Strange Map Filters Petition to the TF Team

[Egan]

Well hey,
So you know strange filter item for maps that you can purchase from the tf2 store that nobody seems to ever own? Well, I think we should petition to change that.

If you don't know what this item does: you purchase it, the proceeds go to the map maker, and you receive an item that will restrict the kills of a strange weapon you own to only count the kills you get on the map sharing the name of the strange filter. It's an alright idea in theory, but nobody wants to use this item because it restricts their beloved weapon (of which they want to show off their skills everywhere) to only that specific map, which seems detrimental to the idea of strange weapons.

The replacement idea is that instead of restricting a strange weapon equipped with this to a specific map, it instead creates a kill counter towards that specific map. This is the same system of how the 'strange parts' work in TF2. Specific to strange filters though, the player should still only be able to equip one strange filter to a weapon at a time (so the naming convention of the weapon stays the same, that is a unique and cool idea).

If you support this idea you can sign this petition here (I originally was going to go with change.org's petition service but I didn't like, or think that many gamers would appreciate giving their home address for everyone to see).

Eventually, hopefully this gets a significant (like 150) number of signatures that we'd feel confident showing the suggestion to the TF Team, and likewise they'd feel a bit more confident in the idea themselves.

Thanks for your time,
If you have any suggestions or comments you can write so below.

 

[evanonline]

I want to add in my two cents and point out that Strange Filters actually have more functionality than Strange Parts. You can apply Filters TO Parts. However, when you do this, there's a glitch where when it's applied to a stat besides overall kills you don't get the prefix. I emailed Valve about this and they didn't really show any interest in fixing the issue of missing prefixes.

What I would suggest is that Strange Filters should just add a secondary kill tracker for whatever stat you apply it to, so you can still apply it to any stat your weapon has, but you don't have any downsides. For instance, here's a hypothetical:

Strange Specialized Killstreak Locomotive Neon Annihilator
Kills: 140
Underwater Kills: 40 (On Freight: 30)

Whereas currently, it reads:

Strange Specialized Killstreak Neon Annihilator
Kills: 140
Underwater Kills (On Freight): 30

(I'm making up these numbers)

So my Underwater Kills are restricted to Freight, but you can't see Underwater Kills on other maps, and on top of that doing so doesn't give me the Locomotive prefix. This devalues BOTH items I obtained and I don't see how anyone, especially Valve, could consider that ideal.

I signed, but I feel that just changing Strange Filters into Strange Parts wouldn't really solve the problem--I would much prefer if they were just less restrictive and I think other players would see it that way too. (Though obviously like you said, you should only be able to filter one stat at a time or else you'd have a mess of prefixes)

 

[Fruity Snacks]

Personally, I think a petition is kind of a long way around solving this.

Just email Valve directly and ask them about it. That way you get something right away (nothing, or a keep doing the petition) and don't waste time waiting for the signatures, which may or may not reach the level want ... waiting for the signatures for something like this is just a larger waste of time instead of going directly to them.

EDIT: (Basically, I'm saying just email your suggestion with your reasoning. If they say no, THEN you should petition and go back with it)

 

[spaceyoshix]

Poor strange filters, never getting any love. I will sign this petition for the good of strange filters everywhere.

 

[Egan]

What I would suggest is that Strange Filters should just add a secondary kill tracker for whatever stat you apply it to, so you can still apply it to any stat your weapon has, but you don't have any downsides.

That sounds like a better solution than what I have. Do you think it would be too much of a change to the proposition of the petition to just edit "instead creates a kill counter towards that specific map" to "instead creates a kill counter (or additional strange part counter) to that specific map". I feel obliged to ask before I do since it is public opinion of the topic.

Just email Valve directly and ask them about it. That way you get something right away (nothing, or a keep doing the petition) and don't waste time waiting for the signatures, which may or may not reach the level want ... waiting for the signatures for something like this is just a larger waste of time instead of going directly to them.

I've emailed them two questions before about little bugfixes for triggers and things but the first one I sent (a month ago) hasn't heard any response, and the one I sent to Eric a week ago (who we now think doesn't work for the TF Team anymore) said he'd forward the email to the right people, but that was it. I feel like they are either too busy (a month too busy?) or just skim the emails and don't really care for probably half the suggestions they get - which could be remedied by a petition of about a hundred mapper's signatures or so, hopefully. I guess there's no harm in emailing them now, but what if I get no response? Would it look less cool if I had to email them twice about an issue, the second email containing 100 signatures? (seems a little like a slap in the face)

 

[Fruity Snacks]

Personally, I think the more efficient way to move forward with this is to email them saying basically: "Hey, as a mapper, I don't think this will help get money for mappers and here is why." You say why and end with "I'm not sure if you have plans for helping mappers get more recognition in the future, but I'm interested in knowing if you think that this will help." You state the problem, your solution and ask for their opinion on it. Depending on the response (Oh, that is a fair point. Or "Sorry, but that isn't in line with what we had visioned with the strange filters. Or, "we don't think that many people were going to get these anyways") ... then you can move forward with a petition if its needed. Right now, (to me at least) it seems like one of those petitions that pop up RIGHT AFTER some authoritative action that people don't agree with, but never stop to find out why said action happened.

Before you try and change something, figure out why the change or addition was made.

On a more personal note, I really don't think that changing the filters will do anything. I barely see them now, and I wouldn't expect to see them with the proposed changes. To me, it's just a small quality of life change that isn't really going to change anything at all.