Well, if anyone needs a scout, I'm available.

Yes, the third most popular game on Steam is very clearly dying.

Can you provide some more info on your system? Specs, any peripherals you've got plugged in.
And when you say crash, are you talking about the entire computer (like blue screen or something) or just TF2 crashing to desktop? Does your computer just turn off without displaying a blue screen, or an error of any kind? Like it just loses power?

If it's TF2 crashing, are you running any kind of configs, or custom huds?

I'm super excited to announce that TFCL will provide full medal support for all of our leagues and tournaments. How medals are going to be distributed is still undecided, though we're thinking about offering participation medals for everyone.
So yeah, medals are happening. :D

As for the current alpha test, everyone that participates will receive an alpha test medal. It's our way of thanking you guys for being so freaking awesome, and helping us to shape TFCL in your vision, to further enhance and improve this fine community of competitive gamers.
So if you're currently competing in our Ultiduo test, or if you're going to be competing in our upcoming 6v6 test, you will receive a participation medal.

Not sure on when these are going to be distributed. We don't even have them designed yet, so it could take a fair while. But rest assured, it's happening.

We're still sorting out some of the details, and will provide updates when we can.

Seems like he left me out in that "post to my lft" thingy. But anyway, he's a great fragger. Definitely a great player to have on any mid to high open team. Pick him up asap, or else he'll probably be on an enemy team. Trust me, you don't want him on an enemy team.

Most of those should be countered by map design. For sniper, throw in a lot of cover, a wide open middle area, and several flank routes. I'm thinking something along the lines as the Roman coliseum, where you've got a wide open middle area, and a circle going around on the outside with multiple doors leading back into the middle. Throughout the entire thing are various cover areas so you can duck and hide behind, or use to make an escape. If the map is done right, it should make for a more strategic battle. Second scoping would of course still be a thing, but it won't be as common or effective, as you can simply back away and hide, only to reappear from a doorway and get the kill.

As for counter jumping, that too can be handled via map design. While it won't eliminate your average counter jumper, it should discourage them from doing so, since it wouldn't be as effective. I'm not sure on the exact map design for this, but something that uses slopes and angles comes to mind. The goal is to simulate a real battle between two soldiers, rather than a straight up MGE you'd find on most servers.

For Scout, it's about building a level with multiple platforms and obstacles to jump to and from. Things that promote constant movement, so it's not a pure and simple case of viaduct dm.

And Demoman... not quite sure on that one just yet. I want to somehow lower the risk of constant sticky spam, as to hopefully promote and encourage trapping and pipe aim. As for how we'll do not? Not sure. I'm open to suggestions though.

The MGE thing is honestly still in the planning stages, and won't go live for quite some time, if at all. Obviously finding the right kind of balance and fairness is important, but there's also the format itself. Simply put, it's a bitch to run a large scale MGE tournament. Like, tech wise, no problem. But when it comes to managing servers and enforcing the rules? Well, then you run into some problems, and so far, I've been unable to come up with any solutions.

I'm not going to half-ass an MGE tournament just because I can. If I were to ever truly implement it, it'll be done right, and with fairness in mind.

Pong? That's like, the most random reason to take a break, and yet... the best reason I can think of. :D

Nothing wrong with aiming high.
Best of luck with your team.

Pootis deserves some of that competitive love.

Posted an announcement to the Steam group going over a short little FAQ for the ultiduo test.
http://steamcommunity.com/groups/eTFCL#announcements/detail/650037138905541250

I'm going to edit this into the original post later today or tomorrow. Whenever I've got time to do so, and format it correctly. But basically, here are the formats we will be supporting at launch, as well as some formats that are more or less coming at a later date.

Highlander - This will be supported in the upcoming Spring Beta.
6v6 - Alpha coming in December. Signups for it are going to open up soon. In fact, you can start a team now, get a roster, and then ready it up. Once the alpha bracket goes live, you'll be put into it automatically.
4v4 - We'll have this in the Spring Beta.
Ultiduo - Currently have a test running right now, though we're probably going to turn this into a seasonal thing. Like, currently it's a single round elimination thing. Moving forward, we'll probably go by a traditional swiss bracket.
Heavy Boxing - The goal is to launch this every Winter, and should start hosting these in 2017. We're also doing a cross promotional partnership with the National Heavy Boxing League. More details on that soon.
MGE - This is a ladder based tournament. We're calling it Best of Class, which will pit Scout vs Scout, Soldier vs Soldier, Demoman vs Demoman, and Sniper vs Sniper, on custom made MGE arenas suited for each individual class type. Like, Sniper for instance will have a centralized open area, with lots of cover and great sightlines, while also opening up several flank routes. Edit: Forgot to mention, the MGE thing will be available some time after launch. No official launch yet, as we're trying to figure out the best way to go about this.

We also plan on testing a 3v3 format. No details on that yet.

On an unrelated note, we've been talking with a few interested parties, and may be a co-host of a LAN in the near future. I can't release details yet, though keep your eyes open for that.

Honestly, mostly an oversight on my part.

This is just the possible rotation for alpha. The beta season may use final, or u13. We'll put that up to another vote when the time comes.

Unknown at this time. Europe's kinda big, and I just wouldn't know where to begin as far as expanding into it goes.
If there's enough demand for a new European league, I see no reason as to why we can't expand. It's really just a matter of making sure we've got enough staff to manage it.

For now though, my official answer is going to be "maybe". Though if it does end up happening, it won't be happening any time soon. Definitely not in 2017, and even 2018 is iffy.

Hey, mind if I use this in the TFCL 4v4 beta this spring?

Help decide on which version of sunshine and snakewater we'll use in our sixes alpha rotation.
http://www.strawpoll.me/11672004