TF2 Beta

[James24]

If you pre-order the orange box on steam (£25) on the 17th the TF2 beta is coming out.

Was gonna get it on steam anyway, this seals the deal.

http://http://www.steampowered.com/v/index.php?area=news

[DarthS]

Dammit! Too many betas! :mad:

I havent finnished Bioshock as it is, plus ive hardly got started on Opposing Fronts.

Will there be a different deal for people with HL2+Ep1 already?

(ps; too many http's).

[Flufball]

I'm sure they said something to that extent Darth, but I think Valve are shrewed enough to market it just for this one as A: It gains them more money and B: It is more likely to drag in new people as well as old fans.

[PariaH]

last i heard you get the honor of being able to give away keys for hl2 /ep1 if you already own them since all that junk is bundled with the orange box. Yay for not actually giving people that own them already any discount for re-bundled titles.

[Flufball]

It actualy worked out cheaper for me to do this because of that, as I need to buy a friend a gift, so HL2+Ep1 = gift sorted. :p

[PariaH]

did anyone hand over money to get into the beta? i was tempted, but the whole re-buying games i already own has put me off until i see just how good tf2 is going to be.

[GuardianAnge1]

once i get my pc setup i guess ill dish out since i never got ep1

[Fisheh]

This game is fucking ACE tbh!!! having soo much fun... my fav class atm is engineer.. ill post some screens in a bit..

[Flufball]

Well, I'm enjoying it, for what its worth.

[Kampf]

the game is not that good.
it gets boring fast, and the beta crashes every 13 minuts

[James24]

the game is not that good.
it gets boring fast, and the beta crashes every 13 minuts

nah it is bril, now ive got it working my game hasnt crashed at all.

[Flufball]

I think it depends on the map rotation - if the server rotates between the different map types it has a veriaty to it, if the server sits on the same map 24/7 it gets a bit dull.

I've not crashed once by the way... I have more trouble running Fortress Forever.

[Fisheh]

ive not found it boring at all.. maybe cause the server ive been playing on rotates through all the available maps.. have lots of fun.. prefer engineer, scout and soldier as my 3 classes i switch between.

and its not crashed once for my kampf.. looks like something on your end specific to your PC... might wanna check it out.

[Kampf]

i fixed it, i tryed to play as engenear, but i really suck as engenear.

[Fisheh]

engineer isn't about killing ppl to get your points... its about setting up your turret at the best place and letting it get you kills and providing the teleporters/dispensers where the fighting is toughest..

[Flufball]

Yea, and if you play as Engy Set up a dispenser first, as it provides a way of refilling your metal without having to search for boxes and dead people.

[Fusion]

I was playing it last night. My steam id thingy is FusionReaktor (the same as my xbox live id).

[DarthS]

Mine is DarthS (natch).

[Fisheh]

I was playing it last night. My steam id thingy is FusionReaktor (the same as my xbox live id).

unable to find this name on steam..

[Kampf]

unable to find this name on steam..

i swear it exists, it's not like a faked phonenumber you get from woman, or firls in your case.

[Fusion]

unable to find this name on steam..

http://steamcommunity.com/id/FusionReaktor

[Surion]

http://steamcommunity.com/id/cafeine

TF2 pwnz ;)

[Hovis]

Have to say it completely gobbled up this evening, and it's now 4am, so, erm, YIKES.

I'm not going to stick with it though. Truth be told I'm not massively sold on it.

The visuals are perfect, can't fault them.
The sound is fine, can't fault it.
The gameplay is, well, busted. It's fun as a deathmatch game, in fact it's a hell of a lot of fun as a deathmatch game. But it's meant to be a team-based area domination or CTF game, and it's not very good in that regard. I mean it's good, but it's not great.

Definitely worth getting, and I'm sure it'll be a massive smash monster hit, but after a very long evening of play I just don't feel like I've enjoyed it much. It just feels a bit unfulfilling.

[Flufball]

Bread I have to say last night was the most disapointing night of TF2 I've had, by the end of it I was so frustrated that I had a splitting headache.

Played it this morning on the other hand, found a good server with good teamplay and it was brilliant fun.

I think that it is sadly going to be one of those games where it is only as good as the server you play on and the people you play with.

[T10]

I have to agree with fluf here. For some reason we spent last night having rotten luck in picking servers. In the other two or three nights I've played I've not found nearly as many servers like those. Play a good map (like the one with the three points to defend with the radar thingy at C) with a decent team and it's a blast.

[GuardianAnge1]

same with CS though. If you're playing with friends it's fun but in the end it comes down to the quality of server

[Hovis]

I think it's a much better class-based deathmatch game than it is a team game. If you play it like that it's fine. Fuck the objectives, pick a spy, stab fuckers up and it's all the fun in the world. As far as the actual main drive of the game though, capturing things, it's too easy to pick engineer and park yourself between a fully tooled up gun and a dispenser.

[Flufball]

I think it's a much better class-based deathmatch game than it is a team game. If you play it like that it's fine. Fuck the objectives, pick a spy, stab fuckers up and it's all the fun in the world. As far as the actual main drive of the game though, capturing things, it's too easy to pick engineer and park yourself between a fully tooled up gun and a dispenser.

Not if theres a decent spy, all the spy has to do is plant a sapper on the turret and either stab you in the back or shoot you if you've spotted him, as long as the sapper is still on the turret it is disabled and won't shoot back.

[Hovis]

Not if theres a decent spy, all the spy has to do is plant a sapper on the turret and either stab you in the back or shoot you if you've spotted him, as long as the sapper is still on the turret it is disabled and won't shoot back.

Been there, tried it. If you run up and sap a gun the engineer can have the sap knocked off before you can kill him, and even if you do then kill him the gun will take you out, and he has a shorter run back to his station than you do to the guns. You can make that work sometimes, sure, but not if the engy is sitting literally right on the gun and camping the hell out of it.

Personally I just think dispensers shouldn't dispense metal.

[DarthS]

Well, I think guns should fire on a limited Arc. In the original it used to be all about positioning; finding the right spot with the right coverage so it wouldn't be flanked. Now the gun fires on anything that a friendly team-member has a line of sight too. An engineer can camp the gun and you won't get near it. If you go for the gun the engineer will shoot you, and if you go for the engineer the gun will shoot you.

Also, the Pyro is desperately underpowered, almost useless. The gun seems to have a near point-blank range, making it pointless in most situations. Most of the other classes can back-peddle as fast as the Pyro can run forward.

[PariaH]

and thats why he has a shotgun

[DarthS]

A shotgun doesn't exactly have great range either...

[Hovis]

The Pyro is good as an alternative to the demo man, because he can drive the enemy away by setting fire to a bunch of them. He causes panic and damage over time, which can really upset people. HOWEVER he doesn't do this as well as the demo man or heavy weapons guy so it's mostly pointless. Fucks spies over a treat though. I've no idea why they call it an offensive class.

[Flufball]

Oh and the Soldier's rockets outrange the Sentry Gun's so unless they've been shoved in a corridor/coronor (in which case Demo Men can get them) then a soldier can kill them without the turret shooting back, which is a real pain if he's teamed up with a medic.

Soldier/Medic or Demoman/Medic combinations are far more useful and versitle for attacking strongholds than a heavy/medic combo.

[Flufball]

Well, I'm a lazy sod, so I'll just link a post that one of the chappies from Nuclear Dawn wrote (http://www.nuclear-dawn.net/forum/showpost.php?p=70579&postcount=28) for you. Theres a bit more in there about attacking/defending combinations, but it coveres the basics for why the Medic/Soldier combination is better than a heavy one.

[Hovis]

A demoman can't take out a gun/engy/dispenser combo. If I'm an engineer I can keep a gun in working order no matter what a demo man does. Ditto for soldiers. You can't kill an attended weapon. You might be able to do it with two guys, but if you have to double up that frees up the enemy.

[Flufball]

Bread, I've sat by a fully upgraded turret with a dispenser full to the brim behind me repairing a turret only to have it taken down by soldiers simply because they can use their rockets to kill the sentry at a range where it can't shoot back even fully upgraded. It's a real bastard because it means you always have to think about where you place your turret.

Soldiers can fire faster than you can repair at points, it takes a while with just the one but they can keep chipping away and slowly but surely it will die, that said you'd need a long timer for that, but it can happen. Two Soldiers can take down a turret in a few seconds on the other hand, as can a sniper who is fully charged.

You can't kill them because they are out of range of the turret and you have to spend your time repairing, so unless you have a dispenser sat right by the turret it will die. A sensible Soldier will snipe (yes snipe, with the rocket launcher) either the dispenser or the engineer if this is the case (assuming its possible and the Engineer's not a bastard hiding round a cornor.

While its true that that means there are two people free, when you run up a turret it's normaly guarding where you want to go anyway, or in a real bastard place to hamstring your team when your not looking.

My point is that although up close on their own they don't stand a chance, when they are combined with a medic they can kill the bastard things faster than a heavy, and if you've ubercharged them then they can go in and open up a hole in a stronghold better than a heavy can. Soldiers are good at turret destruction and Demomen are good at all-around-carnage.

[T10]

Pyro's are actually quite good if you use them properly, Darth. If you read 'offensive' as 'charge forwards and hold down fire to get kills' then the pyro isn't the class for you. You need to make sure you're engaging at close range, rather than down a corridor or something. Also, the trick is to know when to swtich weapons. If you flame 'em and they pull away, don't keep flaming the air in front of you, switch to shotgun and blast 'em.

[Hovis]

Bread, I've sat by a fully upgraded turret with a dispenser full to the brim behind me repairing a turret only to have it taken down by soldiers simply because they can use their rockets to kill the sentry at a range where it can't shoot back even fully upgraded. It's a real bastard because it means you always have to think about where you place your turret.

Soldiers can fire faster than you can repair at points, it takes a while with just the one but they can keep chipping away and slowly but surely it will die, that said you'd need a long timer for that, but it can happen. Two Soldiers can take down a turret in a few seconds on the other hand, as can a sniper who is fully charged.

You can't kill them because they are out of range of the turret and you have to spend your time repairing, so unless you have a dispenser sat right by the turret it will die. A sensible Soldier will snipe (yes snipe, with the rocket launcher) either the dispenser or the engineer if this is the case (assuming its possible and the Engineer's not a bastard hiding round a cornor.

While its true that that means there are two people free, when you run up a turret it's normaly guarding where you want to go anyway, or in a real bastard place to hamstring your team when your not looking.

My point is that although up close on their own they don't stand a chance, when they are combined with a medic they can kill the bastard things faster than a heavy, and if you've ubercharged them then they can go in and open up a hole in a stronghold better than a heavy can. Soldiers are good at turret destruction and Demomen are good at all-around-carnage.

Only a knob puts a turret in the open. Most maps have an corridor or similar area you can lay down total pwnage. God forbid that there are multiple engineers on duty too, cos two or three in a key area and that's it, job done, everybody else, at least defensively, can go home.

[DarthS]

Oh come on T10, i aint that daft.

What bugs me is that you can only really use the flamer at point blank. It should have 'some' range, even if the projecting speed is low.

[Flufball]

Only a knob puts a turret in the open. Most maps have an corridor or similar area you can lay down total pwnage. God forbid that there are multiple engineers on duty too, cos two or three in a key area and that's it, job done, everybody else, at least defensively, can go home.

I'm not talking about the open, I'm talking about the maps where even when in a cornor/corridor it is still exposed at a distence, gravelpit (if I'm thinking of the correct map) is a prime example of this.

That said, a decent combination of a Medic and Demo/Soldier (depending on the circumstances) can murder turrets, add in an ubercharge rush and they just die quickly, as can a cunning spy, although not as much as it relies on the other team not paying attention for them.

As it is, after almost ten hours of engy, I've switched to medic and soldier, both of which I am enjoying.

[DarthS]

What happens when you've got 3 turrets all pointing at the same chokepoint?

[Hovis]

What happens when you've got 3 turrets all pointing at the same chokepoint?

Nothing gets past. Specially if they are manned. You can't even sap them in that case. I've seen this in action too. Two turrets in a corridor is all you need really.

[Fisheh]

A demoman can't take out a gun/engy/dispenser combo. If I'm an engineer I can keep a gun in working order no matter what a demo man does. Ditto for soldiers. You can't kill an attended weapon. You might be able to do it with two guys, but if you have to double up that frees up the enemy.

if a demo-mans grenade launcher hits you its a 1shot kill... if it hits the ground you can normally take a few... but if the demo man is any good hes gonna get atleast 3-4 at a minimum grenades off before hes killed and that will kill you and probably the turrent too..

[Hovis]

if a demo-mans grenade launcher hits you its a 1shot kill... if it hits the ground you can normally take a few... but if the demo man is any good hes gonna get atleast 3-4 at a minimum grenades off before hes killed and that will kill you and probably the turrent too..

That's why you stand next to a dispenser. You can dodge the worst of the splash, stay healing up, and keep wrenching away.

Meanwhile I played another session of TF2 last night and had a fucking horrible time of it. Really not happy with it at the moment. That said I was playing on a very good server, as in it's a mate's clan and they are awesome. I'm starting to think that Crysis might be the way forward, though I've heard that QWET is actually much better on release than the demo and beta seemed.

[Flufball]

Nothing gets past. Specially if they are manned. You can't even sap them in that case. I've seen this in action too. Two turrets in a corridor is all you need really.

Ubercharge with a good medic or demo man *can* kill this, but they have to be good, otherwise they just get turret pushed into the wall and then absolutly plastered when the ubercharge runs out.

Usually the ubercharge works as a great distraction to sneak a spy in while all the fireworks are going off.

[Hovis]

Ubercharge and heavy weapon guy will do it too I've noticed. I hate to use the term DPS, but I do think the heavy weapon guy puts out a faster rate of damage on multiple targets at short range. I've seen HWG/Medic combos take out three manned guns at close quarters. He wasn't ubercharged for all of the fight, but he didn't have to be.

[Flufball]

Ubercharge and heavy weapon guy will do it too I've noticed. I hate to use the term DPS, but I do think the heavy weapon guy puts out a faster rate of damage on multiple targets at short range. I've seen HWG/Medic combos take out three manned guns at close quarters. He wasn't ubercharged for all of the fight, but he didn't have to be.

Close Range HWG is ideal, but if you want to kill manned turrets while ubercharged Demomen and Soldiers are my prefered choice, they can kill individual turrets fast, but regardless of what you choose it relies on good team work.