The improvements start before you even join a match. We've overhauled the main menu using entirely new technology, giving it a sleek design and more modern tools to help you enjoy the game.
We've completely streamlined the matchmaking interface, utilizing dynamic hover effects and kinetic data streams to make queuing up faster and more engaging than ever.
Explore the intricate lore and mechanical depth of every mercenary through highly detailed, interactive classified intel folders accessible directly from the main menu.
Crucial gameplay options are no longer hidden behind obscure advanced menus or console cvars, giving you immediate access to search through and tailor your experience.
TF2 fans, we hear you. Matchmaking feels broken, and the fixes added over the years don't add up to a satisfying experience. So we've gone through all of its systems and rebuilt them from the ground up to ensure that Casual is fun, fair, and actually respects your time.
The biggest complaint we've heard from players about Casual is that the match structure is too short. Just when you start enjoying a game with your team, the match ends and you're back in the chaos of the queue. No more. We've now transformed that match experience into combined "mini-matches" called Series. Series are played continuously on the same map for a minimum of 35 minutes. The team with the most series points at the end of the match wins.
Stopwatch is back, reworked for Casual! Rather than ending the round abruptly like before, each team gets a chance to attack and defend to the very end. While defending, if a team succesfully stops the attackers, they receive 1 Series Point. Another Series Point is awarded to the team with the best offense, as measured through Stopwatch.
We've completely overhauled the way we balance teams in Casual. Auto-balance kicks in much faster to address missing teammates, while also considering more factors in selecting who to balance and when, reducing frustrating auto-balance moments. The new Team Shuffle system acts in between each Series, selectively adjusting a few players if a skill imbalance is detected, with as little disruption as possible, making sure teams are always on a level playing field, no matter who joins the match.
We've made Casual more casual and fun with new social features in the classic spirit of Team Fortress.
In attempting to make competitive for everyone, it ended up being right for no one. Instead of trying to rough it out, we've decided it's best to make it easier for the already established competitive community to get into. We've also added some cool new goodies along the way.
Game balance purity isn't worth it if no one plays. 6s class limits are now enforced (2 of every class, except 1 for Medic and Demo). We've also added global weapon bans to make things feel more at home for competitive players.
We've reworked the Ready Up system to be easier to use and prevent stalled out games. Bots will now also fill in remaining slots instead of just replacing players that abandon during a match, removing the need to wait around for a full game.
Competitive matches were often hindered by frequent crashes or poor performance due to the strict config requirements. It's more important to us that players are able to play and enjoy the game, rather than an idealistic version of it, so we've removed these restrictions.
Rollouts are a critical component of competitive play, and previously, the match setup phase broke player expectations. We've reworked this phase to be more consistent with the tradeoffs high-skilled players expect from a competitive match.
Movement is smoother and more responsive, dynamically simulated at a higher resolution than ever before. We've streamlined crouch-tap jumps (aka "c-taps"), fixed jump arcs, and made bhopping more consistent.
We've removed the legacy stun-locking airblast status effect applied by the Scorch Shot and Loose Cannon. They now uniformly utilize the dynamic "loose footing" mechanic introduced in Jungle Inferno, granting victims the ability to actively counter-strafe and maintain control during knockbacks.
Team #Crits or #NoCrits? You decide! Servers by default come with a new option to toggle random crits on or off.
Territorial Control 2 (TC2) is a new large-scale mode that reimagines Territorial Control as a 50v50 gamemode. tc_hydro, a beloved cult classic and one of the six launch maps for TF2 — all but forgotten — has gotten a mode that truly takes advantage of its broad playspace. The sectioned off areas every round, and the confusing inconsistent map layouts that come with it are gone, and in place of it is something that takes true advantage of the beautiful sprawling architecture and size of the map. All 100 players will feel right at home in this mode that truly revitalizes the multiplayer PvP experience like the mode originally intended. Enjoy the new gamemode along with the engine optimizations that make it possible.
Join massive battles on multiple fronts in an expansive map.
Hot drop directly at captured nodes and teleporters to join the fight.
Capture nodes to advance your team's territory in real-time.
We've heavily upgraded the core rendering pipeline for modern hardware, and polished up various core systems.
Many improvements have been made to the spectator experience, including improved accuracy, adjustments to the spectator HUD, and more.
Tournament casters can now instantly draw lines and markers directly in 3D world space to highlight key points.
Live, fully extensible match data is actively broadcast from the engine for native third-party overlays.
We're constantly making sure that the game keeps running better with optimizations every update.
Reduced downtime and waiting with drastically improved map load times, especially for low-end systems.
We've fixed up a lot of visual issues in the HUD and in game, resulting in a more polished and enjoyable experience.
