Back To Work Update (Johnsonverse)

The Back To Work Update was a major update for Team Fortress 2. The first major non-holiday update to the game since Jungle Inferno in October 2017, the Back To Work Update was the first update to the game under Johnson Games, and the first overseen by Tim Johnson. It was released in June 2021.
== Update overview ==
Billed as "The Most Overdue Update in Gaming History", the Back To Work Update not only made changes to the game itself, but also the game's lore. Among the changes included addressing the bot crisis, rebalancing weapons (or even removing weapons that couldn't be rebalanced without making them overpowered), making changes to various mechanics (such as making enemy health visible to all players regardless of class, and overhauling Arena mode), and adding a good number of new maps from the workshop.
=== Lore changes ===
Coinciding with the update was the long-awaited release of the seventh and final issue of the webcomic. This issue sees the end of the entire conflict, with the Administrator, having made herself young one last time with the last bit of Australium left on Earth, settling an old score with Olivia Mann, who it turns out is even older than any of the Mann brothers were, having been made immortal by Gray injecting her with enough Australium to stop the aging process. Olivia, on her part, has been behind everything, all part of a larger plot to use Mann Co.'s weapons to extort control of the United States and Soviet nuclear arsenals and use them to destroy who she believes to be the true enemy: Canada, who have discovered an element ten times stronger than Australium called Canadium.
In the course of the issue, the Classic mercenaries are all killed, Miss Pauling sacrifices her life to stop a bomb from going off, Soldier and Zhanna die in what is described as the "single-most glorious battle ever fought", Demoman gets his eye back, but gets shot through the back by a robot, and the Administrator and Olivia both seemingly die. Most importantly, though, the Pyro is finally unmasked, revealing they are indeed female; more specifically, a female from Japan around Scout's age. This comes when Scout takes a bad hit, and Pyro takes off her mask to administer CPR.
The epilogue sees the surviving mercs go their separate ways, with Heavy returning to the Soviet Union and surviving imprisonment in a gulag for taking on mercenary work in a NATO state, Sniper returning to New Zealand and learning more about his real culture, Scout and Pyro getting married (and Pyro getting therapy, though she manages to drive at least 16 therapists mad before Carl Rogers gets through to her), Engineer selling his sentries, dispensers, and teleporters to the United States military, Spy joining France's intelligence agency and becoming its top agent, Medic getting his medical license back, and Merasmus begging on a street corner. The comic ends in the year 2011, where it is revealed that Olivia Mann survived, and RED and BLU are still active and fighting over the gravel pits, though this time because both are now rival construction firms. Both teams are now made up of clones of the original nine mercenaries (which explains how multiple of one class can exist in the game), and Olivia is now pulling all the strings, waiting for the day she can make her move to finally destroy Canada, and sending the occasional robot attack on Mann Co. facilities for fun. It is then revealed that some of the mercs aren't clones, but completely-new. The very ending reveals that the entire comic series has been the new RED Scout (named Nathan, after the original Scout's voice actor) and the new RED Pyro (named Suki) reading up on the entire history of the Gravel Wars, and realizing how stupid it all is.
These lore changes also made it into the game itself:
* All mentions of Australium were changed to Canadium, including the paint and the weapons that can be obtained from completing Mann vs. Machine tours; any Australium weapons obtained prior to the Back To Work Update were given the new quality "Vintage Australium", with the description changed to call them "valuable antiques of yesteryear"
* The Pyro's mask can now be removed, revealing her real face; any Pyro hat can be worn by the maskless Pyro; without her mask, all of her voicelines are replaced by new voicelines recorded by Kelly Hu, and the other mercs received new domination and revenge voicelines that are used for a maskless Pyro (for the Soldier, Maurice LaMarche recorded the new lines due to Rick May's death in April 2020 and his family refusing to allow his voice to be recreated using VoxMutatio; 99% of players said they couldn't tell the difference)
== List of changes ==
=== Internal updates ===
The biggest part of the update was addressing the bot crisis that had been plaguing the game since late 2019. Tim identified the root cause as Valve's refusal to update the Valve Anti-Cheat (VAC) System out of complacency. The Back To Work Update came with a massive update to VAC; during work on the update, it was found that VAC is incompatible with the Linux operating system, so Tim made the controversial decision to shut down the Linux version of Team Fortress 2; he defended his decision by calling Linux "an OS for hipsters".
Tim also pursued litigation against botmakers, eventually discovering that most of them were on the payroll of Activision Blizzard as part of a corporate espionage plot to sabotage Team Fortress 2 to make Overwatch look more attractive by comparison. The case made it all the way to the Supreme Court, who ruled in Johnson's favor; Activision Blizzard ended up being forced to sell the rights to Overwatch to Johnson as compensation.
Other changes included fixing as many bugs as possible.
=== Re-balances ===
Many of the game's weapons were re-balanced in the Back to Work Update. A few deemed "unsalvageable" were outright removed. A page on the official TF2 website included notes by Tim rationalizing the changes.
Class 	Weapon 	Changes 	Tim's Notes
Scout 	Baby Face's Blaster 	Base movement speed penalty increased to -20%
Boost loss on hit replaced with gradual boost drain
Fixed a bug where the Scout, at full boost, can outrun his own hitbox
Added a Festivized variant 	While not in a better state, this current version of it is more reliable. As you don't get gimped by getting hit which is unavoidable against good players, and for double jumping. Gradually losing boost at the cost of less clip should be fine.
Scout 	Shortstop 	Removed pushback vulnerability
Added 10% faster reload speed 	Reverted to nearly pre-Meet Your Match, just with the increase in push force taken removed. The increased reload speed will make it slightly more potent.
Scout 	Back Scatter 	Increased max clip size from 4 to 6 	The pre-Back To Work Back Scatter was easily countered and overall worse than the Scattergun because of its spread. Now it behaves like regular Scattergun generally and rewards Scouts for good positioning at the cost of clip size.
Scout 	Pretty Boy's Pocket Pistol 	Removed +15% faster firing speed
Health on hit increased from +3 to +4
Added -15% damage penalty 	With the Jungle Inferno faster firing speed, it has higher initial DPS than pistol AND it heals. The damage has been reduced to compensate for being able to heal. The health gain has been increased at close range to compensate for the removal of slower firing speed.
Scout 	Flying Guillotine 	Long distance hits now reduce recharge time
Damage capped at 70 damage
Mini-crits targets launched airborne by explosions, grapple hooks or rocket packs
Bleed effect removed
-40% slower recharge 	Being able to do high and consistent damage from long range as scout for minimal effort and risk is too strong when used right. Thus the bleed has been removed, and being able to deny jumpers as a skill shot has been added.
Scout 	Bonk! Atomic Punch 	Damage absorbtion debuff changed from slowing to marked for death 	The slow effect made little to no difference as (and special thanks to Zesty Jesus for pointing this out) the Scout could negate it by simply spamming the A and D keys. The marked for death makes more sense to add up for taking damage under bonk effects
Scout 	Mad Milk 	Splash radius reduced by 30% 	Mad milk remained incredibly powerful with an insane healing potential, now it's been lowered to match that of the conch and should no longer be OP.
Scout 	Bat (and reskins) 	Deploy speed increased by 40% 	Faster deploy speed will help securing clutch timed kills for aggressive playstyles.
Scout 	Sandman 	Removed 15 health penalty
Added -35% melee damage penalty 	To remove health off an already squishy class for a hardly usable projectile is not that great. I still can't wrap my head around Robin Walker's thought process when making that decision. Instead, the damage of the bat has gone down (it is made of wood after all) and we've increased the ball damage, giving the Scout another long-range damage dealing weapon with a similar trade off to the Wrap Assassin.
Scout 	Candy Cane 	Removed vulnerability to explosive damage
Added -70% overheal from healers
Added -50% slower uber build rate on medics
Added -70% healing from healers 	The pre-Back To Work Candy Cane is unusable unless the enemy team has no explosives; then it becomes a straight upgrade. This change keeps Scout frail when using the Candy Cane, but he won't instantly disintegrate to rockets and grenades.
Scout 	Sun-On-A-Stick 	Declared unsalvageable and removed 	The Sun-On-A-Stick is very niche in its design. The world would be better off if this thing was simply put out of its misery and completely removed from the game. For every weapon removed, don't worry. The Mann Co. Arsenal Update next month will bring in a butt-fucking-ton of new weapons.
Scout 	Fan O' War 	Marked For Death debuff now lasts for 10 seconds 	While lasting for too long and not giving much indication to the enemy being hit. This shouldn't be a problem in MvM.
Scout 	Atomizer 	Deploy speed penalty removed 	The Atomizer doesn't get much use, the previous iteration where you could double jump whenever you were in the process of equipping it made it too strong. However since the buffs of other bats in this update, this weapon is falling behind, removing the slower deploy time will make it more viable in a fight, rather than just for pre-fight transportation.
Soldier 	Liberty Launcher 	Damage penalty reduced from -25% to -20% 	The original damage reduction is so severe that you will have done less than 4 rockets' worth of damage after firing 5 rockets. Like, seriously, did ANYONE at Valve do the math? This slight increase in damage will ensure you will get slightly more kills and less of enemies surviving with 2-3 HP.
Soldier 	Cow Mangler 5000 	Alt-fire hit now mini-crits players instead of setting them on fire 	The afterburn and fire-and-forget nature of this weapon made it very easy to farm banners for soldiers. This change will make the soldier have to be more active on the battlefield
Soldier 	Righteous Bison 	Added +200% damage bonus
Added +200% projectile speed
Added 50% clip size
Added 30% faster deploy speed
Targets cannot be hit multiple times by the same projectile 	The Jungle Inferno Bison is both bad and inconsistent. With a slow projectile and a tick rate that makes certain classes get hit by the same projectile twice depending on which way it was fired from is really bad. That and Valve had the BALLS to say that the projectile penetration, the MAIN SELLING POINT OF THE WEAPON, was a bug. The tick rate has been reduced so this doesn't happen. It will penetrate, but not hit every target that are really close to each other. The faster projectile speed was added so you can actually kill with it.
Soldier 	Buff Banner 	Added +40% max primary ammo on wearer
Added +20% rage build rate 	It's still not where I'd want it to be compared to the other backpacks, but more ammo capacity and build rate is at least something.
Soldier 	Mantreads 	Added +10% faster move speed
Stomps deal 20 additional damage 	Being one of the least used boot for Soldiers and competing with shotguns, the increased air control and push force resistance is not enough. The faster move speed allows for easier pushes as it stacks with the push force reduction, longer rocket jumps, and better positioning overall.
Soldier 	Shovel (and reskins) 	Added 40% faster deploy speed
Added -20% blast damage from rocket jumps 	With all the utility from other unlocks for Soldier, this one falls behind. This buff allows you to hit it multiple times and assist slightly in pushes where you take pushback.
Soldier 	Equalizer 	Added +15% base damage bonus 	To give it an additonal damage dealing edge over other unlocks, the hardly used Equalizer will now pack quite the punch when on low health.
Soldier 	Market Gardener 	Removed -20% slower firing speed
Added -30% damage penalty when attacking on the ground 	This change is to keep it consistent with the Reserve Shooter; less damage when not used for its intended purpose.
Soldier 	Escape Plan 	Added -25% damage penalty
No longer rolls for random crits 	The pre-Back To Work Escape Plan could be used to escape and do high amounts of damage with random crits enabled. The 50% less damage done is to ensure it's used as an escape tool only.
Pyro 	Backburner 	New flame particles to make it more visually-distinct from the other flamethrowers 	Flames changed just to make it visually different from other Flamethrowers.
Pyro 	Dragon's Fury 	Added 100% Afterburn Duration 	The Jungle Inferno version of this weapon offer less effective DPS than if you ran perma-shotgun on Pyro. The increase in flame duration makes it a little easier to land the second shot on targets being healed, as the fire now has 2 ticks instead of 1. Removing the crippling (and weird) airblast penalty makes it viable. You still can't airblast until firing is complete, so the overall airblast output is less than a regular flamethrower.
Pyro 	Detonator 	Removed +50% damage to self 	With the introduction of the Thermal Thruster, this weapon's self-damage was just a little too high for the Pyro to use while in combat after taking damage. The lower damage taken allows her to do more jumps and overall increases the viability of this weapon in combat.
Pyro 	Scorch Shot 	none 	Just putting this here to say the Scorch Shot will NOT be nerfed. Because fuck you.
Pyro 	Mannmelter 	Added +10 damage on normal and critical hits 	By having no reload animation and really clunky feel to it, this weapon needs something extra to compete with the rest of Pyro's arsenal. While reliant on the enemy team having a Pyro to be worth running, which isn't always the case, is the reason for the increase in damage and firing speed, so it does something better than the other flareguns.
Pyro 	Thermal Thruster 	Added +15% recharge rate
Hidden stats removed
Stomp deals an additional 20 damage 	The pre-Back To Work Thermal Thruster is really clunky and weird to use, and requires a lot of planning effectively making you unable to do reactive plays to the enemy. With the faster recharge and removed pushforce and holstering penalty, you can now use it as a gap closer and get more effective Pyro plays out of it.
Pyro 	Gas Passer 	Ignited enemies now explode dealing 45 damage
-70% afterburn duration
Projectile throwing speed is the same as Jarate and Mad Milk
-30% splash radius 	The Gas Passer has some glitches that have been fixed. The 45 AOE damage it does will make this weapon more viable and not just utter trash to the point I was just about ready to declare it unsalvageable and remove it.
Pyro 	Fire Axe (and reskins) 	Added +20% max ammo on primary weapon
Added On Hit by Fire: Vaccinator Fire resist for 2 seconds
Added On Hit by Fire: Mini-crit for 2 seconds
Added On Hit by Fire: Restricted to melee for 2 seconds 	With all the utility the other unlocks for Pyro offer, the Fire Axe needed a buff instead of nerfing all the other items.
Pyro 	Axtinguisher 	Damage penalty decreased to -27%
Holster speed penalty removed 	Slower holstering penalty could be avoided by just switching weapons quickly, so it's been removed. With the now other powerful tools for Pyro, she needed to be able to pack the same punch as the rest. The damage increase only adds a little more damage, but is enough to reliably oneshot 125 health classes even from a small puff of fire.
Pyro 	Homewrecker (and Maul) 	Attacks now pierce damage resistance effects and bonuses
When weapon is active: -40% reduction in push force taken from damage, +20% bullet resistance 	It is very limited in terms of use. If the enemy has no Spies or buildings, there's little for this weapon to do. The added push force reduction allows the Pyro to push through chokes more easily without the need of a speed unlock. It will also destroy wrangled sentries if you can get close.
Pyro 	Powerjack 	Removed +15% faster move speed on wearer
75% of base health restored on kill
+125% health from healers 	Before, it was the 'must pick' melee for Pyro. Now the speed and damage vulnerability have been moved to the Hot Hand. This new rework is focused on giving her sustain. Pyro being a class with limited range often struggles staying alive against certain team compositions. This weapon now allows her to heal back up to continue fighting. If you can land a melee kill, you'll be healing a lot, but it's risky since you take a lot more damage.
Pyro 	Backscratcher (and Postal Pummeler) 	Health packs now provide up to 25% overheal when collected with the weapon active 	Compared to the other melee unlocks for Pyro, it doesn't do what it's supposed to do well enough. The overheal while active allows Pyros to actively use it to gain overheal buff, since you are already using healthpacks on the flanks alone. That is its primary function over the damage.
Pyro 	Sharpened Volcano Fragment 	Burning targets now explode
Mini-crits burning targets and creates an explosion dealing 50 damage lighting surrounding targets on fire for 5 seconds
-90% damage penalty vs non-burning targets 	Arguably the worst melee for the Pyro. This total rework makes it a nuke on a stick. It now feels powerful and fun to use, and is in theory the 'best' melee unlock in terms of damage, however getting in position to deal that damage is another story.
Pyro 	Third Degree 	On Hit: Gain victim's positive status effect for 5 seconds
On Hit: Give victim your negative status effects for 5 seconds 	This weapon relies on random crits to be good, but since many community servers have those disabled, this weapon falls a bit short. While the Axtinguisher and Sharpened Volcano Fragment rely on fire to deal mini crits, this one uses if a player is getting healed or not. The gaining of the status effect is to make it something unique to compete with the rest.
Pyro 	Neon Annihilator 	Can no longer remove Sappers
On Kill: 6 seconds of 100% mini-critical chance 	Similar to the Homewrecker, this weapon offers very little to do. Now it will give crits on kill, making it a combo tool for the Pyro. Enemies used to not be wet when covered in gas, but that has been fixed. Do note that they are not covered in gas if they are burning. Have fun, Pyrosharks!
Pyro 	Hot Hand 	Now has Powerjack's old stats on top of pre-existing stats 	With the speed boost on slap being so miniscule, it made sense to move the speed attribute from the Powerjack to this item. It functions just like old Powerjack minus the health on kill, replaced with the Hot Hand's speed on slap. This makes it a very ideal pushing tool if you can slap an enemy before going in.
Demoman 	Iron Bomber 	Added -10% splash damage falloff 	The Iron Bomber is considered a straight upgrade to stock, with stock only being better in a few other small situations, while not gimping the damage on doing accurate hits with it, the damage you do on the edge of the explosion has been reduce to compensate with the area control not having rolling bombs provides.
Demoman 	Ali Baba's Wee Booties/Bootlegger 	Added +60% secondary ammo on wearer
All fall damage is now negated on wearer 	Switching out a Grenade Launcher for shoes that gave very little for the Stickybomb Launcher is not that great. Now the shoes buff both shield and Stickybomb users alike.
Demoman 	Scottish Resistance 	Added +10 reload speed 	Compared to stock, you just never seem to have enough bombs ready with the Resistance. Some reload speed was added to lessen the downtime with the weapon since it won't be used offensively as often.
Demoman 	Quickiebomb Launcher 	Added -15% blast damage penalty from sticky jumps 	For consistency, if it does less damage to enemies, it should also do less damage to yourself. An oversight that's been fixed here.
Demoman 	Chargin' Targe 	Added +30% sentry damage resistance on wearer
Added +20% increase in charge recharge rate
Added immunity to airblast pushback while charging
Added -50% blast damage to self
Melee swings now deal mini-crit damage early in the charge 	A shield replacing the Stickybomb Launcher is next to impossible to balance, as shields are some of the worst weapons comparatively. Some sentry resistance was added due to Demos now being less effective against buildings and compensated with less fire resist as Pyros should be a weak matchup for demoman running shields.
Demoman 	Splendid Screen 	A little sentry resistance to make Demoman not as gimped against sentries without a Stickybomb Launcher, but less resistance than the Chargin' Targe for consistency. 	
Demoman 	Tide Turner 	Added +10% increase in charge recharge rate
Added immunity to airblast pushback while charging
Added -30% blast damage to self
Melee swings now deal mini-crit damage early in the charge 	While being the easiest to turn and control for sick trimps or whatever, giving this a slight buff is also fitting given the other shields got buffs as well.
Demoman 	Ullapool Caber 	Added +15% melee damage bonus
Deploy penalty reduced to -75%
Added +30% damage to self
Added-40% shield bash damage penalty
Weapon now recharges after 10 seconds 	The old Caber leaves much to be desired. It now more easily one-shots 125 HP classes at the cost of more self damage and less shield bash damage when using this while charging. We also added a recharge to the weapon a la throwable weapons, so you won't have to constantly go back to the resupply cabinet in spawn, and can keep doing meme strategies like terrorizing new Snipers (I'll admit, I'm guilty of using this strategy, and I won't apologize for it).
Demoman 	Eyelander 	With all the changes to shields and shoes, Eyelander ended up being the superior Demoknight choice with how it scaled. With the reduction in health and no longer healing on kill, it now gives more room for other swords to be viable depending on your playstyle.	
Demoman 	Scotsman's Skullcutter 	Removed holster speed penalty
Movement speed penalty reduced from -15% to -10% 	While doing decent damage and being the only sword-class weapon that can random crit, the slower move speed made it really hard to hit melee hits in conjunction with the slower deploy speed. Lowering the move speed penalty helps mitigate this.
Demoman 	Claidheamh Mòr 	Removed holster speed penalty 	Slower holstering penalty could be negated by switching through other weapon slots quickly, so it has been removed from all weapons with slower holstering penalty.
Demoman 	Persian Persuader 	Removed holster speed penalty
Removed max ammo penalties
Added -10% max health on wearer 	It now serves as a melee sword with very few downsides; as an Eyelander-lite. Can now be used with Grenades and Stickybombs without crippling the Demo while still having the same function as going full Demoknight. The increased charge meter on hit should help compensate for this.
Heavy 	Natascha 	Removed On Hit: 100% chance to slow target
Removed -20% damage resistance when below 50% health and spun up
Removed 30% slower spin-up time
Added speed boost on hit
Added +5% faster move speed while deployed 	Slow-on-hit isn't fun to play against, so it's been inverted and now we speed up, opening a whole new world of unrev jump-techs to do as Heavy. Despite still being the weakest of the Miniguns, it offers the most different playstyle.
Heavy 	Brass Beast 	Removed -20% damage resistance when below 50% health and spun up
Spin-up time penalty reduced to -40%
Movement speed penalty while deployed reduced to -40% 	The old Brass Beast movement speed is so slow that you take a lot of additional splash damage, even so much it negates the resistance you have below half health, thus making this weapon only really viable in Mann vs. Machine. By increasing the move speed you can now dodge a bit more easily and won't need the resistance anymore. It was hard to tell when a Heavy is at half health as well making weapons do less damage for seemingly no reason at times.
Heavy 	Tomislav 	Accuracy bonus increased to +25%
Firing speed penalty increased to -25% 	The tomislav is in many cases better than the stock, as it is silent and has faster rev time, however due to a rounding error with how firing speed works with the minigun, it actually has -15% firing speed instead of -20%. This is corrected and a small accuracy bonus is given to help mitigate the damage nerf.
Heavy 	Huo-Long Heater 	Declared unsalvageable and removed 	This was one weapon that caused a shouting match. In the end, I used my executive veto power to just have this piece of shit removed.
Heavy 	Dalokohs Bar 	Added +40% eating speed 	Being the second-weakest lunchbox item, the increased eating speed allows the Heavy to eat it with less planning before combat, increasing its overall viability.
Heavy 	Buffalo Steak Sandvich 	Removed +20 damage vulnerability on use
Added100% faster eating speed
Added ability to cancel the effects with reload or special attack key
Manually canceling the effects removes 1/3 of total health and sets marked for death for 2 seconds.
After the effect expires, the Heavy now projectile vomits because he ate raw steak that has been in his back pocket; the vomit can put out afterburn on friendly players and acts like Jarate on enemies by granting mini-crits	This was the weakest of all the lunchbox items for the Heavy. With the new ability it has to cancel and faster eating speed, it should give the Heavy more opportunities to use this to great effect. As for the vomit effect, I just thought it was COMEDY GOLD.
Heavy 	Fists (and reskins) 	Added 25% faster holster and deploy speed to all equipped weapons
Added 20% faster reload time to all shotguns
Increased launch power on thrown lunchbox items 	The rest of the unlocks for Heavy offers a lot of utility, and not much use for the stock Fists, which is why they are getting this buff. The buff is to help switch speed between main and secondary. Works well in situations where you don't use your melee much or at all.
Heavy 	Killing Gloves of Boxing 	100% critical chance time increased to 6 seconds 	With all the other unlocks that have gotten buffs and do more things, the KGB is falling a bit short, thus this weapon has gotten a slight buff to make up.
Heavy 	Gloves of Running Urgently 	Holster speed penalty replaced with -20% damage penalty 	Pre-Back To Work, the gloves did as much damage as the Fists. Reducing firing speed ensures this weapon is used as a movement tool and not an emergency punching tool.
Heavy 	Warrior's Spirit 	Damage vulnerability replaced with 20% slower deploy speed 	The Pre-Back To Work version of these 'glass cannon' unlocks for the Heavy doesn't really suit the class that well. It's now just more damage, with slower deploy time.
Heavy 	Fists of Steel 	Healing penalty increased to -70% health
Added -50% ÜberCharge rate for Medics healing the player
Deploy speed penalty reduced to -60%
Added -30% slower firing speed
Removed -40% maximum overheal on wearer 	Pre-Back To Work, the Fists of Steel were bugged and OP. Reducing the damage and healing taken now fixes the overheal issue, as well as the weapon being used for anything other than tanking.
Heavy 	Eviction Notice 	Removed health drain while active
Removed firing speed bonus
Damage penalty reduced to -30%
Movement speed bonus removed
On hit: Bleed for 4 seconds
Added +40% deploy and holster bonus 	While the GRU lite version with bleed isn’t an awful weapon, it is still overshadowed. Because of how long the speed boost lasts, you will get massive value out of a single hit even if the damage is lacking. Not to mention that this still works with the Steak for high damage values due to mini-crit bleed, giving Heavy another viable melee option besides the KGB and Warrior’s Spirit.
Heavy 	Holiday Punch 	Added +25% Faster firing speed
Added -35% damage penalty 	This thing is a meme weapon. You use it for memes. So we changed it accordingly. You punch someone with a random crit, make them laugh, then kill them with the Showdown taunt. That's the whole strategy.
Engineer 	Pomson 6000 	Removed On Hit: Victim loses up to 10% Medi Gun charge
Removed On Hit: Victim loses up to 20% cloak
Added +200% projectile speed
Added 50% clip size
Projectile now penetrates enemy targets
This weapon now deploys 30% faster 	I so badly wanted to remove this thing. Drain of Über and Cloak is not acceptable as those classes rely heavily upon that. Similar to the Bison, the slow projectile is hard to hit. The increased projectile speed will allow Pomson enthusiasts to actually get kills off this weapon now instead of mildly annoying the enemy. The change to make it penetrate will make it feel better when it's not being removed by teammates standing in the way.
Engineer 	Wrangler 	Damage is now reduced by 50% while the shield is up 	Every competitive player would never ever shut up about how broken and boring this thing was to play against. The 50% reduction greatly changes interactions with Soldier and Demoman destroying wrangled sentries.
Engineer 	Short Circuit 	Added -75% metal from payload carts on wearer 	The payload cart's infinite metal supply almost cancels out the metal cost of the Short Circuit and was too frustrating to deal with. The metal gain has been toned down to an acceptable level to reduce abuse. Don't worry, you memesters can still have your frickin' Super Saiyan fights.
Engineer 	Wrench (and reskins) 	+25% more metal capacity 	With all the other options available in the engineers toolkit, the wrench simply doesn't have an edge over any of the other unlock options. The increased metal capacity will give it something the other wrenches don't have, making it the best basic wrench.
Engineer 	Southern Hospitality 	Added +400% dispenser range
Added 15% less metal from pickups and dispensers
Added 50% slower building upgrade rate 	I'm still not sure what this weapons place is, so we're testing longer dispenser range for now. If you (*cough*Uncle Dane*cough*) have any good ideas for what we can do with this wrench, let us know. We're looking for proper ways it can support the team somehow.
Engineer 	Jag 	Repair rate penalty increased to -40% 	The Jag is arguably just the stock wrench but better in Vanilla. We've nerfed it to not outshine the stock wrench, as you cannot repair high damage as well as before.
Medic 	Syringe Gun 	Added On Hit: +1% ÜberCharge per needle
Added On Hit: Gain a temporary ubercharge rate buff based off hits landed
Added passive reload 	Pre-Back To Work, the Medic unlock choices have been locked to the Ubersaw and Crossbow. But with passive reload added, and uber gained on hit, this becomes a ranged ubersaw, and with the changes to the vita-saw you can effectively switch the two slots and play a new style of medic. This now allows you to build some uber in situations where you previously did nothing and were passive. But do be careful, if you're using it wrong you and your team will pay for it (like you always do). The buff is cumulative and doesn't stack. 25% + 25% will not be 50% just 25% twice (and a little less due to how TF2 rounds numbers)
Medic 	Blutsauger 	Health gained from needles can now overheal
Added On Hit Teammate: Gain +2 health for you and your target (overheals)
Added passive reload 	Pre-Back To Work, this weapon is trash. It makes you die to everything faster, since you'll primarly be using the Medi Gun. Now it's been given the same survival power as the Overdose, but focuses on shooting enemies for health and overheal, or teammates for reduced health (useful when in a pinch and no health packs are around). It now helps the Medic survive in a sense that is as powerful as the Crossbow's ability to heal teammates.
Medic 	Crusader's Crossbow 	Added -20% damage and healing penalty 	Balancing Medic’s other primaries around being as good as the crossbow has a been point of contention during development of Back To Work. I personally didn't want to nerf this, but ArraySeven forced my hand. Bringing down the power of the Crossbow allows less overtuning of other weapons to make them worthwhile options. It's hard to nerf this weapon without it feeling oppressive for everyone who is used to how it normally function.
Medic 	Overdose 	Added +5% faster move speed
Added -50% clip size
Maximum health now lowered by -20 while item is active
Movement speed increases based on ÜberCharge percentage to a maximum of +10% from the base +10% at no ÜberCharge.
Added passive reload 	While being a decent escape tool when you have Über, with the buffs of the other syringes, this one needed a little tweak. Now if you spawn by yourself, you can use this to run to the fight faster.
Medic 	Quick-Fix 	Healing rate bonus increased to +50%
UberCharge build rate bonus increased to +15% 	People kept using it wrong, but it seems the math on ubercharge rate, healing and overheal isn't properly balanced for this weapon to be viable.
Medic 	Vaccinator 	UberCharge build rate bonus decreased to +50%
Overheal build rate penalty reduced to -50% 	Vaccinator is proven to be too easy to defend with. Reducing the max charges from 4 to 2 allows the enemy to play around the resistances easier. The buff to overhealing speed done is to compensate for the loss of 2 charges.
Medic 	Bonesaw (and reskins) 	Added On Hit: Bleed for 4 seconds
Added On Kill: A small health pack is dropped 	With all the other unlocks for the Medic's melee slot, this one falls behind. This current design is the damage melee. The added bleed should help track down careless Spies and the health for survival.
Medic 	Vitasaw 	On Hit Teammate: Forcefully inject +40 health into target and gain +1% ÜberCharge
Removes negative status effects except for bleeding
+70% longer melee range
This weapon deploys 25% faster
-50% damage penalty
-20% slower firing speed 	The pre-Back To Work Vita-Saw is designed where your plan is to die. From a game design perspective, your plan should never be to die. This re-design opens up a world of new viable unlock combinations for the Medic. If you use the Crossbow at melee range (and sometimes miss because of course you do) then this weapon will now achieve that without issue.
Medic 	Amputator 	Alt-Fire taunt can now be canceled by jumping or taunting 	With the buffs to all the other melee unlocks for Medic, this one needed a little something too.
Medic 	Solemn Vow 	Removed ability to see enemy health
Added +50% health from packs on wearer
Added +50% more knockback from damage when active 	Similar to the Amputator, this weapon needed something to differentiate itself. After removing the ability to see enemy health (since EVERYONE will be able to now, regardless of if they have this thing equipped or are a Spy), it has been reworked into a 'get off me' and retreat tool. A small speed boost to run away and catch up to teammates and deals more knockback when hitting enemies.
Sniper 	Sniper Rifles in general 	none 	No, we are NOT nerfing the Sniper Rifles as a whole. Stop asking.
Sniper 	Huntsman (and Fortified Compound) 	Huntsman is notoriously hard to hit unless you play on very specific hallways. The faster arrow speed makes it easier to hit players and more scary. 	
Sniper 	Classic 	Removed -10% damage on bodyshot
Added -47% max primary ammo on wearer 	The old Classic can be summed up like this: 'Always less damage or the same'. Being a very different Sniper Rifle, that offered very little practical use, removing the bodyshot damage now makes it viable for those prefering the sort of charge while unscoped Sniper style.
Sniper 	Cleaner's Carbine 	Added 20% accuracy bonus
Added -20% max secondary ammo on wearer
+30% more damage now required to fill meter 	Having gone from OP to trash in Tough Break and following the same principle as the Tomislav, it's now more accurate while shooting slower. The less ammo is to make sure you have a perfect 4 clip shoot-reload. The faster firing speed buff is to make it less ass.
Sniper 	Jarate 	Piss yourself in Jarate if thrown too close
-30% splash radius 	Being arguably the best sniper secondary, a nerf was in order. It starting empty and having to recharge before use in addition to not resupplying on resupply cabinet will prevent any form of spawn spam with it. The less duration and the fact you can piss yourself allows for counterplay against the sniper, as well as more precicion required from the sniper to do well with this weapon.
Sniper 	Razorback 	Removed -100% overheal penalty
Added +20% increase in shield recharge rate
Added +25% faster move speed while scoped
Added -75% maximum overheal on wearer
Added -50% ÜberCharge rate for Medics healing the player 	This weapon is utter ass. It eliminates 1/27 different ways you can be killed in the game. At least this way, it's more viable for damn near ANYTHING unrelated to fucking over new Spies who don't realize they have a gun.
Sniper 	Darwin's Danger Shield 	Removed +50% fire immunity
Added +15 max health on wearer
Immune to the effects of afterburn (now behaves like Pyro's fire immunity). 	The old Darwin's Danger Shield does nothing if the enemy team doesn't have a Pyro, and if they do, well, let's just say FishOnAStick was justified in referring to this thing as "The Shield of Go Fuck Yourself". The fire-resistance has been swapped with 15 more max health, increasing overall survivability and not just specifically against Pyros.
Sniper 	Bushwacka 	Added +20% longer melee range
Added -15% damage penalty
Added +15% damage damage taken 	Being the better choice for perma-Jarate Snipers, it was due for a nerf. Now dealing less damage and taking longer to deploy, this gives the opponents a larger window to counter the Sniper switching to Bushwacka.
Sniper 	Shahanshah 	Damage bonus and penalties increased to 40% each
Added -20% slower attack speed 	Hardly any difference with this weapon with the small damage increase and decrease.
Spy 	Enforcer 	Damage bonus while disguised increased to +25%
This weapon now holsters 40% faster
Attacks pierce damage resistance effects, bonuses, and Razorbacks
Added reduced blink time when bumping in to enemies 	The Enforcer is a very unused gun for the Spy, being only situationally useful; against Fists of Steel Heavies, Wrangled Sentries, Vaccinator shields, Battalion's Backup charges and cloaked Spies. It doesn't help that, in a lot of these cases, its ability to pierce resistances was bugged, and the old team pretended like nothing was wrong. Making it remove Razorbacks at a distance will help this weapon be more viable in more specific situations without overshadowing other revolvers.
Spy 	Diamondback 	Damage penalty increased to -25%
Critical damage is now affected by distance 	The Diamondback has always been hated to the point of players refusing to use it due to how much of a damage reward you get for just doing Spy things (Chloe LOVED to abuse this weapon). Now that it mini-crits instead it offers a much smaller advantage that should add up for the damage penalty.
Spy 	Your Eternal Reward (and Wanga Prick)	Removed cloak drain penalty 	This knife forces you to act out your disguise (Spy sprint helps with this), however the cloak drain was a huge factor making this weapon need the L'Etranger to counteract it. To compensate, it now takes longer to cloak making it easier for enemies to spot you before you vanish.
Spy 	Big Earner 	Cloak gain on kill increased to +40% 	With the slightly faster swing speed, you will be able to use the speed to chain more stabs. In the words of SoundSmith, it's now "BACK TIME" more than ever.
Spy 	Spy-cicle 	Afterburn immunity reduced to 2 seconds
Recharge rate reduced to 3 seconds 	Pre-Back To Work, the Spy-cicle was a 'get out of fire' free card. Now it serves as a self-extinguish only, so don't get caught on fire as Spy. The Spy-cicle isn't a crutch anymore.
Spy 	Disguise Kit 	Pressing +ATTACK3 allows Spy to 'Spy Sprint'.
For the duration that +ATTACK3 is held, the Spy will run at normal move speed regardless of disguise. 	Being able to run at Spy speed regardless of disguise opens a whole new level of deception and usefulness for the slower and less used disguises. I can't do anything about the fact that players are too paranoid to be fooled by disguises anymore, though there are a few weapons coming in the Mann Co. Arsenal Update next month that might be able to help.
Spy 	Invis Watch (and reskins) 	-15% cloak fade time 	Spy is the hardest class to play against a competent team. The cloaking speed increase will help Spy get more clutch kills in clutch scenarios. Be on the lookout for a reskin that makes the Invis Watch look like Makayla's invisibility watch!
Spy 	Cloak and Dagger 	-15% cloak fade time 	Spy is the hardest class to play against a competent team. The cloaking speed increase will help Spy get more clutch kills in clutch scenarios.
Spy 	Dead Ringer 	-10% cloak fade time 	Decloak time hass been slightly reduced so you can now stab as soon as the sound is over, allowing the Spy to get more kills.
Spy 	Red Tape Recorder 	Removed: Reverses enemy building construction
Added Sapper Throw: Press your reload key to throw the sapper, disabling buildings in a radius.
A thrown sapper needs to recharge before it can be used again.
-50% sapper health 	Deconstructing buildings is buggy and gives a lot of value compared to effort put in by the Spy. The item has been reworked into being a throwable sapper like in the Meet the Spy short. Thrown sapper simulates a Cow Mangler stun, and can be useful in well protected sentry nests guarded by Pyros. You can still place the sapper, but it's very weak.
Multi-Class	Reserve Shooter 	Airblasted targets takes reduced mini-crit damage (Pyro only)
Added -20% damage to targets not launched airborne by explosions, grapple hooks or rocket packs
No random critical hits 	This weapon is really good at countering airborne targets with mini-crits. To highlight how this should be its main use, it has been given a damage penalty against grounded or normal jumping targets. The pre-Jungle Inferno version isn't coming back because Pyros using that version were LITERALLY SATAN.
Multi-Class	Panic Attack 	Removed: Successive shots become less accurate 	With the Panic Attack you can negate the downside of less accurate by just switching weapons and keep firing at the same firing speed, therefore in the spirit of removal of holster penalties, this was removed. Have fun, x10 enthusiasts!
Multi-Class	B.A.S.E. Jumper 	Added +10% faster parachute move speed
Added +25% more air control while deployed
Can now jump while charging with a shield
Added +200% increase in turning control while charging
Added +15% faster move speed on wearer (shield required) 	The B.A.S.E. Jumper nerf made it basically garbage (to the point I wanted this thing removed for how useless it was, me and Chloe were just using it on Hightower for stupid "I have the high ground" memes), while its previous version was OP. These changes will (hopefully) be a middle ground. With the changes to how it works with a shield, it should be more viable for Demoknights, too.
Multi-Class	Half-Zatoichi 	Removed holstering penalty 	Slower holstering penalty could be negated by switching through other weapon slots quickly, so it has been removed from all weapons with slower holstering penalty.
=== Weapon Reskins ===
All weapon reskins that aren't stock melee reskins were given unique stats, and all can now drop via the item drop system.
Class 	Weapon 	Changes 	Tim's Notes
Scout 	Mutated Milk 	Deals 20 damage and inflicts bleed on impact. User regains health equal to the damage done from bleeding. 	The little bread monster inside now has a purpose.
Scout 	Three-Rune Blade 	This weapon has a large melee range
+35% damage bonus
+50 max health on wearer
+10% movement speed on wearer
Wearer can only use Medieval weapons 	I present to you a new subclass: the Scout Knight!
Scout 	Unarmed Combat 	Slap your opponent to knock them back
-35% damage penalty 	The knockback may be annoying to play against, but the idea of slapping people off cliffs is peak comedy.
Scout 	Batsaber 	Alt-Fire: Create a blast of force that reflects projectiles and pushes enemies back
20% damage vulnerability on wearer 	Scout has completed his Jedi/Sith training.
Pyro 	Nostromo Napalmer 	+50% flame travel speed
-40% max ammo on wearer
Deals more damage the further the user is from the target 	The idea of inverse damage ramp-up has always intrigued me, so I decided to play around with some things, using the Nostromo Napalmer as my guinea pig. Turns out this concept is VERY viable and VERY fun to play. Oh, and also, "GET AWAY FROM HER, YOU BITCH!" I'm sorry, I had to.
 	Postal Pummeler 	Deals crits while the wielder is flare jumping or jetpacking
+25% deploy speed bonus
-15% damage penalty
No random critical hits 	I was thinking to myself "Sure, a mailbox is a cool melee weapon and all, but why make it a reskin of the Axtinguisher of all things?" So, if not an Axtinguisher reskin, what would a mailbox do? Mail has to reach its destination, and a lot of mail travels by air and--yeah, this is a Pyro Market Gardener.
 	Maul 	Hit friendly buildings to make them operate faster for a short time
Damage removes sappers
-20% slower firing speed
-25% damage vs players 	Not much to explain here. It just makes buildings operate faster, while still retaining the functionality of the Homewrecker.
Demoman 	Bootlegger 	+25% max health on wearer
-60% blast damage from Stickybomb jumps
+200% increase in air strafing control while blast jumping 	The Stickytank is now an official class.
Demoman 	Nessie's Nine-Iron 	Hitting enemies knocks them into the air
-35% damage penalty
Alt-Fire: Launches a ball that knocks back opponents 	Golf clubs are used to hit a ball to make it go flying into the air. The Nessie's Nine-Iron being a reskin of the Eyelander makes zero sense. So, I've turned it into a knockback-based sword that also has a Sandman-esque projectile built in.
Demoman 	Horseless Headless Horsemann's Headtaker	Collect souls from players killed with this weapon. Press reload to consume one soul and cast Shadow Leap. 	I would have put in the H3's stun ability, but this would be WAAAAY too overpowered.
Heavy 	Iron Curtain 	User is immune to knockback while spun-up
Bullets penetrate players
35% slower spin-down speed
25% slower move speed while spun-up 	Making the Heavy true to the name of this weapon is something Belle thought was pretty neat.
Heavy 	Robo-Sandvich 	On consumption: Transform into Robo-Heavy! While transformed, gain 35% damage resistance, immunity to critical hits, 25% slower movement speed, -50% healing received, and the user is vulnerable to Sappers. Lasts 16 seconds. 	This was Jenny's (my sister-in-law, not the character) idea. I think we're gonna have to stage an intervention at some point...
Heavy 	Fish Cake 	Regenerates 8 health per second for 30 seconds
Eat to gain up to 100 health 	The Fish Cake is an obscure reskin of an already-bad item. It deserves to have its time in the limelight for a little bit.
Heavy 	Apoco-Fists 	Hits cause an explosion that damages both the user and the target 	Bet you feel stupid for yanking Killbane's mask off now, huh?
Heavy 	Bread Bite 	Gain increased movement speed and damage with each enemy killed
-15% damage penalty
-100% max primary reserve ammo 	Surprise! Fat Scout is also now an officially-recognized subclass!
Engineer 	Giger Counter 	Take manual control of your sentry gun. Gigered sentry guns gain enhanced lock-on, 25% faster firing speed, 50% less ammo consumption, and rockets automatically home in on targeted sentries. Sentries are disabled for 2 seconds after becoming unGigered.	The Wrangler is mostly used as a defensive tool because of the shield it has. I thought a more offensively-oriented sentry controller would be a fun concept to test.
Sniper 	AWPer Hand 	Scoping gains a second level of zoom
-20% movement speed while scoped 	The AWP in Counter-Strike: Global Offense has this ability, so I thought it would be interesting to put it in TF2.
Sniper 	Shooting Star 	Shots penetrate enemies and ricochet off of surfaces up to 5 times
-10% damage for each ricochet and enemy pierced
Cannot charge shots
Fires tracer rounds 	A rifle with ricocheting shots would not only look cool because of the lasers that it fires, it also leads to some massive-brain plays depending on how well you know your map geometry.
Sniper 	Fortified Compound 	Fully charged arrows pierce enemies
Projectile speed increases based on charge
-25% slower charge rate 	You're telling me that Valve had the opportunity to make a second Bow for Sniper, then chickened out and made it a reskin of the Huntsman? Screw that! Compound bows are known for how much power they put behind an arrow, so I decided to make the Fortified Compound a less-mobile, more-damaging version of the "Lucksman".
Sniper 	Self-Aware Beauty Mark 	Deals 30 damage on impact and inflicts mini-crit bleed on coated enemies 	Yup.
Spy 	Big Kill 	Knockback on target and shooter
+15% damage bonus
30% slower firing speed
-25% max primary ammo on wearer 	The Big Earner needs to be "big". I tried a bunch of different concepts, and settled on giving Spy his own Force-A-Nature.
Spy 	Ap-Sap 	-50% sapping speed
+10 second sapper placement cooldown
Maximum 1 active sapper
Attach Sapper to friendly buildings to grant health regeneration and 20% faster operating speed. Damage to building also damages sapper. 	You've heard of Pybro, now get ready for Spybro!
Spy 	Snack Attack 	Bread Monster automatically jumps to nearby buildings when sapped buildings are destroyed
+100% sapper health
+25% sapper speed
Maximum 1 active sapper 	Yeah, I've got nothing to say about this one.
Spy 	Sharp Dresser 	+25% jump height when active
Wearer takes no fall damage
20% slower firing speed 	I wanted to really lean into the Assassin's Creed angle of this weapon.
Spy 	Wanga Prick 	On Backstab: -30% cloak
Backstab marks for death user and all nearby enemies for 8 seconds 	I was going to make up something about how I thought of these stats based on traditional accupuncture, Voodoo rituals or some other BS, but I literally just saw the skull on the weapon and thought this would be funny.
Spy 	Black Rose 	On Backstab: Collect Thorns
Reflect 20% of damage taken back to enemies from each Thorn (up to 100%)
20% damage vulnerability on wearer
Reduced health from healers based on Thorns (up to -100%) 	If you have enough thorns that healers don't give you any health, yeah, that might be a problem because Medics will be at full Ubercharge build rate. I realized this too late.
Spy 	Enthusiast's Timepiece 	User can pass through enemies while cloaked
Reduced cloak and decloak volume
100% cloak drain rate while passing through enemies
Decloaking while passing through enemies instantly kills the user 	Come on, we've all wanted to pass through the enemy while cloaked, right? Okay, in all seriousness, I just pulled this out of my ass at random, since I couldn't find any Pac-Man mechanics to port over.
Spy 	Quackenbirdt 	+15% movement speed while cloaked
-15 max health on wearer
No damage resistance while cloaked 	This is a "get the hell out of there" watch now.
Multi-Class	Lugermorph 	+100% damage bonus
25% more accurate
70% slower firing speed
20% slower reload speed 	I wasn't sure how to make a pistol as schizophrenic as Max, so I settled on making the Lugermorph more of a hard-hitting, slower-firing alternative to the stock Pistol. And before you ask, yes, I sourced the new sound effect from the pistol from the original DOOM, which is also where the sound effect for Jenny's (the character, not my sister-in-law) Walther P-38 was sourced. Yes, there will be a Jenny-based pistol in the Mann Co. Arsenal Update.
Multi-Class	C.A.P.P.E.R. 	Does not require ammo
30% slower firing speed
No random critical hits
Alt-Fire: Fire a high damage beam that pierces enemies and sets them on fire. Deals 25 damage to user and prevents firing or switching weapons for 2 seconds after use. 	I don't know how I ended up with this specific combination of stats on a pistol reskin, of all things, but I really think it would scratch the itch of "cool-looking laser pistol" without breaking it too much, so I'm all for it.
=== Quality-of-life improvements ===
Many of the game's mechanics were changed, and several were introduced:
==== Classes ====
===== Engineer =====
* Reduced build and upgrade cost of teleporters by 50%
* Added:
** 80% faster construction speed for dispensers and teleporters
** Engipads: Replace teleporter with jump or speed pad. Use +attack3 to switch between teleporter and engipad-mode.
** Rotate teleporters to change configuration:
** Odd number of rotations: Speed pad
** Even number: Jump pad
===== Tim's Notes =====
If you play engineer and you don't have the eureka effect to switch to half your teleporter cost you are playing at a severe disadvantage. The Engipads are added to give engineer an alternative to teleporters in situations where teleporters are not commonly used. Sitations like last holds on defense and first points on attack.
==== Pyro ====
* Fixed Pyro taking extreme self damage from reflected rollers, sentry rockets and flares
===== Tim's Notes =====
Pyro takes for some reason an insane amount of damage from reflected rollers on self damage. A roller did 163 damage at point blank when reflected pre-Back To Work. Now it's 48. A demoman takes 69 damage from the same roller.
==== Other gameplay changes ====
Mechanic 	Changes 	Tim's Notes
Random Crits 	Weapons will now glow when they are about to random crit 	I know many of you believe random crits should be removed, but I present an alternative solution. This adds a new layer of strategy for both you and your opponents.
Projectile Destruction	Snipers can now shoot rockets and grenades in mid-flight, causing them to explode and deal damage to enemies 	I just thought this was really cool. If you don't like it, well, fuck you.
Seeing Enemy Health 	All players can now see enemy health, regardless of if the player is a Spy or a Medic using the Solemn Vow 	Overwatch did it, so why not TF2?
Arena Mode 	When a team captures the point, all players on that team who were killed respawn 	This makes Arena less about which team can wipe out the other faster, and puts more emphasis on the objective.
Mann vs. Machine 	A new type of MvM map has been introduced, in which BLU players push a bomb cart into a facility full of RED robots 	The old tower defense game can get repetitive, no?
Cosmetics 	Many cosmetics that were similar to each other were merged and simply became alternate styles. In addition, the "hatless" hats (Baseball Bill's Sports Shine, Texas Slim's Dome Shine, and Ritzy Rick's Hair Fixative) are now stock and can be applied to the Scout, Engineer, and Sniper, respectively, at any time.	Certain cosmetics were very similar to each other but were sold separately because Valve wanted more money. We at Johnson aren't so blatantly anti-consumer. As for the hatless hats becoming stock, this just felt logical.
Progression 	Upon reaching a new Casual level, players now receive a crate with a random cosmetic. Progression for all players was reset to accomodate this. 	The progression system introduced in Meet Your Match always felt like it was just for bragging rights and to ascertain the skill level of other players, whereas Overwatch, for example, actually rewards you for levelling up with a Loot Crate. This method lets cheap bastards get their hands on some hats.
Supply Crates 	Crates and cases no longer require a key to open, but in return, they now drop much more rarely. Any crates obtained pre-update were also de-keyed and can be opened at any time. 	The Mann Co. Supply Keys were a gambling mechanic, pure and simple, though at least everything you got from the crates and cases were just cosmetic and/or bragging rights rewards, unlike some other games I can name that are pay-to-win. I am aware that this action will crash the game's economy, but at the same time, I know how resourceful the community is. Inevitably, another item will replace the keys in the currency hierarchy. For everyone who has crates from before the update, go ahead and unbox them all without having to spend a fortune. You're gonna like what you find. I guarantee it.
=== New Maps ===
Quite a few new maps were introduced:
Map Name 	Game Mode 	Workshop Link
Tidal 	Control Points 	https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=570869131
Chaos 	Capture The Flag	https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=528124242
Clifftop 	Payload 	https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=565392839
Rooftop 	Control Points 	https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=454119773
Eclipse 	Payload 	https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=529340378
Overgrown 	Attack/Defend 	https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=503939302
Sulfur 	Control Points 	https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=619869471
Firewatch 	Attack/Defend 	https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=830157693
Hadal 	Attack/Defend 	https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=804251853
Lazarus 	King of the Hill	https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=922476326
Fulgur 	Attack/Defend 	https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2068252300
Snowbase 	Attack/Defend 	https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2081770490
Skyscraper	King of the Hill	https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1225321459
Ambush 	Attack/Defend 	https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2007331583
Rust 	Payload 	https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=783080284
Category:Johnsonverse