Yet another "Bring Back Quickplay" post (aimed at frustrated new players)
Due to recent problems with TF2, I think it would be relevant to make yet another "bring back Quickplay" post, hopefully it will clarify some things for people that didn't play before Meet Your Match update (2016). I would like for yall to keep in mind that "bot crisis" started right after Casual was conceived, long before Jungle Inferno update, that made necessary Casual changes that modern players take for granted (trust me, early Casual was pure unplayable hell). Anyone interested in Quickplay, please, take your time reading this nerdy post, thanks in advance. I also invite old players to spread the word to newer players, the ones that never played before MyM 😃.
Todays crisis is a great opportunity to remind everyone around how good it was.
Also, theres a thread on Valve's Github repo -- Source-1-Games#7817 , it has some material as well.
TLDR
With 2014-2016 Quickplay ("system" before Casual):
- Your average Harvest TDM experience is 45 minutes without interruptions, if not more.
- Your Harvest or DegrootKeep "match" (there were no concept of a "match" back then) could beas long as everyone wants without 2 minutes of loading and everyone leaving/waiting for reconnection.
- Instead of waiting for the game to find a server, you just wait 3 seconds for Quickplay "List Servers" UI to show you a big list of all official (!) Valve (by default) servers with map pictures (pic related).
- You don't have to fear winning/losing anymore because you **are not** punished for winning/losing the round -- server has less boring loading screens and less interruptions.
- Even if you get autobalanced after winning(?) a round and you miss your favorite pocket med -- you can always switch back to your pre-autobalance team.
- You can goof around for an hour straight on **any** map, instead of you having to pick stalemate heavy maps such as Powerhouse (yes, there are players in EU region that play Powerhouse exactly for it's stalemate-heavy nature)
- Worth mentioning that before MyM it was pretty easy to find non-Hightower Payload Race maps, I also remember Doomsday being played all the time in EU region.
- You can change teams whenever you wanted (provided the server player count allowed you to do so), meaning you could play "defense" on Dustbowl without interruptions, just by switching to RED every time round ends.
There was no catch with "Quickplay", it was just that good -- you had hundreds of Valve servers that you were free to connect freely at any time via different methods, and Quickplay was just a nice UI that could automatically connect you to said servers. There were no slot reservations that bots abuse, no half-broken minute long queues, and you could extend a map timer indefinitely by voting. You could just press "Play Game" in steam, click "Play", click "List Servers" and hop into an Upward game that was left on for an hour (because players would extend the map multiple times), all in less than a minute.
what is "Quickplay" exactly
When people say that they want Quickplay, they dont necessarily mean literal Quickplay UI (though one might say its a big part of the experience). People miss "Quickplay" because old Valve server ruleset (almost the same ruleset that almost all "vanilla" "community" servers use as well, by the way) implied map timers (45 minutes), and not round limits. There's no need to "start a new match" if the old one didnt end. There was no concept of a "match" at all. You either hit 45 minutes on map timer (if it wasnt extended by vote) or you changed the map with the "Change Current Map" vote for server to change maps. You could freely change teams and call for scrambles. There was no concept of a "match", there were only rounds which swapped the teams in non-symmetrical gamemodes and occasional autobalance scrambles (which you could negate by changing teams back). And most importantly, you could just join Valve servers from a server browser or UI without waiting for any arbitrary system to reserve slots for you or make you spend (sometimes several minutes, if not tens of minutes) time "searching" for a game. You just hop into a 20/24 server with a map you would be ok playing and you play the game. Hence the name, "Quick" "Play".
Bot crisis and Casual
Contrary to popular belief, bot crisis actually started long before 2020, there were early instances of some servers being botted back in 2016. Bots of today abuse Casual matchmaking system feature of reserving player slots for people to join. An integral feature of any matchmaking system, you just cant "remove" it -- otherwise you'd just remove Casual matchmaking. Add in a few server cvars and you recreate old experience by accident.
Proof: youtube.com
What is the problem with Casual
Knowing original objective of the Casual (make the game more objective-focused) it's ironic how some players might NOT cap last points on some maps because they know that if they capture the point they will have to suffer through several things:
- 50% of people just leaving (because requeing is usually faster) server/map reset
- "waiting for players" (a solid minute minimum)
- your past teammates (the one that didn't leave) (imagine a friendly medic that pocketed you) are now in the opposite team and you have NO way to reconnect with them if you're very lucky, your new game is 12v12, but usually on maps that aren't in the top 5 you have less than 10 players in both teams
Even worse, sometimes servers just die -- one team accidentally pushes too hard, punishing everyone with the two minute long loading screens and the opposite team just leaving after the fact, leaving the "winning team" with a new 10 versus 4-6 "match". And I haven't mentioned "Player connecting..." slots being occupied for a solid minute or two, literally breaking the balance of some gamemodes like KOTH or CTF (if we take CTF seriously).
Meet Your Match update (the one that almost killed the game by introducing "Casual") was about making TF2 be a game of "matches" with "winners" and "losers", but it actively discouraged people from actually winning the round because people play TF2 to hang out, to play around with different classes, goof around, try to break their own class records (it's a literal mechanic in the game, by the way), try to outdeathmatch their opponents with "Duel Tool" items and "Domination" mechanics while leaning(!) against the map objective (which had a "Deathmatch/hanging around" purpose as well -- shifting respawn timers and locations, or ending the carnage temporarily with gamestate reset). Effectively, Casual system just straight up punishes all players (winners and losers) for ending the round, everyone loses.
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Yet another "Bring Back Quickplay" post (aimed at frustrated new players) Due to recent problems with TF2, I think it would be relevant to make yet another "bring back Quickplay" post, hopefully it will clarify some things for people that didn't play before Meet Your Match update (2016). I would like for yall to keep in mind that "bot crisis" started right after Casual was conceived, long before Jungle Inferno update, that made necessary Casual changes that modern players take for granted (trust me, early Casual was pure unplayable hell). Anyone interested in Quickplay, please, take your time reading this nerdy post, thanks in advance. I also invite old players to spread the word to newer players, the ones that never played before MyM 😃. Todays crisis is a great opportunity to remind everyone around how good it was. Also, theres a thread on Valve's Github repo -- Source-1-Games#7817 , it has some material as well. TLDR With 2014-2016 Quickplay ("system" before Casual): - Your average Harvest TDM experience is 45 minutes without interruptions, if not more. - Your Harvest or DegrootKeep "match" (there were no concept of a "match" back then) could beas long as everyone wants without 2 minutes of loading and everyone leaving/waiting for reconnection. - Instead of waiting for the game to find a server, you just wait 3 seconds for Quickplay "List Servers" UI to show you a big list of all official (!) Valve (by default) servers with map pictures (pic related). - You don't have to fear winning/losing anymore because you **are not** punished for winning/losing the round -- server has less boring loading screens and less interruptions. - Even if you get autobalanced after winning(?) a round and you miss your favorite pocket med -- you can always switch back to your pre-autobalance team. - You can goof around for an hour straight on **any** map, instead of you having to pick stalemate heavy maps such as Powerhouse (yes, there are players in EU region that play Powerhouse exactly for it's stalemate-heavy nature) - Worth mentioning that before MyM it was pretty easy to find non-Hightower Payload Race maps, I also remember Doomsday being played all the time in EU region. - You can change teams whenever you wanted (provided the server player count allowed you to do so), meaning you could play "defense" on Dustbowl without interruptions, just by switching to RED every time round ends. There was no catch with "Quickplay", it was just that good -- you had hundreds of Valve servers that you were free to connect freely at any time via different methods, and Quickplay was just a nice UI that could automatically connect you to said servers. There were no slot reservations that bots abuse, no half-broken minute long queues, and you could extend a map timer indefinitely by voting. You could just press "Play Game" in steam, click "Play", click "List Servers" and hop into an Upward game that was left on for an hour (because players would extend the map multiple times), all in less than a minute. what is "Quickplay" exactly When people say that they want Quickplay, they dont necessarily mean literal Quickplay UI (though one might say its a big part of the experience). People miss "Quickplay" because old Valve server ruleset (almost the same ruleset that almost all "vanilla" "community" servers use as well, by the way) implied map timers (45 minutes), and not round limits. There's no need to "start a new match" if the old one didnt end. There was no concept of a "match" at all. You either hit 45 minutes on map timer (if it wasnt extended by vote) or you changed the map with the "Change Current Map" vote for server to change maps. You could freely change teams and call for scrambles. There was no concept of a "match", there were only rounds which swapped the teams in non-symmetrical gamemodes and occasional autobalance scrambles (which you could negate by changing teams back). And most importantly, you could just join Valve servers from a server browser or UI without waiting for any arbitrary system to reserve slots for you or make you spend (sometimes several minutes, if not tens of minutes) time "searching" for a game. You just hop into a 20/24 server with a map you would be ok playing and you play the game. Hence the name, "Quick" "Play". Bot crisis and Casual Contrary to popular belief, bot crisis actually started long before 2020, there were early instances of some servers being botted back in 2016. Bots of today abuse Casual matchmaking system feature of reserving player slots for people to join. An integral feature of any matchmaking system, you just cant "remove" it -- otherwise you'd just remove Casual matchmaking. Add in a few server cvars and you recreate old experience by accident. Proof: youtube.com What is the problem with Casual Knowing original objective of the Casual (make the game more objective-focused) it's ironic how some players might NOT cap last points on some maps because they know that if they capture the point they will have to suffer through several things: - 50% of people just leaving (because requeing is usually faster) server/map reset - "waiting for players" (a solid minute minimum) - your past teammates (the one that didn't leave) (imagine a friendly medic that pocketed you) are now in the opposite team and you have NO way to reconnect with them if you're very lucky, your new game is 12v12, but usually on maps that aren't in the top 5 you have less than 10 players in both teams Even worse, sometimes servers just die -- one team accidentally pushes too hard, punishing everyone with the two minute long loading screens and the opposite team just leaving after the fact, leaving the "winning team" with a new 10 versus 4-6 "match". And I haven't mentioned "Player connecting..." slots being occupied for a solid minute or two, literally breaking the balance of some gamemodes like KOTH or CTF (if we take CTF seriously). Meet Your Match update (the one that almost killed the game by introducing "Casual") was about making TF2 be a game of "matches" with "winners" and "losers", but it actively discouraged people from actually winning the round because people play TF2 to hang out, to play around with different classes, goof around, try to break their own class records (it's a literal mechanic in the game, by the way), try to outdeathmatch their opponents with "Duel Tool" items and "Domination" mechanics while leaning(!) against the map objective (which had a "Deathmatch/hanging around" purpose as well -- shifting respawn timers and locations, or ending the carnage temporarily with gamestate reset). Effectively, Casual system just straight up punishes all players (winners and losers) for ending the round, everyone loses.
#tf2 #teamfortress2 On Valve's Source-1-Games GitHub: Source-1-Games#8434 "[TF2] Casual: clients stuck on 'Player Connecting' hold team slots, matches end up 2v7 or half empty." "The scoreboard fills up with grayed-out "Player Connecting" entries that never turn into real players."
If you're playing on Linux and are tired by long map loading times, you can fix it with one launch parameter Go to Properties -> General -> Launch options and add -no_compressed_verts That's it. If fixed my loading times (from ~67 sec down to ~9 sec). Windows is not affected by this bug. More info for the curious minds: Source-1-Games#8435
If you're playing on Linux and are tired by long map loading times, you can fix it with one launch parameter Go to Properties -> General -> Launch options and add -no_compressed_verts That's it. If fixed my loading times (from ~67 sec down to ~9 sec). Windows is not affected by this bug. More info for the curious minds: Source-1-Games#8435