after all this, the engie update seems a little underwhelming , only thing I really like is the new shotgun :|
Man, the movable equipment completely changes the flow of the game. Engies can build in the back lines in peace and wait for a lull to move stuff up to the front lines in a fraction of the time it would take to build. I saw an engy building a level 1 sentry so I was firing rockets, then I ducked behind cover to reload, hopped back out and it was a level 3. He wasn’t building; he was unpacking.
BlakeD
3883
Really? Because I just played for a couple hours and I thought they all looked like a lot of fun and definitely change how the entire game is played now. Being able to move a sentry and, especially annoying when playing as a demo man, having shielded sentries are huge. Plus I got blasted by a few crit-wielding engies as well, thanks to the new shotgun. I think the game plays a lot better than it did 3 years ago. They’ve given every class interesting alternative play styles depending on the map and situation.
PL_Hightower is pretty fun as well. It was pretty annoying trying to cap it - waiting for the ledge to lift up and having a whole team blasted off, but one time this evening I did it all by myself with teammates cheering me on as I cowardly hide behind the cart. Pretty fun and it seemed balanced since you basically have to go right by the opposing team’s spawn.
Didn’t get a chance to play Thunder Mountain unfortunately. I do like the Payload maps better than the control point ones though - full disclaimer.
sniper is my favorite class I just prefer the play style and legitimate strategy. :)
a salute to those engie’s now moving that gear up! :)
I played several hours tonight, and the new engie toys are AWESOME. The shotgun is almost a straight improvement, and if your turret has 5-6 kills you then get 12 straight guaranteed crits to ration for the appropriate time to destroy an opposing team.
The robot arm is really fun on offense. You can drop down a turret in a weird location and keep running, while you focus on dispensers and teleporters. Then if yours dies… use the crit on your new shotgun to kill an annoying scout, then drop another mini turret. Never fell behind and the extra health kept me alive. It also makes an adorable noise.
The wrangler is great on defense, and on larger maps like badlands. Because you can actually control the aiming you can bypass the normal range restrictions and take out opposing unmanned sentries easily. Also you can lay down firing patterns to catch spies and so forth. There are going to be some really interesting strategies on defense with this thing.
Also: to get a new wrench, combine The Ambassador with some scrap. It’s kind of like the sniper shiv, and is a nice alternative to the robot arm when you need level 3 guns.
Played a few rounds and oh boy, I’m liking this. I love the tradeoff of vulnerability to unpack a sentry, and the option of controlling a sentry yourself.
As a demo who’s been really hammering sentries lately this is a serious strategy shift for me, but as a pyro with a homewrecker, it’s a damn gift. Usually that engineer is too busy with the sentry to notice I snuck by and wrecked all his gear. Or that I can slip by and torch him then wreck the gun if he’s not careful.
Big changes, but I’m really liking the new challenges and new strategies that are already emerging. I used to let enemy engineers slip by sometimes in a firefight if they had the toolbox out. Never again, they might be the most dangerous guy around!
I agree with BJB, the action has a lot more flow now. Nice move on Valve’s part.
Last night some poor SOB ran past the blue spawn where 5 of us were building up our sentries before carrying them off for placement. I felt kind of bad for the guy running into 5 sentries sitting right next to each other.
Holy laser cats, the Engineer update has turned them into a viable assault class.
I’m starting to wonder if the engineer isn’t a bit too powerful when using the quick-build mini-sentries in conjunction with the wrangler (which provides damage reduction, grants an increased firing rate, and circumvents the normal sentry-range restriction).
The ability to pack-up sentries (and other gear) has all sorts of interesting uses, like rescuing a sentry from impending sticky-bomb death, or when an uber-heavy is bearing down on your position.
Tactical Withdrawal sounds awesome in this context. I can see using it in payload maps to get a nice head start on the next point when the writing is on the wall for the current one.
Equis
3890
Man… How do you guys get all the upgrades so quick? I still feel like I have to grind for all the loot.
I got 2 of the upgrades normally via playing last night for about 4 hours. These ones are pretty easy to get compared to prior updates. Take a look at the achievement list.
To get the last one, I admit to joining a private server for a bit to get things like the two taunt-related ones. I also picked up my stuff and walked around for about 5 minutes to get that achievement.
I got my demo taunt and soldier taunt just yesterday, and I think I’ll get my others the same way. Turns out the stairs heading into the sewers are a great spot in 2fort to catch people stopping and watching without expecting trouble. They watch on the battlements, not so much right there.
SNICKER-SNACK!
Also, this is now my favorite time to be a spy. All these wonderful engineers around with all these lovely toys together, and these fun little guns that are vulnerable for a few seconds after I kill their controllers.
Because the engineer count is so high it’s easy to steamroll attack-defense maps and sometimes cart maps right now if you have two good spies blocking sentry setups. :D
Strato
3894
I had much the same conversation in-game with a guy last night. He was effectively carrying the team as a spy, and the obvious question is, what was he disguised as? He simply responded “Engineer.” It worked a treat.
It really is great, because frankly engineer has always been one of my preferred disguises if I’m doing a visible overt infiltration (versus a covert one where I disguise as one of my team and follow a rush if I can, or invisible). It’s easy to run any direction and NOT be suspicious. You’re after metal or you’re putting something up in enemy territory, etc. I only worry when active spy checks start, and if they’re actively checking I’ve done my job of creating paranoia and switch to C&D or DR.
Now I just have even MORE reason to use it.
I’m really ambivalent about returning to TF2 this weekend - usually when an update drops I have a blast playing the opposite class. Playing the heavy, for example, during the pyro update was hilarious. My problem this time, is that I just can’t play the spy. My kung fu is no good. Any other suggestions for a counter class for the Engineer?
Sniper or Demo.
Demo is the other hard counter, since you can get bombs around corners without exposing yourself to the turret’s sight. From my brief experience playing, it appears that the new engy powers make this a little less effective, since you’re more likely to see mini-turrets in places where you can’t predict, and demo isn’t great for going toe-to-toe.
Sniper can pick off building engy’s and structures. Again, moving turrets means that you’re less able to pick off an upgrading engy, but I think the “unpacking” turrets are more vulnerable than one that’s being built. The Wrangler can also mitigate your effectiveness by allowing the Engy to aim at you from a greater distance than the turret can spot you, and from out of sight to boot.
If you’re really at a loss, Medics seem in high demand as ever, since a well timed uber can be the only thing to take out a heavy engy nest, and you’re going to be seeing a lot of those.
It’s not bad to be a pyro or a soldier either. Pyros do rapid damage to buildings, especially with the homewrecker. A good pyro right now can get to the engineer with the wrangler and destroy him, his turret, and his dispenser is a scant few seconds.
If there’s enough range a soldier with the direct hit can take out sentries without facing much danger himself, especially if it’s unwrangled, but it’s not as useful as a demo or spy is currently.
Today I tried messing with spies for the first time with any seriousness. I managed to sap like 7 buildings in one life.
Okay, turns out it’s a great time to be a heavy on defense. Ample dispensers and not a lot of offensive classes coming your way. Me and Daloka just carried a round that way.
Jesus Christ, I swear updates always bring out the dumbest players on the internet. And the teenagers, especially the teenagers who get pissed off when a server isn’t an instant/fast respawn, then they complain the game is unbalanced. Yes, that’s because the game is designed with a spawn period to reward teamwork and good play instead of being a grind through constantly spawning defenders. I think there’s more instaspawn servers than regular spawn times, too. Ugh.
Is there a username/password mod out there somewhere? I really would be willing to pay a few bucks a month to play on a server where it’s all adults or people who act like them, free of the macho overcompensation that fills the internet these days. On Xbox Live, on Steam, everything. I would pay good money to relive 2001, when getting online tended to require some level of intelligence and the average user didn’t question your sexual orientation based on choice of weaponry.
