https://youtu.be/i_Cqym8MXM0?t=11m49s
Of course it had to be the last frag in the movie

This is a concise version of the Announcement which can be found here.

The Essentials EU Monthly has been delayed, but it will all be worth it as we are proud to announce the public release of our tournament system. The system is still in development and not perfect, but it is usable. It will be used for the NA Monthly taking place on 9th-10th June.

Currently, the system allows you to log in with steam and start a team, invite other players, keep that team maintained for future monthlies and sign up for monthlies with the click of a button. Please be aware that the name you choose upon first logging in can only be changed on approval and will be the name used in-game once future features are added.

Planned features include:

• Automatic server creation for matches (no more having to find your own servers)
  
• Automatic result collection and tournament advancing
  
• Ranking for player and team lists based on monthlies, LANs, and potentially other events

The Swiss stage is now shorter, only allowing 45 mins per stage, after player feedback.

This month we have banned the Machina due to the bonus damage making it clearly a straight upgrade to stock, was there no extra damage we would consider it again as having to be scoped could be considered an appropriate downgrade for shot penetration. We have also added Cardinal to the map pool as we believe it is in good shape to be played in a competitive setting.

We are planning to run test matches with top level player mixes for at least a couple of Wednesdays a month to try out potential new weapons for the whitelist. If you are a high-level player wanting to play in these please get in contact with us via Discord. Dates for these will be announced on twitter closer to the time.

Sign up for the NA Monthly here.

One of the most entertaining posts I've seen in a long time. Looking forward to more high tier guides and destruction of Invite plebs from Cole the Engi.

This guy can't be serious. Right?

Oh.

So, old Autobalance?

We are aware of the complaint that 5-6 Hours of TF2 for two days being exhausting and we'll be taking a look at the format over the next couple of monthlies. With all the improvements to production, increased the quality of the streams, and the bigger audience, we aim to make the monthlies bigger and better. But we cannot do it without your support. If you can please try to make a team, the more numbers we can get the bigger we can grow.

Post great matches from TF2's Past and Present here!

https://www.facebook.com/notes/steelseries/our-statement-on-bullyhunters/10156227670083808/

TF2PL Admin here, yes you can zoom into a specific class to demonstrate a preference, but all other classes in the picture must be visible. No entirely zooming into one class so only one can be seen.

"Hey! Let's throw facts that are unsubstantiated and extrapolated from studies that use numbers or demographics that may not be representable for the majority of the Female player base, particularly the large group of women over the age of 30 that play casual mobile games! Let's not address the fact that the event was clearly staged and evidence was found of a Steam Account of one of the "Bully Hunters" being a "Victim" earlier on in the stream! Any criticism of our service is clearly Right-Wing trolls! Let's not address that one of our biggest members has routinely used homophobic slurs and offensive language to insult and berate others."

Give me a break.

Yes, harassment of Women in the gaming community is a thing and should be addressed, but hunting harassers in-game hoping to magically reform the harassers by killing them within a game is a waste of time and resources. Don't give them the time of day.

That is true, Newbie Mixes are probably the best way of practicing in a friendly and constructive environment. At the moment, there are no coaches or well publicised since I am a bit preoccupied with University Finals. During the Summer I do aim to grow them into a self-sufficient service. However, I do host them still and they are usually quite fun. Check out all the information in the ETF2L Discord and the Newbie Mixes Match Guide if you are interested in taking part.

Discord
Newbie Mix Match Guide

Just a quick heads up for those who don't know, i63 will be taking place on the August Bank Holiday Weekend. That means that it will be the 24th - 27th August. Bear that in mind when booking travel and accommodation.

Because when I get a kill as Pyro or get killed by a Pyro, I don't feel like the kill was earned. Every class is rewarded for having good aim, game sense and movement. You can die to a Scout faster than you can to a pyro, yes, but the Scout requires consistently good aim to achieve that. Pyro gives little benefit for near-perfect tracking outside of a damage boost to cranking your sens up 4x and just flailing your mouse at the enemy. Alongside that, Pyro's most controversial secondaries (in my opinion), the Detonator and Scorch Shot, allow Pyro to directly negate his biggest weakness by giving them the ability to set multiple people on fire from any range whilst also being very forgiving.

Pyro was designed to be the class for players who weren't good at FPS to be able to have a significant impact back when the Game was primarily focused on being casual. Now that the development team's focus has shifted to bridging the Competitive/Casual gap, and the fact that the overall player base has become more accustomed to the FPS genre, Pyro needs to change to allow players that have better mechanics and game sense to be significantly rewarded and players who don't need to gain any benefits, much like the other classes are.

I see no issue with this. This is totally a fair and balanced class that takes a tremendous amount of skill to pull off. Anyone that dies to this simply doesn't understand the large IQ plays that the Pyro requires.

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