Hi. It's been an amazing week so far! We’ve been blown away by the number of servers coming online and the amount of players jumping in! Alongside that excitement, we’ve received a lot of feedback about the server browser and, in particular, the verified server system. As as reminder to those who weren't around during (or even before) launch: the server verification system is a system we've had in place for nearly 2 years, with the intent of being able to mark servers that are good experiences for players wanting to enjoy TF2 Classified. Verification shows a level of trust, and allows access to rich features not available in the Steam API (currently visible tags, soon to expand). Today, we’re making changes to how verification works for server hosts: you can now manage it your damn self!
Over the weekend, we’ve been hard at work building a new system for server verification, and are happy to announce that it's finally ready. Server hosts can now log in with their Steam account, choose a provider name, and submit servers for verification directly through a dedicated panel. EMINOMA-appointed moderators will review each submission to ensure it follows our rules. Once approved, the server will be marked as verified.
Verified Server Panel
If a server doesn’t meet the requirements, you’ll receive a notification on the dashboard explaining why, along with guidance on what needs to be changed. You’re free to make adjustments and resubmit at any time. The Verified Server Panel also includes a full list of rules that verified servers are expected to follow (as well as blacklist criteria that applies to all servers). If verification isn’t something you’re interested in, no worries, as unverified servers will continue to appear in the server browser as normal. This new list of verified servers is live, starting today.
Over the past week, we’ve also shipped updates to improve server stability and make the server browser experience smoother, including:
[NEW] Filters now auto-refresh the list of servers
Fixed cases of servers disappearing from the list
Significantly improved scrolling performance
We’re continuing to work toward feature parity with the legacy server browser. Expect features like tabs and auto-retry to return in the near future. Additionally, we are also planning on building new moderation tools to help server hosts manage servers more effectively, and players tailor their experiences how they'd like. The hope is to reduce reliance on tools like SourceMod to properly manage servers.