Comments on: Heavy’s Lighter Fight: Arena Mode

By: Koldun(as)

Koldun(as) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 17:08:18 +0000

There’s nothing like 20 minute defense against an equally skilled team in dustbowl.
I doubt this arena thing will become as popular as cp or ctf maps, but well, it’s a welcome addition.
I especially like the part where 3v3 becomes enjoyable.

By: The Unshaven

The Unshaven — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 20:33:54 +0000

Meet the Sandvich is up, and is Awesome!

http://steamgames.com/tf2/heavy/sandvich.htm

By: Jahkaivah

Jahkaivah — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 20:10:53 +0000

What about the shift in Class value?

My experiance with sudden death always shows a massive change on which classes you should play. This new Arena mode will more than likely have the same effect…

Medics might go from useful to CRUCIAL, as they prevent the crippling factor of death in the game.

In a similer effect, high health classes like Soldier and Heavy might become more valuebale due to their abbility to survive confrontations.

But of course this may have negative effects, what if the spy goes from “useful when breaking the defense” to “too dangerous to be worth it”?

The idea of using a Scout could become laughable unless Valve think of something.

As for engineer… huge problem… not only does the class itself get crippled by being forced to play on unsecure territory, but the other clases who were partially designed to have ways of dealing with sentries will be impacted as well.

Not saying it wont work out… this is Valve we are talking about, but I will be interested to see how they handle this.

By: Saflo

Saflo — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 19:34:29 +0000

Lumberyard looks great. Even better than it did in Episode Two.

By: Sharpless

Sharpless — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 18:59:20 +0000

I was reading this over on ShackNews and this was met with virtually nothing but whining. Glad to see that RPS’s readers are a little more balanced.

I think this is awesome. After all, what gamer in their right mind wouldn’t want more options? If you don’t like it, don’t play the gametype.

By: DragonSix

DragonSix — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 18:56:05 +0000

Counter Strike… The game were spectator mode is a huge feature… no thanks.

By: MacBeth

MacBeth — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 17:14:03 +0000

I’m continually amazed by the people who say ‘this update will break TF2 because X will happen’ as if we didn’t know for a gold-plated fact that Valve playtest their games within an inch of their lives. Do you honestly think the pre-objection you came up with, based on a few minutes thinking about the couple of paragraphs we’ve been told about the game so far, outweighs the fact that the geniuses who made the game will have been playing it and tweaking it for the last few weeks? Honestly… give them some credit!

<3 Valve, obviously…

By: Pheonix K

Pheonix K — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 17:05:17 +0000

@ Erlam: I don’t think the “player divide” will be much of a problem after the first month. For about a month after Goldrush was released, the server list were very Goldrush heavy. Then people started to tire, and now you see plenty of the old maps (and lots and lots of custom maps, woot customs) getting played. For a few weeks, the non-Arena servers will be looking a little lonely, but the system should equalize after some time.

As long as there are still people on Cube Soccer servers, life will be good.

By: Erlam

Erlam — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 16:35:52 +0000

I’m not feeling this mode. I love TF2 because it’s fun, casual, and the classes are fairly well balanced.

This mode is going to be a problem with classes like demomen – if they have two that cover the doors you have to get through, you’re fucked. And given that you don’t respawn, it’ll be even worse.

My other, more pressing problem is that once this mode comes out, people won’t play the old ones, and you’ll get a player divide – ‘pro’ Arena maps, and ‘anti’ arena maps.

Not to mention crit rockets will not only be annoying, but will literally end your gameplay for a few minutes. No thanks.

Sigh.

By: Klepackage

Klepackage — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 15:57:20 +0000

I’ve never liked crits in this game. However, the random freebie crits are the worst.

Arena mode sounds like CSS with random crits. I’m not holding my breath.

By: Jayof9s

Jayof9s — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 15:09:44 +0000

I don’t like counter strike for a lot of reasons and I hate the sudden death feature at the end of some maps in TF2. I know I won’t be playing any arena maps, played that type of thing too many times in the past and never enjoyed it. Pretty disappointing they made this the new map type. Even with a central objective it doesn’t seem terribly fun.

And yes its free content, but I don’t see where that removes the ability for us to form and express an opinion about if we like it or not.

By: KBKarma

KBKarma — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 15:09:33 +0000

Hey, Gulag! Didn’t know you were around.

This looks rather interesting. Just the other day, myself and some friends despaired of the fact that TF2 is not really playable as a 3v3. Now, BAM! This might even work as a (rather limited) 1v1, allowing for tests to see who the better Sniper is, for example.

Also, I predict Meet The Spy. Because he can disguise as a Lumberjack…