Huge map exploit and weapon balance update coming.

[DZComposer]

Valve has announced that they are working to update most of the stock maps to account for all of the weapons that have been added to the game.

 

Sorry, Ninjaneers, you seem to be the prime targets of these updates.

[LoneWolf]

Also probably for all of those times I sticky jumped between the top of a building and the map ceiling and spammed down. Damn.

[StarFoxfan-FUR_ever]

Is there any word on when the update will be released?

[DZComposer]

Today they posted more. They're also going to be re-balancing weapons.

Batallion's Backup will get buffed (deal damage to charge instead of take damage).

Dead Ringer is getting a nerf (taking damage while cloaked reduces cloak time).

Item sets are getting reworked as well to help players identify which bonuses another player has.

It seems Valve have finally realized that they broke this game and are finally going to attempt to fix it.

If they do this update right, I could find myself loving this game again.

[Vy'drach]

Please nerf sticky spam and the Shitney Sleeper. Doitdoitdoitdoitdoitdoit. Those two combined are 90% of the reason I quit playing TF2.

[Vy'drach]

I actually want them to nerf the damage of the Shitney Sleeper. The jarate isn't even a problem given that any of the other rifles can out do the Shitney Sleeper in terms of team play so long as someone knows how to aim. But anyway, the problem I have with the Shitney Sleeper is the "hurf durf quick-charge bodyshot."

 

But I doubt either of them will be nerfed, I'm just hoping.

[DZComposer]

go to control pannel then internet options

go to connections then LAN settings

untick Automatically detect settings

BOOM STEAM IS FASTER

Uhh, Steam uses webkit. That change won't do anything as it only affects IE.

Steam used to use IE back in the day, though, so you're probably reading old advice.

The way I've sped my steam downloads up is to set my download location to somewhere on the opposite side of the world than I am.

[Icy]

The update is here, FYI.

 

http://store.steampowered.com/news/11071/

 

Full info there.

 

That is... a really big update. 872MBs.

A lot of summer crate stuff for the 60+ items in this update.

 

Lots of weapon buffs and nerfs. Item set bonuses are history.

Quickfix got a nice buff. Powerjack and Winger changes are interesting...

 

Dozens of map exploits fixed.

 

Nice update. I'm looking forward to going and trying some of this out in action.

[psy_commando]

Well, oddly enough I followed his advice and I indeed noticed a difference for the better..

I'm guessing the proxy handling for the whole OS was probably built around IE or something

 

Also, it doesn't sound all that radical to me tbh.

I used to hate the dead ringer, but now I don't even care, cause I usually can track down where the spy will go (the nearest ammo / healthkit pack), and blow him up.

The sticky launcher is pretty annoying sometimes though, but I rarely stumble on a really good demoman.

 

I kinda curious what they're gonna to swap item sets bonuses for. Given that they said they'd give non gameplay affecting bonuses..

 

The only thing I really wish they'd nerf is facestabs, and lag compensation..

 

Though, I really, really, really like the idea of them making useless items useful ! Like the batallion backup ! (even the concheror is not very great)

I do have a little list of things that really need some improvement:

- Nessie nine, its literally a loose-loose weapon. And is just wasting space on my HDD !

- Pain train, I never saw anyone make something useful out of that thing..

- Winger, nobody ever uses it.. It was my first drop for some reasons, but I quickly found the stock pistol way better(before the pretty boy pocket pistol was out ).

- The cow mangler (its completely pathetic now, it got so many disadvantages for the negligible advantages it gives.. It has so much potential to be a really cool retro sci-fi weapon.. )

- The third degree is way too situationnal.. And since when are there medics in pubs ? XD

- The short circuit could use a slight little improvement to justify using it over the pistol, or even the wrangler.

- The vita-saw is kinda meh

- The solemn vow could maybe use a very slight improment

- Maybe giving a use to the smg could be a good thing ? Because usually when I snipe, enemies gets so close that I usually switch to melee, given its much more powerful than the smg. Or even better, jarate / bushwaka combo.

- The equaliser has been widely abandoned in favor of the escape plan as well..

 

I don't know what you guys think about those..

[psy_commando]

Edit:
Funnily enough no stock nerfs... Because everyone knows stock weapons cannot be OP..

Those are good ideas, maybe not perfect, but its a step in the right direction:

Short Circuit

• Ammo cost reduced when an attack destroys a projectile

Quick-Fix

• Added 50% Overheal
• Ãœber now affects the medic when there's no heal target
• Shotguns with pushback (Force-A-Nature) no longer affect players under the effect of Quick-Fix’s Ãœber

Vaccinator

• Ãœber now fully absorbs crit damage for the selected damage type, but depletes Ãœbercharge based on the amount of damage prevented

They didn't really fix the Cow Mangler:

Cow Mangler 5000

• Reduced clip size (from 5 to 4)
• Removed -10% damage attribute
• Removed 5% slower reload attribute
• Added missing "sets players on fire" description text
• New particles and sound

If anything they just moved the nerf around, and removed the laughable attempt at making the weapon interesting, the 5th shot.. Still no crits, its just a bad version of the stock launcher, instead of being an abyssal one..

Escape Plan

• Players receive the Marked-For-Death effect after deploying, and for a short period after holstering

This approach seems like the new duct tape for Valve to fix stuff it doesn't know how to fix decently.. Its what, the 4th, 5th weapon that has this fix ?
What's funny is that you're already pretty much dead when you're using it and enjoying the full advantage. So yeah, I think I'll go back to the equalizer, at least I might have a chance at using it as a melee weapon.

Liberty Launcher

• Removed: 25% reduced clip size penalty
• Added: 25% reduced damage penalty

Still much better than the cow mangler !

Phlogistinator

• Fixed "Mmmph" progress resetting after touching a resupply cabinet

Ah, so the phlog wasn't OP it would seem..

Powerjack

• Added: 15% increase move speed while deployed
• Added: 20% damage vulnerability to all sources

Yeah right, the Powerjack needed a boost to its stats.. It sounds like an escape plan + half-zatoichi combo now..

Chargin' Targe

• Added: Afterburn immunity

Oh, yes ! So now demoknights can even get away with it when you manage to set them on fire before they pull a 999,999,999.01 Gs turn on you with their effing charge script.. (Charge script which wasn't fixed or nerfed in any ways)

*EDIT*: I did it myself and it seems its not a script but the controllers support that's broken. With the mouse even if you crank the sensitivity up, you won't turn faster during a charge, but for some reasons with an analog controller the higher the sensitivity the faster you'll turn. This sounds like its made on purpose oddly..

 

Crusaders Crossbow

• Changed arrow projectile to a large syringe
• Added new trail effects
• Smoothed out reload animation (DPS unchanged)
• Fixed being able to heal players that are using items that block healing

Its kinda hard to even pull that off consistently.. Or to even counter the DPS of any weapons being used on the guy being healed..

Wrangler

• Slightly reduced accuracy of manually-controlled sentry at long range
• Protective shield now fades 1 second after the owning Engineer dies

Accuracy on a minigun + rocket launcher combo is hardly a factor.. I wonder if it really helps in the end..

Also, I think Valve's just trolling:

Beggar’s Bazooka

• Fixed an exploit that allowed players to hold a set fixed number of rockets (reload cancelling)
• Misfired Rockets now remove one loaded rocket from the clip

The Beggar's probably one of the few reasons I'm still playing TF2, and now they managed to nerf it in a very odd way.. They could have also just removed crits..
It might sound like something fairly negligible the way its written, but its not. The whole point of using it is gone now, since they removed the main element of the different playstyle or the "subclass" (like removing the charge from the demoknight).

This change not only limit your flying range, but also your firepower. Which mean that before you could strike one target with 3 rockets and have a chance of destroying it, if it wasn't a wrangled sentry, an over-healed heavy or if you'd miss. (which the sticky launcher still can do very easily btw). And then you'd be pretty much screwed on the ground with no rocket left and having to reload.

But now you can't kill anything unless at point blank, and then its a certain kamikaze attack, with very little chance for gain.

Additionally, Its just a little frustrating to know that, you've spent a lot of time trying to master a series of jumping techniques, and one year after, not a week, not a month, not even two months but one year after they just make it impossible to use the skills you've been trying to get the whole time.
3 round boosting is gone, 3 rounds + overload jump is gone, and now its actually more useful to just use the stock launcher and jump around you'll actually do more damages that way..

Plus as I said, this will not quell the people that don't like it, because it still got crits, and it stills shoot 3 rounds at point blank range. If anything, they made it a truly skill-less weapon now, a dumbed down inbred sticky launcher cousin...

Its funny how they seem to have completely forgotten, or badly handled the most problematic items through all this.. And even created monsters..
And a lot of the weapon nerfed here, including the BB weren't even on the beta tester's high priority fix list..

EDIT: Why did it add a new post instead of an edit ? :S

[Vy'drach]

I am glad to see the headshot resistance be gone from the Shitney Sleeper set.

[Xidphel]

• Misfired Rockets now remove one loaded rocket from the clip

 

D:

I found this MvM server which grants infinity money per wave! I always use BB Soldier to fly around the map and airstrike!

[DZComposer]

Definately an improvement, I especially like that the vaccinator can now be used as a counter to the kritzkrieg (Uber against the type of damage of the pocket and bum-rush the kritz medic).

That said, there are still some of my major complaints that lie unaddressed:

2fort:

Since the wrangler, there really needs to be func_nobuild brushes on the battlements and on top of the bridge.

Egypt:

This map is a basket case. Stage 1 isn't bad, but on stage 2, point 2 is easilly flanked and capped. Stage 3 has the opposite problem with no flaking routes on point 2 and is basically a turkey shoot for RED. BLU has the disadvantage the whole time. Point 1 is way above the BLU spawn, making for an uphill fight and only one, easily countered flank. If they cap, then they have to push through a choke point and a flank that dumps into the same place as a head-on attack. If BLU wins stage 3, it is usually due to RED incompetence. To be honest, I really don't know how to fix it. A bandaid for stage 3 could be making the clock like Dustbowl and make RED have to hold the points for a very long time. But to be honest, it needs a total overhaul.

Wrangler:

I think it needs a range reduction, but we'll see. Maybe the "slight" accuracy reduction is enough, but I don't know.

Demoknights:

The increased resistance to explosive and fire makes killing them mid-charge quite a task. IMO, both the targe and the screen need increased bullet damage vulnerability to give the weapon a real downside.

Backstabs:

Give the backstab the same back angle as the backburner. As it is now, it is too wide which leads to things like facestabs and other annoyances.

Dustbowl:

Stage 1, point 2 needs to be slightly easier to defend. The only time I see BLU lose this stage is when they have zero competence. I think this can easilly be done by simply removing the fencing that blocks-off the RED-spawn side of the point.

Stage 3, point 1 - After it is capped, the RED spawn exit either needs to close or have easier access for attack. Engies have a nice place to hide teles back there that require precision explosive jumping to access. Also, the spawn room on the far side of the last point should be disabled until the first point is capped. More metal for RED would be nice, too. Due to the clock, this point usually decides the winner of the round, so it should not be a cakewalk for BLU to cap it.

Stage 3, point 2 - A better flanking route is needed. The tunnel can take BLU to the point, but then you have to walk into the meat grinder in front of the point to have a shot at it. A stairway to allow players to get on the ledge overlooking the tunnel exit could be helpful in breaking the wrangler turtling that always happens on this point.

Badwater:

After point 2 is capped, BLU should move up spawn a bit. Maybe to the garage next to point 1, or somewhere in the building across from it.

Re-enforce the choke point before the last point by forcing RED players who spawn up-top to go through the map room. This makes map room flanking risky, while leaving an opening on the other side for those who can clear the choke to flank.

About the changes they did make:

They made the escape plan useless. You're low health and need to get away to find some heals, so you whip it out. It's value as a melee weapon is already gimped, so you're not going to be using it as an offensive weapon. Now they've made it so that you can't really use it to escape as they've all but guaranteed if you get hit while using it, you're dead.

No afterburn on the targe. Great..... At least they didn't do that to the screen.

We'll see. I'll wait to see how things play before making a final opinion about the update. But they haven't completely fixed the game yet. There is more work that needs to be done.

[psy_commando]

I tried the sentry with the wrangler, and I noticed 0 difference at long range, unless what I consider long range isn't ..

 

The powerjack is ridiculously powerful now ! Just think of a scout with 250 HPs(overhealed) running around with a bat that heals and overheals him  by 75 HP on kill, and still does crits !! Who the hell thought that was a good idea ? Probably the same person that thought giving the targe afterburn resistance was genius..

 

The liberty launcher is really bad now..(it was always the case, but now its worst) You're much better off with the direct hit ironically for an update aiming at making some really bad weapons interesting..

 

D:
I found this MvM server which grants infinity money per wave! I always use BB Soldier to fly around the map and airstrike!

Well, in MvM with the additional rockets its not too bad, but in regular TF2 its an explosive shotgun now..

 

And I didn't know you like to use the BB ? Anyways, I kept doing that as well XD I would usually only crank up damages, magazine size, and ammo capacity, so I could still manage flying around. But only until recently I thought it wasn't really a good idea to use it like that in MvM, but oddly enough it did pretty well !

 

And now that means me and thunderflare won't be able to pocket with the quickfix and airstab people

 

The worst part, is that I had been making a huge video tutorial for several months, mostly because I don't have much freetime to put on it, but still I spent a lot of time on that. And now, its all going to the trash !

 

*EDIT*

Well, its confirmed the BB is quite broken.

 

And they've made OP a crapload of other things it seems, like this quick-fix + shortstop + pretty boy pocket pistol :

Edited July 13, 2013 by psy_commando