PRELIMINARY SEEDINGS
What's 9+10?
21! That's right! 21 teams have signed up to compete in our 9th season of ozfortress Highlander! Making it not only the biggest season in ozfortress history but also the largest season of competitive Highlander in the AU/NZ region since the days of UGC. We'd like to thank you all for joining us and helping us achieve this monumental milestone; we're looking forward to seeing the competition unfold over the coming weeks.
Below you can find our initial seedings for Autumn '25. If you have any issues with these or with any of the accompanying player restrictions, please reach out to any of our Highlander Administrators or via our help and feedback channel/support ticket system in the ozfortress Discord.
PREMIER
INTERMEDIATE
OPEN
Return to 3 Divisions
For the first time in over a year, Highlander will be returning to 3 divisions. In the previous years' seasons, we haven't had the signup volume and skill divisions needed to justify a seasonal competition with more than 2 divisions. However, with an influx of new blood as well as our reliable Highlander enthusiasts, we have been able to accommodate what we feel are 3 very impressive and healthy divisions.
As listed above, the divisions this season will be Premier, Intermediate and Open. The Premier division will feature our most established teams whose players have competed in multiple seasons at the highest level. While the players in the 5th and 6th seeded teams have less overall experience than the teams seeded 4th and above, we believe that their recent performances in high divisions of 6's and Highlander warrant them being placed in Premier rather than the division below with teams that lack experience at these high levels of play.
The Intermediate division is a step down from the Premier division but still has many talented players within its ranks. Teams in this division, while not being at the same level or having as much experience as those in Premier, are a cut above a lot of the players in the lowest division. Even teams seeded 7th and 8th have players too strong to compete within the bottom division, as restricting said players would result in compromised rosters that would need substantial reworking.
Finally, the Open division is our last and largest division. This division is mostly comprised of players with minimal amounts of experience (1-2 seasons) or players who are completely new to competitive Team Fortress 2 and Highlander. If you are apart of the latter, welcome! We hope you enjoy your time here. Thus, this division is acting as a sort of "Newbie Division" and serves as an ideal entrance to organised competitive TF2!
Restrictions
As always, the restrictions listed on our Player Restrictions page are not final until the season begins. However, we feel it is worth mentioning that we have tried to take a minimal approach to restrictions this season, within reason, which comes as a side effect of having these 3 divisions. While we still are restricting players in the Intermediate and Open divisions who we feel would be too strong on particular classes, we have also allowed leeway for certain players that in past seasons haven't had this option. For example, some players in the Intermediate division would normally be restricted off particular classes in a 2-division season of Highlander and are now being "allowed to cook" as the kids say. The same can be said for players in Open, as only the ones who fall outside the classification of minimal experience have been restricted.
Season Progression, Rounds & Season Break
For the Premier Division, the regular season will be 5 rounds long with each team playing each other once. Then, Page Playoffs will be played, resulting in an 8-round season. As for the Intermediate and Open Divisions, the regular season will be 7 rounds long with each team playing each other once, after which Page Playoffs will commence for a total of an 11-round season. The only key difference between the Intermediate and Open seasons is that the Intermediate division will have 1 bye week per team, while the Open division will play all 7 rounds without byes being required.
With the shorter season, Premier will only have 3 transfer windows, locking rosters from round 4 and beyond, whereas Intermediate and Open will have the standard 5 transfer windows. You can view additional information transfers on the Key Dates & Transfer Windows section of our league page.
Round 1 of Autumn '25 Highlander will begin on Wednesday, the 12th of February, and will conclude on Sunday, the 16th of Febuary. After this, Round 2 will be delayed by a week and will begin on Wednesday, the 26th of February, to accommodate for the Lan Down Under Qualifiers that will be held between the 21st and 23rd of February.
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