Dashner offered to take me down to FITES, however my ability to go at this point seems pretty unlikely despite that offer. It would be fun to see some of you guys again, but that doesn't seem possible at this point.

I'd be down for GXL next year though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9y5KR7_MNs

I know you, and we did discuss briefly what these forums are aimed at. If you need help with a UGC LFT thread, hit me up on Steam.

Being a big Highlander player, I am not disappointed at the potential to strengthen the Highlander community and maybe have it taken more seriously. If this is what Valve wants to support, and we want any support at all, accept that fate and help build Highlander.

Sure, the chances of a Highlander LAN are low, but that doesn't stop us from having PUG teams at LANs, or even the core of HL teams coming together to play. With lots of luck, energy, and love, Highlander can succeed.

I don't have the capacity at the moment to take my feelings on this, mix them with posts here, and form them into an essay, so I'll stick to specific things in paragraphs:

Many of the big community leaders are older; their burnout/moving on is only inevitable. Some of the people I've seen complaining that losing older community leaders spells the end are older players, roughly the same age as the community figures themselves. I feel as a younger player, we've played to the tune of the older players, so to say. Yes, this is an opportunity for younger players to rise through the ranks, but taking the initiative is difficult, and there are many varying circumstances. If we want to see initiative, let's keep our hopes high, and encourage the younger players in the community to do what they want to do.

There has been some mention of the letter that was sent to Valve. Out of curiosity, it would be nice to see what was mentioned in this letter, however I believe that the letter should have been an open letter to begin with. How is writing a letter that has only been seen by a few eyes a fair way to show you are representing the interests of the community? You don't need to take every single player's input, but to allow us to feel some involvement in this statement can mean a lot.

As for UGC; it didn't take me long to realise that people don't like the place, and after my first season leading a team in Season 12, I can understand some of the reasons as to why. While I believe UGC has done some great things to benefit, and continue to benefit the competitive TF2 scene, there are also many problems with the league in general that are not being properly addressed, and are holding the community back. If we all have such a big problem with UGC, as horrible as it sounds to say it, this could be the waking call for us to create, or find new solutions/alternatives to UGC.

I'd like to see Valve implement a system to get players into competitive, however we can't be fooled into thinking we're off the hook. We still have to maintain our stances in our leagues, train the new players, and keep them coming into the game.

There was a comment in here about Highlander being the only format with life in it. I can't lean to either side of the arguments in that statement. With the disbanding of Mixup, CEVO's cancelation, and Vavle's negative opinion on Sixes, it does make the Sixes scene look barren. If people wants Sixes to continue, we can't be looking at all these losses as meaning the end. There are still places to play, and places that need to be rebuilt to grow, and sustain the current player base in Sixes (Looking at you, UGC). (But if UGC fails to rebuild Sixes, see two paragraphs above.)

Valve has made the implication that they would be more inclined to support Highlander in a matchmaking system. It gives Highlander a boost, and it could give Highlander a chance to stand out for once. But we have to keep in mind all the things that go along with Highlander. The biggest factor being that Highlander involves so many people.

There was the light mention of doing organized Highlander at GXL next year, and I hope that can be pulled off. We're so focussed on Sixes, but many a pub player is more intrigued by Highlander, because it is easier for them to understand, to connect with. To hear about, or watch the footage coming out of such an event would be a great boost. Looking at the posts asking the players to promote the competitive game to new players, this is one thing we can do, yes?

I think I've written enough for now. I'm going to copy this post to UGC as well.

Yeah, it's a rather bad time of year, and given that it's not a full-on event, I can't justify being able to go (Add on that I have another commitment January 2-4).

I did agree with the points made in that UGC thread you linked about needing a better free 6s league for people to play in. If CEVO wanted to take that up, it could be a good excuse for them to get players into their league, since that is something that they are needing.

In terms of UGC specifically, I think there are a lot of problems with the league that are hardly, if ever, going to be addressed. As much as UGC has done to support TF2, the problems that they have as a league often serve as a roadblock for the community to grow bigger, especially a problem for NA Highlander, because UGC is its hub.

I think one big step, particularly for NA TF2, is going to be moving away from UGC. We need a place that is going to welcome people rather than scare them away with varying poor decisions and management. For a new league, I'd want to see a structured mentorship program, and a plan for easing players into the competitive scene.

Come to think of it, I did notice a stutter in healing teammates, but my bigger issue has been with the beam texture/particle itself. It randomly disappears, but a lot, and it makes being able to tell who I'm healing really difficult.

Hey, weren't you the guy talking to Ma3la and some other eLevate guys on the Saturday? I think I overheard you talking about this.
Not sure if I can offer any contribution to the LAN at this point, but we'll see. It's good to know that there is notice of how much we love our TF2 (Why do I play this game).

You weren't the only one, I think Rogue had trouble.

Finalized my Imgur album. I didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked.
EDIT
HERE'S A NOT-SO GENERICALLY-LABELLED LINK TO MY IMGUR ALBUM, OK?!
And now that I have it, might as well throw Tagg's album in here

Well, if you guys were stumped for things to say to fill time, I hope the EVL Battle Royale promotion request was at least something to work with. :3

I'm working on my token of thanks, it'll come...

Scrimming you guys was great! I hope we stay in touch!

I don't want to overload the already bloated main GXL thread, and I noticed some other threads popping up, so why not have a general thread?

There's already one active on UGC (You have to be logged in to see it), and we've got some pictures in there. As far as we know, this year had the biggest turnout of UGC people, namely Highlander players, which is awesome!

Anyway, I'll start with this, which I scanned and finished touching up just now;

http://i.imgur.com/77Q4OS0.png

Also, check out this album if you haven't already: https://www.flickr.com/photos/indyleet/sets/72157648623484671/