Rather than continue to tack on to the “Valve’s Big Announcement” thread, I thought it was time we started a proper TF2 thread for those of us playing the beta (and planning to continue doing so for a while).
I’m having so much fun with the soldier right now, I’ve barely touched the other classes yet. I suspect I’ll try the engineer soon, however, as it’s frustrating when your team doesn’t have a proper teleporter setup or turrets in obvious places.
I may have missed this in the other thread: Is there a Qt3 group on Steam? Also, can you be in more than one group? We’ve got an internal GameSpy squad that’s already up to 25 people since the beta was launched, but I’d like to have multiple groups to play with.
I currently like the Pyro a lot, although I first thought it was the weakest class. It’s the ultimate spy-hunter, and I’m seeing a lot of spies on the public servers.
Sigh… I spent my game’s budget for this month before this announcement was made, and now I must sit on the outside listening to stories like this until I can convince my wife to let me preorder it.
I tried the heavy weapons guy initially, but the pace of the action hasn’t been friendly to the spin-up time of the minigun. Having a scout run up to you, bash you in the head a couple of times and kill you before you’ve shot a single round is a bit aggravating. It seems to be strictly a medium-range class. If anyone gets close to you when you’re not already spitting lead, you’re toast. I thought the HW guy would have had more armor to compensate, but what can you do.
I’d love to hear other people tips. I haven’t played too much yet, but here’s the little bit I’ve gathered so far:
-Most servers seem to have FF off, this means you can shoot people to see if they are spies (if they bleed, they are a spy), but checking their behavior is often a better way. Someone running around with your name is also a pretty sure sign something is fishy.
-You can turn on “fast weapon switching” in the options to pop from one weapon to another immediately.
-I’ve played the demoman the most, but I’m still not great at him, and he feels a little one dimensional. I honestly can’t figure out how to do anything with the pipe bombs. Usually what I do is set up a trap with my sticky bombs (hiding them in a corner or on the ceiling), then use the pipe bombs as a distraction to get someone’s attention and get them to chase me to the trap. I’ve killed more people with the glass bottle than with the pipe bombs.
Spy seems like a really overly powerful class atm, at least on public servers.
I’m liking the medic and engineer the most so far, as I get a kick out of the support game. Watching a team mate bait a cadre of baddies into a turret is golden, as is uber charging a demo man or a pyro and having them go nuts on a room.
I only wish the medic got a pistol like the engineer. It’s aggravating trying to hit people at long range with the needle gun because of the spread.
How do you use the Pyro as a spy hunter? I’ve had difficulty using the Pyro effectively for much of anything; a problem with my technique rather than the class, I’m certain, but I’d like to know what I’m doing wrong. :>
I hang back with the engineers or snipers (since those two are the main spy targets) and spray anyone suspicious with fire (disguised spies can’t shoot, so keep an eye on anyone who doesn’t fire a gun for a while). If they start burning, finish them off with the shotgun or flamer depending on how they run. Also, often when they start burning, the spies panic and start attacking, which means they come fodder for the sentry guns.
Usually spies who sabotage guns and dispensers survive by blending in in the ensuing chaos. Blending in when you are the only one on fire is quite challenging.
The flame thrower is a tricky weapon to use as the main gun. In order to inflict high damage, you must be literally at melee range, preferably touching the target. Any farther than that and the shotgun becomes more effective.
Oh, and the fire also reveals invisible spies, so if you learn to anticipate their infiltration patterns, you can sometimes torch the bastard before they can even get into your back lines.
I have a somewhat odd question, what seems to be the sweet spot for # of players in a server? I remember playing DoD: Source, with too may players it just got too frantic and annoying. Part of the reason I am asking is because the PC version supports more people than the console versions, but if the sweet spot is ~16, it doesn’t matter as much.
Put some time in with it after I figured out my network issues. It’s good, but I’m reminded of why playing on public servers is always a hit or miss affair. It seems like either the round is a completely dominating victory for one side or the other, or the round just drags on forever until sudden death happens, which will probably be a stalemate because of the one guy who’s sitting afk back in the base.
