i haven't felt alive watching basketball since April 28th, 2012 but it's good to see the Bulls finally moving off the Lavine/Demar/Vooch core. excited for Matas/Williams/White to grow together

just gonna add, humidity affects your mousepad and that could be part of the reason you mention your mouse feels sluggish or fast at different times, esp at this time of year. if u feel that might be the problem look into pads like the GSR-SE Gris, LGG Saturn Pro, Artisan line

there's really no need to get into the specifics

pubbing ctf_doublecross late at night is a vibe

based on your description pink floyd may fit the bill, i'll recommend the following songs and if you're into it i'd suggest checking out the albums wish you were here, animals, the wall, and dark side of the moon.

time
comfortably numb
high hopes
us and them
dogs
pigs
wish you were here
welcome to the machine
shine on you crazy diamond
lost for words
marooned

if you have a mix of skill levels one of the problems with a discord/mumble pug group that is just based on a captain system is there is ambiguity for what class a player will play while picks are being made, and this can lead to more unpredictable or unbalanced pugs--unless it's just absolutely clear it's a sweat pug. any site or group that has defined classes and has some other incentive like elo, or a win/loss tracker on each class, etc. is just naturally going to be more structured and competitive feeling

a site like tf2pickup.eu has a good system, you choose the class you want to play, maps are voted on, and teams are automatically chosen by what I assume is some sort of internal elo system for balance. i think a captain-based site system where there are no limits for how many people can add up for each class is good too, as long as it's defined beforehand

how much would you say you checks notes hate yourself?

you can hold down MOUSE4 or 5, I forget, when plugging it in to lower the debounce time on the clicks in the newer models

would only recommend the ec1-c if you have huge hands and have more of a palm grip, for any reasonably sized hands the ec2-c is better if you use more of a claw/fingertip grip.

deathadder v3 wired is on sale right now for $54, less than what you'd pay for a zowie, amazing value for a mouse (59g, 8k hz polling). the wireless will run you around $150 usually. DAV3 is in between the ec1 and ec2 and is actually the closest to your rival 5 in size

preach, cheating is by definition the worst thing you can do to undermine competitive integrity, and this is a competitive league. the only way non-permabans can work is if these players are being closely scrutinized and monitored once they're allowed to play again, and i don't think rgl or the anticheat team has the resources for that

s12 bump, looking to play fscout in adv

rang for two of maff's matches last season, fun and easy scout to play with & consistently fragged, would recommend

love this dude, just don't leave him unattended on your ship in sea of thieves (it will sink)

i would go one step further, not only is there a lack of centralized content on how to play comp, but the actual funnel for recruiting (and retaining) new players is lacking. rgl does a pretty good job of marketing the league if you happen to be watching one of its streams, but put yourself in the shoes of a total noob: okay, you see an ad for rgl, you go to the site. there's nothing on this front page that, as someone who has never played comp, is intuitive or holds your hand through the steps of how to find a team, how to learn this new format, how to find newbie pugs or scrims and begin practicing, etc. these things are all completely foreign to someone not in this community and i'd wager that there are plenty of potential new players that stop before they even start because they don't know what to do or how to do it. an introductory beginner video or a guide or some sort that clearly walks players through this process should be prominently on the front page and easily accessible, and then there should be a clear funnel to step by step get someone signed up and start the process of getting them involved and engaged with learning and finding a team.

regarding educational content, rgl's youtube posted soapy reviewing a pov. a series like this has a lot of potential and should be followed up on with other players/classes/maps, and even more importantly at a lower introductory level. there are some callout vids for maps which are good as well, but again this content needs to be expanded on and centralized and more easily accessible.

(on a smaller note, there also needs to be a clearer incentive than "do you want to play comp tf2? check out rgl.gg". this will get the attention of a portion of the pub/casual player base that is competitively inclined and looking for something more challenging, but there are other reasons someone might want to start playing comp- making new friends, being part of a community, getting better at the game, and so on.)

finally, ya'll need to work on that SEO. when you search "competitive tf2" rgl doesn't even show up on the front page of google, same with "how to play competitive tf2", where the most helpful resource is this sorta boring wiki article. if you search for "tf2 league" the first result is UGC.

there are multiple weak links in this chain of recruiting, educating, and retaining new players and if u want the comp scene to thrive into the future it's one of the most important things to focus on.

great guy great scout