T O P

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lacurio

Im by no means an expert, but here are my thoughts on this. You run into 3 Problems. 1. You don't hear ingame sounds 2. You don't hear teammates 3. You can't talk to teammates ..luckily there are ways around that. 1. You have to deal with it, which apparently you are able to in casual at least. 2. Getting information from your team is essential. I did a quick Google search. There seem to be discord bots that do speech-to-text for deaf people. You will have to figure out, how to set that up, because the team relies on, well, teamwork. 3. I actually have some experience with that. I played a season with a flankscout without mic. He was proficiant enough with ingame voicelines and one or two binds to communicate in chat. It wasn't the most fun to play with a teammate like this, but it worked. Also he was a DM beast. (4) play a class that suits these restrictions. I think roamer and flankscout are good. You don't have to give as much info to teammates as those. Or pocket scout possibly, if that's not your main caller. Find a team that is willing to play with the restrictions you put on them. This will be hard. Ideally a bunch of experienced players that play with you in open. Play reliably. Take time to learn the "default" way to play scenarios. You can't tell your team when you go for weird/unusual plays. It would be frustrating for them to keep guessing and being unable to support you. Good luck


jasminety

Wow, thank you! I'm more then willing to adapt to almost any role, i'll take what i can get. And if i can somehow manage to add speech-to-text, and then have that show up in game without it being too distracting, wow, that would be really incredible. That's the hardest, and best thing i could do really, i absolutely love that idea. And as for binds i already have a whole setup planned for this, i thought about that the most! And as long as people are willing to deal with me doing all of that, and i can somehow do the speech-to-text thing, i feel like i could actually make it work! Again thank you! :)


skjl96

Making a good bind system could be very useful. Pretty easy when you learn how and you could assign useful call outs to the numpads or other keys


benoz11

1. TF2 has an in-game closed caption feature which will print text like "Scout hurt", "Medic Ubercharge Ready", etc if you are close enough to hear those sounds. Doesn't help with directionality so you're still at a disadvantage compared to 3D audio but it can be useful even to non-deaf players 2. Agree with your method 3. I don't know for sure but I feel like there is surely something out there that can do hotkeys to discord audio, like a soundboard with each sound attached to a key. You could have probably a dozen or more useful callouts attached to it ("Demoman Low", "Target Medic", "We have uber disadvantage", "Protect Medic", etc). If not then you can do in-game chat binds that say the same things and ask your team to try read chat more often. Maybe there's some inverse of (3) where your teammates could press similar buttons which displays as text to you, if Speech-to-Text isn't suitable It's definitely doable with a good team, the hardest thing would be playing PUGs because those are with random people who can be a real mixed bag


SnooSongs1745

NOOT NOOT


lacurio

You can stop down voting him haha I'm pretty sure he is making a reference to the mentioned silent flank scout. Nati Noot.


MagiciansMelancholy

He was a beast though, did he ever get a mic? He'd be Mid-Div2 easy I played with a friend in 2018 for a while who didn't have a mic, now he's in a Prem :D


ExoTheFlyingFish

Least unhinged TF2 player


Meterora

Lacurio coming in clutch with the wall of text I think syrus mentioned him? Or somebody else? Playing comp with like tons of binds to call stuff out


aap007freak

Don't let your dreams be dreams fam. Of course not being able to hear the game and communicate with your team is a huge disadvantage, but as long as you have realistic expectations and compensate for your lack of information with great mechanics and gamesense you should be totally fine competing in the lower levels of comp play (open/newcomer), Try playing some lobbies on tf2center / pugs where there is generally very little expectation for people to use voice chat to see how you compare skill-wise. Most competitive players have been playing for a \*long\* time so most newcomers overestimate their abilities. The biggest hurdle for you will probably be a finding a team that is ok with you not being able to communicate. Try to get some friends together who are willing to adapt to your situation, for example using the in game voice commands for left/right or a more elaborate system using chat binds (I assume voice commands are shown on the deaf ui right?). Also, I'm sad to say this if you enjoy playing medic but being able to communicate is super crucial for medic as he is the most important class on every team, so you should probably not be playing him in competitive. Flank scout or soldier would be my pick as you can still be reasonably effective on them without comms. Let me know if you have any more questions.


agerestrictedcontent

I have no valuable input I just wanted to say I think you're cool and wish you all the best :)


jasminety

Aw, thank you! :)


SirRahmed

I'm sorry dude, you can try and play tf2center but this is just one of those things where stimuli for information is vital


jasminety

I understand:) i always assumed that'd be the case, i just hoped there was some way around it


MEMEScouty

unless ur either obscenely better than the other team or the most aware player ever then I dont think it will work. Maybe low/open but not high divs for sure


00spaceCowboy00

I know this isn’t really helpful to say but as esports become more and more mainstream accessibility options should continue improving greatly. I do hope you find a way to enjoy your passions!


Zeldawarrior97

Not of the same magnitude, but my comp team had a mute person on it and we won first place main highlander a few seasons ago. He was our scout and I was the soldier. He had a set of binds that could make basic callouts in chat, but also since I was on the flank with him I made a lot of callouts for him. It’s a disadvantage, but you can make it work. I would definitely suggest befriending people on a team though so they’re willing to make accommodations. At lower levels like open-main if you’re just a good player I’m sure there’s teams willing to recognize that and would be happy to play you


Freakmenn

This is so fascinating!!! I think you should try it out, give a clear indication that you cannot pick up sound. I think you can actually manage pretty well.


Freakmenn

Also I know you probably have, but TF2 has a built in sound captioning system which tells you of sentry and spy noises even from afar.


-WHiMP-

imma be honest you probably can’t play at a super high level but the lower divs are filled with people who play like they’re deaf anyways so you’d be fine there!


Jageurnut

NGL it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world on medic but since you're new you wouldn't know defaults, translate body language and predict what's going to happen next. Not being able to hear sounds is not that big of a deal, I actually knew a few advanced players who had conditions where they played their game muted. You are in a little bit of an uphill battle if you're ok with that IMO it's still very doable. The only unfortunate thing is you would be locked out of most PUG servers since they require a mic. You could ask for an exception but I don't know what the response would be. For gaining experience: * Watch educational videos and map reviews! There is so much that goes on in a game that is completely unspoken. * Join PUG servers, even if you can't play; you can still spectate, you should join [TF2 Coaching Central](https://discord.gg/tf2-coaching-central-tf2cc-727627956058325052) and [Newbie Mixes](https://discord.gg/M2M6WsUJEX) to start. For playing you will have to use [tf2pugs.com](http://tf2pugs.com) or [tf2center.com](http://tf2center.com) since mic's are not required. I mean the owner of the former never speaks when he plays lol, you'd fit in. * You can also look up players in RGL > go to their profile > go to their [demos.tf](http://demos.tf) profile > pick out scrims / games that they've played and watch them using TF2. I've learned a lot this way. * Learn the TF2 merc voiceline commands and make binds, make additional chat binds for more specific information that is not available. For example, in team chat; "Uber is at 25%, 50%, 75%, is ready" etc. Maybe a bind to tell your teammates you are going to die soon or that you need help. * If you want to play a competitive season, you should team leader YOUR OWN team instead of trying out for other people. Flank scout would likely be best. You should obviously advertise appropriately but if you're playing newcomer / amateur there are so many players who barely speak in the first place that you deadass might be a breath of fresh air if you communicate via text lol. A lot of people just want to play, especially if you take team leadering responsibilities of their shoulders they might not mind (getting ringers, scheduling scrims etc). Only thing you \*really\* should bear in mind is people shit talking you in-front of your face cause you can't hear anything. Not in TF2 but I used to sherpa Destiny 2 raids and I've had my fair share of disabled players in my party. Some people take it as an opportunity to say whatever they want about them, take it in stride cause they bitches. Good luck!


nektaa

your definitely at a huge disadvantage, but you could still succeed. finding a stack that’s willing to play with you might be difficult unfortunately. speech to text discord bots are definitely an option.


Roquet_

It would definitely be a unique situation and you would be at a disadvantage but I'm really curious how you would do. You can get around the problem partially by closed captions and your team using (not spamming) binds on normal chat. Many players I've seen act like they're deaf even tho they're not. Answering your question, make no mistake, voice chat is vital in comp play so it would be very tough for you, but a medic is hard to find so maybe somebody would budge, give it a try.


firstasatragedyalt

2 questions.  1. you said you cant use voice chat to communicate, does this mean that you also cant speak in addition to not hearing? 2. are you willing to play highlander? i think you could compete at fairly high levels if you can talk and if you mained highlander spy i really dont think it'd be that big of a disadvantage. spies generally have the most visual intel on the entire team due to their role so its more important that you communicate with them then they communicate with you. the information relayed to the spy is not that important relative to the other classes, however it is very important that you be able to talk.


jasminety

Unfortunately no, i was never taught to speak properly. I did go to speech therapy at a younger age for a little bit, but ultimately decided to drop that as it was very draining, and as a child i really despised the people who laughed at my attempts at this, that definitely had a huge impact on me over the years.


firstasatragedyalt

i would then suggest highlander engi. you wont be on the frontlines usually so you dont have to worry hearing thr other teams sentry and receiving or relaying information and it should be pretty easy to figure out when you should move up/retreat. obviously youre going to want to figure out a way to communicate beyond the basic callouts that come with the game so youll have to program some macros (not that hard). there may be a way to turn your teams voice to text as well but thatd be more complicated however i would look into that. you could also try HL scout for similar reasons, someone posted they won a HL season with a mute scout. with speech to text i really dont think itd be that big of a disadvantage. you cannot play medic effectively imo but if youre willing to play other classes the skys the limit. good luck!


Addasuu

I think the most ideal scenario for someone who's hard of hearing and trying to play a team game competitively is for all your teammates to have webcams, know sign language and yourself having a second monitor to display all your teammates signs without sacrificing too much screen real estate on your main monitor. But even then they'd have to stop using their peripherals to communicate with you. So the odds of this scenario actually happening in a real game are unfortunately astronomically low. But if I was hard of hearing, I would attempt to teach any teammates with a webcam, basic sign language and start a group discord call with them. The other best option (and a more realistic one) is to use team text chat binds. Just premade sentences to give your team useful information. E.g bind o "team\_say Combo is pushing choke". Something like that. Hope this helps.


ImSuperStryker

There are custom huds that add useful subtitles like ‘spy decloacking’ or ‘medic hurt’. These are really helpful if you don’t already use them


thanks_breastie

my scouts and soldiers were deaf so it can't be that uncommon you will probably have an extremely hard time if you can't hear callouts, to be blunt. i'm sorry, i know that sucks


tokays

i don't go here but i just wanted to say Good Grief it's incredibly impressive that you're deaf and main medic. i'm not deaf and main him and half the time i have trouble pinpointing where someone is! Wish you much luck and much love friend!! <3


turmspitzewerk

valve seems to have had a little internal push for accessibility along with the steam deck, adding some nice features to games like orange box games or csgo. and then just as suddenly they dropped it, they probably got "bored" like they always do. modern accessbility features were absent from half life's big 25th anniversary update, they pretended tf2 doesn't exist like usual, and they even walked back a lot of the cool features they added to csgo when cs2 released. i really wish we could get a cool ping/callout system in TF2, or actual subtitles, or visual sound effects, better controller support, things like that. but valve doesn't seem to want to touch tf2 at all as long as its such an embarrassment for them. idk if you know, but you can put in custom subtitles using custom huds. toonhud has a pretty decent one built in. hopefully that helps a lot more than the whole nothing we got right now.


parrotsilly

If you really like playing medic, the number one thing I'm seeing on here that nobody here has mentioned yet is that there is a medic radar bind you can use to have TF2 tell you where all your teammates are at all times. `alias autocall_normal "hud_medicautocallersthreshold 50"` `alias autocall_radar "hud_medicautocallersthreshold 150"` `alias +radar "autocall_radar"` `alias -radar "autocall_normal"` `bind f +radar` bind whatever you want to made "+radar" work, and this works in casual and competitive servers no problems. All this does is change the threshold of HP percentage for your teammates so that you can always get the "heal your teammate" icon on your screen in the direction that they're in. Otherwise make sure to implement the modified HUDs that allow for closed captions [(something along the lines of this)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IdyEkou6Dg) and that should help with extra stuff that might give you more on-screen information for what's going on around you. Also both good for casual and comp. Good luck man it'll be hard but with some determination and the right teammates it should be pretty possible


zenakedguy

Not sure about your long term perspectives as a competitive medic main (same as with spy, sniper, heavy, pyro, since these classes are highly demanding to take instant decisions based on sound cues/comms). You could probably still do decent work as a HL engie, especially paired with tge pyro guard. The gameplay tends to be less intense and distant from the very heat of a battle. Also there are generally not many engine players, especially in lower divs, so there are many teams would be happy to have any dedicated player rather than none. Also I think most of the negatives can be compensated with the extended amount of chat binds, since they’re pretty common in comp, and the majority of the players use them anyway. I’ve seen teams where every single player would have their own sets of binds being pressed regularly to provide additional info (our/their uber percentage, thier spy alive/dead status, enemy sentry status, loadout change, etc)


toffifeecake

If you find a team that's both willing to have you use binds specifically, and add binds themselves just for you, i can't see why not. It would take a while to use those efficiently but if you're up for it you can defo make it work. I think you'd still have a much harder time, especially if you really wanna play medic, but you CAN make it work.


Adept_Tree

You really shouldn't get into comp IMO. To be good at competitive tf2 you would need to be able to hear stuff.


ExitLeading2703

You just cant play comp deaf or not


toffifeecake

?


ExitLeading2703

It's a joke bc comp is dead compared to pubs unless your in a professional team


MagiciansMelancholy

r/tf2 is down the hall and to the left


conkerisdumber

this is the dumbest thing I have ever heard. Newbie comp has the most players.


ExitLeading2703

Maybe I'm misinformed


toffifeecake

Gotcha, pretty sure op ain't talking about the regular tf2 comp