A funny read. This poster wrote about what would happen to TF2 if this beta was for pub players. [ame="http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=929901"]http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=929901[/ame]
Before the story, a bit on topic: I'm finally happy to see Valve actually co-operating and working up close with the comp players. They're working with the really high up ones that know there stuff and acoording to some rumors they're coming up with some good stuff like a wrench that builds things much more quickly, but then you can upgrade them.
Now on to the show.
Spectate4Hats:
Looking at the discussions on this thread and its replies, particularly the complaints that comp players wouldn't know how to balance TF2 for pubbers, I got to thinking what it would look like if your typical 16v16 instant respawn 2fort/goldbowl players did the balancing...
Disclaimer: This isn't an attempt to flame 2forters, instarespawners, etc., I could care less how you play.
Changelog:
Map Changes:
Arena
You now respawn infinitely in Arena, the round only ends when the point is captured or after 60 minutes. All Arena maps replaced with arena_2fort.
First blood now lasts for the remainder of the round and will be passed from player to player; if you kill the player with the first blood buff, you gain it.
Disabled all forms of afterburn in Arena.
To increase the slower pace of Arena matches, critical hit rates start at 20% for all non-melee weapons and ramp-up to 50%. Melee weapons will always crit.
Critical hits can no longer be disabled in Arena.
CP
cp_dustbowl: Added 5 additional stages, with a new total time limit of 3 hours on defense.
cp_dustbowl: Removed the alternate route to the final point on stage 3 as it was barely being used.
cp_egypt: Defense will now spawn with pre-constructed sentries.
cp_gravelpit: Fixed a bug that was allowing some classes to access certain roofs, and even get to the top of capture point C without using the ramps. This height advantage was deemed bad for game balance.
cp_gravelpit: Terrain has been reworked; we felt there were too many open areas before, the map now funnels attackers linearly through a long, narrow hallway in order to reach point A.
cp_gravelpit: Fixed a bug that allowed point B to be captured before A, making the map difficult for defenders.
5-CP maps: Converted all existing 5-CP maps into linear attack/defend maps, as we found they were being played much less often than the popular cp_dustbowl.
CTF
All CTF maps: An invulnerable sentry is now spawned in both intelligence rooms, as it was deemed frustrating for a team of all snipers to lose to a single scout repeatedly running the intelligence.
ctf_2fort: Fixed a rare bug which resulted in the round ending in something other than a stalemate.
Payload
pl_badwater: Removed as a stand-alone map; instead made into the 4th stage of Goldrush, as Goldrush is currently a much more popular map than Badwater Basin, we feel this will be beneficial to both maps.
pl_goldrush: Instant respawn is now forced on for defense.
pl_hoodoo: Fixed a rare bug where some servers still had hoodoo in their map rotation.
TC
tc_hydro: To increase popularity of the map, all servers must now have it in rotation, and the map cannot be RTV'd.
Class Changes:
Scout
Sandman: No longer disables double-jump; replaced with no random crits (can still crit in Arena for balance reasons). Stun ball can still crit, which will now stun for 20 seconds to reward players who time their critical stun balls correctly. Due to overwhelming requests from players, the Sandman has been given an alt-fire; pressing Mouse2 will now play the voice bind requesting a dispenser.
Force-a-Nature: Fixed an exploit which allowed players to use the Force-a-Nature's self-knockback as a "third jump". Knockback now knocks targets straight up and disables any air control. (Oh wait...)
Bonk! Energy Drink: Fixed a glitch causing Bonk! to make you immune to damage; the original intention of the weapon was that the third person view would make it easier to dodge projectiles.
Scattergun: Fixed a bug where some scouts were still using the stock Scattergun after having unlocked the Force-a-Nature.
Soldier
Rocket Launcher: To make the Soldier an easier class for beginners, you will no longer take self damage from rockets if your stats indicate you have less than 10 hours of play time as a Soldier.
Additionally, we've been trying to come up with a way to keep the soldier more true to his role of Offense; currently, he functions just as well on Defense due to his well balanced nature. So to fix this, Soldier can no longer be selected while on Defense, to keep the class true to its original design. If you try to pick Soldier on Defense, it will play the Soldier's voice bind requesting a dispenser.
Pyro
Flamethrower/backburner: Reduced maximum flamethrower length by 3/4 to prevent a rare bug that would cause players to be ignited from outside of the flame's visual range. Additionally, DPS on the pyro's primary has been lowered to 30/second, as we feel this is more than made up for by his ability to attack and ignite multiple enemies at one time.
Flare gun: In an attempt to improve the pyro's skill ceiling, the flare gun will now do triple damage on headshots, and headshots on ignited enemies will cause critical afterburn.
Axtinguisher: Removed the weapon as it was deemed too much of an upgrade over the Fire Axe.
Afterburn: Can now be extinguished by: Jumping off any ledge, firing your primary weapon twice, meleeing a wall/the floor, or crouching while in mid air. Additionally, afterburn will automatically be extinguished when the pyro dies. Players often felt helpless after being set on fire, faced with inevitable death from the 50 damage over 10 seconds, and we feel having more ways to remove afterburn will make playing the pyro more tactical.
Compression Blast: Fixed a glitch where some pyros were actually using the compression blast as intended.
Movement: Holding either W will now both move you forward and fire your primary weapon, to make the class more beginner-friendly. Mouse1 has been rebound to the voice bind requesting a dispenser.
Demoman
Grenade launcher: Grenades will no longer explode on impact, to encourage the weapon to be used as indirect fire/area denial.
Sticky bomb launcher: Stickies can no longer be detonated. They can still be planted as a visual deterrent to the enemy team. Mouse2 has been rebound to the voice bind requesting a dispenser.
Model: Due to the excess of racist comments on the current model, the Demoman has been remodeled into a middle aged white male.
Heavy Weapons Guy
Fixed a rare exploit where some players were still using the Heavy Weapons Guy. Unfortunately, the only way this could be fixed was removing the class entirely.
Class replaced by new class; the Sandvich. The Sandvich can devour itself for 120 health, dealing 120 damage to itself in the process. As we were unable to find a suitable voice actor for the Sandvich, all of his responses will be the Heavy's line "Put Dispenser here"
Engineer
Dispenser: After significant research, it has been discovered Dispensers are the most requested building, with roughly 90% of building requests being for a Dispenser. For this reason, Dispensers have been removed from the game for balance reasons. Attempting to build a Dispenser will result in the engineer's voice bind requesting a dispenser being played.
Teleporter: Teleporter entrances can no longer be sapped, as this was deemed practically uncounterable by the Engineer. However, as it has been discovered Teleporter entrances are constructed without a matching exit roughly 80% of the time, teleporter exits have been removed from the game to improve performance.
Wrench: After extensive testing, it has been determined the Wrench has an abnormally high critical hit ratio. In response, the Wrench can no longer repair or speed the construction of buildings, for balance reasons.
Medic
Syringe Gun: After considerable testing, it has been deemed the Syringe Gun is a downgrade from its unlockable form, the Blutsauger. To correct this, the Syringe Gun now crits on every hit.
Medigun/Kritzkrieg: In order to promote teamwork, the Medic can now only heal people who have called for a medic in the last 3 seconds.
Ubercharge: In order to prevent cases of medics using their uber to save their own lives, you must now be actively healing a target in order to activate your ubercharge. As the Ubercharge was initially added to promote teamwork, we feel that using it to save your own life is unnecessarily selfish. Attempting to use your uber when not healing someone will result in the medic requesting a dispenser.
Sniper
Sniper Rifle: In order to keep the class easy to use for newer players, head hitboxes have been extended to be roughly 3x as large as previously.
Huntsman: Due to complaints about the spammy nature of the weapon, the sniper will now die if he misses a single arrow, putting an emphasis on accuracy.
Huntsman taunt: Removed the taunt kill as it was deemed unfair to pyros blindly rushing around corners. Instead, taunting with the Huntsman will play the sniper voice clip requesting a dispenser.
Jarate: Fixed a glitch where jarated players would take additional damage.
Razorback: To encourage more snipers to try out the razorback, it will now be equipped by default every time you spawn. You will have to go to the loadout menu and equip something else, then visit a resupply cabinet if you wish to use something else.
Spy
Fixed an exploit that allowed the spy to walk like a crab.
Spies will now announce their need for a dispenser at their current position very loudly while cloaked, as it was deemed unfair by many players that the spy was undetectable while invisible.
I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed typing it.
