Upcoming TF2 changes on April 20th 2038

    I'm still sceptical of this mechanic as it seems to fight against the main attractions of the genre. The TF2 implementation is certainly better than it is in some other games, adding alternative options opposed to new levels of power, but it still feels like an arbitrary restriction that effectively halves a newbies (lowbies?) skill set.

    I never got into CoD4 at work because everyone who'd been playing it since the start was not only more knowledgeable about the maps and general gameplay; they also had much better equipment. Basically requiring me to bend over for several weeks as I learnt how the game worked, while handicapped because I had to clamber over this artificial barrier as well.

    Again, TF2 doesn’t go to that extreme as the upgrades are more to the side than ‘my weapon is better than yours,’ so I’ll wait and see. TF2 is definitely my FPS of choice, but it still gets quite minimal playtime and I’m not sure if I’d enjoy showing up with half the kit.

    I always liked the simplicity of TF2 compared to TFC, in how they stripped away some of the features and ended up with a more honed gameplay experience. This seems to be going in the opposite direction of that. I honestly would have been happy with just more maps and game modes. One of TFC's strong points was always the variety in the map gametypes, both official and custom.

    Quote from 2d-chris

    Yep I agree with you Erratic! Never the less theres quite a few really cool tf2 custom maps coming out soon

    Very subtle

    I disagree with the notion of it overcomplicating the game to be honest.

    Initially it's still going to be the same intuitive experience because new players won't have access to the new weapons. Sure, they might die due to the unlockables that some other guy is using, but when you're new every weapon looks crazy and mysterious anyway. They'll slowly be introduced to the weapons as they master each class — and from looking at the achievement requirements, you'll be doing a lot of playing as a class before you get the upgrades!

    The key thing this will address is TF2's potential for going stale. While I'm still playing loads of TF2 every week, I am starting to feel like I've truly mastered every class. I can now top the scoreboard with effectively every class excluding the Medic, Scout, and Heavy, but I'm getting continuously better with those too.

    New weapons slowly being introduced will do much to keep things interesting for me, as it'll give me a whole lot of new things to master. It'll also make each enemy encounter less predictable because I won't be 99% sure of what they'll attack me with, bringing back some of the unexpected variety that TFC had (OMG GRENADE IN THE FACE).

    TF2 is a great game, but it does need help to keep feeling fresh. Player counts have been steadily dropping at a relatively fast rate for a while now (mostly just killing off the smaller/independent servers), which I suspect is largely due to people simply getting bored with the default content. The beauty of weapon upgrades is they can breathe new life into every map, making them a more general improvement than simply adding a new map.

    New unlockable weapons is going to keep the game fresh. I don't know about you guys but the game is becoming a little boring and repetitive.

    Also, what Thrik said.

    If they want to give the game a fresh feeling again by adding new weapons, they should give everyone access to them. Unbalancing a MP game is a no go imo.

    If they want the weapons to be mainly used by experienced players, make them difficult to use so beginners wont bother, but still have the opportunity to try them out.

    i sort of agree with hourences. what i really liked about hl2dm when i still played that, was that you had weapons you could get, but then you'd also have various ways of using those weapons as you got better -- the crossbow shots would bounce off surfaces and could be used for ricochet kill, the gravity gun could be used to pick up grenades and time them so you could blow someone up on impact. i would appreciate seeing changes like these in tf2. and no, i am not thinking about nade spam, but things like rocket jump and pipebomb jump, for instance. so yeah, give players all available weapons at the beginning, but add multiple use to them, as seen before.

    I'm going to be an idiot here and point out that personally I don't expect a $29 game to keep me entertained for months or years, Sure why not you ask? Well, it's mainly down to my expectations of games these days, When I buy a game and play it for more than 10 hours I consider it well worth the price.

    Sure, almost everyone else wants months of entertainment from what is a budget priced game, maybe i'm just getting older and hopefully wiser

    Still, nothing wrong with trying to keep it fresh at all, I just havent overplayed the game to an extent where I've got REALLY good at it, if I was brilliant and played it as much as half of you I'd be very happy to actually pay for an expansion or "fresh" content. Good on you Valve for supporting the game so much after release for no extra cost

    I think the problem with that approach is overwhelming new players though. One of the best things about TF2 is that despite there being so many classes and weapons, pretty much anyone can get going quickly as it's so intuitive. If you suddenly offer these newbies two versions of what initially seems like the same weapon (medigun, bonesaw, etc) it's going to get more confusing very quickly.

    I think the approach of giving more weapons as you grow more experienced is great. New players won't be overwhelmed, and will be encouraged to spend a lot of time with the basic weapons thus learning all the tricks and intricacies of each one. This also ensures the old weapons won't be dropped just because new ones are available — there'll always be newer players using them.

    It's also worth bearing in mind that as Taylor said, these aren't upgrades. They're alternatives, which exchange one advantage for another. It will reward people who devote a lot of time to one class with a new way of playing as that class, but not necessarily a better way. Just a way that may or may not fit more in line with their personal playing style.

    Man, they are really pushing the medic class eh? If they do this much for every class I'll actually eat my own balls.

    This one has the best name ever ..

    Midwife Crisis: Heal an enginner as he repairs his sentry while it's under enemy fire.

    Well, they have said they're going to do it for every class. Valve may be slow but they do tend to actually do what they say they will.

    Quote from Thrik

    Well, they have said they're going to do it for every class. Valve may be slow but they do tend to actually do what they say they will.

    In a couple of years time!

    Quote from Thrik

    It'll also make each enemy encounter less predictable because I won't be 99% sure of what they'll attack me with, bringing back some of the unexpected variety that TFC had (OMG GRENADE IN THE FACE).

    This is what I really like about TF though, you know your enemy. Just imagining every class with 3 extra weapons would take that predictability away. I think crits offer all the "WTF!" moments TF2 needs.

    Similar to Call of Duty 4, I don't even pay attention to what the enemy is using because the combinations are so vast it's not even worth thinking about (though, visually it's not very obvious either). It's all a matter of preference really, but I just like the more simplified approach in this case.

    Maybe it's something you pine for more when you play a lot. At the moment I'm able to predict and extinguish almost any enemy because I know pretty much exactly what he's going to do.

    For example if it's a Pyro I can always let him get close enough to hit his feet with a rocket, which'll launch him into the air so I can finish him with a mid-air or ground rocket. But if that Pyro could be carrying a shotgun that fires flaming rounds, suddenly my counting on him being fairly useless at medium/long range goes down the pan. It'd force me to rethink the same old approach I've routinely annihilated Pyros with for over six months.

    It'd really mix up the strategy in a good way I think. TF2 is good and balanced, but it does get stale if you play it a lot. After a while you end up seeing and doing exactly the same things every time you play a certain map because there's not much else each class can do while remaining effective.

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