A Friendly Welcome for the F2P Players of TF2

[Limecake]

But I'd say that overal, it's a good class to teach a lot of the basics of the game to a newb. You just have to avoid developing some nasty habits.

I'm not quite in agreement with you, yes a good sniper is invaluable to a team, but it takes hours and hours of practice before anyone could even claim being good as a sniper.

as for newbies playing sniper I don't see how it would teach them the other more important aspects of the game. Snipers don't spycheck (unless a spy is on their butt). Snipers don't push or stand on the cart at critical times (why would they? they are so far away). A lot of new snipers don't even counter-snipe or focus on heavies or medic's as priority targets (They are new after all).

There is so much more to this game than killing other players. it's hard to understand the severity of losing a choke point when you're standing a couple hundred yards away.

 

[meepop]

These are good points, but make sure of one thing that some people may forget: It's called 'Team' Fortress 2. Not Anyone Fortress 2. What I mean is, don't use voice chat (Should be pretty obvious) if all-talk is enabled. If you can hear the other team, they can hear you. And a speech bubble appears over your head, so if you say you have an uber in front of them with only something like a sniper around, you've just put a bullseye on your face. Press 'u' to use team chat, so even if you don't have a mic, they won't be able to see your secrets.

Alot of these tips are awesome. As others have said, heal everyone as Medic, but try to stay with one class or one person, and heal others along the way. If you have an uber, try to stay back until you can get a teammate who can push through. Again, don't worry about using those other, fancier weapons. People did just fine way back when with the vanilla weapons, and so will you.

I've seen this other problem with many people even before the Uber Update: Trading during a match. Do not do it. Do it during Set-Up time. If you do it during a match, that handicaps your team who loses one possibly useful teammate. The last thing a team needs is an AFK'er just sitting there.

Try not to stray from the objective. The enemy team's bad, but unless they're impeding your progress, there's no need to kill them. Just worry about moving that damn cart. Or whatever.

 

[Ashcrexl]

i may be becoming exceedingly cynical, because my first thought while looking through your post was "this guy just wants those professor speks doesnt he?"

and i am sorry because i am wrong. your guide is quite helpful. i've been playing this game (terribly) for 3 years and i learned something new too.

 

[martin's a madman]

Isn't engineer a defence class and Medic a support class? a and b don't follow.

Owyn pretty much nailed it (except that both demo and heavies are listed as defensive). In reality, the main focus of the team should be power classes and medics, and scouts. Pyros are almost completely useless in competitive play and really only act as a utility tool because of his airblast. Definitely not enough fire power to be offensive. Soldiers and demos are useful for defence and attack, which is why they're so important. They can be used in so many situations. Heavies don't generally work as offence because they'll lag behind the team. A good offence needs a strong front line. Engineer is defensive, but is specialised for certain attack/defend maps or as a distraction. Their ability to stop a team with an ubercharge is extremely minimal. Medics are always needed. Plain and simple. Support, yes, but...

It's better to think of the game in terms of
-Support (scout and medic)
-Combat (soldier and demo)
-Situational (the rest)

If anyone in Australia wants to play with me by the way, I'm Blignorance on Steam.

Uh, that's absolute nonsense. The Heavy is excellent for Offence. 'Lags behind the team' isn't a criticism because you're going to meet up with the opposing team and be stalled anyway. What you need is a class actually capable of taking enough damage so the rest of the team can get in position. That is the heavy, he's the strong frontline.

Also, the Engineer is necessary on absolutely every single team regardless of attack or defence. You need Teleporters, you need dispensers and sentry guns help maintain the push on Offence. Also, with the addition of the Gunslinger, the Engineer actually becomes an excellent combat class.

Pyros are necessary as well, to remove defenders from the points, to force enemies to run away and find health to fix the burn damage (thus allowing time for the team to get in position to cap), spy checking, countering ubers.

Snipers are necessary to pick off heavies defending, or stop them on offence.

Spies on offence panic defence engineers and allow the damage dealing classes to actually get a shot on the sentries, as well as stalling the push by sapping teleporters and dispensers.

To completely ignore these classes is silly. Every single class is necessary. You need to have a balance of all of them.

 

[Cowabungaa]

I'm not quite in agreement with you, yes a good sniper is invaluable to a team, but it takes hours and hours of practice before anyone could even claim being good as a sniper.

as for newbies playing sniper I don't see how it would teach them the other more important aspects of the game. Snipers don't spycheck (unless a spy is on their butt). Snipers don't push or stand on the cart at critical times (why would they? they are so far away). A lot of new snipers don't even counter-snipe or focus on heavies or medic's as priority targets (They are new after all).

There is so much more to this game than killing other players. it's hard to understand the severity of losing a choke point when you're standing a couple hundred yards away.

I beg to differ. A Sniper becomes aware of the need for spychecking preeetty fast, seeing as how they're a tasty target for Spies. They've become aware of the need of counter-sniping when they get killed by an enemy Sniper again. And they'll become aware of the important targets quick enough, because it becomes obvious to other teammembers when a Sniper isn't doing his job. A Sniper gets punished rather hard and so becomes aware of a lot of aspects of the game.

But the most useful thing being a Sniper has to offer for a newby is his unique perspective on the battlefield. A complaint I've often heard from a couple of friends, who got into it after the F2P update is, is that the game seems extremely chaotic. And I can see why, especially when you're in the thick of things on the frontline. It was pretty overwhelming for them. That's why I advised them to give Sniper a go, so that they can have this birdseye-like view. They can learn that that's where the enemy comes from, that's where we need to go, that's why they fight on that spot.

Those things are easier to spot from a Snipers p.o.v than from a Soldier who has to focus on not getting blown up by that Demoman in front of him. A Sniper can (and has to, as relaying intel is one of his jobs) see the broad picture more easily, from my experience. You can easily see what happens when you loose a choke point as a Sniper, as you cleary see the amount of terrain the enemy team gains on you from a Sniper's p.o.v. It's not like a Sniper stands that far away, which by the way is one of those nasty habits I mentioned.

Of course, you're right that they don't teach everything. No class does. It's just that in my experience, the Sniper is treated as if he's got little of use to offer, but I think that he can be a valuable class to teach certain important aspects of the game, and help clear up the seemingly chaotic nature of TF2.

 

[Fanta Grape]

snip

Every class has their ups and downs. The fact of the matter is, every class is suited to a different map. While what you say for a heavy is perfectly true for 2 point cap maps, the lagging is extremely evident in 5 point cap maps. Heavy IS my best class and I should know how bad is is for more open maps. This is similar to the engineer where speed is everything. Absolutely a staple for pushing the cart but on an aggressive short map like dustbowl or egypt, it's weak in terms of sustainability. Spy and sniper, like I said, don't have much pushing force. Pyros just don't have much in terms of damage capabilities.

I never explicitly said that these classes are useless. I don't believe I ever even implied it. They need to be used. But they're situational, exactly like I said. Sometimes they need to be used, but only sometimes. They do not need to be run at all times. In terms of broad uses, the demo and soldier are just far more useful. Their explosive jumps give them a quick rollout speed, they're effective at offence and defence, and they can take the damage on the front lines.

Other classes are important. But they're not always necessary. They're situational.

 

[ResonanceSD]

Also, don't play spy till you're experienced.