Hate to be the bearer of slightly bad news,

The BBC are currently live at I52 with Wizzo, they also did some recording yesterday.

The recorded footage? The CSGO finals! Maybe if we had swapped those times around or gone for the Monday at 9am!

All jokes aside though, exposure to esports is good in any shape or form. It would have been nice to see TF2 on the news for once though!

This is disappointing to hear, this could be related to the new setup used this year with a separate director.

I can confirm that at neither i46 or i49 did we (me and Arx) have any warnings about when we we're going live, luckily I know Byte of course :) Though, we could hear audio instructions through the headset, e.g. Bring the mic closer.

I slightly disagree with you on the roster run down, yes its a nice to have but I wouldn't say it's a massive sticking point.

Having not watched the final yet, I can't comment on this too much. As above, I guess it's disappointing to hear there were some sound issues, could the tent have caused this? I did prefer Telford large room compared to the tent.

So yes we would have all loved this a few years ago, even at i46. Unfortunately, this just won't happen.

I don't want to disregard your idea but here are my opinions,

TF2 isn't big enough and unless we are willing to rent the space (as you said correctly). This would require significant investment in both money for renting space and hardware. As far as I'm aware, all exhibitors bring their own stages, tvs, PC's etc

It takes a considerable amount of man hours working with what we have now. Remember, there was 4 guys at least from Production who arrived Wednesday and others who arrived Thursday day. If we wanted to change this, we would need staff being paid in some shape of form.

Forgetting the points above, we also then run into the issues of actually scheduling casting of games. We have learnt from lessons in the past its highly beneficial to be in the same room with the ability to walk over and get games - server info, starting things off, interviews and so on. I think having this moved away from that area would be a step backwards in the ability to keep things flowing.

I look forward to catching up with some vods over the next few days but from what I did see. Things looked very well presented and the hard work which was put in would have been enjoyed by thousands! So really good job to all of you.

Pretty much as you said, a flight that early on Monday is a bit awkward

This is a viable option and should allow for some buffer. I've checked any road closures and it all looks clear, probably as it's a very busy weekend in England with Monday being a public holiday.

Safe travels, I'm sure it will work out fine for you.

Great movie, reminded me of the documentary about Quake 3 with Blokey and Timber created many years ago. Well done to Bones, Cube and all involved :)

It's actually gutting that I can't make i52 this year (friends stag do), considering I think i49 is our best event to date. It will be the first time I have missed a summer I-event in a long time. I know all of the guys involved for this year have been working hard and I will definitely be tuning in when possible.

Excellent job once again.

As above, just prebook a train ticket from Euston to Coventry and pay for the tube ticket on the day

Depending on which terminal youre arriving into will have an impact on bag wait. Just remember, Heathrow to Euston on the tube is 45 minutes to 1 hour at least.

Personally, if i was booking a connecting train, i would be thinking around 3-4 hours after i landed. 1 1/2 hour for bags and non-uk customs, 1 hour for tube + buffer.

On the customs note, hopefully midweek you should fly through.

Though it's not a bad idea, they are there for 2 days. Oyster is primarily designed for people making single journeys I believed? If so, isn't it better and easier to just buy a travel card each day at £8.95? Yes Oyster has a charge cap but we are talking about £1.50 difference each day.

Good ideas there, the only thing I can add is the Shard (viewing platform now available), Piccadilly Circus etc.

Jump on a sight seeing bus if you want to get some fresh air though it will probably be raining :)

Though I like the idea, unfortunately this isn't really viable. The whole point of the finals being a 'big thing' is for the interaction with the crowd. From what I've seen that just won't be possible in the room currently allocated for TF2 casting.

The issues that exist are:

1) All of the PC setup will be on the main stage, e.g. Cameras, Big Screens, Commentator stations etc. We will not be having any PC's available for playing on the TF2 stage.

2) The finals game have always had to be on the MPUK stream, this won't be changing.

3) Seats for public viewing - I expect some to be present for the TF2 area but nothing like the amount of the actual finals stage.

4) We still want other event goers to be watching the TF2, will they do that if it's tucked away in a side room?

Again, I like the idea and anyway to avoid the 10am start is a good idea, this one just won't work I think.

Though I'm not attending GXL (unfortunately), I've kept an eye on this GXL thread.

Just to clarify an earlier question from Dashner:

To the best of my knowledge, most teams have always accepted the fact that if they don't make it out of the groups, they will have no more official games to play. This will be very apparent at i52 due to the tighter scheduling deadlines we have.

At most i-events (correct me if I'm wrong people), we have had a Championship tournament which everyone is entered into. If you fail to make it out of groups, you are automatically placed into a non-prize winning cup, aka. The TF2 fun cup.

I believe Fragile has already mentioned the possibility of having this as an option, server availability permitting of course.

In regards to i52 this year, you will see that due to the earlier final start time, it is likely that some teams will be knocked out by Friday evening. This will mean that they will no longer be part of the main tournament from that point. Most teams have always seemed to accept this and either take part in the TF2 fun cup, organise some other games with friends (literally shouting across the hall) or go and mingle (see Colemans post above).

If a team passes out of the group stage of i52 this year, once they are knocked out there is no more 'officially organised competitions' to enter, most players will have stopped playing by mid-afternoon Saturday. This has always been the case and I don't see this changing. Again, most teams accept this and haven't had a problem in the past finding something else to do - including me and Arx.

Summary: Nobody likes to lose but as you all know, for someone to win, someone has to lose.

I slightly disagree with you here,

The whole point of these events has always been meeting friends, having fun, raise awareness and playing some games. Note that playing games is the last point.

Yes I understand that $60 is $60 but for what it's worth, surely the opportunity at having more fun and something new to do is worth it? In the bigger picture, $60 is peanuts in the UK (we pay around $170 for a weekend i-event pass + Camping costs)

Yes it's possible you may only have 3 games in the main tournament but that doesn't mean you have to stop playing. GO play some more games, hell play some free to play games with your buddies. That said though, I bet those 3 games will be the ones that stick in your memory because of the enjoyment, adrenaline and well the chase at trying to better yourself.

Finally,

From what I have learnt from Fragile and eXtine, they (et al) are working hard and this promises to be the biggest NA TF2 event ever organised.

If you're still uncertain about going, what are you waiting for? This is a TF2 forum, the game means that much to you that you read this entire thread and this post from a guy across the pond, just jump on board already. I highly doubt you will regret your decision.

These questions are always so hard, especially how the game has changed. For me it comes down to people who were game changers:

Bybben and Masiina - 4Kings scouts for a number of years, people argue this one but not only winning i-events, PC Gamer and various other competitions, including games against opponents across the pond. How can they be ignored?

Stefan and Bash - Hard to look past these two, ive lost count how much they won together and when both are on form they can be unstoppable.

Stealthy and Appz - A blast from the past, Wotr and TCM years, but these two scouts were pretty much rulers of Europe at one point. Both had set roles and played them very well. They won a lot together and still difficult to look past today.

Edit...P.S So many more I could have mentioned, sorry if I missed anyone :)

This man does actually make a good point.

Many years ago we always had the approach of all games apart from Final to be done on Friday and Saturday.

If you think back to the schedule last year, it will likely mean more games on the Friday and the Consolation Final of course taking place on Saturday (hopefully at a reasonable time - e.g. start at 7/8pm)

Pretty disappointed to hear this though are they just using lessons learnt from the past?

It's arguable to say that TF2 has always had quite a few problems during finals setup, whether this was within our control again comes into question (i49 DDOS attacks)

Pros: By moving it to earlier, it means that any potential delays may have less of an impact on the rest of the days schedule and actually give us more time than we would usually get. I do recall last year someone stated on the feedback there was no interviews at the end of the games, firstly the players didn't want to be interviewed and secondly we were told to get off the stage :)

Cons: Early start for all involved - players, spectators and VTV / TFTV staff. It does potentially limit spectators from the event and in other countries, though we may get more spectators from the walk-ins - e.g. people visiting minecraft.

I know we all would of preferred a nice time in the UK and a nice time across the pond, not to say we shouldn't challenge it, though sometimes we just have to take what we are given.

P.S. Be thankful it isn't Monday morning as it was at events in early TF2 years and the Aussies will love 10am BST Sunday :)

If I remember correctly, this was config related on TFC.

Unfortunately, the Europe TFC scene died away as far as I know. There is still some teams active but of course nothing like the good old days of UKTFCL etc.

Good conversations guys, worth watching / listening if you haven't got round to it yet :)

Shout out to the maker of that cake....my other half! :D

On a more serious note though, do we have any confirmation from US / Aus team as of yet?

Mike

Forza Italia