Quickly getting this out of the way, do not believe anything that comes from WAMO. Everything that they say relating to Updates etc is largely unsubstantiated. They legitimately thought that the Jill that contacted them was either THE Jill from Valve or at least closely affiliated with them enough to know that a significant update was coming. Second, they are trying to pass off Team Comtress as some sort of secret project or that they have insider knowledge. Finally they have a repeating track record of either misinterpreting or straight up lying about things for views and engagement.

The fact that Valve are working on a solution to the bots is not new information, we knew that this was the case back in June 2020. They did a series of updates limiting what the bots could do by reducing F2P functionalities and noted that they were doing ongoing work to address the problem:

"Work is ongoing to mitigate the use of new and free accounts for abusive purposes" https://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=62459

Hearing radio silence as the team works on ways of combatting cheating is nothing new and is in fact one of the things developers should do when working on anti-cheat measures. The more information is out there the more that the ones developing the cheats can prepare and work on countermeasures. From what I know (which I'll be upfront is not much), there is little evidence that Team Comtress as presented publicly will be added to the game. If I was to guess, some of the changes may have been sent to Valve and are being tested/implemented but essentially porting over Comtress to the main game is not happening.

This is nothing to be suprised or excited for. I don't think there is anyone within the tf2 community at this point who isn't aware of the bot crisis. Its ridiculous that people think that Valve are only just now acting upon it; that the delay is likely due to lack of manpower than ignorance of the problem. Hopefully it is a decent update, possibly in addressing the bots and optimisation issues, but at this point I'm keeping my expectations low.

TL;DR: YouTubers don't have a clue, an update was always going to come, don't get too hyped.
Edit: Some Grammar.

Signups for the NA Community Clash have ended. If you have signed up these are your next steps:

1) Ensure that your team captain is on the Discord;

2) Contact an admin letting them know who is your captain for your team, with their Discord Tag (Username#0000);
a) If you want a member of your team to act as a deputy captain, please let an admin know;

3) Check-in for the event starts on the 7th at 17:00. All teams must be checked in before the deadline on the 8th 1 hour before the tournament starts;

4) Keep an eye on the Discord for all updates to the event;

5) Ensure that you have read the rules on the Tournament Page.

48 Hours remaining till signups end, its your last chance to get teams together to play!

https://www.toornament.com/en_GB/tournaments/4539172956295323648/information
https://www.toornament.com/en_GB/tournaments/4539260879002624000/information

Signups for both the Newcomer and Main tournaments have been extended to Thursday 6th May at 18:00 EDT. Make sure that you are registered before then otherwise you will not make it into the tournament. We have enough signups to run the main tournament but we would love to see more teams, especially for the Newcomer tournament. If you know anyone who is new to competitive TF2 I would encourage you to get them to sign up for that.

We have accepted our first wave of participants for the open tournament. Open captains, you should have received an email confirming whether you have been accepted to play. Could you also please ensure that your discord name is the same as the one you registered with (you can change nicknames for individual servers).

EDIT: Prize Pool splits for the open tournament have been confirmed. Newcomer splits to follow promptly.

Just throwing in a quick update just so everyone is aware.

Due to lower than expected signups for Invite, the qualifiers that were planned for this weekend will not be going ahead. All 8 teams who signed up will automatically proceed to the group stages within the main tournament. As such the format of the second weekend (aka the main tournament) will be going ahead as planned.

We will be accepting any registrations to the open and newcomer tournaments from this evening onwards. I encourage teams to signup sooner rather than later as there is limited capacity of 72 teams, although if there is significant interest alternative formats may be discussed.

If there are any other places where we could communicate information about this event (RGL forums etc.) please let me know so we can get that out there. We want as many teams as you can make to turn up. As always direct any questions here or in the #contact-an-admin channel on Discord.

Thank you for your patience and hope to see you at the event!

Could the captains of the teams that did signup join the Discord and message me so I can add you to the private channels. Due to the limited signups for Invite, we will need to adjust the structure and I would like to discuss that with the captains before I make any changes. Specifically I need the captains of:

• HRTeam (Magma)
  
• Cat Posse (kura_beast)

We believe that we have promoted this frequently through multiple newsposts, threads and social media. All of which we encouraged people to keep an eye on those channels for updates. We reached out to RGL staff for support where reasonable, but at the end of the day this is a cup seperate from their organisation. It's clear though that our usual channels of communication are quieter in NA than we expected, and will do better to promote our events for NA audiences.

That being said, the main tournament next weekend is still going ahead which will be open to all teams who wish to compete. Additionally there is a Newcomer tournament for teams who do not have experience with competitive mode. All tournaments have been designed to be adjustable for signups, whether that's 16 teams total or 72 and beyond. We are committed to delivering the event as promised, and that has not changed.

Signups for the NA Invite Qualifiers have been extended! You have just over a day to get signed up, and since only 4 teams have signed up so far we're really looking for people to get a move on. Based upon signups for Invite we may adjust the structure for the event. Registered teams will be contacted by email and a post will be placed here to announce any and all changes to the event.

Just wanted to quickly bump this thread to remind teams that wish to play invite that they have less than a week to sign up to the qualifiers. All teams that want to play invite in the main tournament must signup. The structure of the qualifiers may change based upon signups, although this will be communicated to teams.

As always, direct any questions here on in the EssentialsTF discord.

There is no entry fee, the prizepool has been provided by DreamHack. As for email addresses, we require them for two main reasons. In the case that something goes wrong with discord etc. we need a way to get in contact with individuals. Secondly if you win prize money those emails are needed to send over to DreamHack. If you are not comfortable having your email listed, we may look into making them private or only requiring team leaders emails.

Match Times (EST)

Main Tournament:
8th May
Invite Round Robin:
Group 1 Round 1 - 14:30
Group 2 Round 1 - 15:15
Group 1 Round 2 - 16:00
Group 2 Round 2 - 17:30
Group 1 Round 3 - 18:15
Group 2 Round 3 - 19:00

Open Swiss:
Round 1 - 13:00
Round 2 - 14:15
Round 3 - 15:30
Break - 16:30 -> 17:00
Round 4 - 17:00
Round 5 - 18:15
Round 6 - 19:30

Playoffs (Single Elimination):
Round of 16 - 21:00

9th May - Playoffs (Single Elimination):
Quarter Finals - 13:30
Semi Finals - 16:00
3rd Place Match - 18:30
Grand Finals - 21:00

Newcomer Clash
8th May - Open Swiss:
Round 1 (Gullywash) - 13:00
Round 2 (Metalworks) - 14:30
Round 3 (Snakewater) - 16:00
Round 4 (Sunshine) - 17:30
Round 5 (Process) - 19:00

9th May - Playoffs (Single Elimination):
Semi Finals - 16:00
Grand Final - 18:30

This is the event thread for the upcoming North American Community Clash sponsored by DreamHack and organised by EssentialsTF. Details about the event will be posted here when available. Questions about the event should be placed here as well and should be answered promptly. I would encourage any teams interested to check out the tournament pages as that contains all the relevant details about the event, but also keep an eye on our twitter page for updates: https://twitter.com/TF2Essentials

All matches are played using the RGL Scrim Config and Whitelists.
EssentialsTF Discord: https://essentials.tf/discord

Main Tournament:

• Signups end 6th May at 18:00 EST
  
• 8-9th May
  
• Day 1 - Open Swiss (6 Bo1 Rounds) & Invite Round Robin (2 Groups w/ 3 Bo1) followed by Playoffs Ro16
  
• Day 2 - Playoffs (Single Elimination)
  
• $2,400 Prize Pool, splits are the following
  
  1. $1,200
     
  2. $600
     
  3. $360
     
  4. $240
• 72 Team Cap (subject to change)
  
• https://www.toornament.com/tournaments/4539172956295323648

Newcomer Clash:

• Signups end 6th May at 18:00 EST
  
• 8-9th May
  
• No player on the team must have played in the playoffs of the Newcomer division in RGL or any equivalent league and/or have exceeded 15 official matches.
  
• Day 1 - Open Swiss (5 Bo1 Rounds)
  
• Day 2 - 4 Team Single Elimination Bracket
  
• Prize Pool confirmed, but details TBC
  
• 16 Team Cap
  
• https://www.toornament.com/tournaments/4539260879002624000

There is a soft region lock, no teams can have more than 3 players from a region that isn't North America. South American teams will be subject to admin discretion. We are open to suggestions about the format and times of matches. Please don't hesitate to let us know on Discord or within this thread.

1. PUGs are a great opportunity to practice personal aspects of your play (DM, general positioning, other classes) but scrims will always be the better option if you want to improve 'across the board'. Nothing beats practicing 6s than playing 6s properly.

2. A good mentor is one that helps you grow, not someone who is a walking encyclopedia of knowledge. Any invite/prem player could give you tips, but a mentor that works on your own playstyle and you as a person is infinitely more valuable. Certainly, a mentor with extensive knowledge on the game is important. However, if you are struggling with the non-game elements (communicating properly, working with your team, avoiding tilt) that is going to be a major roadblock to your success as you progress.

3. A player is only as good as their team, and vice versa. If there is an issue within your team (e.g. your flank dies very early in teamfights or your med drops a lot) that's a conversation your team needs to have. Thinking in terms of "X is holding us back" or "I'm holding them back" is the wrong way to approach that problem.

4. A lot of well performing teams are ones that have stuck together for a long time, or at least have a good portion of the team who have. This is because you become friends with one another, communicate more naturally and develop in-game dynamics with one another. If each individual splits and tries to find teams, more often than not you'll be joining a team of complete strangers or being new in an existing team. In either case you have to get to know one another before you can learn to play with each other, which takes more than one season.

5. Whichever mode of practice you pick (DM, MGE, Offline, Jump), whats important is what you get out of it. Theres a term in psychology known as Deliberate Practice. In simple terms, it refers to a structured approach to practice that focuses on identifying areas of improvement and developing sessions to develop that specific area. In terms of TF2, you could, for example, find that your Scout vs Soldier is pretty poor. To improve this, you spend the next couple of weeks before scrims doing some Scout/Solly MGE to warm up and figure out where you can get better. There is no BEST way to improve DM or Movement, but determining your weak points and focusing on that will make improving feel more natural.

6. Just through spectating, Invite Players appear to make correct choices more often. In actuality its hours upon hours of practice and years of experience. Main Players seem to make more mistakes, which is to be expected.

7. Pretty much what carter said.

8. Improving comms, much like anything, takes practice. But generally speaking good comms do one key thing, they let people know about something they do not currently know but should. The odd spam rocket is not worth calling, but that spam rocket hitting 4 people probably is, for example. Determining what you as an individual should say and how your team as a whole communicates is just something you need to figure out with your team, it all depends on how they work.

9. Natural talent is definitely a thing, but the cases in which things just 'click' for an individual is incredibly rare. Practice and mentality is a much bigger contributor than raw talent.

10. Soldier goes zoom, airshots make brain feel good.

We were interested in potentially doing something like that for i67, but then COVID happened. I would love to see asian teams coming over to play, but as we've seen with NA teams attending iseries the logistics of that can be tricky.

So I've decided to give the report the article is based upon a quick read through. I have a couple of points that I think are important to note.

1. This report/research was conducted with support from BeGambleAware, an independant charity advised by the Gambling Commission set up by the UK Government. That is not that unusual with reports such as these, and charities like BGA tend to be non-invasive when supporting research, but its always good to bear such information in mind when conclusions are drawn.
   
2. The '40% of children have opened a lootbox' statistic is taken from a 2020 study where its explained that its a little more complicated, especially when you frame it in the context of problem gambling. From the study itself: while establishing a statistically significant link between loot box engagement and problem gambling, our data do not allow conclusions as to whether loot box engagement promotes problematic gambling or if problematic gambling leads to gambling-like loot box behavior in gaming.. (It's behind a paywall you'll just have to trust me on this one).
   
3. Most of the studies used in the review of the data are not longitudinal (aka examining over a longer period of time) and utilises surveys which have their own host of issues, especially if they are your only source of data collection.
   
4. Their own individual data collection started during the COVID-19 pandemic and their sample for their survey was collected on the 19/11/2020, at a significant peak of the UK pandemic. This presents a potential skew in data that can only be verified by a reproduced study (someone else doing the exact same study to see if they get the same results).

This isn't to say that this is based on inaccurate conclusions or shoddy research. There is a link between problem gambling and video games, any player who plays games with loot boxes in them will tell you there is an issue. Valve especially has a problem in regards to reselling items and artificially forcing them into a seperate digital currency, resulting in scandals like CSGOLotto and what have you. There definitely needs to be some form of child protection from such things, and you can make the argument that developers (or more accurately publishers) can't be trusted to deal with microtransactions themselves. But at the same time, parents should be monitoring their children, especially when it comes to games that feature microtransactions.

TL;DR - Study makes good points about lootboxes being bad (who knew?), but the article have missed some key points in their reporting, as always.