For general feedback about the game.
Steam SupportVisit the support site for any issues you may be having with the game or Steam.
As part of this year's Smissmas Update, we'd like to Introduce Mannpower Mode, a new beta game mode for TF2! There's enough to tell you about it that we thought it deserved its own post.
We want to stress a very important word in that last sentence: beta. All of the art is temp and all of the game mechanics are in flux. This is an unpolished beta game mode we're releasing specifically so we can get playtest feedback from everybody and improve it moving forward. So dive right in! Your feedback will be heard and incorporated into the development process.
What's Mannpower Mode?
It's an in-beta CTF-like game mode with grappling hooks and nine different types of powerups. (A lot of this will change during this mode's development. We'll be tweaking rules and adding/subtracting powerups as we go.) It's currently playable in modified versions of Ctf_foundry and Ctf_gorge.
Mannpower alters a few game rules. For one, random critical hits have been disabled. Additionally, teams won't be able to capture the enemy flag unless your flag is at your base. (When your flag is away from your base, you can touch it to instantly return it to base.)
What was that part about grappling hooks?
Right, that! There's a grappling hook available to all classes in Mannpower Mode. You can equip it in your action slot and use it by switching to slot 6. Press fire to shoot out a hook. As soon as it hits something, it’ll start to reel you in. Release the fire button when you want to detach.
You mentioned powerups?
Yep, there are currently nine with more on the way. Note that these are works-in-progress, so the specifics of these power-up boosts might (and probably will) change as the mode improves:
Mannpowers exist in the world and can be picked up by all classes. When picked up they add abilities and enhancements to the player carrying it. Mannpowers can be dropped at any time by hitting your "dropitem" key, and will drop automatically when the player carrying it is killed. Note that you can only carry one at a time, and that you can't take powerups into respawn rooms.
How do I participate?
Click on Play Multiplayer, enable Play Beta Maps checkbox, and then choose Mannpower Mode.
Why is this in beta?
We would like to include the community early in the development process to gather feedback as we try variations in the map layout and game play mechanics.
How can I help the development process?
Play Mannpower Mode! Playing and providing feedback is the biggest way you can help us develop this game mode. Having servers full of users interacting with each other is the quickest way to isolate and fix gameplay problems.
How do I submit feedback?
Write us directly or post in the TF2 Steam Forum.
Are there Mannpower Beta servers? Can we host our own?
Yes and Yes. We're running a set of official Valve Beta servers using quick play matchmaking. Community server owners are welcome to host too.
After the huge success of the last community-made update, we knew it was only a matter of time before some of you got together and tried to top it.
Introducing the End of the Line Update, featuring a whopping thirteen-and-a-half-minute long animated short, new cosmetics, a new taunt from the short, and an update page, all thought up and designed by the TF2 community. Awesome job!
During the End of the Line event, you can find and collect ducks from the corpses of your enemies. Badges are available for tracking your stats and comparing them with your friends. Happy hunting!
The event will run through January 5th, 2015.
Since we announced the TF Tomb Contest a month ago, we've received over a hundred item submissions! You might remember we specifically told you not to make Heavy short shorts. However, once we actually glimpsed the majesty of Heavy short shorts, we saw the error of our ways.
We've managed to narrow it down to three winners and three runners-up. The winners, of course, will get a package containing pretty much every Square game ever. The three winners are...
If you pre-purchase Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris before the game is released on December 9th you'll automatically get all three winning items!
The runners-up won't get a tidal wave of games, but they will get their items shipped in the Mann Co. Store along with the winners in the near future. The three runners-up are...
The TF2 Workshop now has a voting queue! The upgraded queue should make it a lot easier for you to discover new and interesting items to vote on, and will help us get a broader sense of which items you most want to see in-game.
The TF2 Workshop home page has also gotten a redesign. It should now be much easier to browse through new items created by authors you follow, see what your friends are marking as favorites, and read about recent Workshop news from the TF2 team. Workshop authors: Be sure to mark your sets as "sets" in the "edit collection" page, since this will change how your items are now showcased!
One last reminder: Don't forget to vote on Tomb Raider items, now available in a handy new landing page thanks to the redesign.
One of the best parts about working on Team Fortress is that we have the ability to try new things. Sometimes this means "let's try making Halloween minigames that revolve around bumper cars!" and sometimes, like now, it means "let's try a new way of doing promotions".
Rather than working with the developers to have them produce some promotional content for the upcoming Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris that we hope you'll like, we're involving all of you guys directly — you who submit content to the Workshop and who vote on it.
Square Enix has agreed to open up the Tomb Raider IP so that we can have a contest. All of the Tomb Raider games are fair game, so if you've been waiting for your chance to put the heavy in short shorts, this is it. (Please don't do this.) You're welcome to pull from your favorite villains, heroes, levels, or any bit of lore. Because this upcoming game takes place in the classic Tomb Raider universe, we'd like to steer you towards the classic Lara games, rather than focusing on last year's "Tomb Raider".
The contest works like this:
In addition to being featured as the Genuine-quality items awarded for pre-purchase, the contributors who submitted the winning entries will (subject to the contest terms above) get a free copy of the upcoming Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris. And pretty much every Tomb Raider game available on Steam:
In case that wasn't compelling enough, Square Enix has also agreed to grant the winners free copies of almost every one of their Steam games:
This contest runs through Thursday, November 20th, and we'll announce the winners a few days after that. Whether you're an experienced Workshop contributor or someone thinking about getting their feet wet for the first time, this is a great opportunity to check out the item import tool and get to work. If you aren't interested in submitting content of your own, we're still counting on you to head over to the Workshop and vote on the entries that you want to see in the game. Good luck!
