COMPETITIVE SEAL MAP!

For clarification, the tickets that players can win in this cup will be for the TF2 Zone and will be guaranteed access for the Zone.

FYI, there will be a cap of 16 teams total competing in the TF2 Zone. This is for logistical reasons to ensure a full and fair bracket can be played. Whilst the space will be accessible for people with a Weekend ticket, during Tournament hours only players competing in the TF2 tournament will be able to access. People wishing to compete beyond the 16 team cap will have to play from the LAN hall. Two teams will be able to confirm their slots in the TF2 Zone from the online tournament, meaning that 14 slots will be available.

Details on how to confirm your TF2 Zone place will come shortly.

Just a heads up for people who are planning to attend but have not yet booked accommodation. EA recently announced that the ALGS Championship (a major Apex Legends event) will be taking place on the same weekend as Insomnia over in the Resorts World arena - adjacent to the NEC.

Therefore we highly recommend that you sort out your accomodation ASAP, as tickets for ALGS go live 21st July and Hotels etc will get snapped up rapidly.

Team Fortress 2 Insomnia 71 Online Open

Dates: 12-25th August
Tournament Link

REGISTRATION CLOSE: Saturday August 12th

Full schedule will be published soon.
Map pool will be published soon.

This is the event thread for the Team Fortress 2 Insomnia 71 Online Open by Insomnia Esports, organised by EssentialsTF. Teams will battle it out with the top two receiving 6 x Weekend tickets to Insomnia 71.

All matches are played using the ETF2L Config & Whitelists.

When adding a Team Fortress 2 Game account on Challengermode, all players must enter their SteamID64, instead of "in game name". Your request to join the tournament will be denied if any players on the roster do not have this set correctly.

Team cap is currently 16, but can be expanded with additional interest.

EssentialsTF Discord

Important Update:
Due to some changes in operations, the TF2 Zone will not be available for players on the Thursday and instead can only be accessed from Friday morning onwards. Only LAN ticket holders will be able to get into the Venue on Thursday. To address this, we are changing the tournament format to ensure that people playing from the TF2 Zone only will have ample opportunities to play both in the main tournament and in PUGs. So to reiterate: the TF2 Zone will only be available on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We are working to ensure that the zone is available on Friday as early as possible, specific entry times will be confirmed sometime soon.

In other news, later today we'll be putting out a seperate thread for the Team Fortress 2 Insomnia 71 Online Open, a tournament before the main event with 12 weekend tickets up for grabs. The dates for this tournament are the 5-6th August. Signups and format will be discussed in that thread.

More details about i71 will continue to be relayed as and when information is confirmed. Please do reach out in this thread or in our Discord for more information. The main post has been updated to reflect this change.

Similar to other peoples sentiment in this thread, but it is not a good look for RGL admins to be openly complaining in forums about issues originating from their platform. I get that a lot of comments on TFTV are usually ignorant of larger systems or straight up misrepresent a person/platform's intent or motivations, but as a representative it'd be best to not be vocal on these issues and work with the rest of the RGL staff on a consistent and unified response. Responding with your own frustrations with the community in the same thread where other staff are trying to give a fair and diplomatic response paints RGL in a bad light.

RGLs public communication in response to controversy has always been a mixed bag all the way back to its first seasons; after a while you have to start reflecting on how the platform as a whole responds to such things. I would SERIOUSLY consider developing an internal policy on how to respond to forum posts like this and others. Take ETF2L, for instance. In my time there, the policy was that no admin was to publicly respond to ETF2L-related discussions on forums without permission from the Head Admin(s) and instead internally discuss and agree upon a public post if it was determined that such a post was even necessary. Every admin who signed up agreed to this process and ensured public representation was controlled.

Ironically, posts like these only further alienate RGL from the community, making it that much harder to get good volunteers.

Just to let you know thats in the BYOC, not our specific TF2 Zone. For what we know right now that is not where our zone will be.

Event Link: LAN.TF

Venue Address:
Birmingham NEC
North Ave
B40 1NT
United Kingdom

Event Start: Friday 8th September
Event End: Sunday 10th September

Prize Pool: £3,000
1st: £1,500
2nd: £900
3rd: £400
4th £200

Tickets: https://insomnia.seetickets.com/tour/i71

Tournament Link: https://www.challengermode.com/s/InsomniaEsports/tournaments/6330b8f4-dff8-4650-2e93-08db926e7a03

Tournament Format: BO1 Round Robin Groups, following into a 4 team BO3 elimination bracket (Single or Double depends on schedule & signups)

TF2 returns to Insomnia for another year, but this time things are different! In response to previous event feedback, we have been working to bring you an event that is more accessible and, more importantly, affordable.

We now have a dedicated area in the venue for the Tournament, with 36 PCs allocated for TF2 Players only which can be accessed with just a Weekend Admission Ticket, no BYOC ticket or Rental PC necessary! This should dramatically reduce the cost of attending down (a weekend admission is around £80, the standard LAN ticket without rentals is £110) and provide a place for TF2 players to compete and socialise.

In addition, the main tournament will run on Friday and Saturday only, leaving Sunday open for community-oriented things (PUGs, Scrims, Pubs, etc.). We will also be planning some events outside of the main tournament so there’s plenty of reasons to turn up.

We will also be running a tournament in the run up to the event with tickets as prizes! Details to come in the next week or so in a separate thread. Tournament signups both to this and Insomnia71 will come soon.

FAQs
• Can I still play from the BYOC?
o Yes! You can play from either the BYOC or TF2 Zone. With a BYOC ticket you are given a desk to call your own for the entire weekend, you don’t need to swap with anyone, and you can bring your own equipment or rent for the duration of the event.

• Am I guaranteed a place in the TF2 Zone?
o If you have signed up for the tournament you will have a PC in the Zone, but outside of your officials it is first come, first served. In addition, if we need your PC for an official, we will ask you to move. We will also encourage people to swap outside of match times so people have plenty of chances to play throughout the event.

• Should I bring my own Peripherals?
o Yes! There will be things prepared, but we cannot guarantee its quality.

• Can I play other games in the TF2 Zone?
o We ask that you avoid playing other games on TF2 Zone PCs especially during tournament days, if things are quieter, you may be allowed.

• Can the Weekend Ticket let me in on Thursday?
o No, you will need a LAN ticket to get access to the venue on Thursday. The TF2 zone will open on Friday.

• What days do I have to attend to play in the tournament?
o Friday and Saturday, the Sunday is optional but we recommend attending all days to maximise your playtime, there's no guarantee you can get a PC once you're out!

• Will I have to swap with people during the tournament?
o After your matches, we will ask you to swap. This is to guarantee that everyone who signs up has a PC that they can play on. Therefore, its good advice to avoid logging in on any websites or accounts where possible, and it is your responsibility to log off on any platforms.

• Can I use my config on the TF2 Zone PCs?
o Yes, we will be working on a method to make switching between configs quicker. Be sure to prepare your configs in advance.

• Will I be seated with my team?
o If all of your team is using the TF2 Zone, you will be seated next to one another during your matches.

• Should I get the Weekend Priority or Weekend Standard Ticket?
o Either will work.

• Is there a team cap for the TF2 zone?
o Yes, there will be a cap of 16 teams with 2 teams guaranteed from the online cup. Any signups beyond the cap will only be able to play in the LAN Hall. Details on how to confirm your position to come soon.

We anticipate a fair number of questions, given how different this is. Direct any questions to this thread or over on our Discord. Both EssentialsTF and Insomnia have been working hard to make this event as accessible as possible and so we hope that this makes it easier for you to attend.

cu@

EssentialsTF Twitter
EssentialsTF Discord

Insomnia FAQ
Insomnia Twitter
Insomnia Discord

https://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=189493

Others have mentioned this, but the key to 'sustain' the esport in EU is not the highest level of play or even the average. Instead its the bottom level of comp play, those that are interested in taking the game more seriously but immediately hit the wall of "How do I start?".

Some areas of improvement that would go a long way to promoting longevity include:
- Encouraging and promoting a welcoming environment for new players
- Guided Games (Think Newbie Mixes, Coaching, etc.)
- Methods of playing regular matches against similar skilled players outside of league play/scrims (newbie & open-only)
- Same as above but a more blended experience (open-mid) not reliant on circlejerks and niche communities

I've held the belief that accessibility is one of the biggest problem areas of the scene since it stops fresh faces joining, and as people leave the community doesnt have others to replace them.

Memes aside, I believe something similar was tried around this with very short round timers and the more capture points you held when time expired the more 'points' you got (So 1pt for Mid, 2pts for 2nd, 3-5pts for Last; First to 20?, iirc). There was some discussion but ultimately I think the feedback was in the negative.

The issue with many people's suggestion of 'fixing' 5CP or 6s is that the solution they come up with is far too complex or adds newer, harder to fix, issues - I myself have had my fair share of 'solutions' that have had this problem. Complex fixes only makes accessibility into the space harder which is a major issue in a stagnant scene such as ours, and any issues as a result would create a vicious cycle of creating problems in the attempt to fix existing issues.

If eliminating dead time is the goal, why create such a convoluted method as opposed to something far more simple, like a GG plugin? Teams themselves then get to decide when a match is over. If abuse of the plugin is a concern, then the platforms (ETF2L/RGL) can implement punishments for those that do. The best approach to 'fixing 5CP' should be slow changes to ensure that A) everyone is playing the same format (no halves/halves etc) and B) quality of life fixes to make the biggest issues...less big (5 min round timer etc), not massive overhauls of the entire way we play competitive. At that point it would be more effective to just try other existing gamemodes, like Payload or other A/D maps.

Shoutouts to everyone on Brew Crew (nash, GardenFungus, Sodium, mackey, and sin) for the games
Shoutouts to eepily, gubbins, cuppers, twiikuu, and samus for the hype grand finals watchalong
Shoutouts to wG and TF2easy for one of the best finals I've ever seen, especially on LAN. GGs
Shoutouts to Aoshi and Mia for the long discussions on LANs, lots of great ideas
Shoutout to Chiers for hosting us and doing a lot of work behind the scenes
Shoutouts to production for the great show as usual
Shoutout to DCS for holding down adminning most of the weekend, not an easy thing to do
Shoutout to Turbo for abusing his powers to keep the bar open
Great to meet everyone, hope to chat with more of you next time

Quick reminder for teams that have signed up or plan to sign up, please make sure you are in the ETF Discord so that we can get Team Captains access to the tournament channels.

Apologies in the delays of getting these photos out! There is a significant amount of photos to go through and the ETF team, particularly in the creative/media area have numerous projects - TF2 and IRL - they are working on. I promise you that we haven't forgotten them and work is being done to have them published ASAP.