I crafted the Shortstop; had the milk, the new banner, and the Powerjack drop; traded for the Degreaser and L’étranger; and I have no idea how the new knife ended up in my backpack but it’s there. Trading also makes it much, much easier to get the hats you want, although I haven’t really bothered with the set hats.

The thing about the set bonuses is that they carry the inherent drawback of killing customization. The only clearly beneficial set is the scout’s, and even that involves giving up your invaluable Lugermorph for the gimmicky and unreliable (but, OK, fun) non-milk substance. Any “bonus” that requires you to give up the Axtinguisher or headshots or carry a banner is a dubious bonus indeed.

And, let’s be honest, the only set hat I would willingly choose over the hats I already have is the fez.

Final thought: it’s totally reasonable to debate the wisdom of adding this or that feature to the game, but listening to people bitch about the “declining quality” of TF2’s free updates four years after the game launched is hilarious.

Do I think the Engie update was a part of the bad quality trend? That’s not the point. If you hadn’t noticed, the Engie update was a class update, a now dying (possibly extinct) race. Most of Valve’s major updates now are of different nature, such as the Halloween update, the 119th Update, and the Mannconomy update for example. I think we are going to get a LOT of those, with a LOT of new garbage added to the game. Heck, Valve said they wanted to do that when they added the backpack. From now on, it’s more hats, weapons that are merely minor stat changes from the originals, deletion of fun bugs (they even took taunting while switching weapons!), all made in poor attention to details (sounds missing, mostly. Very annoying) and performance hampering, of course. I’m not a pessimist, this is exactly what has been going on since the introduction of hats and community made items.

But to answer your question, yes, I found the Engie disappointing (it wasn’t terrible), and inferior to the War update. Valve had 4 months to work on it since the War update, and all they came up with was one barely modified shotgun that provides nothing interesting gameplay-wise, a fine new sentry that adds some interesting gameplay to the Engie, and the Wrangler, which looks good on paper, but its only real use (that can’t be done by simply using your sentry and your shotgun/pistol) is for some fun in maps with very big and open spaces, since all its pros are already covered by the wrench and shotgun, plus they work better against assaults from multiple directions.
You may say I’m a bit harsh on the Wrangler, but secondaries were usually Valve’s most creative weapons that added the most depth.
And besides, we all hoped for more different buildings (new teleporters and dispensers), which Valve had admitted to fail to provide (the repair node).

@Pentadact Okay, that makes a bit more sense. It was the first part of the phrase that really surprised me, about it no longer being for you. One of the reasons I’ve got this blog on my feed reader are that your viewpoints are consistently well thought out and take into account the ramifications of game design decisions beyond the surface level. Kind of hard to explain, but if much of the game community got what they vocally whined for, they wouldn’t be any happier. It seemed like there was probably more background to your decision than, I can’t play with the new weapons.

I can’t believe nobody saw the micro payments coming. I thought Valve’s goal was clear enough with the introduction of the backpack and all the promotional sales.

As a long time complainer-observer and an overall cynic, I couldn’t help but notice the steep, steep decrease in update quality and the raise in complaints from the community that started with the Scout update.

I hope Valve finally found the optimized amount of quality needed to be put into each update (which is in itself a part of Valve’s optimal “community service” work for maximum profit) for maximum profit (yes, you just read it twice), just like how it took them a while to find the optimal amount of time and work given into each update (class updates were the solution for that).

Why do I hope that? As mentioned by others and obvious to all, Valve are not stupid. Like scientists, they like using trial and error experiments (to maximize profit, of course). Right now, they are waiting to see when they will reach rock bottom, where lowering the amount of work done in updates (which can instead turned to other, more profitable projects) is no longer worth the effort. Once they reach it they have two choices: Either starting to put more quality in their updates to the amount of quality they found most profitable, or call quits and apply the lesson in their next game.

I’m not scared of the updates stopping, especially not if they are going to be as bad as the Polycount update. What I fear is, if Valve’s not done experimenting, the inevitably worse updates that will inevitably show up ’till they’re done.

…

So, that’s my two cents about that. Sometimes your blog gets the little, angry writer inside me, Tom. No offense! :p

I feel that way about the Chargin’ Targe, actually. Don’t feel the payoff is awesome enough either.

As for the drawback on the new knife – well – consider the new Mini-Sentry. Trading an upgradable powerful sentry gun for non-random melee crits and faster building felt like a HUGE drawback for me, but I got used to it and learned a different playstyle from the experience. Same happened to me with The Eternal Reward.

I didn’t know that about Mad Milk – that’s weird. That doesn’t even seem like something you need to communicate to the player, because the upshot from it is: try not to get hit. Which you’re probably doing anyway.

Osbo: I don’t agree that the payoff is awesome, so I don’t agree with the drawback being so drastic.

“TF2 isn’t a game for me anymore – the only people who get to play it all are the ones prepared to pay.”

I’m a little surprised, based on how many articles you’ve written where you clearly enjoy the game for the game. I’d be in the same camp, if of the buy-or-grind-for weapons didn’t have trade-offs (like, say, the pre-balance blutsauger). I’m not prepared to pay for the new weapons myself and don’t play seriously enough to have weapon drops be of any real value, so I don’t have any of the new weapons, but I’ve never encountered a situation where I feel that players that have all the new gear have a distinct advantage (although, oddly, I seem to get killed by a fish to the face more often than I’d prefer). I think the fact that I’m not bothered has to do with the trade-offs inherent in choosing that load out, as well as the fact that the counter for a class is generally a different class, so it’s never really a head-to-head payed-for vs. non-payed for weapon match up.

Having said that, the new system does leave a bit of a sour note in my mouth. I’d love to be able to unlock all the weapons over time just by playing the game (a la achievements). If I was the type of person who had to collect everything, it’d be a deal breaker.

The other thing is, I think TF2 may have surpassed a certain threshold. It’s no longer new comer friendly. I have a friend who is a gamer and plays with TF2 maybe 4 to 5 times a year at my behest. He always enjoys it, but the game has always changed so much since the last time he’s played that I’m always taking a good amount of time explaining his WTF moments (“Why did that man throw a yellow jar at me?”). As a regular, I love the fact that they keep adding stuff, but I think it’s got to the point where the choices are probably overwhelming to a new gamer. Originally it was a very simple game with a lot of depth, now you have to do a bit of research to know what’s going on. For example, if I’ve been hit by “mad milk” a tear drop icon appears on screen. If I wasn’t so into TF2 that I immediately read up on the new weapons, I’d have no idea what’s going on. So I’m a little torn, I love and look forward to each new weapon unlock, but at the same time my greed is stripping the game of some of the beauty and simplicity of early game design decisions.

The new Polycount weapons should not be advantageous, especially since you have to pay for them. So if the payoff is awesome – instant disguise – the drawback should be equal in the opposite direction – no disguise ability otherwise.

I love the new knife, actually. It makes sapping a challenge.

It works terribly with the Dead Ringer – um – obviously.

-John

I’ve already managed to get all the Polycount weapons without paying for them: I saved up a spare of nearly every weapon in the two months or so leading up to the update, which gave me enough stuff and metal to craft about half of them, then the rest I got via trades, drops and more crafting.

The Polycount hats seem way out of reach right now though. Supposedly at some point they’ll release blueprints for these hats, but who knows when that’ll be.

And yes, Soldier is my main class, and I love the Black Box. Having been massively excited about the Tank Buster pack ever since LaroLaro started making it, I’m so glad they gave the stuff decent stats. Radio as reverse Buff Banner was a no-brainer, but the Black Box is a beautiful sidegrade.