TF2 Casual: Valve is listening to you, and its already fixing its s**t

Team Fortress 2 fans are not happy with the new Casual play mode - but they won't need to be angry for long.

Team Fortress 2 finally gave competitive players a chance to shine when the summer update added ranked TF2 play. Competitive modes aren't easy to get right, but it's actually been the new Casual mode that's proved the most upsetting.

In a blog post, Valve addressed four major concerns players have raised since the summer TF2 update went live, and promised to action them soonest.

A TF2 patch rolled out this very weekend to correct the first complaint - that players are penalised with a ten minute wait if they abandoned a game. "Your feedback has convinced us that it is more important for players to be able to come and go as they please," Valve said in a blog post. The patch also allows users to narrow their queue to one mode.

Other issues will have to wait on a comprehensive update, but Valve's number one priority for TF2 is fixing queue times. "The queue times you are currently experiencing are a bug, not a feature," Valve said, and result from "several backend issues appeared post-launch".

Once Valve has solved TF2's abysmal queueing situation it will turn its attention to match options, adding in the ability to select maps. Valve said this is coming "very soon".

The fourth issue Valve wanted to address is levelling. Unlike TF2's new competitive mode, Casual levels are totally cosmetic, don't have any bearing on matchmaking and can never be lost; they're just like, "I have played this game for a long time" or whatever. The developer didn't mention any "fixes" for this, but apologised for poor communication.