Depends on the map and unlocks. I feel valve should direct more attention to accumulating weapon ban stats through the system

As far as deciding class balancing in a 6s format, class limit 1 decided by each team could work, which would naturally be limit one medic and limit one demo

Any competitive format is going to be new for the average casual TF2 player.

It can go both ways:

1. Someone who likes changing up his or her class to help defend/push will find enjoyment in 6s

2. Someone who likes playing one class only will find enjoyment in HL

whichever game mode is used, if not both, will cater to the average casual player one way or another

You're assuming the average person is incapable of deciding to compete, and incapable of expanding their horizons in a new competitive format that will potentially be one-click away.

6v6 has a more dynamic flow of interchanging classes, with offclassing

if people have spent a lot of money on hats they don't need matchmaking in 6s to tell them it was wasted.

Regardless of that, we'll know tomorrow

I trust John will make sure this cast will be twitch front page, that would be great

I am hopeful that valve isn't looking to turn matchmaking into a full sellout, but it's not out of the question that there will be some kind of squad surplus reward system

really understands the game, great for improving any team

A good question about matchmaking and weapon balance would be what route they have in mind for covering it. I feel like there's no good amount to choose to ban that would be fair other than 1 weapon ban per team per game, and although the process would be slow, each week can take the top banned items and valve can then look into rebalancing these weapons. It'd start with horrible things like Short Circuit and Beggar's, and slowly work its way down the list of things that are just anti-meta.

Maybe a follow-up from the letter?

I knew what you were trying to explain when you started talking about the Global Sources, but the first example you gave made it unclear because you weren't actively showing it in a typical scene/source setup, but once you included the Initialize scene it was much more clear. Otherwise solid tut

Were those CS viewmodel animations? I kinda liked it for the pistol

Nice surfs as medic

The similarity between deadbolt and paragon is uncanny

Training for 6s demo as far as gamesense goes should come down to playing it a lot in pugs with decent players, or getting a team to practice with. Over time, you'll start getting into the flow of what to look for at middles, what enemy players you can catch out of position by cutting off their exit route while your scout challenges him, things like that.

For mids, it's about getting damage on certain things to remove their positioning. If you hit a nice meaty sticky on a scout on a high-ground part of mid, he'll likely back off if your team is there to pressure him, which makes winning the mid a lot easier if your team has the right positioning to push into the remaining players on mid.

I've found that the downtime parts of a round (stalemates, pushing last, holding second) can be an opportunity for you to help the flank with a cheeky sticky trap or just general support. The map depends on what you should be doing, but generally you can focus on helping your flank in some way without leaving your pocket out to dry at the chokepoints.