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Why I hate playing tf2 in pubs: a rant.

Please read before responding! Any similarities to real people in the text are purely coincidental.

Let me preface this rant by saying the following in my defense and as a take on the tf2 gameplay enviroment: TF2 can be stressfull. Period. The competitive scene is known for its toxicity, sweaty gameplay and incredibly steep learning curve.
The general community can be just as bad, as most of community servers and groups that exist with the purpose of
bringing higher level gameplay than that of Valve Casual suffer from the same issues, however they lack any meaningful
coverage of such issues as there is generally not much interest in them aside from the players who personally play them.
(Examples: Uncletopia, Skial, etc.).
So, it is obvious that players of all skill levels may look for a more peaceful enviroment to play in, either because
they love it already or because they need a rest from the aforementioned issues of the aforementioned communities.
And when aforementioned players do decide to look for one, an option obviously outshines all the others.
Some may want to relax by simply playing on a community server, and we all know how funny a 24/7 2fort RTD server can get
at times. However, that option and, admittedly, many if not all others are obviously inferior to the one supposed supreme
and ultimate way to have a truly relaxing tf2 experience: playing in a pub.
The ability to relax, see old and new faces alike and enjoy a casual conversation while also not being robbed of a basic
TF2 experience in the meantime is something many rigtfully yearn for in these stressfull tryhard days.
The amount of coordination you can find in such an enviroment is admittedly rather low but it's not a foreign
concept nor an impossible occasion. For example, a few weeks ago the server helped me suss out a spy who was about
to backstab our medic and ruin our Kritzkrieg push. However, not all is as good as what I have just described.
My first point would have to be the fighting. We all know how annoying a failed push or a bad play from a teammate can be,
but it's made so much worse by people fighting and yelling at each other in the background as it happens.
For example, you know how sports fans can get angry at their team and yell at each other and the fans of the other team?
This is exactly that, but notably more intense and aggressive.
My next point would definitly have to be the randomness and unpredictability aspect of pubs. We all know how fun it can be
to sit in your home all night and play some competitive PUG with no random crits, fixed bullet spread, fixed meta, fixed
team compositions and no possible unpredictability in sight. However, not everyone likes that, and that is quite
alright. However, the unpredictability can be too much sometimes. For example, we all know random crits.
I hate getting killed by a glowing rocket powered by Gaben pulling a func_get_random_num_roll() or something out of his ass
as much as the next guy and his mother, but that's really nothing compared to the kind of stuff that happens in pubs
sometimes. For example, I still remember vividly that one time when I was about to cap the payload on Upward third as
a scout during overtime and then, out of nowhere, Barry who basically hasn't left the pub in the last six years spilled his
jug of mead all over my laptop because he was laughing at a joke his chap told him. It's not too daring of an assumption
that we proceeded to lose the game.
My next point would definitely have to be the lack of coordination. I have mentioned already the server helping me once,
but that's a pretty rare case. Only him and the bartender actually know anything about games, and the patrons are not
only clueless but also generally uncooperative. Being told to stop bothering and to ask someone who knows something about
games is a good outcome by local standards. More often than not, people will laugh at you, rudely tell you to leave or
to not talk over the soccer they are watching, and sometimes even just not respond with anything correlating to the
subject in the slightest, like, ok William, I asked which medigun to use, not if she took the kids and the dog and whatever,
smh, the nerve of some people.
My last point for this post will probably have to be the fighting. You know how I mentioned the sports fans and their
violent antics? Well, if your experience regarding the subject comes from seeing someone yell or stand up from the sofa
in frustration, you cannot imagine what this looks like. The manner in which drinking implements soar around is not too
unlike the one of the ball in the recently watched game of soccer, let me say as much. One time, a fight was breaking out
between the fans of the local team and the guest team. I must say I am not an enjoyer of such feeble minded passtimes as
common sports, so I have obviously been concerning myself with a spectacular Your Eternal Reward 3-player chainstab that
ended up winning us the game 6 minutes later (and, dare I say, not to barg or anything, it had also produced one of the more
enticing "on the bright side" screens I've seen in a while, and that says something coming from a 9k hr Spy Main!).
Anyways, after the aforementioned 6 minutes, I sat up and showed my laptop to the patron next to me, prodly but justifiedly
bragging about our team's victory. However, I was obviously unaware that his focus was on the sports game, or, more
specifically, the fans of the local team that had just won it. As a guest and a supporter of the guest team, he was
obviously not amused with my achievement, and it's safe to assume he would not have understood it even at a more
appropriate time. However, my flamboyant and justly excited wording about "our team winning and destroying the opponents"
were probably what caused his extreme reaction (that and the plentiful alcohol, obviously). Anyways, the beer that I had
to wash and rub out of my hair were just a souvenir of the chaos that followed, as the attention that it had brought to me
was a threat well known to every respectable spy main. Surrounded by a crowd of drunken sport enthusiasists, I had to flee,
and I decided to apply the classical spy strategy of breaking line of sight and hiding away. However, it was not easy
to pull of such a trick in a crowded space, and my fighting instincts took over. I climbed on top of a table, and, as a
guy was approaching me, I decided to go for a stairstab. I leaped, tried to turn around in the air and, in typical pub
fashion, my exquisite stunt was interrupted by what I must assume was a real life equivalent to a random crit, because the
next thing I remember is respawning in an infirmary.

Anyways, do you have similar stories, experiences or views? If so, I would like it if you shared them in the comment threads
down bellow, and I'd be more than glad to take some of your excess upvotes, just kindly leave them to the left over there!
thanks for reading.

Author: morbinamogus

http://www.reddit.com/r/tf2/comments/16145c1/why_i_hate_playing_tf2_in_pubs_a_rant/