Team Fortress 2 Update Thread

October 20, 2017 - TF2 Team

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 Jungle Inferno Update is live!

5 featured community maps: Mossrock, Lazarus, Brazil, Enclosure, and Banana Bay
1 new official map: Mercenary Park
5 new community taunts: The Dueling Banjo, The Jumping Jack, The Soviet Strongarm, The Russian Arms Race, and The Headcase
2 new official taunts: Yeti Punch and Yeti Smash
2 community cosmetic cases with 20 items each
2 new War Paint collections made up of community-made War Paints and official War Paints
2 new War Paint collections filled with classic weapon skins being brought back for another tour
4 new Pyro items: The Dragon's Fury, The Thermal Thruster (with a new kill taunt: The Gas Blast), The Gas Passer, and the Hot Hand

Free contracts to earn the new Pyro and Heavy items
36 campaign contracts
Mercenary Park Gift Shop to select your campaign contract rewards



The default voice codec now defaults to Steam Voice
Steam Voice is now using Opus audio at a higher bitrate than the default CELT codec

Fixed the Engineer being able to store the Gunslinger's melee crit for a future melee attack
Fixed a bug where the ammo from a picked up weapon could exceed the player's maximum ammo allowed
Fixed a bug where the dispenser would use different bounds checks for distributing ammo and health (OMG, does this include the cart?.... and does it increase ammo or decrease health?....)
Fixed a bug where the player model would not play the attack animation for some weapons that fire bullets
Fixed the Bottle, the Scottish Handshake, and the Neon Annihilator not having their models break on critical hits
Fixed some of the Heavy's edible secondary items not having the model update when the item is eaten
Fixed a case where players could have multiple weapons visible at the same time (Suuuure you did.  We believe you this time.....)

Knockout powerup now collects health pack health without subtracting their health bonus. Results in Knockout carriers collecting more health from each health kit.


Fixed Engineers using the Eureka Effect to teleport out of hell on Halloween maps (lol)
Fixed the announcer sometimes saying "The tank is halfway through!" when a tank first spawns in Mann vs. Machine mode
Updated the Pallet of Crates to only drop crates and not cases
Players that have their movement slowed for any reason now have a status icon appear on their HUD (in the same area that displays other player effects, such as Marked-For-Death)
Added first-person inspect animations to all weapons
Added a disconnect sound when the Medic stops healing their target
Added new sounds for the Family Business, the Winger, and the Frontier Justice

When using Steam controller configuration to configure non-Steam Controller devices (e.g. Xbox controllers), the proper button icons are now displayed in the UI
Improved controller icon placement in some UI screens, including for players using less-common aspect ratio displays
Where text rather than an icon is used to indicate a controller binding, the text strings are now correct for non-Steam controller devices, and slightly more verbose in some cases to avoid confusion with regular keyboard bindings (e.g. "Press B button" vs. "Press B")
Fixed miscellaneous corner-case bugs where the wrong action set could be selected, and some edge cases with handling of multiple simultaneous actions during an action-set change


Community request - Added tf_playrounds/tf_listrounds debug commands to jump between mini-rounds on multi-stage maps

Applied the match rejoin limitations in Casual to Mann vs. Machine as well
Players who leave a Mann vs. Machine match cannot matchmake back into that same game for several minutes
Players who are vote-kicked from a Mann vs. Machine match cannot matchmake back into that same game for several hours
Added Ready Steady Pan Season 3 tournament medals
Added ETF2L Highlander Season 13 and ETF2L 6v6 Season 28 tournament medals
Added TFCL Highlander Season 1, Ultiduo Season 4, 6v6 Season 3, 4v4 Season 1, and bball Season 1 tournament medals
Added AsiaFortress Cup Season 12 tournament medals
Added Insomnia 61 tournament medals
Added CappingTV Ultiduo Winter Chalice tournament medals
Added RGL.gg Pick/Ban Prolander Participant tournament medal
Added ozfortress season 20 tournament medals
Added Tip of the Hats 2017 community medals
Added Snack's Summery Ultiduo Siesta (season 2) tournament medals
Updated the Mappers vs. Machines Participant Medal 2017 medal so it can be painted
Updated the Arms Race tournament medals so description tags can be used on them
Updated the TFCL Alpha medal to be paintable
Updated The Heartfelt Hug to be paintable

Parties can now be formed from anywhere within the game and persist through matches
Players are now able to join their party's match if late joining is allowed
Added a new party interface that allows you to quickly manage and interact with your party
Added a global party chat system that allows party members to chat with each other from anywhere in the game
Party chat is printed in the in-game chat interface when in a game

Redesigned the matchmaking screens to be lightweight overlays that can be summoned and dismissed from anywhere within the game

Levels now go beyond 150. All players now have a Tier in addition to their Level. All players start at Tier 1. When your Level goes past 150 your Level resets to 1, your Tier goes up by 1, and your Casual badge will change its appearance to reflect your new status.
Players who had reached level 150 will have any experience beyond 45500 (the amount required to hit 150) put into an overflow pool. While playing Casual matches, any XP you earn will be matched and deducted from your overflow pool until it runs out.

The Contracts Drawer has been replaced with the ConTracker, a state-of-the-art PDA
You can now work on contracts at your own pace. It's up to you to decide which ones to work on and in what order to work on them.
You can now make progress on Bonus Objectives while working towards completing your Primary Objective
Only one Contract can be active at a time
Contracts are now unlocked by spending Stars. Stars are earned by completing objectives.
Contracts can be turned-in once the Primary Objective is complete
Partially completed Contracts can be reactivated, for free, at any time

This is one of our least-used weapons. The main culprit seems to be the queued/delayed-fire aspect, which fights against the basic concept of the secondary slot on classes that can use this weapon (Soldier, Heavy, Engineer, Pyro); players generally expect a secondary that is immediately ready to fire - for the rare case where their main weapon isn't available (e.g. out of ammo), or isn't the optimal choice (e.g. airborne, too close, etc.). Removing the queued/delayed-fire concept basically invalidates the original design, so we�ve started over.
Goal: Make the weapon immediately usable, remove the large burst potential (generally hard to balance), and give the weapon a unique design space to occupy
New design:
50% faster switch speed
50% more pellets
30% less damage
Fires a wide, fixed shot pattern (regardless of server settings)

Pyros are too easily able to take advantage of this weapon's primary feature via airblast (i.e. no-penalty, on-demand launching of their target), and so their damage-potential can greatly exceed that of the other classes that also use this weapon. Rather than take a heavier-handed approach to solve this, we've instead decided to remove airblast as a source for mini-crits.
Attacks on targets knocked into the air by Pyro airblast no longer mini-crit

Players that are head-shot from across the map are expecting to see a Sniper in their death-cam, but they sometimes see (more often that we'd like) a Spy with a revolver
Goal: Reduce the effective combat range to something more reasonable and expected with the Spy
Changes:
Headshot damage is now subjected to distance falloff effects

Dead Ringer
Feign death is an interesting effect, but a good Spy can use it extremely frequently making it frustrating to play against and reducing the risk of using it nearly constantly
Goal: Rather than make it less interesting, let's make it more predictable to fight against by removing methods by which Spies can reduce its cool-down. This should create more of a rhythm to fighting against a Spy using this and introduce a little more risk to player using it.
Changes:

Your Eternal Reward
This is the least-used Spy knife (technically, the reskin is, but anyway...). While silent-kill and rapid-disguise-on-kill are good, the downside on this knife is extreme.
Changes:
Removed: "Cannot disguise" penalty
Added: Non-kill disguises require (and consume) a full cloak meter
Backstab-based disguises are still free

The feedback on this weapon has been fairly consistent for a while: Players really hate losing the ability to fight back. Compounding this, the ball has to travel really far in order to disarm players. Being hit by a long-range ball (more often than not) ends up feeling random, rather than skilled.
Changes:
Long-range ball impacts no longer remove the victim's ability to fire their weapon (but the victim is still slowed)
We've updated achievements that were looking for disarmed players
Max range balls now do 50% increased damage (from a base of 15)
The flight time required to trigger the "max" effect has been reduced by 20%

This weapon was designed to allow Scouts to pierce hotly-contested areas. While it does this quite well, it doesn't require enough skill, or carry much of a down-side.
Changes:
Apply a slow effect to the player after phasing wears off, based on the amount of damage they absorbed
From -25% at low damage, to -50% at 200+ damage

This weapon is one of the lower owner-equipped items in the game. Looking at the current design, it seems that not taking falling damage ranks pretty low on the value scale for a Scout, and a flat +20% damage taken penalty is basically the kiss-of-death for a low-health class.
Goal: Make the weapon less of a liability and focus it as a "get health quick" tool with decent burst, at the expense of total damage
New design:
+15% firing speed
Up to +7 hp per hit (from +5)

The last change to this item added Marked-For-Death when the effect ended. This was okay because it forced Scouts to get out after a little while, but it didn't add any risk in-the-moment.
Goal: Add more decision/thought on when/where to activate and how to manage the risk/reward of the effect
Changes:
Added: Each attack while active adds Marked-For-Death debuff for 5 seconds (does not stack)
Removed: Marked-For-Death when effect expires
Removed: +25% move speed bonus

Triple-jump as a passive effect is just too strong. It makes combat against the Scout unpredictable because opponents don't see the bat, and therefore have a hard time anticipating the Scout's capabilities until late in an encounter. It also makes the Scout very strong against explosive classes - due to a combination of extreme mobility and high close-range damage.
Goal: Require the Scout to deploy the bat to take advantage of the extra jump - which is also is a signal to other players that they can perform an extra jump - and reduce the bat's negatives to compensate
Changes:
Triple-jump is now only possible while the bat is deployed
Removed: Self-inflicted damage when triple-jumping
Removed: Attack speed penalty
Added: Melee attacks done while airborne mini-crit
Added: 50% deploy time penalty (to prevent quick-switch bypass)

This weapon is capable of high burst-damage under what sometimes seems like random conditions - such as mini-crits at long-range, and full-crits when the target is slowed or stunned by anything (e.g. Ghost "Boo!" effect, Natascha, etc.)
Goal: Remove the feeling of randomness, and reward accuracy
Changes:
Removed: Crit vs stunned players
Removed: Mini-crits at long range
Added: Long range hits reduce recharge (by 1.5 seconds)

B.A.S.E Jumper
Players often complain that the B.A.S.E. Jumper is frustrating to fight against because the target is simply too hard to hit. This is mostly due to the combination of being able to deploy/retract at will, and the amount of steering control they have - which makes them too unpredictable.
Changes:
Reduced amount of air control while deployed by 50%

The second least-used item in the game. The aerial stomp mini-game is difficult, and The Gunboats are superior in most scenarios.
Changes:
+75% push-force reduction now includes airblast

Removed: Cannot be Crit boosted

Note: This weapon has been reverted to its previous design
Deals 20 damage per tick (down from 45)
Note: This is necessary because the projectile is no longer limited on the number of times it can hit targets
Projectiles are no longer limited on the number of times they can hit the same target(s)

Snipers using this item had an advantage against Snipers who weren't. As a result, players felt like they were required to equip this item in order to be competitive.
Goal: Remove the increased survivability against enemy Snipers (which invalidates the existing design).
New design:
Counter ranged burn attacks (e.g. flares), and strengthen melee fights vs Pyros
Afterburn immunity

Goal: Reduce the effectiveness of "pocket'd" Snipers in stalemates/standoffs (this primarily happens in organized/competitive play)
Changes:
Added: -100% overheal penalty

Ubercharge on death is too valuable of an effect to be passive
Goal: Change the weapon in a way that requires skill and risk in order to gain this effect
Changes:
Added "Organs" collecting concept (... you know, hit someone with a saw, and out pops a vital organ which you then take, and hold). Each hit with the Vita-Saw harvests the victim's organs (shown on the HUD).

Bolt healing is very high and significantly out-heals the Medigun when the target is in combat. This might be okay given the trade-offs (risk-vs-reward of ranged shots hitting and the opportunity cost, no overheal). However, it's also the fastest way to build Ubercharge - under the right conditions (e.g. corner damage farming with the Medic behind cover).
Changes:
Ubercharge gain rate reduced in the same way that the Medigun's healing (and therefore, Ubercharge build rate) is - based on the last time the target was in combat

Changes:
The 1-second damage and accuracy penalty now applies to the first second of spun-up time, whether or not the Heavy is firing. Previously, the 1-second damage penalty would only be removed after 1 second of firing.


Speed (lack-of) is used to balance the Heavy's high health, over-heal and damage output. While we still believe it's OK to have a class of items that increases Heavy's movement speed, players have been able to easily bypass the existing negatives.
Changes:
Added: Max-health is drained while item is active (-10/sec), and regenerated while holstered
Health will regenerate only the amount drained while active - minus any damage taken during that time
Each time the gloves are deployed, the drain rate is accelerated for a brief period of time
Removed: Marked-For-Death effect while active

Changes:
Added: Max-health is drained while item is active (-5/sec), and regenerated while holstered. Health will regenerate only the amount drained while active - minus any damage taken during that time.

Fist of Steel
The downside of "increased melee damage" doesn't ever really come into play when it counts (e.g. holding a choke point or objective), and when a Medic is attached, the resulting pool of effective-health is unreasonably large
Changes:
Added: 40% overheal reduction while active

Added The Second Banana
Secondary slot item
When consumed by the Heavy, restores 200 health
Acts like a small health kit when dropped by the Heavy and picked up by another player

The ability to repair buildings safely from range without using metal is powerful. Combine this with the ability to instantly teleport buildings from far away - which by itself is interesting and useful enough in many circumstances - and you end up with a package that is very strong.
Changes:
Ranged repairs now consume metal (at a 4-to-1 health-to-metal ratio, e.g. repairing 60 damage costs 15 metal)

Note: This weapon has been reverted to its previous design.
Removed: +25 health on kill

Primary slot item
Uses a shared pressure tank for Primary Fire and Alt-Fire
Primary Fire: Launches a fast-moving, limited-range projectile that deals 25 damage and briefly ignites enemies
Deals +300% damage to burning players
+50% repressurization rate on hit
Alt-Fire: Airblast

Secondary slot item
Fires a short-duration blast that launches the Pyro in the direction they are aiming
Deals 3x falling damage to anyone you land on
Has a 1.1 second holster duration
MvM upgrades:
Able to re-launch while airborne
Stun enemies when you land (duration based on impact velocity)
Note: Landing directly on an enemy grants a bonus to stun duration


Secondary slot item
Creates a horrific visible gas cloud that coats enemies
Flammable material then ignites into 10 seconds of Afterburn if enemies take damage (even Pyros!)
Mann vs. Machine upgrades:
Enemies explode when ignited by attacks

Gain a speed-boost when you hit an enemy player
-20% damage penalty

Better visual sync, more consistent (no visuals/damage mismatch)
New particle effects
Applies to all flamethrower variants
Airblast
Hit detection for both players and projectiles is now a consistent cone
Aiming at a player's feet no longer misses!
Airblasting players now factors in the momentum of the Pyro and target, giving both more control over the interaction
The target's existing velocity is no longer cancelled
Players moving at the Pyro at great speed will be reflected away at great speed
Players moving towards/away from the Pyro will experience less/more push force
Airblast now causes target player to have reduced footing and air control for a short period
No longer a flat stun
Now factors in the upward angle of the airblast, rather than having a fixed upward force
Total push force slightly increased
Afterburn
Flamethrowers no longer apply maximum-duration afterburn on contact. Afterburn duration is now based on how long the target is in contact with direct flames -- starting at a minimum of 3 seconds, and stacking to a maximum of 10 seconds.
Per-tick afterburn damage increased to 4 (from 3), for a total of 8 damage per-second (up from 6 per-second)
Flareguns now apply 7.5 seconds of afterburn (down from 10 seconds), resulting in the same total damage as before
Afterburn now reduces all direct Medic healing and resist shields by 20%
Note: This effect was previously applied by direct flames from all flamethrowers (at 25%), but was moved to afterburn, and slightly lowered

October 27, 2017 - TF2 Team

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:

Updated the Case Global Unusual Effects to draw from a pool of previous years' Halloween Unusual effects during the Scream Fortress IX event. This applies to all cosmetic cases.
Fixed all classes doing 3x damage when landing on enemies
Fixed the Flare Contract Bonus Objective requiring mini-crit kills instead of crit kills
Made it easier to score "defend an objective" style Contract objectives
Lowered the requirements for the Amputator Contract's bonus objectives
Fixed a case where players standing directly in front of the Pyro would not get burned
Fixed a bug related to the Medi Gun and changing class/loadout while being healed

Updated Mann vs. Machine

Removed the "Faster recharge rate" upgrades from The Dragon's Fury
Fixed the missing "Increased Airblast Push Force" upgrade on The Dragon's Fury

- Fixed the scoreboard not displaying the proper images for players Jungle Inferno Campaign Pass owners
- Fixed a Pyro animation bug related to jumping
- Fixed the Spy-cicle not giving the Spy fire immunity
- Fixed a Scout bug where mini-crits were granted to weapons other than The Atomizer while jumping
- Added the Titanium Tank Participant Medal
- Updated the Mann Co. Store to support the new foreign currencies added to Steam
- Updated the localization files

Updated pl_enclosure_final

- Fixed a buildable area in BLU spawn for stage 1
- Updated materials for foliage props

Updated plr_bananabay

- The train will now pass at its maximum frequency after both payloads make it up the large hill
- Fixed players getting pushed into the underwater tunnel and ceiling over right spawn exit
- Fixed spawn gates trapping enemy players
- Amplified train engine sound
- Reworked left spawn exit
- Added small barrier near final cap
- Improved performance in some areas
- Reduced push force near outer rocks

Updated cp_mossrock

- Fixed small area where Engineers could build in initial BLU spawn
- Fixed area where you could fall in the pit and not die
- Fixed cases where you could block the train without dying
- The train now doesn't kill you if your toe touches it (How about standing on it?....)
- Optimized FPS around the last point. Should be significantly better.
- Brightened the underside of last point slightly
- Improved clipping around the ramp to last point
- Fixed a case where your view would glitch out on the sign near cap A

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:


Happy Smissmas 2017!
All players who play TF2 during the event will receive a Stuffed Stocking as a gift! Stockings contain goodies for good little Mercenaries.
Event runs through January 10th, 2018

Added the Winter 2017 War Paint Case
Contains 15 new community-contributed War Paints
Randomly dropped for players who have activated a Jungle Inferno Campaign Pass

Added the Winter 2017 Cosmetic Case
Contains 20 new community-contributed items
The Festivizer can be found as a bonus drop when opening the case

Added 6 new community-contributed taunts to the Mann Co. Store
Taunt: The Skating Scorcher
Taunt: The Bunnyhopper
Taunt: Runner's Rhythm
Taunt: Luxury Lounge
Taunt: Surgeon's Squeezebox
Taunt: The Trackman's Touchdown

Expanded the list of weapons that can be Festivized!
Ubersaw, Dragon's Fury, Amputator, Air Strike, Back Scratcher, Scotsman's Skullcutter, Bazaar Bargain, Black Box, Claidheamh Mòr, Crusader's Crossbow, Degreaser, Loose Cannon, Persian Persuader, Detonator, Brass Beast, Holy Mackerel, Loch-n-Load, Powerjack, Iron Bomber, Reserve Shooter, Disciplinary Action, Family Business, Shahanshah, Scorch Shot, Shortstop, Soda Popper, Rescue Ranger, Tomislav, Panic Attack, Winger

Mann Co. Store winter sale!

General
War Paints can now be used for Mann Co. Trade-Ups
Fixed a rendering issue with the Misty Skull unusual effect
Fixed a case where it was possible to use the Thermal Thruster twice in one launch
Fixed the inspect animation for the Shortstop
Fixed the Festive Sandvich not showing the bite mark when eaten
Increased the maximum number of backpack slots to 3000 (from 2500)
Added the UGC Highlander Season 21, Highlander Season 22, Highlander Season 23, 6v6 Season 23, 6v6 Season 24, 6v6 Season 25, 4v4 Season 10, 4v4 Season 11, and 4v4 Season 12 tournament medals
Added Ready Steady Pan Season 3 tournament medals

Updated cp_mercenarypark
Added a forward spawn for BLU when attacking the final control point
Added a connecting stairwell to the mid-structure of the final control point
Fixed area portal rendering issues between the first and second control points

Updated pd_watergate
Respawn times of the teams will change dynamically based on the difference in scores. This should help balance any extreme differences in the team skills/scores.
<50% difference in scores: 8s for leading team, 4s for trailing
>50% difference in scores: 12s for leading team, 0s for trailing
Equal scores: 6s for each team
Relocated the player beer pickup counter on the HUD to the lower left, but made it slightly larger
Updated the soundscape to have more alien-y sounds in the main areas
Adjusted detail in the center and spawn rooms
Adjusted clipping around the map