official Team Fortress 2

[Nagisan]

They can't (well, won't) switch to the L4D/L4D2 engine at the moment since L4D is DX9+ only, while the other Orange Box engine games are DX8+

Good point, I actually forgot about that and would like to revise my earlier statement, from what Valve has stated (more specifically Robin), TF2 cannot implement all of the L4D Multicore support in TF2 as that would require them to drop DX8 support which they are currently unwilling to do (I do not have the source on hand but I do remember Robin mentioning it). I personally think they should do it, a majority of people running TF2 in DX8 mode are doing so because they have to to get acceptable frame rates. If they had proper (or at least better) multicore support these people would not need DX8.

I mean, if you take a look here, there is a whopping 6.64% of Steam users limited to DX8 due to hardware. Sure 6.64% of a large number is rather large itself, but still, at what % do you draw the line and say satisfying the majority of your userbase is more important than keeping that minuscule %?

EDIT: Here we go, from the TF2 Blog itself:

We're also working on bringing over a variety of engine improvements from Left 4 Dead into the TF2 engine, but it won't be a wholesale replacement of the engine. This means we'll get some of L4D's performance improvements, like the better multicore support, but not all of them. For example, we can't bring over some improvements without dropping support for DX8, which we're not prepared to do.

Despite him mentioning better multicore support I'm fairly certain they could do better with the multicore support if they dropped DX8.

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

I don't think the majority are having problems, I've got fairly mid to low end hardware and I'm still getting 40-5fps on average (with everything on extra high)

And my system is 2-3 years old.

[Nagisan]

The secrets of the big update have been revealed!

Soldier and Demo dual update!

Ok, thats speculation, but here are some interesting facts that play into it.

Essentially, the new sounds about friendship? Soldier and Demo classes have a 10% chance (according to some discovered code in TF2) to hear them replacing other sounds, so that means they are teaming up, which means it would be a dual update.

The pre-purchase L4D2 banner to get Bill's Hat in TF2? It shows both the demo and soldier wearing them, no other classes, and those two specific classes.

Robins stats on tf2items (a site which shows backpacks, equipped weapons and character stats) currently shows both the soldier and the demo with 3 "undefined" weapons each. All of which in their respective slots to correspond for primary, secondary and melee weapons. These weapons are currently unknown to tf2items which is typically updated with stats and images as soon as new items (such as hats in the past) are known and updated on the site. Considering both the demo and soldier on robins page is showing 3 undefined items each, it would mean he has equipped both characters with weapons that are currently not in the current version of the game.

So, well played Valve, well played, we know about the Explosive update on the way and we shall enjoy speculation until you prove us wrong (or right)!

At the same time, this could just be a Valve coverup to hide the Engineer update by distracting everyone with fake demo/soldier hints.

EDIT: It appears Robins stat page is now back to normal weapons. But I mean come on, that kind of evidence, it only happened on a Valve members stat page, and the uproar it caused on the Valve forums, they probably saw that and Robin switched back to normal weapons. Or they could have purposely done it such as they do many things with their updates and the hidden links and what not.

Theres also the fact there has been a fairly long time between the last class update (which was also a dual update) and this one (compared the the time between single-class updates).

Edited December 9, 2009 by mwpeck

[Mathachew Veteran]

Oooooooo I am so down with that!

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

I just had to come out of hiding to express my extreme excitement. Yeah!

[Denis W. Veteran]

That's good and all... but:

This Christmas update, I want "Meet the Pyro!" :p

[D!ABOL!C]

Tons of Demos and Soldiers?

Medic's paradise, at least for me :)

[Denis W. Veteran]

That also means those pesky Scouts can go stuff themselves with some rockets. :p

Some Scouts are really good at dodging rockets, but many I ran into as a soldier go down without a fuss in close to medium range.

[Nagisan]

Tons of Demos and Soldiers?

Medic's paradise, at least for me :)

Engy hell, more like it :p

Actually, with all the random spam thats going to happen, non soldier/demo-hell. :(

That also means those pesky Scouts can go stuff themselves with some rockets. :p

Some Scouts are really good at dodging rockets, but many I ran into as a soldier go down without a fuss in close to medium range.

It does really depend on how good the scout is, a good scout is almost a direct counter to most soldiers and demos, despite their low health that have the easiest time dodging projectiles and are next to impossible to juggle due to their double jump, making them more difficult to kill as a soldier than other classes. But, how often do you meet good scouts compared to ok soldiers/demo's?

EDIT: Apparently the robin weapons were faked by the person who created tf2items, either he acted alone or robin asked him to do it. :(

Either way, it still seems true that the friendship lines are heard by soldiers and demos only. So maybe its an engy update and soldiers and demos will have to work together to overcome some of the engies new toys?

Meh, either way, Valve is epic in the way they troll us all.

Edited December 9, 2009 by mwpeck

[Nagisan]

And welcome the Soldier vs Demo update!

http://tf2.com/

(more specifically) http://www.teamfortress.com/war/administrator/

Basically, the Red Demo and Blu Soldier have became friends, the announcer is placing some custom orders for them so they can battle about which one has better weapons.

Hell yeah people, the two most flexible classes are about to get updated!

I personally hate demo due to the ezmode spam (seriously, I have less than 2 hours as demo and can top a scoreboard if I want to) but love soldier due to his flexibility and mobility.

EDIT: Also, the comic says the announcer needs the custom weapons right now, so the info on the update will probably be posted either later today, or tomorrow some time (like they tend to do with the other updates). Right now its only 3PM at Valve, and I have seen them in the past put out updates as late as 6PM their time (3 more hours from now), so it may start today or they might leave us hanging for a day or two. :p

EDIT: Ah yes, forgot this small detail, on the TF2 blog, it links to the comic with the text "Friendship ends in one day.", so chances are they will reveal the update pages tomorrow, with the soldier and demo comparing the size of their....new guns.

Edited December 9, 2009 by mwpeck

[jelli]

Woooooo! This could be an awesome update :)

[Denis W. Veteran]

Finally. :D

[ViZioN]

Yes :woot:

[Pablo2008jedi]

hmm... I usually play Pyro :p Need to give demo and soldier a try tho...

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

On a kinda unrelated note, just to show how the internet works for any newcomers. 15 minutes after the comics were posted there was Rule 34 of Miss Pauling.

[Minifig]

When's the engie going to get his love. :(

[Elliot B.]

When's the engie going to get his love. :(

Tell me about it :/

[Mathachew Veteran]

When's the engie going to get his love. :(

Well he did get a mini-update with the equipment, but I know, it's not the same.

[Chasethebase Veteran]

This may be an Engineer update in disguise. The Soldier and Demo have to blow up the Engineer's new kit?

[r1ddl3r]

When's the engie going to get his love. :(

Well, they are gonna get a lot of rockets up their @sses from me, that's for sure!!!!

[Nagisan]

This may be an Engineer update in disguise. The Soldier and Demo have to blow up the Engineer's new kit?

Its possible but I do not think Valve would play the same card twice (remember the sniper vs spy update? They started it as a sniper only update and switched to sniper vs spy, I doubt they would act as if it was an update for soldier and demo then switch to engy). Also, according to the TF2 stats (on Steam) the least played un-updated classes are the soldier and demo. Engy is the most played class period. Valve stated earlier that they were updating in ording of least played, so it would only make sense to update either demo or soldier or both.

Also, there are 2 quotes in the new "friendship" lines that hint at whats going on:

"It's not too late to repent, kill your friend now and end this. Listen to your conscience!"

"It's me or him, and I pay your salary. Make your choice!"

Basically, the announcer wants the "friends" (who we now know are the demo and soldier) to kill each other. It is not a contest about who can best kill the engies new toys, its a contest about who can kill each other better. It would make more sense to give unlocks to the classes who are suppose to fight against each other (as far as the friendship story thing goes, that is).

Now, I personally think it would be better to do the engy and demo update together, as the demo counters the engy, similar to how the spy counters the sniper, but at the same time why would they do the same storyline right after they did it once already?

Either way, we should know later today.....if they release the blog update today at the same time as the one yesterday we will know in ~3.5 hours, I doubt it is the engy update though because Valve is known to put small hints in things about what they are doing, leaving it to the customers to speculate and figure it out, such as when the Sniper update page showed the dead spy, then at random showed an uncloaking spy behind the sniper and what not.

Also, if the demo and soldier had to blow up the engies new stuff, wouldn't that make them even closer friends? Working together and all?

EDIT: Digging even further into speculation (as there still has been no confirmed "this is the soldier / demo update", just speculation), Robin stated that the key to the new sound files, is who was hearing them:

"We've got something coming, but it's not a new game mode," Valve's Robin Walker further teased Kotaku. "The key to understanding the new sound files is to figure out who's hearing them in-game, and who isn't."

You could say its an engy update because he isn't hearing them, but at the same time none of the other classes are, so it only makes sense to assume that Robin is talking about the new update being about the soldier and demo, as those are the ones hearing the new sound files, and that is apparently what the update is about.

[Mathachew Veteran]

Any day now Valve...

And what happened to KotH? My favorite KotH server is gone and several of the servers I jumped into are empty :(

[Chrysaor]

Its going to turn the game into Team Deathmatch, everyone is going to be Demo or Soldier after update.

[Mathachew Veteran]

Site's been updated. It's WAR!!!

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

I'm going to kill so many demomen.

Edit: Dustbowl will be stained with a mixture of blood and scotch.