Can you believe 4 of the 6 grand finals were covered all on Monday? Maybe even the 5th can be covered as IM reschedules to Friday. But like, props to everyone including DolphiN on RGL, grey on Fireside Casts, also Godfather & Dr. Underscore, and last but not least all the casters for covering grands in almost all the divisions. It’s crazy to see the uptick in coverage and viewership for HL this season. MUCH NEEDED for a gamemode that doesn’t see much love in coverage. Let’s keep it moving forward for next season!
Best posts made by 76561198798932093
-
Huge props to our coverage crew across the community for grand finals coverage
-
RE: Thoughts on RGL's Future (by me :D)
SIDENOTE: Something that I originally forgot to put in the essay is the caster tool that Dolphin uses which allows him to have a kill feed of events prior to them happening in the cast, allowing for him to find out which players to spectate in the cast so high impact moments are seen more often by the viewer. If this was allowed to be used by other casters it would greatly increase the quality of casts like Fireside, which now work with RGL. This is less important than the PUG system, but I wanted to still note it as being a great way to help improve the community if we just collaborated together as a whole.
We have cheatfeed but some of us just don’t use cheatfeed; i’m a pure 6s observer but I have observed HL, though i’m not sure how important it is for HL casts. I’d assume it’s more important but then again I’m not an HL guy so can’t say my knowledge is expert on it . while we do have the luxury of STV delay if you’re trying to emulate an actual esports cast there is no such thing as an stv delay. that being said, given that it is tf2, i do agree cheatfeed is nice and should be a must have for ANY newer producer as cheatfeed makes the newer/casual audience experience WAY more exciting. It does suck though people hate our skybox/static cameras (it seems a lot of viewers hate static cameras, which is a shame in my honest opinion having talked to EU/OCE producers).
you might be misplacing your words in quality of a cast in lieu of:
- a tool that allows a caster to see what an observer is viewing (which we do have but only one producer uses)
- the amount of legitimately experienced casters/producers we have in the scene. i can count only on two hands the amount of casters we have that pander to a newer/casual audience + experienced audience (tcmano/trad/zagron/alto/godfather/jemond/jarrett/sgc)
- the skeleton bones broadcast crew we have for tf2, which is 1 producer who not only acts as the producer but also acts as the observer and cast coordinator all in one + the two casters.
words can’t describe the amount of burden placed on a producer. not only does a producer have to coordinate scheduling, figure out what casters/manpower we have on time, and what matches to cast. but also during showtime, we have to work on what is displayed on stream while also focusing on observing + listening to what casters are saying in order to follow cues we can’t see because we don’t have a second observer/camera to look at other perspectives. cheatfeed helps a lot in that regard but some of our guys observe and rely on caster cues + understanding of the flow of the game
i’m also of the firm belief that all divs should be covered; if you want to cater to the newbies then shed some light and show them what it’s like to play against players of their own level. you can see that reflected in the tf2cc cup and the amount of participation newcomer has had in the last 2 seasons. but then the caster/producer pool grows smaller (and no fault of theirs, you would want to make your time for a cast worthwhile anyways) for that which is why fireside hasn’t been doing much of trial by fireside as of recent
cheers
(taking this opportunity to also footnote an advertisement post: FIRESIDE IS LOOKING FOR PRODUCERS/CASTERS. SPECIFICALLY!!! for highlander. We want to make our highlander casts just as good as our 6s. please hit me up in discord!! siyo_.)
-
RE: Thoughts on RGL's Future (by me :D)
To talk of point 2 is exactly arcadia’s goal with RGL as the new owner. It’s really not SEO optimized and from what I understand the website’s current build wasn’t built for scalability but more of as a way to get things running during its first year of inception. Having heard of the wonders arcadia/Aad are working there are huge things to come in the future. I promise that and I can only hope that with that, RGL also becomes the HLTV of TF2 where we can, as a broadcasting org, post matches that are to be casted on an RGL tab.
On point 3:
One of the huge problems was when the mods of /r/truetf2 actually moderated the subreddit, they were very stringent on advertising RGL/ESEA/UGC/whatsoever matches. We have used /r/truetf2 on Fireside to advertise and Steam forums but it doesn’t really translate to viewers. Also, advertising comp tf2 on the steam forums almost got me banned HAHA. Having talked on Mothership with this before we plan to up our marketing efforts though trust!
You could probably ping the TF2CC guys for more information on communicating with Valve, as you can see on the TF2CC cups that TF2 blog post announcement actually was the reason we had a steady 100-150 viewers during the entire weekend cup (HUGE PROPS to the marketing team on TF2CC for their initiative on this)
(preface this post that I’m not affiliated with RGL I’m just the fireside casts head)
-
Retrospection Chats - Fireside's new podcast series
LOL. Feels like we’re making a lot of posts on the forums now aren’t we?
This was also made in conjunction with the launch of Fireside’s new patreon, you can check it out here.
We’re planning to release episodes of this every week or two or so. Basically this, as the title of the series suggests, is a series of interviews with players/community figures with longstanding history in the TF2 scene. The idea is how can we bring some lore to light and preserve some history from the nearly two decades worth of competitive TF2.
This pilot episode was recorded two days ago VERY impulsively with Tcmano to get the idea out and see how it would work out–hence the lack thereof of graphics and the reuse of the Fireside HUD. I think the only thing I tried to implement quickly is denoting who is speaking of course. The idea is to make a product of the idea and see how people well receive it before moving forward with actual good podcast graphics.
Let me know what you think!
Future planned guests:
- Walrex
- Jarrett (but this would be a two part series as we would need a sixes and highlander specific interviewer :P)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rVTC8lHal4
Timestamps from this episode (included in YT description too)
00:00 Introductions
02:00 How did you get into TF2?
06:19 (Cont.) How did you get into competitive TF2 and what was your main?
11:25 Controversy of BTS TF2
19:05 Why did you continue casting after the BTS TF2 controversy?
23:00 Takeaways from first cast
26:28 Discussing the struggles of casting NA TF2
32:03 Casting influences, finding the right balance in casting/casting towards a casual + experienced audience
39:50 Behind the scenes/prep work of a production, discussion on watch parties, public perception on a cast/production’s quality
44:15 Tcmano’s playing career segway, introducing Omarmxbee
45:00 The Newcomer Cup - Tcmano’s first team (Grand Caster)
47:00 First season of TF2 - -rep (RGL S4)
49:33 Favorite memory from the first season of -rep?
51:35 Reflections on leading the team and the season
58:30 Second season of TF2 - -rep (RGL S5)
59:15 Why did you pickup GR4P3?
01:03:40 Expectations with the pickup and the team overall, controversy about the match vs Broken Keyboards
01:05:30 LOSING TO A CHEATER?!?! 3 TEAMS WITH 3 CHEATERS?!
01:12:00 Thoughts on cheating enforcement
01:27:02 The downfall of -rep (RGL S6)
01:30:00 Thoughts on the NA casting orgs (TFTV, Fireside, RGL)
01:38:02 What prevents the growth of TF2?
01:41:00 True or false? Or nuances? A lot of the issues that face the TF2 scene culminate from people complaining but not working towards a problem?
01:49:30 Closing Thoughts & Shoutouts -
Trial By Fireside - Newcomer & Amateur coverage
For RGL S9, deltamarket, antlers and I will be producing weekly matches throughout the season for Amateur and Newcomer divisions. The aim of this project is to provide consistent coverage for the newcomer and amateur division–something that hasn’t really been done before in lower RGL and UGC divisions in the past. Our goal is not only will newer players the ability to have their games casted, but to also provide an informative and more insightful stream for players new to TF2 with limited knowledge on the concepts of 6s in general.
We expect to be covering throughout the regular season and playoffs. The regular season’s casts will be casted with a mix of casting and demo reviewing. But, for playoffs, we’ll try to take a backseat on the reviewing and provide a more realistic cast like casts in other divisions.
We’ll be catering towards players new to TF2 with limited knowledge about 6s and how to play it. We want to provide information on how to play the map in certain scenarios and analyzing the teams’ mistakes and what they can do better throughout the cast. This would help newer players who want to get better at certain maps, maybe individually, or with their team as they understand the match as it’s played in real time rather than watching a demo review from a twitch stream or youtube video.
You can catch our casts on https://twitch.tv/FiresideCasts. See you there!
-
Used the old Fireside Broadcast HUD for LEBRONSTANTINOPLE vs. Cat Posse, thoughts?
Probably something we should have done long ago. Maybe we can do it for Highlander casts too.
(Uncle dane in the first image does not come with the HUD it is a personal ornament!)
-
RE: Thoughts on RGL's Future (by me :D)
Bethnicz To not derail in the thread it’s as simple as people wanting to see actual shooting/first person povs.
But I actually disagree of that opinion as in the chaos of a fight like a mid fight or a last push on uber advantage there’s multiple fights going on that you all want to catch and it would be disorienting to switch POVs rapidly even if you know who’s getting the kill because of cheatfeed.
DolphiN and mitch (CappingTV producer who you can credit for those freecams) are REALLY good at using the cameras without being intrusive of an actual frag thats occurring, and static cameras are even more important in HL because there’s so many minifights going on and timings such as spy saps on the sentry that may initiate a push that I just find the community opinion to be a bit disappointing
-
RE: Thoughts on RGL's Future (by me :D)
random off topic note (but probably still relates to the main topic anyways) but I think the hugest accessibility issue for 6s is the start time past amateur. I swear if 9:30 PM EST start times become the norm (not being a pacific/west coast guy, I would assume this is enough time for them to get home from school/work/practice or whatever) just like in HL we would have a much easier time in newer player retention. One hour makes a huge difference people!
(And in regards to pregames: normalize 1 half pregames or sub usage!)
-
Fireside Merch??!?!? IT'S out!
For those not in the know – Fireside launched a merchandise shop featuring our logo!
All merchandise is embroidered
At the moment, we feature the following options:
- Hoodie (Blue/Orange Flame versions)
- Bucket Hat (Orange Flame Version)
- Beanie (Orange Flame Version)
- Dad Hat (Orange Flame Version)
- Sweatshirt (Orange Flame version)
- wbacon Hat
Feel free to make your orders!
We ship to US, CA, EU
US shipping fees for apparel:
T-Shirt - $4.49 Hoodie/Sweatshirt/Jogger - $8.49 Hat - $4.49
European shipping fees for apparel:
T-Shirt - $5.09 Hoodie/Sweatshirt/Jogger - $7.49 Hat - $5.09
Canadian shipping fees for apparel:
T-Shirt - $7.49 Hoodie/Sweatshirt/Jogger - $9.89 Hat - $7.49
Latest posts made by 76561198798932093
-
Letter to the TF2 Community from Marilu Chavez (Miggy's mom)
Good morning sweet friends:
I can only imagine how exhausted you all must be. It was a super packed weekend full of excitement and emotions. You guys put in a lot of hard work into this tournament but it paid off in so many special ways. Not just for the incredible fundraising, but also for the beautiful tribute you made for Stephen.
On behalf of my husband, younger son Michael, and daughter Anik, we would like to thank each and everyone involved with this amazing labor of love!!
Please share our gratitude with everyone who participated this weekend. We certainly do not want to leave anyone out, but to this day, I still do not understand the difference between TF2, Fireside, More.TF - Not sure where one starts and the other finishes, so forgive me if I have left any of the organizations out when praising and showing gratitude. Stephen must still be rolling his eyes due to my lack of technology savviness. LOL
This coming Thursday, April 18th, we are headed to Nicklaus Children’s Hospital to present them with two checks. One from Miggy’s Gift and one on behalf of Fireside & More.tf. We will make sure to take lots of pictures to share with all of you. Stephen would have turned 36 this week. I cannot think of a more fitting birthday gift for a guy that loved gaming with all his heart. If he can see us, I know he must be beaming with pride and gratitude for all his buddies.
Lastly, please know the doors of our home will always be opened for all of you. If you ever make it down to Miami and would like a delicious Cuban meal, please call us and tell us you are on your way. We would love to host you!!!
May God bless and protect you always and as Miggy would say “Peace Out”
Momma Chavez#ForMiggy
-
RE: Miggy's Highlander Charity Draft Cup - $200+ Prize Pool, Goal of $2000!
I would like to extend some thanks to a few people behind the scenes for their work:
- Mori - for the draft cup idea & the poll which made us shift towards us making it happen for charity
- Rogue - Getting us in contact with Miggy’s Gift
- Bethnicz - The video editor at Fireside who compiled the testimonials, photos, and videos for the Tribute Video
- zoey and Wall - for contributing extra testimonials
- Dr. Underscore - For rushing to complete the Fireside HUD and developing the draft system graphic for the cup. NOT POSSIBLE without him at all
- technomo - Helping design all the graphics including the poster, charity merchandise, and whatnot
- lacy avenue (nyna) - For coordinating between players & broadcast and tournament organizing as the only TO admin!
- antlers - helping make the looping fireside blurred stream background
- Melon & Jacob - Providing tips and advice ofc!
- Marilu Chavez - For helping setup the charity through Tiltify and providing us photos of Miggy
- keegan, kohlhagen, Sheena, and Rogue (again) - for audio testimonials for the video
- Nightfaul - The BIG WHALE who donated to the prize pool!
- Zagron, Alto, eXtine, zak, and Xenagos - All contributed as casters and it was great to have them perform well
- Jercer, EvenNine, DusterDan35 - The B Stream crew on saturday KILLED IT!
- joekiller - The mystery man behind the scenes who helped me come up with ideas for unusual giveaways and provided me unusuals for the giveaways itself!
Can’t count the amount of times Underscore/antlers/lacy/I spent up devising stuff and marketing the cup so GGs only heh.
-
RE: Miggy's Highlander Charity Draft Cup - $200+ Prize Pool, Goal of $2000!
We raised over $6000 to end the tournament. Thanks to everyone who came in and watched and great work everyone!
-
RE: Miggy's Highlander Charity Draft Cup - $200+ Prize Pool, Goal of $2000!
Our broadcast talent has been announced for the cup!
-
RE: Miggy's Highlander Charity Draft Cup - $200+ Prize Pool, Goal of $2000!
This upcoming weekend is the charity cup!
As we’ve already reached our original goal of $2000, anything more is considered an extra win.
During the livestream, we’ll have a mixture of unusual items to giveaway based on the donations we receive during the stream (these targets will be activated on the Tiltify page as the day goes on).
For the progression of these donations and targets are as follows:
- $500 Raised - $50 Unusual Item Giveaway
- $750 Raised - $75 Unusual Item Giveaway
- $1000 Raised - $100 Unusual Item Giveaway
- $2000 Raised - ??
- $3000 Raised - ??
-
RE: Miggy's Highlander Charity Draft Cup - $200+ Prize Pool, Goal of $2000!
We’ve now hit our original goal of $2000 to fundraise. We’ll look to raise more on the stream as we have a ton of GIVEAWAYS that require “target” milestones to be reached!
-
RE: Miggy's Highlander Charity Draft Cup - $200+ Prize Pool, Goal of $2000!
As an update, our prize pool is NOW $550!
-
RE: Miggy's Highlander Charity Draft Cup - $200+ Prize Pool, Goal of $2000!
We also just received a generous donation to run some giveaways during the stream for milestones we reach, the fundraiser link (Tiltify) will have more information on what these giveaways entail!
-
Miggy's Highlander Charity Draft Cup - $200+ Prize Pool, Goal of $2000!
All merchandise proceeds will go towards charity: https://merch.firesidecasts.tv/collections/more-tf-charity-cup-2024
Rally round, come and watch this cup! In memory of Stephen “Miggy” Chavez, the Miggy’s Gift foundation is a charity committed to the awareness and education of Melanoma skin cancer.
Fireside Casts and more.tf are hosting a Highlander Charity Cup to honor Miggy, a former competitive TF2 player who passed away from Melanoma in 2017. Featuring some of the best North American Competitive TF2 players, 4 captains will create a team of 9 players each and duel it out in a 4 team double elimination bracket with $200 in keys on the line (with a potential prize pool increase). Come tune in and support a great cause.
Tournament Information
**Format:** 2-Day Highlander Draft Cup **Date:** Saturday, April 13th & Sunday, April 14th **Time:** Players/Teams will need to be ready to play at 5:45 PM EST Match will start at 6:00 PM EST **Goal:** Charity event, with initial 600$ matched and a goal of 2000$ for Miggy's Gift. **Summary:** 48 Advanced+ players , 4 captains, 4 teams in a double elimination bracket. 4 Captains will pick 9 Class Specific Starters and 3 all class backups. Captains will be announced after the signups are closed. Prize Pool: 200$+ In TF2 keys between 1st and 2nd place teams (80/20 split)
Schedule
Saturday, April 13th:
4:00 PM: Stream countdown begins 4:30 PM: Opening and event overview 4:45 PM: Tribute to Miggy 5:00 PM: Team drafting 5:45 PM: Team map pick bans 6:00 PM: Matches start | Team A vs Team C, Team B vs Team D 1st Matches End Winners of Round 1 play each other after pick bans, Losers of Round 1 Play each other after pick bans. Stream ends after Round 2's are done
Sunday, April 14th:
5:00 PM: Stream countdown and day recap 5:30 PM: Event continuation 5:45 PM: Tribute/Recap 6:00 PM: Lower Bracket Finals LBF (Round 3) ends FINALS, map pick bans | Winner of LBF and Winner UBF play One singular finals to end the cup (No bracket resets)
SIGNUP HERE (Must have Advanced+ HL Experience): https://forms.gle/d2pxMfk7SKG3ZWMh9
Important Links:
To add, we also released merchandise. Proceeds will go to the fundraiser after the event ends
https://merch.firesidecasts.tv/collections/more-tf-charity-cup-2024
-
RGL Invite & ETF2L Prem Scrim/Match POV Channel w/ Comms
Some dude has been uploading a bunch of ETF2L Prem and RGL Invite POVs with comms and its pretty dope