Background: My uni has a fairly large eSports society of around 400 active members. Mostly they play LoL, CSGO and OW. I made a thread asking if people played TF2 competitively and the response was as expected fairly muted. A couple had played div 6/irc lobbies etc. a while back but nothing more recent.
Anyway, I want to host a TF2 night for the society to try and gather some interest for comp TF2. I should be able to pool a reasonable prize together and enough servers to host it etc. in order to draw people in, but I'm not sure on the best format to actually run it at.
Obviously I don't wanna go full on 6s with whitelist and the like as that will confuse new people. I could try to go highlander without the whitelist or something but these people are gonna be super nooby and again, I don't wanna scare them off. I also don't want it to become a huge cluster fuck with exactly 0 coordination whatsoever.
In CSGO, if you want to show 10 newbs the competitive game, just stick them all into a 5v5 and they're gonna at least get a small grasp on the rule set and what is a really stupid thing to do. Do you think this is even possible in TF2 or is it just too complex and I'm just thinking wishfully?
TL;DR How to make newbs not hate this game and want to play again?
Background: My uni has a fairly large eSports society of around 400 active members. Mostly they play LoL, CSGO and OW. I made a thread asking if people played TF2 competitively and the response was as expected fairly muted. A couple had played div 6/irc lobbies etc. a while back but nothing more recent.
Anyway, I want to host a TF2 night for the society to try and gather some interest for comp TF2. I should be able to pool a reasonable prize together and enough servers to host it etc. in order to draw people in, but I'm not sure on the best format to actually run it at.
Obviously I don't wanna go full on 6s with whitelist and the like as that will confuse new people. I could try to go highlander without the whitelist or something but these people are gonna be super nooby and again, I don't wanna scare them off. I also don't want it to become a huge cluster fuck with exactly 0 coordination whatsoever.
In CSGO, if you want to show 10 newbs the competitive game, just stick them all into a 5v5 and they're gonna at least get a small grasp on the rule set and what is a really stupid thing to do. Do you think this is even possible in TF2 or is it just too complex and I'm just thinking wishfully?
TL;DR How to make newbs not hate this game and want to play again?
If they already have an understanding of esports in general i think going with classic 6s shouldnt be a problem as long as you mention why most of the exclusion from weapons and stuff like this is the way it is. That wayyou can better focus of making everybody understand actual basic like movement, aim etc without having to bring the rock scissor paper of unlocks into play too much
edit: also any chance you stream any of this, i'd be highly interested in the end result
edit edit: show them this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gncRGtigeNU and this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tjw3X8RQQlA
If they already have an understanding of esports in general i think going with classic 6s shouldnt be a problem as long as you mention why most of the exclusion from weapons and stuff like this is the way it is. That wayyou can better focus of making everybody understand actual basic like movement, aim etc without having to bring the rock scissor paper of unlocks into play too much
edit: also any chance you stream any of this, i'd be highly interested in the end result
edit edit: show them this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gncRGtigeNU and this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tjw3X8RQQlA
I would definitely link the whitelist.tf page before the games are played. When the night is all said and done recommend them to active sites like MixChamp and TFTV so they don't get pulled into matchmaking, and get a skewed view of how the game is played.
I would definitely link the whitelist.tf page before the games are played. When the night is all said and done recommend them to active sites like MixChamp and TFTV so they don't get pulled into matchmaking, and get a skewed view of how the game is played.
DuMmTmIf they already have an understanding of esports in general i think going with classic 6s shouldnt be a problem as long as you mention why most of the exclusion from weapons and stuff like this is the way it is. That wayyou can better focus of making everybody understand actual basic like movement, aim etc without having to bring the rock scissor paper of unlocks into play too much
Well you make a good point, and you just made me realise that most people won't have many/any unlocks anyway. Maybe I should try and get a captain for each team to play as medic and that way at least they can be told where they should be going etc.
The other thing is class restrictions. iirc the main leagues still have 2 spys allowed. I'll probably change that to just 1 as 2 spys is likely because new players tend to like how he's different to the others.
[quote=DuMmTm]If they already have an understanding of esports in general i think going with classic 6s shouldnt be a problem as long as you mention why most of the exclusion from weapons and stuff like this is the way it is. That wayyou can better focus of making everybody understand actual basic like movement, aim etc without having to bring the rock scissor paper of unlocks into play too much[/quote]
Well you make a good point, and you just made me realise that most people won't have many/any unlocks anyway. Maybe I should try and get a captain for each team to play as medic and that way at least they can be told where they should be going etc.
The other thing is class restrictions. iirc the main leagues still have 2 spys allowed. I'll probably change that to just 1 as 2 spys is likely because new players tend to like how he's different to the others.
dailyI would definitely link the whitelist.tf page before the games are played. When the night is all said and done recommend them to active sites like MixChamp and TFTV so they don't get pulled into matchmaking, and get a skewed view of how the game is played.
I see that as kind of an issue though. People won't understand why the game's in-house matchmaking isn't acceptable for mainstream use and question why they've got to login to an external site just to practice a little. This is my #1 reason why I think competitive TF2 has an entrance barrier and I'm trying for that not to be a problem here.
[quote=daily]I would definitely link the whitelist.tf page before the games are played. When the night is all said and done recommend them to active sites like MixChamp and TFTV so they don't get pulled into matchmaking, and get a skewed view of how the game is played.[/quote]
I see that as kind of an issue though. People won't understand why the game's in-house matchmaking isn't acceptable for mainstream use and question why they've got to login to an external site just to practice a little. This is my #1 reason why I think competitive TF2 has an entrance barrier and I'm trying for that not to be a problem here.
Barry_ChuckledailyI would definitely link the whitelist.tf page before the games are played. When the night is all said and done recommend them to active sites like MixChamp and TFTV so they don't get pulled into matchmaking, and get a skewed view of how the game is played.
I see that as kind of an issue though. People won't understand why the game's in-house matchmaking isn't acceptable for mainstream use and question why they've got to login to an external site just to practice a little. This is my #1 reason why I think competitive TF2 has an entrance barrier and I'm trying for that not to be a problem here.
Every competitive game has its rules and meta that differ from the base casual game.
Compare it to smash bros, new people catch on pretty quickly to rules like no items or going with stock, and even things like stagelists or the tierlists they can accept with little-to-no explanation even though they take a bit more knowledge of the game to actually understand why they are the way they are. And that's almost 1:1 with tf2 (replaced with nocrits, our maplists, and the basic class composition).
I don't see new people who might not even play tf2 at all do very well, but I don't think "btw competitive plays differently from pubs, here's a rundown of the big things" is going to be a problem to most people.
[quote=Barry_Chuckle][quote=daily]I would definitely link the whitelist.tf page before the games are played. When the night is all said and done recommend them to active sites like MixChamp and TFTV so they don't get pulled into matchmaking, and get a skewed view of how the game is played.[/quote]
I see that as kind of an issue though. People won't understand why the game's in-house matchmaking isn't acceptable for mainstream use and question why they've got to login to an external site just to practice a little. This is my #1 reason why I think competitive TF2 has an entrance barrier and I'm trying for that not to be a problem here.[/quote]
Every competitive game has its rules and meta that differ from the base casual game.
Compare it to smash bros, new people catch on pretty quickly to rules like no items or going with stock, and even things like stagelists or the tierlists they can accept with little-to-no explanation even though they take a bit more knowledge of the game to actually understand why they are the way they are. And that's almost 1:1 with tf2 (replaced with nocrits, our maplists, and the basic class composition).
I don't see new people who might not even play tf2 at all do very well, but I don't think "btw competitive plays differently from pubs, here's a rundown of the big things" is going to be a problem to most people.
DuMmTmedit: also any chance you stream any of this, i'd be highly interested in the end result
I'd love to stream it (shameless plug twitch.tv/barrryc) but it really depends on how my internet is doing that day :p
[quote=DuMmTm]edit: also any chance you stream any of this, i'd be highly interested in the end result[/quote]
I'd love to stream it (shameless plug twitch.tv/barrryc) but it really depends on how my internet is doing that day :p
JarateKingI don't see new people who might not even play tf2 at all do very well, but I don't think "btw competitive plays differently from pubs, here's a rundown of the big things" is going to be a problem to most people.
Maybe you're right and I am overthinking how it would turn out, but in the past I have tried to get friends into it by playing lobbies etc. but they have never stuck to it because it was too overwhelming for them. That being said they certainly weren't eSports savvy players so perhaps this will be different. Also it will help that they will all be noobs :D
[quote=JarateKing]I don't see new people who might not even play tf2 at all do very well, but I don't think "btw competitive plays differently from pubs, here's a rundown of the big things" is going to be a problem to most people.[/quote]
Maybe you're right and I am overthinking how it would turn out, but in the past I have tried to get friends into it by playing lobbies etc. but they have never stuck to it because it was too overwhelming for them. That being said they certainly weren't eSports savvy players so perhaps this will be different. Also it will help that they will all be noobs :D
Make sure you're not making them play with default hud, net settings, fov, etc.
Make sure you're not making them play with default hud, net settings, fov, etc.
Don't do highlander because it's too far from what's labeled as competitive in the game, so if they actually want to pursue it will just set them up for more obstacles and in a wrong gamemode.
Don't do highlander because it's too far from what's labeled as competitive in the game, so if they actually want to pursue it will just set them up for more obstacles and in a wrong gamemode.
Uni students are pretty difficult to convince to play something as "taboo" as TF2 compared to the other mainstream games. Only commit to doing this if there's enough interest in the first place.
Uni students are pretty difficult to convince to play something as "taboo" as TF2 compared to the other mainstream games. Only commit to doing this if there's enough interest in the first place.
ShpeeismeMake sure you're not making them play with default hud, net settings, fov, etc.
I don't think there is anything wrong with using the default HUD. I use it in minmode and I think it is fine, especially seeing as these guys don't need anything extra to install in order to complicate matters.
I will create a config file though with all the necessary cvars they're gonna need including the things you've mentioned.
georgebaiiUni students are pretty difficult to convince to play something as "taboo" as TF2 compared to the other mainstream games. Only commit to doing this if there's enough interest in the first place.
Well that's my reasoning behind having a cash prize pool. So far there have been no tournaments for any of the other games so if I am the first then hopefully it will catch people's eye. Even if they just play in the tournament because of the cash incentive that's OK because hopefully they will enjoy the tourny and end up looking more into our comp scene.
[quote=Shpeeisme]Make sure you're not making them play with default hud, net settings, fov, etc.[/quote]
I don't think there is anything wrong with using the default HUD. I use it in minmode and I think it is fine, especially seeing as these guys don't need anything extra to install in order to complicate matters.
I will create a config file though with all the necessary cvars they're gonna need including the things you've mentioned.
[quote=georgebaii]Uni students are pretty difficult to convince to play something as "taboo" as TF2 compared to the other mainstream games. Only commit to doing this if there's enough interest in the first place.[/quote] Well that's my reasoning behind having a cash prize pool. So far there have been no tournaments for any of the other games so if I am the first then hopefully it will catch people's eye. Even if they just play in the tournament because of the cash incentive that's OK because hopefully they will enjoy the tourny and end up looking more into our comp scene.