TF2 Newbs (Team Fortress 2) Blog

So the Pyro-themed content isn’t here yet. And the annual Halloween update isn’t here yet either. But Valve are working on matchmaking still, as well as MvM, and who knows what else. Here’s the rundown:

• (1) Halloween Event Maps: You can now call a temporary truce during a fight with Monoculus or Merasmus
  • Community maps now have a ConVar to force a truce whenever any Halloween boss fight begins
• (2) The Golden Joystick Awards now features a $1 game sale for anyone who votes
• There’s a chance that you can opt-in to a survey after you complete a Casual match or a Comp match
• Some community requests have been implemented:
  • Energy weapons will now correctly impact pumpkin bombs, RD robots, and Merasmus props
• Updates for the maps Snakewater, Millstone Event, and Sunshine

See the full patch notes for more information. Expect the next annual Halloween Event to launch sometime next week!

1. What’s This About a Truce…?!

Remember when you played a Halloween Event map, and some big boss monster spawns… yet when your team turns to focus the boss, the other team kills you with your back turned?

Valve has released a way for community maps to enable, or even force, a truce between RED and BLU while there’s a boss monster roaming the map. I assume players will use the votemenu on Valve maps, but community maps now have the options to require the truce if they wish to implement it.

Head admin |N| Octo informed me today that Halloween Event maps on TF2Newbs servers will force a truce during these boss fights. If you want a TF2Newbs Halloween Event map to not have the forced truce setting, please let us know in the forums.

Hey, do you need a guide about the various TF2 Halloween Event maps? Here you go!

The $1 “Golden Joystick Awards” Game Bundle

The Golden Joystick Awards is in its 34th year, handing out awards based on democratically driven voting for beloved video games. To spur voting, this year they have partnered with online digital game distributor Green Man Gaming to offering a deal: After you submit your vote, you are taken to a page where you can buy digital copies of three games for just $1 (or 1 euro, or 1 pound). That’s $1 total for all three games, and you can choose whether to purchase Steam keys or another online platform (such as PS4 or Origin). The games are:

• Spec Ops: The Line*, normally $29.99 on Steam
• Sid Meier’s Pirates, normally $9.99 on Steam
• a Green Man Gaming mystery pack, of a random game from their library**

*The Spec Ops game requires a Green Man Gaming account (free), but it seems to be possible to earn back the money you spent on the package as well. So until the most important election in the world this November–the Saxxy Awards–you can practice your voting skills for the GJA.

**Doing my due research, the random game may not necessarily be a Steam key. It could be Origin, gog, etc. depending on the random game received. Could be literally any game, even one you already own.

The awards voting, as well as the $1 bundle, are available through Halloween, October 31st.

Full Patch Notes: Oct 12, 2016

• Players will now be randomly selected to participate in a survey at the end of Casual and Competitive matches
• Ongoing improvements to the matchmaking backend to improve match quality and reduce wait times
• Fixed air-blasts sometimes sending deflected projectiles in random directions when the Pyro is close to enemy players
• Fixed a case where players joining community bootcamp servers via the server-browser could not select a team
• Reduced the rate at which players can earn bonus points for extinguishing teammates
• Fixed a case where players could use the Halloween teleport spell to get outside the map
• Updated the localization files
• Community requests
  • Fixed Merasmus not being stunned by bomb-head players on community Halloween maps
  • Added the ability for community Halloween maps to call a truce during a Monoculus or Merasmus fight
  • Can be set via the game rules entity using the SetMapForcedTruceDuringBossFight input
  • Fixed energy weapons not hitting pumpkin bombs, Merasmus props, and RD robots
• Mann vs. Machine update
  • Fixed the Sentry Buster sound being orphaned if the Sentry Buster detonates while invulnerable
  • Fixed zombies not using the correct skin in Ghost Town
• Updated cp_snakewater_final1
  • Changes based on community feedback
• Updated pl_millstone_event
  • Updated bot navigation file, bots now use all routes, won’t get stuck so easily and are smarter
  • Fixed woodpile spot where HHH could get stuck
  • Improved clipping on wood piles
  • Fixed missing rooftop texture
  • Fixed a few props flashing at certain angles
  • Fixed a spot in the last area where you could place stickies underground
  • Fixed Monoculus not getting stunned when hit by players exiting purgatory
• Updated cp_sunshine
  • Blockbulleted spiral staircase on the back of second
  • Added medium ammo to mid near choke
  • Removed clipping over wooden arch going into second from valley
  • Reduced the size of the wooden arch
  • Blockbulleted a few undersides of staircases on last that could catch projectiles
  • Removed a ladder on last

[N] Obey

Here’s what’s up:

1. More matchmaking improvements
2. {N} Olse’s fictionalization of his fellow Newbs’ exploits in the world of XCOM 2 continues to update almost daily.
3. Updated with minor Sept 28 patch

Casual Matchmaking: Rematches

When your Casual game ends, you can opt for a rematch. On the results page, you have 30 seconds to opt into a rematch. If at least 6 players from each side opt in, a rematch will begin, using the same teams, same map, and same server. The game will then draw in replacement players for any open slots.

If you don’t choose to opt-in to a rematch, you will automatically go back into the Casual Matchmaking queue. Leave the queue by manually removing yourself.

Casual Matchmaking: All ‘Bout Dat XP

Had too many teamstacked Casual games? Valve continues to work on it:

Your Rank (which is partly a measure of your skill, and partly your playing time in Casual) is now a stronger factor when building teams.

Now, you no longer lose XP for leaving a Casual match early. You’ll earn it after the match ends. And at the end of the game, the chart will show you how you earned the XP you did.

Comp Matchmaking:

When a player leaves a match, a bot will replace that slot, and will play in that player’s place until the player rejoins the match. The substantial penalty for leaving a match remains the same.

Matches no longer end when the first player leaves, but they grant proportionally less XP as more players leave the match. But if a second person on the same side leaves the match, the match is still terminated.

Full Patch Notes: Sept 28 2016

• Fixed some players not being able to click on the new rematch UI elements
• Fixed the end of round music not playing in Casual matches

Full Patch Notes: Sept 27 2016

Matchmaking

• Players can now form rematches at the end of a Casual match
  • At the end of a Casual match, players will have 30 seconds to opt-in to a rematch
  • If at least 6 players from BLU and 6 players from RED have chosen to rematch, then a rematch will begin
  • A rematch will use the same teams, map and server
• Players can now re-queue into Casual Matchmaking during the end of a match
  • Players who decline a rematch or simply don’t vote in the rematch voting period will automatically be re-queued
• Updated the way XP is earned in Casual matches
  • Players will now be awarded more XP based on their team’s performance at the end of a match
  • XP is no longer lost for leaving a Casual match early
  • A breakdown of XP sources is now shown when your XP bar fills up
• Casual matches now more strongly prefer to distribute players to teams based on experience, in order to better avoid creating one-sided matches
• Casual matches are now more likely to start with fewer than 24 players in lower population game-modes or regions, wherein the wait time for a full match would become excessive
  • The current minimum allowable match size in such situations is twelve players
  • The matchmaker will still attempt to place late-joiners into these matches as they become available
• Competitive matches no longer terminate when any player abandons the match
  • Bots will now fill in for players who have abandoned, or temporarily disconnected from, Competitive matches
  • Matches that finish at an advantage or disadvantage (e.g. 6v5 or 5v6, not counting any bots) will now result in smaller or larger skill rating adjustments for advantaged wins or disadvantaged losses, respectively
  • Competitive matches that lose more than one player per team will keep the current behavior of ending the match
  • Players who abandon Competitive matches still receive a large skill rating penalty and Competitive matchmaking cooldown, regardless of whether a bot was allowed to take their place
• Greatly improved the reliability of client ping estimates when placing users into matchmaking servers
  • The game client now periodically checks in with the matchmaking server network to estimate ping to each region, and feeds the information back to the matchmaking system
  • This should greatly reduce cases of players being placed in regions to which they have poor ping, even when said regions are geographically nearby
• The scoreboard now shows the connection status for missing and connecting players

General

• Added tournament medals for ozfortress Season 16 and Season 17
• Fixed an exploit related to the Eureka Effect and carrying buildings
• Fixed Live Streams menu not displaying the list of streams
• Fixed the flamethrower not drawing the Halloween Spell: Spectral Flame effect during Halloween and Full Moon events
• Updated the localization files

There’s a chance that you’ll experience long waits (>30 minutes!) searching for a game in Casual, Competitive, or MvM games of TF2.

All I’ve found so far is some discussion on the Valve community boards that a minor hotfix in maintenance has broken things, causing long delays AND sometimes a lack of rewards for finishing a game (no points, no items rewarded on mission completion, etc.)

More info on this when I get it. Go play on a community server!

A few assorted things here….

1. Terraria’s desert-themed patch is now live
2. 2K Games offering free copies of its remastered Bioshock games to owners of original versions
3. TF2 patched

Terraria Patch 1.3.3 Is Now LIVE

In this major patch, deserts get some love and attention. Now every newly-created map will feature a pyramid, and there are new biomes for (hardmode) underground desert, underground corrupted desert, and underground hallowed desert. And a bunch more stuff; here is the patch notes.

Bioshock Games Have Been Remastered

Ahead of the official launch of the Bioshock Collection, 2K Games has made owners of the older versions of the games a free copy of the remastered games that they already own, whether on Steam or not!! The gaming news site Rock Paper Shotgun did a write-up about how to acquire the remastered versions.

Full Patch Notes: Sept 12, 2016

• Fixed an exploit related to not respawning in the spawn room at the beginning of Casual and Competitive matches
• Fixed Pyros griefing teammates by attacking them with the flamethrower
• Fixed Medics getting a permanent speed boost after healing a charging Demoman
• Fixed Medics getting the Demoman’s charging speed when using Mediguns other than The Quick-Fix
• Fixed the Strange Razorback double-counting the number Spies shocked
• Fixed a bug related to the Sniper‘s zoom and taunting
• Fixed players being able to pick-up the PASS Time jack while they are stunned
• Increased the matchmaking system’s preference for matching large pre-made parties against each other in Casual Mode. This should result in more balanced matches, but may cause a slight increase in queue times for larger parties.

[N] Obey

Hey folks–just a bunch of bugfixes on this patch. Monday is a strange day for patches, especially a minor one like this. Methinks a Pyro-themed patch may be coming soon?

Full Patch Notes: Aug 29, 2016

• 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^[1]
• 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

Undocumented changes

• Updated the item type strings for the Robot Parts, Physician’s Procedure Mask, Practitioner’s Processing Mask, Glitched Circuit Board, Made Man, Wingstick, Bat Outta Hell and Gun Mettle and Tough Break Festivizer.
• Changed the name of the Florida LAN 2016 medal from “Florida LAN” to “Florida LAN 2016.”
• Updated the Pomson 6000 to display its hidden negative attribute of “Deals only 20% damage to buildings.”

[N] Obey