Announcing Season 9! – Cinnamon and Other Rule Updates
March 3, 2011
Unlock rules are always expected to be the spice of a season. Compared to last season a few small things will change, largely keeping the flavour of last seasons intact. The ruleset should provide a more structured framework that will allow a sustainable way of keeping the primary gameplay as focus, with possibilities of future additions if metagame changes would request so. Hopefully this will provide a good taste for both people looking to spice things up as well as those looking for a milder experience.
Season 9 Unlock Ingredients:
- Main combat classes (scout, soldier, demoman, heavy): Bonk, Equalizer, Sandvich and Pain train allowed.
- Support classes: All allowed, except Wrangler, Vita-Saw and Amputator which are banned.
- Set hats banned (where possible)
- Weapon (re)skins, hats and other visuals are enabled by default, but can be disabled if teams wish so.
What this means.
Combat classes will retain a mostly pure form of combat with a few established unlocks allowed. Support classes have a different role and are therefore allowed a wider variety of unlocks. The Medic’s Crossbow will arguably be the biggest addition providing an interesting skill mechanic for medics. The (only) other unlock from the Christmas update is the pyro’s rake, although the Degreaser should be the most interesting addition for the skilled pyro players. Other support class unlocks are known from last season or should provide some fine-tuning for the more dedicated users of a class.
Whitelist & Config
Season 9 will provide a item whitelist and a new ETF2L config. The new config will include a new CTF command that should handle rounds of 5 for Turbine. The config will also execute and handle the whitelists. The ETF2L whitelist should make sure no accidental mistakes with unlocks can be made. In addition to the default whitelist, teams can choose to use a whitelist that disables pure visual items like skins and hats. To do so, set the correct line in the config or enter mp_tournament_whitelist “cfg/etf2l_whitelist_nohat.txt” and mp_tournament_restart. To disable the whitelist entirely for practise or fun games, use mp_tournament_whitelist “off” and mp_tournament_restart.
You can find the download link below, place the whitelist files in the cfg folder on your server along with the updated etf2l config.
>> Download ETF2L config + whitelist <<
Other rule info
- Next season will use Heavy limit 1. Obviously this means that in a game, a team can only use 1 heavy at a time.
- The premier division playoff structure will be changed a bit to make better use of the results of the season. First, the team that placed 4th in the season will play versus the 3rd placed team. The winner of that match will play against the 2nd placed for a spot in the Grand Final versus the team that ranked 1st.
- Matches played in premier division will have to upload STV demos of matches in addition to the (status) screenshots. POV demos are only required upon request.
- Please note that warnings will be given out this season if a match has not been played after the match deadline, unless an admin has been consulted and an extension of the match deadline has been granted.
- As a general reminder we like to note that match comments should be used to record any agreements between two teams regarding the use of mercs, servers or other issues. This way you can ensure easy processing of results, as well as avoiding problems when a dispute arises.
That’s all for this post. Be sure to check the previous post for the new fixed version of Turbine and the updated map list. Stay tuned for more info and details on some upcoming events!
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content rss
Cinnamon >> Vanilla!
\o/ Paintrain <3 ETF2L makes it stand good job.
prem will be so fun now
Cinnamon >> Vanilla!
pain train :/ I remember playing in a pickup where Byte was testing the paintrain and it was horrible, at least on badlands. Rest of the unlock rules are good imo though.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iT37WV8efk
cu
LOL Krimson ;)
:D
yes if used properly it’s lethal and a bit OP for demoman, ETF2L are aware of this however there is no whitelist to restrict per class of the paintrain ;(!
*awaits mass carnage from people on the news post*
Cheers
Byte
i’m most happy about heavy limit 1
Pain train was allowed last season. I claim byte is OP.
inb4 shitstorm
People got used to it. We played with Fan to while it was clearly gay as fuck. Or what about 2 demo’s? Played with that, why not again?
Nice unlock rules, gonna be a good season.
Shit unlock rules, gonna be a bad season.
Horrible unlock rules. Racio has made his stand on making this a community league instead of a competitive one.
I hope to see all you teams on ESL, playing TF2 as it’s supposed to.
Cheers,
xzr
The problem of having a low division admin team I guess. Oh well.
Oh yes, that was fun, playing Turbine with 2 demo’s. I think that was my first 6v6 ever.
I find you comments offensive towards ESEA
Nice balance in unlocks, looking forward to season.
Personally would have liked the short stop (for mid range damage), and amputator. But you play with what you got
gunboats :[ KGB,GRU
oh, well
“teams can choose to use a whitelist that disables pure visual items like skins and hats.”
Want this everywhere.
lol@degreaser
yea byte u low div player you, getsomeskill. also…. Cinnamon >> Vanilla!
GOLDEN CAP RULE!?
Fix it please!
no gunboats!?
Looking forward to season. :)
sellasta paskaa nää säännöt että pakko jättää väliin, luulin että tää on 6vs6 comp eikä publamättöö täh?
I guess we could see a shift somewhere soon. ETF2L chooses to focus on the casual tf2 players, while the pros just dont agree with the current ruleset. Including me.
Too many unlocks got allowed. Jarate and Frontier Justice and two of the unlocks I have the biggest problem with. This day makes me dislike ETF2L. I hope you guys can change my opinion later on.
– Pledge
PS. This is _my_ opinion, not in any way related to TF2TV’s stance towards the changes.
Mini sentry/Frontier Justice not banned =/
LF PREM TEAM WANTING AN ENGIE!
GRU = Shit
That is all.
I’d threaten with going to ESL, but I can’t find the TF2 section on their website so nvm.
Getting slightly past a joke now. Best way I see of doing it is (presuming there is no way in hell chance that Vanilla+med is doable) to treat it as vanilla and allow particular weapons – if its not allowed presume its banned.
well, we get different unlock set every season, it’s just annoying :S
why gunboats are banned anyway?
At least we got a white-list to not give a shit about remembering what is banned
Gl, to all
“Too many unlocks got allowed. Jarate and Frontier Justice and two of the unlocks I have the biggest problem with. This day makes me dislike ETF2L. I hope you guys can change my opinion later on.”
Jarate has been allowed since season 5. Strange to get so worked up over it now, when its hardly even equipped by everyone.
whats the point changing the rules?
you had 8 seasons that were going well, why make such a significant change of rules now? :/
I hope you’ll get it back to what it was. It’ll be a shame to have people leaving and making this a so called community league :\
TL;DR: thats what pledge said
no gunboats?
maybe limit those to 1 to make the gameplay more interesting….
@Retsh0ck
The weapons people complain about were allowed last season(s). If anything, the big change is banning the majority of Combat Class Weapons.
Racio you can’t please everyone, the rules are good, although there is far too much badlands but apart from that good job, lets get on with it, glhf to all the teams that decide to play
Looks nice/interesting in my opinion, only thing that might be a dubious decision is the combination of the frontier justice and the gunslinger.
Looking forward to the ‘crossbow-airshotsaveteammatefromfallingtodeath’ fragclips!
pain train is the only unlock the demo gets, its awesome and has a disadvantage XD
Ew.
Through Prem players would like this, not many off-classers outside of epsilon (<3), the Prem ppl got what they want in that the main classes have ever minimal unlocks, none of the support items will see play in Prem
Why Killing Gloves of Boxing, Vitasaw and Amputator banned?
Degreaser umad? Minicrits on reflects + that = soldier combo completely nullified, nades useless, oh and airblast slows down fleeing scouts, but the only one I disagree on.
“The problem of having a low division admin team I guess. Oh well.”
I wonder whose fault it is that only few high division players apply for a position in the admin staff and are willing to contribute large amounts of time to this league…
Can someone make post about who isn’t going to play, just interested.
natascha unbanned? D:
oh wait nvm, mis-read
I would have loved a Vanilla+medic unlock season, but yeah.
so is natascha allowed!? omg, are you kidding me??
Main combat classes (scout, soldier, demoman, heavy): Bonk, Equalizer, Sandvich and Pain train allowed.
that does not include natasha
No it is not, read it.
CanFo: They can’t, they literally wouldn’t have enough time to practice and remain prem. In real sports, a lot of smart and insightful players become leaders and managers after retiring, which is very good. However, prem players don’t quit TF2 because their knees are getting weak with age, but rather because they have grown tired of the scene/game or simply don’t have enough time to commit.
Still, only a small portion of management in real sports are made up of players from the highest level, because it’s simply not that important of a feature. Some prem players try to act like that’s not the case, thinking that their lacking arguments would somehow become more credible.
And yeah, don’t we have Byte and Marco? Haven’t they spent a few dozens of hours, even with their lack of time, discussing unlocks with you? I thought those guys were even higher up than my man xzr?
Diarrhea is a taste too! Enjoy it.
WHATS WITH THE FISH
I WANT TO SLAP PEOPLE WITH MY FISH
wow see you on esl then
whitelist -.-
You’ll want to ban Fists of Steel.
Don’t really see what’s all the fuss about +_+. Please care to explain what’s so annoying and game changing about any of these unlocks (except for maybe bonk)?
fists are banned ;)
I misread the post! Wow!
I think you should ban more of the useless support class weps (like the sidney sleeper etc.), just to keep it more clean
“I think you should ban more of the useless support class weps (like the sidney sleeper etc.), just to keep it more clean”
As I said further up it would be alot more clean if they ban everything and only allow certain items – but hey what do I know. :D
Frontier Justice ;(-
that’s a very bad newz
Have to agree with you lolage. They need to ban most of the unlocks and just keep the useful, decent ones like sandvich and the equalizer.
Well I’d play with any unlock rules really, as long as they don’t include the more gay/gamebreaking ones like the G.R.U and FAN.
CanFo-
“I wonder whose fault it is that only few high division players apply for a position in the admin staff and are willing to contribute large amounts of time to this league…”
I know of quite a few ppl myself included who applied at one point to etf2l to become admin, so I would say its the current ETF2L ‘s adminstrations fault.
Grief
One word.
Used to describe so many emotions.
Hollowness, pain, anger, guilt,
Hurting, sadness, lonley,
Do I need to say more.
One word, Grief.
Join ESL, drop ETF2L <3
Here’s a word:
Melodrama
:P
Kritzkrieg is so op, I mean it messes up uber advantages for medics to keep track of and one shot with it is a guaranteed kill on all classes except heavy and fully buffed solly, op as fuck. Vanilla all the way please, also the ubersaw is op.
I’ll admin.
Frontier Justice? Ewwww!
Wildcard if i remember u applied at a time u was trolling most the etf2l admins.
[…] Read the unlocks announcement on ETF2L.org. […]
i can’t bear the bonk
I can see the reasons why you would ban GRU, but what’s the logic of now banning KGB after it being allowed without complaints (that I can recall) for so long? It’s a fun weapon and if you let a heavy get close enough to melee kill you a few seconds of kritz seems like an apt punishment.
NO SWORD’N’BOARD??
That’s almost as gay as this! [url]http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kskrbyTUPH1qzhy30o1_500.jpg[/url]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_RopI1foZY
Read my mind LuckyLuke… Was just about to post…
Extine tells it how it is… PREM & adminds, make sure you watch the last 10 minutes…
All looks great. Only issue for me is shortstop…why would you ban it? Plus we’ve never played Bazillion…like ever.
In future is there anyway the map pool could be released earlier to give us time to practice any new maps? Or at least a hint as to possible map changes? Then at least teams can be fully prepared.
I have nothing against new maps but time to fully prepare would be nice.
Anway, goodwork guys, looking forward to having our behinds handed to us in Div 4…ooh look, it’s new and shiny :)
You have 9 weeks to practice Bazillion, Monkeh. lol.
Bazillion = bad, please change, only negative.
Also (some) Prem players want Vanilla + medlocks but most lower division players wouldn’t want a game where they can use Bonk, Equalizer…etc I don’t see the issue, to me it is more people not liking change because they have played much longer and used to same old setup. They don’t want to experiment with a Gunslinger Engi on Gpit offence and or counter a Pyro reflecting because it is ‘annoying’. I wouldn’t play in this league if it was Vanilla + medlocks because it is going backwards but I don’t really see what the problem is. All the unlocks seem fair and balanced to me and not massively game changing at all. They could have gone for GRU and we’d see lot more ‘Spam Effects’ teams with Perma heavies.
If they are seriously going to boycott because weapons like Degreaser and Gunslinger than let them. Just gives other teams a chance. ESL favours them they can go play there (already not in Wireplay) and compete in 1 league or make a Vanilla league. OR they can don’t boycott and accept unlocks are a natural progression in the game and ETF2L have made good choices with unlocks (no targe, sad face).
they can’t*
I like new ruleset, it’s really good.
Hope this season will be interesting as always :)
Some people would prefer to play with crits, too. And a lot like that, it’s just way too random with some hundred different weapons and items that were never really meant to be in the game and were only added to sell it more.
This is a tactical team game with enough variety already, and it doesn’t have to be like the horrors of public these days. Kids can play sports the way they want, but it doesn’t mean that some major league should start using three different balls, bats and rules in a single sport.
I prefer vanilla too. I don’t like to see jarate, degreasers, paintrains etc. I like TF2 competitive to be as clean as possible. The mappool (except warmfront) looks nice.
Shitty unlocks are main reason why i quit playing etf2l
Go and play WP if you dont like this =)
Good job etf2l!
Make a Vanilla League (invite) with Premier and division 1,2,3, with the vanilla rules and proper maps. Only invited teams get in IF they want to join.
If a team gets invited to play in Vanilla League, they instantly agree to play with vanilla rules.
Make a Cinnamon League (open), where everyone can join, like the system is now. If a team have played good season in open, they might get an invited to Vanilla League.
Vanilla teams can play in Cinnamon if they want to, but everyone has agreed to play with cinnamon rules.
I can volunteer to be a vanilla admin.
Congratulations ETF2L. A perfect ruleset! Enables dynamic play and minor strategy changes, but keeps the vast majority of the metagame intact.
I am highly impressed with the thought that has gone into the allowed unlocks.
Good shout on the heavy limit 1.
The only other weapon I would have considered banning would be the Jarate sniper. But that shouldn’t be a problem until I start exploiting it, then it will be banned next season :P
(alternatively, you could have a think about that one prior to the season starting :P )
I assume this means good bye to Dignitas, Power and maybe some other scrub teams. Can I be the first to say it has been a pleasure playing with you, but you’re not needed for this league to be great :)
geegeeeee!
@RaCio
I wasn’t just talking about the weapons. There’s a reason they’re banning the league, I can’t see why everyone is so eager to change the gameplay or “make it more interesting” when it’s perfectly fine now.
And it is sad to me that there won’t be any prem teams are banning the (ex)best league in europe :/
It really is a shame :\
great unlock rules, good job admin team :) !
i like that a minimum of unlocks is allowed for the combat classes, while the support classes keep most of their unlocks. great balance
Get rid of Bazillion please !
We want Snakewater !
These unlock rules are even worse than most of us expected. Oh well, see you in ESL guys. I just hope they’ll introduce vanilla rules for all divisions so that the lower tier teams won’t have to be dissapointed either and we’ll get a proper standard league for competitive TF2.
@retshock
If not the unlock rules, what rules are you talking about?
If unlocks are such a pain for prem teams what stops them to simply agree and use v+medlocks only and just paste that in the comment section of the match page, who tf cares. I fear this is about something else…
I wish an interesting and challenging season to everyone, gl hf.
It’s the fact there’s a few prem teams who won’t agree to that that’s stopping them from using v+medlocks.
Really disappointed by these unlocks rules.
How could you expect prem teams to stay in ETF2l with this “compromise”.
Anyway, on a personnal level, I and the rest of Crack Clan don’t care about those silly unlocks rules and we’ll probably take part in both ETF2L and ESL (where the real competition will be from now on).
Once again, good job detering prem teams from your league though.
I’m pretty sure you’ll regret it in one or two seasons.
@Racio
It doesn’t really matter does it? They’re banning the league because of the unlock rules ( main reason anyways ).
I still can’t understand why change the rules and what’s the point having it a “community league” :|
Whole point of competitive tf2 is to compete to be the best / against the best teams and get better ( alongside having fun etc ).
It’s true you can’t make everyone happy but what you can do is make everyone pleased. Which is what ETF2L has done _most of the_ last seasons.
@Archy
what Buffalo Bill said pretty much. there are teams who just won’t use them and won’t agree to the gentlemen’s agreement ( or be gay, call it w/e you want :p ).
I hope ETF2L will get the league everyone love(d) back.
@Buffalo Bill
So you are saying the problem is not the “new” ruleset, but in fact prem teams refusing to make an agreement about it among themselves. Makes sense. wp guys
Retshock, I’m just asking you what rules changed that are so bad. The issue here is that teams want unlocks banned that have been allowed since season 5.
Those prem teams are almost exclusively the newly promoted. ‘Old’ prem hasn’t changed at all and isn’t refusing to make the agreement.
@Archy:
Gay teams such as RaWr for example won’t allow it ( see: arx’s post ).
@Racio:
there was an agreement in between prem teams / div1 / w.e that certain weapons won’t be used. They will be used now cause ETF2L has legitimized them. There are enough new weapons since season 5 that are allowed now.
“Support classes: All allowed” etc
Think about it, if you make the rules “normal” you won’t have any team quitting ETF2L I promise you, since that didn’t happen till now ( rules changed significantly ).
Why be ‘stubborn’ and keep the rules like they are now which is pretty much ruining ETF2L ( it’s not just prem teams who are banning it – it’s a much larger group than that ).
@ Retshock: Fact is, ETF2L inst ruined, it already has 170 team signed up in half a day. Thats only 5 less then half of the teams competing in season 8. Looks like there a still enough teams that like ETF2L. It might not be for you, but hey, you can’t satisfy everyone.
Just go with vanilla for now, and make this community divide end +_+.
If you go with vanilla people will quickly understand why is it the best way.
Add some other unlocks a few seasons later if they get accepted then.
Stranger:
Going vanilla will only be like fuel on a fire. All it will do is actually dividing the community and not fix anything. You fix this divide by making concessions to either side, wich etf2l did.
:D how, martn just how?
If all leagues went for vanilla, how would that divide the community?
Well if both sides just hold their feet down, then we dont.
Anyway, 200 teams signed up for Cinnamon season, so QQ moar vanilla boyz.
:D martn. I for example would play this league with any of those unlock rule sets, since it’s the most user friendly. Most people don’t sign up because of the unlock rules.
I just don’t want this league turn in to some sort of step league. I’m pretty sure, that after this season loads of people will move to esl, because that’s were the biggest competition will be.
To actully be good and compete at higher levels you’ll have to play there, since most of the top teams will be playing there.
This site however will turn in to a little fun community league for people that are playing in div5. like wptf2l was a little while a go.
That’s were the community divides. If we keep the same unlock rules, general ruleset (class limits, winlimits in any gamemode) in every league, they’ll be more or less even in terms of competition), and people will choose leagues depending on other factors (prize money, site, admins just to name a few) like it used to be.
The only way i see it right now is to go with vanilla. I’ve jet to see a actully good argument against it.
Do you really think ESL will take off? That pretty picture will go up in smoke.
Anyway: me and buffallo bill had a nice convo, here it is.
http://pastebin.com/T2VqXGaE
Nice use of google translate there (already spotting some big flaws, for instance I said you DON’T see us say you’re bad just because you don’t join ESL). Sad of you that you choose to act like this.
This is my comment to this news post.
This is my reaction
If you really want to think about what is best for etf2l then it’s not to lose prem. You’ll lose the status this league once had, etf2l won’t be THE league in europe anymore. None of your games will have as many spectators as prem games once had. Good luck attracting new sponsors. Season 9 has a lot of sign ups, but it doesn’t mean that the next few seasons will, other teams might follow the prem teams and leave etf2l. I bet new players and teams would rather join a league where the best play rather than etf2l.
someone has probably said this before, but I might say it aswell.
Do you need more people commenting these comments? Really?
Please wake up RaCio / ETF2L -_-
GG ETF2L, it was nice knowing you.
I don’t mind Cinnamon. In fact, I think it would be quite fun to play in a Vanilla-Medlock league (making TF2 like FPS chess, tactically) as well as a ‘cinnamon’ or more loose league where you might see things like the Chargin’ Targe, Black Box, or Scottish Resistance.
Both are fun, and both are TF2.
Just the expectation that competitive matches might be different should put nobody off. Learning to adapt should be the hallmark of a top team, worthy of being in the Premier Division.
I loved the Targe+paintrain demo onto the last point of badlands captures :< Really going to miss those.
Also, I thought GRU was one of the weapons that Valve had made in cooperation with the competitive community, I would have expected those.
Meh now that i see esl anouncing it’s new rules, i’m slowly starting to loose interest in etf2l
@martyn
who the fuck cares if 99% of the numbers from last season join up.
if the top 4 teams in the EU scene aren’t here the league is shite.
Wow, Why bother changing a decent rule set into something 1000 times worse. Season 8’s rule set was decent, but this seasons one is going to be the worst one ever. Banning more weapons, but allowing the support classes to play stupid with their unlocks.
I can see this season making an end to ETF2L with all the prem players leaving, and teams refusing to sign up to next season and migrate to ESL if the rule set continues its course.
Now onto Bazillion. Whos smart idea was it to add this extremely bad map to the season. Just playing on it made my headspin with a stupid ammount of entry points. One game I played in a random pcw, we manage to stalemate it for a solid 20 minutes. Even the other team said the map was bad and agreed it shouldnt be there.
Please fix this ETF2L before you ruin your rep!
one div6 pcw on a new map.
map is clearly shit guys, move along
Seems like it’s going to be another AFS.
Will participate anyway, let’s see what’s gonna happen.
I think the solution for the unlock drama is:
-ban nonesense weapons (like frontier justice)
-create a hierarquy of bans, with this I mean, you should allow allmost everything to low skill players, and you should restrain most weapons for pro players
-e.g.: div6 current rules + some cookie cutter unlocks
div5 current rules
div4 current rules – some shameful unlocks
div3 even less unlocks and so on
I think this is an idea that will please everyone, altough i didn’t describe my idea completly, I think I transmited a basis of it.
If you want more info, or ideas, jsut contact me.
Also, bazillion totally sucks.
the middle point is pointless, i mean what the…
the map is very wide with many entrances, it’s just confusing
also too many badlands
etf2l don’t ruin your reputation
[…] not entirely popular maps (Bazillion, Warmfront, Turbine_pro) but most significantly announcing the Cinnamon unlock ruleset. Now was a time of discontent for many people, especially some of the big names in […]