Jul 28, 2016

Team Fortress 2

An update to Team Fortress 2 has been released. The update will be applied automatically when you restart Team Fortress 2. The major changes include:

Matchmaking
- Competitive Mode
  - Abandon penalty times are now longer for first-time abandoners with a low number of games played
  - Abandoning a game now results in significant rank loss. This loss is always greater than losing a given match.
  - Fixed an issue where players could drop and reconnect too many times before triggering an abandon
- Casual Mode
  - Matches can now start with fewer than 24 players when there are not enough compatible players in queue
    - The match will still add additional players (up to 24) as they become available
    - This should improve queue times for low-population regions and game modes
  - Added maps cp_gullywash, cp_snakewater, and koth_probed
  - Fixed not being able to cycle between spectator modes
Weapon viewmodels
- The field-of-view slider has been re-added to Adv. Options menu (range: 54 to 70 degrees)
  - This feature is now allowed in Competitive Mode
- Improved and fixed many animations when using a higher viewmodel field-of-view
- Removed custom animations from the sv_pure whitelist because it was being exploited
- Adjusted The Cow Mangler and Black Box reload animations to be slightly faster (they now match the default rocket launcher)
Your class portrait will now always be the innermost in the match status HUD (top center) and will have a slightly brighter background
Added the Prinny promo items to the Mann Co. Store
Added the Florida LAN 2016 community medal
PASS Time update
- Fixed achievement items (e.g. Civilian Grade JACK Hat) not cloaking with the Spy
- Tweaks and fixes for all maps
- Fix pack speed not being updated sometimes
- Aiming players will no longer receive pack speed bonus
- Some adjustments to reduce average round length
  - Overtime will end immediately if the winning team touches the ball
  - Overtime won't happen if it's impossible for the losing team to win
Fixed players being able to avoid a vote-kick by reconnecting to the server at the right time
Fixed the pd_watergate HUD not drawing
Fixed Engineer teleporter exits sometimes detonating when used due to invisible geometry
Fixed getting a black screen if the chat window was open when the match stats were being shown
Fixed weapons not being hidden during some taunts for the Engineer, Medic, and Soldier
Fixed Spy cloak causing the HUD 3D Character to cloak for the player the Spy is disguised as
Fixed a client crash related to the animation system
Fixed a bug where players in looping taunts could sometimes cause other clients to drop from the server
Fixed not seeing particle effects for Unusual versions of Baseball Bill's Sports Shine, Ritzy Rick's Hair Fixative, and Texas Slim's Dome Shine
Fixed hearing the "team wipe" Announcer audio at the incorrect times

Jul 22, 2016

Matchmaking Update

Team Fortress 2

Thanks for all of your feedback over the last couple weeks. In our previous post, we talked about a number of issues with the Meet Your Match update and what we were doing to address them. Here's a quick recap on what has happened since then:

Matchmaking:

We have been working hard to improve the matchmaking system, greatly reducing queue times and eliminating most causes of errors when attempting to play. On average, queue times are now below ninety seconds for most players. There are still some issues with lower population regions and game modes that we are looking into.
We have identified and corrected several issues where players weren't being sent to fill empty slots for in-progress matches. There should be far fewer matches where this happens, and we will continue making improvements here.

Casual Mode:

Players are now able to specify the maps they would like play on when using matchmaking. However, it is sometimes the case that players joining in-progress matches (aka "late join") end up on maps they did not select. This will be fixed in an upcoming update.
Abandon penalties have been removed, which means players can come and go as they please.
Vote-kicking has been added. Players that are kicked retain the experience they've earned to that point, in order to reduce the likelihood of players using the system to grief others.

Next, we would like to give you a quick overview of the things we are working on, and go over some of the issues you raise as needing more attention and work.

Abandons in Competitive Mode:

We are going to make abandoning penalties much harsher. The current system increases matchmaking ban times based on the number of abandons over a period of time. We are making a change to more quickly move serial abandoners into really long ban times. We will also subtract the maximum number of rank points possible, per abandon. The amount lost will be far higher than what could normally be lost in a completed match.
In addition, we are investigating several options to offset the impact abandoners have on games that are in-progress. More on that when we have details to share.

Griefing in matchmaking:

We are working on systems that will give players with high numbers of in-game reports automated cooldowns from matchmaking, to discourage disruptive behavior.
As a side note, you can report players while in-game by clicking the "Report Player" button - located in the "Play" section on the main menu.

High ping and queue times:

There are still cases where players can wait longer than we'd like. This is more common in lower population regions and game modes in Casual Mode matchmaking, and the result is that players sometimes end up on a server where their ping is higher than normal.
One solution we are investigating is allowing matches to start with fewer than 24 players -- in cases where there are not enough available players to form a complete match, or when the players being considered are too far away. The system will instead prefer to start a smaller match more quickly, with a more appropriate ping, filling the remaining slots as more players become available.

Experience and incomplete matches in casual:

Right now, leaving a casual match results in no experience being earned. We are looking at changing this to avoid penalizing players for having to leave after investing significant amounts of time into a match, while still providing rewards for playing matches to completion.

We are monitoring the game around the clock, and we continue to read all your feedback and suggestions. Thanks again for taking the time to help improve TF.

Jul 8, 2016

Casual Mode Update

Team Fortress 2

It's no secret that Casual Mode has had a rough launch. We wanted to give you an update on what we're doing to address your concerns.

Short version: We hear you. Later today, we will be shipping a patch to Casual Mode that will remove the penalties for abandoning a game, and allow you to narrow your game mode selections from two modes to a single mode before queuing. Additionally, in the very near future, we will be shipping a more comprehensive Casual Mode patch that will let you select the maps you will be matched into.

We've provided a more detailed breakdown of Casual Mode's issues and how we are addressing your concerns below.

First, and most important, queue times. The queue times you are currently experiencing are a bug, not a feature. It is something we are actively working to correct. Several backend issues appeared post-launch that culminated in long wait times. Removing this issue is our highest priority right now.

Second, abandonment penalties. We had put in a ten-minute cooldown period to encourage players to complete matches. Your feedback has convinced us that it is more important for players to be able to come and go as they please. Today's patch will remove abandonment cooldown penalties from Casual Mode.

Third, user choice. We'd intended to roll out the number of match options available to players incrementally, so as not to overload the matchmaking system with too many variables on Day One. In retrospect, of all the match options to hold back, map selection should not have been one of them. It is the next feature we are adding to Casual Mode, and you will get it very soon.

Fourth, Casual Mode levels. Levels are a cosmetic feature that show how much you've played. They can never be lost, and they do not affect matchmaking. We did a poor job of communicating that Casual Mode Levels are in no way similar to Competitive Mode Ranks (which do affect matchmaking, and can be lost).

Finally, we wanted to note that we value the role the community plays in the development of this game, and do in fact read all the feedback sent to us, as well as through reddit, the forums, streams, and more. We are not always as talkative as we perhaps should be, but we are listening.

Jul 7, 2016

Team Fortress 2 Update Released

Team Fortress 2

An update to Team Fortress 2 has been released. The update will be applied automatically when you restart Team Fortress 2. The major changes include:
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
  - berCharge 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 berCharge 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