Can't Go Spectator Or Blue Team

[Skitzapath 1]

Earlier today I started playing on Stock Maps #4, and, like usual, it crashed, came back, and then I joined the red team. Next map I couldn't leave red team. I couldn't join blue or spectator without being automatically auto balanced back to red. I rejoined the server, restarted steam and TF2, to no avail. This has happened to a few other people, and I assume it is to avoid team stacking, but I play on the Lotus servers to be with my friends and talk with them, not necessarily to win every game. I have fun with my friends more then playing a lot of the time. This upsets me quite a bit for I've been playing on the Lotus servers for a long time now, and I'd like to be able to join whatever team my friends are on without being forced on a team for multiple maps.

I've been on the red team for the past 5 maps, without being able to change team.

Any fixes or something would help. I'd like to be on my friends team.

[+Henry Spencer 117]

This was happening to Captain Planet when he and I were playing last night. We started on BLU, then he got autobalanced to RED, and then he couldn't switch back, even when it was 10-12 in RED's favor (player-wise).

[jeffro53081 1]

The same thing has been happening to me all night on stock 4. I started on blu on hydro and got autobalanced to red. Then I was stuck on red through two full maps of goldrush and badwater, unable to select blu at the start of the map and being switched after every round even if the teams were already balanced, usually making them unbalanced. This continued on steel, until I was autobalanced to blu. Then I was stuck on blu. It has been happening to a lot of people - at one point after teams switched, it became 17 red vs. 11 blu. It was interesting for a while but would not be fun if it continued. I promise I will be a good little boy if you fix it.

[Captain Planet 28]

Auto Balance is funny, it screws up the teams worse after every round than stackers usually do.

[kuttlewug 28]

I always get team switched away from friends and people I know >

[Brokkoly 11]

and sometimes it'll switch all of the non-donators away from one team, making it like 20-8

Also, if it autobalances me to red (happened on stock 2 today) then it won't let me switch to blu, even after the round has ended, so i'm playing a game of never-ending defense.

Edited February 27, 2010 by Brokkoly

[jeffro53081 1]

I always get team switched away from friends and people I know >

This has nothing to do with who I want to play with. I was stuck on red for 2+ maps. Whatever was added to the autobalance system yesterday is messed up.

[Brokkoly 11]

I was stuck on red for 2+ maps. Whatever was added to the autobalance system yesterday is messed up.

This has been happening to me too, also, I see going to spec being a good thing to stop, but it should really allow people to switch teams if they want to, maybe 5 minutes after being autobalanced, because i usually join a team for the people, winning or not

Also, this may or may not be related, every kill ends with a gib, be it sniped, backstabbed, or hit with a bottle, everyone is gibbing and it's getting a little annoying

Edited February 28, 2010 by Brokkoly

[jeffro53081 1]

This has been happening to me too, also, I see going to spec being a good thing to stop, but it should really allow people to switch teams if they want to, maybe 5 minutes after being autobalanced, because i usually join a team for the people, winning or not

Of course I would like to play with friends. But my point still stands - whatever was put in place yesterday was broken. I (others too) was autobalanced to red. When that team was done on defense, successful or not, it was switched to blu. I was continuously balanced back to red, rejoining the team I was bounced from, usually creating unbalanced teams. I doubt this was an intended feature of the system.

[Melissia 7]

Also, if it autobalances me to red (happened on stock 2 today) then it won't let me switch to blu, even after the round has ended, so i'm playing a game of never-ending defense.

I've had this happen to me before as well.

[Mana 3,867]

There were some issues at the begging with the auto-balance failing. However that has been mostly fixed now.

So what happens now is this:

If a person gets auto-balanced they get to stay on that team for a predetermined amount of time or until auto-balance puts them back.

This prevents people going spec and wasting slots (I'd rather have people quit because they were auto-balance than waste slots in spectate) while they try to get back on the team they were on.

Note:

If you have a good balance score you won't get auto-balanced (so long as there's other people with a worse score than you), but I won't elaborate on how Valve's balancing score system works.

I (others too) was autobalanced to red. When that team was done on defense, successful or not, it was switched to blu. I was continuously balanced back to red, rejoining the team I was bounced from, usually creating unbalanced teams. I doubt this was an intended feature of the system.

Obviously that part was unintended.