Sorry guys, forgot Sunday was NFL Championship day, games were too good to miss
I like how I have almost 900 hours in this game yet… only now do I have enough to make one random hat. I half expect them to release new hats as soon as I use my materials.
It’s taken me so long to get this stuff that I don’t really want to use it. 
xD Don’t even start on hats, I clocked over 550 hours as soldier alone since they introduced them and only found one just last week (and it’s not even for soldier -.-) - someone else in my team has 9 of the bloody things. NINE.
Actually, Magnetro would understand this too. His problem is the so-called repetitiveness. So if there was such a video where the theme was teamwork at the highest levels of gameplay, it would definitely be something we have not seen on a grand scale. The problem with that, funny enough, is if it would be entertaining, and if most people could understand the depth you guys wanted to see.
It is simply about your perspective and what you know and have experienced that drives it.
Damn I was gonna play last night too. I looked on my friends list less than an hour after the announcement and Geese wasn’t playing anymore. Must’ve been a short session.
The server was stuttering a lot in the beginning. Afterwards it was mainly screwing around. Didn’t have enough for arenas from what I saw.
Yes.
If people made a team-work based frag video where they properly presented their content (not just convoluted fade-to-white-fade-in-from-white transitions), it would be 1) New 2) Interesting 3) Enlightening on so many levels (if done properly.) So yeah, as of now TF2 videos are very repetitive, despite the skill being shown. Some people never get tired of that because they DO NOT have the amount of skill/dexterity etc displayed in the video – so they aspire to be like that. But from my standpoint, they (video makers) can be doing so much more with TF2. That’s why I also liked Daedalus’ Tele Frag video – 1) Jammar hated it (makes me lol) 2) Its content was not what is normally seen in TF2 videos, even though the people who he did the frags on were questionable in the awareness department.
It’s important to understand that the main idea that drives what i’m saying is simply: There can be so much more shown in TF2 videos.
BTW, I reset the server so it should be on 2Fort w/o stuttering.
Also, hat discussion is top tier.
I have around 900 or so hours and I’ve only gotten:
2 Batters Helmet’s
1 Tough Guy’s Toque
and crafted the two Batters Helmets into a Respect less rubber glove and crafted a Fedora.
I actually did not say I hated the video. You must have confused that with my frustration with people who believe that is a skill in the game and that he is superior for it. I’m sure it was meant for pure entertainment, which is fine.
Problem with the videos that represent teamwork would be that you’d need like six different cameras to do it. Even simple things would be intensely difficult to do justice to in a video.
I mean, just think of a well-orchestrated rush where a spy saps a sentry, with a heavy-medic assist. How would you do it justice with just one angle?
Exactly- to show a push from the POV of 1 team (6 players), you’d need to get a demo from each one/most of them (and people are too fucking lazy to even record demos), and a sourceTV-demo from the server-owner who may not even have sourceTV running or recording (and it’s not always feasible to play on your own server). Then you need to after the game bother your teammates to look through their demos and find a tick where they’re doing something great so you can easily record it (in tf2 demos 1 second = 60 ticks [iirc]. You can jump to a certain tick in a demo, not a certain time), but they are too lazy to watch their demos again, even though they could watch it at 600% speed and it would take them a lot less time to do so than for you to do the same thing with 6 demos & a sourceTV-demo. So then, they give you wrong ticks, vague times, and other useless information that means you still gotta watch it all.
Once you have found a scene you want to record, you have to start recording to .tga’s (which are like 3-6MB each, depending on resolution- 30 frames a second times 4 MB for 10 minutes, you do the math on disk-space), then combine the .tga’s and audio-file in virtual-dub (repeat all previous steps until here several times for several players and scenes), then colour-correct/edit the thing in after effects/vegas/whatever, then render it in hd, and then you post it somewhere and the first post says “this sucks ballz, where teh airshotz?!!”
I think I possibly got a bit carried away here, but that’s the reason -at least for me- to not attempt to make team-movies (anymore) and teamplay-displaying teammovies especially. I completely agree on the repetitiveness but people want to show they can be consistent with crucial shots and what not, and not go through all the trouble explained above, so I sadly don’t see anything different happening any time soon (although some people attempt to show more teamplay in their vids than others [such as Homocide])- running after players for demos isn’t half as much fun as it sounds. 
Of course all of the above is under the assumption that teamwork would actually be entertaining to watch, but like Jammar implied, that would probably not be the case in most scenarios, even the most genious back-caps, distractions, excellent pushes and what not either don’t look very great outside of context, or just look like a daily occurance in comp tf2 (much like airshots, but even less entertaining).
There’s some crazy movies out there like sentry-jumping movies (engies on soldier-/demo-jump-maps), trick-jump videos with soldiers and pyro-airblast etc, those are probably the best kind of movies to watch for pure entertainment to a third party.
And lastly, before I shut up, I’d like to refer to 1:23+ in http://www.pldx.com/movie/341/Xensity_The_Movie/, that’s a very good attempt at displaying teamplay and situational awareness in an easy way.
Update for TF2…
OK, are there any random small tidbits of info that people can share? I’m still new to fps competition so I missed out on a lot of small things that people believe I should know already. Stuff like:
-use pistol for distance
-With pyro, rush at demo but against a soldier flame, blast, then run
I feel like winging it can only get me so far. Haven’t really have too many occasions where I rack up a nice killing streak to the end in arenas.
Btw, for wpns which would you go?
Direct Hit vs normal launcher
FAN vs normal sawed off shotgun
Blutsager vs normal wpn
Kritz vs normal
Huntsman vs sniper
That staircase in Gorge was desperately needed.
Direct Hit vs Normal Launcher is all about personal preference, if your aim is good I’d go with direct hit
Blutsagaer is pretty much 100% upgrade, you should always be using this
Kritz vs Normal is situational, Normal is standard but Kritz can wipe an enemy team fast with a competent target
Huntsmas vs Sniper is also personal preference, the regular is awesome at one shotting people but the huntsman can blind spam and get lucky kills
with soldier, ALWAYS try to get height advantage, I never have rocks out unless im hitting people by a wall or I’m at height adv.also, learn rocket jumps!
I like the direct hit, but If you use soldier more defensively, I say use the rocket launcher.
stickies > charge n targe
sawed off shotty >>>> FaN
shotty > sandvich, gun boats, and flare gun
I use sniper over huntsman because for some reason my aim isnt that good with huntsman
bonk is probably useable, but I feel scout is a lot more versatile with the pistol
There was a recent-ish update that increased the Med’s health regen rate, but added a condition to the Blutsauger where his regen is lower when it’s equipped. I don’t remember the math off the top of my head, but in the long run the extra regen is much more beneficial.
As far as Uber vs. Kritz … IMO, the Kritz is one of the most well-balanced unlocks in the game since there is no clear-cut distinction to use one or the other. Uber is generally the “safer” choice. You can use it to push in for a cap or you can use it as a “get out of jail free” card if you find yourself overwhelmed. Kritz is push or die, but is incredibly explosive. So to speak. Kritz stickies beat everything free.
Knowing how to backstab is important if you’re playing spy at all. If you stab their side and slightly behind you’ll still get a back stab and if you jump and turn over them on stairs you can back stab them that way too. Really pay attention to hit registry with that back stab because getting used to it will make you a much deadlier Spy. You’ll be able to be seen disguised for .5 seconds before they’re dead as opposed to hanging out for a few seconds and then getting spy checked.
If you play Soldier, don’t go too crazy with rocket jumping at first. Pay attention to the other soldiers and watch some of the common places they jump, if it seems to reap good rewards for them, keep it in mind. I say this because otherwise you’ll just blow yourself to pieces and ruin part of the advantage that comes with having 200 health in the first place.
Dealing with/playing as scouts: They are quick engagement classes. If a scout shoots you with a scattergun and runs away they can usually be right there to shoot you in the back 2 seconds later when your guard is down. Just because a scout is running away doesn’t mean he’s ending the fight, often times they’re ‘camping’ around an area with a med kit spawn. Always remember that about the Scout, they don’t have to win at frontal assault, they’re incredibly mobile.
Here are the run speeds for the different classes, this is important if you’re going for melee/backstab or if you’re wondering if you need to take different movement measures when dealing with X class. Get comfortable with all of them. Slowest: Heavy (77%) Soldier (80%) Demo (93%) Pyro/Spy/Sniper/Engineer (100%) Medic (107%) and Scout (133%).
As for unlocks…
The Direct Hit is a great weapon but it is not strictly better than the normal launcher and either way should be used by more experienced players. If you try to use the DH you’ll be getting pegged by scouts left and right which are already a difficult fight as is. On the plus side Engis will absolutely despise the fact that you’ve got rockets that do EVEN MORE DAMAGE THAN USUAL. If your FPS aim is great then go for the DH, otherwise I’d recommend sticking with the normal launcher. Also, if you’re playing on vanilla servers rocket crits are insanely good.
The Force of Nature, as much as I hate to say it, is the more powerful weapon. It can unload too much damage too fast and in the hands of a good scout is super lethal. Most of the time even fi the first two shots didn’t kill you a couple more pistol rounds will. Either way the Scattergun is still an amazing weapon and you can tear up shop with it still.
Blutsauger vs. Syringe gun is now an entirely personal choice. Since the blutsauger takes away from your overall health regen you migh tprefer to just keep that and have a slightly more powerful syringe gun.
Kritz is awesome, but there should usually be at least one regular medigun on the field.
Sniper rifle, all day, every day. Instant headshots are too good in the hands of a great player.
Also, some unlocks do not go well together. If you decide to use the Bonk! you had damn well be using the regular scattergun. You can’t have to reload every two shots or simply switch to melee, that’s not beneficial for anyone.
Yeah the blutsauger is not an upgrade at all anymore, at least in comp; it’s one of the best sidegrades in the game however. As a medic you’re attracting more fire than anyone else in most situations, so faster regen with the normal syringe gun is very valuable- however, the only time you’d get your weapon out is when things went tits up and you have to try to get out with a scout chasing you- the blutsauger gives you a pretty good chance to actually kill the scout and live, or at least get away and get the scout to back off.
ber versus Kritz is very dependant on team-strategy. There is no point of going kritz if you play it exactly like you would with ber, you’ll get slaughtered. Generally speaking ber > kritz
For the other unlocks:
RL > TDH
Scattergun > FaN
Rifle > Huntsman
For 6v6 at least- the alternatives are too risky/bad in situations where you need reliability. There sure are scouts using the FaN (before the latest nerf at least) and soldiers using TDH but you better be proficient with the normal ones before you get into gimmicks.
While the rest of my post was referring to 6v6, that statement isn’t true for pubs or 6v6.
The FaN is a crutch for bad scouts (not trying to critize your ability here) as much as TDH is a crutch for bad soldiers, the huntsman is a crutch for bad snipers, and so on. The first shot used to knock people upwards, almost stunning them, allowing for an easy second shot- that has been changed. With the normal scattergun you can deal 600+ damage before reloading, with the FaN you can dish out ~220 damage before reloading. With the FaN you can’t shoot while jumping without getting knocked back, making the second shot less efficient. With the FaN you can’t wear down soldiers and demomen outside their most efficient range where rockets and nades are easy to dodge. It’s a worse weapon allaround.
But the 220 comes out in what, half a second? The scattergun can’t keep up with the initial damage, but the dps overall is better. In terms of engage, disengage, and reengage I find the FaN to be an absolute godsend.
Also, the DH is by no means a crutch for bad soldiers. If you’re a bad soldier your score will not be anywhere near what it would be with the regular launcher.