Team balance
“ | I almost joined their bloody team!
Click to listen
— The Demoman
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” |
Team Balance is a gameplay feature that automatically balances teams that have been made uneven (for example, by a number of players disconnecting on one side) by switching one or more players at random from the side with the most players. When team balance is initiated, a timer appears informing the players how much time is left until the switch is made.
Though the balancing process is a necessary one, many players have voiced disapproval at being switched to the losing side shortly before the end of a match, or while playing on a team comprised of people with whom he is in charge of or engages in regular communication with. In such a situation, the switched player may choose to attempt to arrange a manual switch with a member of the opposing team.
It is generally frowned upon to switch back to your original team after being autobalanced (such as moving to spectate and allowing another person to be balanced, and reclaiming their spot on the original team).
In October 2014, Valve added the ability to call a vote to turn off Team Autobalance.
Update history
- Improved autobalance calculation code when determining who to switch.
- [Undocumented] Changed team autobalance code to not balance the teams when the active round timer shows less than 60 seconds.
- Updated the auto-balance code to immediately respawn players that are automatically switched, or that voluntarily switch, during a balancing period
- Not supported in Mann vs. Machine, Medieval mode, Arena mode, Tournament Mode, or Training
- Added "Enable/Disable Auto TeamBalance" votes
- Successful votes will enable/disable team player count balancing
- Use
sv_vote_issue_autobalance_allowed
to control if this vote is enabled on the server - Votes not allowed in Mann vs. Machine, Medieval mode, Arena mode, Tournament Mode, or Training