Final Major Update Speculation V37 - This is the last MUS thread. Speculate in General Chat. - Games

[QUOTE=Fraklin;52480498]Let's assume the tf2 team has 12 people working on it with 5 programmers. What can 5 programmers do to tf2 in a year?[/QUOTE] At what point did TF2 go from one of Valve's major pursuits to its current skeleton crew? After MvM released? Or was it Two Cities?

Do you think it will drop in August or December at this point?

If it's August, it's late but expected. I think it would drop that month. If it's December, it's a game-morale killer. That would mean that not only did we waste a full year waiting for a few weapons and some random comp fix (that won't probably do anything), we could lose the Halloween event for the 3rd year in a row.

[QUOTE=Stroheim;52480659]If it's August, it's late but expected. I think it would drop that month. If it's December, it's a game-morale killer. That would mean that not only did we waste a full year waiting for a few weapons and some random comp fix (that won't probably do anything), we could lose the Halloween event for the 3rd year in a row.[/QUOTE] And the big summer update we usually get every year. But honestly if they are in crunch mode and already gave us the blog post for changes, I highly doubt its [I]that[/I] far off

I'm as others confident it's this week. The main driving force is that Casual bug and Competitive ranks do not functioning for a while now. You really think they'd leave an entire driving factor of a gamemode broken for so long if the update fixing it was still in August? Same goes for Casual ones, which arent as impactful, but still important. Of course if we get a small baby patch this week I'll instantly jump ship to TeamAugust because then it truly is over, but for now, TeamThisWeek.

Actualy the talk about the summer update got me thinking.Will they skip the summer update too or will the summer update be the jungle update?

I like how the most realistic people last year expected the pyro pack to drop last december and the heavy pack to drop in summer, and we've yet to get any. all I'm looking forward to are changes to casual and comp, and of course new maps Will be interesting to see what they'll do with casual levels, maybe it will be similar to CSGO, once you get to the max level you can craft a badge once a year Or make it so say every 100 levels, the speed you level up resets (so leveling up from 1 to 2 is the same as 101 to 102) and you get a free unlocked case, maybe have a special collection of hats that you can only get this way, you won't be getting it commonly enough for it to have effects on the economy, maybe make it untradable, but probably doesn't matter

I don't think comp will ever be an effective mode. I'm not saying they shouldn't improve it, but with how Team Fortress 2 was built around casual play, you're never going to have a balanced competitive game.

[QUOTE=ethanciavo;52481547]I don't think comp will ever be an effective mode. I'm not saying they shouldn't improve it, but with how Team Fortress 2 was built around casual play, you're never going to have a balanced competitive game.[/QUOTE] I disagree. Look at super smash brothers. That game was originally intended to be a party game but its community transformed it into an awesome esport. There is no doubt in my mind that tf2 can achieve the same thing.

[QUOTE=Fraklin;52481582]I disagree. Look at super smash brothers. That game was originally intended to be a party game but its community transformed it into an awesome esport. There is no doubt in my mind that tf2 can achieve the same thing.[/QUOTE] A community can always find ways to make a game competitive. They did the same thing with TF2 and just like with smash they had to strip away content to make it work. I'm going to get a lot of heat for this but the TF2 team is too small to make official comp work unless they unify comp and casual modes. Right now they might as well be balancing one set of weapons for two different games. It's an unpopular opinion but I think one of these modes needs to die for the other to thrive. The alternative is balancing for comp and just dealing with chaos in casual. I can't think of another game where the official comp and casual modes are so different. EDIT: I'd love for anyone who wants to rate dumb to explain why.

[QUOTE=RetroMike;52481646]A community can always find ways to make a game competitive. They did the same thing with TF2 and just like with smash they had to strip away content to make it work. I'm going to get a lot of heat for this but the TF2 team is too small to make official comp work unless they unify comp and casual modes. Right now they might as well be balancing one set of weapons for two different games. It's an unpopular opinion but I think one of these modes needs to die for the other to thrive. The alternative is balancing for comp and just dealing with chaos in casual. I can't think of another game where the official comp and casual modes are so different.[/QUOTE] Which balance changes in particular are injurious to casual but beneficial to competitive? A weapon like the Sandman is garbage either way.

[QUOTE=Lord Exor;52481666]Which balance changes in particular are injurious to casual but beneficial to competitive? A weapon like the Sandman is garbage either way.[/QUOTE] It just seems like a tall order (especially for such a small team) to balance a weapon for two modes. One with an established structure and one that can just be pure chaos. How do you make sure it is viable in both modes? How do you prevent it being overpowered or useless in one mode and not the other? We have seen this problem in action.

[QUOTE=RetroMike;52481677]It just seems like a tall order (especially for such a small team) to balance a weapon for two modes. One with an established structure and one that can just be pure chaos. How do you make sure it is viable in both modes? How do you prevent it being overpowered or useless in one mode and not the other? We have seen this problem in action.[/QUOTE] most of the proposed balance changes in the blog post are competitive-oriented, fixing the issues with them in high-skill play while not ruining them in casual play balancing should be done top-down, not the reverse

If a weapon is not balanced for competitive and casual, 90% of the time that means the weapon is all right or fun to use in casual, but not worth considering for competitive. Which is fine. The other 10% is blatantly overpowered weapons that are centralizing in competitive, which has pretty much [i]always[/i] meant they're overpowered in casual, too, and deserved nerfs. The only example I remember of the opposite situation was with the Phlog: useless and easily countered in organized teams, but horrible for low-skill pubs. That doesn't happen very often, though. Balancing around the high end competitive scene works, because pubs aren't really a good testing ground for potential.

[QUOTE=Contra132;52481777] balancing should be done top-down, not the reverse[/QUOTE] That was the second suggestion in the post I made. Still a really tricky set of variables to account for. Who knows, maybe they will surprise me and pull it off.

Honestly, I think that no matter when this update releases, we will not see a Valve-made Scream Fortress event and instead get another SFVII / VIII. Knowing how the update is already leaning towards going into August, I highly doubt the team would be able to at least get a fully reskinned map + Halloween gimmick in the span of ~2 months.

[QUOTE=TcChallenger;52481882]Honestly, I think that no matter when this update releases, we will not see a Valve-made Scream Fortress event and instead get another SFVII / VIII. Knowing how the update is already leaning towards going into August, I highly doubt the team would be able to at least get a fully reskinned map + Halloween gimmick in the span of ~2 months.[/QUOTE] That wont bother me too much as long as the jungle/pyro update really shines.

Speculation: why would valve come and update TFC and other goldsrc games out of blue? Nobody even works on that, everyone is divided up between ongoing projects. I think our 3.5 brave TF2 developers did research on it and decided to patch some bugs on the way, and we can see some weapons/mechanics/other assets (tick one) reintroduced from TFC.

[QUOTE=TcChallenger;52481882]Honestly, I think that no matter when this update releases, we will not see a Valve-made Scream Fortress event and instead get another SFVII / VIII. Knowing how the update is already leaning towards going into August, I highly doubt the team would be able to at least get a fully reskinned map + Halloween gimmick in the span of ~2 months.[/QUOTE] Does anyone really want more Halloween stuff? It's neat and all, but there's so much variety around Halloween already that I'd much rather they work on other, year-round, content.

[QUOTE=Tinker;52481922]Does anyone really want more Halloween stuff? It's neat and all, but there's so much variety around Halloween already that I'd much rather they work on other, year-round, content.[/QUOTE] We can't say yes or no to that really. On one hand if TFTeam skips Halloween this year we would get for the 3rd time contracts and we are kinda getting bored of it, and that some new stuff like they did back in 2013 with spells & skeletons were good enough for an Halloween update and that something new would be good, but on the other hand it means they would have to delay their work on the heavy update and maybe community wouldn't like that, but if the pyro update/jungle update is a success I guess nobody would mind a 1-2 months delay on the heavy update if the TFTeam spends some time making an Halloween update.

[QUOTE=Benoist3012;52481969]I guess nobody would mind a 1-2 months delay on the heavy update if the TFTeam spends some time making an Halloween update.[/QUOTE] Knowing how we've been starved for content, people are gonna want game-changing content compared to event-centric content. Scream Fortress is fun and all, but it doesn't really need a heavy focus compared to the Heavy pack. (Pun not intended) With the TF Team wanting to keep the game alive and bringing it into the competitive spotlight, they would want to put all of their time into the next major (likely competitive focused) update instead of a yearly event. Personally, I would have no problem with another 2015 style Scream Fortress as long as they have some quality control on what actually goes into the update.

This thread will end up before the update actually HITS (not counting 1st day blogpost) .

Updates usually drop at 10 AM in Washington, right? Guess it isn't today again.

[QUOTE=Jhejh poT;52482110]This thread will end up before the update actually HITS (not counting 1st day blogpost) .[/QUOTE] Will end up what? You haven't really specified.

[QUOTE=A Rogue Cop;52482117]Updates usually drop at 10 AM in Washington, right? Guess it isn't today again.[/QUOTE] More like 4 or 5 pm, buddy.

[QUOTE=A Rogue Cop;52482117]Updates usually drop at 10 AM in Washington, right? Guess it isn't today again.[/QUOTE] Not necessarily. [QUOTE=Contra132;52436097]I went and did it. It's not exact because I got the times from Reddit postings, but they're relatively punctual and I couldn't find times anywhere else. Love and War Clock - 6:58 PM Mountain Time Love and War Day 1 - 6 PM Mountain Time Love and War Day 2 - 4:40 PM Mountain Time Gun Mettle Almost Here - 6:28 PM Mountain Time Gun Mettle Actually Here - 3:35 PM Mountain Time Tough Break Is Coming - 12:45 PM Mountain Time Tough Break Is Live - 3:34 PM Mountain Time Meet Your Match Is Coming - 10:30 AM Mountain Time Meet Your Match Is Live - 7:26 PM Mountain Time Aside from MyM's...early morning announcement (that still confuses me), most of these seem to come late afternoon/early evening. The latest in the past three years thus far has been MyM going live, which was at 7:26 PM Mountain Time, 6:26 PM for Valve and 9:26 for East Coasters.[/QUOTE] The announcement could be anywhere from now to early this evening. Even so, I wouldn't agonize over it. The time will pass much more quickly if you aren't constantly watching MUS.

If the update is this week (I doubt it) earliest we should expect any info is tomorrow. What im wondering is if valve will do any more promo items between games

There hasn't been much to speculate on lately so have a completely baseless leak. [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/sjIn37i.png[/IMG] Personally the main reason I think it's bullshit is because it implies they worked on the Heavy update at the same time as the Pyro update for no good reason, even though Pyro won.

[QUOTE=A Rogue Cop;52482257]There hasn't been much to speculate on lately so have a completely baseless leak. [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/sjIn37i.png[/IMG] Personally the main reason I think it's bullshit is because it implies they worked on the Heavy update at the same time as the Pyro update for no good reason, even though Pyro won.[/QUOTE] I would think it would be bullshit because of 4chan's slogan. [img]http://i.imgur.com/G96wKYF.png[/img]

[QUOTE=Stroheim;52482261]I would think it would be bullshit because of 4chan's slogan. [img]http://i.imgur.com/G96wKYF.png[/img][/QUOTE] I'm not gonna imply that 99.9% of leaks from that site aren't horseshit but there was a legitimate Switch announcement leak right before the conference back in January.