You guys should give TF2 a try today... revamped and AMAZING + 100% FREE

Zeze

Lifer
Mar 4, 2011
11,074
995
126
I posted here about how I don't game much anymore because of baby + getting older + so little time + too much effort.

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I wanted to play Overwatch, but my aging budget rig wasn't going to handle it. Then I remembered by a thread on reddit that Team Fortress 2 is still going strong.

Not just strong, they revamped the entire match system so that it's robust. It's like the game was given a totally new life.

Before:
People just joined random third party servers- the games were chaotic, people came and went, and it was just not much fun than mindless shooting.

Today:
They implemented automatic match-making. All you do is click on that button and you're matched up to the full game on both teams and everyone is starting anew like you. Let me make this clear. 1 click = 20-30 people all start a brand new game together, playing a best of 3 rounds.

This makes EVERY match much more meaningful. Even in casual pubs, there's a much better teamwork than mindless playing before.

And remember:
1. Game is 100% free. All the hats do not affect gameplay. And special weapons are supposedly BALANCED (i.e. always come with downsides), so you have 0 problem owning with stock weapons. I'm a rusty gamer, but I was going on a rampage and finishing matches with highest score with soldier / sniper / scout with all stock weapons.

2. This is an older game, but due to art direction, it looks BEAUTIFUL while running 120-140 fps on my HD6870.

3. Unlike Dota, it's super intuitive to pick it up, and you are free to leave/stop/quit whenever without penalty.

Go ahead, play!

Woot woot.
 

Stg-Flame

Diamond Member
Mar 10, 2007
3,494
470
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This has been known for a while and the match making was available a while back if I'm not mistaken.
 

Zeze

Lifer
Mar 4, 2011
11,074
995
126
This has been known for a while and the match making was available a while back if I'm not mistaken.
Oh I'm sure. None of this is news.

I'm just excited to find out and bringing to attention for others who only played TF2 long ago.
 

Stg-Flame

Diamond Member
Mar 10, 2007
3,494
470
126
I'll check in every now and then to receive the avalanche of items. Although, the random adds from people who just want to buy my Bills and Vintage items have slowed way down.
 

nerp

Diamond Member
Dec 31, 2005
9,866
105
106
A game I always forget to play but should. Thanks for the reminder.

I have the weekend to myself this weekend. Planning a gaming marathon. This will be on my list!
 
Feb 4, 2009
34,494
15,729
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We should get an AT Fight night going again. They were fun but difficult to organize. I can't remember the map but we call one choke point hamburger hill and fought over it for a long, long time. I think it was one with the cart.
 

smackababy

Lifer
Oct 30, 2008
27,024
79
86
U cereal

Dota has one of hardest learning curve.

Mechanics are full of exceptions.

<- ex 4.7k mmr
Steepest learning curve doesn't mean not intuitive. The core mechanics and general gameplay are very intuitive for most PC gamers. The complexity of Dota comes from knowing which items to build, when to build, and laning properly, but anyone can pick up Dota and figure out what is happening and how to play it.
 

zerocool84

Lifer
Nov 11, 2004
36,041
472
126
I used to play TF2 religiously until they started with all the stupid random drop crap. Me along with millions others have moved onto Overwatch.
 

DigDog

Lifer
Jun 3, 2011
13,443
2,084
126
i played TF2 for about 4 days; i thought the game itself was decent, but i cannot stand the 20+ minutes matches, since it's evident from minute 1 who will win and who will lose. Not gonna invest time in a game totally geared to casuals.
 

Stg-Flame

Diamond Member
Mar 10, 2007
3,494
470
126
i played TF2 for about 4 days; i thought the game itself was decent, but i cannot stand the 20+ minutes matches, since it's evident from minute 1 who will win and who will lose. Not gonna invest time in a game totally geared to casuals.
Sounds like you played on some bad servers. A lot of the popular servers are basically just giant free-for-alls with a few talented players obliterating everyone. If you look around, you'll find some good servers that are more tailored to people who want a serious match rather than just an hour-long screw-around session.

My buddy had a really popular arena server going for a long time and we had about 35 dedicated players who stuck to the server at all times. When we played team maps, it was a rare occurrence to see people screwing around, but the whole atmosphere was fun.
 

Chocu1a

Golden Member
Jun 24, 2009
1,426
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I used to play the Voogru servers religiously for about 3 years. He created that awesome dodgeball mode that was a blast, literally. I actually played this game from the beta onward for 4 years straight, until BF3 & 4 came out. I usually jump back into TF2 every Halloween & Christmas. It is still a really fun game, & looks great imho.
 

Stg-Flame

Diamond Member
Mar 10, 2007
3,494
470
126
Dodgeball was always fun to play. So was Hide n Seek. Still, I always loved 2Fort with my combat Engie in the water. It was extremely amusing to listen to people whine about an Engineer being on the top of the leaderboards using a mini-turret. Next to 2Fort, Payloads were my second favorite if we had competent teams. It got pretty stale if you had one good team vs a bad team who kept getting rolled every match.
 
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Zeze

Lifer
Mar 4, 2011
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A follow-up post since I started this thread:

The game is super fun. I think I'm into it more than ever. I can pick it up and play. My go-to guy is Soldier. I wonder if he's even OP in casual pubs:

All other classes have distinct counters/weaknesses where you're just helpless. Like Scout is worthless vs sentries, Spies eat Engs/sentries, etc.

Soldier has no weakness, he's a jack of all trades. You never feel out-classed (like a Sniper saying 'fvck' when caught close quarters).

1. He can deal with scouts, sentries, heavy, anyone really. Rockets are just amazing because they deliver a package of damage in an instant without having to maintain a line of sight (i.e. Heavy, scout, etc). But Heavy & Scout do literally 0 dmg in long range. Soldier does fine in long range. Dealing 50-60 AOE per rocket no matter how far. This is good stuff.

2. He's not as susceptible to Snipers because unlike Heavy, he maintains constant movement.

3. He can sufficiently deal with sentries because of 'instant damage' like I mentioned. He can abuse corners/walls unlike no other classes.

Pyro is fun too. With 0 reload, it's obvious he's meant for massive constant melee damage for area denial or dispersing crowd. Unlike other classes, it's easy to get top score of your team if I play him and continuously flank the enemy team.

Sniper is fun too. Nothing feels quite like 1-shotting a full hp Heavy.

Scout is fun, but he's too frantic and I'm too effin old now to do this whole twitch shooting.

Engie is also fun. I learned that the trick is to constantly move your sentry to keep 'em learn the hard way. He takes way too much time to setup for my taste. It's rage inducing when you get a sentry lvl 3 up, and you just die while carrying it.

Heavy is okay. I have to be a mood to play him. He definitely needs medic and gets owned by spies/scout/sentries too often for my taste.

Demo I'm still getting a hang of him. He hasn't been too fun. I know he's good for bouncing off nades around corners, but most cases, soldier can deal with that just fine.

Medic is boring.

Spy I suck with him. So mechanics question:
1. Can I plant my sapper while invis? Do I lose invis if so?
2. What if I was disguised?
3. So the typical game plan should be: Go invis -> Go behind enemy lines -> Disguise as enemy / recharge -> Kill -> Escape by invis. That's right, yes?
 
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Red Storm

Lifer
Oct 2, 2005
14,233
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You can sap while disguised, but no not while invisible. You won't lose your disguise by placing a sapper, but it's obviously very easy for the enemy to know you're the spy.

Here's the thing with spy. Your level of power pretty much directly translates to how good or bad your opponents are. Yes that applies to every class technically, but even more so to spy. Disguises are used to get around sentries and to fool enemies while in their peripheral vision. If an enemy is looking directly at you, chances are he either knows you're a spy or is at least suspicious and there's little downside to spy checking. As the years have passed, more and more AOE and spy checking methods have been introduced so it's more difficult to actually play a sneaky spy. Having said that, it certainly can still be done. Certain maps just aren't made for spy play, while others offer plenty of space to operate in. Unlike classes such as the soldier or demo, spy is something that requires the right conditions to play. Sometimes it's simply better to play another class.

Spy is by far my most played class (been playing since the game was in beta ~10 years ago), and the last few years I have pretty much settled on a battle spy loadout as my main (obviously changing loadouts as needed). I use the Ambassador, Dead Ringer, and Icepick. The Ambassador because I can aim well, so I get lots of headshots. Being able to deal 102 damage instantly from any range is a huge deal, because with damage falloff your other guns are useless at long range (but good up close). I use the Dead Ringer because it saves my life and gets me out of sticky situations, but also has added utility of blocking enemies from advancing through doorways, which is great for defending the intel, or even slowing down ubercharged enemy pairs. On ocassion I also use it to "secret service" incoming rockets or grenades to save friendly medics for example. The Icepick is my knife of choice because of the fire protection (spammy pyros can be quite annoying at times), and because enemies don't scream when you stab them with it, so chain stabbing a group is more possible.

As for general tactics. Sapping sentries is best done in tandem with your team. Have them attack right after you sap the sentry. If it's just you against a lone engineer with his setup, I like to sap the gun then attack the engineer, or if he's right next to his gun you can stab him and then quickly sap the gun. If you stand behind the dispenser, the gun can't actually hit you (assuming all are on level terrain), so you could possibly use that as cover in a pinch.

Disguises. As I said earlier, best used for hiding in your enemy's peripheral version. Only really bad/new players will fall for a disguise when looking right at you. If you disguise as a soldier, heavy, or demoman, you will move slower, so keep that in mind. Because of this, less spies disguise as these classes so it's possible that you will fool players by using them. I don't think the loss of speed is worth it though. Change up your disguises depending on where you are. When I'm in my own team's territory, I will most often disguise as an enemy spy as that is a more believable position for a spy on their team to be than say a random pyro.

For knife tactics, learn to stair/jump stab. That is when you leap over the enemy and backstab them from above. Takes some practice, but when you master it you can then pull off some great moves. Like when you get caught and are being chased, run up some stairs and when out of sight jump back and over so you are above them when they come rushing in. Works great against most players, but experienced players will likely know the tactic and not fall for it.

There's more I meant to list but I forgot them for now. Basically, spy requires a great deal of attention to detail, but being a fragile class, all it takes is one random crit hit to end your day.

Edit: One thing I forgot to mention. As a spy you can see enemy names and health. This can be really good info for your team (I.e. You know that enemy heavy/medic pair is low on health or nearing a full uber charge, vital info that could be the difference between your team pushing or pulling back). It's also great for your own decision making. You can pick off enemies you see that are low on health with your gun rather than try to work out a backstab plan, etc.
 
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Zeze

Lifer
Mar 4, 2011
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LOL couldn't have gotten a better response from someone who has the TF2 spy avatar. Thanks.
 

Stg-Flame

Diamond Member
Mar 10, 2007
3,494
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Just to add about the disguises for Spy, do not try to disguise yourself as a Scout as you won't run as fast as a normal Scout. Scout Spies are the easiest to detect, not just for their speed, but 99% of Scout players cannot help but double jump everywhere they go, so it's very odd to see a Scout just jogging around the map.

Even though Engie is my main, Spy is my second and I love playing against a good team since it requires much more thoughtful maneuvering - especially on Payload maps. I can't count the number of times I've chain-stabbed almost an entire team because they were blocking the cart and too focused on stopping or pushing the cart to notice their entire team was disappearing one by one.
 
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clok1966

Golden Member
Jul 6, 2004
1,395
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Excellent game, amazing how some skill can really rack up some kills unlike the current favorite (not going to mention names). Payload was a blast. Not sure i have been in game in a couple of years, will have to take a look again. I tend to forget it for a year and then play it non stop ofor a few months, about time to get back.