So about that competitive matchmaking stuff…

At the same time all that crap was going on with Skyrim and its workshop, it turns out that B4nny (a.k.a the most popular Demoman ever) and a bunch of buddies went to visit Valve to ask about Team Fortress 2. After a tough journey, much hard work and a vast amount of sweat, blood, tears and over-exaggeration, it turns out that some of the things this crew of popular mercs asked for are actually happening. The biggest part? Talks of competitive TF2 matchmaking.

Now, of course, everyone was happy. The TF2 community, the older and wiser part of it, has wanted some sort of official matchmaking system that wasn’t fucking awful for years. Yes, there IS UGC, ETF2L, ESEA and all that, but it’s always been a hassle, relying on others and having to trust one another.

Problem is, the last matchmaking system Valve gave us was FUCKING AWFUL. Quickplay is often cited as one of the things that has really hurt TF2 over the years. It allowed cheap, money-making crap servers to run amok, before destroying anything community-based by hiding away options that should be obvious and open to old and new players alike. So what on earth will this new system be like?

There’s already loads of questions popping up. Team Fortress 2 isn’t like your normal ranked game – every class plays very differently, so just importing the matchmaking and ranking systems from Counter-Strike: Global Offensive won’t work. Skill levels between characters vary enormously, but since there’s only a choice of nine classes, it’s far more possible for someone to main a class and carry themselves up a ranking system that way – in Dota 2 though maining a hero is less of a problem because all heroes have their niches, there’s no one who’s strong all the time. And how do you even rank players?

Maybe it’ll be a team system rather than a solo queue. The game IS called TEAM Fortress 2, after all. But that seems a trifle unfair to people who don’t have a bunch of friends to team up with. You need to cater for both, I guess.

On top of that, TF2 is currently not in a particularly balanced state. A lot of weapons are pointless or useless and others are far too powerful, providing not enough risk for their reward. This raises some curious questions as to what Valve will do to make sure that not everyone is forced into a Baby Face’s Blaster, Crit-a-Cola and Wrangler meta. People already complain about there being a class meta in competitive play, so will Valve build on that or try and create something different?

The biggest issue though is the format. There’s already four different variations of competitive TF2 – Highlander, 6v6, 4v4 and Ultiduo. 6v6 is the most popular, but it’s shunned by many because not every class gets to play, but Highlander is particularly rigid as no one can change class. Valve will have to make a decision as to which version they want to support, but they might not support any of them!

There’s so many questions and zero rumors. It’s ALL speculation right now. And it could go anywhere. Maybe it’s best that we try to calm down and not go over the top with all this. We’ve been disappointed before and we may very well be disappointed again.

Guys, just promise me that you won’t get too excited. Valve has let us down before. For all we know, this might just be 12v12 with random crits turned off.