It's the month long player break, I dont think itll be an issue.

He's dragged me back to this game despite swearing I'd never play again.

Twice.

He's that fun to be around.

Thank you for everything Lou, you did an ungodly amount of work and did one of the best jobs of anyone I've seen in TFTV. You were a gem(m) to work with. Not sure this community realizes even a sliver of the time you put forth, but that's the name of the game. You're a legend in my books.

Where do I donate.

He's absolutely insane to watch, and despite being super young, he's actually pretty mature(honestly more mature than me).

He's also good at prophunt. That means nothing for TF2, but it is worth noting.

This^

And where is the "this too late" coming from? You have over a month before it starts, and it gives an actual offseason from ESEA. Pretty sure 90% of the teams ive been on were still trying out players right at the end of the ESEA deadline, I'm not sure how half these teams are going to live when playoffs end and RGL starts a day later.

If anything, RGL was too early, not NACL was too late.

https://clips.twitch.tv/YawningCulturedOtterWow

excited to do another TF2 LAN, even if this one is only remote coverage to start the day.

Wish I was in Philly

What I found from a caster stand point at least, is it added some intrigue to the season as you DIDNT get that answer mid season. Teams would look even, and then you truly got the answer of who was better in playoffs. Sort of how trading maps in ESEA works right now

Interesting to see a few things:

ESEA ruleset was the most popular option with 40% picking it, however overall more people preferred a 30 minute alternative between the windiff or winlimit. ~57%
An overwhelming majority 82% want to go to map rotations again, with 2/3 wanting 2 maps/week. Seems the ETF2L/OZF schedule is most desired overall, with discussion to be had over winlimit 5 or windiff 5.
However, with NA players, it moves closer at a 55/45 split on 1 or 2 maps a week, and almost 50/50 on 30min or 2 halves.
The NA numbers have very slight differences between divisions, but it's all about the same. 55/45 for 2 maps in open, 60/40 in IM, 66/33 in invite. 51/44 for 30 min vs 2 halves in open, 45/53 in IM 50/46 in Invite.

I'd be interested to see a follow up poll pitting those specifics against each other, as in which format of 30min (windiff or winlimit) theyd prefer. See if we get a clearer answer between the two as everyone who voted ESEA 2 halves would have to pick one.

Thank you for calling it EU/AU ruleset. Everyone just calling it the ETF2L ruleset makes me sad :(

On a more serious note, thank you for writing this all out Botmode, add this to the list of reasons I have immense respect for you!

Initially I'd like to see EU/AU/NA all on the same rulesets and formats, obviously the easiest route is for NA to mirror AU/EU, but at the same time, I'd hope they have a strong line of communication and we can change things, IE if the survey shows many think win limit 5 is better than windiff 5, that EU and AU might shift to win limit 5 to keep everything the same. Im tired of casting multiple regions and sometimes confusing myself on which format I'm casting lol.

Same format is also used in Australia as EU. Was hoping to see that format come to NA, but still this all looks very good.

Initially will the "new" map be in line with one of the new maps AU or EU are using?

This saddens me. Granted, I personally feel when 2/3 regions (AU and EU) run the same format, the onus is on RGL, it still makes me sad no effort was made.

I didn't intend to spin it as something that exists out of malicious intent, I just was concerned because it's something that HAS been done maliciously in the past. It's only an issue if it's abused.

This also worries me slightly. Not that sigafoo would ACTUALLY do it, but this gives him the power to do to TFTV what EVLTV did to him.

(For those who weren't around back then, apparently what happened is EVL would get UGC to change STV passwords so that sigafoo couldn't cast them in an effort to stop him from streaming the same game, and i believe also other games as well.)

Welp, the 2 things I really wanted from this league didn't happen.

No universal map pool
No universal format.

Looks like insomnias, copenhagen games and other intl lans will have the same issues that happened last ISeries, where a team had to play a map they dont play in their region in the grand finals.

Honestly, love or hate the format or map pool, I cant be the only one that sees the benefits of playing the same format and maps in every region of TF2?