Major Update Speculation V35 - A Distinctive Lack of Communication - Games

[QUOTE=ComodoreBluth;51253293]I think in 2016 Valve is still moving in the right direction but the road has been quite a bit more rocky.[/QUOTE] For people like me I don't know that 2016's been all that great of year or even "still moving in the right direction". I've played on the same community server for about two and a half years now- I never did quickplay or lobbies so competitive/matchmaking has meant next to nothing for me (and a number of other players as well, I'd imagine). Honestly I didn't expect MyM to affect me at all, but I've found myself playing significantly less since then and I'm not sure if I can put my finger on what exactly has me turning away after seven years.

My issue is that, machmaking does not change how I play the game. It changes how I [B]get into[/B] games sure. But we already had a reliable way to do that prior to MYM, which is now gone. I don't even understand how a simple matchmaking system would require this much manpower in the first place. The last update that added meaningful new content was Gun Mettle in the form of contracts, which was June 2015. Our last Mann Vs. Machine content update was [B]3 years ago[/B]. I like re-balances, don't get me wrong, but I want new content. I've played all of these community maps before on various servers before. I still love to play TF2, and will continue to do so. But the game deserves better. Sorry if this post seems nonsensical, I'm running on 4 hours of sleep.

[QUOTE=DrCactus;51253834]My issue is that, machmaking does not change how I play the game. It changes how I [B]get into[/B] games sure. But we already had a reliable way to do that prior to MYM, which is now gone. I don't even understand how a simple matchmaking system would require this much manpower in the first place. The last update that added meaningful new content was Gun Mettle in the form of contracts, which was June 2015. Our last Mann Vs. Machine content update was [B]3 years ago[/B]. I like re-balances, don't get me wrong, but I want new content. I've played all of these community maps before on various servers before. I still love to play TF2, and will continue to do so. But the game deserves better. Sorry if this post seems nonsensical, I'm running on 4 hours of sleep.[/QUOTE] If it makes you feel any better about mvm we have sigseigv keeping it safe from any bugs and potatoe's server with it's myriad of custom maps and missions.

Dear Valve, I am disappointed. Many things in the past 4 years I have played TF2 have lead to this. If you actually fix Pyro in the next update, then Heavy in his update later, I will believe in you again. To fix these classes, however, a few things need to happen to each of them. For Pyro: 1. His visible fire particles must match his current fire hitboxes. Make it so distance fire travels is not affected by ping of the player. However, do not change how fire physics work, as it is very interesting and makes for wonderful strategy. 2. Airblast must become like explosive knockback, and a player must be able to strafe from all airblasts, including the first one. 3. Broken weapons. Reserve shooter. Phlogistinator. Degreaser. Sharpened Volcano Fragment. Axtinguisher. Good and bad, these weapons need to be fixed. I've made suggestions in the past of how to fix them, but given their controversy I will not discuss how they should be fixed. Listen to your community. 4. Afterburn. Currently it is a weak source of damage that only serves to annoy the enemy player rather than make them panic, as was its original intention. This idea I had may be somewhat controversial, but it would bring back some of the panic to Pyro. Double the damage of afterburn per second, cut its time in half, and make it so that health packs do not get rid of the fire, only dispensers, medigun beams, and extinguishing sources like jarate and airblast. 5. Mobility. Pyro needs to be made more mobile somehow. Whether that is a buff to the detonator's jump distance, an "airblast jump" ability, or a straight speed boost, Pyro should be given a bit more mobility to close in on players that are backpedaling away from him. Those are just some of the many ways Pyro could be made into a more consistent, playable class with a higher skill ceiling. At the very least, fix #1 MUST happen. And for Heavy: 1. Reverse the damage ramp-up nerf made in Love and War. There is absolutely no reason for this to exist. It's unintuitive, and there are no tips telling the player it happens unless they were around when Love and War was released, AND they read the patch notes. The nerf originally seemed to make it so Heavies who were caught unrevved by basically any class cannot win the fight. The issue is that you should have ALREADY been able to win if you caught a Heavy unrevved (i.e. get good). 2. Heavy should be able to jump while revved. Currently, the moment he revs, especially with weapons like the Brass Beast, he becomes a sitting duck. Given this change, Heavy would actually be able to dodge things like rockets and pipes, because at the moment, they, given a corner, hard-counter Heavy. 3. Heavy should be able to switch weapons while revved. There is no reason for Valve not to let the player do this at the moment, and no other weapon in the game behaves like the miniguns in this respect. The most comparable weapon that doesn't have this issue would be the flamethrower, where you can hold m1 all day then switch to the shotgun on a dime. Doing this would allow Heavy to eat quickly after killing an opponent, or to hand his medic the sandwich if the fight becomes heated. 4. Weapons. It's sad to say that MOST of Heavy's weapons are unviable. This needs to change. Special care needs to be taken in Handling Natascha, Brass Beast, Huo-Long Heater, Buffalo Steak Sandvich, Dalokohs Bar, Family Business, Warrior's Spirit, and Eviction Notice. Holiday Punch needs to be removed from Heavy, as it is useless and annoying.

[QUOTE=DrCactus;51253834]But we already had a reliable way to do that prior to MYM, which is now gone.[/QUOTE] But what about playing with friends? It was kinda fine to get into the game with 1 friend, but if there were like 5 people trying to play together you just wasted a lot of time trying to get into the same team, just to have it ruined by autobalance in a moment. MyM greatly improved experience of playing with friends and hooked some of my friends which didn't play TF2 that much with me before.

[QUOTE=kos8bit;51253981]But what about playing with friends? It was kinda fine to get into the game with 1 friend, but if there were like 5 people trying to play together you just wasted a lot of time trying to get into the same team, just to have it ruined by autobalance in a moment. MyM greatly improved experience of playing with friends and hooked some of my friends which didn't play TF2 that much with me before.[/QUOTE] My friends and I got by just fine playing the game until slots opened up on the team we wanted to join. If all you want to do is stomp pubs with your friends, then yeah I guess MYM improved the game a bit. But for the average joe like me who wanted to just go to a pub and play with a friend or 2 occasionally, it's just made everything worse.

I remain to believe that Casual > old Pubs, atleast for my way of playing the game.

[QUOTE=Doctor Hunt;51252344]Beta only really failed because it was a 2nd TF2 to install, and that was back in 2011, I'd hate to imagine it now [/QUOTE] remove most of the superfluous content from the beta (halloween maps, hats, taunts, etc) unless theyre what needs testing reminder that we also had a forgotten "beta" branch in quickplay, they could put that in matchmaking and give those servers different balance (since from what I understand, weapons' stats and the like are handled by the server, a modified official server could use custom stats for characters and weapons)

Casual games still go the same way old valve pubs have gone for me. There's always a team being rolled, there's always some dumbass with the box trot doing nothing. Except now you have friend squads running around a lot more now. And with autobalance being gone, teams are always uneven now. The past 6 games I played yesterday had at least one round where for almost the entire game a team was down by 4 players. Casual works for some people, but for others it just does not. They left us with no alternative to play like we did before. Community servers worked for a little while, but once again they've started to die out again because the average tf2 player does not have the competence to work a server browser.

[QUOTE=Blackavar;51253966] Holiday Punch needs to be removed from Heavy, as it is useless and annoying.[/QUOTE] unrealistic and impossible not only would that remove a contributor item and outrage not just the contributor but likely the workshop community, but there's no reason to remove it anyways

[QUOTE=kos8bit;51253981]But what about playing with friends? It was kinda fine to get into the game with 1 friend, but if there were like 5 people trying to play together you just wasted a lot of time trying to get into the same team, just to have it ruined by autobalance in a moment. MyM greatly improved experience of playing with friends and hooked some of my friends which didn't play TF2 that much with me before.[/QUOTE] right click on person's name join game BAM

kinda tf2 related news: the voice actor strike movement have released a list of games they worked on and most of them are from unannounced/still called by their project name games, but there is one game that you might notice in this list [url]https://www.sagaftra.org/files/video_games_2016.pdf[/url] tf2 will have more nolan north now, i guess?

[B]Major Update Speculation V35 - With Updates, Come Drama[/B]

That reminds me, didnt the Voice Actor of the Scout say they recorded some stuff? Did we have any new voicelines this Halloween?

[QUOTE=rolfum;51254129][B]Major Update Speculation V35 - With Updates, Come Drama[/B][/QUOTE] What updates?

[QUOTE=e_k_M;51254111]kinda tf2 related news: the voice actor strike movement have released a list of games they worked on and most of them are from unannounced/still called by their project name games, but there is one game that you might notice in this list [url]https://www.sagaftra.org/files/video_games_2016.pdf[/url] tf2 will have more nolan north now, i guess?[/QUOTE] doing some quick research, Voiceworks Productions is based in California, and I actually can't find any prior connection or history that they worked on TF2, googling the company and the game just brings up the list. It's also worth noting that the strike covers games that the companies worked on that went into production after Feb 17th, 2015. So, kind of weird. Not sure which voice actors have any connections to valve in this instance, I can be pretty certain it's none of the one's located locally within Washington though. [b]Edit[/b]: Found the only connection! Dennis Bateman did voicework for a game that Voicework Productions did prior work on, which I can assume means that Dennis still works under VWP. So, with that in mind, that means that Spy and Pyro are on strike. Presumably. [b]Edit again![/b] Even still that's weird as hell because Dennis Bateman definitely lives in the Seattle area, because he's a frequent(ish) voice actor for valve and has been in other seattle based productions

[QUOTE=DrCactus;51254025]My friends and I got by just fine playing the game until slots opened up on the team we wanted to join. If all you want to do is stomp pubs with your friends, then yeah I guess MYM improved the game a bit. But for the average joe like me who wanted to just go to a pub and play with a friend or 2 occasionally, it's just made everything worse.[/QUOTE] I often do solo stomps, so it's not like couple of gibus friends with me make that much of a difference for opposing team. Also there is not always time to wait for slots for everyone, and again, your squad composition could be easily ruined by autobalance. You shouldn't be worried about being able to smoothly play together with your friends in a modern game and i'm glad valve realize that.

I'll reinstall TF2 after they update MvM again so goodbye forever

This update, atleast for me would be ok when contracts gets fixed, I still haven't got enough of the old maps, pit pf death is amazing if you like fucking with engineers, and brimstone is really good and better than all maps we got last year. I just want some changes to casual mode, make the game rematch automatically and scramble teams each time (without messing with parties), once that's done the GC should no longer prefer to start a new game but always refill players, only then casual would be better than old pubs. PS: they better not fuck up smissmas

[QUOTE=e_k_M;51254111]kinda tf2 related news: the voice actor strike movement have released a list of games they worked on and most of them are from unannounced/still called by their project name games, but there is one game that you might notice in this list [url]https://www.sagaftra.org/files/video_games_2016.pdf[/url] tf2 will have more nolan north now, i guess?[/QUOTE] Wasn't Ashly Burch (Pauling's VA) part of the strike?

I'm not touching TF2 until I see how they handle the Pyro update. If it's shit, I'm out.

wow i cant believe you guys' sensibilities are so frail that a lukewarm update is what decides whether or not you can enjoy and play the game if you dont find the game fun you can just leave now and stop wasting posts

[QUOTE=ikes;51254357]wow i cant believe you guys' sensibilities are so frail that a lukewarm update is what decides whether or not you can enjoy and play the game if you dont find the game fun you can just leave now and stop wasting posts[/QUOTE] TF2 isn't exactly the easiest game to leave

[QUOTE=ikes;51254357]wow i cant believe you guys' sensibilities are so frail that a lukewarm update is what decides whether or not you can enjoy and play the game if you dont find the game fun you can just leave now and stop wasting posts[/QUOTE] We've explained time, and time again that it wasn't just this update that frustrated us, but the year and a half of non existant, or mediocre updates. [t]http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/471016511618258629/C68D7D7C2A9603BE4C96C64E1F7C54B5950E39E2/[/t] We were playing an 11 v 6 for [B]25 minutes[/B]. If this were last year, you would have people fighting over the 24th slot constantly. But because of how awful casual is, every server I go to has been like this, and I live in NA.

The only problem i have with casual now is that i very often get dropped into the game that just ended (i join the game when rematch vote is already happening). Never faced that issue before halloween, by the way.

[QUOTE=DrCactus;51254452]We've explained time, and time again that it wasn't just this update that frustrated us, but the year and a half of non existant, or mediocre updates. [t]http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/471016511618258629/C68D7D7C2A9603BE4C96C64E1F7C54B5950E39E2/[/t] We were playing an 11 v 6 for [B]25 minutes[/B]. If this were last year, you would have people fighting over the 24th slot constantly. But because of how awful casual is, every server I go to has been like this, and I live in NA.[/QUOTE] I've made the exact opposite experience. Back then, Servers would constantly die on me, and would end up being something like 8vs8. Now, the biggest dips there are are about 10vs12 - the remaining two often being filled up. Allow me to note that you are also playing on hightower, one of the lesser searched for modes; This will rarely happen on the default ones.

I've searched on all the new maps, manor, viaduct, lakeside. They have all had huge team differences like this. Also, I have never seen a valve server die like this before. Especially pre MyM. Community servers, maybe but never a valve server. Also, I would hardly call 8v8 "dead"

[QUOTE=DrCactus;51254492]I've searched on all the new maps, manor, viaduct, lakeside. They have all had huge team differences like this. Also, I have never seen a valve server die like this before. Especially pre MyM. Community servers, maybe but never a valve server. Also, I would hardly call 8v8 "dead"[/QUOTE] People don't like losing, so they leave. and since the queue system sucks, the servers hardly refill like they used to.

When it comes to unpopular maps like snowplow, which basically never existed between gun mettle and meet your match, and the server turns into a ghost town when it comes in the rotation, casual does it best and guarantees a full match on these maps, I absolutely love snowplow and I'm happy to be able to play it again

[QUOTE=Nebrassy;51254640]When it comes to unpopular maps like snowplow, which basically never existed between gun mettle and meet your match, and the server turns into a ghost town when it comes in the rotation, casual does it best and guarantees a full match on these maps, I absolutely love snowplow and I'm happy to be able to play it again[/QUOTE] same goes for hydro, I can finally consistently play 24-player hydro