Questions and Answers

Hi, thanks for trying out quickplay! You may have a few questions about it, which should be answered down below. Thanks, and have fun!

And if you're a community server host, check out our Server Hoster guide for more information about quickplay requirements and how we can work together to make a great experience for players.

What is this?

This is a best attempt at recreating the old in-game Quickplay feature as accurately as possible, and updating it to work in the current times and in browser.

How do I report a problem?

Join us on Discord and report your issues to the #tf2-quickplay channel, or use the emails listed out in the other answers below. We welcome feedback from both players and server owners!

How can I follow updates?

You can see updates on Discord, or on our update log.

How do I share this around?

We really appreciate the enthuasiasm! The more people use quickplay, the better it'll be! You can share our easy to remember quickplay.tf link, and even include it in your Steam name!

How does this work?

Servers which are selected for the quickplay pool are then searched through according to your preferences. You get matched into the server with the best score. Servers are scored according to player counts and estimated ping/region to be ideal for the player searching, as well as a reputation bonus.

Why did I get matched into an empty server?

When you get matched into an empty server, it usually means there's no good options available for your region. If you want to get into a populated match as soon as possible, try adjusting your filters or your game mode selection.

However, if you are patient, other quickplay players from your region will most likely also get matched into your server, and this will start a healthy chain reaction to sustain the server for a long time. Ideally, this takes around a minute or two if there are people searching in your region, but may take longer otherwise.

At certain times, you may want to turn off "Strict regional matchmaking" so you can queue into other regions with players, if you're queuing at a time where your own region doesn't typically have players.

Another tip: certain game modes may tend to be mostly instant respawn, so try expanding your filters that way.

This isn't all to say we don't want to improve things! Please give us feedback if you've encountered an empty server at [email protected]. Let us know your general region, your search settings, and the time you searched for a game.

Why did I get matched into a full server?

Though we do track when servers get too full, it isn't perfect. You're basically competing with other players to join a server, and some servers which are getting a lot of traffic directed to it can have their player numbers spike up suddenly, and fill up the server. We want to always avoid these cases. Please give us feedback if you've encountered joining a full server at [email protected].

Why did I get matched into a server with high ping?

This could be for several reasons. One is a similar reason to above, where quickplay is trying to get you into a server with players, and servers in your region don't have them. However, it could also be a bug with how we calculate ping. So let us know at [email protected]. Give your general region, your search settings, the time you search for a game, and the server IP that you ended up on.

Does quickplay do well in X region?

Probably! There's a strong server offering in Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Oceania. Regions which don't have much or any servers available are Africa, India and the Middle East. Player counts in every region can vary depending on the time and day, of course, but there should be enough people in each populated region to use quickplay effectively.

What's the point of this over other solutions?

Many people have been asking for a solution which behaves like the old quickplay. This is an exact replica of that system, adjusted to be more ideal for the current era of TF2. Other solutions like the server browser just aren't an easy, one click and curated solution for having the best chance of finding a casual-like server to play on.

What servers are eligible?

We take the entire public server list into account, and filter it based upon our requirements. Servers must generally follow default TF2 gameplay rules (excluding a few preference-based exceptions), without adverse modifications which players looking for an unmodified casual experience do not want. These server modifications are not allowed for servers in quickplay. You can learn more about detailed requirements in the server hoster guide.

Can I suggest a workshop map?

Sure! You can suggest a map you're a fan of, or one you've created by sending an email to [email protected]. Tell us the map name, a little bit about the map, and a workshop link where we can learn more. We'll consider any map that are in line with the casual map pool, that can contribute to player enjoyment in quickplay.

I found a server which breaks the rules on Quickplay.

Give us the server IP, name and evidence at [email protected].

What is reputation?

Reputation is a matchmaking metric given to servers if players are shown to enjoy them. This was used in the old quickplay algorithm to help weed out bad servers which didn't give players a good experience. It is a small part of the overall scoring system used to match servers with players. It is currently not implemented.

How do I support you and this project?

Thanks for the offer! This project takes a lot of time, effort and money. It'd be much appreciated if you checked out the ways to support me, but feedback and thanks also helps a lot too :).