official Team Fortress 2

[Blackhearted]

Yay, another dropless 2 hours and no sign of fixing this crap from valve. I guess they intend to leave this broken system as it is.

what are you talking about? This is probably one of the least skilled fps games there is...well compared to Quake, UT, Warsow or any of those games. TF2 is more about just knowing what to do.

I agree completely with it being one of the least skill based games.

I will also add that It's mainly about being lucky. The one who's weapon does the right damage instead of 50% will win a said fight, same with the one getting the lucky crit. And let's not get me started on the ping comp that lessens the need to actually aim, thus knocking the skill down 1 more notch.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

I've just started playing again after months of not, can someone explain how these "drops" work to me?

Thanks!

[mail]

Wow, what's up with everyone moaning. Valve don't have do these updates with new weapon releases you know? How about you know just enjoy playing the game until it gets fixed?

[Aero_Rising]

I love using my jarate because i throw it on a big cluster of people and then in all caps in the chat say HAHA YOU HAVE **** ALL OVER YOU lol.

[Denis W. Veteran]

Nope, I don't recall! I mean, I played for hours earlier this morning... since then I've been in an exam/watching TV and just popped on before bed - so not touched my computer in that time (neither has anyone else).

The server admin replied to me, apparantly I was running around as a soldier with a sniper rifle! I have absolutely no idea why, or how! I didn't even know you could swap weapons!

Play on another server. Some admins are power hungry dumbbells that ban with no questions asked.

I think the problem comes with attempting to join a class that is already at the server-set class limit. If he was competent, he should've at least verbally warned you before banning to switch to another class.

[quasimofo]

wow... i finally nailed the 'sawbones' achievement after 23 hours of playing medic... 5 hits in a row with the bonesaw without missing! but wait, does this new update and its random item drops mean that all that time playing trying to reach milestone 3 to earn the ubersaw is now all for nothing?

[JoeC]

I've had about 3 Ubersaws since I started playing on Monday. Also, 3 Nataschas, 2 Blutsaugers, a Sandvich and a pair of Kritzkriegs.

[Nagisan]

27.2 Hours and I found a Dead Ringer.....(first halfway decent unlock I've gotten).

Funny thing is I was in my own game which was run as LAN (sv_lan 1) while testing out my settings and GUI after reinstalling W7 on my SSD. This means you do NOT have to be in a secure server to get the unlocks randomly, as long as you are connected to steam (you can use and modify your loadout without it saying "Not connected to steam...blahblah" you can get unlocks.

[Denis W. Veteran]

Yay, got another unlock!

... it's an axtinguisher. Already have it :angry:

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

I love taunt kills (he ran forward just as I released it)

[beemer87]

i just started playing again recently and i really dont like the new drop sysytem...its all just luck now. bring back the old way.

[joker999]

Team Fortress 2 Update Released

May 26, 2009, 4:26 pm - Valve - Product Update

Updates to Team Fortress 2 have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The specific changes include:

Team Fortress 2

* The Ambassador now does full critical hits on headshots, instead of mini crits

* The Dead Ringer now fully drains the cloak meter, even if the Spy leaves cloak early

* Fixed Spy disguise menu not being visible in HUD minimal mode

* Server log improvements:

o Added "player_extinguish" event for servers to log when a Pyro extinguishes flame with the airburst

o Fixed kill descriptions for Force-A-Nature & Sandman, so server logs can distinguish them

o Identified feign deaths in the events sent to server logs

* Fixed server crash related to the Jarate

Awwwww The Dead Ringer was awesome before they fix it :(

damnit now its suck.

[ViZioN]

I've just started playing again after months of not, can someone explain how these "drops" work to me?

Thanks!

They basically occur at random and will be placed in your 'backpack'. Don't worry if you get items you've already unlocked, it's all part of Valve's master plan. So far there seems no way to improve your chances of getting an unlock, you just have to play on a server as any class, or join an achievement_idle server.

[Minimoose]

I disagree. Knowing what to do is one thing, being good at it is another. I remember when I started I used Soldier, which was a no brainer class. Then I had to train up to be good at other classes, and I still never use Scout because I never really know how to get good points for it.

I disagree. In public TF2 it is generally an unskilled game, mainly because the classes are so diverse that it is very hard to balance them, for example playing demoman on a public server is very easy (A lot of the classes in TF2 you don't really have to aim). This is a contrast to games like Quake where you mainly start at the same point and it doesn't turn into a spam match because of the deathmatch style maps, although mostly public play will still generally be quite unskilled.

Once you get to competitive play it becomes a lot more about skill in both games, most people who play public TF2 think they are 'good' at the class until they play against competitive players (a lot of teams join the competitive leagues thinking they will be mid skill, then end up realising they are actually low- skill level), then they realise that public play is pretty much knowing the maps and knowing where to spam on those maps.

In TF2 it takes a lot less skill to be good in a public server than it does it games like CSS and quake/ut.

[Mike]

TF2 is more about team work than personal "skill" level. A team that can keep generating ubers and using them with people who don't waste them will easily win.

Personal "skill" is more experience and knowing the maps imo. Knowing the maps means you know the best places for sentries, best ways to tackle sentries, best cover spots for spies, best ambush for pyros etc.

Quick example, Dustbowl Stage 1, looking from the blue spawn and when people build a sentry on the steps in the right "tunnel" area, most people will try and take it out by going in front of it, instead, go via the left tunnel, sticky jump across to the other side, couple of grenades and the sentry is gone before the engineer knows what day it is. There is no skill involved in doing that (sticky jump is easy as is shooting grenades/stickies), it is just about knowing the map and the few minutes saved by doing it that way can help later, not to mention the wasted uber on a non-important sentry.

[Chanser]

Yay finally got new items after 3 days of dupes and long hours. Got the cloak and dagger and the huntsman. :)

[Minimoose]

Congratulations, the huntsman is really awesome ;)

TF2 is more about team work than personal "skill" level. A team that can keep generating ubers and using them with people who don't waste them will easily win.

Personal "skill" is more experience and knowing the maps imo. Knowing the maps means you know the best places for sentries, best ways to tackle sentries, best cover spots for spies, best ambush for pyros etc.

Quick example, Dustbowl Stage 1, looking from the blue spawn and when people build a sentry on the steps in the right "tunnel" area, most people will try and take it out by going in front of it, instead, go via the left tunnel, sticky jump across to the other side, couple of grenades and the sentry is gone before the engineer knows what day it is. There is no skill involved in doing that (sticky jump is easy as is shooting grenades/stickies), it is just about knowing the map and the few minutes saved by doing it that way can help later, not to mention the wasted uber on a non-important sentry.

I agree that TF2 is more about team work, but I disagree that knowing the maps is skillful, mainly because it isn't. You can be very skillful at the game, and still have the same skill on a new map you've never played before, it's just you might not know the best sticky placements etc...

Skill is more about your ability to adapt to what the other team is doing, your aim, your movement and also your ability to organise a team (although thats hard on a public game). Knowing the map just enhances your skill, since you might die less due to knowing choke points and avoiding them, or knowing where sentries are likely to be. It's like knowing all the technical rules of football (e.g knowing the map), it will help me play football, but it doesn't mean that I will be more skillful in my shooting, passing and dribbling.

[azz0r_wugg]

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/show...ad.php?t=879136

[Denis W. Veteran]

They can keep the existing random weapon drop system only if they make it so it doesn't give any freaking duplicates when you're missing unlockables. Then if you've got everything - unlockables and hats - then it can begin giving duplicates so you can hand them out to new players when they introduce the new trading system.

Last night I got a duplicate Axtinguisher. Tonight I got a duplicate Ambassador, and a Blautsager which I never had as I barely play Medic.

[KiHu]

They can keep the existing random weapon drop system only if they make it so it doesn't give any freaking duplicates when you're missing unlockables. Then if you've got everything - unlockables and hats - then it can begin giving duplicates so you can hand them out to new players when they introduce the new trading system.

+1 on that idea.

The new system is great, no teams of one class trying to get achievements and new weapons, this allows us to play on as normal :)

[Mike]

I agree that TF2 is more about team work, but I disagree that knowing the maps is skillful, mainly because it isn't. You can be very skillful at the game, and still have the same skill on a new map you've never played before, it's just you might not know the best sticky placements etc...

Skill is more about your ability to adapt to what the other team is doing, your aim, your movement and also your ability to organise a team (although thats hard on a public game). Knowing the map just enhances your skill, since you might die less due to knowing choke points and avoiding them, or knowing where sentries are likely to be. It's like knowing all the technical rules of football (e.g knowing the map), it will help me play football, but it doesn't mean that I will be more skillful in my shooting, passing and dribbling.

That is why i said "skill" in quotes. People think players are good based on the team winning but knowing the maps and the advantage points for building sentries or destroying them can help a lot more than someones skill.

Dieing less has nothing to do with skill either imo, there is someone on the servers I usually play on with something like a 2.5:1 K:D ratio. People assume he's good because of that but all he does is walk about behind the front line and avoids dieing and joins in with people in 1v1s to get the easy kill.

[Minimoose]

That is why i said "skill" in quotes. People think players are good based on the team winning but knowing the maps and the advantage points for building sentries or destroying them can help a lot more than someones skill.

Dieing less has nothing to do with skill either imo, there is someone on the servers I usually play on with something like a 2.5:1 K:D ratio. People assume he's good because of that but all he does is walk about behind the front line and avoids dieing and joins in with people in 1v1s to get the easy kill.

Dying less has a lot to do with it actually, compare two players, both playing the same class and with the same kills per minute. Now, the one who dies less has that time extra to apply pressure to the other team, either through spam to stop them pushing, or tactical shots to allow his team to push. The guy who goes in, kills 2 people and dies straight away is unable to apply any pressure for 15-45 seconds, depending on the size of the map and spawn times, this can be the difference between the other team taking a point or his team taking one. I don't see how anyone can try and argue that not dying isn't skillful, especially if your killing more than the person dying more than you due to you dying less, also you can apply constant pressure as I said before.

As we have been saying, it is a team game, so why is it important that people are able to have 1v1s? Ganging up on people is a main part of the game and a very valid tactic, since in a 1v1 each player might get damaged badly and one dies, where as in a 2v1 the 2 players gets damaged less since they can apply more damage per second. When the 2 players have finished off that enemy, they can push straight away, where-as in the 1v1 case the survivor is more likely to have to fall back to get health.

Mainly I have learnt these things from competitive play, but they still apply in public servers as well. Thats why on average I will have around 3 kills per minutes (High) and 4 kpd, because I play with intelligence and don't just do w+m1 pyro tactics. I'm definitely not saying that being skillful at the game is measured in kills per death, because you can be someone who applies pressure all the time and stops teams from pushing, even if you don't kill that many but if your dead all the time you're completely useless to your team.

Although if you play on instant respawn servers then dying isn't a problem, but then again you aren't really playing TF2 because all of the tactics of the game have been removed and replaced by brute force and spam. I say this because pushing tactically is generally about who, or how many players in the enemy team are dead, then you either push or wait for uber, on instant respawn servers this tactic is taken away, so the game becomes boring.

Edited May 28, 2009 by Minimoose

[Ayepecks]

I'm gonna become a professional gamer cause I've got such mad skillz, homies!!!! My skillz be unmatch3d by n e of u foolz!!!!!!!!!

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

I finally found the Dead Ringer. It's great, but I prefer the Cloak and Dagger. I also found my 4th Force-A-Nature, 2nd Huntsman, and 2nd Axtinguisher. I can't complain though. I have everything except for the Sandman, excluding the hats. I only have the Fancy Fedora (Spy hat).

[ViZioN]

Wish I could get a hat...haven't any unlocks today, duplicate or otherwise :( Still looking for the Dead Ringer and the Razorback...and maybe a hat or two!