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Has no REAL life! (3493) |
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tl;dr? there isn't one. if you wanna be on this team, go read it!
I thought I'd have my PC with me over the summer break, but if I do then it'll won't be for a couple of months yet. So I won't be able to play, but I'd like to help in whatever way I can, because highlander can be awesome if you get it right and downright shit if you don't.
The first thing you need to do - and you need to do it right now - is decide whether you're 9 random players who happen to be joining a server who happen to be on the same team and then do some deathmatching, or whether you're Europe's Biggest Keeners 2012 and do everything by the book. My experience is that if you go for a middle ground, there's too much wiggle room/space for interpretation, and the team becomes far less effective and fun because nobody is quite sure where everybody else stands. I get that compromise sounds good and all that, but honestly, if you start lowering your standards then it very quickly deteriorates after that. By the sounds of it, you're already discussing callers and such, so I'm gonna go on the basis that you're looking to form a srs-face team that will be dedicated. We have Zombie's highlanders for the less srs, so people with social lives need not apply
I now present my how2keen guide. My advice, get people to read this if they're thinking about playing, so that everyone knows where everyone else is standing.
- Know that if someone isn't pulling their weight (not showing up, being a mong, whatever) then they get kicked from the team at the discretion of the team leader. Don't pussyfoot around it, just do it and tell them why - you've got to be frank with each other if you want to not suck. We're in serious mode here.
That goes for gameplay stuff too. Everyone needs to understand that if they're given advice, told to do something differently or whatever that it isn't a personal thing, no matter how bluntly it might be put, and that they need to suck it up. If you disagree and it needs discussing, talk it over in mumble during the next pre-match setup phase or after the game ends; you've got tons of time to practice, so don't waste it arguing over this and that whilst the clock is ticking. That said, if you have something that needs talking about, don't message the caller or whoever in steam, bring it up in mumble so that everyone's on the same wavelength. Don't bitch, don't be silent, just be awesome.
Arrange two days to play on; say, on a weekday and on Sunday (just know that it's usually harder to find teams to play against on Friday and Saturday, but I'm not sure how much that still applies). Everyone always plays on those two days, unless something major comes up for them. If it does, try and give warning as early as possible. Kick people off the team if they're not playing. This is so, so important, the single worst thing about highlander is running around trying to find mercs to play, and even when you do, having just one different player interrupts the whole flow of things.
Understand that if you sign up for a class, you *are* going to be playing that class very differently from how you play it in a public game. Teamwork makes it certain that you won't be doing the same as you are in pubs. For instance, as a pyro on defence, your job is 99 percent utility - in most scenarios, you sit on top of the sentry + medic and spycheck anything that comes close whilst reflecting rockets and ubers. You do this *for the entire round*, no matter how bored you get or how good an idea going on an axtinguisher run sounds like, unless the team caller says differently. Don't expect to be doing all that much killing on attack either. Point is, learn what your job is and stick to it. If you don't like doing that, don't play on the team.
The above sounds easy enough when it's written down. It's much harder in practice. I know this cos I fuck it up all the time; as my experience from playing offclass has taught me, there's a big difference between knowing what you're supposed to be doing and actually doing it. Try to do your job, and accept that you will get roflstomped for a long time, and even after you get good you're still gonna get roflstomped for what feels like no reason at all. It's a difficult thing to get past and kills team enthusiasm, so just know that it's gonna happen, and when it does you should crack open the STV demo to see what went wrong and keep on keening regardless.
Get your admin stuff sorted. Play practice matches on events/spawar to make sure you've got the settings right. Most leagues require status screenshots/scoreboard screenshots, learn what you need to do and get into the habit of doing it. Poke someone relentlessly until STV gets actually, properly fixed on one of the servers. Record an STV demo every time. Ask the techies if a SpA member on your team can be given direct access to those demos and have that member upload them to a place where everyone can get them every time (we love you techies, but it's easier for everyone if you don't have to be harassed after every single game). That isn't just for just reviewing your game, but in case you need to provide the STV for proof (against cheat accusations or whatever).
On that note, take time to review your game. Some teams find this useful, some don't, but I'd recommend doing this on a semi-regular basis for starters anyway. One way to do this is by getting everyone in mumble and having them play an STV of the same match, starting from the same tick on the same second. Just talking about it and seeing things from a different perspective can help a bunch. I'd also be interested in taking a look at some of your STV's and doing an analysis on them (something like this, though probably a bit less in-depth and formal, unlisted/private on Youtube and geared towards making you guys better.)
In terms of learning how to play highlander properly, there are tons of useful guides and videos out there, and if I'm not playing on the team then I'd love to be a mentor or coach or something if you'd have me - I'm far better at theory stuff than I am at actually getting playing so hopefully I'd be of some use. I'll try to make a collation/guide to what's useful resources are out there if people want it/for when this thing gets off the ground.
I think that the whole 'you need mumble and a mic' thing goes without saying, but the issue of actually comming effectively is a tricky one, and what improvements can be made varies not just from team to team but from player to player. It's a case of saying important stuff, listening to what it being said and - the important bit - acting on calls when required and, when your main caller tells the team to do something, everyone does it as soon as possible, if not immediately, and at the same time. It's can be a difficult balance between keeping comms cleans and actually calling what should be called as succinctly as possible. I'm afraid I can't give much advice for this other than know who your main caller is and to always go with what he says. There's a ton of different factors involved in comms, so it's difficult to give general advice without taking a listen to what it sounds like in practice.
So what's a 'perfect player'? One who is knows what he's supposed to be doing as the class he is playing, wants to be doing that/playing that class, always shows up to practice/STV reviews, puts on his srsface in-game whilst not being unsociable/an asshole out of game (not that any of you are assholes ) and sticks with the team to try and make things better even if you've never won a match yet. You need to find nine of these wonderful people, one for each class. Do that, and it will be worth it; anything less (apart from the demo reviews, they're kinda optional) and you will forever be looking for last-minute mercs and the experience for the 5/6/7 guys who are taking it seriously becomes much less enjoyable. If you ask me, that just isn't worth the effort.
Highlander is a game of clusterfucks, spam and chaos that laughs in the face of tactics and strategy. The nature of the game means that, most of the time, something in your well-oiled machine is going wrong. The goal, in the face of the runaway rape-train that's intent on spilling its flaming cargo of 'OH FUCK' over your best laid schemes, is to maintain your shit as best as possible. The team that loses their shit the least wins.
*keen = catch all adjective for the turn-up-to-practice, talk about strats and does reasearch kind of guy; a massive geek like me
So here's my suggested philosophy - go for it like you're aiming to be the best team in the world whilst understanding that, right now, chances are you will suck, and you will keep on sucking for a while yet. Remember that this is the keen team; we have Zombie's Sunday night highlanders for the less keen. If you, potential team-player, don't have your heart in it then go play those instead. But if you understand all of what I've just said and are still up to, and so is everyone else in your team, then you have the start of something awesome.
This is the ideal model for a team, and given that the SpA TF2 community isn't nearly as busy as it was, then finding those people won't be easy. But it will be worth it. I'm always here to give what advice I can. gl & hf!
_________________ ュ~ã¡ã‚ƒã‚“gamer.jp Pinky: true genius
ュ~ã¡ã‚ƒã‚“gamer.jp Pinky: doesn't make sense
ュ~ã¡ã‚ƒã‚“gamer.jp Pinky: till you're senseless
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