emir

in your opinion, who was the better soldier in our team, Lid or Aycan? SHIET JUST GOT REAL Also, how does one go about surviving gran mid?

HELLO i am emir. you might see me in pubs from time to time. Used to play scout for XGN in 2010, and then Masterful in 2011 (shoutout to Summer, best captain and now best demo) Ex-admin of asiafortress in 2011 before i left for other commitments irl. Writer of the guide to "Getting Started in Comp Tf2" - I swear the links used to work last year before the site changed Also creator of the first iteration of AFA in 2011 - made that engi-graduate logo with no prior photoshop experience ^^ I'm just bored in tutorial goddamn. sometimes i miss tf2

HELLO EVERYONE. what's new.

Written by emir. 1. Introduction 2. Basics of Pickups (PUGs) 3. Server Rules and Server List 4. Mumble 5. Your first PUG 6. Scrims 7. Useful Resources So you’ve been playing TF2 for months now, maybe even years, and somehow, you find that it just isn’t the same anymore. Perhaps stomping noobs and topping scoreboards as a pubstar is starting to bore you, and you’re seeking a challenge. Maybe you’re just sick and tired of the massive spamfest that’s ever-present on goldrush and dustbowl, and just want something more organised. Perhaps you’ve got an inclination for other maps which aren’t very popular in public servers, like cp_badlands or cp_gravelpit. Or maybe you’re frustrated with all the overpowered weapons which Valve keeps introducing to the game, and you just wish you could go back to a time when these OP weapons weren’t around. Well, maybe it’s time you tried Competitive TF2. But wait! Don’t let the term “Competitive” scare you. You don’t need to be uber-pro in order to try it. Competitive TF2 simply refers to a different, more organised format of gameplay. Instead of the 12v12 or 16v16 clusterfucks you see on public servers (commonly known as pubs), Competitive TF2 is all about 6v6 games. This makes for a far less spammy and more strategic gameplay experience, and you’ll probably find it to be a refreshing change from pubs. So, in summary, why should I try competitive TF2? You’re less likely to die to sheer rocket/grenade/sticky spam. A whole new gameplay experience with new rules. Easy to pick up and learn (compared to other competitive shooters), with dedication. All those amazing frag videos you’ve seen? Yeah those are mostly from competitive players. Teamwork and strategy actually become important. No overpowered weapons; the game becomes relatively balanced again. You’ll almost definitely become a better player.Sound good to you? Hold on though! It’s not going to be a cakewalk all the way to the top! You’ll definitely find it challenging, particularly if you’re new to TF2. As such, here are some things you should bear in mind when starting out: You’re expected to be able to play the game. While hax aim is not a pre-requisite, you should at least be able to kill things. Have an open mind. You might need to learn new things like rollouts, and unlearn other things you learnt in pubs. Be open to criticism. That’s the only way you’ll improve. You probably will get flamed and raged at; not everyone’s going to be nice to you. Just disregard them and do your best. If you intend to go far competitively, you’re going to need some dedication to improving yourself. Most importantly, be patient and DON’T GIVE UP! As with anything else, you’ll need time to get better at TF2! Still up to it? Good! Now that you’re sure, you’re almost ready to try a PUG. Make sure you read the next section! Credit for content in this section goes to Cobalt’s Guide to Pugging Wait, basics of what? Pickup Games, or PUGs for short, are a form of games commonly played in the competitive Team Fortress 2 scene. Keeping with the competitive format of 6v6, PUGs are played with 6 players on each team, usually comprising 1 Medic, 1 Demoman, 2 Soldiers and 2 Scouts. PUGs differ from Scrims in that PUG teams consist of players who are chosen on the spot at the start of the PUG, whereas Scrims are played between clans or teams with fixed lineups. In Asiafortress Servers, the standing rules are as follows: Quote: When 12 players join the teams, i.e. 6 on each team, everyone has to go Spectator. The last 2 players to join Spectator will have to be Medic Captains ; this means they will pick team members and more importantly, it also means they will play Medic for the duration of the PUG. Both Medics will then have an ubersaw fight at the midpoint, to see who gets to choose players first. At this point, a list of players who didn’t play the previous map will be produced. It is mandatory for the Captains to pick players from this list first. After players on the list have all been picked, Captains are free to pick anyone else in Spectator. If you didn’t play the previous map, simply type +1 in chat to be placed on the list. If no one compiles a list, take initiative! Do everyone a favour and compile it! Players don’t have to play Medic if they played Medic the previous map. Players are not allowed to play spy, sniper, pyro and engineer if the team disagrees. To be sure, just ask your team if they’re fine with you playing those classes. Any form of racism, excessive trolling and flaming and abuse of chat is strictly not allowed. Players may send anonymous reports to z@hcaz.net All reports are private and confidential and identities will be concealed. As much as we try to be lenient and understanding with new players, we still have to enforce these rules to make everyone else’s pugging experience a pleasant one. If you intentionally and knowingly break any of these rules, particularly the first 2, fitting punishment will have to be meted out, most likely in the form of a permanent ban.Class Limits: These class limits are meant for game balance; it wouldn’t be nice fighting a team of 6 Demomen, would it? 2 Scouts 2 Soldiers 2 Pyros 1 Demoman 1 Heavy 1 Engineer 1 Medic 2 Snipers 1 Spy Permitted Unlocks: Most unlockable weapons aren’t allowed in competitive TF2, for reasons of game balance. Weapons listed here are permitted, all other unlockable weapons are banned. Do note that this list may be subject to revision. Medic – Blutsauger, Kritzkrieg, Ubersaw A server whitelist is currently in place, so you’ll find that the banned unlocks aren’t available anyway. Etiquette: Your attitude in PUGs reflects on you as a person and a player, so be nice and always have a smile on your face, like Wish. Cooperate with the admins, we don’t want to have to kick you. When entering a server, ask if it’s a scrim or PUG. Otherwise, you might end up waiting 30 minutes to play, only to find out it’s a scrim. Don’t immediately join a team if there’s a game in progress; this disrupts the flow of the game. Go Spectator and wait for the next round. If players are voting for a map change or team scramble, do your part and vote too! Play your best! If you’re going to play half-heartedly and be a douchebag, you’re better off giving your spot to someone else. If you have to leave, make sure someone subs for you. If there’s no one in Spec, invite a friend to the server to replace you. Cooperate with your captains. You might need to play a class you don’t usually play; don’t make a big fuss out of it! Respect the server admin’s decisions. Trashtalk is fine, but don’t overdo it. Simply put, don’t be a douchebag. In the heat of the game, people might understandably start raging. As much as possible though, don’t make personal attacks on others. Of course, racism, flaming, excessive trolling, and abuse of chat are all strictly not allowed. Treat others as you’d like them to treat you *Note that some of these servers may be taken down without warning. In order to join the server, click on the link. Singapore AsiaFortress.com #1 | PUG AsiaFortress.com #2 | AFA AsiaFortress.com #3 | PUG ozfortress.com Asia #01 | hosted by GamersUnited ozfortress.com Asia #02 | hosted by GamersUnited ozfortress.com Asia #03 | hosted by GamersUnited ozfortress.com Asia #04 | hosted by GamersUnited Hong Kong [hsp.hk] Reserved Match Server [hsp.hk] AsiaFortress #2 Taiwan #1 BFX_Match Scrim ‘n’ PUG Server Japan [JP]TF2 TJT match server01 [JP]TF2 TJT match server01 Withgod’s Private Server #1 Withgod’s Private Server #2 Note: Different PUG servers operate by different rules. Medic Captains only applies to certain servers. Alright, I read the hell out of that section. Can I PUG now? Almost, young fella! Before you do, you need to get Mumble first! What’s this? Mumble is an open source, low-latency, high quality voice chat software primarily intended for use while gaming. Yeah, that’s from their website. Essentially, it’s used for communication in a PUG or scrim, but people are known to just hang out in Mumble all day waiting for people to talk to them. Do I really need this? Some PUG players don’t use Mumble, but if you intend to get serious about TF2, then yes, you really need it. Mumble is preferred over in-game voice chat, because Mumble has better quality, and because in-game voice chat doesn’t allow you to talk to your teammates when you’re dead. That aside, Mumble helps you get to know people, since most TF2 players in our region just chill in their own Mumble channels all day, waiting for people to talk to them. Just join people you know in their channel, and over time, you’ll get to know practically everyone in the community. Somehow, it’s much easier to make friends with voice chat, because people are generally nicer and less douchey . Lots of pubbers use Mumble too, so it’s not just for competitive players alone. Some people *cough*PGTF2*cough* use Mumble to play other games too. Just look at all those people waiting for you to talk to them! Alright, fine. What do I do? Download Mumble from here. Install Mumble and follow the instructions to setting up your mic. At the top left, click “Server”, then “Connect”. You’ll see something like this Click on “Add New…” and copy the same details seen in the picture. In case you can’t see, Server IP is 203.116.80.201 and Port is 64738. Click “OK”, then “Connect”. You’re in Mumble! Double click on channel names to join them. Remember, be polite and friendly! Official Asiafortress PUG Steam Group. Announcements will be posted whenever PUGs are starting in any of our servers, or even in any of the non-Asiafortress servers. Alternatively, make friends with some PUG regulars; they’ll invite you to the game when they’re trying to get a PUG started. Okay, I joined a PUG server. What now? Check if there’s a game in progress. If there is, ask if it’s a scrim or a PUG. If there’s a scrim going on, you’re better off going to another server; scrims usually last a few maps. If there’s a PUG in progress, you should wait till the next map/rejoin when the map changes. Make sure you come in right after the map changes though, or you’ll miss your chance again! Okay, I waited for that map to end. Now what? (This only applies to Starhub E-Club servers) Join a team, and wait till there are 6 people on each team. When that happens, go Spectator as fast as you can! If you’re the last 2 to go Spectator, you’ll have to play Medic Captain. If you don’t know what that is, refer to Server Rules up in Part II. Whew. It was close, but I managed to go Spectator in time. Good. Now keep an eye on chat, someone should be asking, “Who didn’t play the last map?” That’s you! Type +1 in chat; you’re now on the list. The Captains will have to pick from the list first, and that means you get to play! If no one makes the effort to put the list together, take the initiative and do it! Just compile the names of players who didn’t play the previous map and tell the Captains. I got picked! Great! Now tell the Captain what class you want to play, so he can choose a balanced team. Which class should I play? Well, you probably have a class you’re used to playing in public servers. Unfortunately, only 4 classes are usually played in PUGs, namely Scout, Soldier, Demoman and Medic. This means you HAVE to choose between these 4 classes, as running a full-time Pyro, Heavy, Engineer, Sniper or Spy is against the rules. Players are permitted to play these classes occasionally, but not the entire round. To help you choose between these 4 main classes, here’s a quick rundown of their roles: Scout – Scouts play a supporting role in the team, helping to cover flanks and preventing enemy Scouts from getting behind your team. Due to their low HP, Scouts should focus on picking off damaged enemies, not trying to take the enemy team on face-to-face. When the situation calls for it, Scouts can also get behind the enemy team (known as “leaking”) and capture control points (e.g. Last cap of cp_badlands, which is extremely fast to cap) or pick off key targets (Demoman and Medic). As heroic as this looks, please don’t do this as a Scout Soldier - The 2 Soldiers in a team usually assume different roles; 1 Soldier is known as a Pocket while the other is a Roamer. The Pocket Soldier and Medic together are known as the Combo; they are the main force of your team, attacking and defending territory with the Uber. The Pocket Soldier’s responsibility is to protect the Medic at all times, to make sure he doesn’t lose his Uber. The Roamer, on the other hand, is more versatile and plays a little bit more independently of the Combo. The Roamer may switch between flanks to dish out damage wherever support is needed, e.g. if the Scouts are facing trouble on the opposite side of the map, the Roamer will rocket jump over to help out. At times, the Roamer may also jump the enemy’s Combo (with the support of the Scouts) to take out the enemy Medic. Soldier players may need to switch readily between these roles, depending on the situation. As such, Soldier players HAVE to be able to rocket jump properly. Yes, you really need to be able to do this Demoman – The Demoman is a critical character in the team, since he has the highest damage output in the entire team. Fittingly, the Demoman is also one of the hardest classes to become proficient at, as he has a very wide range of responsibilities in the team. Among this is area denial; the Demo’s sticky traps, if strategically placed at choke points, allow him to cover an entire flank by himself. Additionally, his high damage output through his stickies and pipes make him crucial to winning fights, most importantly the midfight. For this reason, Demomen need to be able to rollout (reach the midpoint at the start of a round) fast. This also means Demoman players MUST know how to sticky jump. This pretty much spells R-A-P-E Medic - The Medic is THE most important member of your team. The entire metagame of competitive 6v6 revolves around pushing and falling at the right time, and that push-pull dynamic revolves around your Medic’s Uber. In brief, the Medic’s Ubercharge or Kritz lets you lay the smackdown on the enemy team, to help you gain or defend territory. It’s definitely not an easy class to play; everyone on the opposite team will have their sights on you, and everyone on your team’s depending on you not to make mistakes. Nonetheless, as the centrepiece of your team, being able to play Medic well is extremely rewarding. Things can get really stressful; feel free to rage at your team if they don’t protect you well Utilities - Utilities refer to all other classes aside from the 4 classes listed above, i.e. Pyro, Heavy, Engineer, Sniper and Spy. Occasionally, having one of these utility classes on your team may be beneficial, and your team may decide to have a Scout or Soldier switch to one of these classes. Some examples include having a Heavy when holding the last point, or running a Spy/Sniper to get a pick on the enemy Medic to sway things in your favour. Remember to ask your team first before changing classes! Players playing Demoman and Medic should never change class, as these classes are crucial to your team. Disclaimer to all the pubstar Spies: Playing Spy in a PUG is way different from pubs. If you fail, switch classes Alright, I’ve picked a class, and the game’s starting! Well, you’re on your own then! You might do badly, but keep playing, you’ll improve with time. Good luck, and have fun! Introduction: Some PUG regulars are happy just playing PUGs, and go no further into competitive TF2. Many players, though, choose to go one step further by getting involved in a team. Play enough PUGs and you’ll soon realise that it’s not quite all it’s cut out to be. The communication and coordination within your PUG team aren’t quite there, and it gets rather frustrating when you can’t win games due to poor teamwork. And, try as you may, this will never change, because your PUG team only lasts till the end of that map. And so, some players choose to form or join a scrim team. In terms of composition of classes, a scrim team is identical to a PUG team; the main difference is that a scrim team usually has a fixed lineup and a roster of 6+ players (including substitutes). By repeatedly playing with the same people in a team, players gradually adapt to each other’s style of play and get used to one another. As a result, members of a scrim team are able to communicate better with one another and accordingly work better as a team. Recall that competitive Team Fortress 2 is, above all, a team game. Every class has its own weaknesses and strengths, and no one class is able to singlehandedly win a game for a team. In most matches between evenly matched teams, teamwork really becomes a deciding factor, as cliche as that sounds. The team aspect of the game overshadows individual ability to the extent that a team of well-coordinated, albeit weak members, is able to overcome a team of stronger, but poorly coordinated players. In short, here’s why you should be part of a scrim team: Play with people you actually know and like, not random PUG regulars. Improve at the game as a team. Members of a good team motivate each other, and help each other improve by giving criticism. Once you understand each other, you’ll find that you play much better with your scrim team than with PUG teams. Teams can take part in competitions and tournaments, like Asiafortress League and TF2 Masters. You can make awesome frag videos for your team, like this: By Team Dizziness, Champions of AFL Season 2 and 1st Runners-Up of Mercs Cup 2 Joining/Forming a team: Everyone’s got their own criteria when choosing a scrim team to join. Some people make it a point to join a team of their own skill level so they can improve together with the team, some people join a team of a lower level so they can help that team improve, and others simply join a team because their friends are in that team. Whatever it is, there are several ways to finding a team to join: Ask to join a team your friend’s in. Visit Asiafortress’ Recruitment Forum. Teams looking for members will occasionally post a thread there. Make a post advertising yourself in our Free Agent List. Alternatively, you could gather your friends and start your own team! If you’re lacking members, feel free to post in the Recruitment Forums to look for members. You could also go to public servers to pick up players who you think have got potential; many of us in the community got started this way. Improving as a team: No 2 ways about it – the only way your team will get better is to scrim against other teams. Arranging scrims is as simple as setting a date and time with another team’s captain, and making sure your players turn up. If there aren’t any teams around, ask someone capable to put together a mix team; i.e. he/she will find 6 random competitive players and form a team on the spot. This is a good way of getting playtime in together as a team, even when there aren’t any other teams around. Constantly scrimming will give your team the opportunity to get used to working together; over time, you’ll adjust to each other’s playstyles. When first starting out, it’s likely that your team will lose against every single team you play. This is normal. Most teams started out this way. The important thing is to make every loss a learning point for your team; if need be, ask players from other teams to give comments and criticisms about your team. No one ever got better playing against weaker teams. Simply put, DON’T BE DISCOURAGED, KEEP SCRIMMING! You can also seek out mentors for your team. A mentor should ideally watch your team play, and educate you accordingly on the things you’re doing wrong. You could try asking more experienced members of the community to be your team’s mentor, or you could post a thread requesting a mentor in our Mentoring Forums. The bottom line is, don’t disband your team simply because you keep losing to other teams. Put some dedication into getting better as a team, and you’ll slowly start seeing results. Remember to constantly motivate each other, and don’t forget to have fun together! After all, that’s why you’re playing TF2, isn’t it? In this section I’ve posted some useful downloads and links. If there’s anything you’d like to add, just reply to this thread. If you’ve got any questions about things found in this guide, or just any queries about our competitive community in general, head over to our <a href="http://bakemono.servegame.org/aflwp/thread-1674.html" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(60, 120, 167); text-decoration: none; " target="_blank">General Queries thread and make a post! Don’t be shy! Custom Maps: (Custom maps played during Asiafortress events) AsiaFortress 2011 Official Custom Map Pack (includes cp_gullywash_pro, cp_obscure_final, cp_snakewater_rc3, koth_ashville_rc1, cp_turris_b3) Training Maps: ctf_bball2_fixed (Good for practicing airshots and jumps) tr_walkway_rc2 (Practice just about anything against bots here) mge_training_v7 (Excellent for training your aim and raw skill against other players) General Gameplay Guides: Ubercharged.net’s Guide to Competitive TF2 (Comprehensive guide, detailing each class’s roles and gameplay) TF2 Guide to Getting Good [ozfort] (Excellent guide to helping you understand the metagame of 6v6) Learning TF2 [ozfort] (Article about improving your game) Communication [ozfort] (Great article for helping polish your team’s communications) TF2 Vocabulary (Good videos to help familiarise yourself with the maps commonly played competitively) Ten Top Tips from TF2 Pros (Article taken from PC Gamer) Jaeger’s Tips and Tricks (Set of videos containing tips for competitive players. Be sure to watch all 5 videos in the series) Class Guides: Tips for more consistent Scout aim [ozfort] (Q&A with top ozfort Scouts) DJ’s Roam Soldier Roundtable (A Q&A Session with some top Soldier players in USA) Fragga’s Soldier Tutorial (Youtube video; great tutorial) Demoman Roundtable (A Q&A Session with some top Demoman players in USA) Demoman Fundamentals [ozfort] (A few top Demoman players in ozfort answer the community’s questions about Demoman gameplay) Medic for Bodohs (Very basic Medic Guide written by our very own Brandon Yuko) Medic Roundtable (A Q&A Session with some top Medic players in USA) AsiaFortress Rules: General Rules Class and Unlocks Rules League Rules

http://i.imgur.com/gRLZP.jpg[/img] If you've got any queries about Asiafortress Academy (AFA), be it about the opening on 17th September, or about AFA PUGs in general, feel free to raise them here! Frequently Asked Questions: 1. How do I volunteer to be a mentor? Thanks for volunteering! All you have to do is tell Emir or Kig that you'd like to be a mentor; then, join the Steam Group and we'll make you admins Remember, you can do as much or as little as you want, as a mentor. At the bare minimum, you need to be willing to help the newcomers improve at the game. 2. What happens if a player signs up and partipates just to troll and grief other players? Rest assured, if players do try to troll, they will be dealt with accordingly. We want to make it as conducive an environment for learning as possible. If you behave like a complete douchebag (flame others, rage excessively, troll, etc.), that's enough reason to ban you. It's pretty clear if an experienced player is steam-rolling the other team. We'll be reasonable first; we'll ask if you'd rather play in the normal PUG servers, where you'd find greater challenge against better players. But if you continue to join AFA PUGs just to roll others, admins will deal with you. Don't get me wrong; it's not that you'll get banned for being good. What we want is actually to see newer players get better. But there's a difference between "good enough to win a game for your team" and "good enough to completely dominate everyone else". No one gets that good overnight; if you're consistently scoring higher than the med, if you're getting obscene numbers of dominations, then it's clear that you don't belong in AFA PUGs. So please, think. No one gets better by rolling people of lower standard. If you get good after awhile of playing AFA PUGs, do move on to the normal PUG servers. So, I guess what everyone wants to know is, how will the admins enforce this? 2 main ways: firstly, we'll be maintaining an admin/mentor presence in the server and group as much as we can, i.e. you should always be able to find an admin/mentor online. this ties in with the second part; AFA players may report another player if they believe that he/she is playing in AFA PUGs only to grief newer players. Admins/mentors will enter the server, observe the player in question, and make a judgement as to whether or not action needs to be taken. Bans will extend to other PUG servers. In short, if you try to mess up someone else's game experience, we won't be in a hurry to let you play in our servers anytime soon. The admins are very firm on this. The bottom line is, please don't be a douchebag. This is just as much your community as it is ours. If you've been around awhile, you'll know our community's ailing. We have about 5 active teams. We've got very few players, it's hard enough as it is to get a tournament going with so few teams around. Help us to help the community, let the new blood learn to pick up the competitive side to the game. You'll get to play with them eventually, when they've learnt enough to participate in tournaments. 3. Do I really need Mumble? Yes. You MUST have Mumble to take part in the opening day mentoring event. The mentors will all be communicating via mic, so any instructions, tips or feedback will be relayed on Mumble. You do not need to have a mic, though it's good if you do (be like me, buy $12 mic at Challenger). The whole point of being on Mumble is to listen to the mentors. If you don't have Mumble on that day, you'll be given a lower priority when we run games. We'd rather play with those who can hear us when we talk. 4. I'm pretty good at all classes in pubs. What class should I play in 6v6? You'll find that gameplay in pubs is hugely different from that in 6v6 TF2. Here's some advice from Flare (Take it with a pinch of salt though ):

whoa whoa. i'm not sure whether to put a stop to this drama or let it continue (since our forum visits only increase whenever there's e-drama goin on here). to clarify: the entire debacle with the servers happened the week preceding the afa launch. very simply, what happened was that i couldn't confirm the use of an eclub server for afa, and i approached agent K to host the server, who very kindly consented and helped to set up the server on such short notice. although afa was indeed intended to be a long-term thing, what transpired in the discussion was that Agent K could not host the server indefinitely. I agreed to this, seeing as to how it was only fair, considering that K was already doing us a huge favour by providing a server. it's probably my fault that afa didn't turn out the way i intended it to (as a long term thing). i accept full responsibility for this. the fact of the matter is, an initiative like this requires heavy monitoring by the admins, something which i unfortunately couldn't sustain. perhaps it was a flaw in the planning, in that i made it too contingent upon admin presence to keep things running smoothly. perhaps i didn't appoint enough reliable admins to keep it going well. perhaps it was bad luck that the eclub pickup servers were taken down last week, which drove the regular community to invade afa servers to quench their thirst for pugs. perhaps my trust in the community was misplaced; i thought that the community would at least be mature enough to resist the temptation to troll newbies and ruin their pug experience. whatever the reason was, the bottom line is that afa didn't exactly play out the way i thought it would. the way i see it, agent K here saw the problem that was stirring (with regular players aliasing to play with newbies), and he took the initiative to put things right, or at least, make things better. i have no qualms with that; in fact, i'm grateful that he stepped in to straighten things out (wow looks like i do owe you a lot now K). ultimately, i'm not too concerned whether or not this is "an asiafortress thing", or "an agentcy thing", or whatever. we're all a community of tf2 players in this region, and i'm perfectly fine (hell, i'd be delighted) if someone were to step up and fix any problems which they noticed. there are too many backseat drivers/armchair critics in this community, and not enough players actually willing to step up and effect change. lousy, you'll notice that i didnt mention a single word about agentcy servers in the admin forums. this was all very last minute (1-2 days before the event), and i had a ton of other things to settle, and updating the admin forums was the last thing on my priority list. and why shouldn't it be? take a look at the afa planning thread, and count the number of people who posted in it. it was a fucking monologue between me myself and i, and only occasionally did i get any external input (from you) in the form of constant reminders (which, as much as i'm grateful for, were completely unnecessary). the only other significant contribution from the entire admin team was the namelist you put together on googledocs (and again, i'm grateful to you for putting this together.) So tell me again, why i should have even bothered to update the private admin forums, when i was the only person who seemed to read or care? oh and to all mods, please, don't delete these posts. best to have some transparency so people know what's going on. there you have it folks, our community severely needs reliable people to step up and volunteer to help out with the running of tournaments, events, etc. otherwise, we pretty much won't have much of a community left. tl;dr, shit is all my fault. okay?

because as much as he'd like us to think otherwise, we all know that he has no life outside of tf2. why else would he repeatedly visit this site so much? some pug regulars dont even visit the forums as frequently as he does. banned. talk to me on steam (with a damn good reason) if you wanna be unbanned.

allow me to quote from another post of mine first:

first and foremost, i must apologise for my infrequent appearances in the afa pugs and in the community in general; as i've told others, real life has caught up to me. i've tried my best to ensure that there will be admins who can take over my job in my absence, but i'd also like to thank everyone who's tried to keep afa pugs as clean and as newb-friendly as possible. i understand what everyone's trying to say here, and honestly, pretty much all the bases have been covered by various people in this thread. on the one hand, we don't want stagnation within the afa community; we don't want to have a community of newbs just circlejerking, and as such we need to mix them sooner or later. personally though, i'd rather later than sooner; the way i see it, the afa community has much more to lose than gain from joining the larger regular pug community. anyone who's been in mumble or seen an afa pug can probably attest to what i mean. some of these new players are quickly getting a grasp of the game; hell, some of them understand advantage-disadvantage better than i do. it's especially heartening to see at least 5 out of 6 players in a team make the effort to get into a mumble channel, for the purposes of communication simply during a pug. most importantly, i see some people trying to take ownership of their community. some players try their hardest to enforce rules (although sometimes it fails due to sheer number of people in the server), and going out of their way to be nice to the even newer players who are in their first pickup game. and then you look at our older pickup community. we're lucky to get a game going where even half the team is in the same mumble. even then, we're lucky if anyone talks at all. most of the time, people just care about frags, airshots, meatshots, and whatever other [P-REC] Bookmark rubbish which they ultimately won't use anyway. and again, most depressingly, is an exclusive community that prefers to pick the same old players, time and again, without daring to give newer names a chance to show their stuff. all in all, what's the difference between these 2 groups of players? in afa, i see a bunch of people willing to learn, willing to up their game, and just taking the game seriously because they really do enjoy competitive tf2 and want to see it grow. it's the older pickup community that's stagnant, with the same old players, doing the same old things, time and again, without bothering to even take the game seriously. so you talk again about mixing the 2 groups of players. most of the afa puggers are very intimated by the older pickup community, and with good reason; we're pretty hostile to newbies, and all it takes is one poor performance before they get flamed out of the game, never to be picked again. sure, you say that "if they're serious, they'll stick around." but really, why bother playing if every game you play, you're getting bullied into playing medic, or just made miserable in general? in the end, why bother mixing the 2 groups so soon? it certainly won't be for the benefit of the afa community. the only thing the afa community stands to gain is the higher standards of play. but are they ready yet for a higher standard? maybe. is it absolutely crucial that they be exposed to a higher standard, as of right now (1 week into afa)? No.

say goodbye to pugging, cherry edit by thelousy: deleted post cause WOT is painful for the eyes but basically he was being an idiot and the above action was done.

keep saying that the comp tf2 scene is dead, and i'll have you banned from every pug server in the region. shouldn't matter to you anyway, since you seem to revel in its demise.

you'd be surprised how many gamers there are in medschool. i've got classmates who are hardcore WoW players (i.e. pon lectures everyday to play WoW at home), LoL champs (no. 2 in singapore), CS pros, competitive DoTA players, etc. Gamers can be pretty cool people irl too y'know.

i am in no position to comment on this issue. however, from what i understand, E-Club will not be releasing an official statement or explanation on this matter. it's time we started looking for alternative server providers. If anyone can think of any possibilities, feel free to step forward with your suggestions.

-noforcemaccel -noforcemparams -noforcemspd -novid -sw -noborder these are my launch options in tf2. im not sure which is the one you're looking for, but using these launch options, your TF2 will look exactly the same, but alt-tabbing is instantaneous. not sure if it affects your performance though.

i gave all 4 AFA server admins the power to move people around in mumble a couple of days ago. My apologies for not publicising this enough to everyone. The admins are Kig, myself, CombatWombat and Agent K (sorry agent K, rufus cant be given admin because he's not authenticated on Mumble, so i gave it to you cos you're the server owner). Talk to any of them if you want to be moved. IF YOU WANT THE POWER TO MOVE PEOPLE AROUND IN THE AFA MUMBLE CHANNEL, PM ME ON STEAM. I'LL GIVE IT TO YOU IF YOU SEEM RESPONSIBLE ENOUGH AND NOT LIKELY TO TROLL PEOPLE. On another note, i'd like to appeal to everyone to not bug the admins for every single minute detail or issue about asiafortress, or TF2 in general. we're not your mothers, we are not paid to do this, and we sure as hell are not waiting to serve you at a moment's notice. No, we don't know why your Mumble is not working. No, we don't know why your TF2 won't launch. No, we don't know why your Steam's not responding. No, we don't know why your mom won't let you play TF2. These problems are not OUR problems. By all means, post in the forums asking for help, or google it. The admins likely can't help you. Also, if you want us to help you with something, ASK NICELY. i've had it with people coming to me, telling me that they're not happy with something, and fucking DEMANDING that i fix it, just because i'm an admin. i've got a life too, (and guess what, it's probably more awesome than yours) and i sure as hell don't NEED to cater to your every demand. /rant P.S. this doesn't apply to your complaint, coldsteel, your complaint is valid.

like i said, it seems to me to be an unfortunate series of events, with mistakes being made on all sides. i understand you feel you've been wronged, and that some justice is in order; but to pin the entirety of blame on a single player/person seems unfair. as such, there is no one person that the admins can or will punish. as far as we are concerned, we can only hope that this incident will serve as a lesson to all involved, so it doesn't happen again.

http://i.imgur.com/gRLZP.jpg[/img] http://i.imgur.com/gRLZP.jpg[/img] Today's launch of Asiafortress Academy saw almost 30 new players enter our Pickup servers for the first time, each one choosing and learning one of the 4 main pickup classes under the tutelage of our kind mentors. I'd personally like to thank each and every one of the participants for cooperating with the admins and coaches. More importantly, I'd like to thank the mentors for taking the time to come and impart their knowledge to the newer players. In no particular order, the mentors who deserve much appreciation are: Madman, Flare, PinkiePie, Bran, Teal, Cleric & Summer Special shoutouts go to Agent K, for kindly agreeing to host the Asiafortress Academy servers under The Agentcy. What happens now? The Agentcy | Asiafortress Academy server will be left up indefinitely, for use by newbies who've just entered the 6v6 TF2 scene. Remember, this server is reserved for those who are new to Competitive TF2, and who would otherwise get rolled, or not even picked, in the other Starhub E-Club Pickup servers. [align=center]The Agentcy | Asiafortress Academy PUG Server IP: 103.1.152.28:27016 Password: afapug[/align] How do I get PUGs going in AFA PUG? Join the Asiafortress Academy Steam Group. When you feel like getting a PUG going, get in the AFA server and schedule an event on the Steam Group, saying "AFA PUG starting now!" All group members will receive a pop-up of this message, and hopefully, they'll join the server! From then on, it's just a normal method of having a race to spec, and 2 Medic Captains picking the teams. Which admins should I contact for help? You can always contact Kig, Emir, Cobalt, thelousy or Bran if you need help . This includes kicking a griefing/trolling player, changing maps, etc. (Although Agent K is working on installing a plug-in to let players change maps by themselves.) If you've got any issues or queries to raise regarding Asiafortress Academy, you should post them in the General Queries Thread.

the new password is "afapug"

yeah, you guys can just come anytime now, we're running PUGs all the way now.

nope, just jump in. you might be left out of the first pug though

In case anyone's wondering, no, we haven't forgotten all about Asiafortress Academy! Here's a reminder: http://i.imgur.com/M1ONj.jpg[/img] Credit goes to teal for the awesome poster Credit goes to teal for the awesome poster [align=center]Asiafortress Academy goes LIVE! 17th September, Saturday 3.00pm (SG/MY Time, GMT+8) Join us at the launch event! Be part of the first AFA PUG. Server 1: 103.1.152.28:27015 Password: AFA1 Server 2: 103.1.152.28:27016 Password: AFA2 [/align] Remember, if you'd like to participate in the Opening Day PUGs, you HAVE to be on Mumble at 3pm this Saturday! It doesn't matter if you don't have a microphone, we just need you to be able to listen to the coaches and admins. If you don't know how to get/install Mumble, there are instructions HERE. Also, to address some other common queries: 1. What's going to happen on Opening Day? We'll kick it off by running a preliminary PUG for everyone. (Yes, everyone will get to participate! ) After that, we'll split into individual classes, and our coaches will show you the ropes; this includes things like rollouts, positioning, attacking and defending, etc. Subsequently, we'll continue running PUGs on some of the servers, while leaving it on practice mode on the last server. This way, you can choose whether you'd rather play PUGs or stick around and ask the mentors/coaches to teach you more stuff! You're also strongly encouraged to read the Guide to Getting Started in Competitive TF2 to familiarise yourself with the basics before Saturday. 2. What if I can't make it for Opening Day?! No problem! One AFA PUG server will be kept up indefinitely (as long as there's still demand for it!) and it'll only be for newbies to the competitive scene. You're free to join the community; simply join the Steam Group to know when AFA PUGs are running, and just drop into the server when there's a game going. We promise that the admins will try their best to keep the server troll-free so you can enjoy your competitive TF2 experience. The Steam Group moderators are also volunteer mentors and coaches, so feel free to add any one of them if you need some coaching in 6v6 TF2 3. I didn't manage to sign-up in time, and now sign-ups are closed. Can I still come for Opening Day? We closed sign-ups because we don't have enough servers to fit everyone; the response was really overwhelming! Unfortunately, priority has to go to those who signed up first; nonetheless, you can still be part of the Asiafortress Academy community! (See Qn 2) If you have any further queries, be sure to post to post them in the General Queries thread. See you this Saturday! If you have any further queries, be sure to post to post them in the General Queries thread. See you this Saturday! P.S. If you realise you can't make it this Saturday, we'd greatly appreciate it if you could delete your post from the Sign-Up Thread. That way, we can make way for more people Thanks!

you can see the numbers in the signup thread, 50 people have signed up so far. Let's hope that they actually turn up No, we'll have 3 servers running, so we can conduct 3 PUGs at the same time. This means we'll have 12 x 3 = 36 players playing simultaneously. Following on from that, we won't be in the same Mumble channel. We NEED to use Mumble, because everyone will be playing across 3 different TF2 servers, so Mumble is the only way we can coordinate you guys. Class as in demo, soldier, scout, etc. Yes, he can!

not quite. he's just taken so many hits to the balls that his brain is now desensitized to the pain signals which come when your balls get kicked. think of it as the story of the boy who cried wolf, just that this time it's a story about the testicles who cried pain. if you keep subjecting yourself to the same stimulus repeatedly, the brain stops interpreting it as pain after awhile. the part about bone thickening probably only explains why his pelvic bone didnt fracture after getting kicked so hard. although, im sure his testes must have lost some of their function; pain is supposed to be a good thing, warning you to stop doing whatever's painful because it's harmful for your body. his sperm count's likely not very high...

http://www.thegamesxpo.com/images/stories/banner.jpg[/img] Today saw the long-awaited conclusion of the Team Fortress 2 Masters Tournament, at The Games Xpo 2011 at Singapore Expo. It was an extremely long day for the players, with matches running all the way from 11am to 7.30pm. The day began with quarterfinals, with 48 players from 8 teams duking it out for a spot in the semis. As the day drew on, 8 teams were cut to 4, then 2, and finally ending with a Grand Final match between Cataclysmic & Nefarious.tf2. To say the least, the Grand Final match was an intense, nail-biting game, although it was refreshing to see maps other than badlands and granary being played. It began with Cataclysmic taking the first map, cp_coldfront with a scoreline of 4-3. Nefarious.tf2 fought hard to win the next map, cp_obscure_final by an extremely small margin, 3-2, which forced a tiebreaker round on cp_freight. Things really came down to the wire during the first round on cp_freight, which lasted approximately 20 minutes. Both teams pushed hard and defended well, and things went back and forth a lot. Ultimately, Cataclysmic played their cards right and managed to take a round, leaving 10 minutes on the clock for Nefarious.tf2 to equalise things. Unfortunately, Nefarious.tf2 appeared to lose their composure after the marathon of a first round and dropped 3 more points in the last 10 minutes, leaving Cataclysmic to walk away as the better team and as Grand Champions, SGD 2000 richer. Meanwhile, in the 3rd-4th placing match, Masterful faced off against Fifth Company in what proved to be just as exciting a match as the finals: Fifth Company took cp_badlands 3-2, and Masterful claimed cp_obscure_final 4-3. Masterful looked set to win the tiebreaker round on cp_gullywash_pro when they gained an early 3-0 lead. Fifth Company showed they weren't ready to go down without a fight, equalising things 3-3. Masterful managed to take another round, and successfully held on to the lead in the last 2 minutes, to place 3rd in the TF2 Masters Tournament. 1st Place: Cataclysmic 2nd Place: Nefarious.tf2 3rd Place: Masterful http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/311767_212836958777638_132554910139177_599844_1144255890_n.jpg[/img] From left to right: Masterful, Cataclysmic, Nefarious.tf2 From left to right: Masterful, Cataclysmic, Nefarious.tf2 Below is a breakdown of the scores from today's matches. If you'd like to see a more detailed breakdown of the individual scores and maps, you can find them here. http://images.challonge.com/tf2mastersfinals.png[/img] Much credit goes to Starhub & E-Club for organising this tournament. Special mention goes to all the marshals and tournament admins who were on scene to keep things running smoothly. We'd also like to give a shoutout to all the players and spectators who came down today. We're really heartened to see such a great turnout at the tournament; there is hope for this community yet For the last time, Asiafortress is not an official medium for the TF2 Masters Tournament; we merely provide coverage and publicity Any queries you might have regarding the tournament should not be posted in our forums as we're in no position to address any of them. Instead, you should write a ticket over at support.e-clubmalaysia.com.