Tf2=F2P.... Wow. That's a gutsy move for Valve! TF2 has been out for 4-plus years, so I can see why it might qualify, but it's kind of been Valve's biggest game. Many new big-ticket games have had TF2 incentives, like the Killing Floor gas mask and the Sam and Max hat/gun, which leads me to believe that TF2's popularity is a major driving force for other developers to get out some pseudo-word-of-mouth advertising to the hordes of gamers who play. But still, is it really so popular that there's not enough non-players left to continue to make a profit off the $9.99 sticker price? Or is Valve just doing this out of the kindness of their hearts/ easier to garner more advertisement interest from a larger gaming population? (Or has the crate key/TF2 store concept not gone as well as Valve had hoped?)

And does this mean we'll have no more class updates?



Also, the Meet the Medic movie reminds me once again why Valve is so awesome. Seriously Valve, I love you.

Verily. I really hope they keep making videos after Meet the Pyro is said and done.

And today marks the day I will never be able to find a Brazilian server to play in again.

Actually, Valve's most consistently popular game according to Steam stats is... Counterstrike 1.6.

Followed by CS:S.


I've never played either. :dance:

Meet The Medic was amazing

Also, way to shred any misconceptions about the MEdic being benevolent.

"Kill me." "Later"

or

"Vait. It gets better. Ven ze patient woke up, his skeleton vas missing, and ze doctor vas never heard from again! [...] Anyvay, zat's how I lost my medical license"

But the best line was
"Doctor! Are you sure this will work!?" "I HAVE NO IDEA!!!"

Wait, wait. wait... You thought the medic was benevolent? DEAR GOD MAN! I knew from the beginning that he would be the MOST insane.

That doesn't count the uh, probably millions of Brazilians that pirate it.

Personally I just liked how the pyro was playing with a lighter while waiting.

On it being free to play

For one most people that would get it, have gotten it. Or to be more exact those that would pay for it. This hopes to bring in those that are curious, but not enough to put money into it. What do they get out of it?

Well let me ask you this, how much does it cost to buy a single hat from the Mann Co Store?

You can get a random paint for, I think, £0.59. That apparently suffices to boost your account up to Premium.

No, minimum amount of money you can deposit in the Steam wallet is $5.

Bah TF2 isn't working for me tonight
I'll play tomorrow.

Now that TF2 is free, how long until we can expect TF3 (after HL3 and L4D3 of course)?

And oh man that was an amazing video, but what I really can't wait for is Meet the Pyro. Actually, Meet the Pyro needs to be the grandmaster of all class videos.

Based on the universal laws of comedy, The pyro is going to be the only sane man.

The world will forever wonder what Medic saw when Pyro went in for the uberization procedure.

Nonono. You misunderstand. I knew he was crazy.

But I've heard about other people making that sort of mistake.

This whole video came as absolutely no surprise to me. It was perfect.

He probably managed to clear up a case of heartburn while he was in there.

Now, here's a question. How did the Medic become capable of getting charged while using the medigun? Do you think he, like any insane surgeon worth his scalpel, operated on himself?

To quote M. Bison, "OF COURSE!"

Yeah, I pretty much guessed it would be about an uber holding back a strong offense, but it was the little touches that make it great.
Well he obviously would have wanted to wait until the procedure was universally applicable before using it on himself. And he had 8 test subjects to work with.

anyone else notice the locke ness hamster?

Where? Also, given the first part of the video, will artillery shells become part of the game?

I think that was just Soldier Rockets.

As for the Loch Ness Hamster, it's the other heart in the Medic's refrigerator.

Had a bunch of those move in when the basement flooded last spring. Cute, but bitey. Not to mention they breed like regular hamsters so you really can't take any prisoners.

What's with Steam? I keep trying to update but it just stops and doesn't show download speed.

Is this just what happens when Steam gets hammered on a certain download?

Pretty much. You have a combo of massive update plus the added stress of extra players for the promotional week.

http://i.imgur.com/QFRd3.jpg

Let's just say the Steam servers are on the left and this update is on the right.

EDIT: Allrighty, now to scrounge up a spare Sydney Sleeper and craft me that new rifle.

Doc crafted some weapons:
Detonator:
Fire fireworks at the enemy...Un less you have good depth-perception your screwed. Its handy if you can get the timing right but it moves WAY faster then the flare. Also You can't Flare jump :(

Atomizer bat thingyy (going to be named I can't say the name):
It's surprisingly effective with the Fan (I managed to get into some RJ only Places) Also fucking with heavies using the jump over their head trick is SOO effective with this one.

SNipers new knife:
Didn't try it yet...

New rocket launcher:
Good if you can swing it.
Its not a sentry buster though But it definitely fucks with snipers and those pyros.

New needle gun:
Didn't try it yet...

Holy shit that Meet The Medic video

http://i52.tinypic.com/dy7sc9.gif

Fuck yes I fucking love this class and I fucking love this video oh god yes

When googling an image fails, there's always ALT+PrtScrn.
 

Really not trying to sound elitist here, really aren't. but..

Holy fuck the swarms of new baddies are AWFUL.

The amusement of curb stomping fresh meat diminished after dominating half the opposing team using the Tomislav. Three maps in a row on top of capturing the intel as a heavy without a medic. I even threw a few softballs and ran around with the fist of steel meleeing people.

Love the new shit but holy fuck the new fish take the thrill out of things. To put things into perspective: I'm usually around the middle to lower third of the team points-wise on my usual server.

That was my favourite pasttime before the update. I doubt my usual server haunts will see a huge amount of newbies (they're usually very populated regardless), but I shall have to indulge myself today.

Speaking of the Steam stats earlier, guess what:

1.6, always on top.

Pretty fucking fast.
I ambushed a heavy as a Scout and after I unloaded a shot and he was then all spun up and firing.
Did the same thing to a Sasha heavy and kicked his ass.

Good: Got the Bazaar Bargain crafted and I have the weapons needed to craft the Shanahsahwhatchamacallit

Bad: I have no reclaimed metal to finish the recipe.

Result: :C

I think i have a spare reclaimed you can have.

After Heavy's heart explodes and hits one of the birds, look in the window. Miss Pauling?

Also, I crafted a detonator, I'm not liking it so far. The explosion is really small and hard to time, and you lose that lovely 90 damage the flare gun does to burning players. In the hands of someone who knows what they're doing it's probably better but at the moment I'm probably switching back to flare gun.

I've found it difficult to use too, I'll probably go for some of the other kinds of weapons in the update and see how I like those.

Seems like the best place to ask...

As somebody who has never played TF2, what's a good class to try from the start and where's a good place to start looking to play?

I mean, I'm looking to avoid open hostility from people who have no idea who I am, y'know?

I'd say medic. You get to stay out of direct combat situations yourself but still get to be part of the frontline, so you get to see other classes in action. Also, no matter how much practice you need, you can still provide benefits to your team. That said there isn't really a wrong class to play as and you should give all of them a go eventually so you can have a feel for them. You can play offline mode against bots for a little while to get a feel for the classes before trying your hand in the Real World.

You could join the NPF Unlimited steam group and join the fun whenever people are playing, just sit in the chat room until people start a game.

The Soldier is an easy class to get into. He's got a rocket launcher, so it's basically a point-and-click deal, and he's got a lot of health too. It's great for learning basic map objectives, as well as what each class is capable of. The Soldier has a lot of fun tricks you can learn eventually (ie. rocket jumping) but you don't need to learn those right off the bat.

As for a good place to start looking to play... well, I just recommend you click the Find a Server button and try different gametypes. Control Points is good to start with to learn the dynamics of objective-based gameplay, but you can really pick any one you like.

EDIT FOR ABOVE: Medic is fun too, yes, and it's a great way to help without really knowing what you're doing - damn near anything you do will help the team in some way or another. I recommend Pyro and Heavy for a similar reason - you can do a lot of damage in a satisfying way even if you don't know the "optimal" ways to play each class. But once you know more-or-less how to play, it's best to just experiment with all classes; once you get a drop, for example, you might want to switch to whoever uses your new weapon so you can give it a whirl.

Evaluation of today's play session:

Tomislav Needs Nerf Badly. 90% of Heavies are using them now. And there are a -lot- of Heavies.

It's an MMO FPS, dear. There's plenty of hostility to go around. Everyone will hate you if you play Medic, Spies will hate you if you go Pyro, etcetera. The best thing I can advise would be to play all of them. Get a feeling for the classes and play what you like to play.

The most important thing is to have fun.

...unboxed a strange Chargin' Targe. Gonna be a bitch to rack up kills with this thing :I

as for starting class play: Go soldier. It is friendliest to beginners and you're a force of pain when you get good with it. Also, the detonator needs tweaking. I like the faster moving flare, so much so that I don't mind the mini-crit only flare on fire target damage. The cooldown between shooting and detonation needs to be removed 'cause the flarehop is pretty much impossible as is. Not that it is even worth doing..

Amen, brother, a-fucking-men! If i had a penny for the times my ambush has failed completely because they can now react as fast as solders can I would be one rich sonofabitch

well if this is literally your first I'd say scout so you can get a feel for the map. After that, personally I think engineer. A decent sentry placement is good even if you aren't the best at handling spies or knowing when to move your gear.

Oh my god it takes 8 Jarate to craft a Solemn Vow. That's pretty hilarious.

Although I'm sad that it's gonna take me forever to get all of these fancy new weapons since I only really play TF2 on our weekend Steam nights and I only have one of a lot of weapons.

Don't listen to Seil, play medic.

edit: I mean i guess Medic is an okay class if you like playing the most important class on the team, determining whether your team wins or loses, or doing more to affect whether or not your team succeeds than anyone else playing any other class.

Other fun things about playing medic: other people giving you orders or criticizing you, you telling them to suck your dick and then leaving them to die.

Or my personal favourite: "WHERE IS OUR MEDIC WHY ISN'T HE ON THE FRONTLINES" leading to "WHY IS THE MEDIC ON THE FRONTLINES GETTING SHOT" over and over...

I wish there was some way, at least in bots-only offline mode, to use weapons you don't have yet. After getting burned by the detonator (unlike my enemies, self-zing!) I'm tentative about going for the new medic set. Also I'm not paying for my items but there are people who do and throwing down actual money on something that might be completely useless is something Valve really ought to avoid.

The most important thing about playing medic is to remember that you are always, always allowed to tell those people to suck your dick, because you are A. a million times more important than any of them, and B. the most important person on the team.

...I mean don't get me wrong, there are plenty of people who play TF2 in its various roles who also have a pretty good understanding of the medic's role, and will helpfully direct you in what you can do to be a more effective medic and contribute to your team's victory, and you should as a new player listen and be grateful to these people.

But there are also a lot of douchebags who you can pretty much feel free to tell to A. fuck off and B. go be a medic themselves if they wanna run their mouths, and then you leave those people to die.

It's a pretty good feeling.

I guess it's really...

:cool:

Taking the piss.


YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

Good starter classes: Soldier, Medic, Pyro. Soldier is a good all-around character-- He's not too slow-moving or hard to control, he has a fairly high HP max, and he's fairly effective at all ranges of combat. Downsides-- He uses a rocket launcher as his main weapon, which can backfire and cause damage to himself if he hits a target too close to him (splash damage), pyros can ricochet your rockets back at you, and your starting melee weapon (the shovel) is kind of weak. Medic- You can learn the ropes by watching others, you can use your teammates as human shields, and you get a portion of all the kill points your patient is getting. He's also the second-fastest class, so running away is easier. Downsides- He's weak and hard to make self-sufficient until you unlock the blutsauger. He'll automatically regenerate hp, but not fast enough to keep you alive under direct assault. Also, other players depend on medics and can be rage-y no matter what you do. Pyro- Fast, but still easy to control. A great close-range and ambush character. Able to airblast enemy bombs and rockets away. Downsides- Low hp, limited long-range attack capabilities, You have to be able to jump in, cause damage, and gtfo before you get killed.

I'd avoid scout at first because he has very low hp, causes less damage w/ his starter weapons, and is generally harder to control because of his speed.

Planning on trying out the free version, hope my computer is powerful enough (it's pretty old). What are the minimum system requirements?

Hope that helps.

Alternatively, insist on healing them by shooting them in their smug snotnosed faces with your fucking healing crossbow. They leave with porcupine head and you get a good chuckle out of it.

Lolmac. PC specs:

Minimum: 1.7 GHz Processor, 512MB RAM, DirectX® 8.1 level Graphics Card (Requires support for SSE), Windows® 7 (32/64-bit)/Vista/XP, Mouse, Keyboard, Internet Connection

Recommended: Pentium 4 processor (3.0GHz, or better), 1GB RAM, DirectX® 9 level Graphics Card, Windows® 7 (32/64-bit)/Vista/XP, Mouse, Keyboard, Internet Connection


And I had someone healing, who didn't know how to apparently, and kept shooting the syringe gun at anyone they tried to heal. It was annoying. Don't do that. Like, from the start, they were shooting syringes at everyone on the team.

Give them that crossbow the Medic has. That thing heals friendlies.

Don't suppose anyone here really loves crates, do they? I've got a pile of them and I have no use for them so I'd be willing to trade them for pretty much anything (scrap metal or any weapon I don't have would do).

I've also got the pyro brainslug and polycount attendant hat that I wouldn't mind trading for a rubber glove or a blighted beak, or some of the new weapons.

Seems a lot of people are liking the new medigun. It's not good for pocket medics but a medic who is part of a group and can switch targets reliably can make good use of it.

@Roland: Really the best thing to do is bounce between classes as you wish so you can get a hang of them. Any class except spy is a good starter in my opinion (once you get C&D or Dead Ringer then spy becomes easier). As for servers, I went into this blind and stumbled on a group of servers (I think it's tf.skial.com). It's decent, stuff almost never gets out of hand and people are somewhat friendly. If you can't find them then just add me as a friend and see what server I'm playing when I'm on at the same time.

I'll gladly take 'em off your hands :d

Don't really have much to trade with at the moment seeing as I scrapped all my crap to make mats for the new stuff. Willing to work on credit~

Pure melee demo has never been funner, holy craps. Hearing spies rage when I shield bash 'em is priceless.

... I just understood the reason for naming the bird Archimedes...

Because Archimedes was a man of science, and the Medic would obviously know the name?

A bit more gruesome. Archimedes liking human organs is a slight (if disturbing nod) to how the actual titan was eaten by birds.

It's even MORE disturbing when it's a dove that's supposed to be so innocent...

...I'm pretty sure you're thinking of Prometheus, actually. Archimedes is an actual historical figure.

Prometheus is the guy who gave humans the sun, and was punished by Zeus to have his liver eaten by birds every day for the rest of his life (as titans apparently could regrow their livers).



On topic... I unboxed a Strange Rocket Launcher and, combined with the Reserve Shooter and Disciplinary Action I picked up, it has made me want to try playing Soldier a whole lot more.

I went through a big rocket jumping phase last fall, and I gotta say it's really weird playing a soldier who spends the majority of his time NOT 50 feet in the air.

So Valve doesn't have anything for the engie?

Does he NEED anything?

-Also- Yeah, this is why I need to Google before trying to remember those Greeks. THEY ALL LOOK THE SAME TO ME!

This page made a joke of the fact that the Engie's not getting anything.

skimming over wikipedia, I couldn't find anything that had to do with archimides and medicine. Figured they'd go with some obscure but fitting referance, like Apollo or Leonardo

Archimedes also was Merlin's pet owl. (Thanks Watchmen!)
Perhaps that has something to do with it? I wouldn't know how exactly though.

Guess who got the Solemn Vow in a random drop?

Awwww yeah!

Hey, does anyone here have a spare Mad Milk to trade?

...For a Solemn Vow? I would.

edit: Okay yeah turns out I actually DO have a spare Mad Milk. What're ya sellin'?

Reality loves to show me up at every opportunity as part of its eternal grudge campaign.

Man is there like some trick to explain why I can't do jack squat as a soldier, pyro, sniper or demoman, but every one I come across wipes the floor with me no matter what class i throw at them?


I guess, in a specific sense, I want to know why everyone else takes 5-6 rockets to kill and I only take 2.

Probably overheals and how close to the rocket they are. Also a problem if they can abuse the best part of their equipment.

Because vanilla Rocket Launcher is pretty weak compared to the other weapons, since direct hit does more damage but with higher accuracy requirement, Black Box increases survivability and liberty launcher helps overcome enemy reaction time.

For pyro, the best strategy is to do a straight charge until that charge would get you killed, then take advantage of corners to set people on fire and let them burn to death. It's easier once you get a Backburner, which increases damage and gives crits to attacks from behind at the cost of making compression bursts cost 50 ammo.

Sniper is hard to adjust to. The way I got used to it was when I was on a Doublecross server. There's a window on the battlements, and if you get on that and look towards the enemy base, you get an amazing view of high-traffic areas. It's the perfect sniping spot, and in my case the players on the server seemed somewhat out of it, and I managed to rack up a 50 point kill-spree as a sniper in one round.

Demoman is the hardest to master IMO, since you have to know the vanilla equipment well, and then be able to consider the demoknight build. I have trouble with the demoman (lowest point spree of any class in my performance report), but the main strategy with vanilla equipment is to use the stickies for traps in high-traffic zones and turret removal, then the grenade launcher can be either used for spamming areas out of direct sight to harass the enemy, or for trying to land grenades on the enemy so they take maximum damage (a full clip can take out almost any enemy if they all hit directly).

Demoknight is a whole different crap pile that I don't have much experience with (it's often good to do better than a frying pan when you have the chargin' targe).

Demoman is all about mid range. You have to be good at learning his two main weapons before anything else.

With the regular launcher, you aim for people's feet, pop them into the air and become a midrange master.

With the sticky launcher, there's more room for error. However, you have to remember the delay on these things... If not, you'll be blowing yourself up quite a lot.

Hm, interesting stuff. As much as I suck at the moment, I've been having a lot of fun, save those occasional moments when my Heavy gets two-shot or I get backstabbed immediatly upon managing to make it to the fight.

In general, I've noticed a funny off-balance issue with some of the maps and modes. Payload especially, when, as 'attackers' we have to run 15 seconds across the map to get to the cart on the final push, but as Defenders you spawn right there and on a shorter respawn timer.

It largely depends on the server you play on. However With OFFICAL settings this is the opposite. The attackers have a 10 second respawn while defenders have closer to 30 seconds.

Also If you hate the walk Go engie and build a tele. (not to mention he is a good newbie class)

YEah, Engie's a good starting class. And regarding Pyro, I try to play him as an ambush class. Like on a payload map, find a hiding spot near the track, and when they are all bunched up, they walk on by, then you come around them and light them up. If anything it'll surprise them and slow them down.

I can't get my mic to work, so I can't tell people not to bother ubering me when I play heavy cause I got no clue what to do

The default is to run to the nearest sentry and shoot it.

Don't be afraid to not be shooting while ubered. If enemies are past a bend wind down the gun and run over.

Also, don't rule out the possibility that you are the only clueless one in that situation. I have received a few ubers when no targets were around.

Oh man, I am loving the Quick Fix. No Overheal is a bit of a problem, but I heal people to full in like a second.

The Ubercharge is... interesting. I can't quite break guards as well as I could with the normal Ubercharge, but it does well enough, I think.