Beta update June 15 or 17 2011

[Pocket]

Officially it's listed as having come out two days ago. Well, my Steam only just now decided to download it, and there's not a thread yet, so here we go:

Gameplay:

• Pyro:
  • The Detonator:
    • Flares now detonate on impact with the world, but with a greatly reduced radius (manually detonated radius unchanged)
    • Replaced +20% increased blast damage with +20% increased self blast damage
• Medic:
  • The Quick-Fix:
    • Lowered heal and charge rates to 40% (from 50%)
    • New sounds

General:

• Main Menu changes:
  • Added a "Start Playing" option which presents users with various game modes to choose from. Once selected, the game matches the player into the best available server for that mode.
    • Payload
    • King of the Hill
    • Attack / Defense
    • Payload Race
    • Control Points
    • Capture the Flag
    • Quick Play (finds best server based on ping, number of players, etc)
  • Crafting interface reworked
  • Item load-out interface reworked
• Training:
  • New training user interface
  • Added "A,W,S,D" movement instruction to Soldier training
  • Added ammo instruction to Engineer training
  • Clarified many instructional strings
• Voting:
  • New sounds

Screenshots of the new interfaces incoming.

 

[Pocket]

The new main menu, complete with new background. The server browser has a more sensible name now. Loadout stuff is shunted into its own section below the important stuff, as well it should be, and no more big-ass advertisements for overpriced items!

What happens when you click Start Playing. PLR, 5CP, and CTF are listed as being for "advanced players", while A/D (yes, it's listed separately!), PL, and KOTH are recommended for "all skill levels". Arena is completely missing.

The new crafting screen, which is broken. Clicking any of the backpacks does absolutely nothing.

What you get when you try to change a character's loadout now.

 

[Fruity Snacks]

Missing arena? This makes me sad


The new menu looks nice, I wish it was more concept art rather than just screenshots.

 

[Loc_n_lol]

The new detonator is officially totally awesome.
Can't wait to see prestige&trotim rage.

 

[Trotim]

The new detonator is officially totally awesome.
Can't wait to see prestige&trotim rage.

It only minicrits on burning targets, which is good. It's now more reliable to jump with as it detonates on contact with walls and the self-damage is still just as high (quite high)

I don't think it'll make Pyro any more powerful, just more annoying. Do you really want to become the next Sticky Jumper/Caber morons

I doubt a lot of Pyros would actually use it and then there are only a few spots where it might be viable, loss of op Flare Gun/Shotgun is pretty severe too so basically that forces Degreaser/Axtinguisher even more

can you reliably shoot down at a group of enemies with the detonator before landing and then axtinguish?

 

[tyler]

I would prefer a primary replacement that gave the Pyro a long jump and nothing else

Like a targe, sort of

 

[Trotim]

Pyro deserves his own kind of advanced movement though, rocket jumping is not one of his abilities

anything would be better honestly, grappling hook, or the advanced weaponizer's khopesh climber (hit wall and it lifts you up to about rocket jump height but straight along the wall, but with some distance so you can get up roofs and shit)

edit: Actually I take that about the high self-damage back, it's only like ~40 health. :I
And it exploding on contact with the floor/walls makes it so very spammable, the Flare Gun was a direct projectile for a reason. you can't shoot again before landing
so yes a lot of pyros will use it and they will be even more annoying than ever. especially with that goddamn fireworks sound that plays for like 3 seconds and lasts longer than reload takes, it makes cats cry and my ears bleed

And the Syringe Gun that increases movement speed with uber % actually only does -10% damage, not -90% damage. So that's a nice Syringe Gun +1 right there. indirect buff to quick-fix that already is a candidate for a ban

increases movement speed to up to 352 (normal Medic speed: 320) but only when it's active, still op and unneeded
so every 1% of uber gives you +0.32 more speed. I hate these bloody messy numbers

 

[LeSwordfish]

That Messages button makes me want to throw up a bit.

 

[Prestige]

i guess they fixed the lag dependency of it's jumps with it which is good. i do like it more than that airblast jump idea spuf keeps spitting out, but I like the idea of a long jump/targe that replaces your primary (lolprimary) what yyler just said a lot more than both.

quick fix could use some simplification. no need for the scout thing imo. something like: no overheal, twice as fast ubercharge rate, and superheal instead of uber would work wouldn't it? More minimalistic, well thought out design valve. look at the kritz. arguably the greatest unlock that has been added to this game and it's design is so minimal and awesome. Hell even something like ubercharge charges twice as fast, ubercharge lasts half as long could be okay.

that messages button is ass

 

[tyler]

hell the longjumper could be a huge airblast jump, i dont care

 

[Psy]

Hurray. They finally made the menu not terrible again.

 

[Loc_n_lol]

You know, I was thinking that with more buffs to it (faster reload, maybe a clip and slightly more blast radius), the detonator could be a decent primary actually...
The good thing about the airblast jump is that it wouldn't be tied to an unlock, as they now all have an airblast.

Getting into a beta game with only half a dozen pyros is... quite something to hear right now. They sure picked an... interesting firing sound for it.
I'd like to hear wht it sounds like with 32 detonator pyros.

 

[Pocket]

That Messages button makes me want to throw up a bit.

Yeah... well, at least they took out the header with its "Welcome back, [name that inevitably gets truncated because there's not even enough room for two works in here]" message. Though it's also harder to identify achievements right after you get them now.