Team Fortress 2 gets a BIG update

Dash — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 23:49:14 +0000

A few days ago TF2 received a major update, with NO player classes being updated.

What’s the point of an update if there are no new weapons or achievements you say… Despite this lack of the usual content which TF2 players have become used to receiving, the latest update is nothing to sniff at, and it’s a biggy!

King of the Hill

A brand new game mode has been introduced with several good looking maps. They don’t just look good however. I’ve given them a pretty thorough testing playing on public servers both solo and with clan mates and I had a lot of fun. The game mode looks very similar to the Arena mode in as much as there is only one central control point on each KotH map. This CP becomes ready to cap after a small amount of warm up time which gives both teams time to get themselves poised and ready to dive onto the control point and start capturing it (or dying depending on skill or suicidal tendency). Each team has 3 minutes on the clock at the top of the screen. This counts down to zero while a team owns the control point. This can seem to go very fast if the winning team puts up a good defence, however if the point is contested when the clock reaches zero, the game goes into Overtime. If the losing team caps the point during overtime it’s their turn to hold the point while the timer counts down to zero. It’s quite possible for the game to be a 3 minute washout or for the game to last well over 6 minutes, running well into Overtime.

The three official maps for KOTH that come with the update are:

KotH_Nucleus is a conversion of the Arena mode map of the same name. It is a very simple map and compact map. This is a good thing! Out of all the KotH maps I liked this one the best. The action is always intense and there are many angles and tactics from which to assault or defend the central point.

With its circular layout, this map offers few places to hide in order to snipe or watch the point without fear of spy pyro or scout attack. Each team’s spawn room has 3 exits which is just as well due to the fact that the map is so small that a sniper can hit players leaving the enemy spawn from their own. There are upper and lower levels which help to mix up the game play and give the defending team good options for sniping and spamming the central point. With four walkway leading to the point however, control of the point can be easily overturned by a determined team. During one game the team I was playing on managed to make two major comebacks one round after another, turning a disappointing score into a humiliating defeat for the other team by overturning the control of the point at the very last second and then holding it for one or two intense minutes to win the round.

KotH_Sawmill is another Arena mode conversion. It features some nice visuals including rain weather effects and moving saw blades which can chop a player up while they go for the health packs which are positioned temptingly in their path. It has a more natural layout than Nucleus with the spawn points further away from the capture point. This can lead to spawn camping by the winning team if the teams are not well matched.

KotH_Viaduct is a fun map in a snow setting. This is my second favourite KotH map of the three.

There is quite a bit of ground to cover from the spawn points to the centre of the map which turns into a choke point for both teams leading to some fast paced capturing and re-capturing of the control point. It is hard for either team to defend the control point although the best tactic I have seen so far is the put a level 3 sentry gun up on a snowy ledge to one side of the control point and defend it against spies who only have one available path from which to sap the sentry. A determined Medic+Demoman combo could easily overcome this tactic using an ubercharge if there is time however. The medic can be very useful on this map if he hangs back from the point and heals the rest of his team who are on or near the control point. Sniping works well until the other team gains a spy, at which point switching class would be a good move.

Hats

You want to look your best while you’re king of your hill right? The following hats have been added to the game, and will randomly be discovered by players. This is very rare so you have to play a lot if you expect to obtain them. They are not unlocked based on skill level and they add no stats to the player who wears them, being purely cosmetic.

Maps

cp_yukon - not the best gameplay

Arena_Offblast and CP_Yukon are two community made maps which have been added to TF2’s official line-up.

Yukon is a linear Capture Point map that’s not very linear. By this I mean the route from one control point to the next takes some interesting twists and turns and could take some getting used to. The visual style is generally very good, although the move from tight, single level, twisting canyon choke points at the outer control points into the wide open central point with its vertical game-play somehow doesn’t seem to fit.

I haven’t played this map properly yet so I won’t slate it too much in case I end up loving it later. Why not post your views on cp_yukon in response to this article?

arena_offblast - well thought out

Offblast is, in my opinion the better of the two new community created maps. It looks great and has some interesting alternative routes to get to the top op the map by climbing spiral pathways around the mountain top to reach the maps natural vantage point (rather than using rocket jump or the stairs). There are plenty of places for a Pyro to drop down behind unsuspecting players and hit them with the Backburner.

If you like Arena mode then it’s definitely worth giving Offblast a go.

Gameplay Tweaks

These are some of the more interesting changes. The full list is very long and can be seen on the official update page.

The losing team now gets to view their character in third person camera angle while they run around helpless with an exaggerated fearful expression. This usually turns into a mini competition to see who can survive the longest. Some of the animations are hilarious, such as the scout who, when left alone will stand or crouch cowering, hugging himself and sucking his thumb.

The Pistol now fires at a fixed rate, not based on the speed at which you press the firing button. This is still pretty quick so it’s not going to affect most players (only those who try to exploit it).

Scoring in CTF now gives your team a Critical Boost

Capturing the intelligence in the CTF mode now grants the capturing team ten seconds of critical hits. This can bring sudden bursts of speed to slow CTF games where one or both teams gains several captures in quick succession and lots of people die.

Electro-Sappers attached to a teleporter automatically place another Sapper on the other end of the teleporter, if it exists. Conversely, Engineers wrenching a teleporter will repair the other end as well, and remove Sappers from both if they exist. This stops irritating Spies from sapping your teleporter entrances, forcing you to fall all the way back to spawn to re-build them. In play this has proven to remove some of the balance which the Spy class brought to the game. It also allows an Engineer to build a teleporter exit at a critical point such as the enemy flag room in CTF and then have one or more Engineers wrench the entrance repeatedly outside their spawn, making it very hard for the other team to destroy the teleporter with anything less than a host of sticky bombs.

Teammates no longer block friendly radius damage. This prevents nearby teammates causing rocket/grenade jumps to fail. Rocket and Grenade jumping is quickly becoming a required skill in TF2 and is immensely powerful when used well.

The Force of Nature has been re-worked to balance the game. It’s knockback effect now only works in close range and behaves more like the Pyro’s air blast, good for knocking nearby enemies off control points. It is no longer possible juggle enemies using the FaN. The self-knockback has also changed to respect the firer’s view angle. Looking up while shooting will no longer propel the enemy upwards. Knock-back is now scaled by damage done

The Sandman bat has also been adjusted – A Scout will receive 1 point for stunning an enemy and 2 points for a long range stun. Stunned players now take 75% of all incoming damage instead of 50%. Ubercharged players can no longer be stunned (the achievement for this has now been changed to ‘Stun Two Medics Who Are Ready To Deploy an Uber-charge’). This is slightly disappointing as I always found that stunning the Ubered Heavy was the only guaranteed way of defending your teams turrets from them. Heavies spinning their mini-guns will continue to spin when stunned (whether the left or right mouse button is pressed). The minimum distance to stun a target has been reduced which makes the scout even more dangerous in close range fights. The negative attribute has changed from “no double jump” to “-25 max health”. Starting with only 95 health points seems like bad idea, but works surprising well as the agility of the double jump allows the player to avoid getting hit while stunning enemies from a distance and generally harassing the opposing team.

Thanks..

I’d like to thank Valve for their awesome work, once again keeping a great game alive by releasing free updates, and not just the occasional bug fix, but loads of fun, new content. The game keeps evolving and getting better and more fun all the time. If you don’t own this game then go buy it now!