Doktor Goku

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3165574

"Valve has been vaguely hinting at big changes to Team Fortress 2, and today we're finally getting an idea of what that means. In addition to the 35 new Medic Achievements, PC Gamer reports that new weapons are coming as well -- and the Medic class is just the beginning.

For each class, Valve is planning to slowly roll out new Achievements and special unlockable weapon sets. The first unlockable weapon will be added for getting half of the new class-specific Achievements, and the second added later for getting all of them. But these won't be game-breaking enhancements to the title that's been so hailed as perfectly balanced. The new weapons will be slightly altered versions of existing weapons with appropriate advantages and disadvantages, equipped through a new "Loadout" menu. The first (and only) example we have is a new heal gun for the Medic called the Overhealer, which doubles the health of the healed character (rather than 150%), but will make ubercharge much harder to achieve. Valve is even considering doing away with ubercharge for the weapon. The second unlockable gun for the Medic is another healing ray, but we don't know any details other than that. Perhaps one that makes Ubercharge easy, but heals much more slowly?

In addition to the new Badlands map that we've heard about, there will be yet another new map called Goldrush that includes a new game mode. In it, the Blue team has to escort a mining cart to the finish. The more Blue nearby, the faster it moves, but it stops if Red are near it. This forces the Blue team to constantly rethink their position and strategy -- sort of like a moving Control Point from an Attack & Defend match. "

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Mahonri Moriancumer

Sweet Definatly looking forward to this.

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TheFeniX

Yes, let's turn TF2 into a watered-down version of BF2 with not only classes, but kits.... Gameplay improvements are one thing, but this game has been out for what.... 3-4 months and we've talking about serious gameplay changes like new weapons, rather than just tweaks?

And once again, we get stunning (read: useless) achievements which will give players MORE incentive to do X, rather than their job.

You know something, I like SP achievements because they sometimes are a good way to extend your SP enjoyment, but I really don't like having my MP enjoyment stifled because a dev thinks I should spend hours doing X before I gain access to Y.

I can only hope some server-side cvars come along with this update because having valve blacklist servers like EA games did with BF2 would be fairly annoying.

Only bonus I see: more public players playing medic. Let's just hope they know when to uber.

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MagnaCentipede

Watch, instead of a pistol I can rely on hitting where I aim it, they'll give me the option of a sapper that does no damage but takes THREE hits to break.

Whoooo.

Still, I like the idea of being able to earn customisation. (The good news is if it sucks, Valve will eventually fix it.) For example, after 82 hours of playing spy, your knife actually kills people when you stick it in them. Or the pistol fires bullets that aren't made of marshmallow.

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Fish #641

OR a pistol that shoots candy! How awesome would that be? It would make your teammates happy (raises crit chance) and gives the opponents cavities (makes their parents angry at them). That was a genius factory.

Edit: I like achievements. They give me something to do on 24/7 2fort servers when I don't feel like bringing the TG server from 0/22 to 22/22 players.

RandomGuy

God damn it...

Well at least the new map type sounds promising.

TheFeniX

Seriously Magna, you have no reason to complain about the spy class. You routinely run the score-board as spy, even with all the "nerfs." I can't count the number of times I've engaged you and been killed by two bullets from your revolver. I can only imagine how deadly you'd be if you actually picked a combat class.

When I finally get around to setting up ribbons for TF2, guess who will most likely be the first to reach "Spy Level 5: just pick another class already."?

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MagnaCentipede

Me as Scout: I have fun until a sentry gun appears. Then I change classes because there's no reason to bother.
Me as Soldier: Spam is boring. Eventually I get a medic to Uber me so I can take on a Level 3 with shovel.
Me as Pyro: Spam is boring. I play it when Spy isn't viable since it's the only class with decent run speed and health points. Or at least I used to...
Me as Demo: LOL FAIL. Moving on.
Me as Heavy: I am heavy punching guy. And these... are my punchers. When I use minigun, I don't stop firing until I see someone who I can punch.
Me as Engineer: I drop level ones and let the campy Engineers grow them if they like. Other than that, I just build teleporters and advanced dispensers.
Me as Medic: I rarely/never bother to build uber, and mostly I just needle everything that moves.
Me as Sniper: I get one excellent shot a round. Everything else is total miss.
Me as Spy: I stab someone three times, and then use pistol. If they don't die in the first two shots, they won't die after sixteen more, which I never live long enough to fire.

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UnDeaD77

Sounds like great changes, maybe I'll play it again when it comes out.

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Zephyr

I didn't think Valve would sink to the level of using this kind of marketing. It is one step short of microtransaction and always has one aim; increasing profits by making old games continuously new. Who needs to innovate and build something new when you can keep tagging on components that'll extend your game longevity and increase profits through continuous addition of new players? Innovation is dying.

Sounds good on paper and in theory...but it's a dangerous road to tread for the industry...

*hugs Nintendo close*
Don't you leave me! You're all I have left! Innovate god damn you!

-Zephyr

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TheFatKidDeath

I dunno haters, sounds like the new additions to the game will be alot of fun!

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MasterEditorInChief

The developers make the game. You play it. How you play is entirely up to you, so let the developers do their job and provide something new for a different type of experience. If the new Goldrush mode does indeed suck, then don't run the map. Personally, it's quite an intriguing concept. Warrants a try.

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TheSkudDestroyer

Goldrush could be interesting with a MEDIC RUSH

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TheFeniX

I'm not concerned with GoldRush. I actually enjoy non-standard map types (Give me Hunted already damn it).

What I DO mind is new weapons being added, which will change the balance of the game, but them not being given to everyone. So, in order to balance the game back out, I've got to make sure I've spent (most likely) hours on my class, possibly not doing my best to help my team.

Achievements are ok as long as it's just a "Hey, look! I got Hyabusa armor in Halo 3 because I spent 99% of my life playing the game over and over and over again to unlock it" because it doesn't affect the gameplay: it's just a skin.

Now we're talking about adding gameplay advantages/disadvantages based upon who sat in a locked server with some buddies and pounded through their achievements. I remember this being an issue when pubs would join the BF2 server and get priority access to commander because they had a locked ranked server and spent hours building their rank up. This most likely won't be as bad as that, but it still plays favorites towards people who just log game hours, rather than those who actually play the game for the experience.

Just give them to everyone, and be done with it.

And the developers are beholden to players for the specific reason that we advertise for them. In the early days of the TF2 forums, I saw numerous posts of "Hey, this game looks cool based on the comments I've seen here. I'm going to buy it." They didn't buy the game because valve said it would be great, they bought it because people they know were having fun playing it.

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MagnaCentipede

Thinking about it, the double-health thing isn't too bad until the whole doesn't-dissipate thing comes in. People's crap weapons -- like normal shotgun, spy pistol, spy knife, and flamethrower -- are very well tuned to be lethal against players who had a fight, and useless against full-health players. Now, resiliant classes will be full of eyeballs all the time while everyone's [s]not-explosive[/s] not-bazooka weapon is a joke.

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