Team Fortress 2 News

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:



Scream Fortress XII has arrived!

• Featuring 4 new community maps: Megalo, Bloodwater, Hassle Castle, and Moldergrove
  
• Added the Wicked Windfall Case
  • Contains 22 new community-created cosmetic items that make up the Wicked Windfall Collection
    
  • Has a chance to give one of 6 new community-created Halloween-restricted items as a bonus item
    
  • Has a chance to give a taunt Unusualifier as a bonus item
• Added 19 new community-created Unusual effects
  • 8 new effects for Unusual hats
    
  • 11 new effects for Unusual taunts
• Added the Scream Fortress XII War Paint Case
  • Contains 15 new community-created War Paints that make-up the Scream Fortress XII War Paint Collection
    
  • Has a chance to give a taunt Unusualifier as a bonus item
• All players who launch the game will receive a Soul Gargoyle if they don't already have one
  • Grants access to Merasmissions and Halloween item transmutations
    
  • Tracks Merasmissions completed and souls collected
• All Halloween Contracts have been reset, allowing them to be completed again
  
• Added new Contracts for this year's featured community maps
  
• Completing a Halloween Contract will give players a classic Halloween item and the chance for a Wicked Windfall Case or Scream Fortress XII War Paint Case
  
• Continue last year's event by collecting the souls of dead players for your Soul Gargoyle by killing enemies, doing map objectives, or collecting the Soul Gargoyles that spawn in the maps
  
• All cosmetic and taunt Cases will grant Halloween 2020 Unusual effects instead of their normal Unusual effects during the event. This does not include Crates.
  
• Join Halloween matches by using the Special Events category in Casual
  
• Scream Fortress XII runs through November 7th, 2020
  

General

• Added support for Steam Text Filtering for persona names and chat. This is enabled by default.
  • You can update your settings in the Adv. Options dialog
    
  • You can also update your settings by opting into the Steam Lab
• Updated The Cuban Bristle Crisis to add the smoke effect
  
• Updated/Added some tournament medals
  
• Updated the localization files
  

Mannpower Update

• Map Changes
  • ctf_hellfire and ctf_gorge
    • Flag return time increased from 15 to 30 seconds
  • ctf_thundermountain
    • Flag return time increased from 15 to 30 seconds
      
    • Removed a fence top ledge that snipers could exploit
• Gameplay Changes
  • Flag carrier grapple movement speed reduced
    • Scout with no powerup or with Agility powerup – reduced to 0.8x regular grapple movement speed (down from regular grapple movement speed in previous version)
      
    • Scout with any other powerup - 0.65x normal grapple movement speed (no change from previous version)
      
    • Any other class without a powerup or with Agility powerup - reduced to 0.65x normal grapple movement speed (down from 0.8x in previous version)
      
    • Any other class with a powerup - reduced to 0.5x normal grapple movement speed (down from 0.65x in previous version)
  • Critical hit damage rules changed
    • Weapons that score critical hit boosts on airborne targets will no longer do so in Mannpower since being airborne is a far more important and commonly utilized movement style than in the base game
      
    • Melee weapons that score mini-crit damage no longer have their base Mannpower 1.3x damage boost
  • Medic
    • Free ride removed. Previously when healing a target, you’d be pulled along with them when they moved by grappling hook.
      
    • Reduced heal rate and ubercharge build rate when carrying a powerup or healing someone with a powerup
      • Medics carrying Haste or Agility are exempt from medic powerup checks
        
      • If medic has no powerup and target has no powerup – regular heal and uber build rate
        
      • If only one of the medic and the target has a powerup - half heal and uber build rate
        
      • If both medic and target have powerups - quarter heal and uber build rate
    • Removed overheal from targets carrying powerups
  • Heavy
    • Removed the jump up boost when grappling. You can still jump to disconnect the hook, but the Heavy no longer gets the height boost when doing so.
  • Soldier
    • Battalion’s Backup rage build rate reduced by 2.5x to counter the additional benefits of an extra 20hp and critical hit immunity when compared to the Buff Banner
  • Engineer
    • Carried buildings will now deploy instantly
  • Scout
    
    
    • Removed falling damage
    
    
  • Spy
    • Backstabs disallowed if you’re connected to an enemy by the grappling hook. This applies if you’re hooked into someone or if they’re hooked into you.
      
    • Knife deploy time is no longer instant when switching between weapons, even when carrying Agility
      
    • Conniver’s Kunai no longer considers the victim’s powerup boosted health when taking damage dealt as health
  • Haste buffs
    • Reload speed increased from 2x normal to 4x normal
      
    • Pyro flare gun re-fire rate increased from 2x normal to 5x normal
  • Vampire changes
    • Fixed a bug where the Vampire carrier wouldn’t receive health from damage dealt by an explosion that also caused self-damage
      
    • Increased blast weapon clip size 1.5x
  • Resistance changes
    • Vampire no longer gets a 25% boost to their health received on melee attacks against a player carrying resistance
  • Fixed bug where grapple would auto disconnect after a couple of seconds if the hook embedded in geometry behind clip volumes
    
• Game Balance Changes
  • When the game detects a skill imbalance between teams, select players will be moved between teams to address the imbalance
    
  • If a player is dominating the game for long enough (kills count is very high relative to the rest of the players in the game), they’ll enter a dominant state for a period of time. This state has these effects:
    • Marked for Death
      
    • Powerup modifications
      • Reflect – maximum health reduced 400 to 320. Reflect damage reduced from 80% to 50%
        
      • Vampire – damage resistance removed. No blast weapon clip size increase
        
      • Strength – game multiplier reduced from 2x to 1.4x
        
      • Regeneration – health regenerates at 70% of the regular rate
        
      • Haste – weapon firing rate increase reduced from 2x to 1.5x.Weapon reload speed increase reduced from 4x to 2x
        
      • Knockout – melee damage increase reduced from 1.9x to 1.4x
        
      • King – max health increase reduced from 100 to 20
        
      • Plague – damage resistance to infected players reduced from 50% to 20%
        
      • Precision
        • Sniper rifle - Scope speed increase reduced from 2x from 1.5x. Shot charge speed increase reduced from 3x to 2x. Damage bonus reduced from 2x to1.5x
          
        • Blast weapons - Regular blast radius falloff. No clip size increase
      • Resistance – damage resistance reduced from 50% to 35%
    • Server variables associated with this feature:
      • tf_powerup_mode_dominant_multiplier – the multiple over the server median that a player’s kill count needs to be in order to be determined dominant
        
      • tf_powerup_mode_killcount_timer_length – the time interval to wait between tests for dominant players

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:



Scream Fortress XII has arrived!

• Featuring 4 new community maps: Megalo, Bloodwater, Hassle Castle, and Moldergrove
  
• Added the Wicked Windfall Case
  
  
  • Contains 22 new community-created cosmetic items that make up the Wicked Windfall Collection
    
  • Has a chance to give one of 6 new community-created Halloween-restricted items as a bonus item
    
  • Has a chance to give a taunt Unusualifier as a bonus item
  
  
• Added 19 new community-created Unusual effects
  
  
  • 8 new effects for Unusual hats
    
  • 11 new effects for Unusual taunts
  
  
• Added the Scream Fortress XII War Paint Case
  
  
  • Contains 15 new community-created War Paints that make-up the Scream Fortress XII War Paint Collection
    
  • Has a chance to give a taunt Unusualifier as a bonus item
  
  
• All players who launch the game will receive a Soul Gargoyle if they don't already have one
  
  
  • Grants access to Merasmissions and Halloween item transmutations
    
  • Tracks Merasmissions completed and souls collected
  
  
• All Halloween Contracts have been reset, allowing them to be completed again
  
• Added new Contracts for this year's featured community maps
  
• Completing a Halloween Contract will give players a classic Halloween item and the chance for a Wicked Windfall Case or Scream Fortress XII War Paint Case
  
• Continue last year's event by collecting the souls of dead players for your Soul Gargoyle by killing enemies, doing map objectives, or collecting the Soul Gargoyles that spawn in the maps
  
• All cosmetic and taunt Cases will grant Halloween 2020 Unusual effects instead of their normal Unusual effects during the event. This does not include Crates.
  
• Join Halloween matches by using the Special Events category in Casual
  
• Scream Fortress XII runs through November 7th, 2020
  

General

• Added support for Steam Text Filtering for persona names and chat. This is enabled by default.
  
  
  • You can update your settings in the Adv. Options dialog
    
  • You can also update your settings by opting into the Steam Lab
  
  
• Updated The Cuban Bristle Crisis to add the smoke effect
  
• Updated/Added some tournament medals
  
• Updated the localization files
  

Mannpower Update

• Map Changes
  
  
  • ctf_hellfire and ctf_gorge
    
    
    • Flag return time increased from 15 to 30 seconds
    
    
  • ctf_thundermountain
    
    
    • Flag return time increased from 15 to 30 seconds
      
    • Removed a fence top ledge that snipers could exploit
    
    
  
  
• Gameplay Changes
  
  
  • Flag carrier grapple movement speed reduced
    
    
    • Scout with no powerup or with Agility powerup – reduced to 0.8x regular grapple movement speed (down from regular grapple movement speed in previous version)
      
    • Scout with any other powerup - 0.65x normal grapple movement speed (no change from previous version)
      
    • Any other class without a powerup or with Agility powerup - reduced to 0.65x normal grapple movement speed (down from 0.8x in previous version)
      
    • Any other class with a powerup - reduced to 0.5x normal grapple movement speed (down from 0.65x in previous version)
    
    
  • Critical hit damage rules changed
    
    
    • Weapons that score critical hit boosts on airborne targets will no longer do so in Mannpower since being airborne is a far more important and commonly utilized movement style than in the base game
      
    • Melee weapons that score mini-crit damage no longer have their base Mannpower 1.3x damage boost
    
    
  • Medic
    
    
    • Free ride removed. Previously when healing a target, you’d be pulled along with them when they moved by grappling hook.
      
    • Reduced heal rate and ubercharge build rate when carrying a powerup or healing someone with a powerup
      
      
      • Medics carrying Haste or Agility are exempt from medic powerup checks
        
      • If medic has no powerup and target has no powerup – regular heal and uber build rate
        
      • If only one of the medic and the target has a powerup - half heal and uber build rate
        
      • If both medic and target have powerups - quarter heal and uber build rate
      
      
    • Removed overheal from targets carrying powerups
    
    
  • Heavy
    
    
    • Removed the jump up boost when grappling. You can still jump to disconnect the hook, but the Heavy no longer gets the height boost when doing so.
    
    
  • Soldier
    
    
    • Battalion’s Backup rage build rate reduced by 2.5x to counter the additional benefits of an extra 20hp and critical hit immunity when compared to the Buff Banner
    
    
  • Engineer
    
    
    • Carried buildings will now deploy instantly
    
    
  • Scout
    
    
    • Removed falling damage
    
    
  • Spy
    
    
    • Backstabs disallowed if you’re connected to an enemy by the grappling hook. This applies if you’re hooked into someone or if they’re hooked into you.
      
    • Knife deploy time is no longer instant when switching between weapons, even when carrying Agility
      
    • Conniver’s Kunai no longer considers the victim’s powerup boosted health when taking damage dealt as health
    
    
  • Haste buffs
    
    
    • Reload speed increased from 2x normal to 4x normal
      
    • Pyro flare gun re-fire rate increased from 2x normal to 5x normal
    
    
  • Vampire changes
    
    
    • Fixed a bug where the Vampire carrier wouldn’t receive health from damage dealt by an explosion that also caused self-damage
      
    • Increased blast weapon clip size 1.5x
    
    
  • Resistance changes
    
    
    • Vampire no longer gets a 25% boost to their health received on melee attacks against a player carrying resistance
    
    
  • Fixed bug where grapple would auto disconnect after a couple of seconds if the hook embedded in geometry behind clip volumes
    
  
  
• Game Balance Changes
  
  
  • When the game detects a skill imbalance between teams, select players will be moved between teams to address the imbalance
    
  • If a player is dominating the game for long enough (kills count is very high relative to the rest of the players in the game), they’ll enter a dominant state for a period of time. This state has these effects:
    
    
    • Marked for Death
      
    • Powerup modifications
      
      
      • Reflect – maximum health reduced 400 to 320. Reflect damage reduced from 80% to 50%
        
      • Vampire – damage resistance removed. No blast weapon clip size increase
        
      • Strength – game multiplier reduced from 2x to 1.4x
        
      • Regeneration – health regenerates at 70% of the regular rate
        
      • Haste – weapon firing rate increase reduced from 2x to 1.5x.Weapon reload speed increase reduced from 4x to 2x
        
      • Knockout – melee damage increase reduced from 1.9x to 1.4x
        
      • King – max health increase reduced from 100 to 20
        
      • Plague – damage resistance to infected players reduced from 50% to 20%
        
      • Precision
        
        
        • Sniper rifle - Scope speed increase reduced from 2x from 1.5x. Shot charge speed increase reduced from 3x to 2x. Damage bonus reduced from 2x to1.5x
          
        • Blast weapons - Regular blast radius falloff. No clip size increase
        
        
      • Resistance – damage resistance reduced from 50% to 35%
      
      
    • Server variables associated with this feature:
      
      
      • tf_powerup_mode_dominant_multiplier – the multiple over the server median that a player’s kill count needs to be in order to be determined dominant
        
      • tf_powerup_mode_killcount_timer_length – the time interval to wait between tests for dominant players
      
      
    
    
  
  

Prepare yourself! The UGC League Fall Season is about to start! Come join the players that played last season for some competitive TF2 action! Players of all skill levels are welcome to come play in their Highlander, 6v6, 4v4 and Ultiduo leagues!

The first week of matches starts Monday, October 5th, and there is no cost to play. The UGC has divisions across North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia/New Zealand. Players from any of these regions are encouraged to sign up and join the fun!

In-game medals will be awarded to players who test their mettle! The UGC has awarded nearly 168,000 medals since 2011!

Visit the UGC website and Discord for more information, learn how to play, look for players or to find a team!

(Image credit - Chicken Burger, Dan Greene, Sheila Lieber)

You’re invited to Lockdown Throwdown 2, a 6v6 Cup managed by Phoenix Red. The prize pool, provided by mannco.store and KritzKast, has been raised to 300 keys!

You can catch the event live on KritzKast’s Twitch channel. This two-day cup starts Saturday, September 12th, at 16:25 CEST | 09:25 Central and concludes on Sunday, September 13th, at the same time.

Be sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel to watch the VODs later!