The latest creepy output from Valve’s ever-watching stat-o-tron reveals how we, the human animal, play Team Fortress 2. And, well, everything you’ve ever moaned about during that one match where it was so unfair because they had too many of this and they did that and God, I might as well just stop playing if you’re going to be like that is, as it turns out, pretty much true.
It’s mildly distressing how absolutely it confirms everyone’s suspicions and stereotypes about the game. Yes, there are more rushy-bastard Scouts than any other class. Yes, campy-bastard Snipers earn the most points. Yes, hitpointy-bastard Heavies get the most kills. Yes, hidey-bastard Engineers live longest. And so on.
What’s slightly odder is the breakdown of which side wins most frequently on each map. BLU has the edge in every killing field except Dustbowl and Gravelpit. Why? How? I thought we were all the same! Damn you for not being neater, demographics.
The heat maps that reveal the most common death locations are a giggle, too. Here’s 2Forts:
Who’da thunk it?
Related Stories:
I guess there are many players that just didn’t play TF2 for a long time. Remember ist was sold as a package, so probably there are a lot of players that were mainly interested in the single player games of the orange box and merely tried TF2.
Feet: “cannot believe how few medics there are”
It probably doesn’t mean they are not popular, it’s just about the only class having a “natural” class limit. Most other classes can be played in a team having 50+% that class: it will mostly make a crappy team, but your individual gaming experience can still be OK. But a medic without a strong class to heal is not much fun.
Yeah I’ve gotta take umbrage with the pyro slagging too. Played correctly, the pyro can be devastating. If you get two decent (and patient) medics on your team as pyro, you can pre-empt several of your opponents’ ubers by rushing your pyro with a medic. And the pyro is great for busting up dug in defenses on the assault maps.
On the server I play on (Team TG7 Public) we have extremely talented players most nights, and we generally see offenses beating out defenses on the assault maps. But then again, most of our regulars at this point have realized that the game rewards patience, and ubers (and counter-ubers, and counter-counter-ubers) are getting more and more common. Maybe that’s not a consistent trend across other servers yet?
These stats are probably slanted by people who continously skip the training videos and play the game as a deathmatch with no clue as to what the differences between classes mean. I usually play on private servers with communities I’m a part of, and lacking a medic is never an issue.
Based on the stats, it seems like people are realizing that you need to kill the medic first, preferably before the uber comes online. As for the blue team’s edge, I wonder if it has to do with blue getting the extra player when there is an odd number of players?
On the lack of Head of the Class – I’ve played every class at least somewhat. But you have to have played the class continuously for an entire round, which isn’t really how TF2 is meant to be played – you can change class on respawn for a reason. And moreover, it doesn’t list which classes you’ve done it with. I’m at 8 of 9 and I really don’t remember which of my non-favored classes I might be lacking.
I’m a little puzzled by the decent showing (relatively) of the Heavy’s Fists. I only recall one occasion (other than the post-victory slaughter, and even then it’s rare) when I saw a Fist kill, which seems to make sense. After all, the minigun is a great close quarters weapon, and once out of ammo the Heavy fights his way to the nearest ammo using the mobility afforded by the shotgun. Given the difficulty of closing to melee with the slow run speed where does the punching fit in?
Also, the relatively poor showing by the Demoman has me puzzled. I meet plenty of great Demos happy to demonstrate how deadly the class can be when played well.
I assume the Heavy Fisting (nyah) is mostly the melee love-fest that occurs after a team wins a round. That’s when I see almost all fist kills.
Oh yeah – I also just noticed that it was just 1 week of data, so there are bound to be some anomalies/error in the true stats.
Actually, I love pounding people with the heavy’s fists. They seem to do a crapton of damage and it feels awesome. Best classes are definitely soldier and demoman though, purely because they get to see the giblets the most. :D
I think you see a lot of heavy melee because of Pyro’s. If the Heavy is out of ammo, he may as well punch the pyro, because it’s not like you can actually kill someone with the flamethrower at anything other than melee range.
I love the 2Fort heat map. Once again confirming that shoppers entering a grocery store (I mean fort) almost always go to the right.
What weapon is the club? Is it like the bat or something….but then why is the bat on there too?
I assumed that the “club” was the sniper’s melee weapon, since I couldn’t see any machete/khukri/whatever entry.
Yeah, the needle gun is pretty much your only recourse when you need to fight back. I mainly use it when I see a spy coming in (because I’m an old hand at spy-spotting). But I have taken out sentry guns with it.
The main problem with the “oh crap I’m being attacked” moments is that I’m usually healing someone, and they’re usually either busy attacking something else, or they’re too stupid to realize that it is in their interest to protect me, or they aren’t listening to me. I mean not only am I healing them, I’m the eyes on the back of their head, you know?
Anyhow, anyone who isn’t a team player, and doesn’t take advantage of my aid when it is given to them…well, I just avoid healing them from then on.
Anyhow…medic. The most-improved class in TF2. I play it the most mainly because hardly anyone else does, and it is pretty much vital for victory.
What’s great is that it pretty much the class that puts the TEAM in Team Fortress.
Oh….and it’s a shame about Fortress Forever. When I first heard about it (IIRC, before TF2 was honest-and-for-true confirmed), I was excited…but then it came out at exactly the wrong time.
And then it ended up …not sucking, but the Spy class was completely BROKEN (they got all kinds of extra abilities without giving anything up).
And then I played TF2.
Data like this has been collected for multiple games. For instance the data collected by Bungie is much more intenselike, self stats and heatmaps, kills with certain weapons, andwhat weapons you were killed with. all this is, is basic general information that valve will use to even out and improve the game. unlike bungie who won’t change it at all, their stats are for self-gain, to change the players playing habit’s instead of the games.
P.S. Orange Box is the most amazing compilation of games ever and is easily replayable, unlike most games which lose thier “Shine.” i will forever and ever play The Orange Box. by the way “Papa Skwah” is my gamertag i’ll play TF2 with anyone.