"Valve dedicates all their time to making hats for TF2"

[Pocket]

Well, obviously the only people involved in hatmaking are the modeling and visual design people, and while I don't know much about video game production lines, I suspect they tend to have a lot more free time than most departments (for example, playtesters, who are always finding bugs; and programmers, who are always fixing those bugs). Especially since Valve almost never puts out official maps with brand new props.

Actually, some of those digital haberdashers might be the ones who would otherwise have been detailing Mountain Lab, depriving us of our little artpass contest.

 

[Wilson]

And even then, i never seen anyone or been distracted myself so much by any of the unusual effects that i couldn't tell what gun he is using, you are making it way bigger problem than it really is Trotim.

(Enough with off topic now)

EDIT: Where did Steve's post come from? D:

 

[LeSwordfish]

Unusual hats are more of a problem. But luckily, most people dont have them. (Remember that playing on tight-knit servers, or the tf2maps servers, you tend to run into more dedicated players than the general populace. Claiming that the percentage on a custom-map-only server is the same as EVERYWHERE, particularly the places where newer players play, is skewing the numbers ridiculously.)

 

[Trotim]

And then please realize there is no reason for hats to be in the game in the first place. It's not like the distraction is a necessary evil or anything and you can't tell me the Valve modellers have absolutely nothing to do. How about fixing some of the models already in the game, huh?

 

[Wilson]

There is no need to have them, there is no reason to not have them.
Also pretty sure it has been stated by Robin himself they are working on large scale optimization update, the engine changes to TF2 and model loading changes show they are probably done with it soon, might as well be next big update with Barnblitz.

 

[ardysqrrl]

wait wait why is fast paced gameplay a bad thing

TF2 is still really slow by team fortress standards

 

[Trotim]

wait wait why is fast paced gameplay a bad thing

TF2 is still really slow by team fortress standards

I didn't say it is bad

What I tried to say is in comp matches, sometimes you only have a very short time to see and decide an enemy and his weapon so any distraction can throw you off. It's not like TF2 is round-based or something and the additional time needed to process the cosmetics is somehow not affecting anything

There is no need to have them, there is no reason to not have them.
Also pretty sure it has been stated by Robin himself they are working on large scale optimization update, the engine changes to TF2 and model loading changes show they are probably done with it soon, might as well be next big update with Barnblitz.

Then they should tell us which is another big general problem with Valve, but they didn't say anything except "we're working on optimization" so I have no reason to believe they're working very hard on it

Reasons not to have hats e.g. greed, jealousy, distraction, breaking of immersion, additional (maintenance) costs for the developer, complexity creep, loss of seriousness/respectability for outside viewers

 

[evanonline]

Hats don't affect the bulk of the silhouette of the character. I'm sorry, but if you can't tell that a demoman is a demoman from far away, it's not because of the hat. There are some other problems.

I agree with the general sentiment but there are several hats that are just plain obnoxious or distracting. The Towering Pillar is funny but it's...a little too much, in my opinion. Can I still tell the difference between a Demoman and a Heavy who are both wearing them? Of course! But it's just too gaudy. I guess that's the point, and there are honestly worse hats but that's just an example.

I'm amazed that Robin cited the Dangeresque shades as the worst thing they've put into the game, because maybe aside from being a little TOO white they're really not. Maybe if you recolored them to be gray-ish or closer to the ones from the cartoon they'd be a bit better.