The Über Update Day 1, 2 and 3

[therandombear]

Right, for those who don't know Valve is finally releasing the Meet The Medic movie and with it new map(s) and new weapons and the obligatory hats for classes.

Day 1 it was Mobster Monday: http://www.teamfortress.com/uberupdate/day_01.html

Offering new weapons and hats for Spy and Heavy.

The Heavy

The Heavy's new weapons is a new minigun, the Tomislav, it is 75% faster, with silent spin-down but as a downside it has 20% slower firing speed.

"Silent down-spin, why is that?" You might ask, but if you've played TF2 for a while...not even that, you might've discovered that a minigun the Heavy has spinned down is very noisy and easy to hear, but some times a Heavy sneaks up on you, silently like a ninja and then you hear the sound of doom when he spins down his gun.

To the point: This new minigun will add to the arsenal for those who manage to sneak around as Heavy or wait around corners waiting for an unsuspecting victim to run into the crossfire.

The Family Business: The new Heavy shotgun, 40% bigger clip, but it deals 15% less dmg.
Pretty basic really, clip size increases from 6 to 8 shots, but your dmg goes down, according to the wiki the regular shotgun does 86-90 point blank, while the Family Business 74-46 point blank. I'm not much of a shotgun user so some input on how this will work you is appreciated

And lastly for the Heavy is The Eviction Notice, new melee weapon. Brass Knuckles which deal 60% less dmg, but you punch 50% faster. What Surprised me really is that those knuckles don't have the bleed effect, looks like a fitting weapon to have bleed effect.

The Spy

The Enforcer: A new Revolver that deals 20% more dmg, but it takes 0.5 sec longer to cloak. Powerful gun really for the spy, considering with the regular revolver it takes 2-3 shots to kill a razorback Sniper now you save 1 bullet and can use it on the dirty pyro coming up behind you

Big Earner: You get 30% cloak on kill, but you have 25 less hp, so you're down to 100HP max.
I don't know how to actually play a spy...besides heavy he is my second least played class, so just a theory.
Wouldn't this one work great with the Dead Ringer? Dead Ringer "kills" you early, so the other team thinks you're dead. However the Dead Ringer cloak drains fast and fills slowly, even while picking up metal. So if you decloak and stab or even kill someone with a knife slash you get more cloak for the Dead Ringer.

Über Update, Day 2: http://www.teamfortress.com/uberupdate/index.html

The Sniper

The Bazaar Bargain: A new sniper rifle...which I like tbh, on successful headshot the rifle charges faster, 10% for each consecutive headshot. If you body shot you still get a bonus, but reduced. And if you miss, the recharge is reset. This was all nice and good, when it was released yesterday, but over the night they added a new stat aswell. It has -20 base charge to start with, so you need to get 2 conscutive headshots to be up to normal charge rate before you start to get faster then normal rifle.

Which is alright, since it didn't really have a downside until that was added.

The Shahanshah: New sword for The Sniper. You deal 25% more dmg when your health is under 50% of your max hp, but you deal less dmg with it when you have 50% more then your max hp.
So regular dmg when you have full hp, less dmg when overhealed and more dmg when near death-ish

I'm more of a Jarate + Bushwacka person, so I'll have to test this one out before I make up my mind.

The Demoman

The Splendid Screen: 25% Fire dmg resistance, 20% damage resistance, 70% increase in charge impact and can deal charge impact dmg at any range. Which is of course another shield for demoman.

The Persian Persuader: 100% increase in charge rate recharge and all ammo you pick up become health.

And Ali Baba's Wee Booties: 25 more hp and 100% increase in turning control while charging.

Now, this set annoys me...mainly because I know people will use it outside of the Medieval mode.
Fully equipped with it removes all the demomans range weapons, no nade launcher and no sticky launcher...which deafeats the purpose of a demoman.

And if you click the smashed bonk can on the bottom of the Day 2 page you see the new weapons for the scout.

The Scout

The Soda Popper: 25% faster reload, 50% faster firing speed, -60% clip size and no random critical hits. However While you run you build up Hype and when Hype is full you unleash minicrits.
Now..that's kinda interesting, they combined the Crit-a-cola with a scatter gun and implemented a new system for the scout with him getting "Hype" bar while he runs...better charge slowly though or people will run in circles before round start and pop it whne gates go up.

The Atomizer: Grants Scout a triple jump and deals 10 dmg on the third jump, however it has 30% slower firing speed and 20% less dmg done.
Now a triple is welcome..means I don't have to use the FaN or the Boston Basher to hit myself for a boost. However..the 10dmg on third jump..is that towards yourself or towards someone you land on? Since its in blue text on the update page I'm not entirely sure.

and lastly there is The Winger: A new gun for scout, deals 15% more dmg and it has 60% smaller clip. Not much of a pistol scout myself, rather use bonk or milk, so someone else make an input about that one

Über Update Day 3: http://www.teamfortress.com/uberupdate/

The Soldier

2 Packs for this guy.

The Mantreads, new soldier boots. -75% reduction in push force taken from damage. And deals 3x damage to the player you land on.

The Disciplinary Action: A new melee...a riding crop... On Hit Ally: Boosts players speed for several seconds. Deals 25% less dmg then regular melee.

Second Pack.

The Liberty Launcher: New Rocker launcher. Shoots projectiles 40% faster, but 25% less clip, so 1 rocket gone. Mix between Regular Launcher and Direct Hit.

The Reserve Shooter: New shotgun. 15% faster weapon switching speed. Minicrits airborn targets for 3 sec after switch. -50% Clip size.

The Market Gardener: New Shovel. Deals Crit dmg while rocket jumping, but deals 25% less dmg then regular melee weapon.

The Pyro

They snuck in 1 pyro.

The Detonator: Modified Flare Gun that allows you to detonato (duh) the flare mid-air for splash dmg. The stats actually don't show on the Über Update, but I reckon the Stats are the same from Beta. So 20% more dmg from their own explosions.


TL;DR: What do you think of these new weapons so far and any of them which seem interesting?

 

[usernamewastaken]

The new heavy set, want. I love the tomislav, when I play as sniper, I listen out for the telltale noise of a minigun spinning, now I can be some sort of heavy spy, and 8 shells to a clip is just what the shotgun needed. Unsure about the eviction notice, I mean, sure you can alnd more punches but the damage loss just kills it for me, I'm wondering what the set bonus is.

The spy set will most likely replace my beloved fez, the enforcer sounds great, and the two work well together, you can do more damage but take less damage.

Now as for the demo set, It hasn't been confirmed that the sword does any damage whatsoever, I mean, it sounds bazar, but hey.

So bassicaly, the soda popper is the FaN, which in my experience has a low crit rate. How to fix it, GIVE IT GARUNTEED CRITS! If anything, the base stats are slightly more OP than the FaN, no damage nerf and such. The winger interests me, I swear by my pistol, and to be honest, from a 12 bullet clip, I'm lucky if 4 hit, now immagine if said clip only has 5 bullets, I'm gonna end up doing far less damage per clip, and If I'm at close range, then why on earth would I use the pistol?

 

[Sir Kemper]

I'm hoping that with the Heavy, they might do something where they quite, or reduce the noise he makes from talking, sorta like they did with the Spy and the Eternal Reward. Tomislav's special ability ain't gonna mean bumpkis if you can still hear Heavy loudly telling his enemies he's sneaking up on them. His other items, are fairly nifty and seem to compliment the 'Slav, as they allow the heavy to get spammy with his melee and secondary while sneaking around and caught with his minigun unspun, or on the go.

Spy Pack's alright, The handgun seems a bit pointless since you can usually finish of foe with 2-3 shots with the standard revolver, although it does tip the scale towards fight more than flight when playing the spy and getting discovered, Knife's got a cool ability, although I can't really say whether I'd use it. What you're guessing with the DR is correct Bear, the whole spy pack does appear to work fairly well with it, since it compliments the lack of health and slower cloak time fairly well. (although, I'm assuming the enforcer affects the actual time for the spy to raise the DR, and it activating, so all's good.)

I've played around with the Sniper pack while it was in beta, not an amazing sniper player, but I thought it was alright, I'm hesitant to really call it the L33T Qu1cksc0pe rifle but those with such skills, or at least the ability to aim competently will love this. New Melee is basically just an equalizer for the Sniper, which isn't bad. He's got a nice set of melee weapons already and this is just an addition, Jarate and Bushwacka are still the most powerful, but this does give the sniper a chance to use something else, if he'd prefer to have his secondary be something else other than Jarate.

Bit annoyed they didn't decide to give demo some items that functioned his standard set up, but whatever. The main thing is that lots and lots of player's are going to be using these items, both as the set, an on their own. When gamer's are presented with the prospect of taking extra HP, they almost always jump at it. Really, can't say much on this pack without eventually descending into a stream of what sounds like "fuk demoknites".

I play a lot of Scout, I've never been much for the FaN but the Soda Popper looks alright. I'm assuming that it doesn't have the knock back like the FaN, as too keep the FaN original and unique. The minicrit thing is cool, and I'm assuming it works like the Frontier Justice, gathering mini's as you run around. New bat's looks alright. The new pistol also looks nice, since it appears to take up the job of finishing off wounded enemies a lot better than the standard pistol. Which works well with the weaker bat and ammo lacking shotgun.

 

[Judgement101]

The new spy cloak seems.....really crappy. Cloak for kills? You NEED cloak to get kills. It's basically you have to win a knife fight before you can actually deal damage.

 

[Fanta Grape]

I'm in a bad mood so I don't particularly care of I get banned but in my opinion, these weapons are fucking pathetic.

I love TF2 so much and that's why it's a God damn disgrace when they release some terribly mismatched weapon for the class, the art style and the game overall. What the fuck is the point of releasing a shotgun that slightly tweaks numbers? I'm not playing a fucking RPG. It's not Borderlands where slight weapon stats are the focus, it's a game where you must master what you are given. I thought they learnt in the polycount pack that item tweaking is bloody terrible when the default loud outs end up being the most efficient (with a few basic exceptions equaliser, ubersaw, etc). I HATE being a medic with an ubercharge having to waste it on a black box soldier and I hate being a good heavy dying to a brass beast because of bad luck. It becomes a game of rock paper scissors and it makes the game far more luck based than it should be. Yes, the weapons look GLORIOUS and the art direction is nice, but that doesn't matter when you unbalance a game famous for its own balance. Now I know I'll get someone telling me that I should play competitive/vanilla server but the fact is, I LOVE the variety the game adds. It's just that the most recent ones annoy me. The engineer update is one of the most fascinating turn arounds for the class and the creativity of some unique items like the tribalman's shiv (pre-shouthern hospitality) and the sandman are great, but it's a terrible idea to add these weapons which WON'T BE BETA TESTED! REMEMBER HOW MUCH EFFORT IT TOOK TO FINALLY GET A DECENT NATASCHA PURELY BECAUSE IT WAS A "NUMBERS" WEAPON? Well stop it! Jesus Christ.

The new spy cloak seems.....really crappy. Cloak for kills? You NEED cloak to get kills. It's basically you have to win a knife fight before you can actually deal damage.

I do believe it means it'll act like the le'tranger by adding 30% to the bar, not to a total overall amount.

Also, the heavy gun is actually rather interesting. One of the few weapons I look forward to.

 

[therandombear]

I HATE being a medic with an ubercharge having to waste it on a black box soldier

Right there with you, so many times I've gotten a ready uber to push at a sentry nest, literally..and the only thing that's near me is a Demoman...with a damned shield and eyelander -.-

Give me a sticky launcher demo anyday, I say.

The new spy cloak seems.....really crappy. Cloak for kills? You NEED cloak to get kills. It's basically you have to win a knife fight before you can actually deal damage.

You must've misread, probably my fault. The knife refills your cloak bar quicker if you kill someone with the new knife, no need to kill before you're able to cloak. Cloak still regens at same rate as always.

I play a lot of Scout, I've never been much for the FaN but the Soda Popper looks alright. I'm assuming that it doesn't have the knock back like the FaN, as too keep the FaN original and unique. The minicrit thing is cool, and I'm assuming it works like the Frontier Justice, gathering mini's as you run around.

Ya, probably no knock-back and hopefully they'll make it so you can't charge up minicrit during setup...or inside spawn...hum, they'll most likely do the "no charge during setup", but I don't know about after setup...gang of scouts can just run in circles inside the spawn room.

 

[therandombear]

No new engie buildings?
Why does valve hate engies?
The mini sentry was awesome but I'd like some more toys please?


But yeah, at least we get demo melee weapon #42 cause they sure needed more of those.

Ya, not like Demoman has enough swords already xD

If we're "lucky" the guy I saw on the steam forums is right about today, "Western Wednesday", and well, you don't get anything more close to Engie and Soldier then Western

 

[Pedro The Hutt]

World War Wednesday instead. With a rocket launcher that might or might not be borderline OP. But I guess we'll see how that works out when we've had a chance to fight with (and more importantly, against) it.

 

[Hurray Forums]

New Heavy Minigun pisses me off. Heavy is already a stupidly easy class and removing the noise and wind up time greatly lessens one of his few remaining weaknesses. Valve has been doing this for some time but it's just getting kinda ridiculous. He's slow? Gloves of Running Urgently! He's extremely reliant on medic? Sandvich! He's vulnerable to snipers? Fists of Steel! The player is somehow too stupid/terrible to hit a quickly moving target with a hitscan weapon? Natasha!. Now even if you sneak up on a Heavy from behind when he's unspun he'll still stand a good chance of winning due to near instant retaliation, an absurd HP pool, and huge damage(even with the damage nerf on the minigun it's still going to make short work of everything in close/medium range, 20% slower firing speed doesn't really matter when you do 500 DPS and most people have 150-175 ish health). It's also a big blow to Pyros trying to kill Heavies which was already one of the most unfair match ups in the game. Catching a heavy from behind while he wasn't spinning his minigun and axtinguishing the shit out of him was pretty much the only way for a Pyro to kill a half way decent Heavy, now even that is going to be extremely risky and unlikely to work.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

The Liberty Launcher sounds like it will get A LOT of shit, since basically it's the Direct Hit without the slash damage con. It's something that practically encourages spamming the rockets, even if it has a lower clip size.

The Tomislav sounds like a decent idea, sacrificing efficiency with stealth.

The Enforcer is worth getting because the extra damage is worth it alone.

The Persian Persuader sounds like another weapon with absolutely no negative in Medieval Mode.

The new Spamoman Boots sound like they entirely take away the point of being a Demoman, since now all you have is your melee weapon.

The Big Earner sounds great, since I'm used to the Spy having little health thanks to the Kunai.

The Soda Popper is to the Force-a-Nature what the Amputator is to the Bonesaw: A complete upgrade.

The rest of the weapons sound completely situational.

 

[TimeLord]

Yaaaaaayyyyyy! As a mainly Soldier player, I am looking forward to the new Rocket launcher as it looks like a decent alternative to the Black Box that I always have equipped.

 

[Hurray Forums]

The Liberty Launcher sounds like it will get A LOT of shit, since basically it's the Direct Hit without the slash damage con. It's something that practically encourages spamming the rockets, even if it has a lower clip size.

Demoman Black Box will still be the nooby spam weapon. Increased projectile speed doesn't really matter if you aren't actually aiming precisely and going after specific targets. I see the Liberty Launcher for being used at that uncomfortable mid range where no amount of good aim and prediction can overcome the fact that rockets are slow as molasses and people can change direction instantly.

 

[Pedro The Hutt]

It's also a big blow to Pyros trying to kill Heavies which was already one of the most unfair match ups in the game. Catching a heavy from behind while he wasn't spinning his minigun and axtinguishing the shit out of him was pretty much the only way for a Pyro to kill a half way decent Heavy, now even that is going to be extremely risky and unlikely to work.

Most of my Heavy kills as Pyro come from outstrafing him. =p 20% slower firing is welcome in that regard since I haven't seen too many heavies capable of keeping the bullets concentrated on a furiously circle strafing pyro at all times, so it in effect boosts their survival chances.

Also, when push comes to shove Sasha is still the mostly used minigun in competitive (and even pub play) TF2, the Brass Beast and Natasha are rarely seen. The reduced spin-up time and moving speed of the Beast and the reduced damage output of Natascha make both guns that are only of situational use. I imagine the Tomislav will be like that too. Don't forget the Heavy only does 500DPS at point blank, and that damage rate drops off something fierce the further you get away from him.

 

[Hurray Forums]

It's also a big blow to Pyros trying to kill Heavies which was already one of the most unfair match ups in the game. Catching a heavy from behind while he wasn't spinning his minigun and axtinguishing the shit out of him was pretty much the only way for a Pyro to kill a half way decent Heavy, now even that is going to be extremely risky and unlikely to work.

Most of my Heavy kills as Pyro come from outstrafing him. =p 20% slower firing is welcome in that regard since I haven't seen too many heavies capable of keeping the bullets concentrated on a furiously circle strafing pyro at all times, so it in effect boosts their survival chances.

Also, when push comes to shove Sasha is still the mostly used minigun in competitive (and even pub play) TF2, the Brass Beast and Natasha are rarely seen. The reduced spin-up time and moving speed of the Beast and the reduced damage output of Natascha make both guns that are only of situational use. I imagine the Tomislav will be like that too. Don't forget the Heavy only does 500DPS at point blank, and that damage rate drops off something fierce the further you get away from him.

A Heavy that loses to circle strafing does not qualify as "half way decent". Seriously, you only have to focus your gun on the Pyro for 1/3 of a second to kill him with the regular minigun at point blank(in contrast a Pyro would have to get hits with all particles from point blank for more then 2 seconds to kill a heavy with flamethrower). Also, "only 500" dps? That's more than three times as much as any other weapon in the entire game. Damage rate dropping at long range happens for every single class except Demo and Sniper so I don't really see how that's terribly relevant.

Anyway you are right that Brass Beast and Natascha don't get much use. Brass Beast doesn't get used because as already mentioned the Heavy's DPS is so absurd that adding or removing 20% doesn't really matter so the downsides aren't worth it. I don't think Natascha was ever really good even before the nerf, anything in short/mid range dies so fast that the slow debuff isn't really necessary, and if you're just spamming at long range where the debuff is actually useful you're not really doing your job as Heavy. Really, the lack of usage for the Natascha and Brass Beast just proves how much more important spin up speed is than damage.

I'm not saying it's "for sure" going to be overpowered, I can't say that without actually playing with/against it, I just don't like how Valve is constantly "dumbing down" an already easy class and removing yet another of it's weaknesses(which wasn't even much of a weakness if you knew how to jump and spin up properly). It's basically the equivalent of letting a Soldier have a 20 rocket clip so he doesn't have to worry about reloading or using his shots properly, or making the Pyro's flamethrower have a 30 foot range so he doesn't have to worry about getting in close. A long wind up time was pretty much the only weakness of the minigun and really the only thing you had to worry about when using it, now even that's going to be gone. How much lower can the skill ceiling go?