Omg when did all the Hats go on sale in the store? (Obviously not the newest ones…).
RickH
4362
Actually, I’ll stand by the medical cabinet and throw jars of piss over and over at the same afk soldier. Something about the look on his face.
Come on dude, how often have you seen that type of behavior in TF2? I know you’ve played a lot more than me, but I’ve probably got 150 hours* in TF2 and I’ve never ever once seen what you’re describing.
- Steam currently shows 79.1 hours, but that’s just since March of 2009.
I see that kind of thing often enough, but I’ve always had a gift of joining a server full of cunts.
I think the worse thing, though, is the server administrator who turns respawn time to a miniscule amount or none at all. Fucking hell, guys. Team based objective games have had respawn timers for a very long time, and for very good reason. It prevents the game from turning into a horrible slog and helps facilitate teamwork. The way the respawn times change with the team performance especially helps things out, forcing defenders into larger groups while giving attackers a chance to make a push.
Whenever I run into a server with timers off I just see complaints about the game being a meatgrinder toward the end, and NOBODY SEEMS TO UNDERSTAND WHY. I don’t know, probably because there’s infinite unwavering walls of flesh being thrown both ways?
JM1
4365
I’ve seen it, but it’s prematch. It is of such little consequence that I genuinely cannot bring myself to care one tiny bit about what they do. If they’re twats during the round, sure, I’ll give them both barrels.
The majority of my time in TF2 has been spent as medic. After that, I’ve played a lot of heavy. Any time I’ve switched away from either of those classes in the past, I’ve felt I’m letting the team down by being so much less effective.
But with the game gone free to play, and there being a lot of less skilled players around, I feel safe trying out my less played classes.
I am really loving the pyro’s flare gun now. I still think the shotgun might actually be more effective, but the flare gun is so much fun. And then I’m getting practiced with the degreaser and the axtinguisher. Waiting until the last moment to light up my target as I come up from behind, so I can backstab them like a spy before they know what’s happening.
Soldier is still troublesome. I’ve always hated the Soldier, because meeting a soldier has always been instant death to me as any class but the heavy, but I can never accomplish the same feats myself. Other soldiers can rocket jump and juggle me with rockets. But I can’t get the hang of rocket jumping at all, and have only seen enemies get launched into the air by my rockets a handful of times.
I’m mostly just playing him because I got the new Reserve Shooter shotgun that minicrits airborne targets, and I’m just hunting for opportunities to use it. The couple of times I’ve put down a hyperactive scout with it have been so satisfying.
the key is 1) jump and crouch THEN shoot and 2) rocket jumping boots so you can actually practice/survive if you foul up.
newbs are awesome to scout troll on goldrush. i pop soda so i run past the defenders, jump on their spawn point and take out any teles. then, when they run the appropriate distance from spawn, start shooting them in the back. sometimes i don’t even bother killing them, just making them chase me. then i either hit them with the stun baseball or pop soda again and prance away.
sometimes i wonder if the other guys are raging and feel bad. and sometimes two pyros chase me down a dead end tunnel while i’m on fire and i pop soda at the last second and run past them, escaping because they don’t know to puff me into the wall.
Huh. I haven’t even tried the Bonk can. I got it so long after the update it came with, and I’d never seen a scout use it for anything effective. But using it to make it past the front lines to hit teleporters is a fantastic idea that I am going to steal.
Bluto
4369
Have you tried the Detonator? It’s a flare gun, but alt fire detonates the flare and sets anybody on fire in a small AOE. Fun, fun, fun - and hell for snipers.
sluggo
4370
For the first few years of TF2, I’m not sure if I ever saw it at all. It’s something I’ve noticed more in the last year (maybe once or twice a week?), which is why it sticks out in my mind, but it’s fair to say we’re probably overblowing it here to some extent.
That said… here’s a video I took a month ago. This guy doesn’t go the full 60 seconds, but you get the idea.
Other people may not see anything weird there, but I do. I don’t see the normal hyperactive warmup shenanigans that most players engage in, but the exact opposite: someone strangely transfixed by an activity I’d like to think would bore any normal person in about 5 seconds. I can only assume this guy is stoned out of his mind, in fact giggling like an idiot the whole time, but more importantly, in my experience, that guy is never a lick of good. He might as well have a giant “TEAMKILLER” sign over his head.
I’ll be the first to admit I’m a bit of a snob when it comes to multiplayer shooters. To me, comparing most FPS’s to TF2 is like comparing checkers to chess. In TF2, if you’re playing the game properly, you’re constantly sizing up what the other team is doing and looking for the best way to counter it, and when it’s clicking, I think it offers an experience few other games can touch. Which is why the current state of the game makes me sad. TF2’s biggest weakness is that it takes very little in the way of unbalanced teams to disintegrate into long, frustrating blowouts, and the game’s playerbase has evolved (devolved?) in a way that it’s almost impossible to find a good game these days.
I think Valve deserves a lot of credit for continuing to support TF2 for so many years. But I hope their plan is to have a TF3 in 2012; that their recent moves, including going F2P, are part of a larger strategy to build a massive playerbase and increase the number of people who’ll be interested in future releases. Otherwise, I’m not really sure where the game goes from here.
Valve would be insane to even think about announcing a TF3 anytime in the near future.
Strato
4373
Practice is the name of the game when it comes to rocket jumping. When I was learning, I had to put up with looking crap on the leaderboard, but after playing it consistently enough, things started to click. When I became proficient at rocket jumping, it opened up a whole other element to the game, and the versatility of the soldier really shines through.
With the Badwater map for instance:
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As red, before the beginning of the game I’d rocket jump up the rocks in front of the red base. There is a small area that a person can sit which is a blind spot for the blue team coming out of the gates. It allows an easy shot down to the cart and often takes a while for people to wake up to the fact there is rockets raining down on them from above.
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As red or blue, being able to rocket jump up onto the roof overlooking the second point can really make or break the defence or capture of that point.
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As blue, being able to rocket jump at certain areas by the last point; either up to the platform that then leads to the red spawn, or into the building with the staircase at the back corner means an easy shot at destroying sentries set up either under the three window area, or in the alcove area to the left at the bottom of the ramp.
Badwater really was my favourite map, and in my opinion, the best payload map in the game.
This is the advice everyone gives, but I feel like it’s not enough instruction for me. I can launch myself into the air, but not to the height everyone else can. I can’t go high enough for any of the maneuvers in Strato’s post for example.
Time to craft yourself the rocket jumper! Or buy it in the Mann Co Store, for .49 cents.
http://wiki.teamfortress.com/wiki/Rocket_Jumper
Best training device there is!
The key to achieving maximum height rocket jumps is to jump+crouch, then shoot directly down right away. Basically your still going upwards when the rocket explodes under you. The sweet spot is just before you achieve the apex of your jump.
If your falling down, or are not shooting directly under yourself, you will not get very high.
Sluggo, I know exactly how you feel. When you play enough hours and know the mechanics of every class and the layouts of every map, poor play from others can really ruin your expirience.
2 ways I dealt with that were to find a group of servers ( Vanilla settings of course), that were well moderated and full of regulars of a high skill level. Also when I find myself in this situation, I find the only way to enjoy myself at that point is to set small goals within the match for myself that do not involve winning the game, but may lead to it. Take the small victories, practice classes you are not as good with, use different load outs and play styles.
DuckSoup gaming server is my personal favorite. Its always full, but some patient refreshing will get you in. IGN- MR.GR|M
I have. Detonating the flare never seemed to do anything, so I gave up and went back to the flare gun.
I had a successful detonation the other night , got 3 people at once, was shocked it actually worked.
Playing my favorite class is possible again!
You can totally just roll through teams as a spy now.
Indeed, its like there was this influx of 40,000 F2P players who are unable to switch to pyro and spy check.
:(
