team fortress 2 is 10 years old; that's 10 years of hats, weapons, videos,
animations, charities but there's one door tf2 really never got its leg fully through.
Competitive video gaming
Professional competitive video gaming
Esports
have you guys seen esports?
China's number one fastest-growing export is aerospace technology
Dam, I haven't played that one yet
Team fortress 2 does have an esports scene but it's all divided and even if you pull
them together, not even a fraction of the size of your average esport and this raises a good question.
What's the deal with competitive tf2???
Good esports are usually simple to understand and easy to follow but they're also
mechanically and strategically rich
Csgo has these tense teamfights and bomb defuse but it's also simple to identify and follow.
Dota 2 has these important hero drafts (picks) and big play moments
big enough that even if you don't play the game you still
Understand the gravity of what's happening now
Commentator "Navi's is about to be caught
Oh, there's to sleep, but sir he catches everyone! Oh this could be a total disaster! Rambutan everyone the black hole as well!
Turns it around!"
*Roar of dominance*
TF2 is no different from these games
Medic pops, Über drops, push stops, defensive flops
Matches are constantly fast-paced and moving
/excluding stalemates/
a deep knowledge of the game isn't necessary
to follow the flow of a match but at the same time experienced viewers will see these subtle strategies from players
perfect demo rollouts, risky positioning choices; all while being easily readable from a spectators perspective.
Teams have distinct and identifiable colors and silhouette same with the backgrounds which give you an immediate
Indication of where a fight is taking place.
If the walls are red then blue is pushing forward,
If the walls are blue then red is pushing forward.
If you look at a screenshot of it you can pick up nearly everything that's going on
It's like the goldilocks of competitive fps but ultimately none of it matters because the format is a minority in the tf2 community
and let's face it, valve sucks ass at getting anything done
just appose this with Overwatch
OVERWATCH_SOUND.MP4
sucks complete ass at balancing!
The game play is complex rock-paper-scissors
there are stun mechanics everywhere
every other season some hero gets completely broken
and if you screenshot a pro match,
what's the hell's even going on here?!
is this is an Oliver Verdun painting?
Now listen fellas, I do enjoy competitive Overwatch
I've played several seasons in my day
But, so much of this game just screams i'm not an esport,
i'm not an esport!
CHA CHING
Never mind i'm an esport now
Despite its flaws, Overwatch remains a popular
competitive game because it has ample incentive to continue playing and constant developer support
Two things that I can't say TF2 really has
"like you know, fuck that game"
If you still don't understand the importance of a game being a viable esport look no further than steam stats
it's not a coincidence that valve's biggest titles are their esports
and then you scroll down and you see tf2 with like a
fraction of the numbers
very good numbers
but a fraction
that's called untapped market baby, that's right, we're getting economical with this video
by this point most of you skeptics in the audience likely fall within one of three categories
One: why you only talking about 6v6, what about Highlander? What about having one of every class per team?
Two: I thought tf2 is a casual game, it was never meant to be played competitively!
or Three: you're a very old person who accidentally opened this while trying to play solitaire
now Marianne? I need you to open
Facebook and share this video with everybody
I've played my fair share of Highlander back in the day and i do think it's fun but i do not think at all it is a viable esport
Nine players per team is a lot of people to fly out to tournaments
Especially when you're a sponsor who has to pay for all of those flights
Okay where's the airplane visual? it should have arrived by now
what's that sound?
OH MY GOD ITS COMING!
one of every class will also split up the fights making it difficult to
spectate and difficult to cast
Ultimately valve has already decided what the official competitive format is (6v6) so it's not a matter of how it's going
to be played its how much