Team Fortress 2 Update – Hands On

Posted by Chris in PC, Windows | 1 comment

So the latest Team Fortress 2 Soldier and Demoman update has been live since just after midnight last night, and already the servers are filled with players with all the unlocks and strategies using them already perfected. If you haven’t already been playing on the new maps, and trying out the new weapons, especially given that it is a free TF2 weekend for anyone with a Steam account, then here’s what you’re missing out on.

Soldier Unlocks

• The Direct Hit
  The new rocket launcher unlockable for the Soldier is quite a different thing altogether compared to the original. While everyone raves over the 80% faster rockets and 25% extra damage, this is completely offset by the fact that the blast radius is now only 30% of what it used to be. This means that in order to do well with this weapon, you need to be able to aim and hit your opponents. Rocket spam is not an option with this, only if there is a tight group of enemies that you practically cannot miss, such as in small alleyways, or even on a control point.
• The Equaliser
  This new melee weapon is a force to be reckoned with. By boosting it’s attack power and the movement speed of the Soldier (only while it’s out though), you can easily run in and score some easy kills. However, the obvious flaw is that one shot from almost anything will take you out and end your rampage. The Equaliser is also incredibly handy for getting from the spawn area to the frontline in a hurry, as you can safely fire two rockets at your feet and then whip out the Equaliser to run there as fast as a Scout. Just make sure there’s a Medic there to heal you back up. Also, if you’re worried that a friendly Medic will ruin your strategy while healing you – having the Equaliser out blocks healing from the medigun.
• The Buff Bugle
  Seems like a bit of a waste. You need to inflict a lot of damage before your rage meter hits full, take a few seconds to activate the Bugle, and only then do you have mini-crits for yourself and nearby allies – but not much helpful for yourself if you’re carrying the Direct Hit.
• The Gunboats
  If you love to rocket-jump, strap these on and you’ll only take a quarter of the damage you usually would. Not having your shotgun though and that 75% you save will go down in a hurry if there are Scouts or Pyros near.

Demoman Unlocks

• Scottish Resistance
  The new stickybomb launcher is a bit of a finnicky weapon. While you do have a larger ammo capacity (36 as opposed to 24), and can lay down 14 stickies at a time, the fact you have to be looking at a group of them to detonate them can be a pain. While it does mean that you can detonate a single badly place sticky and relay it easily, not being able to blow all at once can be a hindrance especially if you’re surrounding the cart or intelligence – unless you’re positioned in the right way. Also useless for airbursts and retreating since each sticky takes slightly longer to arm.
• The Chargin’ Targe
  On it’s own, the Targe isn’t very useful other than for hurling you places quickly. The extra fire and blast resistances help, but do nothing to keep shotgun shots and bullet weapons from ripping you to shreds. Doing much damage at all to an enemy by charging alone is nigh impossible.
• The Eyelander
  It’s only when you hold this that the Targe becomes useful. Sure, you lose 25 max health off the bat, but if you’re good with it, you’ll never notice. Every head you decapitate, up to the maximum of six, gives you an extra 15 health and increases your movement speed to eventually become similar to that of a Scout or max-damage Equaliser Soldier. With the Targe for a charging full crit attack, you can easily become very overpowered. Expect this to be nerfed by Valve ASAP.

New Maps

CP_Gorge is an interesting CP based map, with only two control points. The main issue lies in the distance from the spawns. As there is no forward spawn for the attackers after they cap the first point, getting enough manpower onto the second can be challenging. Overall, it’s a decent map.

CTF_Doublecross is very fun. While small, there are multiple lanes to get across, even though everyone just tends to fight it out on top. Ninja capturing could be done very easily if everyone is focused on the bloodbath upstairs. Also not confusing enough that you can get lost in a hurry!

Crafting

Until I can get me a good blueprint, or enough more duplicates to make something decent, it’s pretty meh. Especially when no-one has any idea on how to make the requisite condition of Metal needed to craft hats

You may disagree with me on a few of these points, but unless you’re out there hitting enemies in mid-air with fast rockets, or chopping countless heads off, you can’t complain really.

PS. RIP Sandman. You were a Scout’s best friend until Valve nerfed you there by replacing your ability to stun enemies with instead making them go into fleeing mode (akin to what the ghost from KotH_Harvest did during Halloween) with anything less than a moon shot…