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[ashecitism]

Join this group if you want to get an invite for the beta.

update: 2016.02.19.

http://steamcommunity.com/groups/tfcompetitive/discussions/0/405692224225135720/

Hello from the TF2 team, and thanks for joining the TF2 competitive beta group! We hope you're all ready to start killing each other for points as we get this mode up on its feet.

We know you'd all like to start testing now, and eventually we hope all of you WILL get a chance to play and share your thoughts. But remember that all testing happens in stages, and right now we're at stage one.

Our plan is to start small and increase participation as we go. For this initial phase of testing - which will begin in the next week or so - we'll be gradually granting random members from this group an in-game item called a Competitive Matchmaking Beta Pass. Once you've been granted a pass you will have ongoing access to the beta.

In addition, we will begin holding both announced and unannounced stress-test events, inviting many group members to participate for the duration of the event to test our systems. Group members selected for stress-tests won't require a pass to play for the duration of the event.

Whether we randomly select you for stress testing or grant you a pass, we will prioritize group members that meet the following requirements:

• Have either purchased a copy of Team Fortress 2 prior to June 23, 2011, or have made a purchase from the Mann Co. Store. (AKA premium accounts)
• Have Steam Guard Mobile Authenticator enabled. ( https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=8625-WRAH-9030 )
• Have a phone number associated with your Steam account ( https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=8625-WRAH-9030#addphone )

Thanks again for your interest and support.

---

VOD will be up soon if you missed it. Some of the main points from the cast...

- Valve wants to implement matchmaking in order to gather data for weapon balance and serve as an "end-game" for players to aspire to beyond pubbing.

- Format and team size are up in the air still, though Valve's interested in eventually having multiple queues. They're weighing convenience/speed of matchmaking vs TF2's population size. Will likely be different from existing competitive formats especially with regards to class/weapon limitations, so people used to current 6s and HL should keep an open mind.

- Ladder will likely be based on a rating of one's general TF2 skill, rather than a per class ranking.

- Source 2 port of TF2 is not happening any time soon since they don't see an immediate need for it.

- ETA is Valve-time. They do have a matchmaking system working internally and have been working on it at least since the fall of last year.

- The current TF2 team has some new blood, comprises ~4-8 people, and shares an office with CSGO devs. They'll remain in contact with the competitive scene moving forward and are already working on requested bug fixes and features like more customizable crosshair support, HUD changes, fixing demo functionality, etc. They're also willing to send merch to tournaments in the future.

Exciting stuff. :>

It's up on YT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6x45PMegzcw

there was a correction after the stream

http://www.reddit.com/r/truetf2/comments/34l6t8/postfully_charged_talk_about_some_of_the_new/cqvr6z2

TF2 has 20 people working on it, not 7-8

---

It was last year that some people have found stuff in the files pointing towards that, well today it has been confirmed.

courtesy of Bluth54

Actually some top TF2 competitive players just announced a few minutes ago that they visited Valve recently and they confirmed TF2 is getting competitive match making, along with an in game comp stream list like CSGO has.

Remember the rumors of matchmaking in the works? Turns out there’s substance to them after all.

A few months back a group of us (event organizers and production staff) began an email exchange with the TF2 team in an attempt to establish a more open channel of communication between the team and the competitive community. That dialogue spawned a request for a list of prioritized* feature requests that would most benefit the community, to which we responded that we’d benefit from:

• A CS:GO-style stream list integrated into the main game menu
• Matchmaking
• Bug fixes/QOL improvements (some of which we gathered from this thread)

* taking into consideration both ease-of-implementation and magnitude of impact on the community

We were ultimately granted an opportunity to drop by and chat if we were in the neighborhood, so naturally we scrambled together a group of notable west-coasters (myself, extine, mana, b4nny, Seagull) to meet with the TF team.

That meeting was yesterday, and to our surprise…

…we’re getting all that we asked for.

I’m sure some of the nuances of the conversation (particularly regarding matchmaking) would get lost or misinterpreted in text, so I’m leaving the full debrief to this Friday’s Fully Charged episode which will feature a panel of meeting-attendees plus esports columnist Sam “oPlaid” Lingle. Feel free to leave any questions you might have in the event thread and we’ll answer them in the stream.

It’s 3 AM here and we’re all still wide awake from excitement, and if you’re reading this now, you should be too.

Get hyped!

edit:

EDIT: eXtv just dropped this video with some [vague] details -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UelPvdGskv4

 

[Enter the Dragon Punch]

This might legitimately save the TF2 comp scene - is it getting ranks ala CS:GO as well? Doesn't seem to say much about it

 

[Neidii]

Been waiting for that for years. I wont believe it until I see it with my own eyes in the game.

 

[Gears]

Well this is rad time to add it back into my rotation

 

[Daria Morgendorffer]

I've been waiting for this!

 

[Ultra Numb]

Holy shit! I might just jump back in.

 

[Moobabe]

I was talking about this just the other day. If it's real I can't wait.

 

[Neonglitz]

This is good. TF 2 is one of the best shooters out there.

 

[Bluth54]

This is truly excellent news, I know comp TF2 players have been wanting something like this from Valve for a long time.

I'm a long term TF2 player and I've watched some comp TF2 but I've never really gotten into it since it pretty much requires going through a third party website/group to do it. I'm looking forward to giving it a shot.

It will be interesting to see what formats Valve will support. 6v6 is the most common format, though not that close to normal TF2 you see on pubs. Highlander 9v9 with one of each class is much closes to pub play, but I wouldn't be surprised if they add support for both.

 

[Kordelle]

And I thougt it TF2 would mean Titanfall 2...

 

[Bluth54]

This might legitimately save the TF2 comp scene - is it getting ranks ala CS:GO as well? Doesn't seem to say much about it

We should be getting more info on Friday, the comp players who went to Valve are doing a podcast and are going to give more details.

 

[Zeknurn]

It's long overdue and hopefully will get the TF2 scene going like CSGO.

 

[Alienups]

Documentary about one of the biggest events in comp TF2 history.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5USIDoZleAk

 

[ramparter]

Could be like the 10th time I'll revisit TF2.

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

Oh man, please be good. TF2 is such a fun mess, though this will make it that better.

 

[Slair]

This may get me to come back and play some roaming solly again.

Edit: Assuming it's proper comp rules and not just 6v6 with class limits and crazy weapons everywhere.

 

[Enter the Dragon Punch]

We should be getting more info on Friday, the comp players who went to Valve are doing a podcast and are going to give more details.

Wonder how they're going to balance the item situation in competitive though

 

[Xizk]

Finally! Will go back to playing some TF2 when this launches.

 

[Bluth54]

Wonder how they're going to balance the item situation in competitive though

Well the TF2 team has been working hard at weapon balancing, pretty much every major update in the last few years has had a ton of balances. I know a lot of comp TF2 uses a weapon ban list (especially 6s) I wonder if there will be some sort of Ban vote system.

 

[Hip Hop]

What took them so long to implement this?

It's a no brainer, really.

 

[Bluth54]

What took them so long to implement this?

It's a no brainer, really.

Honestly at the speed the TF2 team moves they probably consider this fast.

 

[PhaZZe]

hype, reinstalling now and telling friends about that, this will be huge if they implement correctly

 

[Phocks]

I wish it got this like two years ago myself back then would have been excited.

 

[Kiljaro]

Never really got into Team Fortress because of the lack of matchmaking. If Valve implements and markets this well it could be big. My playtime difference between Source and Global Offensive is huge because of matchmaking.

 

[ashecitism]

hype, reinstalling now and telling friends about that, this will be huge if they implement correctly

Well, who knows when this is coming. Could be summer or later. Hopefully the podcast will have good details.

 

[Puruzi]

Fuck yes!

 

[HowZatOZ]

This could very well put TF2 back in the spotlight ala CSGO. They've already got the item crates so just missing that reasons to log in each day.

 

[xDUMPWEEDx]

As a former competitive TFC player, I approve of this.

 

[Shuggananas]

That could be fun. TF2 is still really good, but stomping noobs gets old lol

 

[afternoon delight]

I will play the everloving hell out of this game again if I can get guaranteed team players, holy shit.

 

[deleted]

Woah, I didn't see that coming - maybe they'll just allow standard weapons in the beginning and allow further weapons down the raod?
There also quite a few weapons that have to be bought/found, so I wonder how they'll handle that in competitive...

 

[de1irium]

This is the best TF2 news I've heard in a long long time. Used to play comp, and put thousands of hours into the game ... if this is done right, there might be a few thousand more hours there...

EDIT: eXtv just dropped this video with some [vague] details -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UelPvdGskv4

 

[pinkurocket]

I play TF2 almost everyday for at least 30 minutes to an hour, usually on a server I frequent with decent players. Comp matchmaking looks interesting, but then again part of why I love TF2 is because it's not always super serious. However it's still interesting to have an official matchmaking option. It's gonna be interesting to see if they allow all weapons, because some players are passionate about how cancerous some weapons are, and if they get allowed in comp matches these people are going to get mad over it.

 

[dalVlatko]

Yes! I loved TF2 but have grown to dislike just jumping into random servers after playing so much CSGO competitive matchmaking.

I know there are different game modes the more serious TF2 players play, but I hope they make matchmaking me as close to regular TF2 as possible.

 

[balladofwindfishes]

For weapons they were developing a "captains mode" type menu where you pick and ban weapons.

Valve also said this pick and ban data was valuable for future balance, as well

 

[Bastos]

Does competitive TF2 only allow Vanilla weapons? I really hope so.

 

[AJ_Wings]

Holy shit... Holy Shit!

I actually thought they weren't even going to bother at this point considering how awful their communication is in the past. Thanks TF2 team!

 

[balladofwindfishes]

Does competitive TF2 only allow Vanilla weapons? I really hope so.

No, several unlock weapons are allowed in even the most conservative of ban lists.

Valve also wouldn't make a mode that was stock only

 

[Wolf Akela]

What match format (6v6, 9v9, etc)?

Weapon white/blacklist? Captain Mode for weapons will take way too long.

Class limit? How will the solo queues go? Do you queue as a class? Do you queue then have a class pick order among the team?

How will maps be picked?

 

[ashecitism]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UelPvdGskv4

eXtine and Mana vlog

 

[Bluth54]

A video with a little more info.

 

[HowZatOZ]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UelPvdGskv4

eXtine and Mana vlog

A video with a little more info.

Both 20 minutes late.

 

[Werewolf Jones]

I know a fair few people who complained about how Valve treated TF2 and didn't bother with the competitive scene so that's cool that they're finally getting what they want. They'll still find something to complain about though.

 

[Vintage]

Hell yeah.

 

[ashecitism]

Both 20 minutes late.

sorry, missed the edit

 

[Zia]

Whoa. I didn't think this was actually coming.

So they're working on competitive matchmaking, Asteroid, Cactus Canyon and Mannpower Mode. I wonder if some of this stuff is completely finished and they're waiting for the Source 2 transition.

 

[balladofwindfishes]

What match format (6v6, 9v9, etc)?

Weapon white/blacklist? Captain Mode for weapons will take way too long.

Class limit? How will the solo queues go? Do you queue as a class? Do you queue then have a class pick order among the team?

How will maps be picked?

Last year Valve wanted to make Highlander the official competitive mode for TF2. Chances are good it'll be Highlander

Valve wanted a base white list of stock, and then a ban phase for weapons. I don't think it'll take that long really.

Class limit will probably be 1 of each class, teams of 9.

Solo queue will probably just be placed in a random 8 man team. I'm going by how MvM handles it, since I imagine the lobby will be based entirely on the already existing MvM lobby. You probably wouldn't queue for a specific class.

We don't really know for sure how it's going to work, I'm just going by what Valve has done/said before and the other lobbies TF2 has had over the years.

 

[TheSeks]

I don't really care about CS:GO competitive. What I want is:

CTRL+F "removes 'class update items'"

0 results found.

WELP. When Team Fortress 2 goes back to the "competitive"/vanilla mode where each class had a specific role and way to play it, I'll consider playing Team Fortress 2 again.

The whole backburner/flare gun/etc. items just drew me away from the game.

 

[balladofwindfishes]

I don't really care about CS:GO competitive. What I want is:

CTRL+F "removes 'class update items'"

0 results found.

WELP. When Team Fortress 2 goes back to the "competitive"/vanilla mode where each class had a specific role and way to play it, I'll consider playing Team Fortress 2 again.

The whole backburner/flare gun/etc. items just drew me away from the game.

If it wasn't for new weapons we wouldn't even have this thread because TF2 would have been dead years ago.

People hoping for this to be a stock only mode (which professional players don't even want) are going to be pretty disappointed.

One of the main reasons Valve wants to get a proper competitive system going is they feel there's a major disconnect between comp and regular play. A major part of people watching comp play is emulation of the techniques used. The pick/bans of regular players in Dota, for example, almost always line up with whatever is popular in pro games at the time. Except you can't emulate the techniques used because the format is entirely different and might as well be a different game. Even pro TF2 players struggle when entering a random game with unfamiliar weapons and stuff like 5 Snipers per team. They want to make sure the professional scene is as close to what regular people play as possible. And also to standardize things so you don't have one league that bans the Black Box and one that allows it, so people can't really perfect using it because they might not even be able to in a particularly conservative league. I specifically mention the Black Box because that is a weapon Valve themselves mentioned was a weapon they love seeing get comp use, which it does in the couple of leagues that allow it, but they'd love to see it used more and for ban lists to be a bit more standard.

Valve also has no good data on what weapons are broken and which need buffs, so far they've been using useage statistics to throw stuff and hope it sticks, but want more refined and high level data that they can only really pull with a proper system that allows all items.

So yea, the "dream" (which again, not even pro players want) of stock only isn't going to happen. It defeats the original intents of even starting work on matchmaking.

 

[de1irium]

I think the important takeaway from the video was that when it does release, 1) it will not be exactly what we want but 2) it will be updated and iterated on.

It's very unlikely that matchmaking will be "vanilla 6v6" right off the bat (or ever ... even comp uses some of the new items), but if Valve cares enough to work with all these people who are playing 6v6 comp then it stands to reason that common competitive formats will be supported in the long run.