Thoughts and Advice on Starting a TF2 Highlander Team?

[mirror's edgy]

I love Team Fortress 2. Spent a ton of time playing it this summer with a few guys and I still think it's one of the best designed multiplayer shooters out there. But everyone who really enjoys it and wants to improve their game gets tired of just playing on public servers all the time. Which is why we have Highlander and competitive league play. I'd like to jump into the lowest tier and try some real competitive gameplay where teamwork matters and defense maps are not won because your team has three engineers and the other team doesn't deploy three simultaneous ubercharges to deal with them. My problem is actually building a team, though. I'm sure someone here on the forums has experience, so I'd like to hear your stories. How did you end up joining a comp team and did it work out well?

Any thoughts on Highlander and competitive TF2 would be interesting to hear as well, so who plays what class and how was the transition from pubs to comp?

 

[DazZ.]

Join one, don't start one.
Unless you already have a big enough group of online peers that play TF2 very regularly. Having a server is a massive help as well. Getting 9 (+subs) people online at once can be a ballache unless you're already playing together a lot.

If you just want to try actual organised games of either 6v6 or highlander, head over to TF2 Lobby [http://tf2lobby.com/] and play a few scrims to get a taste.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

Watch some Highlander videos on YouTube to help get an idea. VanillaTV's channel has several, but most are 6v6, which is a bit different.

A huge problem with professional teams, especially one as big as nine players, is coordination and planning. Simply put, it's hard to get nine people in the same place at once.

 

[Jimmy T. Malice]

Basically, the person who plays each class needs to be the best at it. Snipers need to pull off headshots with ease. Pyros need to reflect rockets and take full advantage of the Axtinguisher. And Soldiers need to know how to rocket jump.

 

[CleverNickname]

Join one, don't start one.

How and where does one just join some team? Especially as someone who will just come off as some bored pubber.
Also, I've heard Lobby games can be fairly unfriendly if you screw up just a little too much - which someone with no experience is likely to do.

 

[Zyst]

Join one, don't start one.

How and where does one just join some team? Especially as someone who will just come off as some bored pubber.
Also, I've heard Lobby games can be fairly unfriendly if you screw up just a little too much - which someone with no experience is likely to do.

Easy, don't come off as a bored pubber. Tell them you play at a decent level (I hope you do if you want to join a serious team), what you play and ask them to test you, that's really all there is to it.

 

[DazZ.]

Join one, don't start one.

How and where does one just join some team? Especially as someone who will just come off as some bored pubber.

There are loads of places that look for recruits. ETF2L forums [http://etf2l.org/forum/hlrec-pst/?recent=400020] for example.

Or just frequent a server that has a team, a fair few have "care to join our highlander team? Apply here!" in the info popups whenever a tournament it upcoming and they have spaces.

I'm not saying jump around every server going "I WANNA TEAM!". Do research, it's not hard.

Also, I've heard Lobby games can be fairly unfriendly if you screw up just a little too much - which someone with no experience is likely to do.

Welcome to public competitive gameplay in any game, of course it's going to be unfriendly to people who can't play as people start to take shit seriously. Only one way to get over that though and find out if you're good enough and that is to give it a go when you think you're ready.

If you start caring about rude words from internet strangers then competitive scrims are not for you.