Flare-

Name: Flare Desired Class: Pyro Steam Profile URL: http://www.steamcommunity.com/id/FlareForTheArts

The problem with that argument is that it misses out that most newbies coming in aren't "brought in" by someone, they ask for the password from someone who they can get it from. Giving passwords out =/= willing to mentor, and if simple friendly steps to identifying newbies and pointing them in the right direction were taken, the situation would be worlds better.

Alright, I feel like I need to put in my two cents here because this seems an important issue. I started TF2 late 2011, and it took me a year and about 300 hours before I decided to join one of these "6v6 things" and see what it was all about. I remember that first pug experience extremely well, and it was pretty much what Pewtis described. I followed a lot of the teammates' suggestions and was very open to doing as they asked, because I recognized I was a newbie and should take their advice, but despite being very cooperative, none of this was recognized by the players and they did nothing but curse and yell. I went back to pubbing and cursed the very idea of a competitive scene for many months afterwards. Even all this time later with much more experience I still look at AF pugs with a minor distaste. I can play competently, and from time to time place near the top of scoreboards, but it never truly draws me in. Most of my friends are still players I meet in pubs who I find fun, and it's very rare for me to enjoy someone's company in a pug. Many people I've met and discussed the issue with also show similar opinions, that attempting to join the scene is a very stressful process and they'd much rather stick to throwing sandviches around in Thunder Mountain. What Fuzz pointed out after Pewtis shared his experience is very true, there are friendly mentors around willing to provide those open arms, but I never found out about that during my early hours, no one bothered to tell me, and all around it was a massively elitist atmosphere there. I don't see much of it around myself anymore, probably because I can actually play decently now, but it always tugs at my heart every time I see a new player decide to participate in a pug but gets traumatized from the entire scene. Even now, the ultimate conclusion I've come to is that I enjoy the 6s game style quite a bit, but I don't much like the community to play it in. To stave off some of the "omg fuq u AF is awesome noob who r u" comments I'll also note that I have met some very friendly players in these pugs, mostly the ones already mentioned above such as Fuzz, erio. But the problem is that such people lie far and few in between and this friendliness isn't openly actively encouraged as far as playing in the servers goes. Newbies aren't going to know to check the AF forums because they've only just come around to the idea of pugging, and when their first experience always goes as badly as it does they're not going to WANT to. Offclassing has never been the problem, attitude has.