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The real answer is by supporting good leagues like cevo, etf2l, esea and twl ( :D ). But a good second best is *making the game better*.

I’ve posted these suggestions already on the steam forums, where they’ve been popular because I phrased them correctly. They’re to everybody’s benefit, but I kept the target audience in mind and reminded them why they would be good for pubbers. However for the most part I was thinking solely of comp players, and I’ll explain why these things are so beneficial to you in a bit.

Here’s the steam thread

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=921178

(that’s me under a crap nick because I got banned. twice, second time because I registered as number1troll :< )

Ever since q3 (and maybe earlier, I'm no game historian) every major competitive game has been made by it's players. UT used a pile of mutators, quake used cpma/osp, cs was a mod in the first place, etc. Look and you'll see comp games have to be not only driven by but made by their communities to thrive.

One significant thing I don't think the community has recognized is that comp players have the ability to affect changes in the game without a mod. Every time tftrue implements a major feature valve picks it up and incorporates it into tf2. To me that means they want the comp community to be able to play the game it wants to play, and it wants them to do it within the sanctioned valve fold. You want a promod?

If you ask nicely and in large enough numbers,

valve
will
make
it
for
you.

And all it'll take is a server config to usher people into it. No downloading and installing and running separate programs if you want to see what the pro game is like. That is accessibility and that is a great way to bring new players into comp.

The point is, for tf2 to continue to grow the players have to get their sh=t together and figure out what they actually want from the game.

So here's what to do:

email robin walker. [email protected]

Something like this will be sufficient:

"Hello Mr Robin Walker,

I am a comp player and I feel these suggestions would be good for the game.

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=921178
http://www.gotfrag.com/tf2/forums/thread/406029/

Thanks."

Consider it an experiment in whether comp players can actually get new features into the game.

/ESSAY

Here's are the items I posted on the steam forums where I chose to omit the relevance to competitive players… see the link for the full list.

Issue: Scripters have a needless advantage over non-scripters [because of autopistol and autoreload].
The suggestion: Incorporate autopistol and autoreload as basic features.
The reality: I couldn't care less if script users are better off. The important thing is that
A) This sorts out the problem of fail league configs that turn off wait, which doesn't even stop autopistol since you can just get a perfectly legal macro program.
B) By incorporating a customization into the vanilla game, you ensure valve doesn't screw it up in a future patch (imagine if there'd been a mass request to make Equip hotkeys standard… we wouldn't be stuck without them now)

Issue: Shotguns (including the scattergun and FAN) still deal random damage with tf_damage_disablespread set to 1. [30% +/- on average]
The suggestion: Shot pattern.
The reality: loldicerolls. as regards buffing scouts, I heard the exact same argument regarding crits and random damage and scouts are pretty much exactly how they used to be.

Issue: It can be difficult to tell when you've hit somebody and if you've hit them square on.
The proposal: Hitsounds.
The reality: HOLY SH=T HITSOUNDS WOULD BE HUGE.
I have no doubt, this would be the best thing for tf2 since tf_weapon_criticals or tournament mode.
http://www.pldx.com/movie/665/Ricco_Get_Domed_2/
Being able to tell when you hit somebody is a basic interface feature. Between the shoddy netcode and unreliable client generated screams it's not really supported in tf2 atm. tf2 would feel like a different, more transparent and altogether better game with these.
This is comp standard, not having them is just poor.

Issue: Players with wide screens have an advantage over users with standard screens.
Proposal: Cap FOV at 135.
The reality: The monitor thing is just bait for steamers who hate the idea of a hardware advantage. The reality is that absolutely nobody likes the fov cap.

Issue: Projectiles fire off center.
Proposal: They fire from the center.
The reality: There truly is no benefit to this for comp players. It can be handy in pubs because it helps you edge sentries but in sixes all it means is that it's weird and awkward jumping off walls on your left, and that you can't trust your crosshair at close range. I've seen even very good players smack themselves in the face with a rocket because of this… what is the point?

E-Mail sent, +1 to everything. Especially hit sounds anyway.

“Issue: Shotguns (including the scattergun and FAN) still deal random damage with tf_damage_disablespread set to 1. [30% +/- on average]
The suggestion: Shot pattern.
The reality: loldicerolls. as regards buffing scouts, I heard the exact same argument regarding crits and random damage and scouts are pretty much exactly how they used to be.”

As I said in your topic, the random weapons pellet spread has nothing to do with tf_damage_disablespread. You should ask VALVe to add an other CVar to fix that, not add that to tf_damage_disablespread.

You’re wrong, it actually has to do with tf_damage_disablespread. Not technically, yes, but still practically due to the random nature of spread. So in practicality the damage at range still has a spread, regardless if every pellet has constant damage. Therefore it’s only logical to include this in the tf_damage_disablespread instead of adding another tf_pellet_disablerandom.

As long as there is anything random, it has a damage spread, regardless if the spread is a result of pure numerical damage variation or the result of other variables (such as pellet spread).

“Issue: Players with wide screens have an advantage over users with standard screens.
Proposal: Cap FOV at 135.
The reality: The monitor thing is just bait for steamers who hate the idea of a hardware advantage. The reality is that absolutely nobody likes the fov cap.”

Widescreens users will always have an advantage over standard screens. If they make widescreens FoV like the standard screen, then it’ll look very bad, like compressed.
So, that’s can’t be fixed.
But, maybe player want to increase FoV at 110-120 because they used to play with that in other games. That’s a diff issue.

Or there could be a FOV conversion, having a lower max cap on FOV for 16:10 users compared to 4:3 users that would allow an equal effective FOV for both parts.

Implement auto pistol script? You could ask any one of the top scouts in this game and he’ll tell you that the ability to properly shoot with your pistol is a very basic skill, and yet one of the more important and challenging ones. There is absoultly no reason to remove it. “If you can’t beat them, join them” shouldn’t be applied here.

I don’t like the hitsounds either. Even forgetting the fact that those actually do exist (in the form of characters-being-hurt sounds), this game isn’t quick-paced enough to say that you don’t know if you hit or not. Also, imagine spamming nades or rockets – it’s the soldier’s/demo’s responsibility to notice if he hits something, and call it. It is a skill for itself, something to learn and experiment. It’s fine the way it is, imo.

I agree with both parts. However, due to the difficulty of enforcing a no-pistol script rule without the disable wait cvar, if a league doesn’t enforce that cvar (so people can use RJ scripts etc), then the next best thing would be to have everyone on an equal playground. And even if you had a custom made pistol script not to fire at the max speed, it’d still allow for greater ease of aiming while firing.

As for hitsounds, I also agree. I made a forum suggestion regarding an alternative, which is similar to Quake, where people moan from the pain they’ve taken, and from that you can estimate how damaged they are. Meaning allowing various moans for scouts depending on how low they are etc.

It’s kind of presumptuous of you to put words in the mouths of competitive players, especially since you include some ridiculous ideas like built-in pistol scripts and other non-essential stuff. Essentially you’re trying to forge the game more towards your own preference, not trying to make it a better competitive game. The procedure that one that yells the loudest gets what he wants is not a good one, and I’m sure Valve is smarter than that.

Shut up guys, I want this stuff :>

This isn’t only for competitive TF2, but to help the game get better in general. Hitsounds is something I’d love to see, as well as things like projectiles coming out from the center of the screen. And I do miss my 120 FOV from QL… hehe. Key word here is that it’s optional.

The reasoning behind a built-in pistol script is because those with knownledge of scripts have an edge over those who don’t, and obviously this would mean that the rate of fire for the pistol is reduced. I don’t see a problem with this really.

Signed, might send an email later, but I don’t want to spam them either. Will wait a bit first.

I suggest u stop bugging robin walker with this retarded ideas like pistol scripts and hitsounds etc cause eventually he’ll just start to ignore every email with requests from the competitive side

Fix spread, fix rockets (middle and hitting teammates), make fov go up to 110 (like all other games on 16:10 monitors).