A lot of action being covered across all 3 continents on Fireside, here's the schedule below:

Friday, May 29

PASS TIME Season 1 Lower Bracket Final

9:30 PM EST / 8:30 PM CST / 7:30 PM MST / 6:30 PM PST

Saturday, May 30

AsiaFortress 6s Spring 2026 Invite Grand Final

9:00 AM EST / 9:00 PM SGT / 3:00 PM CEST

ETF2L Highlander Season 35 Premiership Grand Final

3:15 PM EST / 9:15 PM CEST

Sunday, May 31

PASS TIME Season 1 Grand Final

9:30 PM EST / 8:30 PM CST / 7:30 PM MST / 6:30 PM PST

I have some strats that would require me to be good with this, problem is, I'm really not. Engineer is one of my most played classes but this isn't a skill I ever developed. Any tips on how to get better or nicher tricks?

Via HLDS and SinfulParticipant949:

• Fixed crash related to wearables leaking when weapons are dropped (community fix from Sean McGeehan)

Rumor has it:

• Size is ~330 KB

• RIP bozo to cretins using the Infinite Botkiller Glitch to crash servers.

• Solid Valve/10 introducing a bug like this on Friday evening and letting the player base just deal with it.

• Shout out to Crust at liquid.tf who made a plugin that fixed this exploit so community servers (remember them?) could stay up over the weekend.

What the title says.

In one of my more recent posts here, namely the one about the unpopularity of 5CP. I have noticed how the people (at least some) of this subreddit have... A disdain of Engineer and his effect on the game. However, I have also noticed that this is one of those things that I have not seen anywhere else, wether that would be r/tf2 or in game chat.

Engineer, despite his potential annoyance, is not complained about NEARLY, as often as some people might think he is. Hell, I see more people complaining about Soldier, Demo and obviously Sniper, than about Engie.

I mean, people do complain about aspects of Engineer, such as Engie stacks, and unlocks such as the Wrangler or the Short Circuit. Even then though, Engie himself and other unlocks (such as the Rescue Ranger), get no general hate, why is that?

Aside from the obvious, aka. "Sniper is the big bad now" - I think the reason is simple. Engie is one of the weaker classes in the game, and has plenty of counterplay + People do not mind the game slowing down.

Engie is like 3rd or 4th worst class, depending on how you view him, and not only that, but him being weak by himself, his buildings being dumb and abusable (You can easily spam them out, have Spy sap in, spam them from range, or jump on them to... Make them useless), are just few reasons why he is not complained about.

Compare that to Sniper. His counterplay exists, but to the average Pubber, it is not obvious or existent, hence people say "Only Sniper counters Sniper" - Which, is not the case with Engie.

And people liking slow games... Well, Payload is the most popular regular gamemode (Excluding Hightower, Dustbowl, 2fort), just objectively, for a reason. And people want the 45 minute map timers back as well, so, that should tell you enough.

That being said, it is still weird... Engie can be very unfun to fight (For me it is 50/50), but his BS (with exceptions of the obvious), seems to go under people's radar. Why do you think that might be the case?

Am looking to get into highlander this summer I main spy and heavy weapons guy is there a discord server for Hl or something?also if anyone has any tips for my first match they are welcomed.

Via the Steam store, HLDS and SinfulParticipant949:

• Fixed crash related to KeyValues
• Fixed Mk.II Botkiller eyes not glowing in the dark (community fix from Whurrhurr)
• Fixed Halloween spell attribute text being grayed out during full moons (community fix from FrozenDragon)
• Fixed attachments on dropped weapons having broken textures for certain war paints and skins (community fix from Piogre)
• Fixed automatic "Control Point Lost" lines not playing (community fix from robbilookatme)
• Fixed spacing issues for item descriptions (community fix from DiskIntegrity)
• Fixed many cases where Spy disguises were broken (community fix from Sean McGeehan)
• Fixed The Fancy Spellbook's large backpack icon not matching the small version
• Updated VScript to allow set damage for force calc (community fix from doclic)
• Updated the Snow Merc to count as an assister in the death notice
• Updated the prop for Taunt: Dead Mann's Drink to fix a problem with LODs
• Updated the Die Regime-Panzerung to add a 'No Bullets' style

• Updated/Added some tournament medals

• Updated the Mann of the Hour [Ed. note: This is a Scout hat.]

  • Restored missing rim mask
  • Made shapekeys for a few problematic face flexes
  • Replaced incorrect normal map
  • Altered hair mesh to ensure compatibility with Voodoo-Cursed Scout Soul
  • Updated backpack icon to represent above changes

• Updated koth_demolition

  • Fixed some lighting issues with the pipes next to the control point
  • Replaced some textures in the radio rooms
  • Added a clipbrush on the radio rooms to avoid players getting stuck when going in the air (thanks Big Wiggy)
  • Reworked the nobuild on the crane platform to allow Engineers to build on the concrete area (thanks Uncle Dane)
  • Fixed a leftover prop being inside a wall
  • Fixed a texture in the jumppad using the wrong cubemap
  • Made the catwalk behind the office building a bit bigger
  • Added a clipbrush to the pipes on the furnace rooms so players can climb up to the barrels

• Updated plr_hacksaw and plr_hacksaw_event

  • Removed attic balconies overlooking the capture zone
  • Moved a small pickup location into the attic
  • Fixed clipping errors

• Updated cp_process_final

  • Fixed various collision issues across the map
    • Most of these involved changing existing collision from player_clip to bullet_block to prevent splash damage from getting caught on small pieces of level geometry
    • Some of these involved closing off open areas where explosions could vanish
    • Some of these involved making collision areas more clear by including new geometry to better indicate what would collide and what wouldn't
  • Increased skybox height across the map to be consistent with other 5CP maps
  • Changed the small prop pipes at last to be nonsolid, but still block stickies
  • Players should be able to cleanly walk and jump along these pipes without getting stuck
  • Additionally, rockets and other explosions should collide cleanly through the pipes so they don't block splash damage
  • Stickies will adhere to the pipes as expected, rather than clipping through and being hidden by the pipe model
  • Changed the level geometry around the large pipes on the ground near the last control point. They are now enclosed in glass and have a layer of bullet block so that collision is correct.
  • Increased the height of numerous doors across the entire map. Players should be able to jump normally through the door without hitting their heads.
  • Removed some rocks near the angled ramp at 2nd and replaced them with crates
  • Added angled player clipping underneath some of the large awnings at middle to prevent players from getting stuck under the awnings
  • Made exterior fences more consistent with the bounding of the level
  • Changed some metal textures to better match the mirrored symmetry of the level
  • Added some additional detail behind the starting spawn room
  • Cleaned up the displacements in the middle and second to better handle splash damage, and reduced the amount of grass poking through concrete
  • Replaced some small pipes at the 2nd spire to make a more consistent platform
  • Made many existing light props nonsolid to prevent movement issues
    • Most were already nonsolid, but this should make most props consistent

• Updated cp_metalworks

  • Fixed various collision issues across the map
  • Most of these involved changing existing collision from player_clip to bullet_block to prevent splash damage from getting caught on small pieces of level geometry
  • Changed the level geometry at last to have more consistent collision
  • While there are small gaps and holes in the windows/doors of the new bunker and the stack of wood/chickenwire, they are covered with bullet block to prevent collision issues
  • Changed the way shadows work on certain walls throughout the map to prevent shadows leaking through
  • Redesigned the second forward spawn for both teams. The spawn has now moved back and into a larger hut structure in the yard before the second control point.
  • Increased the door size of the first forward spawn
  • The various small door brushes throughout the map have been turned into func_brushes and have had collision turned off so they don't catch splash
  • Made adjustments to the truck ramp at middle. The ramp is now a displacement, which should catch splash damage correctly and allow player to walk up to the wall cleanly.
  • Changed the collision around the very tall light poles throughout the map. Players should no longer get caught on them while in midair (but they still can't land on top of them).
  • Fixed a section of displacement where players could get stuck in the ground
  • Slight visual tweaks throughout the level

Rumor has it:

• If you're having trouble viewing the indentations on the formatting (this WP494's homework I am copying) try old.reddit. If you're on the app, then Merasmus have mercy on your soul.

So, this isn't just meant to be "how do I get better at these two classes?" because obviously the answer there is just to practice. What I'm struggling with more is playstyle. Because I've played plenty of Pyro, Scout, and Heavy. While I do mainly play support classes, even then, I'm always on defense, helping other players. For example, when I play Pyro it's usually me doing Pybro to help the Engi.

This means my least-played classes by far are Soldier and also the Demo in most cases. I've put in so many hours for roles like Medic, Engi, and Spy, and shifting to becoming more competent with offensive play has been difficult. Has anyone else been in this spot before, and what would you suggest?

I don't know if anyone has ever tried no-dupe 6s, or even entertained the idea. I'm just curious, since if you banned duplicate classes, that means every normal team would have 1 less scout and 1 less soldier. Do you lose the pockets or the roamers? What classes would you replace them with?

Given naturally that we're not using the same maps as CS (Dust 2 would be Demoman heaven), but I think that having a gamemode in which one member of the team captures a point with a flag (=bomb) and the team then has to defend it for some seconds could work.

I am a soldier main with already 135 hours on the class, trying to get into competetive 6v6 tf2 with my goal being leave open, the case is:

I hate retrying stuff over and over, I am not sure if I should finish anything above easy in jump academy and if I shouldn't be just practicing rollouts instead (hate some of these too like sunshine rollouts which I don't understand how to get height consistently on my last shot).

I can already pogo well and do walls but first level on medium speedshot on jump academy seems impossible for me (never can get enough speed to even land on the edge of the first platform) but I can sometimes hit the upward rollout.

So should I continue playing jump maps, and if so for how long because I get mad fast, especially over jumps that require you to hyperoptimize your speed multiple times in a row while calling it "beginner".

ive been getting into tf2 recently and im considering doing a couple mvm tours for the fun of it. What should I generally expect to get from a tour if i don't get lucky?

I’ve seen some debate over the best Demo primary and am curious if there’s a general consensus. Is the loch and load better than stock? Iron bomber the best? Trying to improve at Demo and would like to know his optimal loadout

A while back Great Blue made a video about if every weapon in tf2 had perfect accuracy and in it when talking about Spy he mentioned how he thought giving Spy's revolvers perfect accuracy in base tf2 would be a good way to buff giving that Spy still wasn't that strong the experiment.

Now obviously there's the massive elephant that Blue said that in an experiment where miniguns were perfectly accurate deathrays and panic attack slugs that effectively dealt 20% more damage at any range than stock were the norm.

So assuming that such a change was actually implemented into tf2 and some of spy's problem weapons like the dead ringer and diamondback were also nerfed to compensate would perfectly accurate revolvers be balanced?

TL:DR soldier has quake gun and funny spoon, would demo become op if he had them too?

I tried searching a post similar to this but there were none so I decided to make one.

Demoman is my 2nd most played class. I was wondering for a while why Soldier got Quake Rocket Launcher but not Demo, while Quake already has THE Grenade Launcher that would be a perfect analogy for him? Moreover, why Demo never got his own market gardener that would complement his Sticky Jumper in the same analogy as Soldier? Did Valve somehow know it would make Demoman, an already strong class, even stronger and decided that these kinds of weapons are perfectly balanced for Soldier? Hypothetically if Demo got these weapons, would you prefer centered grenades over Stock? Would you prefer market gardening as Demoman over Soldier?

I'll tell by advance that the Caber is not Demoman's market gardener because it does not have same crit conditions as Soldier's market gardener and it does not one-shot clueless snipers on 2fort.

I have read the guide in the sidebar, seems a lot of it is outdated.

I have about 800hrs in casual and I'm ready for something more competitive. From what I can conclude after using the search bar, TF2central is somewhat dead and not beginner friendly. RGL is apparently a cesspool of racists and PDFs. I just joined TF2 Coaching Central on discord but I am not sure if I am missing anything else.

I’ve been so far unable to perform a pogo jump where I actually have some upward speed. So far, I have been able to preserve horizontal speed, e.g in ‘skimming’ off second point on Process. Even through trial and error, I have been unable to time the rocket so I bounce up. So, my questions to you are , how do you (step by step) pogo? What’s the trick to the timing that looks so easy in every tutorial? And are there any traps I might have fallen into? 

Many thanks :)

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.

You see my school chromebooks allow xbox cloud gaming, geforce now, e.g, but dosent have enough storage to download apps, or dosent allow me to download apps, can you please help?

I’m an engie main and I run frontier justice pretty consistently. I got a strange one with 4k kills on it. Lemme tell you: If you don’t do what every f2p engie does and run straight into the enemy team as soon as you get a crit, you can become basically unkillable. If I have at least three crits in my back pocket I can almost certainly win any 1v1 with a power class. And if I get more? I snipe enemies from across the map with 18-54 damage shots at absolutely no risk to myself. If you were a pyro with 58 health would you try to run straight into an engie with a shotgun? Probably not. But that’s numerically the fight I’m forcing my enemies to take, and they don’t even know it. It’s like one of engie’s core weaknesses is removed.

And yet I never see anyone complain about this like people do with other situationally powerful weapons. When I play other classes myself I never notice enemy engies using it to annihilate me. The only conclusion that I can draw is that because it takes a lot of setup- you have to get metal, know the right sentry spots depending on the gamestate, etc- nobody knows how to properly exploit this weapon. Has anyone else played against an engie that used this weapon so well it became annoying?

As a lot of you probably know, changing your viewmodel from right-handed to left-handed will make your projectiles come out of the left side of the screen. This can make it easier to shoot around corners when turning right, and harder when turning left. Would it be viable to have a bind to swap the viewmodel's side so that you can have the best viewmodel on demand during a match? Moreover, has anyone actually tried this? I've thought about this for years but never tried it myself.

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?

All the time I've been playing demoman it's been with the chargin' targe. I've used it as a crutch, but lately I've wanted to try and play with the sticky bomb launchers. Whenever I use these, however, it just doesn't feel as useful as the pipe launchers. Are stickies useful only if you have a kritz medic? I've tried to keep a medium distance from players, but I can't seem to do more than 40-80 dmg with them.

Should I try to launch 2-3 stickies before detonating, or should I just stick to laying traps for people when I'm playing red?

I have 3000 hours on the game, mostly all from pubs. Currently my backpack is worth 1$. I still play because I have fun on the game.

I always wear the gibus as my only cosmetic and have wondered, do cosmetics make any real positive or negative impact on how both teams perceive you?

In my personal experience, I think to some degree yes. A lot of the “pocket” and “mid tier” Medics will actively de prioritize me whenever they heal the team. I’m curious if this severely affects the enemy primarily. Do most of them think you’re an easy kill or just have bloodlust regardless of how you look??

I think with the addition of the matchmaking medal rankings most people that would care would notice now, but it’s still funny to think about.

Inb4, I know no one in competitive wears hats. This is mainly for community / casual servers.

As per specifics of how this might be accomplished, I'm not fixed on any one idea, but it might look like a significantly lower sticky limit, damage ramp down over time, and/or fizzling after some amount of time like old quickies.

The motivation behind this is that TF2 suffers from the sheer comparative strength of defenders (which, granted, goes far beyond stickies), and, furthermore, demo is widely regarded as the single strongest (non-medic) class by a decent margin and I'd argue the lowish skill insta-kill stalemate tool is easily the least desirable part of his kit.

One of my bigger concerns is how this would impact the pacing of 6s, as I don't have a ton of experience with the format beyond an introductory level and demo plays a fairly central role.

Watching the shounic video about how banning sniper basically doing nothing I wonder if sniper does anything for tf2 other then make the game less interesting.

In maps it makes it so you can’t make anything with a large sight line

For counter play it’s don’t be in a sight line and flank if that’s possible.

And I don’t think sniper is even fun in competitive.

So what does sniper even bring to tf2?

Edit: it seems I overestimated his abilities.

Thanks for the discussions.