Status of HLPugs and its Future (5/30/18)

As we approach the summer, I wanted to inform people of what is currently going on with this project. We hope to start delving more into the rewrite and the new pug platform that we plan to launch during the summer. We understand that there are bugs and other features that should be fixed or added into HLPugs.tf 1.0, however this just serves as a distraction for the actual rewrite. Thus, the efforts are concentrated on the rewrite and unless the bugs are easy fixes, it may be best to just ignore them for to spend more time on the rewrite. You can read more about our new platform here, which serves to allow us to bring lower experienced players to play as well as the expansion into other game modes: http://www.teamfortress.tv/45808/hlpugs-tf#19.

Recruitment

I should note that the rewrite will be open source and developers who are qualified and interested with experience or are willing to learn react or typescript are wanted to help us with our project. Experience in postgresql, UI/UX design, and firebase are wanted but optional skills as well. However, nodejs is essentially mandatory and is what we will continue to use.

Lastly, if you are a video editor and are interested in volunteering to helping with future frag clips, help is wanted and is something that we want to continue to push forward into our new platform as well.

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Discord (For anyone to use in order to suggest feedback, talk to the support team, or submit any questions to the team)
Steam Group (Receive announcements for when PUGs are starting)
Patreon (Supporting our project will give you perks on the site)

Updated servers with "tf_spec_xray" set to 0 meaning that player glow outlines, names, and health bars are off by default. A command that should have been disabled three years ago in the UGC config.

Spy mains -- enjoy yourself. :)

Closed beta starts today. Join the discord ^ if you want to join our guild.

Hey everyone.

Rain set up a Discord server for TF2 players that are interested in playing this game. Come join and chat here: https://discord.gg/kJdyT6A

Closed beta starts on the 9th of May. Hopefully you guys got in.

Demo call! We are going to be experimenting with weekly (?) pug highlight videos from the HLPugs.tf platform. Submit your plays if you want a chance to be featured!

Instructions:
demo type: (POV/STV)
region: (NA/EU)
player to spectate: (player name, only needed for STV demos)
start tick: (#)
end tick: (#)
description: (one or two phrases)

Please submit this in our #pug-highlights channel in our Discord. Thanks.

excuse the bowlofmayo in my mumble in that clip :(

thanks for doing this :)

No. This is just the first wave of acceptance notices. A lot of people are getting in.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/264610344083783680/438101362627313664/Kn8FScT08e6kazlmLU_wUArGH27hZcc-P1mLZ4wwIj-XZ6Bmlu0_WH8jQI_n0pQWFCPE-sWIcjzFMSIzDHP6ipoHagQFE2UUQood.png

First wave for closed beta invites were given out today. Did anyone here get in?

http://maplestory2.nexon.net/en/microsite/roadtrip/

Make sure you guys finish the road map too. The first 10,000 people that complete the road map activities are automatically accepted to the closed beta.

If its get to 200,000 then we get some sort of reward.

It has been roughly 5 months since the launch of our open beta for HLPugs.tf. Since then we have learned a lot about our system and have worked to improve the service so it is easily usable for all our users. As we near the end of our open beta and prepare the launch of our new organization which includes an entire rewrite of HLPugs, we want to shift our focus to encompass all skill levels and to be inclusive to other game modes as well.

New Goal: Become a great environment for players to practice and play competitive TF2 with people around their skill level.

Process: It is important that we get mid-silver / low platinum players to add up. This starts by having a trickle-down process, so that newer players will start seeing our site as the place to add up. The primary issue with our service right now it is primarily used by platinum players, which may seem off putting or intimidating to lots of players. However, if we can get more players of similar skill levels to add up, less intimidation will occur, PUGs will be more consistent, and we can grow the player base.

Viable solutions for low / new players not adding up:

• Create a mixes site (e.g. “HLMixes”) to target these players. We would initialize MMR with UGC History (or hours if history not available) to ideally find the skill index of a player in order to balance and create the most balanced teams possible.
  
  
• Improve alt account detection so skilled players do not ruin mixes.
  
  
• After a certain number of PUGs, we could encourage these players to move to the captain-draft system (such as a banner to redirect players). This could be done in waves of players at a time, so players are not moving up alone.
  
  
• “Newbie” mixes nights (once a week) where new players are encouraged to play with experienced coaches/players that can teach or help them.

Potential Site Improvements for New(er) Players:

• Prevent platinum players and other players from sandbagging in the mix site. With the UGC History, we could restrict logins to the mix site for all platinum players.
  
  
• Class preferences on the classes they wished to get picked on.
  
  
• Improve reporting systems to reduce behavioral issues.
  
  
• Tool tips to guide players on how to properly pick players.
  

If you have any feedback, thoughts, or opinions regarding how to improve our service, please share them. We are actively working to develop our system so it can be enjoyed by the wider audience of TF2. We care about any feedback that you wish to send our way, as we want this project to continuously improve.

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Discord (For anyone to use in order to suggest feedback, talk to the support team, or submit any questions to the team)
Steam Group (Receive announcements for when PUGs are starting)
Patreon (Supporting our project will give you a site icon, ability to change the color of your name, longer pre-ready up duration, and more)

Beta Update #8 and Future

With the apparent decline of the highlander scene, we at HLPugs.tf want to push ourselves as an organization and make our service enjoyable to everyone. Thus, with the sponsorship of Wish and his renowned fame and wealth in the Roblox community for his mods, HLPugs.tf is now offering over 520$ a month in cash prizes to the top players and a raffle entry to those that win over ten games each month.

Prize breakdown (based on the top win rates):

1. 200$ + 20 raffle entries into the unusual giveaway
2. 100$ + 10 raffle entries into the unusual giveaway
3. 50$ + 5 raffle entries into the unusual giveaway

In-Game Medals

We are also introducing in-game medals for those that continue to exhibit good behavior and maintain an active status while playing PUGs.

https://i.imgur.com/BcRLRNz.png

New Maps

The current HLPugs.tf map pool is stale and boring for an already agitating game mode. Thus, we are proud to announce our new map pool that we plan to push (already live on the site now): pl_badwater_mle (EU), pl_swiftwater (NA), cp_process_disabilites, cp_steel_ugc, koth_product_ugc, pl_upward_abandonedfinalfix, cp_gullywash_pro, koth_lakeside_event, cp_secret_base, and koth_qonk_a10.

New Whitelist

The competitive matchmaking update just came out this week. Valve’s clear intentions is to have competitive environment where there is no restrictive weapon whitelist and we believe that should followed. Thus, HLPugs.tf will now use an open whitelist with no banned weapons: https://whitelist.tf/8179.

Thanks everyone for participating in the beta of our project so far and we hope to bring new and memorable experiences for you to enjoy.

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Discord (For anyone to use in order to suggest feedback, talk to the support team, or submit any questions to the team)
Steam Group (Receive announcements for when PUGs are starting)
Patreon (Supporting our project will give you a site icon, ability to change the color of your name, longer pre-ready up duration, and more)

Unbanned the dragon's fury, phlogistinator, and short circuit for play testing with the recent update.

Update #8 should arrive this weekend ideally.

Beta Update #7 (03/11/18)

• Substitution System Rehaul Changes #1...
  - Fixed the infamous bug where the dropdown box to substitute in a player would not appear if no one applies for spot
  - Added a system message that is emitted to the captain when no one applies for the substitution spot
  - Substitution notification now disappears instead of persisting on the page
  - Removed the "Hide substitution boxes"
  
• Added a pre-ready button (timer starts at 5 minutes; 10 minutes for patron supporters)
  
• Fixed warning pick buttons
  
• Fixed PUG scores showing up as "undefined" for 5cp maps
  
• Fixed the bug where pick buttons were sometimes disabled for captains
  
• Timezone on the EU site will now display in CET
  
• Captain Elo
  - Elo is now defaulted at 5000
  - Elo on site chat is now rounded
  
• Added a privacy policy in the rules page: hlpugs.tf/rules
  
• Updated pl_vigil_rc2 to pl_vigil_rc2a
  
• Announcements
  - Announcements can now be advanced by clicking on it
  - Added region based announcements
  
• Added a role management system that will allow us to give admin/mod/patron/etc roles without restarting the site
  - If you supported our patreon and have yet to receive your perks, please link your Discord to your Patreon and PM an admin.

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Discord (For anyone to use in order to suggest feedback, talk to the support team, or submit any questions to the team)
Steam Group (Receive announcements for when PUGs are starting)
Patreon (Supporting our project will give you a site icon, ability to change the color of your name, longer pre-ready up duration, and more)