official Team Fortress 2

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

I personally think that overall, TF2 is approaching it's "Jumping the Shark" moment.

...

I've never liked this term, whoever came up with it just didn't like the episode of Happy Days that this was in. Happy Days still grew in popularity and ran for a long period after this episode (it wasn't even at it's mid point when this episode aired)

So although it's supposed to mean the show/game/etc. has reached it's peak, it doesn't for me.

[Ayepecks]

I've never liked this term, whoever came up with it just didn't like the episode of Happy Days that this was in. Happy Days still grew in popularity and ran for a long period after this episode (it wasn't even at it's mid point when this episode aired)

So although it's supposed to mean the show/game/etc. has reached it's peak, it doesn't for me.

It doesn't have anything to do with popularity, though, and never has. It means "outlived its freshness." In other words, it's no longer unique, not what it once was, recycles ideas, etc. There are plenty of instances in television (most, I'd argue) where a program grows in popularity well after it's "jumped the shark."

[Athernar]

I don't know that I'd go that far. Most of my loadouts aren't standard. Just from memory (the weapons with statistical differences):

- Scout -- Special Delivery set

- Medic -- Quick-Fix set

- Pyro -- Degreaser, Axtinguisher

- Heavy -- Tomislav, Killing Gloves of Running Urgently, Family Business

- Demo -- Scottish Resistance

- Spy -- Dead Ringer

- Engineer -- Frontier Justice, Gunslinger

- Soldier -- Black Box, Reserve Shooter, Equalizer/Disciplinary Action

Some of those are just minor changes, but some are pretty big (Gunslinger, Special Delivery, Black Box).

You're underselling yourself with the Scout set, SR and Black Box. The Scattergun is vastly superior if you can use it properly (I'm biased in this case anyway), the SR's playstyle isn't really as effective and the Black Box's +15 buff isn't really significant to outweigh the extra rocket.

That and the Original is pretty much the best thing ever.

No seriously, the Original should be the only weapon in the game.

...I love it a bit too much methinks.

Maybe unlocks just don't bother me that much anymore.

[Denis W. Veteran]

I was hoping the Original had the Quake "blip" hit sound. Turns out it didn't. Darn misleading Youtube video :(

[Victor Rambo]

I also love the Original. Awesome weapon. :D

[Ayepecks]

You're underselling yourself with the Scout set, SR and Black Box. The Scattergun is vastly superior if you can use it properly (I'm biased in this case anyway), the SR's playstyle isn't really as effective and the Black Box's +15 buff isn't really significant to outweigh the extra rocket.

That and the Original is pretty much the best thing ever.

No seriously, the Original should be the only weapon in the game.

...I love it a bit too much methinks.

Maybe unlocks just don't bother me that much anymore.

The Scout set is worth it, easily, for the +25 health and the distance it provides. Plus extinguishing teammates with your milk never gets old. I love taking out sentries from a distance with the Shortstop (which wouldn't really be feasible with the pistol). I'd agree that the Scattergun is, in general, much better, but the extra health makes up for it, easily.

As far as the Scottish Resistance: I will never understand why people prefer the standard Sticky to it. You get far more stickies, and you can defend multiple points at once. I've never found it to be ineffective. In fact, I've found it to be far more effective than the standard Sticky; there's always multiple entries to a CP or the Intel, and I literally can't even begin to count the number of times in a single game that both will be hit at the same time.

Black Box is just preference. I'm a good aim, so I don't think missing the extra rocket has ever put me in a situation where I'd be dead without it (especially when I get back the health I'd lose from the other free rockets while people shoot me during a reload).

[Athernar]

The Scout set is worth it, easily, for the +25 health and the distance it provides. Plus extinguishing teammates with your milk never gets old. I love taking out sentries from a distance with the Shortstop (which wouldn't really be feasible with the pistol). I'd agree that the Scattergun is, in general, much better, but the extra health makes up for it, easily.

As far as the Scottish Resistance: I will never understand why people prefer the standard Sticky to it. You get far more stickies, and you can defend multiple points at once. I've never found it to be ineffective. In fact, I've found it to be far more effective than the standard Sticky; there's always multiple entries to a CP or the Intel, and I literally can't even begin to count the number of times in a single game that both will be hit at the same time.

Black Box is just preference. I'm a good aim, so I don't think missing the extra rocket has ever put me in a situation where I'd be dead without it (especially when I get back the health I'd lose from the other free rockets while people shoot me during a reload).

Eh, I disagree; the 25 health doesn't make up for the reduced effectiveness of the Shortstop in my opinion. The better you are with the Scattergun, the less attractive the Shortstop is.

The standard sticky launcher is preferred because no one really uses stickies to defend. A Demo is far more effective flinging pipes and stickies into enemies, rather than sticking (hurr) back and trapping.

RL-wise it's less about aim and more about overall damage output, this tends to become a bigger downside with more players or if the opposition has medics.

I was hoping the Original had the Quake "blip" hit sound. Turns out it didn't. Darn misleading Youtube video :(

If you mean the bleep from Quake 3, then you can have it if you get a wav file and link it with tf_dingaling_wav_override.

[Ayepecks]

Eh, I disagree; the 25 health doesn't make up for the reduced effectiveness of the Shortstop in my opinion. The better you are with the Scattergun, the less attractive the Shortstop is.

The standard sticky launcher is preferred because no one really uses stickies to defend. A Demo is far more effective flinging pipes and stickies into enemies, rather than sticking (hurr) back and trapping.

RL-wise it's less about aim and more about overall damage output, this tends to become a bigger downside with more players or if the opposition has medics.

To each his own, but I will always utilize my SR for it's intended purpose. It's not even simply about defending your own intelligence; if you've just pushed the enemy back and are capturing a CP, you know where they're going to be coming from. Plus I have the Grenade Launcher for enemies coming at me. Never let me down so far.

[inferniac]

So with the exception of stuff like the Equalizer for example, most people rolling non-standard loadouts are just kill-fodder.

I'd have to agree, I roll as follows:

Scout - all vanillla weapons

Soldier - vanilla (but strange) + equalizer

Pyro - degreaser + mailbox

Demoman - pure vanilla again

Heavy - standard minigun (though I'd probably use Tomislav if I had no strange minigun), Sandvich, Gloves of Running Urgently

Engineer - Vanilla wrench + shotgun, wrangler

Medic - uber / kritz, vanilla syringe gun and Amputator / Ubersaw

Sniper - Jarate, Vanilla Rifle / Huntsman, Tribalman's Shiv

Spy - Vanilla Knife, Cloak and Dagger or vanilla watch and enforcer

[Azusa]

Renegade X the UT3 mod?

Yeah.

[Athernar]

To each his own, but I will always utilize my SR for it's intended purpose. It's not even simply about defending your own intelligence; if you've just pushed the enemy back and are capturing a CP, you know where they're going to be coming from. Plus I have the Grenade Launcher for enemies coming at me. Never let me down so far.

That's the thing, I don't think classes really have a intended purpose; the demo is an offensive powerhouse, the engineer can be played offensively to great effect too, as can spy. There are a number of varied playstyles that can be -really- effective, provided you embrace them and practise.

I'd have to agree, I roll as follows:

Scout - all vanillla weapons

Soldier - vanilla (but strange) + equalizer

Pyro - degreaser + mailbox

Demoman - pure vanilla again

Heavy - standard minigun (though I'd probably use Tomislav if I had no strange minigun), Sandvich, Gloves of Running Urgently

Engineer - Vanilla wrench + shotgun, wrangler

Medic - uber / kritz, vanilla syringe gun and Amputator / Ubersaw

Sniper - Jarate, Vanilla Rifle / Huntsman, Tribalman's Shiv

Spy - Vanilla Knife, Cloak and Dagger or vanilla watch and enforcer

Yeah I'm pretty much the same. Except I roll with the pan/caber, engineer pistol, and DR for spy.

Did I mention I love the Original by the way? :whistle:

[Ayepecks]

That's the thing, I don't think classes really have a intended purpose; the demo is an offensive powerhouse, the engineer can be played offensively to great effect too, as can spy. There are a number of varied playstyles that can be -really- effective, provided you embrace them and practise.

I think that, for the most part, the Demo and Engineer are going to be best utilized on defense. They're not going to be the classes you rely to charge at a location; they aren't really going to become that involved until other classes get there. Can I play them offensively and be effective? Sure, but I'd much rather play as a class that's actually going to have more use, such as the Scout, Soldier, Heavy, etc.

[Athernar]

I think that, for the most part, the Demo and Engineer are going to be best utilized on defense. They're not going to be the classes you rely to charge at a location; they aren't really going to become that involved until other classes get there. Can I play them offensively and be effective? Sure, but I'd much rather play as a class that's actually going to have more use, such as the Scout, Soldier, Heavy, etc.

You're welcome to your opinion of course, but in regards to the Demoman - if you ever watch a competitive 6v6 match you'll see that Demo is in many cases the primary offensive class.

Demo has the benefit of having essentially two very powerful primary weapons, if you can use them and pull off stickyjumps - you can become pretty much a 1-man-army.

The following is under specific circumstances, but demonstrates the power of what a skilled demoman can do:

[Doli]

You're welcome to your opinion of course, but in regards to the Demoman - if you ever watch a competitive 6v6 match you'll see that Demo is in many cases the primary offensive class.

Demo has the benefit of having essentially two very powerful primary weapons, if you can use them and pull off stickyjumps - you can become pretty much a 1-man-army.

The following is under specific circumstances, but demonstrates the power of what a skilled demoman can do:

Sticky jumper + gernade launcher + Persian Persuader is a fun combo. :laugh: I miss the glitch when having the sticky jumper you took no damage from your own gernades, I used to jump to the battlements in 2Fort and just kill snipers with the gernade standing right next to them. I cant believe Valve let that glitch/bug go on for so long. They did a bad job with the fix. If you put down stickies and change to gernade or melee your stickies will kill you if you want to jump and if you shoot gernades around and switch to the sticky jumper you will take no damage from your gernades.

I agree with you that a good Demo can do some real damage on offensive. Detonating stickybombs in the air is the key.

Edit: Im not sure if he had the Persian Persuader on in the video, I just saw him get health and I thought it was from ammo (ammo = health with Persuader). I dont know if its first blood because i dont play that mode mostly CTF, Payload, and CP.

[Athernar]

I think he's using the Bottle or Caber in those videos, he has a similar video dated Jan 2011 in which he uses the Caber.

[ViperAFK]

The weapons aren't really all that numerous when you think about it, most are minor stats variances and don't hold up to the default loadouts.

So with the exception of stuff like the Equalizer for example, most people rolling non-standard loadouts are just kill-fodder.

For the scout I really like the soda popper and the candy cane. lots of crits and nice health drops :). For the soldier I roll with the equalizer and the original and it seems very effective, and heavy I am a big fan of the tomislav.

[inferniac]

Well, skill ceiling for the demoman is extremely high, a good demoman can take out any class in 1v1 combat. When played right it's the most powerful class in the game.

[Ayepecks]

You're welcome to your opinion of course, but in regards to the Demoman - if you ever watch a competitive 6v6 match you'll see that Demo is in many cases the primary offensive class.

Demo has the benefit of having essentially two very powerful primary weapons, if you can use them and pull off stickyjumps - you can become pretty much a 1-man-army.

The following is under specific circumstances, but demonstrates the power of what a skilled demoman can do:

Probably not the best example to utilize, given the map. Again, I'm aware that the Demo can be a suitable offensive class. Just that I think he's best utilized in a more defensive manner. And he doesn't do anything I'm (or he's, I'm sure) incapable of doing with the SR.

[Athernar]

For the scout I really like the soda popper and the candy cane. lots of crits and nice health drops :). For the soldier I roll with the equalizer and the original and it seems very effective, and heavy I am a big fan of the tomislav.

The Soda Popper is certainly a nifty little unlock, and is even better with the ramp-up changes Valve made to it - but still isn't anywhere near as effective as a properly-applied Scattergun.

But eh, I'm biased towards the Scattergun anyway. After using it so much I've gotten pretty good with it, despire my "better" class being demoman/soldier.

Well, skill ceiling for the demoman is extremely high, a good demoman can take out any class in 1v1 combat. When played right it's the most powerful class in the game.

This * 1000.

[Xtreme2damax]

I have a hell of a time trying to aim. Anyone know what's the best mouse sensitivity and acceleration for more precise and accurate aiming? Would it help in any way to purchase a gaming mouse, right now I am using a Wireless Microsoft mouse.

[Lewism]

I have a hell of a time trying to aim. Anyone know what's the best mouse sensitivity and acceleration for more precise and accurate aiming? Would it help in any way to purchase a gaming mouse, right now I am using a Wireless Microsoft mouse.

There's your problem.

[Azusa]

i think maybe i just had a sucky few rounds that one time tehe.

[Xtreme2damax]

What servers does everyone usually frequent? It would be nice to organize a gathering of fellow Neowin regulars for a match sometime. :)

[Pajter]

There's your problem.

I use a wireless MX3200 mouse, and I kick ass with it. :p

[Victor Rambo]

i think maybe i just had a sucky few rounds that one time tehe.

Mine