We use IRC and it mostly works out.
It would be nice if a few more mid and low open teams used it so the ratio of IM nerds pugscrimming on their off nights was a bit lower, but this way we get a nice variety of teams at or above our skill level to play against.

What, exactly, is going to bring them back? Last I checked the channels and servers are still there. If people wanted to use them, they'd be using them now.

Since people aren't actually using them, it's probably a good idea to figure out the issue and look for a solution.

If you believe ESEA is what you want to do, start as soon as you can.
Once you have some idea of how the 6s game works, additional seasons in UGC probably aren't going to make much of a difference compared to just doing it now/next season.

Regular main page news/announcements on major comp events.

Browser support for streams should be a no-brainer

Definitely improve demoui and build in better support for custom HUDs

Build PREC -like settings into the game for automatic demo recording with configurable settings.

Completely overhaul the QP rules:
Loosen restrictions that were popular in good pub communities: e.g. class limits and some forms of reserve slotting (there are probably more). Or allow people to QP to 'community' servers that meet different criteria than the current QP ruleset.
Add SOAP and MGE servers to the QP options or, better, take those mods into the game itself as betas/modes.

Re-activate the beta client and do testing/balancing of commonly whitelisted items again - focusing on the 6s and HL modes (or whatever they want us to play) - to validate Valve or the community's stances on those items . Hold competitions in these beta modes with prizes to encourage top level play and bring balance adjustments into the game accordingly (ie the Valve's game event but ongoing and official).

Develop new official maps in 5CP, KotH and PL that can work in 6s/HL.

I got it a while back when I clicked on an ad unintentionally. It wasn't that hard to clean out, though.

Hey, the deadline is past and we have 13 teams entered (plus one that died). Not bad! I have a google drive doc with the rosters and will start keeping up with standings after this week's matches ends - see the OP for the doc!

If you think someone is sandbagging or ineligible - please send me a PM with the issue and I will check on it.

Remember - results will follow ESEA standings at the end of the seasons!

I've been playing medic for about six months now (2 UGC seasons, last season in CEVO-O and now ESEA-O this season with No Homers) and I recognize I have a long way to go but starting to struggle in figuring out where I'm going wrong in specific mechanics or calls. I also think I need to improve my calls (I don't main call for my team but definitely can improve here).
My team plays very flank-heavy so advice in adjusting to that would be fantastic as I think I'm surely not distributing heals and handling positioning as well as I could.

My team is relatively new-ish to Open and it's hard for me to tell where I'm going wrong vs. we're all going wrong - each requires a different approach to start correcting and I want to help us get better every week this season!

I'm looking for someone with a fair amount of experience who could review a couple demos and help me identify flaws and get on the path to correcting them. It doesn't need to be a whole ton of time at all - I really only have weekend nights free (kid, job do a number on availability), but if you can help I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks!

5-2 mad men.

Yeah, we definitely don't need any hype for this week (or next). We appreciate the effort but we're still figuring a lot of things out. We're gonna bust our butts to make games out of our matches this week but wasting space on us in these articles seems silly to me with so many talented teams up at the top of open.

If someone wants to cover new/lowish teams separately I think that would be fantastic, though.

No disrespect to Schrute (all cool guys!) but we did get 5-0'd in about 8 minutes by SYOPS already and I hope we can put up a bit more fight this week!

Following up with what drak says, balancing 6s scrims with a couple of HL players on the team is a massive challenge - anyone with good advice on how to deal with it and still scrim effectively - I'd love to hear it.

Also, while I'm posting here - I'm pretty sure that a bunch of people posting in this thread are on teams that would qualify for the UGC->ESEA challenge prize. There are about 8 teams in it, but there have to be some more that are eligible but didn't apply.
I said I'd cut off applications at the end of week 2 of the ESEA season but I've been pre-occupied with other stuff and never chased for more applicants.

So, if you think this thread is talking to you/your team, hop on over and consider applying. If you talk with me on steam/PM me on the forums by Wednesday night, I'll extend the deadline for you. I know the "rules" are a little wonky, but if you're all/mostly brand new, you're probably eligible and it will definitely give your team something to play for in the back half of the season.

Look, I would feel sorta bad about that, but it's not like it's a secret that the Wrangler is banned in every league.

To be fair, this is largely true because of who you're playing/scrimming more than it is how much you're scrimming/playing.

Scrimming and playing teams that are pretty much universally working as hard or harder than you were makes a big difference - not to mention that pretty much all of them have the experience/gamesense to capitalize on your mistakes gives you way more opportunity to grow out of bad habits (since they're punished so mercilessly).

IIRC most of Dedoris played CEVO-O last season, no premium-type fees.
It would surprise me if they were the only ones coming over from CEVO where some of their players don't realize that the league fee wasn't gonna cover all costs of playing the season.

Woah, Saturday Mixes!

If DPM and HPM are used in the calculation - how are players who take mid-game sub spots handled?

Logs calculates those metrics as if those players had been in for the whole game (I think it doesn't track your portion of the time played, but I have no idea). So, taking a lot of sub spots could easily drag you down, especially since it's likely a fair amount of sub spots are heading into no-win situations that you have no way to know when you accept it.