Major Update Speculation Thread XIV: Roman Numerals are the Best Edition - Games

[QUOTE=Lord Exor;39870498]The janitor and his pet chimp.[/QUOTE] Hey man don't hate on Ralph and Mister Jingles. Ralph had to learn how to code with only a grade school education and Mister Jingles has been taking night classes on website maintenece and graphic design. It's the only way they've been able to keep the TF2 department afloat ever since the Dota 2 department got that pachinko vending machine that made it the most desirable part of valve to work in.

So... I emailed Greg Broadmore of Dr. Grordbort. Here. [QUOTE=mphayes97] Hello, Mr. Broadmore! It is my understanding that you have to do with the Dr. Grordbort weapons in Valve's game, Team Fortress 2, including the Victory Pack for the Soldier, the Moonman Pack for the Pyro, and the Brainiac Pack for the Engineer. On 12 February, 2012, concept art for The Rocketboy pack for the Scout and the Mann of Science pack for the Medic were uploaded to the Steam Workshop. On 8 June, 2012, models for the cosmetic items for the two packs were uploaded to the Steam Workshop. I have several questions about this. These are in no particular order of importance and are all relevant. #1 Why have the models of the weapons, the Mule Molester, Saboteur 66, Mercy Killer, and the beautiful Anti-Death Ray not in the workshop but the cosmetic items are? #2 Why have we heard nothing of these packs from Valve? #3 Does Valve not want to work the Dr. Grordbort stuff anymore? #4 If Valve (or you lovely Dr. Grordbort people) do not want to make the models, particles, and stats, why not hand it over to the Community? We make tons of stuff on the Workshop that all turn out very well. Some people to recommend are the TF2 Facepunch Community. [url]http://facepunch.com/forumdisplay.php?f=277[/url] #5 My friend of the username Yandere ([url]http://steamcommunity.com/id/monogatari/[/url]) asked you at Comic Con about the packs and apparently you responded that the next sets will only be cosmetic items and have no weapons (and apparently you designed a Dr. G sentry that would not be balanced). My question about this is: what does Valve (or the TF2 team) not like about the weapons? Did you make stats that they did not like? Were the models for the new weapons too complicated? For the stats: What were the proposed stats that you gave (if any)? And if Valve (TF2 team) made these stats and deemed them over-powered, why can't they change that themselves? Why not hand over the stats to the community? For the model: If the model would be too complicated, why not make it less complicated or have a lower poly-count? Why not hand the modeling over to one of the experienced modelers of the community (privately)? I would appreciate it if you answer my questions. I hope I did not get anything wrong about this.[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=greg_broadmore@hotmail.com] I'm glad to hear you liked the Dr. Grordbort's rayguns and items for TF2 - we loved making them. To be honest I'm not exactly sure why those new items have not appeared. I would try emailing Valve (I think some prominent members there have made their email addresses public). We worked closely with the TF2 team at Valve on the first packs, they were a lot of fun to make and we'd love to make more. I appreciate the offer of community help but we have tremendously talented artists here who made the first packs and if we're lucky enough to make more they'll handle that side of things. Thank you for the suggestion though. There are hopefully plenty of ways we can work with the various communities in the future. To your question on stats - the TF2 team creates all the gameplay and stats. Thanks for the questions, and while I'm sorry that we can't oblige with new Dr.G TF2 items at the moment (that is in Valves capable hands) you can be sure that we are working away on something equally exciting for the future. Cheers![/QUOTE] [9:54:03 PM] AbeX300: " the TF2 team creates all the gameplay and stats." HA, no.

[QUOTE=mphayes97;39871129]So... [9:54:03 PM] AbeX300: " the TF2 team creates all the gameplay and stats." HA, no.[/QUOTE] Wait, I am confused, are you saying what Abe said earlier was wrong, or that the TF2 team creating all the stats was wrong?

[QUOTE=mphayes97;39871129][9:54:03 PM] AbeX300: " the TF2 team creates all the gameplay and stats." HA, no.[/QUOTE] For those of you curious as to why I've said that: The first thing is that the Equalizer (the old one) was [b]literally[/b] from another guy not in the team, and even got a community version of it. (Come to think of, would that mean he has a Community Equalizer and Escape Plan...?) Second, he's had [url=http://www.pentadact.com/2008-05-31-team-fortress-2-unlockable-ideas/]plenty of other ideas[/url] (courtesy of the Original Weapon thread for showing it). The Shield Spanner [b]and[/b] Laser Pointer akin to the Wrangler, the Portable Sentry alike to the Mini-Sentry (plus the hauling mechanic), the Hire Hmph to Axtinguisher, the Last Ditch Digger to (what else?) the old Equalizer, the Skeet Shooter to Reserve Shooter (but considering how the only thing related is doing additional damage to airborne enemies, that's debatable), the Identity Theft 3000 to Your Eternal Reward, the Identi-kit 3000 to Spy's passive ability of seeing enemy's health... Of course, I could be [b]completely[/b] insane, but there are so many ideas alike to the weapons and abilities we have now that it can't just be a coincidence... :tinfoil: [b]Edit:[/b] Yes, I said the "HA, no." part. [b]Edit 2:[/b] Oh, and an added note, the Backscratcher from Advanced Weaponiser [sup](GNEUGHSAGAS)[/sup].

It's no surprise that some ideas are borrowed from the community, and others are simple enough concepts that everyone comes up with them sooner or later. I predicted how the Battalion's Backup worked on an old SPUF topic. No surprise.

[QUOTE=AbeX300;39871275]For those of you curious as to why I've said that: The first thing is that the Equalizer (the old one) was [b]literally[/b] from another guy not in the team, and even got a community version of it. ([B]Come to think of, would that mean he has a Community Equalizer and Escape Plan...?[/B]) [/QUOTE] Yes. All items got split into duplicates of their same quality. As a tangent, Pentadact is good friends with Robin and the former TF2 team so he also has community items that are not quite community but instead, should really be "valve" quality.

[QUOTE=AbeX300;39871275]The first thing is that the Equalizer (the old one) was [b]literally[/b] from another guy not in the team, and even got a community version of it. (Come to think of, would that mean he has a Community Equalizer and Escape Plan...?)[/QUOTE] Weren't their two people that have community or self-made Equalizers? I mean this is a question I could totally google but hey any discussion is good discussion. Oh also how much do you all want to bet that the Steampipe update somehow nullifies the first "major" update of the year, the Linux update? Like it'll somehow break the Linux version or the Linux version doesn't even get the SteamPipe features. You'd think they'd work on getting Steampipe out first and then convert that finished product over to Linux so you could have a wider "happy" field. "HEY GUYS WE JUST MADE THIS GREAT NEW FILE SYSTEM WOO OPTIMIZATIONS" and then a month later "OUR NEW SHIT THAT DIDN'T REALLY CHANGE MUCH NOW ALLOWS US TO PUT THE GAME ON LINUX YAY" Again though I have zero knowledge about anything so whatever.

[QUOTE=The Calzone;39871421]Weren't their two people that have community or self-made Equalizers? I mean this is a question I could totally google but hey any discussion is good discussion.[/QUOTE] Oh right, yeah it was two people. Still, thing is, it's not like all of the ideas were actually made by the TF Team... I could be nit-picking so much at this, though, but it just bothers me a lot.

[QUOTE=The Calzone;39871421]Weren't their two people that have community or self-made Equalizers? I mean this is a question I could totally google but hey any discussion is good discussion.[/QUOTE] Correct, Brostradamus and Pentadact.

[QUOTE=fendermcbender;39871372]Yes. All items got split into duplicates of their same quality. As a tangent, Pentadact is good friends with Robin and the former TF2 team so he also has community items that are not quite community but instead, should really be "valve" quality.[/QUOTE] [url]http://backpack.tf/profiles/76561197993493741[/url] Seems like only one has the community sparkle still. EDIT: Oh, that's not Pentadact. [url]http://backpack.tf/profiles/76561197967454254[/url] Huh, some of those don't even make sense. A scattergun whose bombs shatter of the surface and it has a negative attribute of a huge amount of health, along with making scout immobile.

So...no chance of any Gordbort items ever still? R.I.P. in peace.

[QUOTE=mphayes97;39871129]So... I emailed Greg Broadmore of Dr. Grordbort. [/QUOTE] Thanks for attempting to clear that up, your detective work is much appreciated. Such a shame the items are currently in Valve limbo. That they went ahead and released a different Medigun already leads me to believe that they've all but given up on the Anti-Death Ray.

[QUOTE=wunderufl;39871719]Thanks for attempting to clear that up, your detective work is much appreciated. Such a shame the items are currently in Valve limbo. That they went ahead and released a different Medigun already leads me to believe that they've all but given up on the Anti-Death Ray.[/QUOTE] It's possible that Valve decided that these stats or similar stats would be the ones for the Anti-Death Ray but then decided they didn't fit the weapon so they put them on a community weapon.

[QUOTE=mphayes97;39871129]So... I emailed Greg Broadmore of Dr. Grordbort. Here. [9:54:03 PM] AbeX300: " the TF2 team creates all the gameplay and stats." HA, no.[/QUOTE] "That is in valve's capable hands" if I had to think of a word to describe valve's hands, capable would not be one of them

[QUOTE=Omolong;39871743]It's possible that Valve decided that these stats or similar stats would be the ones for the Anti-Death Ray but then decided they didn't fit the weapon so they put them on a community weapon.[/QUOTE] I'd like to think it went down mad-max style [img]http://puu.sh/2fGus[/img]

[QUOTE=psyke;39871871]I'd like to think it went down mad-max style [img]http://puu.sh/2fGus[/img][/QUOTE] death ray should be winning come on man he doesn't even have melee resistance step up your game

I emailed the "TF Team" from the blog site. But we all know they won't answer.

[QUOTE=mphayes97;39873936]I emailed the "TF Team" from the blog site. But we all know they won't answer.[/QUOTE] Did you attach the previous correspondence with Dr.Grordbort team to the email? I would think that might be a good idea, so it seems less of a "hey I'm bugging you same as every other person in your inbox" and more of a "I'm already in the processes of communication, please pay at least a small amount of attention for the sake of the rest of the community having their questions answered, thanks".

I'm pretty sure the Grordborts MIA can be attributed to difficulty in balancing.

I can live without Grordborts items. Never cared for the way they looked and their stats always leave something to be desired.

Grordbort weapons suck ass [editline]11th March 2013[/editline] Also, can't wait for steampipe for tf2

I love the models, the stats are terrible though.

The problem with stats is that they're meant to be used by new players. With the huge slow plasma beams that never miss even if you tried and such. It's more obvious on phlog. Or Pomson, as it partially takes care of your main threats for you. I'm growing to kind of like these weapons, even if I never use them. They make the game fun for someone else till they get better, so why not. So no, there's nothing wrong with the stats. But they'd need to come up with something harder to use to please Facepunch, the almighty nobles of TF2. But seriously, we need less newb weapons, there are too many of them already. Widowmaker and Mecha Update weps were a good start.

I think a lot of the Grordbort weapon's problems stems from the nerfs/penalties they've gotten. They aren't much but they just make the weapons so lack luster do the Cow Mangler and Phlogistinator really need -10% damage? Who actually wants the Pomson to have drain and not just penetrate? You can still use the weapons effectively but it just makes it inferior overall as the gimmicky secondary abilities usually aren't that useful (How many times have you disabled a sentry with the mangler?).

Didn't the Pomson get some sort of damage boost too? I tried using it a few times before and it certainly doesn't feel like it's dealing out more pain than a Shotgun would.

[QUOTE=HyperTails;39875872]Didn't the Pomson get some sort of damage boost too? I tried using it a few times before and it certainly doesn't feel like it's dealing out more pain than a Shotgun would.[/QUOTE] It deals out more damage than a shotgun would if your aim isn't very good(with a hitbox the size of a truck) Same thing with the bison for soldier, it does less damage than the shotgun at peak but it's a damn lot easier to actually deal damage with it

Anyone that believes the Phlogistinator to be overpowered needs to reevaluate their balance awareness.

[QUOTE=Lord Exor;39875967]Anyone that believes the Phlogistinator to be overpowered needs to reevaluate their balance awareness.[/QUOTE] The phlogistinator is powerful, but not overpowered. People mess this up constantly, which is why we get things like 3 non-viable miniguns and the cow mangler/pomson

[QUOTE=Lord Exor;39875967]Anyone that believes the Phlogistinator to be overpowered needs to reevaluate their balance awareness.[/QUOTE] no, they have to learn to backpedal.

[QUOTE=Lord Exor;39875967]Anyone that believes the Phlogistinator to be overpowered needs to reevaluate their balance awareness.[/QUOTE] Agreed. However, I still think that the decrease in damage resistance was a good idea as it makes the weapon less mindless as you can team fire down the pyro requiring the player think about when to mmmph rather than use it as a second life.