Game Night

By: Terry

On: June 21st, 2008

Tonight is GAME NIGHT. On the cards are the usual staples of Jet Set Willy Online, iScribble, and no doubt Trackmania too. And apparently Team Fortress 2 is free this weekend, so there’ll probably be a game or two of that…

If you’re up for it, make your way to tigIRC as soon as you can! Things are about to start!

  • rz.

    fuck yeah

  • RetroactiveImmunity

    The new direction of TF2 puzzles me.

  • Lim-Dul

    *The new direction of TF2 puzzles me.*

    How?

  • http://sophiehoulden.com GirlFlash

    boom, headshot.

  • Valkyrie

    I agree. They first set out to make a simple, well-balanced game without the fancy unlock as you play crap. What you got is what you played with.

    Now they’re adding the unlockable equipment, changing the simplicity and the game itself completely. It’s still watered-down compared to CoD4 and the like, but it is a big change.

    Personally, I have a lot of faith in Valve to pull it off right, but I kinda wish it would stay like it has.

  • mcmag

    Agreed Valkyrie! I loved the simplicity of TF2 when it first came out. I thought they had made all the right choises with the game but now I’m not so sure anymor though I must admit that I’m as exited about all the new upgrades as anyone else.
    With the limitations we have in TF2 competetive gaming setup nowdays, I start to think that these upgrades might be a good thing in the end as long as the game dosen’t become unbalanced.

  • Fishy Boy

    Of course, console version of the game gets no good updates at all, so you can play that one or something. I personally think that they’ll do okay, and if it turns out it does suck, they’ll probably do something about it.

  • Lim-Dul

    LOL – I always find it funny how people oppose any changes in games. The “CS 1.5 vs CS 1.6” story comes to mind although almost nothing was changed in THAT case. ;-)

    I enjoy the new updates since they keep the game alive and it is STILL balanced – maybe even more so than before.

    E.g. the Pyro update was aimed at making the Pyro MORE balanced since it was the least popular class with one of the lowest score and kill ratios. You just needed to check out the official stats to see that.

    Remember how hard it was to get a medic on your team in the beginning? Everybody (except for me :-P) considered him to be the most boring class to play. Valve has seen that in the stats, BAM, update. People started playing medics to get the new weapons and now they are still more popular than before.

    The unlockable weapons also aren’t necessarily better than the standard ones so you’re perfectly fine with sticking to the “old ways”.

    The only problem with the updates is that they are released one class at a time and that makes for like a week of HORRIBLE gameplay where everybody is farming achievements and trying out the new weapons instead of doing something useful.

    Again, the Pyro update seems to show that Valve has learned from past mistakes since unlike in the medic pack the weapons can be unlocked in 5 minutes with friends in an achievementbox map or in several hours of NORMAL gameplay. The update has been out for only 3 days and the situation already begins to settle.

  • Nillo

    Though I have never played TF2, I think that unlockable equipment in an FPS is a terrible idea, and I was shocked when I heard about it.

    As I see it, the whole point of an FPS is that you want to become more powerful as a player, not as a player character. Victory or defeat should depend only on your skill and nothing else. A skilled newbie should be able to join in a game and compete on the same terms as a veteran.

  • robolee

    I hate it, keep getting flame-bombed by pyro’s now, you don’t have to be very close to it for it to set you ablaze.

  • Kao

    TF2 was a ton of fun. We should do it more often.

  • Valkyrie

    You do raise a good point about them updating the least used classes first, Lim-Dul.

    I’m simply saying the original was damn near-perfect and I think the updates aren’t necessary. I’ll still play the hell out of it, though.

  • Lim-Dul

    *Though I have never played TF2, I think that unlockable equipment in an FPS is a terrible idea, and I was shocked when I heard about it.*

    I agree. I was also shocked when I heard that it is connected to stupid achievements, some of which don’t promote a “normal and useful” playing style. At least this was the case with the Medic.

    Now, however, Valve has improved the system.

    Also, the unlockable weapons don’t make you stronger – they are alternatives that may work better for certain styles.

    E.g. the Pyro has now one Flamethrower that can repel projectiles and people with alt-fire and another one which gives him +50 hp and always scores critical hits from behind (but hasn’t got the compression blast).

    Then there’s the Flare Gun which replaces the Shotgun. It is a single-shot pistol with a pretty slow moving projectile that can be used at long ranges BUT doesn’t work underwater, hits only for ~20 dmg plus burning, which can be quickly avoided by jumping into water or picking up ANY health pack (running to a dispenser or calling a medic also works). The shotgun was great at finishing people off at close and medium ranges – that’s why I’m still using it even though I unlocked everything. :-D

    *I’m simply saying the original was damn near-perfect and I think the updates aren’t necessary. I’ll still play the hell out of it, though.*

    Well – maybe Valve could’ve just stuck to updating the classes without any major additions like unlockables BUT since the updates are here I don’t complain. I was NEVER EVER mad at ANY game update by the game designers (and the ones working at Valve are quite brilliant =) unless they made the game completely unplayable and this is not the case with Team Fortress 2.

    I played Guild Wars for a very long time and skills got buffed and nerfed all the time and you just had to adapt – you couldn’t just abuse a single overpowered build all the time.

    Also, the updates will bring more players to the game and that’s a very clever marketing strategy, which both the players and Valve will be profiting from. I’m 100% sure that the amount of NEW players outweighs the few players who say that they’ll quit the game (also, I wonder how many actually DO that since they mostly seem to be TF2 fanatics =).

    Combine that with the free to play weekends and I can already see many players on the servers falling in love with TF2 and saying that they’ll buy it. :-D

  • Nillo

    Can the “free to play” people use these weapons?

  • Lim-Dul

    Yes, if they unlock them like anybody else, which might take anywhere from 5 minutes (if you cooperate with your friends) to several hours (with normal FFA gameplay). Like I said before the new weapons don’t give you any real advantage over people who don’t have them.

    However, the free weekend lasts (lasted?) only for three days – Team Fortress 2 doesn’t normally have a free-play option, it was only introduced as a special time-limited feature after the last update.

  • Novichock

    The backburner is a nice addition, Now the pyro can stand a chance at taking down a heavy with full health.

    And compared to the medic achievements, The pyro ones don’t require you to do stupid stuff like ubering a heavy and then having Fatty McMinigun punch the enemy instead of shooting them.

  • MisterX

    “Like I said before the new weapons don’t give you any real advantage over people who don’t have them.”

    Well, actually some do. For example the unlockable syringe gun for the Medic is definitely better than the normal one.
    But of course that is not what it should be like, so Valve will most definitely balance such things out. I just hope they’ll do so sooner than later instead of releasing one update after another as quickly as possible.

  • Lim-Dul

    *Well, actually some do. For example the unlockable syringe gun for the Medic is definitely better than the normal one.*

    But not for the reason you might think. =)

    The life leeching isn’t any substitute for the lack of criticals if you’re a medic on a roll (which you often are because according to the stats the medic is the quickest scoring class and the crit chance increases with your score)… The thing is that the Blutsauger allows for spy-checking and THAT’S the real advantage of the new gun…

  • colorFool

    I totally have to second Lim-Dul – I like the unlockables, but it really pisses me off that the first two weeks alsmost every game is ruined, because people are all playing the updated class.
    It’s not all that bad with the pyro, but it really sucked with Medic.. you always had 5 Medics on your team of which nobody was doing anything useful.

    I think it will be terrible once the engy archivements come out…non-stop camping for two weeks…

    Before the archivements I played Medic a lot – I thought it was a fun class, but also a very useful one, which was often the reason for playing him (I usually try to play a class that could be of use to the team in their current situation) I liked it better when there was only one competent medic instead of three idiots only drooling over archivements. It makes me wish people were more patient…

  • Lim-Dul

    @colorFool – I feel your pain. My most played classes were the Engineer and Medic (even before the updates) and I believe the Pyro was third. :-D
    Now I HAD to play with other classes because otherwise my team would’ve been completely useless…

    As to the Engy achievements – yeah, ha, ha – imagine how hard it’ll be to earn them. 24 people on the server – 12 Engineers vs 12 Engineers – nobody moves. :-D

    And what about Sniper achievements? At least the Medics and Pyros were willing to capture some points from time to time (although I am too, when I’m playing a Sniper – only suckers camp with him all the time without trying to advance).

    The next packs will probably involve the Spy or the Scout because they are the least played classes now. I remember when people were whining on the forums how he should be nerfed during the beta. :-D
    It’s funny how they stopped even though not a single thing was changed for the scout. I guess people just learned how to counter him. =)

  • Lim-Dul

    One last note: I play with all classes and adapt to the situation. If the team needs a Spy, I’ll be a Spy etc. I think that the most problematic players are those who specialize in only a few classes (or, God forbid, only one). They immediately start whining when something comes out that makes “owning” with their beloved character a bit harder.

  • Lim-Dul

    Hah – colorFool found me on Steam. It turned out he’s from Austria. ^^
    Are there any other European TF2 gamers who left their comments here? :-D

  • Farfelnugens

    Pyro needs the damage dropoff on his (or her, according to recent news) flamethrower back. He’s massively overpowered without it.

  • Lim-Dul

    The gameplay stats say otherwise. The time people spend playing Pyros has increased greatly but his kill and score ratio have stayed virtually the same.

    What hard data do you have to prove your theory except for your personal point of view? =)

    Learn to counter the Pyro – I own Pyros with virtually any other offensive class. As a demoman or soldier I averaged about 5 dominations on mostly-pyro servers… I’d really hate to see this comments section turn into the Steam forums where some kids cry all the time because the Pyro isn’t a free-frag anymore. =)

  • Novichock

    “As to the Engy achievements – yeah, ha, ha – imagine how hard it’ll be to earn them. 24 people on the server – 12 Engineers vs 12 Engineers – nobody moves.”

    Nah, Its gonna be 8 engies, 2 snipers, a pyro and a spy.

  • Lim-Dul

    *Nah, Its gonna be 8 engies, 2 snipers, a pyro and a spy.*

    Read: your typical round on ctf_2fort. ;-)