The hotfix resolves a crashing issue with the Alpha slot which apparently would cause map server disconnects during TF's and take away all rewards.
The extended down time seems to be because one of the server rats passed out
Ok here's my thing. I've been playing this game since 2004 and it seems that when ever a new issue comes out, a couple of days after there is always a patch to fix it. My question is do they test to see of it will be a problem when they go live with the issue? Seems like it's never the case.