There are 5 Operations in MvM which you should first know about. While Two Cities is often the most popular tour to play, lets say you want to try out the other tours? So you do. But lets just ignore Oil Spill and Steel Trap, because these two operations are almost abandoned and take hours to search a specified mission and find a match.

Lets say you search any of the following operations:

• Mecha Engine (Advanced tour)
  
• Two Cities (Advanced tour)
  
• Gear Grinder (Expert tour)

If you are a new MvM player that has zero clue how to play MvM, there will always be a time you will get kicked from the MvM server for doing something wrong, acting like you know it all, or simply because the players were in the mood to kick you. In most cases, it is caused by 'High Tour' players.


MvM High-Tour Documentary Part 1 by Plato
MvM High-Tour Documentary Part 2 by Plato

If you begin playing the Mann vs. Machine gamemode quite frequently. There is a chance that you will encounter 'those' types of people. These types of people are what are known as the 'High Tours'. High Tour MvM players are not limited to the Two Cities gamemode only. High Tours are also found in all the operations of MvM gamemode that have been mentioned. This means Mecha Engine and Gear Grinder are also full of active high tour players as well. Oil Spill and Steel Trap have high tours too, however these are abandoned tours as no one plays it; so we'll just assume in this case they no longer play these operations.

High Tours are simply MvM players that have a significant amount of tours when you press tab. Therefore, in most occasions, this represents the level of skill and experience they have gained in MvM. With skill and experience that high tour MvM players have gained, this can therefore result in them being toxic towards new players and low-tours in general if they are simply sick and tired of dealing with the same people that do not want to be co-operative and many other reasons that will soon be said. This is where kicks can come into play.

If you happen to be the random who enters a server full of High Tour MvM players, you may most likely encounter something like this:

(an Artwork created by Mashiro. Link to original)

If this happens, it means you've done something wrong or which the server full of high tours did not agree with. To avoid situations such as these happening, keep reading below!

I will be splitting this guide into multiple different chapters explained below:

• Classes and meta - self explanatory. This section will talk to you about classes new players should go and the general meta in each Operation in order to avoid getting kicked.
  
• Weapons and loadouts - a section explaining weapons and loadouts related to how you can get kicked from a MvM server by high tours.
  
• Upgrades - examples of bad upgrades which can cause high tours to kick you.
  
• Chats and communication - anything related to posting in chat that can get you kicked.
  
• Gameplay specific - any examples of trash gameplay that can also warrant getting kicked.
  
• Some additional other information - anything else not mentioned above which can still also get you kicked from a MvM server.

What people say in guides and on the forums : You can pick any class in MvM, anything works.
What happens in reality : You can pick any class in MvM, anything works, but you will get kicked for not picking the correct ones as a new player.

If you are a new player that joins a server with (or without) High Tour MvM players, you might be expected to play a meta class for a smooth and easy mission. New players with a low tour count will instantly be seen as untrustworthy. The meta is not a religion, however it exists for new players to understand the role of each class. This is why, in some occasions, you may see High Tours themselves not following the meta. Only once new players gain more experience and knowledge in MvM, can they bend the meta and play alternative classes. In this category, I will not be explaining further the role of each class since this guide's main purpose is purely to tell you how to NOT get kicked from a MvM server by high tours, not the role of each class. Anyways, now to start beginning what classes NOT to go to avoid getting kicked.


Relevant guide
Outside of Two Cities, medic is practically useless unless you actually know how to play it. Many, many times (or shall I say all the time), new players insta-pick medic when MvM is about DPS, not reviving. You do not need a medic in MvM; especially in tours such as Mecha Engine where you are swimming in money to afford resistances. It is the team's responsibility to upgrade properly, such as buying resistances depending on what's going to come each wave. Furthermore, scout's mad milk is far more reliable than having a medic, while at the same time being the money collector class of the team. So if the reason for a medic is also to "heal teammates" as well as "revive", you do not need it, since scout's milk does all the healing anyway.

Two Cities is the only tour so far where medic is actually an ok class to play; mainly because of how many easy tricks a medic can do to smoothly complete each wave, such as using the shield against crit spams and providing the demo unlimited crits for setting up sticky traps. This right here, is also the times when medic can only be suitable in MvM outside of Two Cities. Medic in conclusion is not a class played purely just for 'healing' and 'reviving' which are the most common excuses new players say when they demand a medic in a non-two cities tour. If the medic helps increase firepower for the team like the examples said, then it is ok. However, most new players do not see medic as this way; which is why if you are new to MvM, never insta-pick medic thinking healing and reviving is how to beat MvM.


Pyro is another class that new players seem to insta-pick. Pyro in Two Cities is very unwelcomed, and there's a good reason for that. It is very weak against bots, and in most cases; new players that go pyro end up dying every second, which summarises further how pyro is very weak on Two Cities (or just MvM in general). The only exception you can go pyro is during tank waves, since Pyro is a good tank buster. Other than that, it is a very weak class to play. Some of the new players that question why not to have a pyro on the team have said reasons such as "to airblast bomb away from the hatch", when first off, the Two Cities maps (Mannhattan and Rottenburg) are very large maps, and for large maps such as these, there is no reason to worry about the bomb. Especially since on Mannhattan, the bomb resets if it has not been picked up for a while. The Bigrock map (on Mecha Engine) is another very large map, however most High Tours do not have a problem with new players going pyro there (unless they make the game unplayable) since Mecha Engine is just very easy and can be completed with less than 6 players.

There are other reasons why new players go Pyro, and it is related to weapons such as Gas Passer. I will be explaining this in the 'Weapons and loadouts' category/section of this guide.


This should probably be obvious. Spy is a class too weak to fight against crowd control (similarly to Pyro). Spy is a class usually picked during waves with giant medics, so he can instantly take out giant medics without popping them. It is also a class picked for backstabbing giants in general; however most new players that go spy simply don't know what they're doing. If you are a new player that picks Spy, you may be lucky if the server of High Tours give you a chance to show you are trustworthy to play it; that is if you get the right upgrades of course. If you go spy along with having bad upgrades, you have a high chance of getting kicked, sometimes even by your fellow low tours.


Although Sniper is one of the highest damaging classes in MvM, it still requires knowledge of what to upgrade in order to deal high amount of damage. Sniper is an alternative class to Demo in MvM since it is also a high damaging class against crowd control and taking out medics. However, I have seen many times players picking sniper and not knowing what to upgrade. Explosive headshot and reload speed are the two most vital upgrades which control DPS for a sniper. Despite explosive headshot looking like a very attractive upgrade for players to get, I still see new players getting other upgrades such as charge rate and ammo capacity. If you pick Sniper in Two Cities and get wrong upgrades such as no explosive headshot, you have a high chance of getting kicked.

Furthermore, I have also said specifically not to pick sniper in Two Cities if you are a new player due to the maps. As a sniper main myself, I find that the Two Cities maps (in particular, Rottenburg) have very bad sniping spots. Which means even if you picked Sniper and knew how to upgrade, you should still be able to take out key targets like medics as well as crowd control very well. Sniping on the Rottenburg map in particular requires a lot of dodging practice since soldiers and snipers love to focus on you a lot. On the other hand, the maps outside of two cities are very easy to snipe on if you know how to upgrade; and on some maps such as Bigrock, sniper can be a god-tier class to play.


Self explanatory. Just do not pick a class if there's already one on the team; especially support classes such as scout. If you double pick classes such as scout or engi while already having one on the team, you have a high chance of getting kicked. The only exceptions: soldier or heavy. As I've said earlier above on this category, medic is not needed in MvM; not even Two Cities 'needs' a medic either. If you are playing tours such as Mecha Engine or Gear Grinder (Expert), more heavies are better since they are DPS classes. So other than double picking those, do not pick any other class if it has already been selected.


Soldier is too weak during the early waves of Gear Grinder (expert MvM tour) due to just 400 starting credits. Also pyros on Mannslaughter mission airblast rockets; therefore you'll end up killing your team more than actually even trying to deal damage. If you pick soldier on Expert MvM, you have a high chance of getting kicked.


In general, Engineer and Demoman/Sniper are classes that can carry the game by themselves. A high tour asking you to switch off those classes is actually making you a favour. So bend over, pick one of the other classes remaining and enjoy getting carried.

This section will be explaining banned weapons and loadouts which are not allowed in MvM. These weapons are strongly unwelcomed in MvM, that even just using these weapons can often get you kicked without warning in some occasions. To start off, i'll be explaining the first one:

If you are a pyro and equip + upgrade the trash passer I mean gas passer, you have a 90% chance of getting kicked. If you are also a high tour that relies on this overpowered weapon, you should be ashamed of yourself; and don't be surprised if even fellow high tours kick you. The gas passer is arguably one of the most overpowered weapons in MvM, and it effectively ruins the fun for everyone; in particular the sniper/demo if you already have one on the team. Some disagree when it comes to comparing sniper and demo, but think of it this way... sniper and demo are classes that require skill in order to actually be overpowered. Demo requires the skill of memorising each wave of robots and knowing exactly where to setup stickybomb traps, while sniper requires good aim skill to land on crucial headshots in order to be effective. Gas passer is different however, you do not need any skill to use it; all it costs is 400 credits and a m1 key to throw and it will instantly eliminate an entire crowd of robots.

Furthermore, the worst part is any robots lingered in gas passer have 100% chance of the pyro stealing the kills. Why I say 'stealing' the kills? If another teammate kills the robots, the pyro will steal all the killfeed and misleading damage when in reality, all the damage a gas pyro has gained were actually stolen from someone else's work killing the robots. If you are a pyro that uses the gas passer, you have a 90% chance of getting kicked; even if you are a high tour that uses gas. Just don't use it. To further explain how it is overpowered, compare the gas passer to other pyro secondary weapons. No other pyro secondary weapons are able to instantly kill crowds of robots with just the button of a m1 key. To conclude, gas passer is basically like having a rechargeable crit canteen in MvM. Critical hits instantly kill small robots if you are soldier or demo for example, similarly to how gas passer instantly kills all small robots lingered in it.


If you are a pyro that upgrades and spams scorch shot against robots in MvM, you also have a 90% chance of getting kicked; especially if you have a sniper on the team. Scorch shot is extremely annoying if you have a sniper in MvM, due to its knockback effect it has against the robots. Even with a demo on the team, scorch shot can be annoying. Knockbacking giant robots with the scorch shot can cause them to avoid demo's sticky trap if they've set one up. If you upgrade, use and spam the scorch shot, you have a high chance of getting kicked; or if you are lucky, the high tours may warn you first to unequip it and/or not use it.


If you are playing as damage scout (or whatever), don't ever use force-a-nature as your primary weapon. Force-a-nature is similar to scorch shot as mentioned above. It has a knockback effect on the robots, and if you have a sniper on the team again, this makes it even more annoying since knockback effectively disrupts sniper landing headshots on the robots. Also, as i've said above, knockback can also cause robots to avoid demo sticky traps if you have a demo on the team. Simply do not use any weapon associated with having knockback in general.


The weapons listed above had their own mention as they are especially annoying for the rest of the team when used.

When it comes to the rest of the weapons, what you can use will greatly depend on the tolerance of the other players. Some won't think twice about launching a vote on you if they see you using the Natascha, while some will not care at all. At the end of the day, use the few residues of brains you have left and ask yourself if taking the Direct Hit in a gamemode where Soldier vastly benefits from AOE is a bright idea and make the conclusion yourself.

Upgrades are a crucial part of MvM. Give a new player good upgrades and he is likely to perform better than a skilled player with trash upgrades.

You might encounter some players who will unreasonably expect you to have perfect upgrades, but this is very rarely the case. In general, what will be asked from you is to do your job decently, and most importantly to NOT f*ck up the jobs of others, especially the carriers. There are even cases where only the latter will be asked, as long as you do not slow the pace of the game.

Competent teams will rather play with fewer people when they see that teammates are actually making the game more annoying (or unfun) for them. Weapons shown above are just a few examples of them.

Similarly, here are some upgrades you should never get:


See section above. Upgrade at your very own risk.


Rage is the definition of a terrible upgrade. It is expensive (350$ per point), you deal half the damage while it is active, and most importantly, it messes up with your demoman who placed stickies and your engi if used on a sentry buster. Do not get surprised if you are swiftly removed from the game after people witness you using it.


"But dude, I can just airblast and push the bots in the pi—".
Pyro has left the game (#TF_Vote_kicked)

If your team needs to rely on airblast to complete a mission, you might as well leave now to save your mind and time. Airblasting is the best way to troll a game and annoy the rest of the team. This upgrade is in fact so bad that it is pretty common to see even low-tour lobbies kicking airblasting pyros by the end of wave 2.


Again. You are not expected to do a perfect job. There are hundreds of ways to upgrade your weapons, hundred ways to get kicked for terrible ones, but also plenty of them that allow you to perform decently while giving you some freedom.

This guide is not meant to teach you the basics on how to play every class. It explains what to do (or not to do) so you don't end up in the main menu without loot. Remember that buying a Tour of Duty Ticket does not entitle you to play whatever you want in the way you want. So do your homework, and if you are going to pick a class that others will rely upon such as Engineer, make sure you have your basics covered, or get ready to go back to the drawing board.

Summary:
High Tours may be watching your upgrades, nice and carefully. Watch out on what you upgrade, you may never know if a scenario like the image below may happen:

Artwork Link
Disclaimer to mods: Names used in this satirical picture are from friends, back off with the no name and shaming propaganda

This section of the guide relates to how even the messages you post in chat can result in getting kicked from a MvM server by high tours.


MvM New Players in a Nutshell:

Simply NEVER give orders to a skilled player, such as telling them to switch to a class of your choice; even if it means a meta class. For example, if the skilled player is a sniper, and you say something like "we don't need a sniper", you have a 90% chance of getting kicked. When you order a skilled player to go a certain class while being clueless with no knowledge of MvM, they might just get mad at you and kick you. A skilled player knows what they are doing, and when an inexperienced player joins the server, and their existence serves to incorrectly tell higher tours how to play while having little to no experience in MvM, expect people to simply get very mad at you and kick you for acting like a know it all. Just don't do it!


This factor similarly describes the above. Just don't act like the meta is a religion. One way this can be expressed is if you join, for exemple, Bavarian Botbash (a two cities mission) where the standard meta has 1 scout, 1 engi, and 4 soldiers. If your team consists of this, do not say anything like "we need a heavy and medic". If you attempt to order skilled players to go a meta for the rest of the other two cities missions, you also have a high chance of getting kicked. A meta is not a religion; and I have explained already in this guide what the purpose of a meta is. Also remember that a single meta does not apply in all advanced MvM missions: for example, Bavarian Botbash's meta is different than the ones in the rest of the two cities missions there are.


As unfair as it may sound, If the skilled player has insulted you, it probably means you have likely done something wrong. Just accept the insults and NEVER insult back. If you do this, they will only get even more mad at you and kick you. On the other hand, if the skilled player was not being toxic but calling you out for doing something wrong, don't be a jerk and deny it! If you deny that you made a mistake and think you are top notch with little to no experience in MvM, even the non-toxic high tours will kick you if they must for the better good of the server.


This part will refer to the trading part of the game. It's self-explanatory really. You enter a Mann Up server to PLAY the game and win loot. You simply do NOT enter Mann Up servers and assume it's a trade server. If you enter a Mann Up server and say messages such as "selling my killstreak kits for X refined", you have a 90% chance of getting kicked. The backstory behind why most MvM players hate full-time traders are because most of them simply do not play the game at all, which means they're always known for having little to no skill. In most cases, most traders only play this game so they can go to their favourite trade servers and continue advertising their trades to a further extent. Getting kicked for advertising trades happens to frequently, that even I myself have witnessed low tours themselves kicking these types of people then saying to them that this isn't a trade server. If you are someone who is going to use Mann Up servers to advertise trades than actually play the game, do not even be surprised if your team find you a nuisance and kick you. Spamming advertisements in chat saying you're selling your items for X <currency> is just as bad as a desperate person begging for free items and loot.


If you do this, you might as well expect a kick sooner or later. But do not even be sad about it! If you enter a server and complain non-stop about something, there's no use even remaining on the server, and therefore, the high tour that kicked you might have just did you the favour and causing you to leave through the power of kicking. In this example, I will be using ping. Sometimes if there are no other active servers near you to queue, you may land on a higher ping server. If you are European for example and land on LA, Washington, Hong Kong or Singapore servers, you may experience high ping (~200+). If you land on high ping servers, just accept and tolerate it! Don't be an annoying prick in chat and complain about your ping when the high tours on the server cannot do anything to stop that, other than doing the favour and kicking you.

To make it short: don't complain about anything for whatever reason. If you are going to complain, just leave the server quietly.


Asking for advice makes a good impression[www.scientificamerican.com]
Asking for advice is one of the most powerful tools a random player has to avoid being kicked. Nobody ever got kicked for asking for advice. In fact, asking for advice shows the others that you actually care a minimum about performing decently in the game. In the worst case, people may simply not bother to explain and just tell you to F4 and enjoy the easy game. But outside of this rare case, you are very likely to get some valuable information on how to get better at the game, on top of now having the other players by your side.


Leave your ego at the door, because it simply can not win against most high tours egos. Listen and know when to shut up. Simply put: understand what social awareness is.

It is almost 2020, 8 years after the release of MvM, in an era where scientists say that humanity has reached peak intelligence, and yet you still find players who pop ubermedics on a daily basis.

Just like the previous sections explained, the overall idea is again to not f*ck up the jobs of the carriers. Do any of those for a quick and free non-refundable ride to the main menu:


Listen: nobody slightly decent will call you out for NOT shooting Uber-meds if you are not a demo/sniper who can take care of them. Read that again, print it, and put it above your bed.


When done carefully by a clear-sighted person aware of all the consequences in mind, shooting sentry busters is a fun way to pass time and farm some damage while you wait for the next bots to drop and get massacred by the team.
Sadly, you are not, and you will kill yourself while destroying engineer's dispenser at the same time by doing it. Morale of the story: don't do it.


I would have loved to explain to you why I hate the feeling of knowing that my teammates are actually more likely to kill me than the bots, but you got kicked so fast at the end of the wave that I didn't have the time. :(


Yes, I know, I know, you really wanted to fan-o-war that 55 HP remaining soldier bot to feel like you were actually doing something productive for the team. But by shooting you at close range when you were standing on the Demoman's crit stickies, that single soldier ruined the entire crit trap, and sadly for you, the mood of the high-tour demoman with it. It shouldn't be a big deal you say, but it sometimes is, and no don't worry, your ticket has not been consumed. Search for a new server and move on.

By assuming that the average lobby waits 120 seconds each wave before starting it, a 2 Cities player would spend 52 minutes simply WAITING for the waves to start in a single tour.

You can now understand why it becomes incredibly annoying for some high tours to have to wait every single wave for some players to ready up.

Competent MvM players will never call you out for pressing F4 too early. On the other hand, if you keep being the last one to ready up, some people will simply lose patience and may kick you right after the next wave starts so they don't have to wait as long for the next one.

You might not want to admit it, but the simple truth is that you are not going to be mandatory in a competent team who picked the important classes. So when the wave ends, follow the flow of the game and press F4 when you see the carriers pressing F4. To avoid wasting time running back to the upgrade station, swap class (then swap back to your original one) and you will spawn right in front of it.

Have a quick look at which types of robots spawn next wave, pick up your upgrades using common sense if you have some and get back into the fight.

Do this for the rest of the game and suddenly, what generally takes an hour to complete in most lobbies is now completed in a third of the time and with half the hassle.


Artwork Link
Disclaimer to mods: NonF4IdleMed623 is a generic random name I came up with, ok? Stop bashing this name and shaming nonsense everywhere, nobody is named and shamed in this guide. Thanks for understanding

When a high tour launches a kickvote, you have two choices (F1 or F2, not voting being equal to pressing F2), which can lead to 2 different situations (a successful kick or a failed kick), which will result in 4 different outcomes for you:

• You pressed F1 and the player was kicked: you have shown that you are on the side of the high tour players. Enjoy the easy mission that follows and have fun getting easy loot. If you keep playing MvM, you will probably encounter them later on and they will remember you as a trustworthy player.
  
• You pressed F1 and the player was NOT kicked: Low tours will never retaliate against you for pressing F1 (and generally have no clue who voted what), so you lost nothing. On the other hand, if the kick become successful later on (there are various creative ways to achieve that), you saved yourself from a kick as well.
  
• You pressed F2 and the player was NOT kicked: In the best case, the high tour will leave the game but you may have lost a valuable asset to the team. In the worst case, you may not even end up completing the tour or have to waste time getting rid of a high tour who AFKs or griefs. He might even remember you next time you meet him and the outcome may end up being different this time...
  
• You pressed F2 and the player was kicked: You chose not to get on the side of the high tours and the rest of the team. In the rare best case, they will just ignore you and you will actually complete the game very smoothly. However, in most cases, expect to follow your now gone friend and end up having wasted your time for nothing after being kicked as well.

So here it is: the hard, cold and untold truth: you never have anything to lose by pressing F1. Sure, if you would rather take the risk of getting kicked for the sole reason of defending a random player who likely had a valid reason to be kicked, then press F2, but don't do it if you are not ready to deal with the consequences that could follow.

TLDR: Never F2 a votekick launched by a High Tour, or else they will simply get mad at you for that and kick you as well. High tours in a party know they have kick power, which means they can easily tell who that one player who F2'd is. So even if they have guaranteed kick power, do not assume they will not be mad at you because you chose to be on the other side of the table by voting no.


This section will continue to extend section above regarding Pressing F1. Sometimes, high tours may be in a party of 3. So what? You may think that High tours in a party of 3 have no guaranteed kick power, but in some extreme cases, this does not mean you and/or the randoms end up immune to being kicked. If you F2, even on a server with 3 high tours, you may still experience this eventually, as time on your server passes on:



What is it? Another non-refundable trip back to the main menu. Here is how it works: If high tours in a lobby of 3 (+ 3 other randoms) try to votekick someone, but you and your other two randoms friends chose to F2, the 3 remaining players can simply grief, idle and throw the waves on the server while simultaneously being immune to being kicked. Sometimes high tours can also be found playing with their low-tour friends who may likely be badge resetters and/or ticket recyclers. The group may repetitively throw the waves over and over just so you and the other randoms who refused to vote have enough and finally start following. Yes, this is a thing. High tours failing waves purposely just to get what they want (i.e. kicking a random) can happen in the most toxic lobbies. So if you do not want to waste time, just do the favour and F1 the votekicks.

Finally, remember that high tours in a party of 3 will get kick power once the team has only 5 players (because the 6th player got kicked). So if they get suspicious you were one of those people who F2 by default on all votekicks, do not be surprised if they kick you out too.

TLDR: Do not assume high tours lacking kick power cannot kick a random and you who F2'd can get away with it. People in parties of 3 can potentially throw the waves over and over until the randoms follow their orders and F1 a votekick. No matter what, always F1, unless prepared to have your time wasted and potentially get kicked as well for previously hitting F2 on the random that got kicked beforehand.


That is correct. Even if you have a bad connection problem, this can also result in the boot. Many high tours simply want to get their missions done as fast as possible, and do not want anyone to waste their time. This means if you take forever to load into the game, high tours may kick you for this reason as well. Taking centuries to load into a game due to bad connection is considered wasting time and some high tours can be very impatient for that; they will kick players with bad connection if they must, just to ensure they can get their missions done faster. Many times i've seen myself, new players who join the game have extremely sh*tty connection that even as waves pass on, you still see them loading into the game. This may sound extreme, but at the same time it is unacceptable. It may not be your fault if you have a bad internet, however when your internet caused you to take a whole wave to still load into the game, this is just downright unacceptable and no one will be patient enough to continue waiting for you to finally load in. Even if you finally load in after centuries of connecting, do not be surprised if you still get kicked. In situations such as these, it is your responsibility to fixing your internet connection. Contact your ISP if you must and talk to them about why your internet is interrupting your MvM games; or try restarting your router if you must if it helps.

To make a short summary of this guide, this is what goes on in most High Tours' heads whenever they kick all randoms from their MvM match:

(an artwork created by Trickstabber. Link to original)

Part 2 of what goes on in most High Tours' heads whenever they're in kick power parties:


(an artwork created by Trickstabber. Link to original)

So remember. Leave your ego at the door; obey every order a high tour says, don't f*ck with our job, and enjoy the gamemode.

Tl;Dr:

• F4
  
• F1
  
• no pyro
  
• no idle nonf4 medic
  
• Listen and shut the f*ck up
  
• Leave your ego at the door
  
• stop f***king with my job
  
• NO PYRO

See you in queue.