EDIT: Valve have since reverted their changes in the June 23rd 2014 Update: “Reverted the recent stickybomb damage ramp up change. We will continue to evaluate the use of stickybomb air detonations and potential changes to that mechanic.”

• All Demoman stickybombs now have damage ramp up. Full damage is reached 2 seconds after firing.

This change has a substantial impact on competitive TF2 and it did not take long for someone to release a server-side mod that restores the old damage values. However, we would like to make it clear that altering gameplay with server-side plugins is against ETF2L rules and this case is no exception.

Normally whenever new unlocks or gameplay features are added to the game, ETF2L tries to preserve the consistency of ongoing league seasons and include or explicitly exclude these updates in the next season. It would seem natural for us to support a plugin that seeks to maintain the same game balance throughout the ongoing season, however we must forbid it for the same reason we exclude all other plugins that affect game balance:

1. All ETF2L matches must follow the same rules and use the same gameplay settings. Players must know exactly what settings to expect and be able to prepare for them.
2. Any plugin that alters game balance must be used in all matches or none of them, which means allowing a plugin would require us to enforce its usage in all matches, no exceptions.
3. Enforcing a plugin on all match servers is problematic – experience has shown that teams will often struggle with installing/updating it (particularly new players), and requiring all matches to be played on ETF2L servers is not feasible.

Last but not least, any plugin that alters game balance will create a divide between various leagues depending on their treatment of the plugin, and raise another artificial barrier between competitive and public play. We think it is in the best interest of competitive TF2 to avoid dividing the community wherever possible.

New weapons and taunts

As the new weapons were added during Season 18, they may not be used in this competition. The new taunts are all allowed and have been added to the Season 18 whitelist.

Grab your snacks, its Week 6 baby! Tonight we have an epic line-up featuring (BUTTNOSE) the russian comrades of 4-25 against the might of the pan-european Epsilon eSports. As it is Week 6 of this fair Season 18 powered by Tt eSPORTS we have Viaduct & Snakewater coming up for you, all broadcasted live on TeamFortress.TV. Your three stars in the booth tonight are CommanderX & ? with Jon on the camera! Tune in at 21.00 CEST for all the action!

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Highlander Nations Cup #3 powered by Tt eSPORTS: Prizes

We’ve kept you waiting anxiously for a while, but now we can officially announce the prizes for the Highlander Nations Cup #3 powered by Tt eSPORTS. If you have been keeping an eye on teamfortress.tv you might already know, but we are pleased to be able to offer a cash prize for this tournament.

In addition we have some top quality hardware prizes for the best Nation thanks to Tt eSPORTS. Please make sure you go and visit their website and Facebook Page to find out more about them!

• Winner: €500 + 9x Tt eSPORTS Black Gaming Mice

• Runner Up: €350
• Third Place: €150

Highlander Nations Cup #3 powered by Tt eSPORTS: Map Update

Previously we did not know which version of cp_intermodal to use, however there is a stable version now which will be used. cp_intermodal_g1 can be downloaded here.

Highlander Nations Cup #3 powered by Tt eSPORTS: Captain Applications Still Open

The applications for captaincy of your nation are still open!

National teams are created and managed by Captains chosen out of submitted applications. Each Captain will pick the best possible roster from amongst their countrymen and lead their glorious squadron to victory. There are no restrictions on which players you can field in your team, so long as they are of your country’s nationality and are eligible to play in ETF2L.

To apply, send an email to staff@etf2l.org, explaining why you should be your country’s captain and describe your planned national roster. Applicants who have experience leading successful ETF2L teams and a good reputation in the scene will be given priority. This should be self explanatory  but you should include at least your nickname and your ETF2L profile link in the application letter.

Captain Applications will close on Friday, 20th of June at 23:59 CEST. Only approved Captains and their National Teams will be added to the competition.

So far, we have applications from the following countries. Please note none of these are approved as of yet.

• Austria
• Belgium (x2)
• Bulgaria
• Croatia
• Denmark
• Estonia
• England (x2)
• Finland
• France
• Georgia
• Germany (x2)
• Hungary
• Israel
• Italy
• Lithuania
• Netherlands
• Norway
• Poland
• Portugal (x2)
• Romania
• Russia
• Scotland
• Slovakia
• Slovenia
• Spain (x2)
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• United Arab Emirates
• United States of America

If you don’t see your nation here, please consider applying! Nations without a captain will simply not take part in the tournament.

The Highlander Open Cup

Reminders: Rosters can only have up to 1 player with experience in Division 5 and higher (HL & 6v6) as that person is your ‘buddy’ and can only play as a medic. Everyone else on the roster must be new to competitive or be in Division 6. Updates: 

• The Conga taunt if used at the end of a round can glitch hitboxes for the next round. Therefore it will be banned.
• All the new weapons will be allowed.

The whitelist for 9v9 has been updated and can be found here.

>>> Sign your team up! <<<

So here we are with just over 1 week to go until the closure of signups on The Highlander Open after 2 whole friggin’ months!! If you are not too sure about how to enter, check out the guide here.

I just want to mention briefly about coverage. Certain matches will be casted LIVE on BlackOut TV so those of you who are not playing a game on some days or who weren’t able to participate because of other issues can enjoy the action as much as the participants!

For those of you who can’t wait to see the medals, here is a sneak preview of the 1st place medal in development! Ain’t that pretty so far? Well if you want to get that tip-top medal you should be setting your eyes upon that 1st place position. I digress though with all these special things, the main purpose of writing this post now is to clarify any problems or questions you, the players, may be facing. If you want to check out some of the other bits and bobs, scroll down to the bottom. Here we go: Read the rest of this entry »

In what was originally meant to be an article promoting the Highlander Season 6 Awards Show on Sunday, it became evident, unfortunately, when I broke 3000 words that it was unsuitable as a general news post and was destined to be its own singular entity. Fortunately however, it has allowed me more time to write an article which managed to outdo the infamously long post-i49 article I wrote. Before Highlander-lovers inadvertently engage in an abundant serving copious enough to appease their appetites until the HL Nations Cup, for reference purposes, I wrote a marginally controversial article three months ago (which I would shamelessly implore you to read alongside an article that I was prohibited to publish on ETF2L regarding the start of the season, merely for the purposes of recap), regarding affairs in certain Premiership teams. In it was a graph visualising predictions for Season 6. I caught up with each of the team leaders about how their teams are faring post-season and their plans (if any) for Season 7.

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