official Team Fortress 2

[inferniac]

This game is really hard to play against people who have gotten the weapon drops/crafted. I'm stuck on the "stock" weapons and trying to kiill someone with the Black Box for example, is near impossible! Really dislike that weapon.

Black Box isn't really an upgrade over standard Rocket Launcher, I've got over 100 hrs as soldier, and only recently have switched to Liberty Launcher, one rocket less on a black box is a major downside, since it doesn't really heal that much. Probably the person with the black has just played more - has more experience, and soldier isn't really a class I'd recommend for starters.

[giantpotato]

One rumor is about a Hawaiian hat gift..but I'm leaning more towards a similar Holiday crate type deal. This falls in the same amount of days we saw it before Xmas and the keys were givin to us on that day as a gift. This is Valves way of giving us Red, White and Blue keys to open em or something along those lines on the 4th of July. The Crates expire the same amount of days as the festive crates did too being on the 11th of July or 7 days later as they did on Xmas to New Years.

My only question is are they going to be worth as much as the Series 6 when they turn into regular crates!?!? Series #6 are very expensive to trade considering they have the highest drop rate of 2% for an unusual.

I'm collecting as many as I can from people in hopes this is true later on...ya just never know right now.

Who said they're going to turn into regular crates? The christmas crates and summer crates are just going to disappear if they're not opened. It was the keys that turned from christmas keys into regular keys.

[Athernar]

The crates themselves will be removed, since they'll be rendered unusable.

There are currently three distinct types of key in existance, two are identical and one is the free "Stocking stuffer key" that everyone got over the winter holidays. The latter identical key used to be the Winter crate key before Valve overwrote it's item definition with the same data as the standard key.

So we'll either be getting yet another key, or the aformentioned latter Winter Key will become a Summer Key. So if you bought a Winter key and didn't use it you might be in luck.

I do hope Valve give everyone a free key like last time though.

[giantpotato]

The crates themselves will be removed, since they'll be rendered unusable.

There are currently three distinct types of key in existance, two are identical and one is the free "Stocking stuffer key" that everyone got over the winter holidays. The latter identical key used to be the Winter crate key before Valve overwrote it's item definition with the same data as the standard key.

So we'll either be getting yet another key, or the aformentioned latter Winter Key will become a Summer Key. So if you bought a Winter key and didn't use it you might be in luck.

I do hope Valve give everyone a free key like last time though.

I don't doubt that they will. They need to find a way to get all those free players hooked on crates :devil:

[Doli]

User-Made Team Fortress 2 Plugin Blocks Free Players

Yesterday, Valve began offering their class-based multiplayer shooter Team Fortress 2 for free after four years of offering it as a paid product. At the time, Valve promised that free players would receive ?exactly the same? gaming experience, with the exception of a few technical limitations on free accounts related to the game?s item system. However, in less than a day, a user-made server plugin has been created to restrict free players from joining servers altogether.

The mod, when installed by a server owner, automatically kicks anyone playing the free version of Team Fortress 2. The only way to play on servers with this plugin installed is to own a premium copy of Team Fortress 2. Players who paid for the full version of the game have premium access, as well as those who have spent money on items at the in-game store.

While it is a bit disappointing that Valve won?t be able to deliver on their promise that free players will have the same access that paid players do, it is in some ways a relief to server owners and community managers that this server plugin is available. After all, permanently banning cheaters or griefers doesn?t do much good when they can come back right away with a free account, and limiting the playing field to those players who have paid money into the system makes it harder for banned users to return with ?alt? accounts.

It is of course important to note that this is a user-made plugin and entirely optional for server owners. Although some operators are bound to install and run this plugin to keep away free players, it is likely that the vast majority of servers will run without it, meaning that even if they are barred from a few servers, free players will still have no shortage of free servers to turn to. And even if server owners do overwhelmingly choose to bar free players from joining, free players will still be able to play on Valve?s official Team Fortress 2 servers.

The creator of the plugin also says that he had considered adding an option to only allow players who had bought the full version of Team Fortress 2 to play, meaning that rather than simply purchasing a 50 cent item from the in-game store, players would actually have to pay $10 for a full copy of Team Fortress 2 in order to access servers with the plugin, at the discretion of the server owner. He decided against implementing this ?feature,? as this would prevent new players from joining due to the fact that paid copies of Team Fortress 2 are no longer available through Steam, but the fact remains that it would be technically possible for someone to create a plugin with this feature.

[Chasethebase Veteran]

I think the plugin is just the elitist members of the community getting a little too annoyed at Valve's business decision. I'm perfectly fine with it, means more of my friends can play it. But this would only make sense in say, trading servers where free players are just wasting slots.

[null.]

Oh man, forgot just how much fun TF2 is. Right back into it again now. :laugh:

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

I think the plugin is just the elitist members of the community getting a little too annoyed at Valve's business decision. I'm perfectly fine with it, means more of my friends can play it. But this would only make sense in say, trading servers where free players are just wasting slots.

Agreed.

[Chasethebase Veteran]

Here's something I found via Reddit, I think some of these are pretty good.

[ViZioN]

The ammo one for the medic would be useful, but it's quite easy to pay attention to their ammo count. Queue system would be a godsend however, it's the one thing I'd really love to see in TF2, although it would apply equally to a lot of other games.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

I think the plugin is just the elitist members of the community getting a little too annoyed at Valve's business decision. I'm perfectly fine with it, means more of my friends can play it. But this would only make sense in say, trading servers where free players are just wasting slots.

Said elitist players can go **** themselves. Seriously. Who cares if the player bought the game or installed the F2P version? Shouldn't they be happy about the influx of new players instead?

[ViZioN]

Said elitist players can go **** themselves. Seriously. Who cares if the player bought the game or installed the F2P version? Shouldn't they be happy about the influx of new players instead?

You'd think so, but obviously they just don't want any 'n00bs' on their server which is just a ridiculous reason.

[max22]

You'd think so, but obviously they just don't want any 'n00bs' on their server which is just a ridiculous reason.

Fully agree! Tried TF2 a long time ago but I just didn't like it. Found it boring. Hope that others are having a lot of fun with it though!

[Minifig]

User-Made Team Fortress 2 Plugin Blocks Free Players

It'd be justice if Valve changed the copy of the guy who created this, to a free to play account .. They actually have that power.

[Athernar]

Said elitist players can go **** themselves. Seriously. Who cares if the player bought the game or installed the F2P version? Shouldn't they be happy about the influx of new players instead?

The people using the plugin, obviously. And no, an influx of new players isn't exactly a great thing for a game that is highly dependant on an organised and co-ordinated team.

A server admin pays for his/her server, if he/she wants to play without a number of new players meekly trying to figure out what to do while sitting in spawn then that's their perogative.

I'll be the first to say that the TF2 community has done similar things over monumentally retarded reasons (Halo, Wrenches); but this time around there are very real reasons as to why it might be a good idea to block F2P players.

Personally I couldn't care less about the presence of F2P, but I'm not going to decry and/or even insult people that want to ensure a specific quality of gameplay; where is the outcry over high-ping kicks?

It'd be justice if Valve changed the copy of the guy who created this, to a free to play account .. They actually have that power.

That's quite honestly pathetic.

"Stop liking what I don't like!!!!!111"

[Nagisan]

It'd be justice if Valve changed the copy of the guy who created this, to a free to play account .. They actually have that power.

I honestly feel the plugin is perfectly fine.

Here's the old TF2 model: Hacker hacks on VAC secured server, hacker gets banned after X duration, hacker must buy a new TF2 account (therefore expend money) to play on such server again.

Here's the new TF2 model: Hacker hacks on VAC secured server, hacker gets banned after X duration, hacker makes new Steam account and downloads TF2 for free, hacker re-joins the server.

I can understand why free to play is a good thing, it gets more people playing the game and therefore more people joining a server. But at the same time it also means hackers can more easily avoid getting banned for disrupting gameplay. I personally would be happy to keep hackers unwilling to pay to continue playing out of my server, even if it means I do not get as many people that can play on my server. Call it elitist, call it whatever you want, fact is a majority of people I know would rather play on hack-free servers (or at least servers that can punish hacking). Eventually free-to-play people will get fed up with hacker-infested servers that welcome free-to-play players, and either quit all together or spend money in the TF2 store to gain access to servers with this addon.

As a matter of fact, I can see myself making a new steam account just to screw around with some of the hacks they have out there for a little bit of fun when I get bored, without having to risk my primary account.

Honestly, Valve shouldn't have made TF2 free-to-play, instead, they should offer it free with every Source-engine based game that they develop themselves. That way, everyone who has spend at least a little amount of money on games developed by Valve gets TF2 for free, and people wouldn't be able to create a new account any time they want to disrupt a server.

[Athernar]

I honestly feel the plugin is perfectly fine.

This.

Don't like it? Don't use it.

And stop acting like those that do are some sort of racists/elitists that are advocating F2P genocide. (Hint: They're not)

This whole F2P debacle is getting tiresome, can't we go back to moaning about too many hats or x class/weapon is OP? Or just shut up altogether and focus on meatshotting eachother.

I know I would be if my server wasn't broken. :(

[Nagisan]

This.

Don't like it? Don't use it.

And stop acting like those that do are some sort of racists/elitists that are advocating F2P genocide. (Hint: They're not)

The main reason I support this type of plugin is hackers and hackers alone. Not only can hackers get around VAC bans now without having to pay for it, they can now get around server bans as well, just by filling out a form for a Steam account and relaunching TF2. Free to play how it currently is basically means hackers will now go unpunished. That to me is not an equal trade-off for being free-to-play. As I mentioned, a Steam account should only be eligible for a free copy of TF2 if they own another Valve game. That way, a majority of Steam users will be eligible for free TF2, while hackers would still need some kind of purchase to get a new account.

[inferniac]

It's day 5 of the sale and I haven't seen nothing interesting so I've decided to buy keys to my 3 summer crates, results:

(the kill icon is crazy :p)

And last but not least:

Happy with my purchase :)

[Denis W. Veteran]

With all the F2P bickering above, I'll just leave this here:

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

I've done stuff like that, failing isn't just limited to new players.

[giantpotato]

I've done stuff like that, failing isn't just limited to new players.

The scout falling seemed normal to me, but I lol'd when I saw the spy :laugh:

[Athernar]

I've done stuff like that, failing isn't just limited to new players.

To be fair, I don't think anyone has ever said that all existing players are infallible or awesome, everyone screws up from time to time.

It's just that generally, new/F2P players tend to exhibit this behavior more often.

[SteelToast]

Hello, is anyone from neowin entering for the 6vs6 contest on TF2 held by CommunityFortress, something going on here: :D

http://communityfortress.com/tf2/news/registration-opens-for-the-commft-zalman-6v6-tourney.php

[+Majesticmerc MVC]

To be fair, I don't think anyone has ever said that all existing players are infallible or awesome, everyone screws up from time to time.

It's just that generally, new/F2P players tend to exhibit this behavior more often.

FTFY. At the minute F2P and new players are synonomous, but there can be paying players that are noobs too. As time goes on, a lot of the F2P players will become better and play just as well as those who paid for the game.