The European Team Fortress 2 League (ETF2L) Season 25 schedule and signups have opened! The season is kicking off with a 6v6 cup, testing new maps and weapon pickups. Signups are open until September 15th at 21:00 CEST. Any 6v6 or Fun Team that has 6 players on the roster at the end of signups is eligible to participate. Click here to sign up and get more information!

• Fixed the Short Circuit causing lag compensation problems on the server
• Fixed sappers sometimes only being applied to one Engineer teleporter
• Weapons can no longer be juggled to bypass the weapon's re-fire rate
• Fixed a server crash related to sending an invalid client command
• Fixed players being able to teleport out of the spawn room using the Eureka Effect at the beginning of a round
• Fixed Mann vs. Machine players receiving abandon penalties after playing at least one wave
• Fixed Refill Ammo canteens not refilling the ammo for all weapons in Mann vs. Machine
• Fixed mini-sentries not having full health when they are built quickly during the setup time on Mann vs. Machine maps
• Fixed the scoreboard badge panels not updating properly when teams would change sides on attack/defend maps
• Fixed Casual and Competitive mode badges incorrectly displaying the level 1 badge when at max level
• Updated the materials for the Mistaken Movember to fix a transparency problem
• Updated the model for the Pretty Boy's Pocket Pistol to fix a problem with shading
• Updated the Frontier Justice so the "Revenge crits are lost on death" attribute is displayed as a negative
• Strange Part: Allies Extinguished can now be applied to Strange Sydney Sleeper rifles
• Added the Tip of the Hats 2016 community event medals
• Updated the Salty Dog to hide the Scout's headphones
• Fixed the Borneo map stamp using the incorrect image in the Mann Co. Store
• Fixed the game not properly honoring the steam per-game language setting
• Fixed a bug with the Cow Mangler 5000 reload speed
• Updated the localization files

Team Fortress turns 20 today, and that means we're celebrating! Jump in a game and enjoy hats, cake, beach balls, presents, confetti and more cake! And if that wasn't enough for you, you can annoy your teammates and enemies alike with the screeching sounds of full-on birthday joy. Remember, you can always use a new hitsound.

And as long as you're remembering things, remember that we couldn't have come this far without you! So when you think about it, it's kind of your birthday today too. What we're saying here is August 24th is all of our birthdays. And in a more accurate sense, what we're trying to say is that August 24th is Steve Guttenberg's birthday. Happy birthday, Steve.

• Added "Party Hat" and "Noise Maker - TF Birthday" item grants to players who don't already have them during TF2's birthday
• Fixed some classes not displaying the particles when using the "Noise Maker - TF Birthday" item

The Multiplay Insomnia Gaming Festival is one of the biggest annual gaming tournaments, not to mention one of the highest profile TF2 competitions in the world. This year boasts being the biggest one yet! Featuring GAME Fest for the first time, the show and the expo halls will be open an extra day, running from Friday, August 26th to Monday, August 30th in Birmingham, England at the NEC.

Check out the Team Fortress 2 Open from the 26th to the 28th. Sixty-four teams will go head-to-head in competitive 6s, including American team Froyotech and Australian team Jasmine Tea. Both teams were once again crowdfunded by the the best community in gaming history. Can't make it to Birmingham in time? No problem, the tournament will be streamed on Twitch, so tune in and catch all the action!

• Fixed a common server crash that primarily occurred during Mann vs. Machine matches
• Fixed a memory leak for OS X and Linux clients

• Competitive Mode
  • Players in the first tier of ranks (1-6) now lose substantially fewer rank points on match loss
  • Players with high win/loss ratios in recent matches now earn bonus rank points in order to accelerate their progress toward a more appropriate rank
• Added report player context menu on scoreboard
  • Requires mouse input mode on the scoreboard (see Adv. Options)
• Fixed a potential security issue (thanks to Justin G., aka sigsegv, and Linus S., aka PistonMiner, for this report)
• Fixed an issue with The Righteous Bison and Pomson 5000 hit detection where projectiles were being removed when colliding with invisible entities
• Fixed a display issue with combat text damage numbers against Engineer buildings sometimes being incorrect (such as with weapons that do reduced damage against buildings)
• Removed the damage effects and pain sounds when using the Rocket Jumper and Sticky Jumper
• Updated PASS Time view model positions to support using FOV 70
• Updated the animations for the Sharp Dresser to fix a clipping problem
• Updated the localization files
• Updated cp_sunshine to fix some clipping issues
• Updated cp_metalworks
  • Adjusted the height of the ceiling in the room behind the second control point
  • Added some slight visual detail to various concrete rooms throughout (team color stripe)
  • Adjusted the height and width of various doors throughout the level. Mostly focused on primary paths into combat areas, with an eye towards standardizing door sizes where possible.
  • Fixed an angled playerclip brush above 2nd control point that players could surf on (thanks Photon)
  • Adjusted height of 'tank' in L room behind 2nd control point
  • Moved two tall spotlights back into a clipping brush at mid to avoid very small collision issue (thanks Bilbert)
  • Adjusted some clipping issues by turning rooftop brushes into displacements/func_brushes throughout the map and disabling collision (thanks Bilbert)
  • Clipped off some glass windows at 2nd
  • Added crate to cargo containers at mid, allowing scouts to get onto the highest cargo container
  • Added props to the clipping ramp around the final control point to indicate collision
  • Replaced brush fence on the platform in alley with a metal prop to solve an asymmetrical shadow bug (thanks Bilbert)

Just a quick update while we keep working on the Meet Your Match fixes we posted a few weeks ago. We wanted to call out a few noteworthy things shipping with today's update, as well as keep you up to date on some more substantial fixes that are on the way.

We're currently working on a more comprehensive Elo rating system to improve how Competitive Mode ranks are determined that we'll be shipping in the near future. This update will make the rank system more self-correcting and better distribute players based on performance.

In the meantime, though, we've shipped some rank balancing improvements in today's update that will help distribute ranks more evenly in the short-term. Players with high win-loss ratios will now be "fast-tracked" to higher ranks that better reflect performance (without having to grind through unchallenging matches). Additionally, players in the first tier of ranks (1-6) will now be penalized less for match losses, making it easier to gain low ranks at the outset without getting stuck.

Additionally, with today's update, we are rolling out our first matchmaking bans on problem players you've reported. Problem players will receive a six-month ban from Casual and Competitive matchmaking. We've also made it easier for you to report problem players by adding a new feature that lets you report directly from the scoreboard. (See today's update notes for more information.)

We also wanted to touch on upcoming improvements to the Casual Mode experience. A high priority is providing better flow for continuing play at the end of a match. To that end, we're currently putting the finishing touches on two features that many of you have requested: The option to rematch with the same players on the same map at the end of a match, and the ability to re-queue into a new match from the win screens for both Casual Mode and Competitive Mode.

Finally, we are working on issues with the region system that have been causing poor connections for players in certain areas. The next few updates will be integrating TF more tightly with the global server network already used by games like CS:GO and Dota 2 to provide much more reliable connections and the best-possible latency.

Well, it's been a tight race, everybody. Five weeks of ballistic trauma and charred corpses later, we've crowned our glorious king of war: All hail the PYRO. Winning in a 56% to 44% split, Team Pyro has fried, burnt and scorched its way through a smoldering mountain of enemies and into a brand new class pack, featuring new weapons, new cosmetics and rebalances, to be shipped in a future update. Congrats to Team Pyro!

• Updated menu content for upcoming end of the Heavy vs. Pyro war