Since I joined RGL, I have been so fortunate to meet so many amazing people working hard to build and improve the competitive TF2 experience.

Unfortunately, I have been met with a surprise kidney cancer diagnosis. We caught it early, so I am very, very lucky. Still, the effects have prevented me from being able to work consistently in the last couple of months, and because good health is a prerequisite for big projects like RGL, it is best I pass the reins on. I will focus on my recovery.

Luckily, the choice of who should own RGL was natural–Arcadia!

Having gotten to know Arcadia well, I learned that he is sensible, thoughtful, and productive as well as a good friend to many. He has a great vision of what TF2’s future can be, and his technical background in software engineering only puts RGL in better hands.

Arcadia has been an integral member of the community for a while now. I have seen him:

- Coach dozens of new players
- Connect RGL with community developers
- Work closely with a talented developer to create a public API and therefore support community development even further
- Act as a peacemaker and improve relationships
- Stay up late to strategize, support, and ensure projects get done
- And much, much more

Needless to say, I really respect Arcadia, and I am excited RGL will be under his direction.

Send good thoughts, and thank you all!

Ok true lol. I really like the idea WildRumpus mentioned: a curated resources page that has common tags you can select like 'pocket soldier' that would then bring up guides, vods, etc. In addition, there could be a global search bar if you want to look something up like "Snakewater Map Guide."

Flare, WildRumpus, and I will be working together on this stuff soon.

Discord invite to Newbie Mixes

In all honesty, there's not a lack of new players that want to play in Newbie Mixes and TF2CC (can always be more ofc); really, there's a lack of coaches. For players that have a genuine desire to build the community, go sign up to be a coach. Identifying outstanding newcomer players that can lead teams is an immensely rewarding experience, and they have power to bring more players and friends in. RGL also gives free seasons to Newbie Mixes coaches.

https://www.teamfortress.tv/62591/day-4-rgl-new-player-experience

This thread is on point with the solutions RGL is tackling right now--making the UX experience and pathing more obvious for new players, centralizing resources, and emphasizing sustainability. We're creating a new landing page that is MUCH more clear for new players and will offer a myriad of other solutions for age-old problems mentioned in the article I linked.

However, we shouldn't discount how powerful TF2CC and Newbie Mixes are for new player onboarding. RGL's goal for the newcomer division this season was 15 teams (compared to usual 10 new teams), and we have almost 30--the most we've had since the height of the covid bump. Gotta give huge thanks to those two orgs.

Looking forward to showing the community what we come up with.

Ok, it's back up B)

Hi all,

Sorry about the RGL site being down temporarily. Our hosting service contacted us to apologize for the situation. They're working on fixing it now.

Thanks for your patience.

Send thanks Aad, Virgil, and Exa's way! The final decision was last second, and they were able to make the logistics work.

We care very much. Because of the emotional complexity of situation like this, it makes sense why--whatever the result--there's persisting issues and frustrations. It can be mentally taxing, and I'm grateful for those that can do it level-headed. We're doing our best to look into it and make good decisions.

Thanks for your patience.

a sniper who actually gets picks. super chill too

Sounds like it. Hopefully that RMA form works out.

I'm sure you've already tried this too, but odd computer settings could cause adaptive brightness:
https://www.thewindowsclub.com/fix-screen-dims-when-playing-games-on-full-screen

That would be my last idea besides what you've already done. Good luck

By "disabling full screen optimizations," did you put the following into launch options:
-w 1920 -h 1080 -windowed -noborder

It could be that your monitor, for some reason, doesn't think it could support your resolution. So, messing around with your resolution might help too. I had this issue with my new monitor, and the launch options I listed above fixed it.

Happy Holidays!

We are making a new website!

But wait, it’s not what you’d initially think. It won’t outright replace the current website. Instead, it will offer opportunities to grow and improve the competitive scene in significant ways. For sake of clarity, it will be called the New Player Experience.

Development Team
Technical Project Manager: Arcadia
Designer: RaosCometh
Developer: Mori (from More.tf)
Resources: Flare and WildRumpus

So, before I dive in, let me set the scene:

Problem Statements
1. TF2’s Millenium Puzzle: the chasm between casual and competitive TF2 is too wide

• No clear funnel or in-game integration that leads players to competitive TF2
  
• RGL’s frontpage UI is confusing and unique visitor retention isn’t strong enough

2. RGL’s Developmental Roadblock: the current website’s stack is great for what we already have, but it prevents us from adding features we’d love to have in the community

• Demo hosting
  
• Centralized resources
  
• Season stats

Solutions
1. New website

• A more modern stack
  
• A landing page that is geared towards new players and “replaces” RGL’s current homepage
  
• A gamified path that motivates the new player to dive deeper
  
• Centralized resources: interactive class and map guides, optimization, customization, community Discords, projects, etc.

2. Funnel

• Improve the Discord onboarding experience
  
• Guide them to Newbie Mixes and TF2 Coaching Central where they can start playing immediately as well as meet friends and coaches
  
• Guide them to RGL PUGs and other PUG platforms

3. RGL Ambassadors

• This new role will fill the spaces in between where the funnel might fail
  
• The label will serve to help newcomers identify trustworthy people to bring them into the community
  
• It is meant for experienced players who want to build/maintain the scene through:
  - Recruiting casual players
  - Identifying team leaders that will learn the RGL website
  - Encouraging those leaders to create a team with their friends and become recruiters themselves
  - Supporting the efforts of other organizations who work to build the community (Newbie Mixes and TF2 Coaching Central)
  
• Anecdotal evidence #1: My path to competitive was convoluted. Luckily, my friend was an early leader. He took it upon himself to learn the RGL website, create a Discord server, and find other new players for our team.
  
• Anecdotal evidence #2: In season 3, I experimented with and recruited a team that played in Amateur. It started from a casual conversation with a Skial pub player. I helped him create a Discord, and he brought in multiple friends.

4. Marketing

• RGL has plans to leverage marketing outreach and target the best demographics through multiple channels as well

For Experienced Players
The current website will continue to exist. Though the new website will be targeted toward guiding new players, there will be features to come that experienced players can enjoy. For those interested in becoming an RGL Ambassador when the role opens up, consider volunteering as a coach in the Newbie Mixes Team Drive.

Conclusion
We aim to have a full release by April 2023. In the meantime, we will continuously post updates and pictures of our progress. This question has undoubtedly been in every passionate TF2 player’s mind at one time or another, so we'd love to hear your ideas below.

TL;DR We’re developing a new website to create solutions to onboard and recruit new players, accelerate their learning, and improve the future population of TF2.

Yuss

Yeah, that'll be possible with the logs integration as well!

We would like to welcome everyone on our new Development team at RGL:

Developer Head: Aad, arcadia
Developers: DubThink, StillKill, Mori, RoGue, Kastaling, DolphiN
Design Head: RaosCosmeth

The above members will contribute to RGL projects, both current and future, and here are some of their upcoming short-term and long-term projects:

Short-term
- Replacing the Prolander structure with Offseason Cups
- Renaming Trad. Sixes to just Sixes everywhere
- RGL Darkmode

Medium-term
- Allowing all divisions to add team pictures
- Allowing all divisions to add team bios
- Logs integration
- Event creation support

Long-term
- Demo hosting
- Season stats

These were popular changes requested by the community, and as more suggestions crop up, we will ensure consistent updates.

We’d love to make more improvements, so please give us your thoughts below!

It will likely continue to slowly decline, but TF2 seems to be a gaming mainstay, and we might even have another pandemic lol. If anything, friend pug servers can fill the void in the absence of TF2C.

I'd be open to RGL and ETF2L working together more closely or even consolidating in the future if worse comes to worse.