Tuesday 31 May 2016
Monday 30 May 2016
Sunday 29 May 2016
Friday 27 May 2016
Thursday 26 May 2016
Wednesday 18 May 2016
Saturday 14 May 2016
2016 VAC Wave, and the Aftershock
Originally posted at: http://www.thespire.tv/2016-vac-wave-and-the-aftershock
A mighty VAC wave recently swept like a tsunami through the TF2 community, ripping UGC Highlander teams apart and scattering sniper mains' bones far inland. The ban wave, whilst mostly confined to the lower echelons of play, has affected the competitive community in more ways than simply removing a few dodgy players from the game. It shows that Valve are committed to reducing the cheating problem in order to make matchmaking a success. But it has put reputations of some AC teams and leagues into dispute, potentially causing knock-on effects for the future of these leagues.
The most recent VAC wave was the largest ever. It hit the most popular and long-standing premium TF2 cheat “LMAOBOX”, and as such gave us an interesting sample of how bad the cheating problem is in TF2 leagues. Over 550 accounts were banned from TF2Center, over 200 from ETF2L, a smattering of players who played in ESEA, and more than 450 users from UGC. This of course doesn't factor in how many were active players, nor how large the numbers are as a proportion of the league user-base.
TF2Center, more than the others, is forced to deal with the brunt of the problem. As an open lobby platform and the gateway from public play to competitive, it is frequently the victim of cheating and abuse. It has a small AC team who attempt to deal with the complaints from legitimate users, but with nothing on the line and the ease with which one can set up and alt account and suffer no consequences, they fight an uphill struggle. For the most part though, this doesn't matter. There is no incentive to cheat in TF2Center beyond the puerile amusement of those who do, and only time is wasted when encountering such a player. This does not apply to the leagues however.
For ETF2L, under 20 of the 200 accounts were active league players. Of those, 5 had experience above Open, two of whom had played in High (including the previously banned cheater azn). Roughly 0.25% of ETF2L accounts were caught in this ban wave, and the active cheaters comprised around 1% of the active player-base. This does not seem an unreasonably large proportion of the players in Europe's home league, and indicates that the AC team are doing a fairly good job at keeping on top of cheating within the league. Without an AC client, which would cost far more money than ETF2L has at its disposal, and with ETF2L's unwillingness to run plugins on all servers used for matches, this is the best they can hope to achieve. Their volunteer AC team, though occasionally courting controversy, have never shied away from banning Premiership players or making sure the rules are enforced. At the end of the day, ETF2L is a community league with no money to speak of. Whilst the addition of AC plugins on match servers (operating in a similar way to previous forms of TFTrue) would help the AC team, expecting ETF2L to invest in a functional AC client is an unrealistic expectation – not to mention there are many more important tasks to be dealt with before they can consider themselves any more than a casual community league. Europe's upper echelons are left, as they always have been, with a broke volunteer league desperately attempting to build a reasonable home for them. They should be happy, at least, that the security guards are on duty even if alarms and locks are beyond the budget.
The one league in TF2 that does claim to have a functional AC client is ESEA. Whilst the numbers are more difficult to find, mostly because the league hasn't batted an eyelid, it appears that around 5 active players in ESEA have been VAC banned. Whilst certainly a small amount of users, these 5 players make up 1% of the active players, and all were reasonably experienced players in the broad scheme of the scene, with Open/IM experience. This can be roughly compared to the 5 players caught with Mid+ experience in Europe, suggesting that neither scene has a significantly larger issue with cheating. However it does say some interesting things about the AC differences.
ESEA requires all of its users to play through the ESEA Client for matches. The client is required in order to control player connections, feed details about the players, collect stats, occasionally facilitate bitcoin mining, and the client also claims to feature an anti-cheat system. ESEA has never caught or banned a cheater in TF2, despite banning many in CS. Nobody has ever, to my knowledge, publicly admitted to using cheats while on client, and defenders of the client have previously postured that a fear of being banned by ESEA and wasting premium/league fees has acted as the ultimate preventative. It seems incredibly unlikely to me that not a single player has ever tried cheating on client, and reports of other players cheating on ESEA client (however dubious “hackusations” may be) are not rare. It does seem reasonable to suggest however that players would not use a blatantly obvious free hack, expecting some level of basic functionality from the client.
ESEA's AC is a huge selling point for the CS side of the league. Their advertisements focus around playing with the best players and playing in an environment totally free from hacking. This is why CS players use ESEA, and this is how ESEA think they can best appeal to their target audience. For TF2, we use ESEA because it brings legitimacy and a good prizepool for the top teams. In recent years though we have lost LAN, been forced to use set maps for playoffs, had no coverage on the ESEA twitch streams, paid as much (before this season's increase to $19k) into the league as it pays out, and we don't even have a functioning AC client. There is a problem here, with no way to resolve it other than for TF2 to get big enough for ESEA to care. Without manual bans for ESEA, they appear to have only VAC and a big fat bluff to scare away the cheaters.
That tactic appears to have worked more effectively than UGC’s AC system however. UGC had a very large amount of active accounts banned for a league with a supposedly competent AC system - over 25% of those banned were active players. These players extended all the way to the very top levels of Highlander with cheaters in teams which won their divisions in Silver, Gold, and Platinum. UGC is not a league that could possibly claim to house the elite 6v6 players, and even those banned in Plat 6s are not notable players in any sense. The same excuse cannot be used for Highlander. Some of the players banned were division winners in Gold and Silver; these are the players that you cannot afford, for the league's reputation, to be found cheating by sources outside the league's AC team. UGC suffers from an innumerable list of flaws, both in the ways it fits into the economy of the scene and the product it offers to players. The only thing that separates it from matchmaking is a division system, medals, and a semblance of fair competition. This recent ban wave casts doubt over the latter. Whether the AC team is to blame or the system that appears to stifle AC requests, UGC and Highlander will be hard-pressed to maintain legitimacy after the revelations of this VAC wave.
Thursday 12 May 2016
Thaigrr joins Publiclir.se on roamer
Originally posted at: http://www.teamfortress.tv/33604/thaigrr-joins-publiclir-se-on-roamer
Publiclir.se have been searching for a roaming soldier since losing Medico to top5 rocket at the end of Season 23. Publiclir were planning to pick up alle on roamer before he became embroiled in the European demoman shuffle, and have now settled on upcoming soldier Thaigrr.
Thaigrr left his previous team, ex-Infused, citing a lack of time to commit to playing in a Premiership team. His circumstances have since changed, resulting in a serendipitous opportunity to ascend from the 6th to the 3rd best team last season.
Thaigrr explained the changes in a recent thread:
I got a promotion at my workplace which meant that I would have less time and awkward work hours to play tf2. So I decided to stop playing with Infused (comfortably spanked), and let them find a replacement before the games got messy from me not being able to practise as much as everyone else. Although just recently my manager has helped me to keep my work hours at a steady rate which lets me play again. By this time it was too late for me to rejoin my old team and AMS had asked me to trial for Publiclir and I took it. Went well and I joined. It wasn't my plan to leave my own team that I made with people I loved playing with to join a rival team.
Publiclir medic and maincaller ondkaja talked about the recent acquisition in a statement on the Publiclir.se website:
Thaigrr has proven that he has the potential when we have played with him. He has great presence in the game and his style of play suits us very well because his timing is great. I look forward to playing with him at DreamHack Summer!
Publiclir have one chance left to win their invite to DreamHack Summer, with the final qualifying tournament on Sunday, May 22nd. They are also planning to compete in ETF2L Season 24 Premiership and at insomnia58.
The Publiclir roster is now:
- Scout: p-rez
- Scout: atomic
- Roamer: Thaigrr
- Pocket: AMS
- Demoman: Smirre
- Medic: ondkaja
Wednesday 11 May 2016
ex-Infused replace roamer, leave organisation
Originally posted at: http://www.teamfortress.tv/33593/ex-infused-replace-roamer-leave-organisation
The team playing last season under the banner of Infused has decided that the desires of the team and the organisation are not mutually compatible, and so skeej’s team will not be continuing with the relationship after one trial season. They have changed their name for the moment to Comfortably Spanked, and have also made a roster change during the off-season, bringing in T0m to roam for the team after Thaigrrwas unable to commit the time.
T0m was most recently seen roaming for High team delir1um, though he has previous Premiership experience pocketing for prtyboiz in Season 21. We got his thoughts on playing in Premiership this season:
Comfortably Spanked are a great bunch of guys. I played with Hank and Dennia back in season 21 with Fenneks eSports so I jumped at the chance to play with them again. To be honest when Drackk left ownage squad for nameLess it kind of killed off my motivation for TF2. So when a position opened up on a team with players that I was already friends with again, then I thought “that’s the way I get my motivation back for TF2”. Now, with my motivation back, I feel I can really develop and push myself as a player with my new team. Also with Drackk in nameLess it gives me a good goal to aim for: to develop as a roamer from a fairly pocket orientated mindset just like he has had too. I look forward to the upcoming season with Comfortably Spanked and I hope, as a team, we are able to show the best of our abilities and are able to finish really well in the season/i58.
adysky explained to us why the team is no longer using the Infused name:
Basically the agreement was that we will play under the name of infused for a season and then we would talk about sponsorship for i58 and stuff. After the season has ended they just 180d on us, but we almost instantly found a new org thats interested in partnering with us. We’ill see about that in near future
Comfortably Spanked’s roster is now:
- Scout: Hank
- Scout: Dennia
- Roamer: T0m
- Pocket: Quik
- Demoman: adysky
- Medic: skeej
Sunday 1 May 2016
arekk & botmode leave EVL Gaming
Originally posted at: http://www.teamfortress.tv/33380/arekk-botmode-leave-evl-gaming
4th place Invite team EVL Gaming have lost two of their players, botmode and arekk. Roamerbotmode has been moved to backup due to scheduling conflicts, prompting scout arekk to leave the team after a personality clash with one of botmode's potential replacements. EVL have decided to shift aimback to his prior position on roamer; the team are now looking for a pocket and replacement scout.
EVL Gaming started strong in Season 21 Invite, storming to the top of the table where they remained for many weeks. After rough games against the top teams, they were knocked down into 3rd seed for the playoffs and were unable to perform against Street Hoops eSports, finishing 4th. Nonetheless, this was a large improvement for EVL compared to Season 20 Invite which saw them nearly ripped asunder by personality clashes and differences of opinion within the team.
The roster changes between Season 20 and 21 saw them cut previous pocket goldfish, move aim to pocket, and bring in botmode to fill the gap. This appeared to work for EVL, and they avoided the previous season's personality clashes and performed to a high level, with everybody on the same page. botmode's schedule after Season 21 left him unable to carry on roaming for EVL however, and he was moved to backup.
The team once again made the decision to put aim on roamer, and trialled their previous pocket goldfish. It appears that arekk fostered lingering feelings to those that almost led to the implosion of EVL last season, and decided to leave the team after goldfish's try-out. EVL do not currently plan on picking their ex-pocket up, and will continue to trial other pockets including goldfish.
Medic Nursey gave a statement on the loss of these two players:
Botmode and Arekk are both amazing players, but unfortunately there have been some conflicts with personalities/scheduling. Botmode is busy with real life responsibilities for the oncoming months or so, so we botmode and the team agreed we would just put him to backup. The team wants to get the roster to move forward as much as possible, and unfortunately Arekk had a problem with one of our tryouts resulting in him leaving the team. hopefully we can fill these giant shoes...
EVL's roster is now:
- Scout: slemnish
- Roamer: aim
- Demoman: Hassassin
- Medic: Nursey
p-rez joins Publiclir.se
Originally posted at: http://www.teamfortress.tv/33374/p-rez-joins-publiclir-se
After cutting fl1p in April, Publiclir.se have been searching for a new pocket scout. Premiership debut of the season p-rez seemed a good fit, having recently become a free agent with the death of Planet Express. Following his trials in the recent DreamHack Summer Qualifiers, Publiclir have decided to add p-rezto their starting roster.
p-rez had a breakthrough season despite Planet Express' disappointing 6th place finish. His aim and clean-up ability carried them through many important teamfights; p-rez also managed to avoid the vice of so many scouts with good deathmatch skills by not over-reaching, going for plays, and leaving his medic stranded. When it became obvious that Planet Express were not continuing, the highly praised "Premiership Debut of the Season" was courted by Publiclir.
Publiclir medic and maincaller ondkaja talked about the recent acquisition:
We picked up p-rez because he really proved himself the last season, and is a really solid pocket scout. He is going to have a more defined role within the team than our previous scout, which should reduce some inconsistencies we have in the team. Our goal right now is to qualify for DreamHack Summer which I think we have a good chance of doing, and try to improve as much as possible for i58. The ultimate goal is to win of course, no point in playing if you don't go for the gold!
Publiclir hope to return to DreamHack in June (picture by Ness "uberchain" Delacroix)
Publiclir have been so far unable to live up to their 3rd place ETF2L result in a tournament format. In the first DreamHack Summer Qualifier they were eliminated in the first round by a high-ping mix of froyotechplayers, while in the second they were beaten in the Grand Final by the retired SUAVE team. Publiclirhave 1st seed going into the third Qualifier.
The Publiclir roster is now:
- Scout: p-rez
- Scout: atomic
- Pocket: AMS
- Demoman: Smirre
- Medic: ondkaja
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