A lot of dm power on this team. I was talking to jayy a bit and they seem very nice.

UPDATE:

This tournament is now partly sponsored by serveme.tf (na.serveme.tf). Thanks to the generosity of Arie most of the tournament servers will be provided by serveme.tf. I really appreciate him getting the map and configs on his servers as it has really helped lots of people try the map and mode properly. Also big thanks to Alfie, WARHURYEAH, and others for the positive exposure!

Regarding EU players in the tournament... I am going to stick to my original rule of not allowing teams that are not from NA. The ping difference would certainly make a less-than-ideal experience for everyone involved. If your team has one or two non-NA players and they aren't warping around then I'm not going to worry about it but no more than that please.

We currently have 8 out of a possible 16 teams signed up so we're half way there! Don't delay and get some gamers together on a team!
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1sRregNPEtUcGJbPpWG2b2s1YR40i2WrOJCIAKVMEHuo/edit?usp=sharing
Please excuse the formatting issues--Sherwoodfan constructs inferior spreadsheets!

Speaking of Sherwood, though, he is awesome and has contributed a bit of extra money for the prize pot. The prizes are now as follows:
1st Place: $220 (55 per person)
2nd Place: $120 (30 per person)
3rd Place: 20 keys (5 per person)

Big thanks to everyone who's been playing the map/mode. It's blown up a bit recently, mostly thanks to EU players interestingly (thank you Alfie, WAR, Arie) and it's very exciting to see people playing and enjoying it. I'd like to reply to specific feedback and then talk about some larger related points. Panacea's post above actually covered a lot of this but here are my thoughts:

- No the map does not need more healthpacks. Health is a finite resouce that needs to be wisely managed and skillful medic play is a large factor in how well your team can do that. And, all that said, medic is often best played aggressively with only a secondary focus on heals and buffs. Not using a med on your team is an options and gives you certain benefits but at the cost of staying power in fights and second chances from arrows, etc.

- Trimp ramps do not need any curves on the bottom. They work just fine and if it didn't work for you it's probably because you messed something up. The power of trimping is insane and about the only time I've ever seen it utilized to near its full potential is in that hamaham clip (https://youtu.be/pJLLtvLXSc8). They do not need to be made "easier".

- Not every single square centimeter of the map needs to be a ramp that's usable for surfing or trimping or whatever. More about this later.

- The "reset catapults" do not need to be lower. It is not difficult to use them and there's no reason to make it easier than it already is. You actually need to aim your throw a bit which is a good thing.

- I will not make a halloween version. Pumpkin bombs and spells have no place here. During Halloween time (when tf_holiday is set right) PASS Time goes into halloween mode with a pumpkin-themed Jack and candy health packs and Merasmus replaces the announcer with amazing lines borrowed from Sumerian Bumper Car Soccer like "DISGUSTING GOAL!!!".

- The map is as detailed as it's going to get. Right now it's basic, simple textures. It's like a dev-textured map that isn't dev-textured. I was honestly fine with dev-textures which it had for ages but I know that it's a huge turnoff for many people which is why I finally textured it. I was considering a few themes for it back when it was in alpha but none of them really fit what I wanted. Lots of people suggested green stuff like the ultiduo_baloo type look and sure it's pretty but it just makes no sense. This whole arena makes zero sense as it's just purpose built for this crazy sportball and having it painted with a jungle theme or some typical TF2 theme just doesn't fit. I want to leave it simple and plain how it is.

- Water pools for enabling super water jumps are something I've considered but I it'll have to be for another map. This map has enough going on and does not need more stuff. There's a delicate balance that must be struck between "too plain/boring" and "too full of junk/convaluted". Other interesting features to consider are different tunnels like the ones hamaham suggested. Even if players can't go in there but the ball can that might be worth exploring. Again, though, it would have to be on a different map. What about more surf ramps? No, thanks. Sure you can have frickin' 4 sets of surf ramps. The walls can be a triple-decker surf ramp and then you can have one along the bottom of the wall and one along the inside facing the other way. Imagine all that bullshit at once. Every spot on the map does not have to be a tool for making crazy plays. I already said this and if flows well into my main point that I will try to make regarding my vision for how this should be played.

I want to argue the case that limiting choice is a good thing which keeps the game more focused and even a bit predictable and contained. This is both from the perspective of limiting classes and weapons as well as map design. This helps keep the game focused on skill and outplaying the opponents. This is sort of an argument in the same vein as "vanilla tf2" being more pure. I intended this game mode to have the classes retain the feel of normal, stock TF2 that we tend to see in competitive (obviously shield demo is the exception). This is a training mod of sorts for movement and airshots and surfs and some other things. That is why I don't want to see direct hit, liberty launcher, quick fix, or any number of any other gimmicks. It is not about coming up with cheese plays based on weird weapons but about teamwork and mechanics. You can achieve truly insane things with the basic items! There's no need for anything more! If you do a crazy series of rocket jumps to go for a big dunk then you will probably be low health and will actually die if airshot. That is good! As for the map features... When there's one or two main surf ramps then you know the enemys' offensive efforts will probably utilize that. You know the main piece of high ground in the middle of the map will be useful and therefore contested. You know there's one main health pack and people will be going down there to take it. Knowing these things is a good thing! Now imagine there's 24 different ramps and catapults and jump pads and everything available all at once. Then there's just too much bullshit and you can't reasonably tell what the enemy team will do because there's just so many options. That is not a good thing! Limiting options is a good thing! Some people want health packs and even more ramps everywhere but let's just imagine that to the maximum extreme. What if there's a negative hurt trigger (heals constantly) around the entire map or, even better, the entire map gets hit with a resupply cabinet constantly and health and ammo don't matter. It's just a nonstop jump map that is entirely about playing the ball with no emphasis on kills and health management. Bad! That is not what I want from this mode at all! I know I'm always railing on the Euros for not utilizing a defender, and defense is hugely important and can make all the difference, but at the end of the day this is a very offense oriented game mode (a bit like basketball) so offense simply does not need any buffs.

My map is officially out there in the world and you can play it how you want to. You don't have to utilize our whitelist or the plugin (all it does it prohibit certain stock items and prevent instant respawn bug abuse). Anyone can play the map how they want. Also some people have reached out to me for the source files and I've given it to them because otherwise they'd decompile my map anyway (and that process often has errors and doesn't do a fully good job of replicating all of the parts of the map). So don't decompile it.. just ask. I did tell these people "Please don't just take my map and add healthpacks or a negative hurt trigger or retexture it." I can't stop you from doing this but if you do it then know that you are going against my wishes as well as those of the many people in our NA community that helped craft this mode into what it is today. I had the initial concept and made the map but it was lots of peoples' input and hours upon hours of playtesting that shaped it into what it is now... a mix of intuitive design, some luck, and lots of tweaking of the fine details to make it work well. It's far from perfect but so far the reception has been pretty positive so I'd like to think our efforts were fruitful and are appreciated.

Regarding EU: Thank you very much Alfie and everyone else for playing my game. Looks like you guys are having a blast and it's very satisfying to see. I think I'll try to get some of you EU guys to join us on Saturday night for pugs and see how Chicago and (and maybe Dallas) ping feels for you guys. I think it's going to feel utterly atrocious but in the case that it's somehow not I guess we could consider opening the tourney up to EU.

They won't. They probably fear.

https://i.imgur.com/dPJxhZE.jpg

Love this man. My old teammate of numerous seasons. The nicest, chillest, smart guy. He was getting really good before he left for what feels like 10-internet-years. I can tell that he'll shake his rust off pretty fast and be a force for any team.

1030 est tonight we will be gathering to play some pugs in the Discord.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Also, got some sample games from last night:

https://youtu.be/lE1rEVr5wbs

https://youtu.be/RlIdvFNbyM0

www.twitch.tv/jaguarfiend live here

sandblast is a fast learner! ;]

Yes... here it is: https://discord.gg/yRJuyrR

This isn't "gameplay" this is a nutty "frag" compilation!

We normally play pugs on Saturdays and we still will tomorrow but I'm going to run some tonight as well. At 1030 est in the Discord.

Well there are some files that you'd want to use to keep it from devolving into a complete runaway trainwreck (which lobbies sort of already are by default.) The main thing the config does is set the class limits. The whitelist obviously is important to prevent airstrike/dh/parachute and every other awful thing you can think of which instantly mucks up the game, and probably most importantly is easye's sourcemod plugin which prevents use of certain stock items that would quickly ruin the game (shotgun, sticky bombs) as well as prevents respawn bug abuse. Without it people who class switch would have instant respawn instead of having to wait the 5 seconds (built-in minimum in default TF2).

I feel like you could run pugs out of a mumble/discord without any of these files if moderators are there to run the show and enforce standards but in a public setting it would just instantly get out of hand.

Added the official config, whitelist, and plugin to the main post. This stuff is subject to change but probably won't too much.

https://github.com/Laxson/Passtime/
These files are posted for anyone who might want to run some practice games and have it feel official--though for the tournament servers will be provided so you don't have to worry about setting anything up. It's useful to properly limit the classes and items so pugs/tests don't devolve into complete idiocy (though some of that might be fun to try, admittedly). The plugin restricts certain banned stock items as well as prevents respawn bug abuse. Credit to Easye for coding the plugin and Laxson for the other parts and assembling it.

https://whitelist.tf/9304

Yeah, that video has some out of date information. I put notes in the description of the video but people understandably don't see that stuff and it's not ideal. In the future we hope to make an updated video that is more focused but I'm not sure when that will be able to be done. What sherwood and slice said is good stuff. I don't know if I'd say that medic is THE BEST but he can definitely be insane and way better than one might initially imagine. Besides knocking the ball out of the air (unlikely) I simply don't want to enable the medic playstyle of running around and peppering people with a plasmagun basically. Maybe that's because I fancy myself pretty good with needles but it would just be annoying, even if not particularly effective, and would distract one from doing much more useful stuff as medic.

here's a paste of the video description:

Updates/Corrections: ( 3:19 ) How strong a class can throw is somewhat arbitrary now and not based on how big and strong the character is. Weakest to strongest is scout, then pyro, then soldier, then demo heavy and engineer, and then medic sniper and spy. The classes also have a somewhat unique 'arc' to the throw which complicates things and makes them feel a bit unique.

- Ammo packs and weapons on the ground will get in the ball's way and affects its trajectory.

- The ball does inherit at least some of your momentum which is why it will go farther/higher if you move forward/jump while throwing it. This is also why moving backwards (fadeaway shots) are harder.

- Throw power does NOT charge up like a huntsman's power charges up. It's always the same, by class.

- There ARE a bunch ways to set up solo rocket jumping shots for yourself by swooping the ball up off the ground at the right moment and distance!

- While you are invulnerable after a steal or intercept enemies cannot melee you to steal the ball but you still take knockback so you can surf to your advantage.

Bereth's quick notes: https://pastebin.com/ZzETp1sB

So last season I forgot to check that my newbie mix team registered their roster for open. They didn't and then I needed one in a hurry. This guy was the owner of a soon-to-be defunct roster that was looking dead and collecting FFL's (4 of those and a roster is perma-dead). I was directed by numerous people to this roster and tried to talk to the leader (this guy). He strung me along, wasted a bunch of my time trolling me, all to just basically tell me "nope can't have my roster lmao" in the end. He knew there was no benefit in keeping a roster as you could just make another one for open since they weren't going to play that season anyway. He just did it to be an ass. In my short time dealing with him he proved to be nothing but a colossal troll and mega douchesack and I got a similar impression from his teammates. Later I was informed by several people that this is indeed how he is. Also pretty sure I saw some of these 33gal morons stomping pubs and spamming binds and being general shit heads to people, not sure which ones though (not funnybunny himself I don't think). Idk anything about his ability in game but on personality alone... Proceed with extreme caution.

*** Servers provided by serveme.tf (na.serveme.tf)! Thank you, Arie, for your sponsorship ***!

https://i.imgur.com/jLNPZFl.jpg

artwork provided by Elk

Hello! Announcing a 4v4 PASS TIME Tournament on the map "ARENA 2" ! This map/gamemode has been developed and pugged over many months (years almost) and the map was recently released publicly. I've wanted to do a tournament for a while now and it's time to make it happen! Do you know someone who likes rocket jumping? Airshots? Crazy surfs? Teamwork during non-stop action?? Then they might really enjoy this game mode!

http://www.teamfortress.tv/49301/pass-arena2

placeholder VIDEO
An actual little teaser is being made but it's running behind so for now I'll just post this dated video which gives a decent idea of the gameplay. The ball spawns top or bottom, randomly and in the case of this game it went bottom most of the time which isn't as exciting to look at (esp from that up high angle).

DETAILS
->>>>>>>>Saturday November 3, 2018 and Sunday Nov 4<<<<<<<<
-Signup closes October 28
-FREE to enter
-Both days games to start at 1pm Eastern Time
-1 hour will be allotted per set
-Official servers will be provided
-North American players only
-16 teams only for this tournament
-Double elimination bracket: Lose 2 sets and you're out.
-Scoring 5 goals or 10 minute time running out while ahead wins a game. Best of 3 games is a set. If any game ends in a tie ready up again for a golden cap game where the first goal settles that game.
-5 minutes to ready up between games. As far as rules it's all the common stuff... Be courteous, don't pause needlessly or for too long, don't be giant wieners, avoid offensive names, etc. Admins will enforce rules based on their discretion.
-For more gameplay details/restrictions please see the map release thread: http://www.teamfortress.tv/49301/pass-arena2

PRIZES
1st Place: $220 (55 per person)
2nd Place: $120 (30 per person)
3rd Place: 20 keys (5 per person)

Note: I can PayPal money to individual players or to your team captain.
MAYBE possibly there might be medals awarded...

CASTING
This tournament will be casted! Only some of the games will be able to be casted of course. Details will be put here later.

SIGN UP
Post in this thread and you will be signed up. Please follow the guide below. You can have one official backup listed. Otherwise ringers/mercs are fine but need to be approved by the opposing team on a per-set basis, UGC style.

BRACKET------
https://challonge.com/3ub2tbs2

TEAM LIST-----
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1sRregNPEtUcGJbPpWG2b2s1YR40i2WrOJCIAKVMEHuo/edit?usp=sharing

DISCORD SERVER
https://discord.gg/yRJuyrR

This is the official Discord server for the tournament. At least the captain of each team should join it so they can receive server info as well as report scores of completed games to admins. Most of the communication for the tournament will be done through this Discord! It's also a good place to talk about things and ask questions (though in this thread is fine too of course).
Steam group right here btw, where we make announcements: https://steamcommunity.com/groups/4v4PassTime

Config/Whitelist/Plugins
https://github.com/Laxson/Passtime/
These files are posted for anyone who might want to run some practice games and have it feel official--though for the tournament servers will be provided so you don't have to worry about setting anything up. It's useful to properly limit the classes and items so pugs/tests don't devolve into complete idiocy (though some of that might be fun to try, admittedly). The plugin restricts certain banned stock items as well as prevents respawn bug abuse. Credit to Easye for coding the plugin and Laxson for the other parts and assembling it.

https://whitelist.tf/9304

PSSST HEY READ THIS
I already linked this but I'll do it again: http://www.teamfortress.tv/49301/pass-arena2. You should really check this out especially if you're thinking about playing the tourney. I highly advise all entering players to mess around on the map and maybe run some pugs on it if you can so you're not just jumping in raw on tournament day because you might just get roflstomped and then you will be sad. Also there will likely be at least one team made up of veteran players from our weekly pug group here and they're gonna be looking to smash you all and SNATCH UP MY MONEY. You're not just gonna let that happen are you?!

Note: Some details may change and this thread will reflect it. Myself and my regulars helping me are not veteran event producers but we're trying to use the community's vast resources to do a good job at this.