(Windows 98 Error noise, Cowbell.)
TF2, as an e-sport,
is a community grassroots project.
It was built up without Valve endorsing it,
and it's sustained itself without Valve endorsing it.
But now that we've gotten to a point
where community 6's
has figured out its own rules and regulations,
we're left with one question:
Now, don't get me wrong.
Valve DOES announce high level tournaments,
and as of... "RECENT".
added an official 6's format to the game.
But we still don't really see promotion
on the same level DOTA or CS:GO get.
They don't contribute to prize pools,
they don't host their own tournaments,
Pretty much all we get right now,
is a glorified lawn sign.
And although it's been debated
for a while, it's become pretty clear as of recent,
why Valve avoids endorsing it.
They don't like the meta right now.
It's important to note
that other Valve E-sports
don't have a rift between their casual and competitive communities.
The casual and competitive versions of Dota 2 are virtually identical.
And although CS:GO varies,
it's most well known for its competitive,
which is the same at all levels.
A player who's day one to those games
will be playing the exact same version of the game
that players at the top of competitive are playing.
In TF2, though,
the casual way to play the game
is 12v12, and the ranked way
is a version of 6's with no rule sets in place.
This get even further removed
from popular competitive TF2 leagues,
Like ESCA or UGC.
Where whitelists are in place, keeping unbalanced and potentially
bugged weapons out of selection.
Firstly, to fill in anybody that's not familiar,
In extremely simplified terms,
The current 6's meta is
Double scout, double soldier,
demo, and medic.
Without going into too much detail,
the majority of the other classes
are considered specialists,
because they're more suited
for long defenses,
or single target elimination.
Although if you got rid of weapon bans,
some classes potentially
turn into really good generalists,
but they kinda slow down the game,
'cuz they're really annoying, and basically, the communty just
keeps them as specialists. (Heavy screams for split second.)
When unlocks are allowed,
the line between generalists and specialists becomes blurred.
Classes that are built to be defensive powerhouses
are now mobile enough to bring that defense forward.
making the push back even slower.
A big problem we run into
when trying to balance for competitive
is trying to mess with generalists and specialists.
If you try to change specialists into being more versatile,
you're diluting exactly what makes these characters unique and interesting.
If we make the pyro more mobile with higher burst damage,
he would just be intruding on the type of
attack role the scout was created for.
Nine sounds like a big number of classes,
but they all have very different roles.
From the game's original inception, it's clear that this philosophy was always the developer's intention.
However, recent treatment of matchmaking seems to contradict this.
Class limits are uncapped, and weapons which blur the lines
of specialists are still untouched.
And Valve has remained unclear on what exactly their vision of the game is.
TF2 has through multiple iterations, with different developers, with different goals in mind.
And now the current team wants to bring that into a competitive direction.
But here's the problem.
They're really. Fucking. SLOW.
You remember in my learning curve video, where I made a joke about
it taking them six months and two skipped holidays
to release more rebalances?
Yeah. They didn't release more rebalances. IT WAS JUST HATS.
One could argue that the last seven years of Smissmas updates
have had major rebalances or weapon additions,
but yeah, wh- WHATEVER.
It was two months, ago. No point in being bitter about it anymore.
Back on topic, other unlocks create an environment where if one team uses it,
the other team is forced to likewise run it,
because of the advantage it can give to a team.
Darwin's danger shield allows you to tank a headshot,
meaning if one team's sniper runs it, the other one has to as well.
One team running the vita-saw will always come up with a higher uber percentage than the enemy medic would on death.
This means both teams are forced to run it to avoid being at a passive disadvantage.
So let's say that Valve is taking their time on this.
When they do eventually re-shape the meta, they're gonna have to do a couple of things.
For one, they need to introduce people to 6's with more than just matchmaking.
Every legitimate E-sport has a casual version of their competitive mode.
This doesn't mean stripping away TF2's existing casual,
but it does mean adding a new mode where people can play 6's without rank.
They also need to center future balancing around 6's rather than 12v12.
Which it seems like they're already doing, but.. y'know, it's Valve. So....
The spy is difficult because if a team is smart,
it's really difficult to get a pick as him, much less two or three.
Any smart team will just be like,
-'Wait, hold on, here, there's six of us..
but there's- there's a SEVENTH.
We don't have two demos!' -'Ugh, merde-' (Spy is shot.)
The easiest way to explain Spy's problems is through song.
♫ ♫
Spy's just a very short-term pick that gets outclassed in a lot of ways by alternatives.
He's a surprise plan at best, and doesn't last long after teams adapt.
Speaking of which- Sniper.
He's a glass cannon that can get a lot done, but sacrifices the mobility of a scout or soldier,
and usually leads to the other team countering him with another sniper.
He's a great play-maker when things slow down, but can become inconsistent,
and less reliable when points are closely contested.
Pyro, is a bullet sponge, he's not that great for attacking,
He's pretty good on, like last defenses for denying uber,
but beyond that, his abilities are kinda limited.
Heavy, I love you; you know I love you, Heavy.
But you're balanced to be a great defender, and a slow attacker.
Trying to force-run him full time without unlocks is a recipe for disaster
when he can't rollout as fast as his team.
The Engineer suffers from a similar problem,
where they're both essentially built to park the bus.
and when you introduce unlocks into the mix,
it just becomes an even more annoying system.
When a heavy can rollout quickly,
it becomes an enormous roadblock for the enemy team to overcome.
In other words, the problem with specialists, is they either bring the game to a stalemate,
or they struggle to come in handy for more than a certain period of time.
Now with all of that said, I have to interject for a moment,
The system the community has decided on, works.
It's what people decided on, after years of testing and adjusting,
and by working with what they were given, people made
a form of 6's that wasn't too slow,
isn't too limited of options, and isn't too confusing or boring to spectate.
In other words,
the game in its current state is not balanced around 6's
and therefore, compromises have to be made
on what works and what doesn't. And all of this,
is why Valve's influence on the game is so intriguing to me.
They have the ability to completely change the foundation of a class,
into something meta shattering and game changing.
Is that likely to happen? Not really!
But they can still adjust unlockable weapons in a way that compliments the format.
Now with all of that techinical stuff out of the way,
I can talk about the topic I was a lot more interested in.
Is it gonna be a glorified prolander, or are they just gonna have to cut their losses,
and support the scene regardless of meta?
Well, before that, I wanna clear up a couple of misconceptions that people seem to have about 6's.
For one, 6's players don't hate the idea of other classes being allowed to play at all times.
It's just that as long as all the problems I've talked about exist,
It's gonna be difficult for people to enjoy these classes being run so much.
5CP is also pretty flawed, but that's this whole other thing I don't even wanna go into detail on.
The way I like to look at it, is that 6's players aren't close-minded to change,
it's mostly just that...
Another misconception is that balancing the game FOR competitive will somehow ruin the casual environment.
What people don't seem to realize is balancing for 6's really doesn't impact pubs as much as you would think it does.
If anything, you're playing a much safer system when you're balancing around competitive.
Random crits suck! Unbalanced teams suck!
When you're playing casual, most of the time
you're not even gonna be fighting more than six people in your shooting range.
So balance wise, you're not even gonna see that much of a difference.
The only reason casual would ever be affected negatively by the game being treated as an E-sport,
is because the developers choose to ignore the casual scene.
Which it seems like Valve doesn't have an intention of doing,
But if it does happen...
During this next section, I want you to be completely honest,
and raise your hand every time I say something you felt personally.
These problems pretty much summarize my issue with the game right now.
It's in this weird, puberty-like metamorphasis,
where it's trying to advance the competitive scene,
but it's also trying to retain the casual balancing that conflicts with the interests of 6's.
(I'm running out of breath.)
By the way,
Before you get mad at me for thinking the game should more openly integrate competitive,
just remember that Valve members themselves concluded
that it was in their best interests to do so.
Although they're vague, Valve seems intent on
finding a way to compromise between people who
want more variety within class choices,
and the people who are happy with the system they've come to develop.
My own opinions have changed throughout the years,
and personally speaking,
I think balancing as generalists and specialists
is the best way to deal with the conundrum of how to compromise.
Don't think of generalists as too strong, because they aren't- They're versatile.
Specialists are strong in a different way,
and balancing them around their roles, rather than their ability to do everything,
is probably the best way to follow how the game was intended to be played.
While a heavy isn't meant to be highly mobile and shut down all attacks,
he's extremely strong in guarding areas of control, and supporting his team with his presence.
While the pyro isn't a highly mobile kill finisher, and isn't a highly effective flank guarder,
and he isn't a highly effective support character, the pyro is...
Nothing. Fuck pyro.
Without sacrificing their only. FUCKING. WEAKNESS!
and create a system where everybody's happy.
But probably not.
I'm sorry, heavy.
But I guess you're just...
Oh, yeah, P.S:
Valve, please make a tenth class
A.O.E Healer with their own stalemate breaker.
'Cuz I think that'd be pretty cool.
Thanks.
♫ Any meme you can make, I can make better ♫
♫ I can make any meme better than you ♫
♫ No you can't, yes I can ♫
♫ No you can't, yes I
♫ CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN ♫
♫ Yes I, CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN ♫
My falsetto isn't very good.
♫ ♫