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[Russ T]

more like team why tho

 

[ZekeThePlumber]

? there was a big balance update at the beginning of this year, what do you mean "nearly a year since the last major tf2 update"

The Tough Break update? That happened in December of last year? 8 months sounds close enough to nearly a year in my book.

combine that with the smallest team (not sure about that, but i've heard it before from multiple sources), why would it get as much attention as dota 2?

people are so quick to blame game devs for not being active enough but you don't know how much work they put into things behind the curtain, i can assure you it ain't easy in the slightest

Valve makes over 400M a year from TF2, CSGO, and Dota. I'm not blaming the devs for not doing enough. I'm blaming Valve as a company for not allocating man power and resources to maintaining TF2. Whether or not you think a 50k user base is worth catering to or not is up to debate, but as someone who has been an active user and staunch support of tf2 for many years now, I can't say I'm happy with the way things have been handled.

 

[Russ T]

i've played tf2 since it was in beta and i'm happy with how things are being handled right now

so there

 

[ZekeThePlumber]

 

[Bluth54]

It's out:

We've released a mandatory update for Team Fortress 2. The notes for the update are below. The new version is 3528598.

-Eric

------------------------------------------------------------

The Meet Your Match Update has arrived!
- Added Casual and Competitive Matchmaking modes
- Additional information available on the website ( http://www.teamfortress.com/meetyourmatch/ )
- Casual mode replaces Quickplay
- Added the Heavy vs. Pyro war
- Additional information available on the website ( http://www.teamfortress.com/meetyourmatch/war.php )
- 3 new community maps
- Sunshine
- Metalworks
- Swiftwater
- Added 3 new community taunts
- The Balloonibouncer (Pyro only)
- Disco Fever (Spy only)
- The Fubar Fanfare (Soldier only)
- Added 1 new official taunt
- The Carlton (Scout only)
- Added the Perfect Stranger crate

General
- Reworked the main menu
- All play-related buttons are now accessible by clicking the "Find a game" button
- Moved the Workshop and Replay buttons down the bottom group of mini-buttons
- Enemies killed by energy weapons now play a special sound as their body dissolves
- Improved stopwatch UI to help better communicate game state
- Added new sound vo files for Competitive Mode
- Added sounds to all attacks where the target player resisted a part of the damage
- Added Prinny promo items for purchasing Disgaea: Prinny Hat, Prinny Pouch, and Prinny Machete
- Added AsiaFortress Cup Mercenaries Cup Season 7 medals
- Added TF2Maps 72hr TF2Jam Summer Participant medal
- Added Random Acts of TF2 medals
- Added check to prevent players with P-REC loaded from participating in matchmaking
- Prevents P-REC crashing which results in players receiving abandon penalties
- Updated the Demo Support feature
- Added an option to only record matches that are played using Tournament mode (mp_tournament)
- Added an option to auto-delete matches that don't have any events recorded
- Fixed a bug where tickcount values were being noted incorrectly
- Options can be set using the Adv. Options menu
- Updated model/materials for the Bonk Boy, Dr's Dapper Topper, The Sole Saviors, and The Dark Falkirk Helm
- Updated the localization files
- PASS Time update
- No longer in Beta!
- New Items Available
- An Early Participation Pin will be awarded to everyone who played PASS Time during beta
- Two new achievements with item rewards
- Tune Merasmus's Multi-Dimensional Television
- Jackpot!
- Map Changes
- All maps are tweaked, polished, and out of beta
- Renamed pass_pinewood to pass_timberlodge
- Renamed pass_warehouse to pass_brickyard
- Added a new city-themed map, pass_district
- An updated pass_template for level designers will be released on http://www.escalation.com/news
- Game Mode Changes
- Changed the score limit from 3 to 5
- Tweaked various JACK throwing parameters
- Pack Running
- The JACK no longer heals the player carrying it
- A player carrying the JACK with no nearby teammates is marked for death
- Teammates near a player holding the JACK will be slowly healed, and can run as fast as the fastest nearby teammate
- JACK Power
- Passing the JACK increases a power meter
- The power meter will decay over time
- Filling the power meter unlocks a special goal worth extra points
- Art Changes
- New view model animations
- The HUD provides more information about goal type and status
- Player pips for Spies will reflect cloak and disguise status
- Misc Details
- Added cvar tf_passtime_scores_per_round
- Added tf_glow entity that can be used to enable the glow effect on any entity
- Updated trigger_passtime_ball FGD entry to hide unimplemented features, temporarily
- Spawnflag added to func_passtime_goal to indicate to the HUD that a goal is unlocked by JACK power

Bug fixes
- Fixed being able to repeatedly activate taunts before the current one had ended while underwater
- Fixed disguising with the Conniver's Kunai while spotted by a Sentry causing the Sentry to ignore the Spy
- Fixed class change notifications appearing to the enemy team for a period of time after teams swap sides in Competitive Mode
- Fixed a case where players would sometimes see other players carrying the wrong weapon(s)
- Fixed a bug where the Engineer couldn't remove the Sapper from a linked teleporter if was building (not active)
- Fixed a bug where the Engineer was able to heal a linked teleporter while it was building. This now matches the behavior for the other buildings.
- Updated several hats to fix the Sniper not removing them while taunting
- Fixed hiding the Pyro's head when using the second style of the Fear Monger
- Fixed using the wrong ozfortress medals for divisions other than Premier
- Fixed a few UGC tournament medals using the wrong names
- Fixed the Engineer's missing pelvis hitbox
- Thanks to Justin G., aka sigsegv, for these reports
- Fixed airblasts sometimes sending reflected projectiles toward friendly players, buildings, and projectile shields
- Fixed demo record/read stringtables not writing/reading past 512kb
- Fixed inconsistency between items that use mini-crit buff (TF_COND_ENERGY_BUFF)
- Fixed multiple Mann vs. Machine bugs caused by bot AI functions being executing after the bots have died
- Fixed a bug related to lunchbox items, where the ammo bar can be drained in cases when it shouldn't be
- Fixed Medics sometimes instantly reviving players in Mann vs. Machine

Performance
- Fixed several cases of loading and rendering hitches that would cause abrupt changes in FPS
- Improved Flamethrower flame performance in Mann vs. Machine on clients and servers by up to +500%
- VGUI .res files are now cached after loading, reducing framerate hitches. Custom HUD authors can disable this by setting vgui_cache_res_files to 0.
- Improved rendering performance of zombies
- Improved VGUI font performance

Custom HUD Versioning
- In order to reduce crashing and broken UI elements after updates, custom HUDs now must explicitly specify the version of the TF UI with which they are compatible
- Custom HUD files must now be installed as add-ons under the tf/custom/ folder. Loose .res files extracted to the game directory will not be loaded
- Custom HUDs must now contain a file named "info.vdf" in their root folder, with the key "ui_version" set to the TF UI version with which they are compatible
- The current TF UI version is 1
- Non-HUD add-ons under tf/custom/ will continue to work without an "info.vdf" file, but may not load .res files

Mann Co. Store
- Added the Competitive Matchmaking Pass
- Added new class starter packs
- Added new key-less cosmetic crates
- Revamped main store pages
- Added a spotlight item
- Added ability to mouse over and preview items in a bundle/crate/collection
- Adjusted some weapon prices for consistency

Maps
- cp_granary
- Added new ammo pack locations in final and yard areas
- Clips and blockbullets added to stairs
- cp_badlands
- Final cap point capture time increased to 2 seconds (from 1 second)
- Clips and blockbullets added to stairs
- cp_foundry
- Reduced ammo kit in final cap entry room (attackers' side) to medium
- Slightly reduced attacking team's spawn time when working on final
- pl_upward
- Fixed an exploit where players could sometimes build sentries in the cliffside by capture point 3
- pl_thundermountain
- Fixed the first and second cap points of stage 3 each awarding 2 points to the capturing team instead of 1
- Mannpower
- All official maps now set Mannpower mode without requiring the use of the tf_powerup_mode convar

Game Balance
- Scout
- Crit-A-Cola
- Added Marked-for-Death debuff for 2 seconds after the buff effect expires
- The Soda Popper
- Added "On hit: build Hype"
- Removed "build hype by running around"
- Shortstop
- Added an Alt-fire attack -- reach out and shove someone!
- Removed +healing bonus
- Reduced pushback vuln to +20% (from +40%)
- Sun on a stick
- Take 25% less damage from fire while deployed

- Soldier
- The Righteous Bison
- Fixed a bug causing players to be hit by the same projectile multiple times, causing the damage dealt to vary wildly
- Per-shot damage has been increased to compensate, resulting in slightly more damage on average
- Point-blank deals 54 damage (previously 20-80)
- Maximum range deals 24 damage (previously 14-56)
- Slowed projectile by 30%
- Projectile damage reduced by 25% for each enemy penetrated
- Updated projectile impact sound
- The Disciplinary Action
- Reduced duration of speed bonus on teammates to 2 seconds (from 3)
- The Rocket Jumper
- Updated model/materials and sound

- Sniper
- Cozy Camper
- Now requires a full charge to gain flinch resistance
- The Sydney Sleeper
- When fully charged, or when making a headshot, now applies Jarate in a radius
- Scoped shots now extinguish teammates
- The Cleaner's Carbine
- Removed hidden +10% damage taken multiplier while under the effects

- Heavy
- Natascha and Brass Beast
- 20% damage resistance now only applies when spun up and below 50% max health
- Huo-Long Heater
- Added -10% damage
- Added +25% increased damage vs. burning players
- Reduced ammo drain to -4/sec (from -6)
- Reduced pulse damage from Ring of Fire to 12 (from 15) due to increased damage vs. burning
- Buffalo Steak Sandvich
- Fixed "damage taken" multiplier accidentally being +10%, instead of the listed +25%
- Spy
- Base
- Max speed increased to 320 (from 300)
- Enforcer
- Attacks pierce resist and absorb effects from all sources

- Pyro
- All Flamethrowers
- Added: Direct damage reduces Medi Gun healing and resist shield effects by 25%
- Medics hear a "healing interrupted" sound when this is happening to their heal target
- The Manmelter
- Removed (hidden) 20% fire rate penalty

- Medic
- Base
- All Mediguns allow the Medic to match the speed of their heal target
- Previously only available on The Quick Fix
- Quick Fix
- ÜberCharge rate reduced to +15% (from +25%)
- Overdose
- Increased movement speed bonus to +20% (from +10%)
- Increased damage penalty to -15% (from -10%)
- Dropped Mediguns
- Stored ÜberCharge begins to decay over time after coming to rest

- Demoman
- Base
- All boots now require a shield to activate any move speed bonus listed on the item
- The Iron Bomber
- Decreased the fuse time to 1.4 seconds (from 2.0)
- The Quickiebomb Launcher
- Increased charge time reduction to -70% (from -50%)
- Increased damage bonus for (max) charged shots to +35% (from +25%)
- Increased clip size penalty to -50% (from -25%)
- Removed "Stickybombs fizzle 4 seconds after landing"
- The Sticky Jumper
- Updated model/materials and sound

- Engineer
- Base
- Level 1 teleporters now cost 50 metal (previously 125)
- Widowmaker
- Damage increased +10% when attacking the same target as your sentry
- Eureka Effect
- Reduced "50% less metal from Dispensers and Pickups" to 20%
- Added "Teleporters cost 50% less metal"
- The Short Circuit
- Base projectile attack is -10 metal (hit or miss) and then add -5 metal for each projectile destroyed (sometimes a buff, sometimes a nerf)
- The Pomson
- Fixed an exploit with shooting through your own buildings
- Increased close-range damage to 72 (from 62)
- Reduced long-range damage to 32 (from 42)
- Updated projectile impact sound

 

[TheRedSnifit]

#TeamPyro

 

[Yeef]

#MrrmphMmprphmr

 

[derFeef]

Pyro is love, Pyro is life.

 

[voodooray]

Yikes, the changes to TF2 are off to a rocky start following the last update...

Just a warning to anyone playing, I've had several matches failing to register the score at the end of the match, due to problems with the TF2 services failing (were offline last I checked).


I really miss being able to jump on to a Valve pub, to play a map I want for some quick rounds of the game. This new 'casual' mode is going to take some getting used to :/

 

[commissar]

I have yet to play any Fresh New TF2 but a quick look at the community server browser seems pretty positive. Servers which have been near dead are 24/24. Community hype!

 

[Cloudius12]

Valve's toaster servers so bad.

 

[Bluth54]

I have yet to play any Fresh New TF2 but a quick look at the community server browser seems pretty positive. Servers which have been near dead are 24/24. Community hype!

To be fair that's because matchmaking and the TF2 GC are having serious problems right now. The true test for community servers will to see if they're still full in a few days time when the GC is working and people have no problem with the matchmaking.

Personally I would love to see community servers flourish alongside both types of matchmaking. It's really impossible to say what will happen at this point through.

 

[Yeef]

Kind of disappointed. I bought a competitive matchmaking ticket because I thought you needed it to play competitive. When I found out you don't, I requested a refund and it was denied. :\

If it's not necessary, why even allow accounts that don't need it to buy it? It's not tradeable. Oh, well.

 

[Russ T]

wow that sucks

that's also dumb

valve plz

 

[fallengorn]

Kind of disappointed. I bought a competitive matchmaking ticket because I thought you needed it to play competitive. When I found out you don't, I requested a refund and it was denied. :\

If it's not necessary, why even allow accounts that don't need it to buy it? It's not tradeable. Oh, well.

The least Valve can do is make it craftable into a "Sucker" cap.

 

[AcAnchoa]

So, I played a match after several years of absence and I don't know if I logged in a TF2 server or a mental institution, it feels like I have a lot to catch up.

It's a shame the servers I used to play in have died, and actually every pub server in my country.

 

[voodooray]

It's a shame the servers I used to play in have died, and actually every pub server in my country.

Looks like what were all the valve quickplay servers are now password protected and renamed as 'Maintenance'

You can't even see them inside TF2's server browser - You need to do it from the steam client itself.

 

[Yeef]

I haven't even been able to join a game at all via matchmaking. I guess I'll try later; hopefully things will be smoothed out by then.

 

[Russ T]

NEATO!

 

[Yeef]

NEATO!

I think you mean "COOLBEANS"

 

[Cloudius12]

I was able to play 3? competitive matches late last night.

 

[Bluth54]

So in this update Valve added an Air Raid sound to the MVM sound files.
They have previously given the MVM bots the ability to use the base jumper.

It certainly sounds like Valve is working on an interesting MVM map for a future update.

 

[TheRedSnifit]

Does anybody know of a config that makes the world graphics extremely low without making my SICK SKINS look like crap?

 

[King Mystery]

Are sentries immune to flames now? I've tried burning sentries with both the philog and the flamethrower and it doesn't appear to be doing any damage (no making the hit noise at least).

 

[Blizzard]

A TF2 update without patch notes today? They were one of the last teams that still used Steam patch notes.

 

[Guess Who]

A TF2 update without patch notes today? They were one of the last teams that still used Steam patch notes.

I'm not seeing a patch on my end.

 

[Bluth54]

Looks like what were all the valve quickplay servers are now password protected and renamed as 'Maintenance'

You can't even see them inside TF2's server browser - You need to do it from the steam client itself.

All the quick play servers got turned into matchmaking servers. Based on the map rotation on those servers I would guess those were early comp matchmaking servers.

 

[Uriah]

Valve needs to add a reason for staying or add back the abandon penalty, because people leave casual games in massive numbers.

 

[derFeef]

Valve needs to add a reason for staying or add back the abandon penalty, because people leave casual games in massive numbers.

Yeah it's no fun.

 

[voodooray]

Hoo boy, there is some major problems with the flame detection going on with Pyro atm:

Taken from Whistling Pyro's reddit post which has plenty of other examples and theories on what might be going on (aka bugs):

https://gfycat.com/UnnaturalOrnateClumber

And some other observations in the wild:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkZHidXHqGs

Which matches up with my own observations in several rounds since the patch dropped. Anyone else encountered this?

Edit: Bonus breakage gameplay

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ul10umf8P4w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcNSLU1aCXU
http://plays.tv/video/5784e758b5f21bd06e/flame-particles-are-broke

 

[Bluth54]

Yeah I had noticed the flamethrower acting weird recently. Hopefully Valve fixes it soon.

 

[Guess Who]

I've been playing this game for eight years and there's still little else in gaming more satisfying than the other team whining about you and calling you a bitch on voice chat because you're dominating six people.

 

[Gentleman Jack]

Didn't realize casual play would still put you in maps like dustbowl and harvest and still had random critical hits enabled.

Oh well, still kinda fun I guess.

 

[torre_avenue]

I've been playing this game for eight years and there's still little else in gaming more satisfying than the other team whining about you and calling you a bitch on voice chat because you're dominating six people.

I can sympathize. Nothing felt better then when you got autobalanced onto the rolled side and your teams mounts a comeback to win. It's nice to feel like you were the deciding factor for who would win.

 

[TheRedSnifit]

I have mixed feelings on the new casual play. No abandon penalty and no joining mid-game means that matches tend to fall apart. On the flip side, the matches where everyone stays are 100X better than before the update.

Hmmm

 

[Big-E]

Started playing for the first time seriously in about 5 years. Still enjoy the game, but ran into an aimbot and there seemed to be no way to kick them. I also feel there needs to be some way to stay with the people you are playing with as its a pity when you have a good game and then have to leave and hope to be with the same people again.

 

[Bluth54]

I have mixed feelings on the new casual play. No abandon penalty and no joining mid-game means that matches tend to fall apart. On the flip side, the matches where everyone stays are 100X better than before the update.

Hmmm

Yeah I actually would like to see Valve do something to try and prevent people from leaving a game because it's so much better playing on Valve servers now then it was before this update. It's amazing seeing people actually trying to play the game. I haven't even seen a team with half the players playing sniper and spy yet.

 

[flipswitch]

I want the classic server search back, and the valve servers. How do I go about doing that?

Tried casual, is that the only way? I just want to play my regular 2fort ctf server...

Searching for games and connecting to a game in casual takes forever.

So if you quit a match you want be able to rejoin the server now, and for how long??

 

[commissar]

I want the classic server search back, and the valve servers. How do I go about doing that?

Tried casual, is that the only way? I just want to play my regular 2fort ctf server...

Searching for games and connecting to a game in casual takes forever.

So if you quit a match you want be able to rejoin the server now??

Click play game and then select community servers button.

Click refresh all to get the server list, and filter by player numbers, ping, and users playing (and ctf_2fort if need be).

The server browser is pretty useful, as you can sort by primary and secondary columns by selecting one and then the other. Like sorting by player #'s and then by map will sub sort the servers with multiple maps by their player numbers.

Don't forget to add good servers to favourites!

Also be sure to blacklist all idle/trade/achievement servers by sorting by map or mode and shift selecting them.

Right click menu allows favouriting/blacklisting and viewing server info. Server info is useful as you can tell by player scores if the map is about to end, or has just started.

While the Valve pub servers and quick play menu are gone for now, community servers are the go to for that type of experience.

That said, the TF2 team added some steam account linking whatsit for server owners a few months back, claiming it was for a greater level of trust/security/accountability thing...

One hopes this means they'll be working on linking Quick Play to trusted community servers, if only to stop the whining over what was, quite frankly, an inferior game list but with a larger button.

 

[voodooray]

I want the classic server search back, and the valve servers. How do I go about doing that?

Tried casual, is that the only way? I just want to play my regular 2fort ctf server...

Searching for games and connecting to a game in casual takes forever.

So if you quit a match you want be able to rejoin the server now, and for how long??

You can sort of get close to 'vanilla' pub servers by adding these tags as "do not include" in the server browser:

bots,100%,gravity,norespawntime,cp_orange,all,increased,mvm,respawntimes,HL,deathrun

Depending on the type of map you are interested in playing, you will either find what you want easily (and hopefully not full, or with too high a ping), or it will just be an empty server.

What made the old pubs work before the update was that there were:

1. Many official valve public servers
2. That they were regularly populated from the "Quick Play" button

Without this 'feed' of players, the community servers experience is rather thin at the moment, but maybe it will improve in time, or the game will address this as promised in their last update post.

There were also these servers added a few days ago:

https://servers.gameshock.net/

But of course, without an easy way for the majority of TF2 players to ever connect to them, they remain mostly empty all the time :/

 

[Bluth54]

Update today to let people choose their map in casual mode:

- Updated Casual Mode
- Fixed a problem where in-progress games with open slots would not receive new players
- Fixed a case where players would sometimes not receive experience (when playing a match to completion)
- Fixed not getting domination/revenge events
- Added a feature to the game mode selection screen that allows players to play on specific maps
- Added the Vote Kick option
- Players that are kicked will receive partial experience after the match ends
- Maps previously using the stopwatch timer will now play to completion, regardless of the first team's time
- Added a "Create Server" button to the "Find a Game" menu
- Fixed the party chat window sometimes not drawing
- Fixed Australium weapons not drawing correctly in the character loadout screen
- Updated the Dr's Dapper Topper to fix a material issue
- Thanks to Justin G., aka sigsegv, for these reports:
- Fixed sentry buster sounds not being cleaned up properly after detonating
- Fixed a bug related to bot death detection
- Updated Taunt: The Balloonibounce to end the taunt if the player is moved
- Fixed a regression in the Pyro's flamethrower where flames could sometimes damage players behind obstacles and walls
- PASS Time update
- Updated several HUD materials to support mat_picmip
- Fixed seeing the wrong cap limit in the win panel

I don't really like that Valve removed stopwatch mode.

 

[flipswitch]

Awesome!

 

[Yeef]

I wasn't a fan of stopwatch mode in casual. At the same time, with no team balancing, longer A/D and payload maps are almost certain to never finish.

 

[voodooray]

- Fixed a regression in the Pyro's flamethrower where flames could sometimes damage players behind obstacles and walls

In changing the behaviour, they've introduced a pretty nasty bug when using any flamethrower now. Its been there since last week, and the hope was that they would fix it, but sadly not yet. Basically, if you are too close to the enemy player, so that using the flame thrower hits either a wall/floor immediately adjacent to that player, they will take no damage.

Here's an imgur album I made which hopefully shows it more easily than I can describe it:

http://imgur.com/a/EbDf0

 

[flipswitch]

Once the game has finished, you disconnect and go through the matchmaking system again, which for me takes 5-10mins

 

[Dandare4444]

Here is how I'd fix casual mode

Tie extra loot drops, or some other bonus / contract to the levelling

Half people's loot drop rates for a week for example for a disconnect

Class limits - no more than two of any one class

Provides an incentive to play, prevents class insanity and ensures a penalty for disconnection.

 

[Russ T]

so

update

neato?

y/n

cool beans?

y/n

 

[Big-E]

Have been playing again for three nights, and on each night I run into at least one aim bot cheater by doing the casual matchmaking. Valve needs to do something about it. I even got kicked for bringing up a vote.

 

[torre_avenue]

so

update

neato?

y

cool beans?

mb. Sure, they broke a lot of things that were working really well before (namely casual), but Valve issuing quick updates to fix it and being more...responsive than they've ordinarily been towards the game gives me faith the update could retroactively be cool beans.

 

[TheRedSnifit]

I really hope that they ban the GRU in competitive. This Heavy meta is absolute cancer.