TF2 Newbs (Team Fortress 2) Blog

By the way, have you played the beta maps Asteroid or Cactus Canyon lately? They’re really coming along, and much more fun than when they were first launched.  Today’s patch doesn’t change their terrain at all, but does add a few wrinkles to the play style for Asteroid.

The short version for this patch:

1. Don’t forget to vote for your favorite TF2 short for the Saxxy Awards! Voting ends 11:59 pm PDT on Monday, Sept. 29th.
2. You can now buy Limited Late Summer Crate Keys (the usual US$2.49), to unlock #86 crates of the same name.
   • About half of the contents will be Strange, and all of the contents will be Limited (unable to be crafted or bought in the future).
   • Crates cannot be opened after October 13, 2014.
   • See the crate drop list below. There is one cosmetic for each class, and one all-class cosmetic: the Pocket Heavy.
3. Items you have received now carry a “NEW!” banner in your inventory, until you mouse over them.
4. In the middle of a match that is attempting to rebalance the server population, you will immediately respawn if you are either auto-balanced, or if you voluntarily change sides.
   • Of course, this doesn’t work in modes like Arena or MvM.
5. Limited Items (i.e. items that cannot be dropped, crafted, or bought from the Mann Co. Store, but could be uncrated):
   • Now the entire text line is colored bright yellow, as opposed to just the word Limited, in the item’s text line.
     • For example: “Limited Level 53 Hat“.
   • Retired hats are now properly identified as Limited items.
6. Asteroid has added sounds, adjusted return time for stolen reactor cores, and a 45-second Overtime to allow the enemy to attempt to steal the winning team’s core.

Crate Series #86
Drops		Yes
Items
[[Mishap Mercenary|Template:Dictionary/items/mishap mercenary]]		11 .00%
[[Lady Killer|Template:Dictionary/items/lady killer]]		11 .00%
[[Lone Survivor|Template:Dictionary/items/lone survivor]]		11 .00%
[[Poacher's Safari Jacket|Template:Dictionary/items/poacher's safari jacket]]		11 .00%
[[Thirst Blood|Template:Dictionary/items/thirst blood]]		11 .00%
[[Mann of the Seven Sees|Template:Dictionary/items/mann of the seven sees]]		11 .00%
[[Hillbilly Speed-Bump|Template:Dictionary/items/hillbilly speed-bump]]		11 .00%
[[Unshaved Bear|Template:Dictionary/items/unshaved bear]]		11 .00%
[[Pocket Heavy|Template:Dictionary/items/pocket heavy]]		11 .00%
or an Exceedingly Rare Special Item!		1 .00%

Full Patch Notes: Patch 1

• Added Limited Late Summer Crate Key to the Mann Co. Store. Available until October 13, 2014.^[1]
• Fixed the Limited label not being displayed for items on the Steam Community Market or in the Steam backpack
• Fixed colorization of item level description line for Limited items
• Added tournament medals for BETA LAN 2014
• Added a NEW! label to new items in your backpack until you mouse over them
• Fixed a case where cosmetic items would be orphaned in the world
  • R.I.P. Captain Canteen^[2]
• Fixed not being able to open the Taunt menu during the bonus time on an Arena map
• Fixed a dedicated server crash related to bot Spies
• Fixed item level not displaying correctly in the Mann vs. Machine lobby
• Updated the auto-balance code to immediately respawn players that are automatically switched, or that voluntarily switch, during a balancing period
  • Not supported in Mann vs. Machine, Medieval mode, Arena mode, Tournament Mode, or Training
• Updated the removeid command to support Steam2 and Steam3 ID formats
• Updated the materials for The Atomic Accolade
• Updated the equip_region for The Special Eyes
• Updated rd_asteroid
  • Added a 45 second overtime when a team reaches max points
  • Added placeholder pickup ship and robot worker to indicate a team has reached max points
  • Added a sound to captured and returned points as they fill the progress bar
  • Captured and returned points now fill the progress bar faster
  • Progress bar escrow indicator now stays in place as points are added
  • Touching the reactor core no longer fully resets the return timer. Every second the reactor core is held will add a second to the return timer.
• Virtual Reality Mode
  • Fixed selecting the wrong refresh rate when running on a display that does not use the desktop refresh rate

   

Undocumented changes

• Added Limited attribute to retired hats.
• Added a kill icon for Nostromo Napalmer.
• Correct the sight on Rocket Launcher.

Patch 2

• Fixed a client crash caused by using custom HUD files

[N] Obey

Hey, new stuff!

1. Halloween/Full Moon is in effect for the next seven calendar days.
2. “Limited” is now an item quality, to stand for items that were once craftable or purchasable and no longer can be.
3. There are five promotional Halloween/Full Moon restricted items that can be earned if you purchase the game Alien: Isolation from the Steam Store before October 7th, 2014. This one-player survival horror game is $49.99, with a $17.99 upgrade to Season Pass.
4. The following new items and changes to the item drop list are thus:
   • Two new crates, the Director’s Cut Reel and the Limited Late Summer Crate (#86) are added to the drop list.
     • The Limited Late Summer Crate cannot yet be opened, required a yet-unreleased special key.
     • The Director’s Cut Reel is like a combination of the Strongbox and the Audition Reel: It will drop one of four taunts when opened with a standard key, but you can input words to use to “roll” for different items. It drops from the same drop list of taunts as the Audition Reel.
   • The Audition Reel is removed from the drop list.
   • Items from the all-cosmetic Strongbox Pack, released back in February, are now craftable and buyable from the Mann Co. Store.
5. The rest of the patch notes.
   • The taunt for the Scorch Shot now shoots a projectile.  Apparently that was a bug!
   • New sounds for the Boston Basher.

1. Halloween Mode On for the Next Week

Why? Probably has something to do with the Alien-themed promotional items (see 3.).

2. “Limited” Item Quality

Items that cannot be crafted or bought in the Mann Co. Store (but had once been craftable or purchasable) are now given a new item quality prefix of “Limited” Quantity. This item quality doesn’t change the color of the item text, but the prefix is assumably added to all items to let people know that Valve seem to be making two promises: 1) More copies of a discontinued item will not be available, thus preserving the rarity (and thus the market value) of those items; and 2) Valve are helping the fanbase to easily identify items that are rare, or at least, cannot simply be bought or earned again.  Hopefully Valve remembers to tag all applicable items with the prefix!

3. Alien: Isolation Promo Items for TF2!

Now you can be Amanda Ripley, looking for your mama and trying not to become alien food and/or wear new Alien-themed hats in Team Fortress 2!   There are five items; three for the Scout, and two for the Pyro.  The Scout items dress him up in an Alien costume:

Scout cosmetic

Scout cosmetic

Scout cosmetic

Pyro cosmetic

Pyro cosmetic

Here’s the nifty part: one of the Pyro’s two items is a reskinned flamethrower! And a Pyro wearing both of his promo items will do more damage to Scouts that are wearing a set of three-Alien-promo items! But I don’t think that the three Scout items count as a set (like the Pyro’s), nor do they have any special effect.  All five items are Halloween/Full Moon restricted.

4. New Crates!

Yay!  But they can’t be opened yet.  Boo!

I’ll post an item list here when we can open them….

5. Full Patch Notes

• Added Alien: Isolation promo items^[1] and enabled Full Moon holiday for one week
• Added Limited Quantity Item attribute on items that can no longer be crafted or purchased through the Mann Co. Store
  • Limited Quantity Items can be placed on the Steam Community Market
• Removed Audition Reel from crate drop list
• Added Director’s Cut Reel to crate drop list
• Added Limited Late Summer Crate to crate drop list
• Fixed the Festive Bat using the lowest LOD for the first person view
• Fixed the Scorch Shot taunt attack not firing a projectile
• Fixed incorrect bumpmap setting for the Frenchman’s Beret
• Updated the equip_region for the Mustachioed Mann
• Updated sounds for the Boston Basher

Undocumented changes

• Changed the cosmetic items from the Strongbox Pack to be craftable, and added them to the Mann Co. Store.
• Fixed the incorrect description on Horace.
• Corrected the name of Community items on the web.

[N] Obey