» Team Fortress 2 Lobby News

Steam Integration

TF2Lobby is now tied to the Steam OpenID system. In essence, all login functions are performed offsite and securely through Steam. You'll be redirected offsite to Steam in order to login rather than everything being neatly contained in one page. This change has a few side effects:

• You no longer have to remember a separate password for TF2Lobby.
• For new users, there's no longer a signup process. RIP "tf2lobby:31278584" codes :(. Just log in through Steam, provided your account has a copy of TF2!
• FLOOR_MASTER no longer has to deal with issues from players whose email provider drops emails from the TF2Lobby password reset service.
• The only negative - if Steam goes down, you'll likely not be able to login to TF2Lobby. This shouldn't be a big problem since logins are valid on TF2Lobby for a month.

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Cumulative Stats

As the natural extension of Match Statistics, today we have launched Cumulative Stats. The Cumulative Stats are listed on each user's TF2Lobby Profile and reflect stats gathered from matches played through TF2Lobby, where stats were able to be recorded. We've improved stats gathering significantly and virtually every match is now covered under the Match Stats/Cumulative Stats system.

Like its Match Stats counterpart, Cumulative Stats is a comprehensive collection of data on every TF2Lobby player, organized by Class, Weapons, and Maps. Key metrics such as kill+assists:deaths ratios, kills+assists per minute, and ubercharges deployed/dropped are displayed, along with dozens of other pieces of data.

Many of the Cumulative Stats charts are interactive, allowing you to filter what they display; look for gray instructional text or off-white buttons.

TF2 Backpacks and Crafting

TF2Lobby Profiles now display TF2 Backpack data if the user's Steam Profile is public. Backpack items can be viewed by class using the panel to the right of the main backpack display.

Below the backpack is a crafting simulator that implements the crafting recipes listed in the TF2 Wiki. Of course, random items you receive through the crafting simulator won't necessarily match items you receive via actual crafting, but the simulator is an easy way to see what you are able to craft.

Note that items you have not yet added to your backpack will not be displayed - support for this will come in a future update.

Lobby Transferral

You can now transfer the Lobby Leader position to another Lobby Member. This feature is especially useful for server owners who would like to set up a Lobby but not give out their RCON password to other players. As a Lobby Leader, you simply click on the "Transfer" button in the bottom Lobby toolbar, then click on the player to whom you want to transfer the Lobby.

Ragequit/No-Show Data

The Cumulative Stats processor now determines if players left a match early, never showed up, or if a player volunteered to substitute but never arrived. This information is now displayed directly in the Lobby, as seen on the right. Lobby Leaders may use their discretion in deciding whether with a high RQ percentage can remain in their Lobby or not.

No-shows are determined in an automated way and are not influenced reporting a user. The reporting feature is still the preferred method for requesting a substitute.

...and more!

Check the Change Log below for full details on the recent updates.

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Match Statistics

Today marks the launch of several major new features, by far the most significant update thus far. In the backend lies a hook into match log files which allows us to collect detailed information about each match; this information is made available through our new Match Statistics display, seen on the right (click on the image to view an actual Match Statistics page).

For supported maps, a match timeline is available, where significant events like kills and captures are plotted precisely where they occurred during the match. The match timeline features an animated playback, and its playback speed can be adjusted with a number of presets. The most popular maps are presently supported (listed below in the change log), but new maps will be added according to what's played most often. Note that future support for specific maps with the match timeline will apply retroactively, so matches played from this point forward will still have their data recorded.

Regardless of match timeline support, detailed statistical information about the match is available, including who killed who, what weapons were used, how much time was spent playing each class, and what everyone's kill streaks were, to name a few.

The Match Statistics page is still a work in progress, and many extensions are planned.

User Profiles

The second major addition is a user profile page for each TF2Lobby user. Your profile page is accessible by logging in and clicking on the profile icon in the lounge - it looks like a bar graph.

Presently, user profiles display a record of every match that user started in, as well as information on the match settings and its starting lineup. If Match Statistics are available for that match, a link will appear, circled in red in the screenshot to the right.

Future expansion of the User Profile page is in progress, and will eventually include global cumulative statistics for each user, the long-awaited karma display, and more!