TF2 Competition Restrictions and Maps, What I think needs to change. Options

[the ned]

Last time the tf2 competition was a joke.

When you are able to run 5 engies as defence against only 5 people, it ruins the fun and competitiveness of the game.

I suggest that we run cevo class restrictions for the competition so that we avoid stupid situations like this again.

Cevo means that you can run:

2 soldiers
2 scouts
2 snipers
1 of every other class (pyro, demo, heavy, engy, medic, spy)

This will make the competition actually .... fair, but also possible to cap points / push the cart.

I would also like to see 5 point push/pull maps used rather than payload maps.

These would include cp_well, cp_granary, cp_badlands.

It would also be possible to run cp_gravelpit, but that tends to end up in a stalemate situation.

This is just my input, seeing as I play tf2 online actively in leagues.

But feel free to disagree with me, i'd like to hear your input.

[SirSquidness]

(I could have sworn I already posted a reply here, but it's probably sitting in a minimised window on my laptop. Meh)

TheTacoMan: I'd agree re: arena mode. I do quite enjoy it, and my opinion is that it actually requires a fair bit of team work, communication and cooperation to stay alive. Arena will likely feature one round of the comp.

I'm probably leaning towards liking the idea of class restrictions. However, I was thinking on the way home from uni just before.

Class restrictions prevent OP class combos from dominating. The thing is though, that the other team is free to choose a good combo to counter said OP combos. Got two medic/heavy pairs? Get two good snipers. "Boom, headshot". Lots of sentries? Uber up a medic+demo/heavy/soldier, and get a spy or two in on the action.

As for preventing class selections that will stop a noob team in their tracks, I do think that if the team is smart enough to pick classes to stop a noob team, which classes the good team picks doesnt' matter - they're going to pwn the noob team regardless.

As we discussed in the PM (repeating here for the purposes of other people), the gametype will vary with the round. Payload will likely feature, as will arena. Having mostly the 5 point push-pull maps would get quick quickly (just like I got bored of the CS: S comp after two rounds when I played - I think our team won three rounds out of the two matches, mind you).

Now a few questions for the masses (perhaps this might be forked off to another thread w/ a poll later one)

-Custom maps? Yes/no? I wouldn't pick any obscure ones. I'd encourage the teams to spend 5 minutes or so familiarising themselves with the map before setting themselves to ready for the tournament. And not to mention having them on the TF2 server pre-tournament to practice on. But yeah.. I don't know about custom maps.

-Class limiter? Yes/no/sometimes? A happy medium perhaps would be having the limiter on the first two rounds so that noob teams have a lesser chance of picking bad teams ("hahaha. let's scout rush!") and good teams wont dominate as much ("Let's rush heavy/medic") then turn it off in the later rounds so that the good teams that actually know how to counter those sorts of strategies have the freedom to do whatever they like.

-Maps! What maps do you want to play? Last time we had pl_goldrush, arena_something(I think?), cp_granary, and I can't remember what the other maps were.

Personally, I like the look of the new arena_sawmill and pl_pipeline maps (I've played a mock up of pipeline before - was pretty alright). I'll reserve judgement on those until they're officially released... tomorrow, I think?

I think that's all I had to say for the moment.
-Squid

[Revolution 909]

In my very limited opinion on this whole torment subject, my opinions are as followed:

Custom maps: Sure, why not? It adds something fresh to what can sometimes feel like stale and repetitive strategies on the same maps. Though I do see some peoples points as balance can be an issue (some people can take a competition seriously), but I believe the trade-off for the semi-occasional 'exploit' of a custom map is worth a new twist. Also these maps that players are not so familiar with will allow new opportunity for new team structures and could quite possibly stop the stacking of one class.

Class limiter: I'm not so sure about this one, I'd say no more than three of the same classes at any one time is necessary, but than again limiting peoples play styles can ruin the experience for some teams. On the other hand, 5 engies can be a pain to even experienced teams. No one wants to play a medic that just sits back and waits for his uber to charge just to try and take down a few sentrys.

Maps: Not a big fan of arena, but hey, i don't mind a change. I'm up for any mode. (I prefer any payload or CP)

I think we should try something that will make teams think about new ways to play the game, new team set-ups, new strategies, and just keep the game fresh. I think the best way of doing all this is at least testing a few well made customs.