CoG Team-Up: TF2 Highlander Challenge

[Lint of Death]

http://www.teamfortress.com/images/posts/highlander.png (http://etf2l.org/highlander/)
(When their site returns to working order, this image will take you to the introductory details of the competition)

Who wants another shiny badge to pin to your [class]'s coat?

Those of you who have been around long enough will remember fondly our first Team Fortress 2 community showdown versus the kind followers of Control Point. And remember with revulsion the heaping pile of pwn the Penny Arcade forum served us shortly thereafter.It's time again, I think, to bring us together as a team of people who simply adore this game and show the world that we love it more than anyone else and we know that's true because we have TF2's facebook password and, really, what's more romantic than that?

The registration deadline for the ETF2L Highlander Community Challenge (http://etf2l.org/highlander/) is around August 26th, and it will pit teams of nine (one of each class) against each other in a sort of tournament fashion. There is no reason to fear the challenge's competitive nature: people who have previously participated in official tournaments are barred from entry, so the target audience consists entirely of people who have never done this sort of thing before.

Games will take place no earlier than September 12, and are usually on Sundays around 2PM EST if I recall correctly. Due to the challenge's European bias, games against European teams will take place on European servers.

In order to enter, we will need 10-14 team members, including one leader to represent us and submit an application. Due to my schedule this month, I cannot reliably fill that role, but I would love to join this with you guys.

Valve will be releasing special in-game badges for this challenge, available to the players of all teams that participate in every game assigned to them. There are also special badges for first, second, and third places.

Let's do this! Who's with me?

Regarding the poll, place a check next to any role you would like to fill on the team: your particular classes (or all of them), and if you would like to be our leader.

[Ghostbear]

I'm in, I chose heavy and pyro. I have also volunteered to lead this motley crew.

[DoctorFinger]

I'd love to participate as a Medic, but I'm not sure I'm good enough.

[violent]

Soldier/Pyro

[iHap]

Is this happening on the Weekends only? If so then I'm good for Pyro/Engie.

[Lint of Death]

A few notes about my choices in case they become relevant when we're narrowing choices down:

Scout: Bonk! juice, baby! I love forcing my way behind enemy lines. For the sake of the competition, I'll stop trying to make engineers commit suicide if only because it doesn't often go as planned.

Soldier: I am most likely to apply Direct Hit and Gunboats. I stubbornly believe in the utility of those fancy steel toes. Will switch between Equalizer and Pain Train as necessary.

Demoman: I will use the Chargin' Targe except for moments when I really want to sticky jump or a base is somehow impervious to nades. I'm quite talented with the grenade launcher, so that shouldn't be a major issue. Will switch between the Axe and the Pain Train as necessary.

Sniper: Huntsman, Jarate, and Shiv. As proud as I am of my bow prowess, I insist that Rogue Hunter have the Sniper spot if he wants it :)

I have also volunteered to lead this motley crew.
Hooray! If more people wish to volunteer, it's good to have a pool of people who can make sure our team gets properly applied in case the others run into scheduling conflicts.

Is this happening on the Weekends only? If so then I'm good for Pyro/Engie.
The site's down right now, but my understanding was that these matches will generally fall on Sunday afternoons (or evenings/nights if you're in Europe).

[Dukefrukem]

I'd LOVE to be in on this. I dominate as Demo. Can also do eng.

[Bone]

Heavy/Medic.

[biosc1]

Consider me a back up if you need more players. I play a lot, but it doesn't mean I'm as good as the rest of you guys ;)

Medic -> No problem being a medic. I've played medic so often, it's my bread and butter if I'm having a bad night.

Pyro -> Not necessarily as an attacker, mostly to protect against spies.

Heavy -> I've had some good nights as a heavy. Usually Natascha if another heavy has the plain mini-gun equipped or scouts are being used against us.

Alts:

Soldier -> Getting pretty solid with this class.
Engineer -> Not a fungineer, but I'm good support.


Definitely not spy, scout or sniper...all classes I play for fun, but I'm not good with them.

[Shadowstorm]

Spy or Medic :d.

[Jackel]

I can be a backup sniper in the event someone can't make it.

[Ten19]

I'm down for some Soldier action or a very last-string Heavy.

[LiquidRain]

Violent and Ghostbear know who's the best medic round these parts. ;)

[Lint of Death]

I just got an idea so I'm writing it here for review before I forget. Stand-ins/backups/alternates are a must in our team assembly. I'll leave the question of how we structure our lineup for later (e.g., do we have a core team of 9? Or will we try to take turns with regular restructuring?). My thought is that, if we have people who serve as stand-ins, the best choices might be those who volunteer for more classes or those who can claim a respectable level of skill in the majority of classes. That way, we might have someone who can fill a slot no matter who can't attend a match.

[Arphahat]

I'd be game for Medic / Pyro / Sniper.

For alt purposes:

Occasionally, I'm decent with Heavy, Soldier and Spy.

The classes that I am not so comfortable with are Engy, Scout and Demo.

[Rogue_hunter]

Medic or Sniper, depending on the situation, and if I'm sucking balls as one or the other at the time.

[Seika]

I'm totally down to be a backup, not anything else since I probably won't have the time to be a regular starting September.

I can play any class.

Sniper High-
Soldier/Scout/Pyro/ Mid+
Demo/Medic/Spy Mid-
Engineer/Heavy Low+ (Heavy I just find too easy, not enough of a challenge for my preference)

My stats (Steam-community). (http://steamcommunity.com/id/ikkir/stats/TF2)

Also, playing on euro servers is not so bad. Lately I've been playing a ton on Asian servers, and it takes only a few games to get used to it.

[biosc1]

My stats (Steam-community). (http://steamcommunity.com/id/ikkir/stats/TF2).

Jeebus...what's with the 1181 points as a Medic?

[violent]

God damn I can't wait to watch the tryouts.

[Seika]

Jeebus...what's with the 1181 points as a Medic?

My friend and I make a really good Heavy+Medic combo, and that was from an "Event" match, with insta-respawn. ;)

[The Continental]

I'll play whatever's needed, though I'd rather not play Sniper/Engy/Spy.

[OrangePulp]

I could be down for some Heavy action. This'll get me interested in TF2 again, for sure. Hopefully our opponents are more like Control Point, and less Penny Arcade.

Edit: looking at the actual forum post, their slots are filled, but they're looking to expand it apparently.

Update: We’re thrilled to have received such a fantastic response from the public community, thanks! The 160 slots we had for the competition filled up so quickly that we’re looking at expanding the tournament so more and more teams can play, so please keep signing up! Check back on ETF2L for more news coming shortly.

[Secret Agent Dog]

I will throw a token towards medic/engi/sniper, would even lug my rig to Orange's for a real internet connection that does not require me to dissect the space-time continuum to hit opponents.

[Wackman3000]

Spy, with a side of Demo and a hint of Sniper.

[Karmakin]

Demo mostly, although I'm getting better with Soldier and I'm decent with Medic.

Demo I usually play long-range artillery/sticky defense.

[DoctorFinger]

Even though the tournament is full, I would still like to do a night of 9v9 fun. We have more than 18 volunteers, so lets do it. One night we password protect the server, divide into 2 teams and see how it goes.

[TrackZero]

I can run Engy or Sniper.

[Lance Uppercut]

I'm pretty well rounded, so I can play nearly any class that's needed.

http://steamcommunity.com/id/Lance_Uppercut/stats/TF2

[Lint of Death]

Even though the tournament is full, I would still like to do a night of 9v9 fun. We have more than 18 volunteers, so lets do it. One night we password protect the server, divide into 2 teams and see how it goes.

I like that idea. It seems extremely difficult to coordinate, but I'm still for it.

[Clark]

Where's Karnov???

That dude is sick as a heavy...

[cp#]

I can play scout, soldier, demo, or engineer.

[LiquidRain]

Should have made it a single-choice poll. :D

[Lint of Death]

Should have made it a single-choice poll. :D

I can see what you mean, since we got a lot of responses - 33 voters for 14 slots! - but I didn't think that single-choice was appropriate considering that some people are genuinely flexible, and making that ability more visible allows us to make better choices. A more flexible roster is better able to cover unexpected absences, and we'd be able to change up our game in case other teams try to research us.

That said, with only a week until the registration deadline, we should narrow down who should be on the team.

Must-have: Ghostbear. He's the only volunteer to lead.
People that I know play all the time (or at least a lot lately): Wackman3000, Food Nipple, Rogue Hunter, Airosh, Lint of Death
People that don't seem to play a lot but are really good: OrangePulp, axion
Europeans to give us an edge on European servers: GigaFuzz, karnov (except neither of them applied)

(edit: obviously I didn't name everyone who might fit into these categories due to lack of time)

Would write more, but have to go :p

[Bone]

People who play a lot and still suck: Bone

[biosc1]

People who play a lot and still suck: Bone

Yes, this is a category that I belong in ;)

[Lint of Death]

So, our fearless leader (Ghostbear) hasn't posted here in a while, and signups close in two days. Are we, uh, not following through on this?

The signups will close in 2 days, be sure to have your roster signed up and being in accordance with the rules. Remember, players will have to be new or have only the lowest division experience. Teams can have one (and only one) higher level player to help them out as buddy, and all buddies will have to be marked as ‘buddy’ or ‘great buddy’ on their roster, so a team can only have a maximum of one player marked as such or they will have to be dropped. Additionally, a team will have to consist of a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 14 players when the signups close or they will not be eligible. (http://etf2l.org/2010/08/24/the-highlander-mix-up-match-more-highlander-info/)

[OrangePulp]

Did they add more slots? When I checked before, it said they had filled the maximum of 160 entrants. They talked about adding more, but I haven't looked into it recently.

[Ghostbear]

I'm trying to find where we would sign up. The website isn't terribly forthcoming.

[Lint of Death]

Did they add more slots? When I checked before, it said they had filled the maximum of 160 entrants. They talked about adding more, but I haven't looked into it recently.

I haven't seen any announcements about that, but I know that they are still accepting applications and intend to expand the number of teams as much as they can.

[Ghostbear]

the link to sign up just takes me to a wordpress login page.

[Food Nipple]

the link to sign up just takes me to a wordpress login page.

I'm pretty sure you were on the right track, I registered a team last night and could have sworn I posted about it before I went to bed.

Here's how this is going to work, below is a list of the top 18 players on our server according to the rainwave stats:

1 Food Nipple
2 Wackman3000
3 Airosh
4 Ten19
5 Wally
6 PiP
7 Ghostbear
8 Fenced
9 LiquidRain
10 Secret Agent Dog
11 Rogue_hunter
12 TrackZero
13 420.cp @ sharktopus
14 Lance Uppercut
15 RandoM51
16 BrassGecko
17 Spectre-7
18 Crashcart

If you're on that list, and you'd be interested in playing in the tournament, register an account on the tournament website and then send me a PM with your ordered top three choices for a class. I will read through the PMs in order according to the above list. If your first choice for class is available, it's yours, if it's been taken and your second choice is available, the same thing, etc.

Don't be a dick, don't pick classes you never play. I won't change the roster unless the majority of the other players on the team agree with me, but if you pick a class that you never play I personally would have no problem removing you.

I don't know if there's any slots left, so this may just be a waste of time, but it's worth a shot. Remember, in order to be considered you need to send me a PM and create a wordpress login for the tournament site.

[Food Nipple]

Update: We're never going to make it into the community challenge. The deadline is for a wait list. There are 320 team slots in the tournament and there are 816 teams signed up.

[Ghostbear]

oh well. Maybe next time.

[LiquidRain]

That's quite the list, geez.

[biosc1]

It's like the good old rugby tryouts list...did I make the team?!?!

No?

Cue Incredible Hulk music...
buWu14xViLY

[Spectre-7]

Since I made the team, do I have to shove you inside your locker now?