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Posts Tagged ‘mercenary’

TF2 Major Update: “The Gun Mettle Update”!!

Posted on: July 1st, 2015 by Obey

Subsequent patch notes at bottom of post; latest patch July 6th.

Gun Mettle

Here we go! A MAJOR TF2 UPDATE lands Friday, July 2nd! As always, here is the short version:

  1. Here is the original TF2 blogpost announcing the update.
  2. Here is the TF2 comic that will attempt to explain the background story up until now.
  3. Here is the Page One splash page: The Gun Mettle Update!
  4. Here is the Page Two splash page: Describing the 3 new maps and the extensive weapon changes.
    • You will want to scroll down to the heading “Gameplay Changes”; TF2 gameplay has been changed considerably!
    • Some spies can gain a speed boost (on trigger with Dead Ringer; on kill with Big Earner).
    • Spies take 20% less damage when cloaked.
    • Sentries take more damage when sapped than before.
    • Most Engineers build faster and move buildings faster.
    • Repairing a wrangled sentry is less effective than before.
    • Mini-sentries can be repaired, but don’t drop metal when destroyed.
    • Soldiers deploying Equalizer/Escape Plan can be healed by a medic, but at 10% normal heal rate.
    • Soldier’s Liberty Launcher is now a five-clip!
    • Ullapool Caber does less damage than before.
    • Charging Demomen now gain charge gauge on melee kills, not charging kills.
    • Scorch Shot deals more damage, more knockback, and has larger area-of-effect.
    • Vaccinator Ubers now always use just one ubercharge bar.
    • Sydney Sleeper now applies Jarate with non-fully charged shots, but with a duration from 2 to 8 seconds.
    • Bazaar Bargain charges much slower, but a missed shot doesn’t lose counted heads.
    • Heavy miniguns are more effective at damaging sentries.
    • Natasha and Brass Beast grant 20% damage resistance while spun-up or firing.
    • Tomislav now spins up faster, fires 20% smaller bullet spread.
    • Eviction Notice grants Heavy a 3-second speed boost on hit.
    • Dalokohs Bar now overheals to 400 hp (previously 350), cooldown reduced to 10 seconds, can be thrown like a sandvich.
    • Panic Attack shotgun now weapons switches faster, fires and reloads even faster than before.
  5. And here is a FAQ about some of the changes.

 

The “Gun Mettle” Update

The first splash page says that you can buy-in to a special three-month event (lasting until approximately October 1, 2015) for US$5.99. This will earn you a badge-like Campaign Coin that levels up as you complete contracts.

Contracts are achievement-like “skill-based challenges” that you attempt to complete in a week’s time, such as tanking a lot of damage as a heavy or backstabbing five players of a specific class. Each player is assigned two different contracts to attempt completion each week (assuming that each week begins on Thursday at midnight GMT, like the item drop system).

Completing a contract will earn you Contract Points (CP). Collecting CP levels up your coin (to bronze, silver, and gold) and lets you purchase your choice of either a random “Contract-exclusive weapon” OR an unlockable Weapons Case (that requires a key that you have to buy in the Mann Co. Store, I assume). Weapons Cases also drop a single, random “Contract-exclusive weapon” but with potentially rarer qualities.

Update

Contract Weapons

Weapons are randomly generated with the following:

  • Its weapon type, such as Shotgun. (Unknown if only stock weapons, or all available weapon types, can be Contract Weapons.)
  • A unique “paint job” that is centered differently on each weapon, so no two are exactly alike
    • Teufort and Craftsmann paint jobs come from completing Contracts only.
    • Concealed Killer (generally camoflage-themed) and Powerhouse (neon/electric-themed) paint jobs come from Weapons Cases only.
    • It is not known if any paint jobs are more/less rare than the others, but it can be assumed that Teufort/Craftsmann paints will eventually become more common than the other two.
  • One of five levels of “wear”. Unknown if any level of wear is more/less rare than the others.
    • Factory New
    • Minimal Wear
    • Field-Tested
    • Well-Worn
    • Battle Scarred
    • Note: Weapons DO NOT wear when used. They are a given level of wear when dropped, and do not change later.
  • One of six “grades” of rarity. Civilian is most common; Elite is most rare.
    1. Civilian–contracts only
    2. Freelance–contracts only
    3. Mercenary–contracts or weapons cases
    4. Commando–contracts or weapons cases
    5. Assassin–weapons cases only
    6. Elite–weapons cases only
    7. NOTE: The rarity grade should not change appearance whatsoever.
  • A weapon’s paint job, wear, and grade is entirely cosmetic and does not change its gameplay whatsoever.
  • That’s not all. The weapon will be marked as Limited, and will have a chance of being Strange, Unusual, or even both Strange and Unusual!
    • Will the Unusuals have unusual effects? Ummm…. maybe? These are the first weapons able to have the Unusual quality.
  • These weapons will be tradable and marketable. If you wish to trade or sell a weapon, look up its worth on the Market or another site like backpack.tf first, so you don’t get scammed.

For example, a possible outcome for a single contract would be a Strange Freelance Shotgun for the Heavy with a Craftsmann yellow-and-blue paint job and a Minimal Wear grade. You can earn potentially two weapons per week, or perhaps two dozen weapons in all over the three-month event window.

 

 

 

Four New Maps

NOTE: These are all Valve-Official; none of them are Beta maps. See the second splash page for pictures.

Powerhouse (I’m guessing cp_powerhouse) is a smaller, three-point control point map, where you have to cap all three points (yours, the central neutral cap, and theirs) to win a round. This looks like it was created by Valve, not the community.

Borneo (I’m guessing pl_borneo) is an “Alpine-themed, single-stage Payload map” Community map.

Suijin (I’m guessing koth_suijin) is a King of the Hill Community map with Oriental buildings and pink-white cherry blossom trees. Sun Tzu would approve.

Snowplow (cp_snowplow_rc3) is a two-stage attack-defense Control Points map. First stage strewn with wooden buildings, second stage is very snowy, with a cart path throughout (but no payload to push). Yes, this is the Community map from the End of the Line Update that wasn’t approved the first time around.

 

Gameplay Changes

 
The following are permanent changes to how TF2 is played. Read carefully, and adjust your future play to these new mechanics.

Weapons Now Drop on Death

Previously: A killed character would drop a weapon gib, which can be touched by your character as a medium ammo pickup (and 100 Engineer metal).

Now: A killed character drops a medium ammo box (identical to the medium ammo powerups on a map) and their weapon. If the weapon is normally equippable by that character (such as a Shotgun dropped by an Engineer and picked up by a Heavy), and you pick up the dropped weapon by pressing the (default) F key, you temporarily drop your normal weapon in that slot and equip that weapon until you die.

It will temporarily replace your usual item in its loadout slot until you die (i.e. a Shotgun would replace a Heavy’s Sandvich). It will have the same looks and effects as the weapon had from the person you just looted (i.e. picking up an Australium Sniper Rifle and carrying it around with its cosmetic features). When you die, the weapon goes away, and you drop one of your weapons (essentially a lookalike copy of a weapon in your current loadout). Weapons that have charge meters, such as the various Medic uberguns, provide the amount of charge they had when dropped; a Medic can pick up a Kritzkrieg to find it fully charged!

Worry not about losing a prized possession; your loadout items are retained in your inventory as usual. Someone may get to kill you and take your purple rocket launcher, then go around shooting people with a purple rocket launcher until they die. And you can kill them, take their weapons, and go do the same. No actual items are lost; however, you can drop a weapon that isn’t working and grab a class-allowed weapon in the heat of battle, CS:GO style.

 

Weapon Updates and Tweaks

 
A LOT of weapons have been tweaked! Prepare to be surprised at just how much the game has changed by this one update, as Valve has stated that they want underused, unpopular weapons to once again find a role within the game. Here is a summary of the changes:
 

Global Changes

  • Weapons and ammo boxes now drop on death. See heading just before this one.
  • Inspect Target now inspects your own deployed weapon when you aren’t targeting anything. Necessary for Contract work, and to stare at your own fancy weapon.
  • Random Damage Spread now DEFAULTS OFF on Valve servers.
    • This means weapons will consistently deal the same damage with each hit.
    • Previously, weapon damage would vary plus-minus 10% of its base damage. Now, each hit deals identical damage.
  • Auto Reload now DEFAULTS ON.
    • This affects new players only, so that they will auto-reload as soon as they stop firing, if able.
    • All existing players have their usual setting, and will have to go into their Options menu and toggle this on/off.

 

Class and Weapon Changes (from the second splash page’s patch notes)

SPY

  • Spy no longer smacks himself in the face while reloading a revolver (New Spy revolver reload animation that does not block cross hair)
  • Changing to a new disguise while already under a disguise takes 0.5 seconds instead of the normal disguise time of 2 seconds
  • In the disguise menu, pressing ‘reload’ will also toggle the disguise team.
  • While invisible, Spy receives 20% less damage from all damage sources
  • While invisible, Spy has reduced timer on debuffs (fire, jarate, milk, bleed)
  • Decreased the damage penalty on Sentries sapped by the Spy from -66% to -33% (i.e. shooting a Sentry the Spy sapped with a Revolver is now more effective)

Spy-cicle

  • Changed fire immunity for 3 seconds to fire immunity for 1 second and 10 seconds of afterburn immunity
    • Erroneously said 7 seconds afterburn immunity on launch
  • Removed silent killer attribute
  • Spy-cicle recharge timer can now be reduced by picking up ammo boxes

Enforcer

  • Changed +20% damage bonus while undisguised to +20% damage bonus while disguised

Big Earner

  • Added 3 second speed gain on kill

Conniver’s Kunai

  • Health penalty reduced from -65 to -55 (70 Health total)
  • Minimum Health gain of 75 on kill
  • Maximum overheal from Kunai increased from 195 to 210

Cloak and Dagger

  • Can now pick up ammo kits for cloak meter while visible. Previously could not pick up ammo packs for cloak. Cloak gain is at a reduced rate when compared to stock invis watch on ammo pick up

Dead Ringer

  • Triggering Feign Death instantly removes 50% cloak meter
  • Changed increased drain rate to a decreased drain rate. Overall duration of invisibility is still 7 seconds when accounting for initial spend of 50 cloak meter for triggering Feign Death
  • Decreased cloak regen rate from +80% to +50%
  • When Feign Death is triggered, the Spy receives a 3 second speed boost
  • Initial attack that triggers feign death has its damage reduced by 50%
  • Damage resistance on triggering feign death scales over time. 65% to 20% over 3 seconds
  • Feign Death stealth has no bump shimmer for 3 seconds
  • 3 seconds after triggering Feign Death, the Spy is under normal invisible conditions (20% armor and shimmers if bumped or shot)
  • Can no longer pick up ammo for cloak meter while cloaked

ENGINEER

  • Construction boosts (wrench hits, redeploys) from multiple sources is now additive instead of multiplicative. Calculations are based around a 1x base building speed.
  • Increased base wrench construction speed on hit boost by 50%. Buildings now build 2.5x faster instead of just 2x (additive of 1.5x + base speed)
  • Teleporters and Dispensers redeploy +50% faster (2.5x without wrench boost, 5.5x with wrench boost)
  • Building pick up speed penalty reduced from 25% to 10%
  • On Wrench equip change, buildings no longer self-destruct unless the building type is changed (i.e. Only Sentry explodes when switching from Wrench to Gunslinger)
  • Building repair costs increased from 20 metal to 33 metal to repair 100hp per wrench hit (from 5HP per metal to 3HP per metal)
  • Level 2 and Level 3 Sentries have less passive damage resistance against Heavy miniguns. Level 2 Sentry Minigun resistance changed from 20% to 15% and Level 3 Changed from 33% to 20%

Gunslinger / Minisentry

  • Mini Sentries can now be repaired
  • Mini Sentries can now be wrench construction boosted
  • Mini Sentry base build speed decreased. Mini Sentries that are wrench boosted build slightly faster than previously.
  • Mini Sentries start at 50% health on construction and gain health during construction instead of starting at 100%
  • Metal gibs from destroyed Mini Sentries no longer grant any metal

Pomson 6000

  • Uber and Cloak drain decreases over distance from target. Decreases start at 512 Hammer Units (Hu) from target and reach 0 drain at 1536Hu

Wrangler

  • Ammo and Repair given to a shielded Sentry is reduced by the strength of the shield (66% reduced) when shield is active
  • Engineer death keeps the Wrangled sentry shielded and disabled for 3 seconds, same as when Wrangler is switched away. Previously Engineer death caused disable state for only 1 second

Jag

  • With the change to Base Construction boost, Jag bonus has improved. 30% increase of 1.5x makes a total of 1.95x (total of 2.95x when base speed is added)
  • Added +15% swing speed.
  • Added 20% repair penalty. Repairs will give up to 80hp per swing instead 100hp per swing.

The Short Circuit

  • Projectile destruction has been moved to alt-fire at the cost of -15 per shot. There is a 0.5s cool down between attempts and refire
  • Cannot pick up buildings when the Short Circuit is deployed

Eureka Effect

  • Previous penalties have been removed and replaced with the following
  • Construction hit speed boost decreased by 50%
  • 50% less metal from pickups and dispensers

Rescue Ranger

  • Decreased cost of long range building pick up from 130 metal to 100 metal

SCOUT

Baby Face’s Blaster

  • Added Boost reduction on taking damage.
  • Increased amount of Boost lost on air jump

Short Stop

  • No longer uses secondary ammo and now uses primary ammo instead
  • Healing and knockback passives are only active when weapon is deployed

Pretty Boy’s Pocket Pistol

  • Passive effects on the Pretty Boy’s Pocket Pistol are only in effect when the weapon is deployed
  • Removed +15 max health passive
  • Added up to +3 health per hit
  • Changed damage vulnerability from +50% fire to +20% all sources while active

Fan O’ War

  • Now crits whenever it would normally mini-crit
  • Reduced damage penalty from -90% to -75%

SOLDIER

Airstrike

  • Removed clipsize penalty
  • Reduced radius penalty from -15% to -10%
  • Reduced damage penalty from -25% to -15%
  • Rocket jump blast damage reduction reduced from -25% to -15%

Equalizer and Escape Plan

  • Changed no healing penalty to 90% less healing from Medics while active

Blackbox

  • Changed +15 health on hit to +20 health on hit per attack
  • Changed how health on hit works for radius damage. Is now capped per attack and scales with total damage done relative to base damage.
  • i.e. doing 45 damage nets +10 health on hit as base damage is 90. Hitting 3 enemies for 45 each for a total of 135 damage only returns +20 health.

Liberty Launcher

  • Now has +25% clip size

Battalions Backup

  • Fixed an issue that caused rocket jumps to be decreased when it was active.

DEMOMAN

Tide Turner

  • Self damage will no longer decrease charge when charging
  • Fall damage will no longer decrease charge when charging
  • Amount of charge taken away on damage when charging reduced from 3 to 1 per point of damage

Bootlegger / Ali Baba’s Wee Booties

  • Added +10% movement speed bonus
  • Changed 25 charge on charge kill to 25 charge on melee kill

The Claidheamh Mòr

  • Changed 25 charge on charge kill to 25 charge on melee kill

Loch-n-Load

  • Changed +20% damage bonus to +20% damage against buildings

Iron Bomber

  • Removed damage penalty on self-detonate
  • Reduced radius penalty from -20% to -15%

Quickiebomb Launcher

  • Damage is now increased based on charge amount when the bomb is fired

Ullapool Caber

  • Reduced explosion base damage from 100 to 75
  • Reduced damage ramp up bonus for close range attacks. Now is the same as other explosive weapons.

PYRO

Flaregun

  • Added text to describe 100% critical hits on burning targets

Scorch Shot

  • Reduced damage penalty from -50% to -35%
  • Now has increased knock back on burning targets
  • Increased the blast radius from flares from 92Hu to 110Hu
  • Hits and explosions always minicrit burning targets
  • (July 6th patch) Added a -35% self damage force penalty (Reduced blast jumping)

Detonator

  • Added text to describe 100% minicrits on burning targets
  • Slightly increased blast jump height when doing a Detonator jump
  • Increased blast radius from 92Hu to 110Hu
  • Detonated explosions now also minicrit burning targets
  • Increased damage penalty to -25%
  • Increased self-damage penalty from +25% to +50%

Power Jack

  • Reduced health gained on kill from +75hp to +25hp

MEDIC

Vaccinator

  • Fixed a bug that gave Vaccinator patients full crit immunity.
  • Vaccinator base resist does not grant any crit resistance.
  • Vaccinator Uber deploys now always take exactly 1 bar of Uber charge.
  • Vaccinator Uber deploys give the patient a 2.5 second bubble of 75% damage resistance of the current resist type and full crit resistance to that type. These bubbles do not disappear if the medic stops targeting the current patient. Multiple bubbles of different types can be applied to the same patient or multiple patients given the same resist uber each consuming 1 charge.
  • Vaccinator uber build now suffers the same penalties as other mediguns when it comes to multiple medics on the same target and max overhealed patients.
  • Decreased the bonus healing a Medic received for properly selecting the right damage resistance type from 25% of incoming damage to 10% of incoming damage
  • Added Penalty of 66% decreased uber build rate while healing a overhealed patient
  • (July 6th patch) Übercharge penalty no longer applies during setup time

Solemn Vow

  • Added 10% attack speed penalty

SNIPER

Sydney Sleeper

  • Jarate now applies on all scoped shots, duration scales with charge duration (2 to 8 seconds)

Bazaar Bargain

  • No longer lose heads on miss
  • Collecting a head requires a headshot kill and not just a headshot
  • Each head boosts charge rate by 25% up to 200%
  • Charge rate penalty changed from -20% to -50%.
  • Now requires 2 headshot kills to be back at base speed and 6 kills for 200% charge rate

Bushwacka

  • Changed penalty from +20% fire vulnerability to +20% damage vulnerability while active

Cozy Camper

  • Removed increased damage taken penalty

HEAVY

  • All minigun damage penalty on Level 2 and Level 3 Sentries slightly decreased. Level 2 Sentry resistance changed from 20% to 15% and Level 3 changed from 33% to 20%.

Natascha

  • Added 20% damage resistance while spun up
  • Stun amount now has distance falloff. Decreases starting at 512hu down to zero stun at 1536Hu

Brass Beast

  • Added 20% damage resistance while spun up

Tomislav

  • Now 20% more accurate (less spread)
  • Increased spin up bonus from 10% to 20%

Family Business

  • Now has +15% increased attack speed

Warrior’s Spirit

  • Now has +10 health on hit

Eviction Notice

  • Now has 3 second speed boost on hit

Dalokoh’s Bar

  • Now has 10 second cool down on use
  • Can now overheal up to 400hp
  • Can be thrown (alt-fire) as a small medkit for other players to use

Lunchbox items

  • Updated description to note that these items can be thrown (alt-fire) to supply players with a medkit.

MULTI-CLASS

Panic Attack

  • Base Fire rate increased (from 15% to 30%)
  • Base reload speed increased (from 33% to 50%)
  • Added increased switch to speed by +50%

Patch 2: 7/2/15

  • Fixed a bug that prevented some clients from updating their contract progress
  • Fixed a bug where The Family Business was firing slower than it was supposed to

Notes missed from the previous update:

  • Power Jack
    • Reduced health gained on kill from +75hp to +25hp
  • Cozy Camper
    • Removed increased damage taken penalty
  • Rescue Ranger
    • Decreased cost of long range building pick up from 130 metal to 100 metal
  • Spy-cicle (previous note was incorrect)
    • Changed fire immunity for 3 seconds to fire immunity for 1 second and 10 seconds of afterburn immunity

Full Patch Notes: 7/3/14

  • Temporarily limited OS X clients to medium texture quality to resolve random crashes while work is done on a permanent fix
  • Fixed a random crash that affected OSX only
  • Updated the collision geometry for the turbines in Powerhouse
  • Dropped weapons now retain their ammo and ÜberCharge levels unless the player commits suicide
  • Valve official quickplay and matchmaking servers are no longer listed in the server browser
  • Players no longer drop their weapons in MvM
  • Pressing the action key will now try to pick up a dropped weapon before trying to use an item in the action slot
  • Spies can no longer pick up weapons when disguised or cloaked
  • Using the mouse to select enemy players on the scoreboard no longer improperly reveals their class
  • Fixed players dropping multiple instances of the same weapon at once
  • Fixed unintended changes to rocket and other explosive jumping behavior
  • Fixed dropped weapons occasionally using an incorrect skin
  • Fixed an issue that was causing the particle effects on Unusual hats to sometimes draw in first-person for the owner, or not draw at all to others
  • Fixed an issue that prevented Huntsman arrows from damaging enemy Engineer buildings
  • Fixed weapons with attached models (e.g. Festive weapons, Kritzkrieg, and Botkillers) not rendering their attachments
  • Fixed spies that have picked up a dropped Your Eternal Reward or Wanga Prick being able to manually disguise
  • Fixed Spy sometimes not being able to use the Disguise Kit after picking up a new Knife
  • Fixed newly created items not becoming Strange quality, despite receiving the ability to track kills. Existing items in this state will not be retroactively fixed.
  • Fixed skinned weapons appearing differently after being traded or listed on the Steam Community Market. Affected items have been reverted to their original (permanent) appearance.
  • Fixed being able to craft some previously un-craftable items
  • Fixed a client crash related to Killstreak Fabricators and Chemistry Kits
  • Fixed a client crash related to particles
  • Fixed the Vitasaw no longer giving its ÜberCharge bonus after death
  • Fixed issues related to picking up dropped weapons while zoomed in with a Sniper Rifle
  • Fixed a bug that caused the Shortstop to reload faster than normal
  • Fixed dropped energy weapons not being able to fire after being picked up
  • Fixed some weapons not displaying their charge meters after being picked up
  • Fixed the box used in the Box Trot taunt sometimes being the wrong color
  • Steam Community Market
    • Fixed skinned items appearing as “Decorated Item”
    • Items that are temporarily un-tradable can now properly be listed on the market

Undocumented changes

  • Reverted Item level changes
  • Reverted the ability to giftwrap stock weapons.

Full Patch Notes: 7/4/15

  • Fixed a client crash related to campaign contracts
  • Fixed an exploit related to taunting and then dying on the final control point of payload maps
  • Fixed a bug that was creating Specialized Killstreak Kits that could be applied to any item
  • Fixed items that are removed from the Steam Community Market having the trade restriction removed
  • Temporarily reverted Valve official quickplay and matchmaking servers not being listed in the server browser while we look into this further

Full Patch Notes: 7/6/15

[N] Obey

P.S. Oh, by the way, there are also three new taunts. See splash page two. At the moment, they are only available by buying them from the Mann Co. Store.

A TF2 Newbs Guide to Getting More and Better Items

Posted on: July 4th, 2014 by Obey

The following is a beginner-level guide describing all of the ways to earn weapons and cosmetic items in TF2. For details on items, gameplay, or anything else Team Fortress related, be sure to bookmark The Official TF2 Wiki.

 

 

trophy Over 25k lifetime hits!

Updated 11/2/16:

  • Simplified information about item qualities
  • Compared rocket launcher prices with differing item qualities
  • Added links to Halloween-themed items where necessary
  • Added more pictures for easier reading
  • Hit 25,000 lifetime hits by November 1st

Updated 7/31/16:

  • Added links to recent tutorials on class rebalances and matchmaking changes since Pyro vs. Heavy patch

Updated 4/23/16:

  • More info about free hats you can earn
  • More info about Australium and Graded (contract) Weapons

 

So you’ve just started playing TF2, learned some maps, captured some points, and found a couple of nifty items. But other players are blowing you up with awesome weapons while wearing ridiculous hats.  How can you get more weapons and cosmetic items?  That’s what this guide is for, so read on!

Similar bloglinks useful to you:

 

Table of Contents

0. Being Free-to-Play vs. Being Premium

1. Earn Items By Playing TF2

  • Achievement Items
  • Free Cosmetics You Can Earn
  • The TF2 Item Drop System
  • Rewards for Playing Mann vs. Machine, the Players-vs.-Bots “Horde Mode”
  • Earn TF2 Items While Playing Other Steam Games

2. Crafting Items: What To Do with Metal, Crates, and Robot Parts

3. Buying Items From the Mann Co. Store or the Steam Market

  • Explanation of Item Qualities like Stranges and Unusuals
    • Updated: Rocket Launchers as example of price comparison
    • Updated: Typical item prices of each quality
  • Decorated Weapons, earned by contracts
  • Trading-Up Items

4. Trading Items With Other Players

5. Free Unusuals!

6. What To Do If You Have Too Many Items

7. Helpful Links

Cold_Snap_Coat

0. First: Are you Free-to-Play?

There are two kinds of TF2 accounts: free-to-play accounts and premium accounts.

  • Free-to-play (or “F2P”) accounts only get one page of 50 inventory slots, limited crafting options, can only drop some basic items, and most importantly, have limited trading options.
  • Premium accounts start with six pages of inventory slots (300 total), have full crafting options, can drop basic and rare items, and have normal trading options.

Why aren’t all accounts Premium? The reason is to reduce the number of spammers and cheaters on Steam by attaching a small monetary cost to each account, so that thousands of accounts cannot be used by a single person for these schemes.

So if you are free-to-play, you will not have full access to all of the kinds of items out there. There are a couple of simple ways to gain a premium account:

  • Buy something in the Mann Co. Store, anything at all, no minimum. A single US$0.49 weapon is all you need.
  • Buy the Orange Box from the Steam Store for US$19.99, which grants you a Premium TF2 account as well as two other Valve games: Half-Life 2 and Portal.
  • Have someone trade or gift you an Upgrade to Premium Gift, which is a tool item that makes your account premium when used.
    • However, your Steam Account must be premium to be able to trade from the Steam Client, which means you’ve made at least $5 worth of purchases. Steam Trading and Steam Chat are two features disabled if you’ve never bought anything on the Steam Account you’re using.

Upgrade Premium

Why would someone give you a Premium Gift? Doing so grants the giver a Professor Speks accessory, or adds to the counter of their existing Professor Speks.

If you make a purchase that upgrades your account to premium, you are asked to refer one person on your friends list as someone who has helped you in the game.  That is how a person is awarded a Professor Speks or ranks up its counter.

 

Now that you know your status, here are all of the ways that you can acquire new items:

 

1. Earn Items By Playing the Game

Earn “Achievement Items”

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There are hundreds of achievements to earn in Team Fortress 2. Just play the game, and if you complete a specific task, the achievement will unlock and announce it to everyone on the server. You can check which achievements you have or haven’t learned in your Steam Client.

Spy achievements

If you earn enough class-specific achievements, you will earn one of three weapons available for each class. These items significantly change the role or options available for that class, such as a Sandvich healing item for the Heavy, or a Huntsman bow that replaces the Sniper’s rifle!  Here is the full list of 27 achievement weapons in TF2.

Note: These achievement-reward items have the untradable trait, so you can’t trade them away later. And if you use them to craft metal or another item, the resulting item will carry that untradable trait, and the game will warn you that that will occur.  This is to keep players from having dozens of separate Steam accounts just to farm for items. Only achievement-reward items will have the untradable trait.

There are “achievement servers” in the TF2 community, but TF2Newbs doesn’t have one; they’re frowned on by Valve.

 

All-Class Cosmetics You Can Earn

Professor SpeksAs stated above, earn the Professor Speks all-class cosmetic by gifting someone an Upgrade to Premium Gift. It cannot be painted or traded.

Ghastly GibusEarn the Ghastly Gibus all-class hat by earning a domination on a player wearing their own Gibus. There are multiple, slightly different versions (the Ghastly, Ghastlier, Ghastlierest, Ghostly, and Galvanized), and dominated any player except for the Galvanized will earn you your own Ghastly Gibus (the other versions were awarded earlier). You can earn this achievement at any time, and it can be worn at all time, unlike many Halloween-themed items. It is paintable, but cannot be traded.

You can also get the Pyrovision Goggles by dominating a player that is wearing them. Pryovision items changes the scenery on most official maps so that you play in a pastel-painted world of balloons and laughter instead of the screams and gibs of your enemies. You can change its vision in your Advanced Options menu.

Mann Co CapEarn a Mann Co. Cap all-class hat the first time you buy anything at the Mann Co. Store, regardless of amount spent. (You can only earn one.) It is paintable, but not tradable. You can also buy a real-life version from New Era. There is a second hat, the Mann Co. Online Cap, which you can earn by buying something from the Mann Co. Online store, which sells real-life Valve merchandise like posters, T-shirts, and hats!

World Traveler's HatEarn the all-class World Traveler’s Hat by buying your first Map Stamp, which is not an item, but a donation that goes directly to the author(s) of the Community-made map you choose. You can level it up by buying more Map Stamps. When you play on a map where you’ve purchased map stamps, you can give your hat unusual effects! This hat is paintable, but not tradable.

Other cosmetics you can earn by playing TF2:

  • There are lots of other cosmetics that can be earned during the annual Halloween or Winter Holiday events! See my Halloween Items FAQ to learn how to earn Halloween-themed items. Some can be earned at any time, like the Ghastly Gibus.
  • Director’s Vision: Earn this all-class taunt by recording a replay of yourself playing the game, then enter the video editing window. It’s that easy.
  • Frontline Field Recorder: Get this hat by uploading a replay video to YouTube from within TF2, and earn 1,000 lifetime views.
  • Proof of Purchase: By being gifted the game, or buying TF2 yourself, like in the Orange Box from the Steam Store, earn this hat.
  • Party Hat and TF Birthday Noisemaker: Get an all-class hat and an action item by playing the game on August 24th, TF2′s anniversary launch date. The Noisemaker can only be used on August 24th (or any server that has Birthday Mode enabled).
  • Spirit of Giving: Earn this accessory playing during the annual Winter Holiday. Rank it up by gifting, such as using a Secret Saxton tool item.
  • Horace the Bear Mask: Be an RPS Supporter (for the gaming news website Rock Paper Shotgun).

 

Earn Items by Playing the Game

Team Fortress 2 wants to reward you for playing, and does so by granting you periodic “item drops”. Approximately every hour you play in a week, up to roughly 10 hours a week, you will earn a random item, usually a weapon but rarely (perhaps a 3% chance) a cosmetic item such as a hat. Most, but not all, craftable weapons can drop via this system, and if you don’t play much one week, that extends the playing time where you can earn items in the next week only. “Weeks” for this purpose begin on Wednesdays at 7 PM Eastern Standard Time (which is also Thursdays at midnight Greenwich Standard Time; doesn’t change for Daylight Savings Time).

Item_drops_frequency_graph

The list of possible weapons available is roughly the same as the craftable weapon list plus the achievement-reward weapon list (i.e. almost all non-stock weapons). “Stock” weapons are the default weapons and action-slot items of each class, which are also the only weapons that most computer-controller bots use, and they’re the only weapons you can access in those rare, unfortunate times when your server loses connection to the item server :(  Stock weapons never drop, and you can’t lose access to them by crafting or trading.

By a similar but separate system, crates (and rarely, other tool items such as Name Tags instead) can drop for you as well, and they are NOT limited by your weekly playing time.  Of course, you need keys to open crates; they are basically opportunities for Valve to make money by selling you keys. Crates always provide a random item out of a list, and the series number relates to the list of items available to drop; most crates drop Strange-quality weapons (with a 1% chance for a random Unusual item instead!).

Crate drops are rarer than in years past; players got annoyed by having too many crates.  Sometimes, such as during the winter holiday, crate drops will occur more often. You may also get a crate once a week in your account just for logging in. They’re simply “opportunities” to spend money on keys for virtual items.

 

Earn Items by Buying and/or Playing Other Games

Many cosmetics can be earned just by buying certain games. Some were only available during pre-order, but many are still available if you buy the game today. Here is the current list of games that award TF2 items, maintained by the Official TF2 Wiki. Note that many of these items will be Genuine quality.

For example, the $4.99 game Poker Night at the Inventory features five unlockable items (some of which may be difficult to do so), as you play Texas Hold ‘Em against the Heavy, Strongbad and other characters. You need to get good at playing poker, but you can earn:

dangeresque

Its $4.99 sequel, Poker Night 2, features five more unlockable items, as you play Texas Hold ‘Em and Omaha Hold ‘Em with Claptrap, Ash Williams and others! Earn the following:

 

See this link to learn how to earn TF2 items by playing these free-to-play Steam games:

 

Earn Items by Playing “Mann Up Mode” in MvM

500px-Mvm_logo

Mann vs. Machine, or “MvM”, is a horde mode where you and five other players form a RED team that defends against an onslaught of class-specific BLU robots.  The free-to-play “Boot Camp” mode does NOT earn you items, but is good for practicing the game. The real rewards can be gained by completing “Mann Up” missions, which require a brown Tour of Duty ticket that costs US$0.99 in the Mann Co. Store (not to be confused with the white Surplus tickets). Tickets are used up and rewards are earned only when you successfully win an entire mission.

mannworks

  • Each completed mission earns you an item drop, in exchange for your Tour of Duty ticket, if you did not previously have credit for that mission on your current Tour.
    • If playing the “Two Cities” Tour, you will instead earn some robot parts, and possibly even a Fabricator, after each mission.
  • Each completed Tour of missions will earn you different rewards, on top of your usual mission rewards:
    • “Two Cities” Tours reward Killstreak Kits, and one or two higher-tier Fabricators.
    • Other Tours reward one of several kinds of Strange Botkiller weapons, depending on both random luck and which Tour had been completed.
    • Completing any Advanced or Expert difficulty Tour also has a small chance (~2%) of getting an Australium weapon! (You won’t have any chance to drop them on Intermediate Tours.)

fabricator rl

For more information on MvM and the items you can earn by playing in “Mann Up” Mode, please refer to the TF2 Newbs’ Guide to MvM Item Hunting.

2. You Can Craft New Items

Crafting_anvil

You can take undesired items and turn them into metal, which is used to craft other weapons.

two weapons of same class  —> one scrap

 

                                          three scrap  <—> one reclaimed

 

                                                     three reclaimed <—> one refined

 

metal

What Can You Do with Metal?

  • Use as a trading currency (see Trading, below)
  • Craft cosmetics, such as hats
  • Craft weapons

 

Crafting Cosmetic Items

There are two ways to craft cosmetic items such as hats. Here is the first:

three refined  —> one random cosmetic item

The above menu says the output is a “random headgear”, but in reality the output is some kind of cosmetic, such as a hat or an item that equips elsewhere on your person, and are never weapons. For instance, you might get a Football Helmet for a Heavy, or an Itsy-Bitsy Spyer that hangs on the hip of your Sniper, or a Big Mann on Campus sweater for a Scout. These items are always Unique quality; you’ll never get Stranges or the like. Almost every non-Limited cosmetic can be crafted, but of course, what you receive is randomized.

Crafting

But if you want to ensure that you get an item that a specific character can use, consider the next formula:

four refined + class token  —> random class-specific cosmetic item

With the above formula, you apply some extra metal and a token, but you ensure that you’ll get an item wearable by the token’s class (and possibly other classes also, depending on the item you receive). Use this formula if you really want more cosmetics for your favorite class.

See this page for a list of many other crafting recipes, which are also found in your Crafting menu.

 

Crafting Weapons

There is a list of craftable weapons under the second tab, “Common Items”. Simply follow the recipe to craft a desired weapon. If you lack the items, you can’t make the item, but you may be able to trade someone for the parts you need (or just buy it from the Mann Co. Store instead).

The top recipe reads, “Fabricate Class Weapons” with the following recipe:

scrap + class token + slot token –> random matching weapon

The above formula will generate one random weapon out of the possible craftable weapons that match both the class and weapon slot of the tokens. For example, following this recipe with a Pyro token and a Secondary token can generate a flare gun, detonator, reserve shooter, manmelter, scorch shot, or panic attack. See the “Crafting Weapon Classifications” heading in the the TF2 Wiki Crafting page for the full list.

 

What Are Crates For?

Crates are opened with keys (usually Mann Co. Crate Keys, but special crates require special keys), and they can be purchased from the Mann Co. Store for US$2.49, traded, or bought and sold in the Steam Market. Opening a crate provides you one random item (usually Strange) from its short drop list, but rarely (about a 1% chance) grant you an Unusual hat!

Mann_Co._Supply_CrateOh, if you have too many crates, you should probably just delete any duplicates you have. You’re unlikely to sell any on the Market, as you’d only get one cent, and there are thousands of them for sale already. You’ll always have more crates than you’ll ever open–they’re simply opportunites to buy a random Strange item.

What Are Robot Parts For?

If you have robot parts in your possession, you have probably been playing some Mann vs. Machine “Two Cities” missions. These are used for crafting certain Killstreak Kits.  See this MvM Item FAQ for more information.

Reinforced_Robot_Emotion_Detector

3. You Can Buy Items

Access the Mann Co. Store within the TF2 game itself. You can’t while you’re playing in a server, however.

 

Items You Can Buy from the Mann Co. Store

You can buy most Unique-quality items in the Mann Co. Store.  Unique is the standard item quality that doesn’t do anything special, and signifies something that is probably not rare. Want a different kind of rocket launcher for your Soldier?  It’s probably US$1 or less. Want a new community-designed hat? Snap one up for US$2 to $10. Just look at the catalog of items in the in-game menu, and purchase with your Steam Wallet funds.

Starter Packs

Don’t want to bother with crafting or trading, but you want all the possible options available for your favorite class? You can buy a Starter Pack the gives you one of each Unique weapon for that class! They run between $2 and $7, depending on the class; some classes like the Soldier have more items, so they’re more expensive.

You can also buy (from either the in-game Store, or from the Market) an Unlocked Class Crate, which will drop you one random cosmetic equippable by that class. You could get just about anything. They’re $2.49 in the Mann Co. Store.

You can’t buy everything at the store, such as an Unusual hat… but there’s lots to buy on the Steam Market!

Items You Can Buy on the Steam Market

  • You can’t buy most plain Unique-quality weapons in the Market, but you can buy Unique Tools such as crates, keys, robot parts, and killstreak kits.
  • Also, almost all Strange, Haunted, Vintage, Collector’s, or Unusual item can be bought and sold on the Steam Market.
  • Unique items that are also Limited can also list on the Market. Limited items cannot be crafted, item dropped, or bought from the Mann Co. Store anymore.
  • Decorated weapons can also be bought and sold in the Market.

 

A Short Explanation of Item Qualities–and Rocket Launchers!

“Wait a minute. Why do I need an explanation of item qualities?” you ask.

Not all rocket launchers are created alike. (Set aside the Black Box and the Liberty Launcher and all those others; we’re talking just about the stock Rocket Launcher.) The stock Rocket Launchers are all alike, of course.

GadCIcM

But there are many kind of reskinned rocket launchers. They’re all functionally the same. How they’re different is that they might be promotional items, have different colors on the weapon itself, or have a counter to track kills or other statistics. (The pictured Rocket Launcher is a Decorated weapon; scroll down to the next section to learn more about Decorated weapons.)

Here’s a comparison for the different rocket launchers out there, and the cheapest price for one on the Steam Market (as of this writing):

All of the above rocket launchers behave identically in play. But they’re also a show of status: players may assume that if you’re using the stock rocket launcher, that you haven’t been playing very long. Sure, it’s a silly game, but it stands out all the same.

 

Item Qualities

Okay–here’s the different item qualities out there:

  • Stock items are items that every TF2 account has access to; they cannot be removed, sold, or traded.
  • Unique items are common items, often found via the TF2 item drop system or from certain older crates.
    • They can typically be traded, but not marketed.
    • Achievement items and some Halloween-themed items are untradeable Uniques.
  • Limited items are uncommon; they can no longer be purchased or crafted, such as retired hats.
    • They can be traded or marketed.
  • Vintage items are simply items that were crafted before March 15, 2011.
    • These are cheap to buy on the Market.
  • Strange items track total kills (on weapons) or points scored (on other items) while the item was equipped.
    • Most commonly, Stranges are dropped from a crate; the item is randomly chosen.
    • A few Strange items are rare, such as the Kritzkrieg.
    • A few Strange items have been made so by Strangifier items, which are also sometimes rare.
  • Australium weapons have a golden sheen, but are otherwise Strange weapons.
    • They are a rare reward for completing Mann vs, Machine tours, and are valuable.
  • Haunted items are usually Halloween-themed cosmetics.
    • In some cases, they can only be worn during Halloween/Full Moon times.
    • They can be purchased cheaply on the Steam Market.
  • Genuine items are promotional items, often given away for (pre)purchasing another Steam game.
    • Many of these can be purchased on the Steam Market.
  • Collector’s items are rare, requiring a rarely-dropped Chemistry Set plus two hundred identical copies of the item to craft.
    • They can be purchased on the Market, but are usually expensive.
  • Killstreak weapons show in the killfeed how many kills the player has earned since their last death.
    • The killstreak property only modifies the weapon, and doesn’t change its quality color. But it does add value to the weapon.
    • Specialized Killstreak kits also add a temporary visual sheen to the weapon after five kills are scored during the same life.
    • Professional Killstreak kits add the visual sheen and an eye effect to your character as well.
    • Killstreak kits and fabricators (used to craft the kits) are Mann vs. Machine rewards.
  • Unusual items are rare, with a visual effect centered near the head of the character.
    • They are very rarely (1%) dropped from a crate, and are always valuable.

See my MvM Item FAQ for more information about Australium weapons and Killstreak Kits.

 

Decorated Items

decorated item is a weapon, cosmetic, or taunt that has been reskinned with different visual effects (and rarely, different sounds). Below is the Warbird, a rare decorated rocket launcher from the Tough Break season:

Warbird

A ”season” is a period of weeks, directly after a major content patch such as the Tough Break Update, that allows players to complete missions/contracts in order to earn random items with randomly generated paint jobs. A decorated weapon or item includes the following:

  • One of six Grades of rarity, which determines the text color of the item. Civilian is very common; Elite is rare.
    1. Civilian:                contracts only
    2. Freelance:            contracts only
    3. Mercenary:          contracts or crates
    4. Commando:        contracts or crates
    5. Assassin:                                    crates only
    6. Elite:                                           crates only
  • Each item Collection (of item skins or “paint job” themes) has many weapons in a variety of Grades.
    • For example, items from the Concealed Killer Collection are generally camouflage-themed.
    • Some Collections are only Grades 1-4, and some are only Grades 3-6 (see above).
    • Each skin is tied to its specific grade. For example: The “Warbird” above is always a Grade 6 Elite.
  • Each Weapon has one of five random levels of Wear, which changes the look of the weapon skin somewhat. All are equally as common, but the more Wear variations are less popular because the weapon skin is less visible. (The wear patterns are also randomly positioned to give a further uniqueness to each individual item.)
    • Factory New (most popular and valuable)
    • Minimal Wear
    • Field-Tested
    • Well-Worn
    • Battle Scarred (most of the paint job has worn off)
  • NOTE: Weapons DO NOT increase their Wear when used. They have a set level of Wear when dropped which does not change. A weapon’s Grade, Skin, and Wear is entirely cosmetic and does not change its gameplay whatsoever.
  • Also, these Weapons and Cosmetics are Limited quality. Unboxed Weapons and Cosmetics will have a chance of being Strange (and in a few cases, being Unusual, or both!)
    • Also, items exist that can Strangify these items.
  • These weapons will be tradable and marketable. If you wish to trade or sell a weapon, look up its worth on the Market or another site like backpack.tf first, so you don’t get scammed. Unusual items are always valuable and very rare.

How to earn Graded items:

  1. Buy-in to the current update Season by purchasing the appropriate pass from the Mann Co. Store. This will grant you a fixed number of contracts to complete over a set period of time (even if you join late in the Season). Completing these contracts (with tasks such as completing objectives on a certain map or getting kills while playing a certain class or weapon) will earn you a graded weapon OR one of several Weapon Cases.
    • NOTE: You can purchase these Weapon Cases from the Steam Market also, as the cases, their corresponding keys, and the items obtainable within are all marketable and tradable.
  2. Or, you can simply buy Cases and the appropriate Key for the Case, and use the Key in your TF2 inventory screen.

 

How to Trade-Up Graded weapons:

300px-Civilian_Stat_Clock_Menu

Some items can be used in a trade-in, much like crafting, into another item.

  • 10 Graded items of the same Grade level, regardless of Collection or Update, can be traded in for 1 random item of the next higher Grade.
    • Example: 10 Freelance items for 1 Mercenary item.
    • You may collect ten decorated items from all of the different collections ouut there, but the formula will only work if they are all of the same Grade.
    • BEWARE: The possible output item is from all available Collections, not necessarily the same Collection.
  • 5 qualifying items can be traded into a Civilian Grade Stat Clock, a tool item similar to a Strangifier for Graded items only.
    • Qualifying items include any Freelance Grade or higher item (of any Collection), and any Strange item (Graded or not).
    • ANY item with the “untradeable” trait also qualifies, but the resulting Stat Clock will also be “untradeable”.
      • Yes, this means you can use your untradeable Achievement items to create a Stat Clock!
  • During the annual Halloween event, you can trade-in three qualifying items for a random, untradeable Halloween cosmetic.
    • Find this function by right-clicking your Soul Gargoyle tool item.

How can you tell the difference between a Strange Graded Item, and a vanilla Graded Item with a Stat Clock attached? Look at the item name: one will be Strange, and the other will say “Stat Clock”.

 

4. You Can Ask Others to Trade or Give You Items

Yes, there are gifters who play TF2 regularly. Very few players just go around looking for Newbs who need items. But there are plenty of players wiling to give a couple of weapons or an odd hat to someone who has none.  The important thing is to be nice and civil. Spamming chat with demands for free items will annoy anyone who would have been willing, and that behavior can get you banned from the Newbs servers.

250px-Backpack_Pile_o'_Gifts

If you want people to trade or gift you, show some proper etiquette:

  1. Be gracious and don’t make demands.  Don’t spam the text chat or the voice chat.
  2. Many players are willing to trade away a spare copy of a weapon (not cosmetics) for a single scrap metal, or its equal value of any two weapons. Likewise, if you happen to have extra copies of an item, you can offer to trade two of them to someone for one weapon you need.
  3. If there is an item you want to trade for, or to ask for free, you should ask people in chat if they have specific items you’re looking for.  But don’t spam the chat with constant messages.
  4. Look at your friends’ profiles, and click on Inventory to see their TF2 items.  Unless their profiles are private, you can find out what spare items a friend has, which can help you make them a trade or gift offer.
  5. When you really want to trade items, go to a trade server, such as Newbs #2 and #18 Trade Servers. You won’t be interrupting anyone’s game with trade offers or chatter, and you’ll meet up with others actively looking to trade.

 

Trading Items for Items

Trades do not involve the exchange of Steam Wallet funds (that’s what the Steam Market is for). So how do you trade items for other items and know one of you isn’t being cheated out of value? Over the years, players have established a de facto economy by using certain common and uncommon items as currencies, specifically metal, keys, and earbuds.

Metal is the crafting ingredient discussed above to create random cosmetics and weapons. Because of these uses, metal also has worth in the economy.

Common item prices are discussed in “ref”, an abbreviation for refined metal. A refined metal is 1.00 ref.

A reclaimed metal is .33 ref, since it takes three reclaimed to make a refined.

A scrap metal is worth .11 ref, since it takes three scrap to make a reclaimed (nine to make a refined).

For example: A hat worth 1.33 ref is worth a refined and three scrap.

If you play TF2 10 hours a week and smelt all of your non-cosmetic drops into metal, you’ll average one refined metal in three weeks.

Keys, or standard Mann Co. Crate Keys, cost US$2.49 in the Mann Co. Store. Since they’re tradable (after a week) and the price doesn’t change, they are good for trading valuable items. Popular, in-demand items that are not very rare are often measured in keys, such as taunts or popular hats.

How much ref a key is worth changes based on the demand in the economy (how bad people want keys, or metal). Refined metal is also useful for making “change”, since a key cannot be broken into smaller values. As of January 2016, a key is worth about 20 ref.

Buds, or Earbuds, are a somewhat rare, Limited cosmetic item. Buds were often used as currency for rare, high-demand items, such as Unusuals. They’re not used for trading much anymore.

 

5. Where Can I Get Free Unusual Hats?

The following is a list of phrases people enter into their search engines:

how to get easy hats in tf2
tf2 free hats
tf2 easy unusuals
tf2 item giveaway
tf2 free keys
free tf2 unusuals

…and so on.  I know this because the blog dashboard shows me certain search engine terms that bring readers to this blog. Lots and lots of TF2 players want free unusual hats, keys and items.  New players beg for free items, and sometimes start raging when they don’t get what they want.

The TF2Newbs community, like many other public gaming communities out there, frown on begging. Repeatedly asking for items disrupts the game and can lead to a permanent ban on Newbs servers.  Would you want your games interrupted by beggars?

My point is, earn or buy items yourself. Trading exists so that you can meet other players and swap items. It’s a metagame–a game within a game–to collect desirable items. Don’t disrupt a good game by begging; go to a trade server if you’re looking for something specific.

TF2Newbs’ Trade Servers (type these into your console to jump right in):

connect s2.tf2newbs.com
connect s18.tf2newbs.com

 

6. Too Many Items?

Well, that’s embarrassing: it is certainly possible to fill your backpack with so many crates, weapons, tools, and cosmetics that you cannot hold more. When this happens, you won’t receive more items from the item drop system; it “stops the clock”, so to speak.  What do?

Backpack_case

  1. Delete worthless items: crates and untradable duplicate items are the only ones I would advise deleting.  You’re not likely to sell them on the Market or trade them for any value. (The only crates that have a value are crates numbered in the 20s–because each class has one that only carries items for that class–and crates #30, #40, #50 and #60, which are rare and may drop high-demand Strange weapons.)
  2. Condense your metal: 18 weapons <-> 9 scrap metal <-> 3 reclaimed metal <-> 1 refined metal.  Refined metal can “carry more value” in a smaller space, and is faster if you want to trade for a valuable item. Condense your space further by trading for keys or more valuable items.
  3. Buy a Backpack Expander, or several, from the Mann Co. Store (US$0.99) or the Steam Market. Each one gives you 100 slots (two pages) more, up to a maximum of 2000 slots or forty pages. This is very necessary if you’re collecting robot parts from “Two Cities” MvM Tours, or trying to get one copy of every weapon.
  4. Check to see if you own a Summer Adventure Pack, Summer Starter Kit, or a Gift-Stuffed Stocking tool item. A Backpack Expander is inside, among other items.
  5. Put items up for sale on the Steam Market. While on the Market, the item is removed from your inventory, so you can fill those slots once more. You can remove the item from the Market if it doesn’t sell, and then you will receive the item once more.
  6. Check the Crafting List and see if there are any desirable weapons or cosmetic items you can craft. For example, if you don’t have a B.A.S.E. Jumper parachute for your Soldier, you can craft one at the cost of a Sticky Jumper, a Buff Banner, and a reclaimed metal.

 

7. Other Useful Links You Should Bookmark in Your Browser:

 

I hope this blogpost has helped you learn about the wide variety, and multiple functions, of the items of Team Fortress 2.  The item-acquisition game within the “war-themed hat simulator” keeps players coming back. If I have helped you in your quest for mighty loot, feel free to say so in the comments, or post in the forums.

[N] Obey