August 31, 2009 - Team Fortress 2 Update Released

[evanonline]

Oh wow, they banned idling. It's all right, I was just waiting for them to fix it, but I hope this doesn't mean I get my wonderful, sexy Stainless Pot removed.

The only one of my three hats I got through idling was an Otolaryngologist's Mirror, which, quite ironically, was the fourth item I got.

I don't think there's any way to remove previously obtained items, but some people have been reporting such losses, so I dunno. I have no clue how they could possibly discern idle-gotten items and legit items. It's certainly logical that new items you obtain from the idler could be removed, given that its way of giving the items to you is rather exploitable, but...

The reason I look at this as a "waste of time" isn't because I think this isn't cheating--if Valve were to outright ban all idling, I would begrudgingly agree with them. The thing is, the only way to do that would be to change the item system completely! All this is is a minor inconvenience--achievement_idle still exists. Unless Valve can ban achievement_idle servers too then this is just stupid.

 

[Jack Riguel]

I don't think there's any way to remove previously obtained items, but some people have been reporting such losses, so I dunno. I have no clue how they could possibly discern idle-gotten items and legit items. It's certainly logical that new items you obtain from the idler could be removed, given that its way of giving the items to you is rather exploitable, but...

Valve's method of doing this in the past was to get rid of everything. They did this with the original Hat Glitch back at the Sniper/Spy update. I know. I had everything + and they all got taken away two weeks later except for one hat. If it happens again (especially since the now four hats I now have I got in-game, even though I use the idler) I will not be pleased. Hell I'll even start the boycott that would likely come of it.

EDIT: Not that it would matter since Valve does the TF2 updates for free, which people seem to consistently forget.

 

[Penguin]

I'm waiting for today's Blog Post.

"Ahaha! We had you going there, eh? Here's your stuff back."

 

[psikobare]

EDIT: Not that it would matter since Valve does the TF2 updates for free, which people seem to consistently forget.

what's your point?
team fortress (original) used to be a free mod, freely updated by the community (including our god robin, wich created it), don't forget that

maybe i should ask valve to give me back my 17€ (wich is a lot for a game to me), until i get a hat

also i'm a prodemo, i deserve a hat for my class! how comes some lolpyros can (with some random luck) have a hat for my class when he doesn't even know how awesome demo is over pyro (and any classes)?

I'm waiting for today's Blog Post.

"Ahaha! We had you going there, eh? Here's your stuff back."

"this hat ain't gonna randomly loot itself"

 

[Terr]

... <_<

Damnit, now I know how people feel about me regarding certain topics in the Steam forums.

 

[Jack Riguel]

what's your point?

The point being is that a boycott would be pointless. Valve is giving away free updates to a game we already paid for.

Now if Valve announced one day that they would give donators to the game an extra 20% chance that they would get a hat, then a boycott could be justified.

 

[evanonline]

Now if Valve announced one day that they would give donators to the game an extra 20% chance that they would get a hat, then a boycott could be justified.

That actually doesn't seem too unfair.

I'd say charging for the updates outright would probably be a boycott causer. But really, this game's given me more entertainment for $20 than most give me for $50.

 

[PL-7764]

When playing on public servers I find myself almost always playing with people who all fall into one of two categories: those who have every single hat in the entire game (or if they don't, they have 3 or 4 and find more very quickly and consistently) and those who have no hats at all and will never find even one in 200+ hours of play. Therein lies the problem, I believe: it seems that the way the system is set up, there's a "dice roll"-like method that one time and one time only picks whether you will be likely to find hats or not. So a few lucky people get that lucky roll that gives them a huge chance of finding hats every time they play, while the majority of players never get anything at all.

Perhaps fate has placed me to be playing on servers that just so happen to have only those two types of people on them, and others have had different experiences. (I would imagine this to be the case - I don't exactly play a wide variety of servers. ) From my personal experience though it's been all or nothing with individuals and finding hats. (I'm part of the much larger "nothing" group.) It's as if it lines everyone up and says "This one will find hats, this one won't, this one will, this one won't," etc.

 

[Mexican Apple Thief]

I've used the idler a few times, out of curiosity. I changed my ways soon though and can only hope the Train God will forgive me.

Also I think Valve should just make the idler not work anymore, and instead of punishing people who used the idler, give them the hat they so desired. The hat will be a tutu. It is unremovable until you've played for an equal amount of time as the time you spent idling.

 

[evanonline]

Also I think Valve should just make the idler not work anymore, and instead of punishing people who used the idler, give them the hat they so desired. The hat will be a tutu. It is unremovable until you've played for an equal amount of time as the time you spent idling.

This is the best idea I've ever heard. Especially if it's worn as a hat and not a dress. I would be proud to have it.

 

[Ankh]

I hope they realise that forcing people to idle in-game will just bring back the plague of achievement_idle servers and people sucking up valuable server space.

Hell I can create my own idle map in 5 minutes (as I assume anyone here can), so not only that but it will be even harder to prevent people idling than it is now.

so basically this is kind of a bad idea

No other problems with the update though

 

[Jack Riguel]

Also I think Valve should just make the idler not work anymore, and instead of punishing people who used the idler, give them the hat they so desired. The hat will be a tutu. It is unremovable until you've played for an equal amount of time as the time you spent idling.

As hilarious and wonderful as that sounds, It'll probably just encourage more people to use it.

 

[Mexican Apple Thief]

Okay here's an idea. The idlers have tutus AND can't unlock anything else until it runs out. Just so there's a negative thing.

Everyone else should get the option to wear a tutu whenever wanted, and also some kind of medal or something.

 

[Terr]

I'd like to second the "unremoveable time-based punishment hat". You can keep your current hats, provided that until it expires you can't acquire new hats either.

So at the end of the day you still have the same hats-per-time as others.

 

[JoshuaC]

I think it would be hilarious if they took a more humorous approach to the idler situation.

 

[PL-7764]

Make everyone who used the idler appear in a reference pose to everyone else until they've played off their idling time.

AND make the ref-posed ragdolls use the purple-and-black checkerboard texture.

AND make using taunts not change any of that for them.

 

[Mexican Apple Thief]

I'd like to second the "unremoveable time-based punishment hat". You can keep your current hats, provided that until it expires you can't acquire new hats either.

So at the end of the day you still have the same hats-per-time as others.

Exactly, it would be effective, fair, and the idlers would still have a good laugh about it.

Someone who's not lazy should e-mail Robin.

 

[Terr]

The problem is that determining the amount of "extra time" is problematic compared to whether or not major idling was done. And you know somebody is gonna make an unreasonable "omg no moar of mah muney valve wtf" stink over any change...

 

[Ankh]

the thing is, all of these can just be countered by idling in-game. and for people making maps, they can do that and be productive.

All it would do is annoy the people with no hats even further

 

[Peterm]

quick delete the idler :I