Hey good job, there, Hardhat! (an end to Valve's silence)

A Boojum Snark

Toraipoddodezain Mazahabado
aa
Nov 2, 2007
4,775
7,669
Also, I presume the entrances will be the ones in need of upgrading, not exits when it comes to teleporters.
They upgrade in a set, you can put in 180 metal at one end and 220 at the other and the pair will be level 3. If either end dies the remaining one resets, but you can upgrade one end while the other does not exist, and when the set is completed it is automatically level 3.
 

TheDarkerSideofYourShadow

L10: Glamorous Member
Apr 12, 2008
792
286
Someone pointed out how much they hate going up against the lvl 3 dispenser, but then someone countered with this. The lvl 3 dispensers for D counter somewhat the increased troop movement for O provided by the lvl 3 teleporters.
 

Sgt Frag

L14: Epic Member
May 20, 2008
1,443
710
Can't wait to check this out.

Some of it sounds cool, some of it I'll have to see.

I can see shooting the stickies making it harder to destroy sentries, especially if the dispenser is kicking out metal to fix it faster.

But maybe this will get players to think more of the demos ambush techniques more. Instead of placing stickies all over the floor you'll have to be more careful to hide them on walls, inside doorways, etc... where they can't be seen.

Spies gaining more cloak sounds cool. They have to work for it so it almost seems more like a luck thing than anything. Krit cloak?
Anyway, it's also a way to see masked spies, if you see ammo vanish from a fresh kill it's probably a cloaked spy.

I can see a whole team standing by a level 3 tele now and attacking in force. Could be good, could be bad depending on which team you're on. Might result in more steamroll/stalemate action.
 

Hawk

L7: Fancy Member
Dec 3, 2007
419
213
Hmm.... I seem to recall that previously a fully filled dispenser could do the same thing, which means they nerfed the dispenser so that the previous dispenser = level 3 dispenser.... :(

You could be right, but I'm not sure. What happens is that I ate up 730 metal and the Lv3 dispenser still had about 1/8th of its metal left.

130 - sentry gun
200 - upgrade
200 - upgrade
200 - refilled my metal

I don't know.... I wish I could test it the old way, but I can't be sure that a current Lv1 dispenser is the same as a normal dispenser before the update.
 

TheDarkerSideofYourShadow

L10: Glamorous Member
Apr 12, 2008
792
286
I don't know.... I wish I could test it the old way, but I can't be sure that a current Lv1 dispenser is the same as a normal dispenser before the update.

Lvl 1 dispenser = 40 metal per tick (which is what the original was at)
Lvl 2 dispenser = 50
Lvl 3 dispenser = 60

Now, I don't know if they upped the tick rate as well, or just the amount of metal dispensed.
 

Scotland Tom

L6: Sharp Member
Jan 19, 2008
332
64
I played for a few hours last night with the updates. Here's my abbreviated take on things:

All the HUD updates that give the medic more info are AWESOME. I can much more quickly assess how to be as effective as possible and I feel rewarded when I correctly analyze a situation and manage to help pull my team through it. The little crosses that swirl around overhealed team members also serve as motivation to keep as many of them overhealed as possible.

Some people are complaining that the engineer will be overpowered now. Not true. Sentry farms were just as vulnerable to a good uber as they were before. The fast lvl 3 teleporters almost seemed unbalanced, but once spies realize how much more of an important target they are that edge will be minimized. Overall the engineer has more decisions to make and can be used much more effectively on an attacking team with the upgraded teleporters and dispensers.

I didn't actually play the spy, but I saw fewer enemy spies that's for sure. I definitely got backstabbed more often than before simply because it was a lot more difficult to keep track of enemy spies. While I definitely felt the sting of the spies greater striking power, I realized that he finally got the boost he needed and his potency is now more on par with the rest of the classes.
 

grazr

Old Man Mutant Ninja Turtle
aa
Mar 4, 2008
5,441
3,814
It seems to dispense at a slightly slower rate as far as i could tell, so lvl 1 disp is a slight nerf whilst the lvl 2 is about the same as the original, 3rd would be a boost.

The reason why i say a spy should only be able to recharge at dispensers and cabinets is because there's nothing more annoying than being hit by spam. Your cover is blown and you have to start again. Retreating to a forward sg position (or even enemy dispenser) or cabinet to recharge a failed infiltration rather than having to wait a few long seconds, regardless, seems an adequite boost. It wouldn't keep spies in their own base, their cloak isn't their main feature; you infiltrate, then use your disguise as your weapon. There's nothing for them to do in their own base.. what's the point in staying in a place to recharge your cloak freely, when it's not even useful there. This idea being that it would just help failed infiltrations by getting you into combat quicker whilst not overpowering the spy overall.

Now i can run from start to finish in badwater, completely invisible. Getting away from enemies as easy as pie, not only that i could strike at them instantly after. They thought i had retreated when i just picked up one or two ammo packs and am watching them spam away blindlessly for a good 20 seconds; wait for them to pass me, uncloak and kill them. It seemed almost unfair, were i not to be the one doing the killing.

Having played spy a fair amount i can see this is way too much of a boost. The concept was a spy was at an advantage cloaked/disguised and a defecit when discovered; hence why it has no decent assault weapons. After this update i've dominated maps because i can cloak into a base, kill several people, and cloak out instantly. Then pass an ammo pack on the way in and do it again on the very next spawn wave. My survival rate shot up from approx 40% to 90%. The balancing issue was that you could be caught out by a keen player; now i can spend a good 80% of my time cloaked behind enemy lines without them knowing somone is even there, let alone me.

Infact on Goldrush earlier i spent my time running from ammo pack to ammo pack whilst invisible just so that enemy engi's couldn't get anything up. There was nothing they could do, because i was invisible the whole time. Then i'd retreat to their spawn when the ammo started running out, kill a wave of people, zap some tele's, and do it all again if the map wasn't already won.

Spy's wern't at a disadvantage to any other class, some people just don't get the tactics involved, it's a very unique class. A good spy could kill a team before, as much as the next experienced player using their chosen class.

Now that they've sorted the 10 second cloak really being only 7 because of the mist, when they fix the backstab that should have been enough to keep things balanced.

End of rant i guess.
 
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xxack

L1: Registered
Jul 10, 2008
13
0
Words cannot describe how excited I am for Scout.

I haven't played it in so long... <3
 

laghlagh

L6: Sharp Member
Jul 15, 2008
389
53
The new crit kill icons are fucking horrible, gradients :(
 

S3BB0_L1C1OUS

L3: Member
Nov 2, 2008
118
13
Now did anyone besides me notice what happens if fully upgrade your entrance, build an exit and try to move that exit some place else?

No good job there valve! Really annoying.
 

Ida

deer
aa
Jan 6, 2008
2,289
1,372
Green sparks would be a cool effect in my opinion.

I don't mind the red gradients, though. I don't see how they're horrible.