The next big Team Fortress 2 update is almost here, and it’s a doozy. Players can’t decide if they love it or hate it.
Yesterday Valve announced the Gun Mettle update, which gives players who pay $US6 access to a three-month-long campaign of skill-based challenges which will earn them visually unique weapons. No two weapons will be alike, Valve claims. Each paint job will be at least “a little” different. Weapons will also come in six grades of rarity and carry various levels of wear and tear. There will likely be more campaigns in the future.
Starting to sound familiar? That’s because it’s eerily similar to the cosmetics-heavy weapon system in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. It’s given birth to a lively gun buying/selling/trading economy, a cornerstone of the modern Counter-Strike scene. Naturally, Valve would want to spread the wealth a little.
Also, with Valve-created TF2 content updates becoming a little less frequent, it seems like GabeN’s all-chef kitchen is trying to transition the game to a place where players — not Valve — keep some of the ingredients fresh. First they added a Workshop for custom maps, and now they have got a weapon economy (on top of the pre-existing hat economy we’re all oh-so-familiar with).
Now, you are probably thinking Some Things. Thing the first: “Six American dollars? But previous TF2 updates were free! Valve, I will remove my shirt, revealing my glorious mane of chest hair, and challenge you to fisticuffs.” First off, I’m glad you’re proud of your chest hair. Opinions vary on that stuff, but wear it proudly and no one can hurt you. Second, only the skill-based campaign costs money. There’s more to this update, and it’s all free.
The free portion of the update is actually pretty substantial, adding a new Valve map, three new community maps (including Snowplow, finally), the ability to test out new weapons by snatching them from corpses, and — most importantly — the most significant re-balancing the game’s seen in ages. Nearly every class has seen significant revisions — some nerfs, some buffs — many of which players have been wanting for quite a while.
Some changes are more… contentious than others:
The community reaction to the whole thing has been a bit strange. One contingent of fans is upset at Valve for, once again, focusing on cosmetics and economies over gameplay. Except… they’re fine-tuning gameplay a lot too, so it’s kinda tough to fault them here. Not only are there big balance changes, but the weapon pick-up mechanic opens up all sorts of new strategies for certain class loadouts — albeit with a risk of strategy-free chaos ruling the roost. Ideally, though, players will be able to be more reactive and adaptive, subbing out one weapon pairing for another on the fly, temporarily.
Other fans are unhappy because they feel like TF2 is getting hand-me-down Counter-Strike features. That I can kinda understand, but a) it seems like they have tailored the weapon system to fit TF2’s unique curves and contours, and b) it’s hardly the only thing this update’s packing.
Now, if that or the balance changes make the game suck, well, then complaints will be fully warranted. But as is, it seems like Valve struck a nice balance between side dishes and the main course. Players have been clamouring for something like this for quite a while, so these are exciting times. The update is set to drop later today. Are you gonna hop in and check it out?
Comments
14 responses to “Team Fortress 2 Is Becoming More Like Counter-Strike”
I jump on every 2-3 months for a match or 5 on 2fort or gold rush and then stop again. I don’t think I’ll notice too much really tbh. It is one of my favourite games though but it’s about time Valve came up with something new seeing as they’ve put out 2 (proper) games in the last 5 years (not counting CS:GO as a new game).
sounds like me. although i usually binge play it for a week or 2, then stop for some months. rinse and repeat.
“The next big Team Fortress 2 update is almost here, and it’s a doozy. Players can’t decide if they love it or hate it.”
No no, players with more then 1000 hours have dcided. And they hate it.
90% of the vetrans hate it.
They completely messed up the buffs and nerfs.
Stupid moves like this make me want to wait til over watch beta, then jump ship. And that’s coming from a guy with a decent inventory and enough hours to see it as crap.
I could care less to be honest. I just want that matchmaking they mentioned a month or so ago so I can finally get into some good matches.
How much less could you care?
He could care less than the effort needed to make that reply? He could care less to read the article? He could care less to even read the headline.
I understand that the phrase originally is “couldn’t care less” but “could care less” works too.
If I cared less, I wouldn’t be here 😛
Exactly!
Getting harder and harder to get a decent full game these days on OZ servers.
There’s a couple of Aussie servers called Smurfy that seems to attract good players and not the usual Valve server bs.
but if they fix the matchmaking, how will i know who my mum’s latest sexual conquest was last night?
Fair point that,
Unless, of course, they’re not swamped with players from Thailand,who think having an all spy team is a winning strategy in MvM.
Biggest mistake of those servers is that you cannot kick players off them, so you end up with retards crafting metal, whilst the base is getting swarmed with bots.
If there were more Smurfy servers, may not be as much of a problem, but they are prime targets for overseas players.
this game peaked at the alternate weapons that came with achievements. i’ve had almost no interest in playing it since all this shit started.