Comments on: Needle Exchange

By: Pentadact

Pentadact — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 16:32:31 +0000

The Huntsman stray-shots if you hold it down too long, or if you're moving when you fire. It feels to me like sometimes it stray-shots if you've just stopped moving, but I haven't tested that properly yet.

By: Walternat0r

Walternat0r — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 16:10:06 +0000

I played for about 3.5 hours today, mostly as sniper and a bit as heavy. I didn't get any random unlocks, but I worked on getting the sniper unlocks through achievements (can you alternate between them, or what? I may not have read up on the update news and cba to find it :D). Also, no hats. But, I did unlock the 3 new sniper tools. I've noticed that i'm pretty badass with the Huntsmen, the jarate is just soooo much fun, and the Razorback is... well, for me, useless. With the huntsmen I play assualt-sniper so getting backstabbed is the least of my worries. Oh yeh, and how comes every now and then the huntsmen shoots miles away from where you aim? Messed up, I find i'm better at twitch shots with it than actual aiming :)

By: Dante

Dante — Fri, 29 May 2009 09:03:10 +0000

Is it me or did Craig recently do some sorcery to the PCG server that means we don't have to sit out of arena any more, and instead play with teams of 10-11 a side?

It's way more fun that way.

By: Nonomu198

Nonomu198 — Fri, 29 May 2009 07:46:26 +0000

@DoctorDisaster
Well, I like arena, so I'm happy with Valve putting their ideas in this gamemode. I hate it when people call arena "not a REAL gamemode" just because it's not popular.

@Cptn.Average
Yes, servers trying to get more people than can actually play the game are bad. I hate it, it's like it lets you join only to spectate. Not arena's fault.

By: Upsilon

Upsilon — Wed, 27 May 2009 12:16:56 +0000

I just got the Huntsman. A little while later I got the Dead Ringer. A little while after that I got the Sniper hat! =D So now I have everything for the Sniper. If only I played him more.

By: Cptn.Average

Cptn.Average — Wed, 27 May 2009 01:28:38 +0000

@Patton: The rocket is used in Dustbowl, you can see it getting closer in the various 3 maps. I think some of those concept sketches went into designing Hydro from the look of the wide open spaces.

Totally agree with DocDisaster on the special map features thing. If you never had to sit out in Arena I think I'd like it, and I really don't see the problem with having 12 a side either (I'm very much a fan of the more the merrier.) It seems really arbitrary that most servers only allow 6 players a side, but have 24 player slots. It's like watching a bunch of people having fun from inside a clear glass prison >:(

By: Pattom

Pattom — Tue, 26 May 2009 23:20:31 +0000

@DoctorDisaster: Seconded on this matter as well. I'm not a big fan of Granary or Well, but a CP map in the Alpine setting would be fantastic, as would a Payload map that rolls through a thunderstorm. The only reason I play Arena anymore is because I adore the glowing death machine in Nucleus. And I'm rather confused: there's concept art on the TF2 blog of a towering train station that hides a missile and another wide open map around a hidden silo. There's a link to the post in my name: does anybody remember these, or know what might have happened to them?

By: DoctorDisaster

DoctorDisaster — Tue, 26 May 2009 15:17:57 +0000

@Nonomu Back when arena was released, I played it on a clan server with clanmates and still hated it. Like Ludo, I don't usually get angry in games -- resignation and dry humor usually handle any frustration just fine -- but arena flips some kind of rage switch in my brain.

Even with all the changes in this pack, my only real annoyance with Valve is for putting all their new ideas into arena maps. They seem to just expect community mappers to handle the game modes that people actually, y'know, PLAY. I understand that arena maps are tiny and therefore quick to build, but I want those new ideas to later pop up in larger official maps for what I might patronizingly refer to as the "real" game modes.

Just in case you haven't been keeping track, in addition to the standard sunny mesa/spybase theme, Valve's arena maps have featured weather, radioactive bottomless pits, the alpine setting (twice), deadly sawblades, and some kind of glowy particle accelerator doomsday device. Valve's non-arena maps have featured: night.

To put that in perspective, time on official arena maps accounts for ~1200 total server hours, versus ~17325 for other game modes. I'll put that in words so I can capitalize it: Twelve hundred, versus SEVENTEEN THOUSAND server hours. When you consider that arena matches host fewer players than any other game mode, you start to get an idea what a mind-bogglingly tiny fraction of their overall audience is getting access to almost all of their graphical innovations. For a game with such great visual style, this is a goddamn crying shame.

By: Nonomu198

Nonomu198 — Tue, 26 May 2009 14:08:24 +0000

@Ludo
There are two big problems I can think of on most arena servers:

The variable playerbase. In arena, you're gonna want to play with players your own skill. It shows less on other gamemodes, because this is the most actual "team based" mode for pubs (other gametypes just have a top 3-5 players on each team to handle te fate of the game, the rest tag along), even though it's mostly 1v1. Most servers don't have such a dedicated playerbase, just random people.

The second thing is that most people stupidly set their server to contain more players than arena should. Arena should be about 6v6 top for the old maps and around 9v9 (I think?) for the new big ones. With too many players the spamfest gets crappy. Also, the server should be set so only one person has to sit, and only when the teams are unbalanced (yes the teams must be balanced).

I, for one, play on a server set like I said it should be and has a dedicated playerbase. I can see why others who play on other servers don't find arena so fun.

Oh, and you probably need SOME skill so you know how to deal with every class using every class, or else you will be defeated by class rushes quite easly and have no fun.

By: Ludo

Ludo — Tue, 26 May 2009 10:15:16 +0000

I'd like to second Dr Disaster's thoughts on the Cloak and Dagger. Less opportunism and hurrying everwhere, more biding my time and, when the mood takes me, cackling a little.

The update has seen me playing Arena a lot more recently. It still doesn't sit with me well, but the maps are really good.

I'm not normally an angry player, but there's something about Arena that turns me. Perhaps it's those occasions where I've been waiting for my turn for five minutes and I get critted walking out of the door.

By: Dante

Dante — Tue, 26 May 2009 08:39:31 +0000

@ 'Isp3p!:

It's always like that when a new pack is released, if anything it's slightly better than usual this time because a) two classes where released at once and b) you don't have to play as them to get the unlocks. It'll calm down over time. That said they are both very independant classes rather than frontliners, so the loss is felt more.

I've been on plenty of teams with no snipers or spies already, then again I've also been on one with six snipers :)

Anyway, thus far I've collected the Cloak and Dagger, the Jarate, The Sandman, Bonk, The Kirtzkrieg and the Ubersaw, none of which I had before, which is nice. I still yearn for The Ambassador and The Huntsman though.

By: 'Isp3p!

'Isp3p! — Tue, 26 May 2009 08:06:22 +0000

@Belcher: It seems I didn't make myself clear; It's not people enjoying the content that bothers me, but it's how they have no regard for the needs of their team. In a game called TEAM fortress 2, I would think that players should, when there already 3 snipers and 3 spies on the team (plus one demo and a medic) go heavy, soldier, or something useful instead of another spy. It's like a hospital that's just got a new type of defibulator which everyone wants to use, and instead of waiting for it to be needed, half of the doctors just run around the hospital with their defibulator, not doing their jobs and helping other patients. /rant

By: Lack_26

Lack_26 — Tue, 26 May 2009 07:11:26 +0000

I love the dead-ringer, I use the time to get above my 'killer' and drop down on him when it runs out.

By: Jazmeister

Jazmeister — Tue, 26 May 2009 03:53:27 +0000

All the unlocks cause you to alter your tactics a bit. The spy, although some people had no idea, was always a very aggresive and pro-active class. C&D and the Ambassador allow you to withdraw a little, but the dead ringer is different. Just like the Razorback, it seems to be in there to appeal to the player adopting a more traditional class-role; it's more difficult to use, though. No idea.

What I'd like to see for the dead ringer is disguising at a team-mate and having the corpse seem to be his.

By: Cptn.Average

Cptn.Average — Tue, 26 May 2009 00:14:09 +0000

Yeah does anyone have advice for using the Dead Ringer? Apart from trying to act like a really bad spy, I'm not sure how I'm supposed to get anywhere useful without looking insanely suspicious. And for that reason alone it REALLY doesn't need to be extra loud when decloaking >_<

By: Fullbleed

Fullbleed — Mon, 25 May 2009 23:25:20 +0000

@skizelo That might make sense actually that unlocks are based on most played class. As for me pyro, medic and heavy are my 3 most played classes and all i've goten so far is a flare gun, 3 blutsaugers, and Natascha. I want the hunt man so bad, I'm terrible sniper any way and spend most of my time trying to no-scope people.

By: DoctorDisaster

DoctorDisaster — Mon, 25 May 2009 22:50:47 +0000

I picked up all the sniper unlocks two or three times, and it's my least-favorite class. Meanwhile for spy, all I've got are three cloak and daggers. No kidding! I did play a bit with the huntsman, and it's actually pretty fun. Not nearly as fun as medic, demoman, pyro, soldier, spy, scout, or heavy, but a lot more fun than the sniper rifle and about on a par with engineer. If my team has no snipers on a map that could use some -- which has actually happened once or twice; yay new unlock system -- I'll cause some huntsman havoc for a while. However, the cloak and dagger is a BLAST. It's amazing how many spots right out in the open get no traffic at all. As long as I stay well away from my benighted teammates and the enemy ordnance they attract, I can watch the entire enemy team storm past feet away from me, and then take my time picking the perfect place and time to strike. It feels much, much more like spying ought to: because you can take some time to scope out your enemies, there's no compulsion to strike immediately before you're found out. I still tend to rely more on frantic stabbing sprees than vanishing back into the shadows, but I think that's a habit I'll break as the new update settles in.

By: Pattom

Pattom — Sun, 24 May 2009 19:26:30 +0000

I know this is a little late, but I'd like to agree with Dante's earlier comment: the Cloak and Dagger completely changes the Spy for me. It's no longer a shape-shifting rat in a soon-to-be-bloodied suit, but a suave commando who can be anywhere at any time. I can't describe how hilarious it is to wait outside the enemy supply room, sap their teleporters, and wait for the engineers to return. Peek-a-boo!

By: Ludo

Ludo — Sun, 24 May 2009 14:41:56 +0000

So it seems the new thing is 'Idle Servers'. People connect and then go to sleep, come the morning they have a bunch of unlocks.

Sigh.

By: skizelo

skizelo — Sun, 24 May 2009 14:33:51 +0000

In all, sad honesty, I played from 10 AM to 4 AM. with occasional breaks when I went to the organ dealer for new eyes. I've been trying to find a pattern in what I've gotten. I suspect it may be based on the hours you've played a particular class (for me: 1st Spy, 2nd Medic and Pyro's like 4th or 5th). It's kind of grating since I started off with no items at all, so to be getting duplicates seems a tad off.