Looking to become more involved in competitive NS2... advice?

Blarney_Stone

In recent weeks I've become more and more interested in the competitive side of NS2 and I was thinking about potentially trying to get myself into that scene a bit more. However, I'm not sure exactly how I would do that, and I figured that since a number of people here are involved with comp NS2 maybe they could give me some advice.

I've played quite a bit of NS2, but mainly only on public servers. I normally play as commander (I'm really only an average shot, I need to work on that) and I've watched a fair amount of competitive matches so I have a pretty good feel for how the game flows in that setting. I guess I'm now wondering what I can do to improve my game - playing in pubs isn't going to help me anymore, so if I want to improve I'll need to play in a more organized setting. Should I just try to find a good server with some more experienced players or should I try to find a low-level clan that I could play with?

Also, I was interested in the possibility of casting some matches. Like I said, I love watching competitive teams play, so I think I could probably do a pretty good job at casting matches. Is there someone on the ENSL website I could contact about this possibility? Or would it be better for me to get some experience playing in a more organized setting before I tried to do that?

Lastly, I have a bit of a problem that might hinder this. I live on my college campus and as a result my internet connection isn't always the best. There are times during the day when the wireless connection slows to a crawl as so many people in my building are using the internet. At this time I get extremely high ping and have difficulty playing the game. Would anyone happen to know something I could do to partially remedy this problem.

I've already spoken to some competitive players about this on twitch streams, and they've all been really cool and helpful. If anyone here had any advice they could possibly give me, I would be very thankful indeed. I love this game, and particularly the competitive aspect of it, and I hope I can become more involved in the community surrounding it.

Thank you in advance to anyone who takes the time to help me out

draktok

Join gathers!!! We need more players!!!

Muzzzy

http://www.ensl.org/

NS2 Gathers can be found there.

Neoken

Gathers are a good start. You could also just try to get into a comp team. If you're planning to get into the comp scene, you might as well dive in now.

http://forums.unknownworlds.com/discussion/122700/looking-for-team/p6

Blarney_Stone

My only concern with that is that I'm pretty inconsistent as far as pubbing goes. In some games I can have a great K/D, with 3 or 4 kills for every death as a skulk or rifle (and obviously more as Fade/Onos) but there are others when I struggle with my aim. However, it is possible my poor connection has something to do with this. Maybe it's just a lack of self confidence but I feel as though I wouldn't be valuable to a team other than as a comm

Thanks for all the advice though, guys!

Ghosthree3

While aim is important, what matters most at a low level competitive game is team work, do what you need to do for your team (this takes a lot of experience) and you will win even if you aren't Tane.

Frizzlecat

There's also this link which may help, which describes how to do the ENSL Gathering thing. http://forums.unknownworlds.com/discussion/119466/ensl-gathers/p1

Blarney_Stone

Thanks a lot guys! I didn't know how to join gathers, but it looks like it's worth trying!

Roobubba

It's definitely worth trying. It took me a while to get the courage to join up, but it was worth it. Just dive in - let people know you're new to gathers, and most people on there are very helpful. The odd team gets stacked, but that's more by luck than judgement, and on the whole it's a MUCH closer gaming experience than on pubs.

Oh yeah, and be prepared not to dominate quite as hard as you're used to doing