VanillaTF2

Hildreth — Welcome to part two of my three part article series documenting and reviewing the calendar year of 2011 in the world of competitive TF2. I would like to apologies to the Aussies, Africans and Asians for not really featuring you in these articles but I prefer to focus on the two main scenes which I actually know a something about. Anyway without further ado, I present to you the months of May to August of this year.

TL:DR – TF2 dies, gets born again and we have an awesome LAN.

Hildreth — 2011 was a great year for me personally; being the year of the ‘panda’ in the Chinese calendar – might have made that up, it could be a smaller animal with a likeness for orange vegetables – and has been one of the most eventful years, dare I say ‘THE MOST’ eventful year in our competitive scenes history. We have had the biggest LAN to date, TF2 going Free-2-play, launch of a new casting organisation and many, many great matches. It has also been a year of doubt and controversy. The slogan ‘TF2 is dead’ being printed on TF2 discussion boards everywhere and still being typed by many there has been dispute and frustration over unlocks, LANs and growth in the TF2 scene. There has been more gossip, controversy and drama than you’ll ever see on Maury. TF2 has changed – rising stars of TF2 have gone ’pro’, old pros have gone on the Brink of losing interest and leaving the scene. Coverage has changed and developed with new people writing articles, making videos, volunteering to cast or stream and hell we have even seen a new game mode start to become accepted in Team Fortress 2. To start it off I found a gem of an old-fashioned TF2 rant/commentary by  Foster with an actual positive outlook for 2011 and to steal a quote from it made by  Darn:

“Unless TF2 gets a proper LAN tournament in 2011, it will be the last year.”

Make of that what you will.

It’s been a long year. I intend to go over it month by month highlighting the memorable matches, the big dramas and the key events that defined our scene this calendar year. To avoid a TL:DR fest I will split it up into 3 parts, one to release now, one of New Years Eve and the last part in 2012. I would like to apologies to those who do not follow the Gregorian calendar, if for example you are Jewish please re-read this again in 9 months.

I’ve expressed my fascination by Fakkelbrigade before, and If you think I’m biased, you’re probably right. It’s not just that 2 of the members are close on- and offline friends of mine – but it’s the fact that they are currently one of very few teams I consider to be giving something back to the community. The work with providing TF2 with non ddos servers and relays is just the start of it. You’ll find few (or none) with as good of a track record on being timely, respectful and fair to their opponent and playing their best every time they enter the field. Respect.

You can read more of that (+ biased info) in my previous Cadred piece about the team.
Luckily, Greg has written a proper article about FB and TT – Cadred.

As of today, Fakkelbrigade finally takes their first steps in the the world of Multigaming Organizations. Their new partner: Team Thermaltake. It’s been a long time coming, and when these guys finally get the ink out, you know it’s not just for anybody. The once humble band of brothers who started off in an internet café downtown Utrecht slowly started letting go of its geographical roots, gaining a steady momentum towards the top. With 4-8 generations of players on their back, their latest roster is currently looking set to make an impact on the top end, this upcoming season.

The team is currently signed up for ESL and ETF2L leagues and are set for attending i42 this upcoming April 22nd – 25th. They will also be playing the ESH finals this coming Tuesday against “Byte’s team”.

Read more for lineup, statement and info
- Torden

For the past couple of months, the European TF2 scene has been under attack of a rather old DoS exploit that exists in all servers running the Orange Box engine. The script kiddie floods the server with bogus requests for the server and player info. Responding to these requests takes about 4 times as much bandwidth and much more CPU power than asking for it. This makes it possible for a single attacker to take down a gameserver.

You don't have to be Neo for this attack

Over the past few weeks Ronny of nice-servers.com and I have worked on solutions for this problem. First I’ve created a whitelisting system, blocking all access to a gameserver except for trusted IP addresses. Meanwhile Ronny worked on a more friendly solution, and today we present the script that has kept our gameservers safe for now.

It works by limiting the amount of player and server info request that can be sent to the gameserver per second. This way an attacker can’t overwhelm the gameserver with these requests. We currently limit this to 20 request per second per server, but you might have to experiment with upping/lowering these values for best results. The only side-effect of this solution is that the server will not be visible in the server browser during an attack, but you can still connect to it normally through the ‘connect’ command in console.

If you’re one of the few people that operates a Linux dedicated server, you can implement this fix yourself by using our script. If you’re renting a gameserver from a GSP, you’ll need to contact the GSP and request that he implements our fix or a similar solution.

It’s important to note that this fix doesn’t prevent players from being attacked directly. It’s therefore still very important for players to make sure their IPs aren’t known to the attacker. The easiest way for an attacker to find out your IP is for him to hop on to Quakenet and check out your clan’s channel. By default an IP will show up using a simple ‘whois’ on the person being targeted. Please use ‘//mode $me +x’ (for mIRC users) to hide your IP on Quakenet.

View/download the script here: pastie.org

Cheers,

- Arie
FakkelBrigade

- Ronny
Nice Servers

So it is reading week for me at university and I am still yet to be set any actual work, love the second year :D. Anyway, here is me attempting to predict the final placements for the Season 8 ETF2L, you can all a buy me a drink at i42 when I am right. Just to clarify, it is currently unconfirmed how the relegation system will work in Season 8 for the Premier Division, with the only answer I could rustle up being that it depends on how many drops there are. So this article is written on the basis that places 1-4 will enter the play-offs for first place plus prizes and that tenth place will be relegated automatically and eighth and ninth will either play-off to see who is relegated or both be relegated. So on that basis let’s carry on…

I will start off with the simple and that is for Team Refuse to Finnish bottom (Sorry I had to). They find themselves in the fateful spot where they are too good for Division 1 but unable to properly compete at a Premier Division level. Despite some quality players who have played at the top level before, including Fluffy, olliii and dancing queen xzar, they have lost all 3 of their opening ETF2L officials and I am afraid I cannot see a reason why this trend would change anywhere in the near future and are destined to end the season bottom. While they have struggled to compete this season, they are still defiantly better than the majority of Division 1 teams and if they stick together I am sure they would bounce right back. Also if the relegation play-off system is used I foresee they will struggle against who ever their opponents are, never say never but I would not put any money on an upset here.

That leaves 8 teams fighting it out for the 4 play-off places and desperately trying to avoid being the team to fill the final relegation spot. Starting from the top down, I would be hard pushed to bet against Epsilon at the moment. All of their players are capable of round and game changing clutch plays at any time, couple this with their tactical creativity and the amount of they have played together as a team and it leads to a powerful combination. They have already played and beaten two of the other top4 teams and proven they are more than capable than beating the other with their victory over Dignitas in EMS. Taking everything into account I would be mad not to put them down as my favourites to top the Premier Division.

Moving down to second spot I would have to go for Power Gaming to be the closest team to Epsilon. They only missed out on taking 3 points of Epsilon , in ETF2L, because of a mix up towards the end of Gullywash that wasted their uber. However, they do have one of the most impressive rosters assembled in recent times and will undoubtedly prove too strong for the majority of the Premier Division. They have shown they can cope with high pressure situations with LAN victories, their death match has never been called into question and no one will want to face them in the play-offs.

 TCM-Gaming possess an equally impressive roster on paper and despite a recent lull in form after their break in activity and the loss of main caller Haunter, they are still a great team. Let us not forget that not too long ago they were almost unbeatable. Even with the adjustment of Byte to main caller all of their players are more than experienced enough to outclass enough of the Premier Division on the standard maps to get themselves into a play-off position. They can only get better the more they play with their new line-up and caller, how much they pull themselves together will dictate how they perform in the play-offs.

The final play-off spot is really up for grabs, with pretty much any of those not previously mentioned in with a chance of grabbing it. Though honestly I think it is Blight’s to lose. They have been the team closest to the top4 for a long time now, despite fading into the background recently with a gap in activity and a reshuffle of their scout pairing. They recently beat k1ck pretty conclusively and look much more consistent that their closest contenders, Dignitas. Dignitas have slipped back into inactivity giving lacklustre displays and disappointing performances. They do, however, have the potential to be the best team in Europe, as we have all seen in the past. They are a big game team and I believe this means if they do prove me wrong and claw their way into the play-offs then they can have much more of an impact than Blight could.

Now, the best of the rest; Fakkel Brigade, k1ck and overGame Mister. An outside shot at the play-offs is a possibility but more realistically they will all be looking to avoid relegation. k1ck are the most consistent of these 3, with star man wltrs firing on all cylinders at the moment and plenty of skill and death match ability across the rest of the team. Unfortunately they are only consistently “ok” and quite often find themselves out classed by other teams team play and experience together. I am predicting narrowly avoiding relegation with a seventh place finish.

Mister have to be the most inconsistent team. At times they look more than capable of coping and taking maps off the best teams around but then get completely dominated by other teams around and below their level. Meanwhile, Fakkel Brigade has struggled for a while to turn PCW form into ETF2L points. It could really swing either way depending who can turn it on when it matters. I am going to have to vote with my heart though and predict Exfane’s men to pull it out of the bag and finish an almighty sixth. While this means Mister would find themselves in eighth spot and possibly have to play-off verses Refuse, I  am confident in saying Mister would over come this hurdle though and stay in the Premier Division if the system works their way!

Thanks for reading, as always any feedback is appreciated, below is how I expect the table to look at the end if all goes to plan and there are no drops. Good luck to all teams competing.

Season 8 Final Standings:

1.  Epsilon eSports
2.  Power Gaming
3.  TCM-Gaming
4.  Blight Gaming
5.  Team Dignitas
6.  Fakkel Brigade
7.  k1ck
8. Mister
9.  Team Refuse

- By CommanderX

ps. 2ez-Gaming will win all their games in Division 3a and go on to also find Division2 2ez.

A tad out of date because sleeping pills and alcohol don’t end well apparently but hopefully it’s not too late, I’ll try and do this every Friday but i’m making no promises :D It’s just a quick summary of the last week since things can be a bit hard to keep track of especially when sites don’t let teams submit results :D Lets see how it goes….

- CommanderX

Heya, here is my first ever interview. Doing this mainly because this is the sort of thing I would be doing for my University course and wanted some outside practice and thought this would be a good opportunity. Any feedback is appreciated and would be willing to do more if anyone is interested….anyway on with it…

[The Interviewer] Truls “Dr.LeoN” Corneliussen Rasmussen  currently plays soldier in Division 1 team FakkelBrigade . He started his career as backup scout in Division 2 team Resistansen  after being plucked from public servers. He then progressed to Soldier, and joined the FakkelBrigade team in the season in which they were promoted to Division 2, becoming full time soldier for them. He has now been in FakkelBrigade for 2 years and has helped them progress from the new boys of Division 2 to one of the more established teams in Division 1. He made an appearance at Multiplay’s Spring LAN, i39, represented team Norway in the first and second nations cup and also spent AFS in Division 5 as Demoman with hb0da  where he helped them to a first place finish in Division 5j.
And a hot picture:

Leon at the hotel in the morning before i39 (Picture from FakkelBrigade.eu)

Fairly accurate wouldn’t you say?

[DrLeon] You know my entire life story :o I started as a backup player in Resistansen though, any class

- by CommanderX

During the summer, Epsilon have been using Exfane as soldier merc, well-knowing that he would be returning to FakkelBrigade shortly before i40. That time has come, and the question arises whether FB will be able to come out even stronger after this break as they always have, or will this be the one time too many. VanillaTF2 caught up with Exfane to ask about the future of FB and i40.

Exfane: Don’t be mistaken it’s gonna be a hard and long route again, but i think people having some time off has really helped us with the continuation of FB. We’ve always performed our best when we were underdogs and this lan will be no different, so we’ll see what happens. We might knock out some high seeded team or might lose to some css crackers playing tf2, who knows.

We have gotten some possibilities regarding the replacement of Leon at this lan, however we still need to make a decision who can join us on lan. We’ll see how it works out tonight – who matches the team the most will get picked obviously. Everybody’s personal life has continued aswell during our absence, so things have changed and we have yet to see how it works out. Leon is going to a good university, Looper is getting jiggie with his girlfriend (could be his car, we still don’t know) , I’ve sold my company and gonna continue studying as well this year. We know each other long enough so we can be perfectly honest with each other, if we can’t cope with IRL and gaming together. So we’ll just have to see, I guess.

We also got a comment from Extremer from Epsilon:

Extremer: Exfane was the perfect soldier to fill in for Cube. Both have similar playstyles, so our gameplay barely changed. I’d like to thank him for putting up with us for that long! CU@LAN EXFANE

With Epsilon losing Exfane, their previous soldier cube will be returning to their lineup for i40 and beyond!

A little over 2 hours ago, EG. CB launched mygamingedge.com – a site that should be added to every competitive TF2 player’s bookmarks.

We created My Gaming Edge to help bring your game to the next level. The top Team Fortress 2 players around the world have gathered to show you what it takes to be the best. These players will not only explain what’s going through their head during live matches but will show you the ins and outs of playing at the invite level, answer your questions and much more. Plus, a weekly podcast featuring the best players in the world breaking down the competitive scene here and in Europe.
The TF2 ecosystem is starving for content that will help the players and the community grow. Our goal at MGE is to do as much as possible to bring you the most up to date news, gossip, league coverage, video content and more.

Whether you are just getting started with competitive play or looking for that extra push to break through to the top level, My Gaming Edge is the place for you.

Currently all of the content is free, but there are plans for a “premium package” involving a subscription. Details on how much exactly remain to be seen, but if the content from these guys is regular, then I can’t see it being an issue.

That’s right, the king of Turris and flick shots is back with a frag movie. Created by iQue, with a small intro by Torden,it features frags from quite-a-long-time-ago and up until now. If you’re still reading this, you’ve gone too far: go click on the movie.

That’s right, we’re up for yet another round of Pubbers vs Pros. Not much change has been put into this version, only the use of different players on either side of the playing field.

The main lineup for the pros (and hopefully the one playing on the night, unlike last time) are:

• Scouts: dignitas/bybben + “maybe” TCM|zerox
• Soldiers: cube.idk? + WeMadeFux Evil
• Demoman: TLR|Thy
• Medic: TCM|Byte

Once again this has been organised by myself, Shintaz and pretty much sponsored by the guys down at Fakkelbrigade (big thanks once again). With the previous two being hugely popular with the public community and the competitive community alike, we’re expecting even more numbers and another great mumble cast (full details aren’t available as of yet).

This is only the introductory article, interviews with both the pub and competitive team are to come. I wish both teams good luck, but in all honesty, like the rest of the world, want the pubbers to win (whoever they may be!).

For other details and to give the pubbers a good luck, check out the thread over on Steam Forums.