UGC is basically dead. Now what?

[Katsu! :3]

UGC, a competitive TF2 league, is effectively dead. They've had no new seasons for any of their formats (Highlander, Sixes, Fours, Ultiduo) this year and it's seeming like Valve is refusing to give them any new medals. Things are looking to stay that way either for a long, long while more, or permanently.

UGC League

League gaming the way it was meant to be. Now supporting TF2 HL/6s/4s/Ultiduo and Overwatch!

www.ugcleague.com

I can't speak for direct experience since I've never played competitive before, and not in UGC, but I can't pretend I don't think they deserved this kind of slow, agonizing death that they were dealt. Something I have respected about UGC since looking into their history for my map collection, is that they were a pioneer in getting new maps into the competitive scene for so long. Were all of the maps played the best of the best? No, but that's part of what gave them charm imo. They were consistent, putting new maps in-season and getting live feedback from proper and meaningful games. To me, what was important about UGC, is that they used to make people react.

Playing maps like Waste, Croissant, Canalzone, Vitalism, maps that were still being worked on while seasons went on; I think that's really interesting! Or just in general, playing around with the map pool and not sticking with the normal pool of whatever times it was. That is something I think people need nowadays, a place to play competitively... but without just seeing the same tried-and-true maps every season. We get maybe three new competitive-oriented maps a year or so now, and, honestly I think that's a shame. No mapper feels like it's worth it because nobody gives good places to test. And now more than ever too, with summer being a huge thing and more maps releasing than... frankly any time ever in TF2's history, I think it would be really cool to try and have a new league that really gets into the nitty-gritty of new maps and gives them a fair and honest shot. Or maybe even some older maps that fell through the cracks.

Perhaps it's something to look into.

 

[Veltha]

Considering we're talking about an almost 2 decade old game that was mishandled into maintenance mode years ago, I think its unfortunately to be expected for comp leagues to begin dying out over the coming years, and I don't think the triyng out of new maps (no matter how many or how great) is gonna change this, as sad as this is to come to terms with... But who knows, perhaps I'm just a cynical idiot and am wrong lmao