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Posts Tagged ‘pyro’

A Sneak Peek of the Pyro Update

Posted on: March 5th, 2017 by Obey

Look! Actual TF2 news…!

Oh, here’s a couple of tidbits before the actual Sneak Peek:

  • Login to the TF2 Newbs’ Forums and let us know what you’re playing lately, or read up {N} Olse’s ongoing XCOM 2 narrative.
  • This TF2Newbs Blog surpassed 300,000 lifetime hits earlier this year! Thanks for the scratches!
  • If you’re a TF2 noob, read this popular FAQ about all the different TF2 items. This post alone has earned over 28,000 hits.

Valve has been making the rounds in the media, dropping hints on what they’re working on in TF2. You can read Game Revloution’s short piece here, but here are the highlights:

 

team-fortress-2-adding-competitive-mode-matchmaking-2

 

Pyro Rebalance

Valve is currently busy with rebalancing the Pyro. It’s not clear if there are any new weapons, but you can be sure that some existing weapons are being tweaked, and so Valve is testing how such changes could affect they Pyro’s role and the game environment as a whole.

 

Contract Campaigns Will Return

Heavy Contract

Feedback that Valve has received demands more player choice in what kind of contracts to complete during these campaigns, so Valve is learned toward a “Choose Your Own Adventure” style of contract selection and completion. So it’ll feel more like a mini-quest? A skill tree? A treasure hunt? Eh, we’ll see. Hopefully this means you won’t be playing anything but stock Sniper because you have a contract that demands headshot kills.

 

Elo is Coming

The Electric Light Orchestra? No, the Elo rating system.

What?

Valve has been working on an (assumably Valve-made) rating system improvement over the play-to-win Rank system in TF2′s Competitive Mode. Elo is shorthand for saying that your overall win-loss record and/or your recent record of play will define an estimate of your playing skill, but only for the use of ranking you against other players in order to find players of (hopefully) similar skill to play against. Plenty of other gaming communities use it.

Team-Fortress-2-Competitive-Matchmaking-Featured-Image

You see, TF2 has long been home of the casual, tryhard-but-not-elite gamer that can usually find a server to enjoy the game without being constantly steamrolled by gaming elites. (Well, that has been the goal anyway.) Valve is trying to bridge those elites back into TF2 with a more familiar Competitive Mode, links to following other elite gamers, and ranking systems, while also giving us tryhards tools to be, you know, more competitive. Where before they were trying to cater to two different groups, they’ve realized that we’re one community with members of many different skill levels.

 

Welcome to the Jungle

As I’ve said previously, Valve has been working for months on jungle-themed terrain models in preparation for a new Valve-made map. Of course, community-designed cosmetics have been requested by Valve for some time now. Don’t forget to jump into the Steam Workshop and have some say in what virtual cosmetics you can buy in the near future.

through_the_jungle_by_lampenpam-d4czp2v

Gee, wouldn’t a jungle theme fit in great with a Summer Sale?

 

Steam Greenlight to be Reworked as “Steam Direct”

Later in the same interview, Valve discussed the bottleneck of indie games trying to get published on Steam. Valve intends to greatly simplify the process by passing a simpler validation process, rather than having gamers bother to rank a few of the many games they would like to see supported by Steam. That includes improving the Discovery Queue to target the user with games they would like based on their preferences, browsing, and other gathered data.

 

Anyway, expect Valve to put up a blogpost announcing changes–it has promised to communicate much more and gather feedback, rather than simply posting the day before a major update. (Again, Valve Time, but we’ll see.)  Valve has said officially that there are five coders assigned to TF2, part of a team of sixteen Valve members currently involved.

More sources/reading material:

 

[N] Obey

P.S. Don’t be surprised if TF2 updates to the Source 2 engine a couple of years from now. That’s the gaming software that Valve is trying to get their entire staff working with.

P.P.S. Valve is one company, made up of many employees. It’s singular, not plural. The journalistic community has changed their minds and started referring to companies and groups as a plural noun and not the correct, singular noun. Dudes, use the singular noun. If you make me say “Valve are” or “Valve have”, then I’MMA FIGHT YOU.  (This postscript has been approved by Saxton Hale.)

 

TF2 Patch Notes, Aug 19, 2016

Posted on: August 20th, 2016 by Obey

As usual, the patch notes are at the bottom of this post, covering patches from Aug 14th, 16th, and 19th. Highlights include:

  • The Pyro side won the Pyro vs. Heavy contest
  • Updated cp_metalworks for collision issues and other bugs
  • Comp Mode: Adjusted amount of rank points earned in some situations
  • (EDIT 8/24): Additional Comp Mode changes Valve is working on

 

Comp Mode Changes

If you are in the first tier of ranks in Comp Mode (rank 1-6 out of a possible 25), you will now lose substantially fewer rank points when you lose a match. Three reasons for this:

  1. A series of bad matches will be less likely to cause you to lose a rank. The goal of the ranking system is to be able to stratify users of similar skill, and being able to lose ranks due to latency issues or bad luck goes against this purpose.
  2. Having earned a rank is therefore weighted more heavily than your most recent match outcomes. If you’re Rank 4 out of a possible 25, you will have to play considerably worse over a period of time to fall all the way back to a 2 or a 1.
  3. This creates an even greater difference in the penalty between those who ragequit and those who merely lose a match. Ragequitters will continue to be pushed toward the bottom ranks.

If it weren’t for the method above, Valve would have to have users start at a middling rank to differentiate novice players from ragequitters, and that would not improve the quality of comp matches at that level. The novice player must still patiently win matches amongst the bottom ranks, separating him/herself from the dregs.

competitive

Fortunately, now there’s this: Players who post a high win/loss ratio in their recent matches will now gain bonus rank points (i.e. gain ranks faster), regardless of their current rank. This will both reward a player for effective a[djustments to strategic play, as well as hurry a skilled player toward a more suitable rank.

For example: If you're a Gold-level player on a given competitive circuit, you may start at Rank 1 like everyone else, but posting an 8-1 win-loss ratio will help you more quickly reach the Rank where you'll meet users of the same skill.

 

Comp Mode Changes Coming Soon

[Added Aug 24]

Valve is currently working on a better, Elo-style ranking system to improve on the current one, something that will better compare a player’s actual skill to his/her peers, rather than a ranking system highly dependent on playing time and other questionable factors.

Also, Valve intends to add the ability to quickly start another game with your current group, as well as to instantly jump back into the Comp queue once more.

 

Team Fortress 2, circa 2007

Some enterprising individuals have create a free standalone mod, using the 2013 Source engine, to recreate a vanilla Team Fortress 2 exactly as it was released in 2007. How vanilla? Stock weapons only, just like the initial release; the Pyro’s flamethrower didn’t yet have an airblast function. No items to unlock or drop; no item qualities or separate loadouts. Heavy gets a minigun, a shotgun, and his fists, and that’s it!

Only the original maps are available as well, such as Well and Dustbowl. The only difference is that the game is modded to use the newer 2013 Source engine. There aren’t many servers up yet, as the community is just getting off the ground (TF2Newbs isn’t involved at all). Just create your own and play.

Lambda Fortress

In the same mod, you can instead choose to launch Lambda Fortress, which is the game Half-Life 2 modded to substitute the 2007 TF2 characters in Half-Life 2! Want to wrestle up a teleporter and a sentry for yourself and the rest of your multiplayer team? Feel like rocket jumping around the map with a pocket medic? Now you can!

Lambda

It’s a mod, so it’s free. You don’t need Garry’s Mod either, as it is “Team Fortress 2 with Half-Life 2 assets”. Have fun storming the castle…!

 

 

Full Patch Notes: Aug 19, 2016

  • Fixed a common server crash that primarily occurred during Mann vs. Machine matches
  • Fixed a memory leak for OS X and Linux clients

Undocumented changes

Full Patch Notes: Aug 16, 2016

  • Competitive Mode
    • Players in the first tier of ranks (1-6) now lose substantially fewer rank points on match loss
    • Players with high win/loss ratios in recent matches now earn bonus rank points in order to accelerate their progress toward a more appropriate rank
  • Added report player context menu on scoreboard
    • Requires mouse input mode on the scoreboard (see Adv. Options)
  • Fixed a potential security issue (thanks to Justin G., aka sigsegv, and Linus S., aka PistonMiner, for this report)
  • Fixed an issue with The Righteous Bison and Pomson 5000(sic) hit detection where projectiles were being removed when colliding with invisible entities
  • Fixed a display issue with combat text damage numbers against Engineer buildings sometimes being incorrect (such as with weapons that do reduced damage against buildings)
  • Removed the damage effects and pain sounds when using the Rocket Jumper and Sticky Jumper
  • Updated PASS Time view model positions to support using FOV 70
  • Updated the animations for the Sharp Dresser to fix a clipping problem
  • Updated the localization files
  • Updated cp_sunshine to fix some clipping issues
  • Updated cp_metalworks
    • Adjusted the height of the ceiling in the room behind the second control point
    • Added some slight visual detail to various concrete rooms throughout (team color stripe)
    • Adjusted the height and width of various doors throughout the level. Mostly focused on primary paths into combat areas, with an eye towards standardizing door sizes where possible.
    • Fixed an angled playerclip brush above 2nd control point that players could surf on (thanks Photon)
    • Adjusted height of ‘tank’ in L room behind 2nd control point
    • Moved two tall spotlights back into a clipping brush at mid to avoid very small collision issue (thanks Bilbert)
    • Adjusted some clipping issues by turning rooftop brushes into displacements/func_brushes throughout the map and disabling collision (thanks Bilbert)
    • Clipped off some glass windows at 2nd
    • Added crate to cargo containers at mid, allowing scouts(sic) to get onto the highest cargo container
    • Added props to the clipping ramp around the final control point to indicate collision
    • Replaced brush fence on the platform in alley with a metal prop to solve an asymmetrical shadow bug (thanks Bilbert)

Full Patch Notes: Aug 14, 2016

  • Updated menu content for upcoming end of the Heavy vs. Pyro war

Undocumented changes

[N] Obey

TF2 Update: 11/10/14

Posted on: November 12th, 2014 by Obey

Not much to these last two patches; mostly bugfixes and one new promo item.

Nabler

NablerEver wanted to give the Pyro a third eye? Ever wanted to have your very own Pyro doll? If one of these is true, then visit ThreeAToys and buy their replica Pyro doll, and you’ll also earn a Genuine Nabler hat for your digital Pyro! The Nabler is also craftable, paintable, giftable, and tradable, and sold in the Mann Co. Store.  (And yes, that third eye moves in the direction that you move.)

 

TF2 Patch Notes: 11/7/14

  • Fixed a bug where players could be teleported to hell and not have visible bumper car
  • Fixed a bug where Engineers could not pick up a building if the building was higher than the player
  • Fixed a text clipping problem with the HUD achievement tracker
  • Added ConVar tf_halloween_bonus_ducks_cooldown to control the frequency Merasmus speaks that line
  • Added a red glow for player ghosts on team Red
  • Updated rd_asteroid
    • Continued art-pass process
  • Updated sd_doomsday_event
    • Fixed a timing issue with Merasmus’s announcement of the tickets becoming available
  • Updated koth_lakeside_event
    • Fixed missing collision on a barrel near the capture point

 

TF2 Patch Notes: 11/10/14

Undocumented Changes

Updated the equip_region for Cool Breeze, Tartantaloons, War Head, Flared Frontiersman, Safe’n'Sound, Texas Half-Pants and Nanobalaclava.

[N] Obey

With these flares, I shall guard you

Posted on: February 18th, 2009 by Scott Eats Bullets

There’s been a somewhat disturbing trend here on the Newbs servers the past couple days. More and more pyros have been taking to the sewers to defend, armed only with that most finicky of weapons. I’m talking about, of course, the flare gun.

I’ve mostly seen this in the sewers on 2fort, but I’m sure it’s happening other places. Since I haven’t seen it in other maps yet, this post focuses solely on 2fort.

Let’s take a moment to digest that. You’re playing defense, launching flammable objects into an area that not only contains easy access to water, but also contains a medkit, and is also a common route for medics (due to the usual lack of snipers in the area).

Let’s think about what this means to you, the pyro. Any of the above can end burning in a matter of seconds. Burning is your bread and butter, your raison d’etre (pardon my French). Burning people is what you do best, and in most cases, you do it very very well.

So why purposefully make your fire weaker? Why settle for an occassional hit, those times when the flare doesn’t mysteriously curve into a wall? Why settle for burning that can be removed in a matter of seconds? Why help those medics build their ubers?

Seriously, there’s a reason that heavy is just standing there letting you pop flare after flare into him. He’s not being intimidated. He’s not worrying about what you’re going to do to him. He’s laughing at your tiny baby gun, and the medic behind him is savouring the delicious scent of sizzling bacon and crackling medigun. Breakfast of champions.

Also, ammo. You get 16 flares. After that, you either have to find a dispenser or run up to the resupply, because there’s very little chance you’ve killed something to pick up its ammo. Your entire purpose can be replaced by many different classes, all of whom either have more ammo, do more damage, or have more reliable aim. In some cases, all of the above.

“But Scott,” you might say, “I get a ton of assists as a flare gun pyro!”

Maybe you do. Fire is fire, after all. But really, how many of those assists come from snipers headshotting the burning guy? I’m willing to bet that if the answer isn’t “all of them”, it’s “most of them”, where the assists not coming from snipers come from spies instead. These people don’t need your help, and your flare didn’t tip the balance. No, that guy was dead as soon as the sniper zoomed in, or the spy uncloaked. All you did was make them uncomfortable.

One final reason playing defensive sewer-spamming flare gun pyro isn’t such a hot idea: you open yourself up to the most humiliating way to die. Worse than the heavy taunt from around the corner. Worse than the bodyshot wallsniper with a medic. Worse even than the non-crit engie pistol.

I’m talking about the reflected flare.

Yes, a pyro with the air blast can reflect your flares back into you. You get rewarded with this little beauty:
The rarest kill icon in the game
The rarest kill icon in the game. The most humiliating way to die.

Do you really want that?

Flare gun defense is not a viable strategy.