this is etf2l radio

Following the success of our game commentary last week, we thought that it was about time for another evening of TF2 casting, this time at even more short notice! Tonight we’ll be covering the €500 ESH Sapphire Challenge Final between reigning ESH champs I Don’t Know? and four time ETF2L winners Team Dignitas.

Your casters tonight will be Evil, soldier for the top Division 1 team what women want, Anderson of The Direct Hit and Team Vertex, and myself, Cadred writer and ETF2L admin, Jimmy Breeze.

Join us tonight for a bit of banter, analysis, and hopefully some post-match interviews too. See you there!

• Starting at 21.15 CET
• SourceTV: fakkelbrigade.eu:27100
• Mumble cast: fakkelbrigade.eu / port 64740 / password: spuf

Introduction

The methods for managing your ETF2L matches have pretty much been the same since the site was first created. At a later date we introduced the schedule proposal system, to make sure both you and your opponent had to agree on a date before it was finally entered into the calendar. This system works as is, but it is in no way perfect. The handling of your matches takes place on 2 pages: The “Submit Results” page, where you enter your match results, and the “Calendar” page. Especially the second one lacks some overview with it’s 3 sections full of data it is easy to lose track of what’s going on, especially if you’re playing in multiple tournaments.

We have gathered some of your thoughts on that (made after the introduction of the scheduling system), and created an all-new page which tries to handle all the functions from the aforementioned two pages in a intuitive manner. We call this page, in a very web 2.0 style: “My Matches”.

New page

The page can be found here: [Link] It should be simple enough to be able to work with it without introduction, but we’ll give one anyway.

So how does this page work then?

How it works

When you load the page, you will see a list of all your upcoming matches.

This is what i see when i log in to my account. 2 upcoming ladder matches. The first 3 columns (competition, week/round and Match) speak for themselves. They display what match we are talking about.

Schedule history

The Schedule column shows the date this match is scheduled for, if both teams have come to an agreement that is. You’ll notice a little (+) in that column. If you click that, a list containing the full schedule history of that match will expand, so you can see who proposed what and what happened to it.

Schedule proposals

Next up is a link for making match proposals. If you click that, a dialog box will appear over the page. Here is an example of such a dialog box:

As you can see, it has 2 sections. The first section displays the latest proposal and its current status. In this particular case, the opponent suggested to play on 18/03, so there’s a button you can click to accept that proposal. If you were the one making the proposal, it would say “Awaiting opponent approval” in the same spot.

In the second section, you can suggest a new date and time for the match. Simply find the day on the calendar, add the time, and click the submit button. Adding a new proposal can be done at any time. Be it to change the proposal you made yourself, or to make a new proposal to your opponent. This will automatically reject the previous proposal. With this, you can finally edit your own proposals without waiting for your opponent to react, also a much requested feature.

SourceTV Information

Moving on is the SourceTV link. This will spawn a simple dialog where you can enter the sourceTV information of your match, to get all your fans on board.

Submit Results

The last link is, inevitably, Submit Results. This will open a dialog box, which contains nothing more than a modified version of the old submit results page you’re so familiar with. Enter the results, and submit it :)

Visual clues

Lastly: To help you realize there is work to be done on this page, we have added several visual clues. A small image will appear next to every fixture that has a schedule proposal that needs your attention. The notification widget on the front-page displays if you have any new proposals aswell, and links to the My Matches page. There is no excuse to not respond to a schedule proposal now.

Feedback

We hope you appreciate this new page and that it will help you keeping your matches organized. However, we realize that such a change won’t always go without hiccups. Therefore the old Calendar and Submit Results page will stay on-line for the time being, just in case you cannot get the new page to work. We tested it as much as we could, but you never know what problems may pop up. We advise you to use the new page in any case, and report any problems. You don’t want to be stuck when we pull the old ones off-line.

We have opened a feedback thread in our ETF2L forums, where you can report any broken sections, UI failures or other things that should be improved. If you just want to say the page is cool, that’s okay too.  [Feedback Thread]

Join us for a fantastic evening of TF2 action with a live Mumble cast, starting at 21.15 CET, between I Don’t Know? and The Last Resort.

We have three great TF2 minds casting the action, watching SourceTV alongside you. The hosts are Byte of TCM-Gaming fame, Cadred staff writer and former Division 2 player Dave, plus Team Vertex soldier and host of The Direct Hit podcast, Swarley.

• Starting at 21.15 CET
• SourceTV: fakkelbrigade.eu:27101
• Mumble cast: fakkelbrigade.eu / port 64740 / password: spuf

Alternatively, tune into the German language livestream cast from TF2Portal.de.

Thanks to FakkelBrigade for the SourceTV relay and Mumble server!

Match Overview
Epsilon eSports vs Marco FTW
Week 4 (Division 1)
Wednesday, March 17th 20:15 CET
SourceTV: fakkelbrigade.eu:27101

ctf_turbine

13 - 7

cp_gullywash

1 - 2

OVERALL
Epsilon eSports [3:3] Marco FTW

Wednesday Night Weeaboo

Week 4’s Division 1 games come to a close tonight as I Don’t Know? (4-0-2) take on Division 1 newbies The Last Resort (1-0-3).

Idk? will look to continue their stellar form on Gullywash, following recent wins there against TCM-Gaming and Power Gaming. In Week 2, both squads suffered dramatic Turbine losses, idk? falling just short of the line against What Women Want in a 9-10 loss, and TLR were on the wrong side of Turbine’s special sauce overtime rules versus Power, enduring a 10-11 defeat.

I spoke briefly with TLR scout Atreides:

How many points do you guys need from this game to stay competitive in Division 1?

Taking our future games into account, technically, we don’t need any points from this game. I think that, team morale wise, we’re realistically looking for one map win. We’ve had some convincing results on Turbine lately, and we’re fully aware of idk?’s strengths.

What’s the key to beating idk?

They’ve had some impressive wins and outstanding individual performances recently, especially from their demoman, Extremer. The game will totally depend on our ability to limit his damage potential and to take full advantage of his (at times) too aggressive moves. If we concentrate on our strengths, I forecast two close scores on both maps. The team that manages to exploit the other’s mistakes will win.

Coverage

• The game starts at 21.15 CET
• STV information will be posted here as soon as we get it.

Match Overview
Epsilon eSports vs Marco FTW
Week 4 (Division 1)
Wednesday, March 17th 20:15 CET
SourceTV: fakkelbrigade.eu:27101

ctf_turbine

13 - 7

cp_gullywash

1 - 2

OVERALL
Epsilon eSports [3:3] Marco FTW

Pushing the community forward

Our partnership with EsportsHeaven continues with the 128 team Sapphire Challenge with €500 up for grabs.

While that partnership is strong, it is also a growing one, and we still need your support and participation. So, if you’re able to play on the evening of the 15th of March, make sure you sign-up today!

We’re also very excited to tell you about an upcoming Highlander tournament we’ll be hosting in association with Valve and TF2Lobby for new to competitive play teams. Expect details about how this involves you in the coming week!

Also make sure to check out the second episode of The Direct Hit podcast, “Who the hell decided to go valley?”, where the team takes a look at what’s wrong with competitive TF2 and how we can put a positive spin on it.

Rule changes with immediate effect

• In response to the awesome Fraglander frag movie by Sammage, we have been forced to rule that the kind of turning scripts demonstrated in his video will be banned in ETF2L play.
• After a number of issues with pauses in matches recently, in both ETF2L and the ESH cups, we are changing the pause rule to the following
  

  Teams may request a pause at any time during a match. Reasons for pausing include:

  – Player drop
  – Server problems
  – Your game is unplayable due to network issues

  If you need to pause, you must clearly request a pause and give a reason for it (for example: “Pause please, player drop”).

  The other team is then, by rule, expected to pause on behalf of their opponents in a sensible and sportsmanlike manner. They must pause at the first appropriate time.

  Teams should use their common sense about what an appropriate time to pause is. Try your best not to pause when major engagements are taking place. You should pause within 15 seconds of being asked.

  If a complaint is made that a team was either abusing the ability to request pauses to gain an unsportsmanlike advantage, or a team failed to fairly pause or took excessive time to do so after being clearly requested to pause, the admin team will review the supplied SourceTV demo and assess penalties on a case-by-case basis. Penalties include minor warning accompanied with the forfeit of the round in question, or, in extreme cases, major warning and forfeit of the map.

  A team is only expected to pause on behalf of the other team once per map. After the first pause has been used, it is up to the other team whether and when to pause or not.

  A pause cannot last more than 5 minutes. After 5 minutes have passed, the other team is free to unpause the game without the other team’s agreement, as long as they let the other team know that they are about to unpause. We advise teams to use the 5 minutes wisely: sort out whatever problem you have and arrange a sub from your roster in case the problem cannot be fixed.

  You may not unpause the game under any circumstances without giving proper warning to the other team.

• Following the results of the Obscure poll, cp_obscure_rc2 will be used in all future games until further notice.
• Please also note that several teams have fallen foul of the rule regarding the use of mercs. You must have the other team’s permission to use a merc, and all mercs must be registered with ETF2L. It is your responsibility to check this, not the other team’s. There will be no exceptions.We also advise, as always, that you get your opponent to agree to allowing your merc on the relevant match page. It’s also a good idea to screenshot their agreement (if it’s agreed in-game or through Steam chat/IRC) too.

Changes to the admin team

We regret to announce that we’re removing long-time volunteers Amonsilas and Weqo from the admin team due to inactivity. We thank them for their services to the community and wish them good luck with their future plans.

We have also taken the decision to relieve Anakin from his role in the anti-cheat team. An unfortunate conflict of interest has arisen with his position as ESL admin, and it was, in our estimation, effecting his performance in his duties with ETF2L. We are very grateful for his hard work and wish him all the best with regards to future ventures.

Following Anakin’s removal, the anti-cheat team is seriously understaffed. We are in the final stages of approving new members, who we hope will formally join the team within the next few days.

In response to allegations against anti-cheat team

Following an internal review between the head admins, anti-cheat and league staff, we have decided to uphold the anti-cheat team’s decision regarding Quad’s ban, as detailed on February the 8th. They have fully explained their decision and they have the full support of the head admins.

Due to the seriousness of the allegations made against the anti-cheat team, we have taken the decision to make an exception in publishing details of our anti-cheat team’s report.

Ticks 3000-4000: Unusual movement, microadjustments of crosshair.
4400, 5600, 5950, 6700: Kills with unusual crosshair movements and patterns.
5100, 5800: Also potentially suspicious kills

Please keep in mind that we do not release this kind of information for a reason. While these instances may look innocuous to you, it is the judgement of our anti-cheat experts that they constitute evidence of cheating.

Considering Gryzor’s behaviour towards our league and exercising his personal vendettas against certain members of our staff in the name of “improving” our community, it’s difficult to take his word seriously. Nevertheless, be assured that we took the allegations he made against our league very seriously.

For those reasons, however, and his leak of confidential admin information that he obtained through his previous role as ETF2L staff, we have taken the decision to exclude him from our community for a year.

It’s very important to us that our admins, people in positions of trust, do not abuse their role. Any admin, past or present, caught leaking information will be subject to the same penalty.

Player bans

Gryzor – Leaking confidential admin information – 1 year ban

Hastaloe – Speedhack – 1 year ban