Your ad here, right now:

Posts Tagged ‘patch’

TF2 Patch, Sept 12, 2016

Posted on: September 12th, 2016 by Obey

A few assorted things here….

  1. Terraria’s desert-themed patch is now live
  2. 2K Games offering free copies of its remastered Bioshock games to owners of original versions
  3. TF2 patched

Terraria Patch 1.3.3 Is Now LIVE

Sandstorm

In this major patch, deserts get some love and attention. Now every newly-created map will feature a pyramid, and there are new biomes for (hardmode) underground desert, underground corrupted desert, and underground hallowed desert. And a bunch more stuff; here is the patch notes.

 

Bioshock Games Have Been Remastered

Ahead of the official launch of the Bioshock Collection, 2K Games has made owners of the older versions of the games a free copy of the remastered games that they already own, whether on Steam or not!! The gaming news site Rock Paper Shotgun did a write-up about how to acquire the remastered versions.

 

Full Patch Notes: Sept 12, 2016

  • Fixed an exploit related to not respawning in the spawn room at the beginning of Casual and Competitive matches
  • Fixed Pyros griefing teammates by attacking them with the flamethrower
  • Fixed Medics getting a permanent speed boost after healing a charging Demoman
  • Fixed Medics getting the Demoman’s charging speed when using Mediguns other than The Quick-Fix
  • Fixed the Strange Razorback double-counting the number Spies shocked
  • Fixed a bug related to the Sniper‘s zoom and taunting
  • Fixed players being able to pick-up the PASS Time jack while they are stunned
  • Increased the matchmaking system’s preference for matching large pre-made parties against each other in Casual Mode. This should result in more balanced matches, but may cause a slight increase in queue times for larger parties.

[N] Obey

Patches Improving Casual/Comp

Posted on: July 16th, 2016 by Obey

Suddenly, TF2 wouldn’t let you choose a map unless you joined a community server! And you got punished for leaving a casual game! And TF2 got a bit more crashy! Never fear–patches are here! Here’s the summary:

  • Casual Mode got a bunch of bugfixes and quality-of-life changes, incl:
    • Games with open slots will now receive new players normally
    • Added Vote Kick option: Kicked players will still receive partial experience
    • You can toggle on/off which maps you are willing to play on; game remembers your settings
  • Re-added Create Server option
  • MvM: Fixed sentry buster sounds from repeating after destruction

 

If you still want to play on servers with players of all skill levels, instead of players at your Rank, that’s what community servers are for, like TF2Newbs! We are here to promote a Newb-friendly playing environment free of slurs and hackers.

Speaking of Ranks, note that your Casual Rank and your Competitive Rank are separate! Your Comp Rank can go up and down as you play, but your Casual Rank can only go up. Ranks aren’t a factor in community servers at all.

 

16 July 2016 Patch Notes: Patch 1

  • Updated Casual Mode
    • Fixed a problem where in-progress games with open slots would not receive new players
    • Fixed a case where players would sometimes not receive experience (when playing a match to completion)
    • Fixed not getting domination/revenge events
    • Added a feature to the game mode selection screen that allows players to play on specific maps
    • Added the Vote Kick option
      • Players that are kicked will receive partial experience after the match ends
    • Maps previously using the stopwatch timer will now play to completion, regardless of the first team’s time
  • Added a “Create Server” button to the “Find a Game” menu
  • Fixed the party chat window sometimes not drawing
  • Fixed Australium weapons not drawing correctly in the character loadout screen
  • Updated the Dr’s Dapper Topper to fix a material issue
  • Thanks to Justin G., aka sigsegv, for these reports:
    • Fixed sentry buster(sic) sounds not being cleaned up properly after detonating
    • Fixed a bug related to bot death detection
  • Updated Taunt: The Balloonibounce to end the taunt if the player is moved
  • Fixed a regression in the Pyro’s flamethrower where flames could sometimes damage players behind obstacles and walls
  • PASS Time update
    • Updated several HUD materials to support mat_picmip
    • Fixed seeing the wrong cap limit in the win panel

Undocumented changes

Patch 2

  • Fixed a common client crash that prevented the game from starting

9 July 2016 Patch Notes

  • Fixed the Strange Filter: Competitive tool not describing itself properly after being applied to an item
  • Fixed the Jackpot! PASS Time achievement not tracking wins
  • Updated Mannpower Mode to use 7 captures per round on matchmaking servers (was 3)
  • Updated ConVar zoom_sensitivity_ratio so its value is saved across sessions and it can be adjusted in Competitive Mode

[N] Obey

A Closer Look at TF2 Class Rebalances

Posted on: July 10th, 2016 by Obey

Click here to see the winners of the June 2fort Stats and Server Starting Giveaway!

Below is a discussion of recent changes to both the base classes and specific TF2 weapons. Included are changes that were made in previous patches, in case it has been awhile since you haven’t played, or if you may have missed a significant change and haven’t adjusted your play.

Also, see the bottom of the blogpost for the July 8th and 9th patch notes.

tf2lego1

This won’t cover ALL of the changes, just the more important ones. For the complete patch notes, click or scroll down to the previous blogpost. Now, let’s discuss the Scout first:

 

Scout

July 7 patch notes for Scout:

  • Crit-A-Cola
    • Added Marked-for-Death debuff for 2 seconds after the buff effect expires
  • The Soda Popper
    • Added “On hit: build Hype”
    • Removed “build hype by running around”
    • Fixed: You can’t damage yourself to increase your Hype meter
  • Shortstop
    • Added an Alt-fire attack — reach out and shove someone!
    • Removed +healing bonus
    • Reduced pushback vuln to +20% (from +40%)
  • Sun on a Stick
    • Take 25% less damage from fire while deployed

When using the secondary Crit-A-Cola, all damage you deal (and receive) become mini-crits for the duration of the buff. It’s great for sneaking up or flanking a target or two, but you better finish them off and then hide: the moment the buff wears off, you’ll continue to take mini-crits for the next 2 seconds as you’re Marked-for-Death. Go hide or grab a powerup in the meantime.

The Soda Popper’s in-game text was wrong: You gain Hype by dealing damage, not as you run. You have to deal a total of 350 damage to fill your Hype gauge. When full, you can press Alt-Fire to engage the buff, allowing you to jump up to five times without touching the ground, which is often necessary to getaway and survive until you can get to a powerup.

Shortstop

The primary Shortstop has become more popular since random damage spread was defaulted to OFF on Valve servers, causing the weapon to deal more consistent damage. Now, you gain the ability to shove: press Alt-Fire for a melee attack that pushes a nearby enemy back a short distance, similar to a flamethrower’s airblast but maybe not as far (and it definitely won’t reflect a projectile). However, the Shortstop loses the extra healing it used to grant, and forced movement (like from airblasts) now pushes you slightly more than standard (previous the pushback was nearly doubled). Now you can pushback an enemy, throw a Mad Milk or cleaver at the enemy, and then engage once more!

(Note: The Gun Mettle patch allowed the Shortstop to use its own primary ammo, so that it wouldn’t share with a pistol secondary.)

The Sun on a Stick melee weapon wasn’t very popular: all it used to granted critical hits against burning players (which required you to work together with a pyro teammate, as well as to engage in melee), but otherwise dealt 25% less damage than the standard Bat. Now it has a unique bonus: you take a little less fire damage while it is deployed. So if you’re running past a Pyro–or running away and suffering from afterburn–switch to the Sun on a Stick to help you survive long enough to find a powerup or a bath of water. Equip it whenever your server seems overrun with Pyros, but you still want to play Scout.

 

Soldier

July 7 patch notes for the Solly:

  • The Righteous Bison
    • Fixed a bug causing players to be hit by the same projectile multiple times, causing the damage dealt to vary wildly
    • Per-shot damage has been increased to compensate, resulting in slightly more damage on average [1]
      • Point-blank deals 54 damage (previously 20-80)
      • Maximum range deals 24 damage (previously 14-56)
    • Slowed projectile by 30%
    • Projectile damage reduced by 25% for each enemy penetrated
    • Updated projectile impact sound
  • The Disciplinary Action
    • Reduced duration of speed bonus on teammates to 2 seconds (from 3)
  • The Rocket Jumper
    • Updated model/materials and sound

So the secondary Righteous Bison wasn’t actually supposed to hit a target multiple times! The laser projectile pierces its target, but now it only hits once–and its damage has also been slightly increased. However, the projectile is much easier to dodge, and deals less damage for each target it hits.

pewpewpew

That said, it is still an effective weapon for long range harassment (then again, your primary weapons are also), and can deal safe, consistent damage at close range without needing ammo. It also can’t be deflected by airblasts.

Observations: The Concheror secondary has become more popular in pubs, as it now grants increased health regeneration (+4 health per second, which is temporarily slowed after taking damage) since the Tough Break update. In the same patch, the primary Liberty Launcher received a 5-rocket clip, and it has seen more play as well.

Don’t Forget: Soldiers with the Equalizer or Escape Plan can now be healed/ubercharged by Medics, however the healing rate is slowed to 10% normal as of the Tough Break update, so feel free to uber them.

 

Sniper

July 7 patch notes for the schnoiper:

  • Cozy Camper
    • Now requires a full charge to gain flinch resistance
  • The Sydney Sleeper
    • When fully charged, or when making a headshot, now applies Jarate in a radius
    • Scoped shots now extinguish teammates
  • The Cleaner’s Carbine
    • Removed hidden +10% damage taken multiplier while under the effects

Let’s go for a deep analysis on the “Piss Rifle”, the retooled Sydney Sleeper:

  1. It’s main drawback is that it does not inflict a critical hit with a headshot. Losing this threat makes you rely on teamwork more, but then again you role is support, not attack or defense.
  2. The Sydney’s main advantage is that it inflicts the Jarate debuff, causing mini-crits to the affected target. The effect lasts from 2-8 seconds, so you can give a short debuff if you bodyshot them as soon as you scope in.
  3. Now that random damage spread defaults to OFF on Valve servers, the Piss Rifle deals 50-150 dmg, and from 68-203 dmg mini crit (Jarate) dmg. Most enemies from medium range will die if you can bodyshot them twice in close succession.
  4. But now, the Sydney Sleeper applies Jarate in an area around your target when you successfully hit with a fully charged shot! If you Jarate multiple enemies, you have 8 seconds to choose your next target(s). This has already shown to be very effective when defending a cart or dropped flag. Landing a fully-scoped shot in a tight pack of enemies can help one of your allies take out the entire group with ease.
  5. Moreover, you can extinguish targets from range with a scoped Sydney shot of any duration, lending more ability to your Support role to help your teammates.

Don’t forget that Snipers can still perfectly aim for a headshot when equipped with the backpack-looking Cozy Camper secondary. Now they only gain flinch resistance when their Charge gauge is full, so a Charging sniper will only wait a moment anyway to gain the steadiness needed. Harassing a Sniper with flames or bleeding is much less effective when they’re equipped with the steadying, health regenerating Cozy Camper.

The Cleaner’s Carbine removed a slight damage buff that wasn’t mentioned in the gun’s description. It should now work as described.

 

Heavy

Here’s the recent changes for the Heavy:

  • Natascha and Brass Beast
    • 20% damage resistance now only applies when spun up and below 50% max health
  • Huo-Long Heater
    • Added -10% damage
    • Added +25% increased damage vs. burning players
    • Reduced ammo drain to -4/sec (from -6)
    • Reduced pulse damage from Ring of Fire to 12 (from 15) due to increased damage vs. burning
  • Buffalo Steak Sandvich
    • Fixed “damage taken” multiplier accidentally being +10%, instead of the listed +25%

Pubbing players have dusted off their Nataschas and brought them to battle, enjoying both a slowing effect on enemies they hit, and some damage resistance while firing. That damage resistance now only applies after they’ve lost half their health, but it is often still enough to just barely outlast a single attacking enemy.

The Huo-Long Heater now does a slightly less damage per hit (4-12 dmg per bullet as opposed to 4.5-13.5), and a little less damage with its Ring of Fire. That said, the Chinese Fire Dragon Gun was more buffed than nerfed with these changes, because not only does the gun burn up ammo less quickly, but it will deal more damage to burning players (5-15 dmg per bullet, or 50-600 dmg per second)!

huo long

A point-blank enemy will ignite on fire when you’re spun up, allowing you to mow them down even faster and using less ammo. Pyro allies can assist you in taking down tough enemies like buffed medic targets by burning them from range. Now, the Huo-Long is even more viable in Mann vs. Machine mode, since those robots can burn, so Pyro-Heavy and multiple Heavy teams can further increase damage dealt to take out the bigger robots with ease.

The Buffalo Steak Sandvich, like a few other weapons, had a misprint in the item description, and it was fixed. You only take an extra 10% damage, not an extra 25%, which explains why you seemed harder to kill during a food frenzy than you should have been.

 

Spy

July 7th patch changes for the schpee:

  • Base
    • Max speed increased to 320 (from 300)
  • Enforcer
    • Attacks pierce resist and absorb effects from all sources

Spy is now 107% the “base” speed, up from 100%. Here’s how he measures up now in speed:

  • Base speed of all classes, before equipment or other modifiers:
    • Scout: 133% speed
    • Spy, Medic: 107% speed
    • Pyro, Engineer, Sniper: 100% speed
    • (old Spy: 100% speed)
    • Demoman: 93% speed
    • Soldier: 80% speed
    • Heavy: 77% speed

So now, the Spy is as fast as a Medic, and only the Scout is faster than you in base speed. Right away, you’ll have an easier time catching up to Pyros, Engineers, and Snipers to backstab them. And you’ll have a slightly better chance of getting away after you’ve been discovered. Since the Big Earner gives a speed boost on kill, you’ll move even faster after a backstab now.

But also, you’ll be more effective disguising as a Medic, since you’ll move as fast as they do, when it was previously obvious that a slower-moving Medic was a disguised Spy.

enforcer

The Enforcer now gains the ability to “pierce resist and absorb effects”… Here’s what that means:

  1. Ignores bullet resistance granted by the Vaccinator, whether by its uber or by its bullet-specific shield.
    • This means the Vaccinator doesn’t protect against your critical hits also! Normally it nullifies all mini-crit and critical hit bonus damage.
    • However, the Enforcer deals no random critical hits.
  2. Ignores bullet resistance granted by Heavies firing the Brass Beast or Natascha.
  3. Ignores bullet resistance granted by Snipers using the Darwin’s Danger Shield.
  4. Ignores resistance granted by Spies’ cloaks such as the Invis Watch, Cloak and Dagger, and Dead Ringer.
    1. Cloaked spies get 20% resistance to all damage. The Enforcer ignores this damage resistance.
    2. A hit will trigger the Dead Ringer’s cloak, but you will deal standard Enforcer damage.
      • Normally, a triggered Feign Death will provide 65% to 20% damage resistance from all sources, scaled gradually over the first 3 seconds, and has no bump shimmer during that time. The Enforcer ignores this as well.
  5. Does not pierece invincibility, such as that granted by a Medi Gun ubercharge, or a Scout’s Bonk! Atomic Punch.

So use the Enforcer against specific enemy combinations, like if you’re going against enemy Spies or trying to take out a Vaccinator Medic.

 

Pyro

July 7th patch notes for the Pyro:

  • All Flamethrowers
    • Added: Direct damage reduces Medi Gun healing and resist shield effects by 25%
      • Medics hear a “healing interrupted” sound when this is happening to their heal target
  • The Manmelter
    • Removed (hidden) 20% fire rate penalty

All of the Pyro’s primary weapons have gained a new ability: Directly burning the healing target of a Medic reduces healing by 25%! Also, damage reduction granted by the Vaccinator or Demoman Shields is reduced by 25% as well, resulting a slight increase in damage. This doesn’t affect afterburn (if any), nor does it affect damage you deal with secondaries or melees. It also doesn’t pierce the fire immunity granted by the Spy’s Spycicle.

Flamethrower1

This change will make it slightly easier for a Pyro to kill a Medic’s healing target, although that will still be rather difficult at times. This ability will also help Pyros in MvM destroy the larger Robots with pocket Medics.

The Manmelter change speeds it up to fire at the same rate as the Flare Gun. This text was mistakenly omitted in previous patches, like some other changes, so now the Manmelter fires as it says it does.

 

Medic

July 7th patch notes for Herr Doktor:

  • Base
    • All Mediguns allow the Medic to match the speed of their heal target
  • Quick Fix
    • ÜberCharge rate reduced to +15% (from +25%)[3]
  • Overdose
    • Increased movement speed bonus to +20% (from +10%)
    • Increased damage penalty to -15% (from -10%)
  • Dropped Mediguns
    • Stored ÜberCharge begins to decay over time after coming to rest

If you’re using your secondary medigun to heal a target, your move speed now matches your heal target’s current speed. You will gain and lose speed buffs and debuffs as they do, such as given by the Concheror. However, you do not gain the ability to leap ahead with a stickyjumping Demoman or a rocketjumping Soldier; that ability is still confined to the Quick Fix. As a Medic, only the Scout’s base speed is faster than yours; all this change serves to do is to grant you any movement speed bonus that your heal target gets, so that you can keep up with your patient so as to not break your healing beam.

The Overdose now does very slightly less damage (5-11 dmg per hit), and grants double the move speed bonus as before. It grants +2% move speed for each 10% of Uber gauge filled, up to a maximum of 20% (which will make you slightly faster than a Scout). However, the Overdose must be deployed (the active weapon) for you to gain this speed bonus. Switch to it to run away or to catch up with a heal target.

In case you didn’t know, dropped mediguns still contain the ubercharge that they had when they were dropped! If you know that a Medic had a full Ubercharge saved when they die, regardless of which side, let your team know the location of the dropped weapon, so that one of your Medics can come and pick up the weapon and its filled gauge! However, the Ubercharge gauge will now drain over time, so be quick about retrieving it.  If you drop a fully charged medigun, you might be able to salvage some of its charge if you get can quickly retrieve the weapon.

 

Demoman

July 7th patch notes for the Black One Eyed Scotsman:

  • Base
    • All boots now require a shield to activate any move speed bonus listed on the item
  • The Iron Bomber
    • Decreased the fuse time to 1.4 seconds (from 2.0)
  • The Quickiebomb Launcher
    • Increased charge time reduction to -70% (from -50%)
    • Increased damage bonus for (max) charged shots to +35% (from +25%)
    • Increased clip size penalty to -50% (from -25%)
    • Removed “Stickybombs fizzle 4 seconds after landing”
  • The Sticky Jumper
    • Updated model/materials and sound

The change to the Demo’s Bootlegger/Ali Baba’s Wee Booties regards the 10% move speed bonus they grant. This bonus is disabled unless the Demoman’s loadout also includes a shield, such as the Chargin’ Targe. This is to prevent a Demo wielding stickybomb launcher (or its variants) from being granted additional move speed, as well as further increasing their stickyjumping range.

See, a loadout of Bootlegger + Eyelander would make for an incredibly fast non-charging Demoknight. Before this change, the Demoman could achieve a 136% base move speed after 4+ heads are collected, which is faster than a Scout’s base speed. Coupled with either a Sticky Jumper (for more maneuverability) or a stickybomb launcher… well, it’d be like a one-jump Scout with more health and a stickybomb launcher of their choice! So now you have to grab a shield and lose the launcher if you want speed free of Charging (pun intentional). This is a necessary nerf.

quickiebombThe Quickiebomb Launcher now does more damage, faster, but you have to reload more often. Its stickies now arm in 0.5 seconds, making them more useful than ever for detonating in midair: if you’re at even elevation that your opponent and you’re aiming at their head height, trying detonating them about even with their knees. (0.5 seconds is the tick-time of afterburn, by the way, so imagine that for timing.)

You can also long-range “snipe” more effectively: It only takes one second (instead of 4 seconds for the stock Stickybomb Launcher) to fill the charge gauge by holding the primary fire button down. Release the button as soon as the weapon reaches its target for an effective harassment tool against snipers or tight groups of enemies from range.

Better yet, the Quickiebomb Launcher’s projectiles no longer fizzle away, so you can use them for effective area denial traps just like the other secondaries! Just watch your clip: you can only load 4 stickies at a time, at it takes three full seconds to reload it. They’re still -15% less damaging that stock stickies, but at 51-122 base damage (as opposed to 60-144), they’re still very effective at killing.

 

Engineer

July 7th patch notes for the man with 8 hard science Ph.Ds.:

  • Base
    • Level 1 teleporters now cost 50 metal (previously 125)
  • Widowmaker
    • Damage increased +10% when attacking the same target as your sentry
  • Eureka Effect
    • Reduced “50% less metal from Dispensers and Pickups” to 20%
    • Added “Teleporters cost 50% less metal”
  • The Short Circuit
    • Base projectile attack is -10 metal (hit or miss) and then add -5 metal for each projectile destroyed (sometimes a buff, sometimes a nerf)
  • The Pomson(sic)
    • Fixed an exploit with shooting through your own buildings
    • Increased close-range damage to 72 (from 62)
    • Reduced long-range damage to 32 (from 42)
    • Updated projectile impact sound

That’s right: a teleport now costs only 50 metal to build (or only 25 metal with an Eureka Effect)!. A sentry can also be built (at 130 metal) before having to go fetch more metal, allowing an Engineer to get a nest up and running faster. It also means a level 1 Dispenser’s first dispensation of metal is all you need to build an teleporter exit. Building teleporters quickly helps allies get back to the battlefield sooner, giving you a numbers advantage in combat.

Note: The metal gibs of destroyed teleporters are now worth less metal, to compensate for their reduced cost. Going back to the Gun Mettle update, mini-sentry gibs no longer provide metal.

Pomson

The Pomson got a slight rework. First of all, it turns out that the laser projectile was not intended to hit multiple times, and has been changed to compensate. Also, you can no longer hide behind your dispenser or sentry to shoot enemies.

Now it deals 32-72 damage, and that 32 damage is excellent for long range harassment (much better than the 22 damage of your Pistol). It still erases up to 10% of a Medic’s ubercharge gauge when hit, or up to 20% of a Spy’s cloak gauge when hit, with less meter erasure over distance. And the Pomson projectile can’t be deflected. Did you know you can use it to light allied Sniper arrows on fire?

 

Full Patch Notes: July 9, 2016

  • Fixed the Strange Filter: Competitive tool not describing itself properly after being applied to an item
  • Fixed the Jackpot! PASS Time achievement not tracking wins
  • Updated Mannpower Mode to use 7 captures per round on matchmaking servers (was 3)
  • Updated ConVar zoom_sensitivity_ratio so its value is saved across sessions and it can be adjusted in Competitive Mode

Full Patch Notes: July 8, 2016

  • Removed the abandonment penalty for Competitive Mode
  • Players are only required to have a single mode selected before queuing
  • Fixed a dedicated server crash caused by projectiles from the Pomson 6000 and the Righteous Bison
  • Fixed being able to damage yourself to gain Hype while using The Soda Popper
  • Changed how much metal destroyed objects drop and fixed destroyed teleporters dropping more metal than intended
  • Fixed the Bonesaw not working properly while using viewmodel minmode
  • Fixed the Spy and Engineer not being able to equip the Prinny Machete

 

 

Expect another major update to be in the middle of December, if not before! Valve has been consistently providing game rebalances in early July and mid December.

Also, TF2 Birthday Mode is every August 23rd, so see you then!

[N] Obey

Newbs’ News for May 22, 2016

Posted on: May 22nd, 2016 by Obey

Lots going on now! The short version:

  1. TF2Newbs’ 2Fort Contest runs the entire month of June
    • Player with most active playtime for June wins an unusual hat
    • First player to first reach 30,000 and 50,000 points will win 10 keys each
    • Two server-starting players on #04 eligible to win metal or hats each day
    • Three server-starting players on #04 also eligible to win a key each week.
  2. HLStats reset June 1st
  3. LMAOBOX hack users successfully banned by VAC
  4. Plenty of Newbs are playing the Overwatch beta
  5. Terraria patch 1.3.1 is now live
  6. Steam Summer Sale 2016 runs from June 23rd to July 4th

1. TF2Newbs’ 2Fort Contest Starts June 1st

TF2Newbs’ six 24/7 2Fort servers (#01, #04, #05, #09, #19, #21) are hosting a series of contests during the month of June, with monthly, weekly, and daily prizes! See the forum post for questions and more information.

 

Monthly Points Race

TF2Newbs’ six 24/7 2Fort servers (#01, #04, #05, #09, #19, #21) will host a month-long points contest!

scout

The first player to reach a total of 30,000 points will win 10 keys!

The first player to reach a total of 50,000 points will also win 10 keys! (The player who wins the 30k prize is ineligible for the 50k prize.)

Note: These rewards are measured by HLStats’ points system, not the TF2 client points. Follow this link to see how points are awarded.

hats etc.

Longest Playtime Award

The player who has been actively playing for the most time on TF2Newbs’ 24/7 2Fort servers while HLStats is enabled (that is, a minimum of 4 players) for the entire month of June will win an unusual hat! The hat to be won will be announced at a later date.

 

Weekly Achievement Contests

Each week, three additional stats contests will be announced for achievements, such as Headshot Kills, Amputator Kills, or Buildings Destroyed. A little bit like a week-long Contract, the person with the highest number of points scored for that goal during the week will win. One Mann Co. Key will be awarded to each other the three winners (maximum one key per player, per week).

Note that this contest counts all credit across all five TF2Newbs servers for the entire week. “Weeks” in this case start from Mondays at midnight PDT through the next Monday at midnight PDT.

 

#04 Server Starter Awards

Server #04 will feature daily prizes awarded to random players who jump in to the server whenever an “server starting” announcement is made.

Once the server start announcement is made, the next time the server maintains at least 8 vs. 8 players for several minutes (not counting spectators), then admin {N} Wife will note a list of players credit with helping that day. Anyone in Spectate at the time the list is generated will be disqualified from the list of eligible players for this award that day.

soldierdemo

From that list, two random winners will be chosen. The prizes on weekdays are one refined metal, and the prizes on Saturdays on Sundays are a random hat!

Also each week, the three players who earn the most server starting credits for that week will earn a prize of one Mann Co. Key each.

Admins may give away other prizes at their sole discretion. |N| Koans has said that he may give away Steam games to those who start #05 on their own initiative.

 

Eligible Servers for the Contests

Copy-and-paste these commands into your TF2 console to jump straight to the server. Don’t forget to favorite them for later!

connect s1.tf2newbs.com 
connect s4.tf2newbs.com
connect s5.tf2newbs.com
connect s9.tf2newbs.com
connect s19.tf2newbs.com
connect s21.tf2newbs.com

 

2. Stats Reset June 1st

reset stats

The HLStatsX software, which counts server-side points and ranks users, will be reset on all servers on June 1st. Everyone will be reset to the base 1,000 points. This coincides with the latest TF2Newbs contest.

 

3. LMAOBOX Hack Users Banned By VAC

We’re all tired of having servers quickly empty when some jerk enters with an obvious hack: a whirlwindy-stormy audio, headshotting, shooting through walls, and running around indestructibly. The admins of TF2Newbs ban these hackers, a thankless, sometimes time-consuming task. And now, we can rejoice, as one of the worst scourges of the virtual world (especially Valve servers!) is now effectively blocked by Valve’s VAC system.

fry-can-t-tell-meme-generator-can-t-tell-if-bad-at-game-or-fighting-hackers-524037

PC Gamer reports that the LMAOBOX cheat is now detectable by VAC, Valve’s Anti-Cheat system, causing current and recent users to be permanently VAC-banned (meaning they can’t play on any Valve-owned server of any Valve game on that account). Such users are typically unwelcome on TF2Newbs’ servers also. Heck, the cheat has been so pervasive that spamming chat about the use of such a cheat is a bannable offense on Newbs’ servers, Skial, and other TF2 communities.

You should never use this hack, especially since the recently publicized source code has been found to be riddled with malware. Friends don’t let friends use LMAOBOX.

 

4. Got Overwatch?

It comes out Tuesday, May 24th, and it may just be the next coming of Team Fortress 2. We’re discussing it on the forums.

What is Overwatch? It’s a first-person shooter with character classes and short-term objectives, much like Team Fortress 2. Overwatch is by Blizzard, the creators the Diablo, StarCraft, and WarCraft franchises. Overwatch isn’t available on Steam, and is exclusive to Battle.Net, which is Blizzard’s proprietary gaming service. Nor is it free-to-play; the standard retail price of the game is US$59.99.

overwatch_versus_sky_wallpaper___1920_x_1080_by_mac117-d85xg5b

Overwatch is also a creative license, with digital comics and animated shorts–gee, also like TF2! Here’s a YouTube demo of some of the classes.

 

5. Terraria Patch 1.3.1 is Now Live!

Click here for the full patch notes. Gamepedia is very buggy, so here’s a summary of the PC version update:

  • Lots of upgrades to the wiring system, including wiring gates (AND, NOR, XAND, etc.), actuators, tools that can remotely and wirelessly trip actuators, and more.
  • Lots of new statues added, including many of the mobs/monsters in the game, that can be attached to wires to spawn their respective mobs.
  • Controller support for PC version.

Terraria, the 2D Minecraft-like digging and crafting game that just hit its 5th birthday, got its first patch since its mega-patch last August. Since modders continue to experiment with Terraria’s limits, developer ReDigit continues to apply patches that help with specific objectives. In this case, a logic system has been implemented in the wiring system to allow, for instance, a door to open only if two switches are both opened, for traps to be affixed to walls and ceilings, and to have remote controls and projectile-triggered buttons to trip your wired masterpieces. Geeky stuff to be sure, kind of like those mana farmers in the Minecraft modding community.

Terraria is an action game for US$9.99 with cute visuals and a robust crafting system, worth the price even when it’s not on sale…

 

6. Steam Summer Sale 2016 is Soon!

Speaking of sales, numerous reports link a source that seems to confirm that the twice-a-year Steam sale will occur at the end of June [June 23rd to July 4th, to be specific]. This is a good time to buy games, as most games sold by Steam go on sale at some point during the bonanza, often from 33% to 75% off. Terraria for $2.49 (75% off) is common, and any game that is at least a year old is often found for 50% off. Flash sales of perhaps twelve-hour duration feature the best sales, so users check in frequently for the favorite games.

Hail Gaben! (Please note that this is a different video from the old one.)

 

[N] Obey

TF2 Update: 7/8/14

Posted on: July 8th, 2014 by Obey

According to |N| Octo, #3 is currently assigned to run pl_cactuscanyon, and #16 is assigned rd_asteroid.  This morning, each server was empty with a different map queued up.  I’m not sure if Octo took them down, or voting or other methods changed the map.  Stay tuned — [N] Obey

Here’s the summary:

  1. Launch of the Mann Co. Beta Maps, an Early Access program
    • Now hosted on Newbs’ Servers #16 and #17 #3!!
  2. A tweak to the game mechanics on Heavy weapons: Winding up via holding the secondary attack now counts toward reducing the one-second penalty
    • In other words, you can fire the weapon, hold secondary attack to keep it spun up without firing, then resume firing without again suffering the one-second damage ramp up penalty.
    • Also, you can simply start spinning up early, so that when you begin firing, you will suffer less or none of the ramp up penalty.
  3. Reminder: Bread Boxes cannot be crafted after tomorrow (7/9/14)
  4. Fixed some item skins and item equip regions
  5. (Added 7/9/14) In case you missed it: This comic will summarize the ongoing Team Fortress 2 story!
  6. (Added 7/10/14) Includes the 7/9/14 patch notes, of fixes to the two beta maps. I posted these after the 7/8/14 patch notes.

 

Mann Co. Beta Maps!  …Do What Now?!

The Official TF2 Blog informed us today that they want the greater Steam community to play some undertested beta maps and provide feedback.  Sound like something you’re interested in? Because they are live on the TF2Newbs servers now!

Server #16 is now Asteroid, a robot destruction beta map: launching a new game mode!  In robot destruction mode, players compete to destroy the other teams’ harmless enemy robots and/or fetch an intelligence briefcase to earn points, unlocking more waves of robots until a winning point total is reached by one team first.

rd_asteroid

rd_asteroid

Server #17 #03 is now Cactus Canyon, a payload beta map with two short stages, instead of one long stage like all payload maps before this one.

Server #17 is currently 24/7 pl_badwater, which is what server #03 had been.

You can join these TF2 servers by enabling the drop-down console, and typing one of the following to join:

server16.tf2newbs.com
server17.tf2newbs.com
server3.tf2newbs.com

Got feedback?  Go here for server 16 or server 3. They are beta maps, so they’re somewhat unfinished and may end up being tweaked or overhauled.

 

Full Patch Notes: 7/8/14

Undocumented changes

 

Full Patch Notes: 7/9/11

Patch 1

  • Updated rd_asteroid
    • Fixed incorrect respawn times for Blu attackers
    • Fixed missing kill triggers in pits
    • Added blockers to starting gates to prevent engineers from building outside the base before the round starts
    • Added medium health kit near large ammo pack at the front doors of each base
    • Removed the ability to create buildings in the lasers
    • Removed chair prop from vent access room near vault
  • Updated pl_cactuscanyon
    • Prevented players from shooting over the fences by the mid building in stage 2
    • Prevented players from shooting between spawns in stage 2
    • Fixed a bug which prevented Blu team from winning upon a successful capture
    • Fixed players getting under the terrain near the first Blu Spawn in stage 1

Patch 2

  • Updated rd_asteroid to fix another problem with respawn times for Blu attackers