Beta update 4/26/2011

Pocket

Half a Lambert is better than one.
aa
Nov 14, 2009
4,694
2,579
A few notes about this update:

  • We're evaluating options on reducing The Equalizer's power (see below). Stop by the beta forum to share your feedback.
  • This update will break existing replays and demos.

Gameplay:

  • Medic:
    • Beta Syringe Gun
      • Applies Mad Milk for 1 second
      • 50% slower firing rate
      • 90% less damage
    • Beta Bonesaw
      • Allows the user to see enemy health
  • Sniper:
    • Beta Sniper Rifle
      • On Hit: Rifle charge rate increased by 35%
      • On Miss: Rifle charge rate decreased by 65%
    • Beta Sniper Club
      • 25% increase in damage when health <50% of max
      • 25% decrease in damage when health >50% of max
  • Soldier:
    • Beta Rocket Launcher
      • When the medic healing you is killed you gain crit boost for 8 seconds
      • On Hit: -10 Health
    • Beta Shotgun
      • While a medic is healing you, this weapons' damage is increased by 25%
      • While not being healed by a medic, your weapon switch time is 25% longer
    • Beta Split Equalizer 1
      • Damage increases as the user becomes injured
      • Blocks healing while in use
    • Beta Split Equalizer 2
      • Move speed increases as the user becomes injured
      • Blocks healing while in use

General:

  • Hooked up many community-submitted response rules
  • Replay
    • Fixed audio sync issues on the Mac
  • Synced with all changes and fixes from the official release
 
Mar 23, 2010
1,872
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i think valve forgetted how to make weapons.
 
Mar 23, 2010
1,872
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all of these weapons are pretty much terrible. especially the rocket launcher. here's a game: take a random idea from spuf, put it in the game and i guarantee you it will be better than this rocket launcher.

the equalizer was a nice idea (suggested by spuf like a year ago) executed poorly as #2 is clearly the best.

"just random stats" -Trotim on this update.
 
Jun 19, 2009
812
814
all of these weapons are pretty much terrible. especially the rocket launcher. here's a game: take a random idea from spuf, put it in the game and i guarantee you it will be better than this rocket launcher.

the equalizer was a nice idea (suggested by spuf like a year ago) executed poorly as #2 is clearly the best.

"just random stats" -Trotim on this update.

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1860943

Plus, Trotim's opinion doesn't matter since he doesn't even like TF2.

For this too lazy to go to spuf, this was the idea:
Unusual Wrenches that would build sentries that would have the same unusual effect as the hats
 

EArkham

Necromancer
aa
Aug 14, 2009
1,625
2,773
I wonder if the medic can bind "explode" to a key and then hit it once his uber runs out to give the soldier an extra 8 seconds of crits immediately after an uber/kritz.

Even if that doesn't work, this idea sounds pretty overpowered.

Kep
 

NinjillaX

L3: Member
Apr 4, 2011
114
36
Worst part is, if a Heavy and Demo comes between a Soldier-Medic pair as they have say, 48% Kritz, the Medic can just sacrifice himself and let the Soldier own. It would be great for offense and defense, especially insta-spawn servers.
 

Jeremy

L11: Posh Member
Oct 24, 2010
829
299
Beta Sniper Rifle

On Hit: Rifle charge rate increased by 35%
On Miss: Rifle charge rate decreased by 65%
Oh good. Now you have to be an Epic Sniper instead of a Relatively Good Sniper in order to gain kills.

If anything stops me from playing, it's these changes being shipped into the real game.
 

honeymustard

L9: Fashionable Member
Oct 26, 2009
698
573
Wish they'd fix the existing weapons first.

edit: i know theyre doing it with the equalizer here, but this (option B) should have been applied to the actual game MONTHS ago..
 
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Wilson

Boomer by Sleep
aa
May 4, 2010
1,385
1,223
I don't like these weapons, there is nothing really wrong with them, but they just feel like someone on Valve applied random stats on them.
 

Micnax

Back from the dead (again)
aa
Apr 25, 2009
2,109
1,585
Beta Sniper Rifle
* On Hit: Rifle charge rate increased by 35%
* On Miss: Rifle charge rate decreased by 65%
Oh boy, this is going to be a fun 2fort gam-

CtM-ERAZOR_vs_kgckriskrans-is-.jpg
 

Mr. Wimples

L6: Sharp Member
Jan 27, 2010
276
226
I honestly think If they kept a high damage threshold on the Equalizer but removed it's ability to crit it would make plenty of sense.

That being said,
KEEP THAT NEW RIFLE AWAY FROM BLOB
 
Apr 13, 2009
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Syringe gun : the concept is not necessarily bad, but the execution sounds terrible. 1 Second of mad milk ? so you have to continuously paint an enemy for it to work ? Wouldn't your time be better spent directly healing with a gun that doesn't require you to aim ?
Bonesaw : meh
Sniper rifle : I don't really like the idea (the reward for doing well is doing damage, no need for an extra reward)
Sniper Club : why not
Rocket launcher : OMGWTF Valve ?
Shotgun : meh
Equalizer : Sounds reasonable
 
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Trotim

aa
Jul 14, 2009
1,195
1,045
I know it's the beta. I know what a beta is for.

Yet there's no point in testing these unlocks because just one minute of thinking already reveals their mechanics are terribly flawed. None of them have any potential, address any issues a class had or offer an alternate playstyle.

Milkgun is absolutely useless and no tweaking of numbers can make a syringe gun that applies Mad Milk useful without making the Blutsauger useless.

Bonesaw showing enemy health is stupid and will make some Medics switch away from their Ubersaw which is bad because it allowed for awesome clutch plays and gave them a reason to melee. This Bonesaw and the Vitasaw make Medic boring again (while Vitasaw also screws up all Uber timing etc).

Pocketlauncher is broken and overpowered. Again, no tweaking of numbers can make the mechanic play well.

Pockgun is another upgrade that again screws with timing (when Medic heals another target for a second) and increased burst damage on an already strong weapon is only frustrating and not warranted in any way.

Both of these together tie the Medic to his pocket Soldier even more than already was the case and I can already see the "omg you wasted shotgun damage" "omg you wasted my crits" complaints coming when you get killed without humping your pocket.

Splitting the Equalizer makes some sense but the speedqualizer is what 99% of Soldiers will use regardless. All it does is make their melee useless at dealing damage again, which is okay though all things considered, but once you realize this there's no need to split anything. Just give the EQ -40% damage or whatever and done, no additional items_game entries needed. We really don't need more.

Sniper Kukri is just random stats. 81 damage at half health or lower instead of the stock 65, 49 damage when above. Not only does it barely make a difference (other than you can't kill Spies in two melee hits anymore and even then all Snipers use the Bushwacka to just make it 1 hit) but the mechanic makes no sense on Snipers. Much like the Bushwacka's.

The Sniper Rifle has very messy stats and once again screws with all sense of timing Snipers and their enemies learned over the past 3 years. That said it'd be an upgrade to the normal rifle as good Snipers only go for quick headshots anyway. If anything it will make Snipers use this 24/7 and stock rifle users will be labelled noobs, making it more difficult and frustrating to play well again.

The big problem is this: These unlocks are very comparable to existing ones and don't address any issues or needs. The Flare Gun was a great unlock because it was nothing like the Shotgun and still worked fine as a Pyro Secondary. Since Mannocomy however it seems that all new unlocks are just an already existing unlock with a tiny random twist that most of the time blurs the class definitions tremendously (Mad Milk, Black Box, Concheror for healing etc).

What TF2 needed was never more unlocks. The TF2 Team has to grow a spine and remove items now instead if they want to really improve TF2's gameplay again. Even then it's already months too late for this.

However if they only want to sell more random items and keep people playing in this little Skinner box, fine. Add more random items, make the once refined gameplay even more messy. If they want to go in this direction, all problems concerning balance and gameplay mechanics are instantly solved since clearly they don't want to appeal to hardcore TF2 (or FPS) players anymore anyway and more casual players that don't play seriously are bound to like anything that's added considering their lack of insight. Yeah they'll have fun because they play for fun, but players who had fun because they played seriously, trying to complete goals and play as a team, are having less and less.

Unlocks can be banned for competitive play but it's no solution and the more items like this are added, the fewer people will play seriously in pubs and thinking they will go for comp play because the unlocks are flawed is very optimistic...