Team Fortress 2

[Wyntonian]

So, I found out that when steam says something will take 11 hours to download, it actually will. TF2 has been going 6 hours strong, and I'm wondering who else here in the Playground has played Team Fortress 2? How was it? Favorite class? Favorite map? Favorite hat?

Discuss!

[Mando Knight]

You might say the Playground plays a little TF2...

(It's the general Steam thread, but whenever a major update like Mann vs Machine or an apparently-hax item like the Red Tape Recorder hits, about 80% of the discussion turns to TF2.)

[Maxios]

It took me fifteen figgin' hours to download

[Wings of Peace]

Class wise I'm pretty fond of Soldier and Scout. Scout is just unfair in small 5v5 games. In larger game sizes he tends to lose his advantage. The Soldier I like just because there are very few completely impossible situations for him. The same is true for the Demoman I'm just not a very good Demoman.

[Jeivar]

My advice is; play against bots for a little bit to get a feel for the mechanics, classes and map layouts.
Medic is a good starting class, since it lets you contribute even as a total newbie. Just constantly heal and overheal your teammates and stay out of the line of fire. And try to save an Ubercharge for either a sentry gun or multiple enemies.

Aside from that, Heavy and Soldier are good starting combat classes. They take experience and tactics to play WELL, but they are straightforward and have no particular pitfalls. When playing Soldier, aim for an enemy's feet and try to hit him with the splash damage rather than try for a direct hit; The rockets are slow and easy to dodge if you see them coming.

And just remember: Everyone is a Spy.

As for my favorites, I play the payload maps almost exclusively, but now Mann vs Machine has come along and given me something different. I've clogged the most time as a Sniper and I have had some really good runs with him, though it varies pretty wildly. I once got 21 kills in a single life, with two other Snipers and a Spy trying to put me out of business.

[The-Mage-King]

And just remember: Everyone is a Spy.

Yep. Even that enemy demoman. He's a Spy who needs to infiltrate.



Yeah, I play. Main Proro. There is a VERY small chance my team burns to death when I'm playing Pyro, mostly since my job is extinguishing them, setting everyone else on fire, then shooting what's left.


Of course, when I'm goofing around, I tend to play Stickyjumper Demopan.

[Eloel]

My favorite is a toss up between Engineer and Spy. Engineer because sentries rule if you are careful with placement and have support from your team. Spy because not everyone checks everyone else for spies

[Aidan305]

Medic is my current favourite. Find a heavy a stand behind him and you can do no wrong.

[Kurgan]

Love the game, almost always a way to have fun in it.

Favorite class? Hard to say. I love playing heavy, medic, and pyro. Spy and sniper are fun. I suck at soldier [can never figure out rocket jumping], but he also has the best vanity items I think [cigar + some of the best hats in the game], so I am occasionally popping in as him for practice. I just cannot play scout or demo at all. Engie, depends on the level, some levels I love playing him, others not so much.

Currently working on making a Pinkie Pie themed Heavy: umbrella hat [obtained!], pink paint for it, and then a festive minigun to name the "Party Cannon"

I just hate hate hate KOTH maps, and to a lesser extent control points. Perfectly symmetrical maps are not my favorites [exception: capture the flag], which both map types run exclusively. I groan, and sometimes disconnect when I see that the server I am on goes to these map types.

That said, payload, payload race, capture the flag, and attack/defense are fantastic, and I almost always have a jolly good time on those maps. For the most part, the worst of these map types are still better than the best of the Koth/control points.

[The Dark Fiddler]

I just hate hate hate KOTH maps, and to a lesser extent control points. Perfectly symmetrical maps are not my favorites [exception: capture the flag], which both map types run exclusively. I groan, and sometimes disconnect when I see that the server I am on goes to these map types.

Huh. I, on the other hand, love KOTH more than any other game mode and disconnect almost immediately when I'm put in a CTF server.

I wish they'd let you exclude certain game modes when you hit Random, though; sometimes I don't know what mode I want to play, as long as it's not one specific mode (usually CTF), which I inevitably get stuck in three times in a row.

[Dark Elf Bard]

Does anyone play on the Xbox?

[Mando Knight]

Does anyone play on the Xbox?

...TF2 on the consoles? When the Steam (both PC and Mac!) version is free and is the only one that's really ever updated (316 updates including 22 major updates, compared to 4 relatively minor patches)?

[The Dark Fiddler]

Does anyone play on the Xbox?

My girlfriend's younger brother does, because he's having a hard time switching over to computer controls and hasn't found a controller to connect to the computer yet. Like Mando said, though, it's pretty much a strictly inferior version, unless you for some reason cannot stand other people using the new weapons (it's not even about you using them yourself, because using the basic weapons is perfectly viable in most cases).

[Mando Knight]

My girlfriend's younger brother does, because he's having a hard time switching over to computer controls and hasn't found a controller to connect to the computer yet.

Tell them to search for a wired XBox 360 controller. The drivers for the things are in all Windows computers and many PC games are compatible with it. You can use wireless ones, too, but as far as I know there's no way to connect them without using the overly expensive ($40-50 last I checked) special adapter (though there's probably some Bluetooth hack or something that lets you do it cheaper). Using the Play & Charge kit doesn't work, since apparently all the USB connection does then is charge the battery pack, not relay controller inputs.

Amazon has a few dozen wired ones available for relatively cheap. If he's using PS3 instead, you can also download the drivers for Sixaxis/Dualshock 3 controllers...

Like Mando said, though, it's pretty much a strictly inferior version, unless you for some reason cannot stand other people using the new weapons (it's not even about you using them yourself, because using the basic weapons is perfectly viable in most cases).

Even then, there's Vanilla servers, which let you experience all of the new and custom maps with none of the new items.

[Chromascope3D]

I find it odd that I hate playing healer in other games, yet have the most hours logged as medic. I guess when you're good at something, you just stay with it. :P

[Aidan305]

I find it odd that I hate playing healer in other games, yet have the most hours logged as medic. I guess when you're good at something, you just stay with it. :P

I think it's more that the medic is an enjoyable class to play in TF2. You actually feel as though you're contributing to the team effort right there on the front lines, assisting with kills and whatnot.

And they have a cool healing gun.

[Forbiddenwar]

I think it's more that the medic is an enjoyable class to play in TF2. You actually feel as though you're contributing to the team effort right there on the front lines, assisting with kills and whatnot.

And they have a cool healing gun.

While this is very true, it can also be the most frustrating class to play, as you are consistently target fired while trying to heal a suicidal team.

As for controllers, I don't think it's a good idea. There is no aim assist in the PC game, so if you are playing with a controller, it might seem like everyone is using a cheat, since they have keyboards and mice and you don't.

[Cikomyr]

I am a fairly decent Heavy and Medic myself. I had my shining moments. I usually am very deadly and precise with the Machinegun in choke points (I remember a 20-kill streak.. Good times).

Otherwise, I like to position myself cleverly. I remember saving my team's ass once in an Assault game when, instead of going ahead in the Blue team's exit, I remained in ambush close to the 1st checkpoint and gunned down the three scouts who got clever enough to sneak up there.

They never saw me coming...

Otherwise, medic is pretty fun. Pyro + Medic are a frightful team to Uber.

[SamBurke]

While this is very true, it can also be the most frustrating class to play, as you are consistently target fired while trying to heal a suicidal team.

Indeed... I usually only play medic when I can Skype-call a good friend. He plays a very strategic Heavy, and if I can communicate with him, I never get stranded by the person I'm supposed to get healing. THAT annoys me... if a guy wants to get healed, then, presumably, he's going to make sure that he doesn't stickjump into the middle of a crapfest, leaving the medic in prime sniping position. Blaaaaaaaaah.

Perhaps we should have a set way to put up our names and such, if we want to play with the friends list and such?

Steam Name: tao.iiiii, also going by jroddez4 (I can never figure out which shows up better on searches.
Classes: [Pyro], [Soldier], [Engineer]

For Pyro, I just recently got my Backburner back. It feels soooooo good, getting all those crits. In actuality, I play almost every class in a given game, doing whatever the team needs. I just play those classes most.

[Daer]

It is one of the best if not the best fps games around. Even though some of the updates (specially the one they boosted heavies to be lot faster and loose his weakness. ) have pushed me away from it i still play it time to time.. And mvm is lots of fun at leat on advanced and with friends.

i would suggest soldier for beginner it is simple, strong class even on stock items. Though medic is ok as long you are paranoid enough to keep watching your back and heal people around you and give them uber when needed.

try avoid spy and sniper for beginning unless your team is steam rolling anyway.

[Eloel]

Steam Name: tao.iiiii, also going by jroddez4 (I can never figure out which shows up better on searches.
Classes: [Pyro], [Soldier], [Engineer]

Steam Name: ozguno
Classes: All non-soldier in pvp, all non-spy in mvm

[Hiro Protagonest]

Don't have the game (but it's on the top of my list. It's free, after all), but I want to ask: how do you figure out who's a spy? Do you just watch your team to see if they heal allies/attack enemies, and if they don't, you shoot them and see what happens?

[SamBurke]

Don't have the game (but it's on the top of my list. It's free, after all), but I want to ask: how do you figure out who's a spy? Do you just watch your team to see if they heal allies/attack enemies, and if they don't, you shoot them and see what happens?

Let me set this up for you:

You're standing there, as a sniper, and you see a pyro walk up to you, spy-checkin like he's supposed to. What do you do?
YOU STAB IT. IT'S A SPY.

You're running around like nobody's business, as a scout, and you gotta stop at this dispenser. The engineer's just wailing away at it, repairing the thing from fire. What do you do?
YOU STAB IT. IT"S A SPY.

Imagine with me a heavy, stopping to eat his beloved sandvich. A medic walks up, and he's got an uber. What do you do?
YOU STAB IT. IT IS A FRIKIN SPY.

Not even kidding... well, maybe a bit.

If it moves, if it has a weapon or item of any sort, you attack it. If it hurts the thing, you attack it until it dies.

That sums up all of TF2's strategy, gentlemen.

[Teln]

Don't have the game (but it's on the top of my list. It's free, after all), but I want to ask: how do you figure out who's a spy? Do you just watch your team to see if they heal allies/attack enemies, and if they don't, you shoot them and see what happens?

There's no friendly fire in TF2, so Pyros tend to puff everybody with their flamethrowers--if the teammate lights up, he's an enemy Spy.

[Jeivar]

Don't have the game (but it's on the top of my list. It's free, after all), but I want to ask: how do you figure out who's a spy? Do you just watch your team to see if they heal allies/attack enemies, and if they don't, you shoot them and see what happens?

You learn to spot suspicious behavior; An ally running from the direction of the enemy base, a Scout running too slowly, someone manouvering as if to get behind you or an ally, an ally not contributing to a nearby fight, an ally moving out of your way when he sees you coming, etc. Just generally be mindful of the players around you and try not to expose yourself to an "ally" you haven't seen fire a shot.
Spies lose their disguise immediately if they shoot or stab, even if it misses.

Also, Heavies and Snipers are favorite backstab targets because the heavy is slow and generally focused on pushing forward, and the Sniper is usually busy staring down his scope at a very small area. Be mindful of this and remember to regularly glance behind you, especially if you are isolated and a Spy doesn't have to worry about your teammates.

[Wyntonian]

One of my crowning moments so far is when, as a medic, a Pyro from my team with just a sliver of health left came running at me mashing the call medic button. So, I shot him. He died. I felt remarkably accomplished.

[Vitruviansquid]

If you're serious about learning the game, play a lot of soldier and play him PvP. You'll learn more about most of the other classes by going up against them as a soldier than by actually playing those classes.

Just remember, the soldier might look like a long-range class because his rockets can go straight across the map and you risk hurting yourself when you fight in close quarters. But he's not. The only long-range classes in the game are Sniper and Demoman. Your job is to get up close to an enemy and ram two to four rockets under his feet.

[SamBurke]

If you're serious about learning the game, play a lot of soldier and play him PvP. You'll learn more about most of the other classes by going up against them as a soldier than by actually playing those classes.

Just remember, the soldier might look like a long-range class because his rockets can go straight across the map and you risk hurting yourself when you fight in close quarters. But he's not. The only long-range classes in the game are Sniper and Demoman. Your job is to get up close to an enemy and ram two to four rockets under his feet.

It's *Possible* to play the soldier as a sniper, but it is very, very, difficult, and not as useful as any other method... never thought about it that way, really. Thanks!

*nibbling note of dissent* You could equip the Wrangler and make the Sentry-gun a stablized sniper. */note done*

[Mando Knight]

Just remember, the soldier might look like a long-range class because his rockets can go straight across the map and you risk hurting yourself when you fight in close quarters. But he's not. The only long-range classes in the game are Sniper and Demoman. Your job is to get up close to an enemy and ram two to four rockets under his feet.

Demoman isn't really long-range unless you count spamming grenades downhill or detonating sticky bombs. With the Liberty Launcher and Direct Hit, the Soldier is better at long-range bombardment, though he still can't get the level of accuracy a Sniper can due to projectile flight time.

[Dublock]

One of my crowning moments so far is when, as a medic, a Pyro from my team with just a sliver of health left came running at me mashing the call medic button. So, I shot him. He died. I felt remarkably accomplished.

My all time favorite achievement to date is "FYI I am your Medic!"