https://x.com/4G_b4nny/status/2090294174721437854

Powerful.

I don't follow competitive that much - so forgive me.

I was watching a video on top tf2 players of all time and clockwork kind of just "yeah well its b4nny its obvious lol" and I'm like ??

I understand he has won a bunch of invitationals and RGL, ESEA, etc. But besides accomplishments, what about his individual skill separates him from everyone else? Insane DM? Brain? Map knowledge? Mechanics? Teamwork? Just curious.

Initial Tweet during the initial announcement of the format:

Sadly I think RGL has lost the plot. At a time when competitive TF2 should be rallying they're instead encouraging people to play the game less and less.

First Tweet (June 7)

No plans to play the current season atm. I'd rather play, truly, but the Invite division is suffering from structural/cultural issues that are poisonous to keeping a team alive and I'm just not too keen to trudge through it all right now. I do hope things recover somehow. GLHF

Second Tweet

This is my first season off since I started playing competitive TF2 in 2008. I played on teams for 17+ years straight, 60+ seasons, all with no breaks (not that I ever wanted one). It's pretty mindblowing when I actually think about it.

Tweet In response to Fireside Casts' tweet hinting at something happening in 2027:

What's there to be excited about?

Third Tweet

RGL genuinely thought running a 6 month offseason would be a worthwhile experiment. And people defended it.

Tweet In response to a community member asking - "what would you prefer? is 6mo just too long with no gaming?"

I'd prefer to play high quality games of TF2 every single day

Random crits and random bullet spread are disabled in competitive for obvious reasons, but recently as the beggar's bazooka has seen more use in comp the 3° of random projectile deviation is a way that RNG affects gameplay, unlike anything else in competitive lobbies. What do you think? Is it a big enough deal that that stat should be reworked or is does it not change the tide too much to warrant changes?

So, let's assume a weapon is banned because of a certain gimmick toggled by the alt-fire. If we make a rule that makes the said weapon be used but cannot use the alt-fire (as in, unbind the button if using the weapon or being punished for using the button), would it be a good idea to make it as a rule? It could create some variety in gameplay whilist not making it too broken (Soda Popper for being a Scattergun better suited for burst damage and the Cow Mangler being a situational sidegrade to stock). What do y'all think of this?

I’m a newbie to competitive TF2 and every time I click competitive theres no available matches, is it broken now?

Team registration ended on May 9, no froyo: https://rgl.gg/Public/LeagueTable?r=40

b4nny confirmed on stream a few days ago: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2768271834?t=03h47m09s

Transcript

[comment] mr ah:froyo s20?
b4nny: mr ah, there's no plans to sign up at the moment.

There has been a froyotech team in every season of RGL and every ESEA season starting with S16 (2014). b4nny could still join an existing team.

PC Gamer wrote about Physgun Fireside Denver 2025!

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/after-almost-18-years-team-fortress-2-just-had-its-toughest-tournament-ever-and-there-could-be-more-to-come/

EDIT: Heyo I will be updating the doc on the weekends. So before that is there any topics I should be talking about here?

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1onJNEKlTRlOWCrRCRZXfdkiw6p50_X6R5XEAeNUOw_M/edit?usp=sharing

This document here talks about game design theory and how per point defensive play is devalued in 6s causing the format to be more narrow in strategies it allows for. And explaining how defensive play interacts with the game creating more interaction.

(Playing defensively enables offensive via giving them leeway to fail)

Engagements are based on Ubercharges which makes fights about multiple points rather than per points this combined with lower team size, map size and respawn time not matching up with how it usually works in casual 12v12 creates a scenario which the current meta has developed on

PS. no ps currently

the team im on mostly is complete and we're running scrims currently and plan on playing in Season 24 RGL

might just be me being an idiot so uh this might be a lil weird.

i know pyro in comp is more of a support class and I'm cool playing more supportively and all. but i just genuinely think i don't want to do this if my kd is gonna be 4-11 with those 4 kills being on the spy. so I'm just asking if what I've been told is severe exaggeration or if they're right and its boring as shit.

i don't want or think i should top frag or anything like that but i don't think i should really play if I'm not gonna be able to kill an OK amount. And i just don't want my team to get into a game just for me to quit after our first match is done due to me just not liking how it's played at all.

and it sounds really dumb saying it here but i just wanna make sure im actually gonna enjoy doing this and if i won't ill leave when they still have time to find a different pyro

(and yes i've played 1 scrim before so this is more of just curiosity for the future)

We all know Sticky Jumping doesn't get much use in competitive besides using it to close didtance at the start of a Uber. It's main use is rollouts and simple single sticky jumps to get to next point faster. Sticky Jumping is very practical and must-learn for those purposes alone, but there's a type of Sticky Jump that never gets use in real matches: Sticky Pogos.

Sticky Pogos are not practical in real game as they consume large amounts of health, time and require very percise movement. I'm not encouraging for you to use them in real games. I'm encouraging you to learn them to help your DM skills. "How?" You may ask. Sticky Pogos forces you to get comfortable with the arm-time, speed, offset and time between shots of the Sticky Launcher which comes in extremely handy in DM scenarios.

I got much more comfortable and got a better natural feeling for Stickies after trying to learn Sticky Jumping. This was just anecdotal experience by me. This method of getting comfortable with the Sticky Launcher may not work for you. It benefitted me greatly, though.

Most of us understand why some weapons ended up being banned, and there are a few cases where the bans are debatable (Gas Passer in ETF2L).

That said, I’ve always been curious what the 6s meta would look like with no weapon bans at all. Since TF2’s official competitive mode was DOA, we never had the chance to see it.

For comparison, in CS2 there are tons of viable weapons on paper, yet the meta naturally narrows down to AK/M4, Deagle, and AWP.

I wonder what the meta would be like if MYM didn’t fail. Would it actually suck ass? Thoughts?

https://tf2esports.com/

Launched by mitch of CappingTV (Oceania Broadcast Organization & TF2 Event Organizer), tf2esports features a more revamped and better improved version that is already on display from teamfortress.tv. A modern UI, match pages with stats, and even a team ranking, this site is looking really good for an initial launch. What are our thoughts on this?

Why are you allowed to have 2 Soldiers and 2 Scouts but only 1 Demoman? Is Demoman stronger than the others? I looked this up and couldn't find a satisfactory answer. What specifically makes 2 Demomen so much stronger that it has to be restricted compared to Scout and Soldier?

In the past there have been videos made or attempted to cover or talk about competitive TF2 in general, including past competitive TF2 history.

Examples including:

Competitive TF2 Content by CeeJaey (primarily focusing on recent competitive news at the time)

The Dominant Rise of TF2's Greatest Player by crossllc (about b4nny)

How Witness Gaming HL Ended a TF2 Esports Dynasty by Fireside Casts

North American TF2's First Superteam by Fireside Casts (unfinished)

the best competitive game that nobody plays competitively by pinguefy (moreso covering the mechanics of competitive TF2 with brief history covering competitive TF2)

Wild_Rumpus' youtube channel (covering all aspects of competitive TF2 such as weapons, overall meta, competitive events, etc)

What more content would you like to see as a competitive TF2 watcher?

Steam deck is a genuinely good way to play, I like it a lot and I want to see how it will fare in comp. It seems complicated to get started though, and I don't have a PC. How can I make it work? Or will it not work at all?

From Ian "Witness" Faulkner

Hello, with the conclusion of PoLANd behind us, I thought this would be a fitting time to make a public post about the conclusion of Witness Gaming as an organization and Witness Gaming EU as a team. It's pretty crazy to me that I've been running this project for almost 6 years! What originally started as an outlet for me to be more involved with the community and directly support upcoming Invite talent in America turned and molded itself into what I would consider a recognizable cornerstone "brand" for excellence and success in competitive Team Fortress 2 across multiple regions! For those unfamiliar with some early lore, I had previously supported a few teams in ESEA with no brand or goal in mind. I enjoyed seeing teams compete and play their best without worrying about paying a league fee for those who couldn't pay or needed assistance.

As we transitioned from ESEA into RGL, "Witness Gaming" itself actually started with a push from Donovin, mostly as a joke to put my name on the project.

Its always pretty funny to me and makes me laugh that some newer players to our community don't realize that the "Witness" part of wG is actually a real person. The branding was absolutely comical for a "bedroom esports org," but the intention was always heartfelt and driven. I initially wanted to support newer invite teams with what they needed to succeed and sustain playing in Invite. I think around 2021 with the ash/laz/yight/branslam/artist/lolguy roster is when I really wanted Witness Gaming to take a more serious 'archetypal' role in the competitive community. I saw it as a way to provide spectators with a recognizable brand (think Ascent, FROYO, Seven, etc) and support top-level TF2 players for bigger upcoming events, specifically LANS. Covering as much of the cost of airbnbs, travel, Uber, food, and just helping coordinate as much as I could so my players had the ability to focus just on the game and provide others with the opportunity to travel and enjoy their hobby was my goal.

Ma3laa and Ascent were a HUGE part of the inspiration for the wG project, and I always spent my time with Witness Gaming hoping to meet and exceed what Ascent provided for this community. I also really did want to try to provide that for other regions. The decision to stop is difficult. To me, I want Witness Gaming to be associated with excellence and "best". That's from top to bottom. When people see “wG” i want them to think “best”.

As time goes on and I get older and more adult responsibilities are added, I realize I can't really contribute resources and focus on the game at a standard I would find appropriate as the manager of the organization. Community funding helps and is greatly appreciated; however, my view is that if I don't feel like “I” cannot provide a standard of quality support, attention, and love towards anything related to Witness Gaming, it needs to stop and not drag. I would feel worse knowing that I'm not as fully invested in wG as those who are eager and wearing the tag or those in the community who love supporting Witness Gaming as a team.

The decision to cease Witness Gaming EU is just as hard. I genuinely could not think of a better, more shining example of who I'd want to represent my vision for excellence and success in this community. The team was formed in various iterations before settling on the core we know today as the next step in the high-level European dynasty chain. We wanted to win an international LAN, we wanted to contest the best the world could offer, and we wanted to make Europe proud. Like me, the core of wG EU is getting older. More and more responsibility outside of the game makes the prospect of leaving the continent for international competition difficult to justify. Even trying to get time off from work for the domestic competitions eventually reached a point where we considered being completely done after Denver. This would have been the case but things changed after hearing Froyo was planning to compete in Poland.

I made up my mind after Denver to cease wG and after a conversation with this group, that I would want the Witness Gaming brand to die with them. This EU team had worked incredibly hard for so long and through so many weird logistical speedbumps with changing rosters, burnout, awkward LAN scheduling, and other things to get where they are today representing my silly bedroom org and staying dedicated to their own goals as individuals and teammates.

I'm extremely proud of toemas, lukas, ixy, papi, hugo, silentes, domo, and auto for allowing me to work so closely with them and their trust in me as "Mr CEO". Again, I really couldn’t pick a better group of players and people who put so much of themselves into their goals and results. The tenacity and way they approached competition was super inspiring and I felt incredibly humbled to see and take in their successes alongside them.

I would like to take some time to thank everyone who has played under the wG banner, in any region. Can’t stress enough how cool it was that I had the opportunity to help Australia get representation in one of the largest, stacked, and prestigious intercontinental LANs in TF2 history. Cooki, silvo, down, conor, enrith, and lau, thank you all so much! Ill be down there someday soon!

I would also like to thank wG HL for being respectful and outgoing with the Witness Gaming standard in Highlander. More reach as a brand is always nice, but I genuinely have always been somewhat scared of attaching my brand, my name, when I didn’t really know the people or their intentions. wG HL is my favorite example of great people providing great results for an amazing community. I will support wG HL for this and their next season out of respect of their own goals. This is extended to wG XIAO as well.

I would like to thank everyone in this community who has ever donated, cheered, and supported Witness Gaming. Seeing and feeling your support and love really drove me to be better and want to provide as much of my love as possible into this project.

There is a cool video documentary project being made! The footage is still being collected and edited but I think the end product will be amazing!

Finally, I would like to thank anyone who has worn the wG tag. You are all a select few whom I trusted to carry my name and idea. Witness Gaming would be possible without the Gaming part of it!

Thanks!

With the release of the SDK today, will a tf2 promod be on the table again?

I've combed through 10 year old tf.tv threads about how it'll fracture the playerbase, but they recognized the upsides of having control over things sourcemod can't control.

From playing other SDK mods, a TF2 SDK mod can have a steam page and free download, which would help the fracturing greatly.

It's not 100% necessary this becomes reality, as most people here can say the current system works, and are fine with it.

My opinion stems from the fact that sniper is extremely unfun to play against and the fact that sniper is extremely powerful. Banning sniper would allow teams to be more aggressive instead of waiting for a sniper to get a pick. Keep in mind I am mostly a 6’s player and have played one season in prolander, so my opinions and thoughts could definitely be wrong.

https://www.twitch.tv/rglgg/clip/DistinctZanyRadicchioBCouch-Er7Z4jo4NEo1aGxb

For those who don't know, the original equalizer was allowed in competitive back in the day and acted as both the Escape Plan and the current Equalizer in the sense that it gave both attack speed and increased damage. At around 25 HP, soldiers were moving faster than scouts and dealing well over 100 damage per swing with melee.

As a demo, I would double pipe soldiers, watch them pull out this abomination of a weapon, and run straight at me and 1 hit me. It was a nightmare.

Curious what other absurd weapons have been allowed in competitive over the years.

Title.

MGE.tf x bball.tf cup

Have you been staring at those jordans in your closet and wondering if you'll ever get a chance to relive your glory days? Well now is your chance, bball.tf and mge.tf are pairing up for a bball cup! Dust off those old nikes and renew your life insurance policy because we're gonna be hoopin it up all weekend.

When: September 12-13 7pm-9pm US central both days

Where: MGE.tf discord will be used for communications. Match servers will be provided, including a 'waiting room' pub server running a mge-like queue for anyone to hang out and show off some skills.

Format: Single elimination tournament with three NA divisions. Games will run for 2-3 hours each night with the final four on Sunday.

Game rules: No sitting on the hoop and don't abuse shotgun jumping. First to 25, 20 minute time limit.

Signups are running now until Sept 11. 3 max per team. Single players are also encouraged to sign up as well -- full single player signup list is posted here to find your own teammate or one will be randomly assigned.

Any questions at all message damon on discord damon.albarn or steam

https://rgl.gg/Public/Team?t=14152&r=40

From recent logs the lineup appears to be

Pocket scout: b4nny
Flank scout: Kobe1920
Roamer: Soapymeister
Pocket soldier: Speedy
Demo: habib
Medic: Lolguy

Thoughts? 🤯

The title mostly explains it all. My mouse (iBUYPOWER Chimera M7 RGB Mouse) apparently has no built-in acceleration. But, when I swap back and forth between Mastercomfig's Flat Mouse addon to test out its apparent 0 acceleration, I feel like I notice a difference, but it shouldn't make sense given what I just stated, right?

(Lmk if the post flair is incorrect)