keep that in mind. We can't please everyone, but should be able to at the very least offer something of value, for every competition and tournament that we host.
Spring Beta
After we're done with the two alpha tests, we will launch a large scale beta test in the spring. This is essentially a soft launch of TFCL, and will include all of our leagues and divisions. The beta will also be hosted on our official tfcleague.com website, and the current development site will be wiped.
Alpha Medals
We'll begin distributing alpha medals at the start of our spring beta, or after our alpha test has fully finished. In the mean time, we ask that you remain patient.
UlarHost & TFCL
We're going to be launching our own internally operated TF2 server hosting network, which will act as both a source of funding for TFCL, as well as a way to ensure that we'll have a network of servers to use without having to rely on third parties. We'll still be working with third parties, and UlarHost will in no way be a major sponsor of TFCL. It's just an extra service that we feel could add value to TF2 clans and communities looking for a low cost hosting solution.
TFCL Casting
Casting will play a very big part in our league, but I feel as though we haven't been very clear on our intentions here. So here's the general gameplan TFCL will be using as far as TF2 casting goes.
- We will be using our TFCLeague Twitch channel to cast high level matches and events within TFCL. https://www.twitch.tv/tfcleague
- A fair amount of marketing will go towards our Twitch channel, both as a way of advertising TFCL, and promoting TF2 as a serious eSport game. We strongly believe TF2 has the potential to become something truly amazing, if marketed properly. Valve's not doing, so we decided to do it ourselves.
Server Pool
TFCL is working on acquiring several servers throughout North America to add to our pool. This will allow for anyone to select and reserve a server for their matches or scrims. Everything is going to be more or less automated, and it's being set up in a very similar way to ESEA. However, if you don't want to use one of our servers, or if none of our servers are available for reserve, you're also entirely welcome to use your own server instead. You've got the freedom to play how you want, when you want.
Automatic Scrimming
This service may not be available in time for our spring beta, but it will be available in time for our summer launch. Not much information can be provided at this time, as we're still figuring out the best way to implement an automated service.