TF2 noob here, I have some questions for the vets.

[Barfo]

After hearing and reading lots about this game I finally pulled the trigger and bought it, thanks to the price drop. I hope I can play a bit when I get home today, though I have some questions for the seasoned veterans:

1. Are there any good resources I can read to acquaint myself with the game mechanics or is it better to just jump in and start playing?

2. How hard is it for a noob to get into this game? I know there are many hardcore players and while I'm expecting to get my ass handed to me, I don't want to have to play for weeks before I start having fun. Plus I don't have much time to play so I'll probably never be "elite".

3. How big is the community? the game is more than 3 years old, and even though I already bought it I hope it stays strong for a while.

4. What's the deal with the hats and bought items? Will I have to buy stuff with real money in order to have a chance against other players or can I earn decent gear in game? do hats serve a purpose other than decorations?

Anything else I need to know?

 

[coldmeat]

1. There's a training mode that was added a little while back. I haven't played it. It's not very hard to learn the game though. http://tf2wiki.net/wiki/Main_Page

2. I don't remember it being very hard at all. Just play as a medic or something first and run around healing teammates.

3. I haven't played in a few weeks but it's still pretty big. I mostly play on only 1 server though, so I can't say for sure.

4. Hats are just decoration (except certain ones that are required to complete sets which give extra bonuses). They drop randomly but it's really really rare to get one. You can also buy them and craft them, but they're expensive and crafting them takes a lot of items. Weapons also drop randomly, and unless you buy them you have to wait for them to drop to use them. They aren't necessarily better than the original ones, just have different traits.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Can't answer 1 or 3.

2. It sure wasn't easy for me. I have never been able to get good at the game. I am rarely able to do anything to help my team or even survive more than a few seconds. It's a rare and special occasion when I am able to actually kill an enemy. No other FPS has given me such a headache, just TF2.

4. Hats and all other items are completely pointless, ignore them entirely.

 

[Maximilian]

After hearing and reading lots about this game I finally pulled the trigger and bought it, thanks to the price drop. I hope I can play a bit when I get home today, though I have some questions for the seasoned veterans:

1. Are there any good resources I can read to acquaint myself with the game mechanics or is it better to just jump in and start playing?

2. How hard is it for a noob to get into this game? I know there are many hardcore players and while I'm expecting to get my ass handed to me, I don't want to have to play for weeks before I start having fun. Plus I don't have much time to play so I'll probably never be "elite".

3. How big is the community? the game is more than 3 years old, and even though I already bought it I hope it stays strong for a while.

4. What's the deal with the hats and bought items? Will I have to buy stuff with real money in order to have a chance against other players or can I earn decent gear in game? do hats serve a purpose other than decorations?

Anything else I need to know?

1. Just jump in and play.

2. TF2 is a noob friendly FPS game, you wont get torn apart like you may in bad company 2 for example. However in saying that both can be noob friendly or a noobs worst nightmare depending on what server you are on... just look for a server which has "noob" in the name and hope for the best.

3. Yeah its got a pretty strong community, still plenty of players.

4. No idea sorry.

 

[CPA]

3. See Here

 

[JTsyo]

Somethings to know:
-All classes have extra weapons, most tend to be side-grades but some are upgrades.
-To get these weapons you can wait for a random drop, get enough achievements or trade for them
-There are multiple game types to play. I would suggest you play the same map (24/7 servers) the first few times so you get used to the map and the flow of the game.
-Can look for noob servers, not sure if many exists
-Know what to do against other classes with your class. (ie don't charge a pyro as a scout to get higher dmg with your scatter gun)
-SPYCHECK - can't damage teammates, so shoot others to make sure it isn't a spy.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Yup plenty of people playing, weapon/hat stuff is really just for fun, its a typical shooter no real skill is required.

 

[Dankk]

It's a 3-year-old game, but the community is still HUGE. It will probably remain huge for years to come. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. I've been playing for years now, and it's one of the only online games that keeps me coming back.

 

[greenhawk]

These might have been answered, but as a TF2'aholic, I can give a few answers

1 - the game is designed to be jump in and enjoy. The only training that might help is to run through some of the common maps by yourself (ie: host your own server) so you can get the hang of map layouts.

Starting with a soldier /medic is proberly the easier ones. Spys can take a certin bit to get use to, Engineers help to know the map first, the demo's lobing weapons are not intuitive for most players, snipers while easy to use are prime targets for most and lastly, the heavy is a slow class for someone new (can be frustrating getting to the battle line at times). Pyro is easy to use but hard to master (generally).

2 - it is not hard, just do not worry about better players - Everyone hates the spy no matter your skill level.

If playing medic, when "charged" you can become invulnerable (good to run or attack).

a "normal" server has random critial damage from your weapon so giving a chance for noobs to kill even the best player.

3 - it is big enough. I find the servers I want to play on (popular ones) are nearly always full. most of the time I am playing (after work).

4 - bought items are a mixture of unique items or a way to get items you can not wait to get via normal means. in most cases for hats, they are just looks. A hat in a set of items gives a benifit (and generally a drawback) over the standard layout, but only if you have the full set selected.

Weapons are different as each is similar to the base (or original) weapon, but has a benifit and also has a disadvantage (to stop everyone using it).

Valve have the balance changed depending on how popular that weapon/item is across the whole playing field, so one with good benifit with a disadvantage no one cares about, will have it's benifit dropped or disadvantage increased. So their is no "right weapon", it is all personal preferance to match your playing style.

Because of this, it is best to play with the default weapons for a while to see what you can gain or loose when you do have the other weapons to try out.

As to getting them, their are a few ways now. Originally it was acheivement milestones (still works) and now random drops (per week, you get a chance to get severa; random item). The drops are geared to noob/casual players as once you get your "quota" for that week period, you have zero chance of more no mater how much you play.

The other way besides acheivements/buying/random drops is to trade unwanted items for ones you want. Though generally some people might give them, begging for items while people are playing gets no responce. Trade servers might help, but if you have limited time, those can be a waste of time when after basic weapons (most are only interested in rare hats which once again, are just looks).

The last way to get items is to craft them, but this is a slow path (but you can generally get what you want from the weapons range) as you need several weapons to make the one weapon you want. For just starting out, I would not be bothered looking too deeply into this as from scratch you will not have anything craft with.

Lastly, the only other thing worth mentioning is the droped items of "crates". Some people love them, some hate them. It is a random "prize" and the only way to get rare hates but you need to spend money to open them. $2.50US per create. So most hate them. They can not be crafted and trading with them is nearly like trading with 1c off tokens. (I switch between adding them to random trades or giving 8 away at a time to some random person for nothing).

 

[paperfist]

Get in and be aggressive with a heavy or a pyro and you'll have fun

 

[blinblue]

While its probably harder to jump in and play now than it was before all the class upgrades, it shouldn't take too long to get used to the mechanics and the wide array of weapons. But as a new player it will take some time until you get (through achievements or random drops, or if your crazy and buy them from the store) the newer weapons, so you'll have plenty of time to get accustomed to all the weapons.

Avoid servers with weird mods (roll-the-dice, low gravity, etc etc), they can be fun for when you are bored, but don't learn to play with those. Likewise I'd avoid for starters no-crit servers, while I perfectly fine modification, learn on a vanilla server and then decide if you want to play on a no-crit server

I'd avoid engineer, spy and medic starting out simply because they either require the most knowledge to play well (engi/spy) or have high stakes (medic with the uber). While any medic is better than no medic, it really does help the team if the medic sorta knows what's going on, so to avoid frustration on everyone's part I'd wait until you get a better feel for the map/game until then (especially if you are the only medic on the team)

And keep looking around for a good community and server to become a regular at. If you find one with nice players that come regularly you'll be hooked on this game for life. So don't spend too much time on the junky servers with rude people mic-spamming constantly (unless for some odd reason you like that). If you want, PM me and I'll give you the IP of a server that I regular and enjoy quite a bit.

And most importantly, have fun! This game was really designed to not be taken very seriously, so ignore the haters and have fun


Oh, and I guess I should probably answer some of your questions directly. Check out the TF2 wiki to look through all the weapons to get an idea of what they do, there are a lot of them, but most of them are just slight modifications of the base weapon

 

[zerocool84]

Play Pyro first. It's the easiest class to get started with. You'll learn along the way.

 

[Barfo]

Thanks for the info and advice all. Too bad my internet connection decided to be a dick today, I'll try it tomorrow.

 

[zokudu]

1. Are there any good resources I can read to acquaint myself with the game mechanics or is it better to just jump in and start playing?

2. How hard is it for a noob to get into this game? I know there are many hardcore players and while I'm expecting to get my ass handed to me, I don't want to have to play for weeks before I start having fun. Plus I don't have much time to play so I'll probably never be "elite".

3. How big is the community? the game is more than 3 years old, and even though I already bought it I hope it stays strong for a while.

4. What's the deal with the hats and bought items? Will I have to buy stuff with real money in order to have a chance against other players or can I earn decent gear in game? do hats serve a purpose other than decorations?

1. Just jump in. There are a few different game modes but once you know them its really easy because the objective is the same:
pl - payload, push a cart along a track to the end. Blue pushes Red defends
plr - payload race, both teams get a bomb cart to push past each other. First one to the end wins the round
cp - control point, There are 2 kinds of control points 5 point cp maps and attack/defend cp maps. Basicly the 5 point cp works like a payload race and the attack/defend cp works like a payload only with single points instead of a track.
ctf - capture the flag, Capture the opposing teams "intelligence" before they capture yours.
koth - King of the Hill, Single central control point whichever team owns it for the designated time limit wins
ar - Arena, Two teams enter no respawns kill the opposing team

(I think theres one more tc_hydro but I have no clue how that map works I never play it)

Just pick any class not listed as a "support" and you should be fine to start learning.

2. I find theres a good balance most of the time. Even if you have a pubstarring soldier running around you can get kills. The game is really goofy and thats what makes it fun more than anything.

3. As was posted earlier 17000 playing in the last 24 hours the game is a blast and will probably remain so for a long time.

4. Hats just look cool no need to stress over them. As far as weapons are concerned they are almost all sidegrades. They cover a weakness of a class while opening another weakness. For instance the Black Box rocket launcher gives you one less rocket to work with but heals you on hits. Its good for a roaming solly who has time to reload a lot, but a pocket who sits in the middle of the fray with a medic doesn't gain anything from the healing and loses a rocket.

You'll learn more as you play but theres no basic weapon that is flat out inferior to a found weapon just play to have fun.

Didn't we say back in the Jan TF2 fight night we were going to schedule another one. Maybe we should get one going.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

I'm always up for a TF2 fight night

 

[Sacraster]

not enough interest or ppl to show up in the TF2 fight night tho

 

[Howard]

my server is open all the time

The Coloured Pylons 24/7 goldrush

64.74.97.178:27015

 

[zerocool84]

my server is open all the time

64.74.97.178:27015

Your server is almost always populated which is a good thing.

 

[Howard]

Just play. If there are any situations which you struggle to deal with, post up.

Some random tidbits:

- As a pyro, play with the regular burner or the Degreaser. The lack of compression blast is rather limiting. All enemies, rockets, pipes, stickies, arrows, jarate, mad milk and flares can be reflected.

- As a pyro, it's fairly trivial to blast back ubered pairs, save for heavies. If they see you coming, you're in a lot of danger before you can get them in the air; but, once you do, you're fairly safe, especially if you can keep a medic on you. I've found that the best way to stop an ubered heavy is to get into range from his blind spot, puff him, and then drop back behind cover - rinse and repeat. However, assess the situation; it might be worth sacrificing yourself if your medic(s) are in danger. Sentries aren't always worth protecting, especially if it's a big push because no matter what you do the gun is going to go down anyway.

- Self-preservation is key. Dyin's for fools. If there's a significant chance you'll die, stop pushing and retreat so you can heal up.

- As a medic, you need to be aware of the entire playing field inside your line of sight. Medics tend to be the best spy checkers and also should be the ones that live the longest. Spin around constantly while you're healing people, and try to make sure your entire team is maximally overhealed. However, feel free to throw your teammates to the wolves if it means that healing them will put you in danger.

- As a medic, losing charged ubers before they are used is a big no-no. If you see an enemy that will kill you in less than 3 seconds, activate immediately.

- Try not to play sniper too often. You learn the game quicker when you play other classes.

 

[Clinkster]

Well, you have all your questions answered, but I'd like to throw out there the useful unlockables you should try to trade for since they're very worthy sidegrades (or just plain better than the originals).

Scout: Original set is fine
Soldier: Original set works (if you want to get rocket jumping down, get the gunboats)
Pyro: Degreaser is a worthy sidegrade; some of the melee weapons (Axetinguisher especially)
Demoman: Original set is fine.
Heavy: Sandvich is practically a must (for starters); GRU for melee (fists as weapons don't add anything, but GRU will help you run faster).
Medic: Kritzkreig a must (a worthy sidegrade to regular ubercharge, both are fun to use); Ubersaw is superior to regular bonesaw.
Sniper: Original set is fine; you can get the jarate sidegrade or Tribalman's Shiv, but not necessary.
Spy: Original set is fine; (once you feel like fooling around, his other watches are worthy sidegrades)

There are other items that are worthy sidegrades, but they take a bit of experience to utilize.

So if you can, try and get your hands on: Degreaser, Sandvich, GRU, Kritzkreig, Ubersaw.

 

[gorobei]

1) http://wiki.teamfortress.com/wiki/Main_Page and any number of youtube videos.
Start by trying each class on an empty server just to learn the movements/weapons. do the tutorial, then possibly find a server that allows you to stay in spectator mode and watch what some of the better players are doing. Understanding the limits of each class will keep you from raging over seeming insta-kills.

2) learning to move and shoot is easy enough, knowing what priority to shoot certain enemies and what class to use is the bigger task. learning the map secrets will also take a while. But running around like a headless chicken shooting stuff will still be fun at the start.

3) still going strong. Class updates, cosmetic hats, and various seasonal events have kept the player base going 3+ years and will likely continue another 2 years if not longer. Every $5 sale and free weekend brings in tons of new players.

4) only 5 hats actually alter performance, and only one of those is worth it. The rest are purely cosmetic and do absolutely nothing gameplaywise(though the skull is pretty intimidating). You dont need to spend a penny to eventually get all the functional weapons(some are just reskins)

 

[gorcorps]

I'm hardly a veteran. I've had it a while but haven't ever put much time into it. I will say that while the gameplay isn't the most noob friendly, it's a rare game where you can still have fun while basically getting your ass kicked IMO. Each class is very different, and it's fun seeing how each works.

There's many different game modes as well which makes switching classes almost a necessity. The scout is a useful class for CTF type because he's so damn fast. It takes a decent to take one down in most maps. I like the heavy for almost anything else because you usually have help from medics, and he can be devestatng if the enemies aren't too far away.

Nothing to do except practice, and maybe watch some class videos on youtube to get an idea of what each class is good at and used for.

 

[brandonb]

Anything else I need to know?

Probably just better to run in and start playing. When you log in, you get to pick a character, and each team can only have x number of characters. I'd suggest playing a class that nobody else depends on and is usually available. If you are a medic and don't use your invulnerability at the right time, you'll probably get a few people pissed. I suggest: Pyro... Pyro's are pretty weak but they are equally good on offense and defense.

On offense: If you follow a medic+anything else team as they go in invulnerable, the area effect ability of the pyro is very helpful. They also have "air burst" on the noob weapon, an alternate attack (right mouse button) that is good for blowing away sticky bombs on the ground. So it's helpful to do such things.

The main strategy on attack is usually this: The medic + demoman (but can be anything else really) go in invulnerable, and take out all the engineers sentry bots as they are very dangerous. While they are attacking the bots, there are a bunch of players there. The rest of the team should be taking out the players while they do their thing... As a pyro you can light them all on fire...

On defense: You can sit around your teams sentry bots and engineers, and send out little bursts of fire, hoping to catch enemy spies from coming in as they try to place 'zappers' on the sentry bots. Very good while your team is building up their defenses with the bots/teleporters, etc.

The most critical and hardest to play classes are the medic, engineer, and the spy.
The least critical are the scout, and sniper.

Even though a good sniper is very good, they are not very common to find those. They also have a bow that can be used from long range to kill the sentry bots quickily. The bows aren't so good against players, they are there to assist in blowing down the defenses.

The rest are sort of inbetween and have their uses. Pyro is a good in between character that is decent as both offense and defense.

 

[gorcorps]

Also, you need to learn when you're beat. If you keep getting destroyed by sentries then you might need to get your team to help take it out, or switch classes to do it on your own. A demo man can help if he's good enough to bounce his shots from a safe area. A quick soldier can use rockets, but it generally takes some time. A heavy will usually die before he causes much damage to a sentry. A scout can be fast but not always fast enough to full avoid a sentry. Spies are the best at controlling these, but you have to be good and people are generally also good at checking for you. Apparently a sniper can use a bow to help take out the sentries, though I didn't know this.

 

[Howard]

Well, you have all your questions answered, but I'd like to throw out there the useful unlockables you should try to trade for since they're very worthy sidegrades (or just plain better than the originals).

Scout: Original set is fine
Soldier: Original set works (if you want to get rocket jumping down, get the gunboats)
Pyro: Degreaser is a worthy sidegrade; some of the melee weapons (Axetinguisher especially)
Demoman: Original set is fine.
Heavy: Sandvich is practically a must (for starters); GRU for melee (fists as weapons don't add anything, but GRU will help you run faster).
Medic: Kritzkreig a must (a worthy sidegrade to regular ubercharge, both are fun to use); Ubersaw is superior to regular bonesaw.
Sniper: Original set is fine; you can get the jarate sidegrade or Tribalman's Shiv, but not necessary.
Spy: Original set is fine; (once you feel like fooling around, his other watches are worthy sidegrades)

There are other items that are worthy sidegrades, but they take a bit of experience to utilize.

So if you can, try and get your hands on: Degreaser, Sandvich, GRU, Kritzkreig, Ubersaw.

Scout: Boston Basher is really fun and is perfect for spy checking, especially since hitting friendlies doesn't hurt.
Soldier: The Rocket Jumper is better for training than the Gunboats.
Pyro: If you play offensively, shotgun is good. If you play defensively, flare gun is better; you can spy check over a long distance, reduce the effectiveness of snipers, back up teammates from long range, etc.
Medic: Probably better for a noob to start with the regular uber first.