You can see every single player POV at once by standing behind, the plugin blocked the ability to spectate the other team. How is it any better? Technically, it means you can actually only view one at a time so it's hardly bringing anything more than what you'd achieve in person.

The idea behind forcing participation on the server meant any teams who happened to be placed on rows in front of teams using coaches (physically) reduced the risk of being able to see enemy POVs as well.

Personally? I don't really agree with coaches, maincalling was definitely an element that provided a skill difference in many teams. At the end of the day though if it did improve Crowns [over having kaidus, the caller, as a player] then what we saw was a higher level of play, or better quality. It's not a terrible thing to explore options that strive to better the quality of play, surely?

A case was made for it, it was tried. I agreed to do it and i'm standing by it. Honestly, that's the best iseries LAN final we've ever had so i'm not regretting that if it contributed at all. If from here the idea is ditched in future events and tournaments then so be it. Nothing ever changes unless you give it a chance to. All the other teams had an opportunity to use a coach [Jasmine Tea and froyotech understandably have a much greater financial struggle to achieve that, that's something that sucks only because of where our community is at with funding and LANs, i'm not rich I can't change that as much as i'd love to]

I knew Crowns winning would only bring out more salt but whatever. If you're salty, blame me, I don't care. If it's all bullshit then it won't catch on and we'll drop the idea.

I'm done with organising TF2 at iseries here so whoever is taking over for the future can make this decision next year if it's at the event.

No, there will be no relays out

Either watch the stream live or download the STV after the game (auto uploaded to demos.tf on map end)

Teams were due on servers 20 minutes ago.

Crowns/FT have not been to me for map picks so games are being forced to badlands, granary, gullywash

servers are in discord, I will begin by defaulting a map with coin tosses at 11.30 if no teams are present on the servers.

Technically there are no issues, only teams holding the schedule up and after the farce of yesterday this is not okay. We have 2 hours per BO3 and there's a likelihood of golden gaps based off yesterday.

If anyone has eyes on teams tell them to sort their shit out because i'm fairly sure they won't like being defaulted.

Edit:

Crowns v.s. 3/6

3/6 ban badlands, crowns ban reckoner, crowns picked gully, 3/6 picked product, 3/6 banned snake, crowns banned pro, final map gran and game is underway

Edit: JT/WIndtunnel gran, reckoner and badlands

Everything from today onwards will be BO3 map picks

LAN servers are working so STV demos now should auto uploaded to demos.tf directly after the game

If you are at the event a small reminder... There's a discord here that's being set up for the event so please join this for information

There's also an event-wide discord which can be found on the bit of paper with your seat/name on if you're interested in that.

Servers are currently being sorted out for the tournament so right now no local fun or mumble ones are done yet (priorities!)

If you're registered on battlefy then do check in if you're here at the event. If you've not yet registered try get a move on, signups are due to close in 30 mins although I don't have access (still) so I won't be doing it but I can't promise someone Multiplay-side won't do a global closing of all tournament signups.

Join discord!

There's a discord here that's being set up for the event so please join this for information

I'll try get the link on that page changed, I still don't have access on there. I haven't been told whether or not there was a more global one for the event and all BYOC tournaments so just easier to roll with our own above.

Tournament Sign Up Page

Can I just remind teams that they will need to have signed up on the page above before tournament start (Friday 12 pm BST). I'd recommend doing this before the event given there's never a guarantee there will be internet at the event etc. and with players suffering travel delays it won't be the first time teams haven't been able to sign up.

I am currently trying to get an idea of fixtures for the invite group so froyotech, comfortably spanked, full tilt, and crowns all need to sign up still. Without at least 3 of those signed up it doesn't look like I can predict anything (as fixtures appear to generate based on registration order in a round robin). Ideally we can put this out before the event so you'll know what is being streamed and when.

For non-invite teams there is an intention to run a swiss-style open group however depending on numbers this does risk not leaving us enough time to play this out properly. With only two promotion spots available i'd rather have the time to have a play-off as required rather than make decisions based on win difference, for instance. Knowing numbers would be very helpful!

I believe you need all 6 (or more) of your players on your roster before you can actually sign the team up so please give everyone a poke! Get it out of the way and done with then all you need to do is turn up on the day :)

---
As a side note, hopefully this should be obvious but to highlight any abuse of bugs and exploits is forbidden. The current hud_reloadscheme issues causing lag spikes will be penalised under this if used during fights or at any point intended to provide an advantage, just to be clear.

It won't be crucial but bottom line is i'll say things there (i.e. regarding scheduling, how to find servers, communication info) that if you then miss something "I didn't know my game was now" type of shit won't get you anywhere. With the swiss system being used for open groups this year *all* fixtures will get held up by late games so i'm keen to keep everything in line.

Pretty much all the main information prior to the event i'll try post here, fixtures you will find on battlefy, no idea how servers are being managed yet, and mainly there will be an event discord. If you're not on discord you'll miss stuff, but everything mentioned in a briefing will definitely be on discord.

It's usually more useful when we end up with event delays, it's good for people asking questions, maybe if you want to know what the admins look like when you end up wanting to pester them later... lots of people do miss them because it's usually kinda early anyway.

(I have to give a briefing, and it's far more useful for other tournaments, but as a close community all the information should be out there already)

Reckoner is not completely ideal but nor is putting something like sunshine back in that isn't in active play in Europe given almost all teams competing are European. Both Froyo and Jasmine have had a heads up on it being included. That said, it also won't be forced on them at all - the invite group stage requires only 6 maps making this a fair one to leave out.

It's definitely much more ideal to have an odd number for the pick/bans as tsc noted.

Yep that's in plenty of time!

Cheers, u13/rc4 updated in there.

Consolation final will be BO3 still, the grand final will be BO5.

Hi guys,

The tournament schedule has been posted up on the main tournament page here - times are all local to the UK (BST)

The tournament briefing will likely be later (more like 4 pm) but do please try pre-register your team as signups will need to be closed early in order to sort out brackets and seeding etc.

The invite group will be playing a round robin on the Friday, with a guaranteed spot in the eliminations beginning Saturday. Standings in the group will determine seeds into the brackets. The rest of the teams will be (hopefully!) competing in a swiss system setup in order to determine the final 2 teams into the elimination. We are running an 8-team elimination bracket this year rather than 16 as per previous. All elimination games will now be BO3 with map picks. As before, Friday will be BO1 with set maps.

Map Pool

cp_badlands
cp_snakewater_u13
cp_process_final
koth_product_rc8
cp_reckoner_b3
cp_gullywash_final1
cp_granary_pro_rc4

^ Maps hopefully up to date ;p

Hi!

As per last year myself and fiyahstorm will still be running the event. We are however obliged to have a third admin this time.

Please note this is a volunteer role so you do not get paid. However, you will receive a free ticket to the event. If you already have a ticket then a refund or transfer can be sorted out. Food vouchers are also provided for the days you are working (this seems to change every time but looks like enough for 2x meals a day up to a value of £6-7 each). You are still required to bring your own PC.

You cannot play in any tournaments as staff and you are unlikely to get many opportunities to play social games on ‘live days’. Because there will be three of us you may find there is a bit more time but this will depend on how things are running on the day so I can’t say too much. We’ll pick up most of the stress of it :)
Expect:
Thursday ~ a few hours setting up, testing and checking servers, chasing sign ups, effectively doing as much as possible so things are ready to go for Friday. You should have a few hours Thursday night for social time, should be quite relaxed. Not a massive problem if you can’t get here for Thursday, although it would be preferable that you do.
Friday ~ Start time depends on tournament sign up closing, but not too early (i.e. something like 11 am), chasing sign ups, sorting seeds, assigning maps. Once tournament is live you will be there until we are done for the day. Previously this has been something like 3-5 pm until midnight. Usually sticks to schedule so I don’t expect any later than that.
Saturday ~ in for 9-10am depending on tournament start, pretty much runs all day, aiming to be done for pub quiz (9 pm). Mostly just monitoring games, dealing with map picks, feeding results through. Delays very common due to teams in BO3s not starting on time.
Sunday ~ Likely only a couple of games, inc. finals. Looking like we’ll be handling finals again so less time pressure and no real messing around setting up on stage. After the finals you can do what you want with the time, you’re pretty much free.

Mostly, there is a lot of sat around at times (which usually means things are running smoothly) so you can obviously do whatever you want during that time as long as you handle tournament stuff if it pops up. You will need to sit with us. Not sure yet whether they’re forcing us into the admin area but usually we can sit closer to the teams.

Myself and fiyahstorm have handled this together before so there’s no real pressure on you but it does just allow us to take breaks for food etc. as this became a problem last year with teams causing delays and running into scheduled breaks. We’re using a different tournament system this year (battlefy) so things should be a bit smoother possibly (?) rather than multiplay’s system in the past. Any experience with that is obviously very useful :)

With that, this will be the last year I intend to run TF2 at insomnia so should it continue next year you would be in a good position of experience if you wanted to do it again.

If you’re interested fill in the survey here and i’ll be in touch. I’m away most of next week so I will probably try make a decision ~2nd August or so.

Awesome news on the goal, glad to hear it :)

The computer requirement is for a couple of reasons in a way:

- it helps limit the grey area from an admin perspective (i.e. a player sat down at their computer can see fewer other computers) this would be a particular problem if facing a team sat on the next row where a player stood up could see their screens, incredibly unfair but unfortunately it would just become a game of someone's word vs another as to whether that was happening. Restricting them and using a plugin server-side might well alleviate a bit of this headache

- it'll mimic how coaches can practice online

- likely fewer issues with spectators physically getting in the way of coaches

- coaches are required to be on roster, and therefore also bound by their Steam ID to verify them as players, it's another way of trying to keep clear records and ensure no foul play (it'll also be clearer from a spectator and opponent teams POV that they are running a coach strategy if there's an extra player connected)

Ref. suggestions about between maps/freeze time - I don't see how that's any different to how it has been historically? Teams almost always walk off between maps, can talk to anyone etc. there's been nothing stopping anyone consulting a tactician between maps.