I’ve been out of the TF2 scene for a few months now, as all that focus on achievement-whoring and increasingly technical play turned me off the game somewhat – paranoia I couldn’t keep up with The Kids as much as anything else. However, the combination of a masterful marketing effort and the promise of new toys that didn’t require incredi-skill or soulless grinding to attain lured me back in today. Clearly, I’ve had a great time – the current free weekend means there’s a palpable excitement on the servers, and some of the community maps that have sprung up during my time in the wilderness are pretty spectacular. (There’s one with biplanes in the sky and an underground ice cave which was particularly gorgeous). The new weapon unlock system though – not so keen, and you may have caught some folk venting in our other TF2 threads.
Top bit of info to know before your bonce explodes in rage, however – I bounced a quick mail to Valve’s very own Saxton Hale, TF2 lead-guy Robin Walker, who reckons there’s some sort of bug in the system that’s meaning people aren’t getting unlocks even after hours of play. “Not at all how it’s tuned,” apparently. Which is, I think, the first time I’ve been relieved to hear a game has a bug – it means the problem will get fixed. Read on for my thoughts on the change and word on how it’s supposed to work from the goodly Mister Walker.
Here’s what the controversial change is in, a nutshell. Previously, gaining a new weapon/item required earning a certain number of achievements – some of which were pretty easy, some were enjoyably challenging, and some were just a silly grind that was totally divorced from what you’d naturally get up to in the game. Valve nobly tried to tweak the number and manner of achievements required for a new toy into something that wasn’t quite so intimidating for the more casual TF2 player, but it never felt quite right – it was always a rich get richer system, the most practised players being rewarded with stuff that would make them only more fearsome on the battlefield.
So, with this update, Valve did the gentlemanly thing and scrapped the reliance on achievements to gain these unlocks altogether. Now, anyone can get any unlock – be it from the new Spy/Sniper pack or the old Heavy, Scout, Pyro and Medic ones – no matter how good/bad/laughably bad they are at the game. It is absolutely, entirely fair, and it ensures people are genuinely playing the game rather than disappearing into a cheerless, artificial pattern of achievement-hunting. And that’s what these updates are for – to get people playing TF2, as TF2 is supposed to be played. This way, the playing field should be entirely level – a quiet acknowledgement that maybe everyone should have had everything in the first place after all. It also means the servers aren’t as swamped with Spies and Snipers as one might have expected, as winning an upgrade is class-agnostic – so a Scout might win a flare gun, or a Heavy a piquant Jarate. It also means those creepy achievement servers are less in demand.
So all’s fair in war and war, right? Technically, yes – but in practice, it feels unfair. I clocked up four hours of play since the update went live, and won nothing. Returning later in the day, I was granted Natascha whilst walking across a bridge, which was nice – but not one of the new incredi-toys. The presentation of it was disappointingly naff too – no sense of having found something, despite it being described as such – just a pop-up screen out of nowhere. Someone else said he’d won three flare guns, and that he’d already unlocked the flare gun during the Pyro update anyway, so he must have been really miffed. Meanwhile, I saw messages about others finding Ambassadors and Razorbacks occasionally pop-up, and I just stared aghast, gripped by childish jealousy of these obscenely lucky strangers and unable to do anything whatsoever about it. Where did they get those wonderful toys? Yes, it is true: I briefly became an Angry Internet Man.
The concept is certainly sound, but some combination of the execution and this bug has made for a frustrating experience today. Especially given the new weapons have been a big lure for lapsed players, but now they’re finding they can’t get access to them. Without seeing the intended frequency of drops in action, it’s impossible to judged whether there’s genuinely a problem with turning that concept into practice, or if everyone would be as happy as a Scout with a Taco if it weren’t for this unfortunate bug.
We’re told there’ll be a post on the official TF2 blog, explaining exactly how the system works, soon. That’ll be fascinating in and of itself, as hearing people repeatedly come up with crazy theories as to what the behind the scenes maths is, only to have it obviously disproved moments later, has made for some laughs. It’ll almost be a shame to ruin the mystery… Tom Hanks in Saving Private Ryan became a whole lot less interesting when we found out he was a teacher, y’know?
Here’s the full skinny from Robin Walker:
“As in everything else we do, we want to iterate, so this is really the first step towards our desired implementation. We also think we have bugs in the system as well, since we’re seeing some players not finding any items after a few hours of play, which is not at all how it’s tuned. We want unlockable drops to be a pretty regular occurrence for players, with the cosmetic hats being the rare finds.”
Which sounds reasonable – I suspect a frequent trickle of items would be exciting rather than, as it currently is, frustrating. It almost make some sense of the current oddball collection of multiple duplicates – having more Flare Guns than everyone else could become a point of pride. Hope the problem’s fixed soon, anyway – I want my jar of piss, dammit.
Update – the TF2 blog now has more details, including the revelation that item trading is on its way. The problem seems to persist for a lot of folk despite an apparent patch, however. This certainly hasn’t been Valve’s finest hour – but again, let’s hope the planned changes make up for it.
Related Stories:
Partly @Mark and past posts:
I played for 35 minutes earlier, as a mix of the Pyro and the Medic, and I got a Backburner. In the same set of matches, a bunch of other people got a few unlocks they were happy with, too.
There are a number of possibilities here, how likely each of them is is up to you to decide:
1. Some people are playing on servers which aren’t properly connected to Steam, those servers obviously won’t hand out unlocks because there’s no way Valve can track them.
2. There’s a bug related to Steam IDs somehow, and that bug relates to how often or how little a person experiences drops, in which case people should report their Steam IDs, so we can see if there’s a commonality between them, either in spelling (certain characters) or in stats.
3. They fixed the updates sometime yesterday and people are complaining without actually trying the game. How many people who’ve complained have tried the game the same day that they complained, really?
4. Valve has a naughty & nice list for players, much like their list for servers. Players who are jerks, unsociable, and/or exploit a lot work their way down into the naughty category and see no unlocks, whereas the more pleasant players out there see good luck, and preferential treatment for presenting a more positive look for the game. (Disclaimer: This is absolutely ludicrous, fabricated, and here for humour value alone.)
5. The servers I’ve been on are lucky servers filled with Lucky Luck Juice™ which have magically ramped up drop rates for unlocks, and that the players who find those servers have discovered The Golden Land. No I’m not telling you which servers I play on! D: (Disclaimer: This is partly here for humour value, but I’m still not telling you what servers I play on.)
6. There are those who are telling the fattiest and porkiest of porky pies, motivated by perhaps not being able to WoW-grind in the game aymore, by not getting the unlocks they want (MANTRUM!), or simply because they don’t like TF2 and see an opportunity to jump on a hatewagon.
Everything but perhaps 4 and 5 should probably be considered a very possible scenario. So here’s what we should do…
1. Check that the server you’re connecting to is properly connected to Steam. For starters, it should be VAC secured if it is.
2. If you’ve tested the game today and you’re having problems, then consider creating/participating in a thread on the Steam forums where Steam IDs and stats are catalogued, if nothing else it would be a good starting point for Valve to go bug-hunting. And be nice about it, eh?
This won’t help the people tellin’ porkies, and it won’t help those who simply don’t care, but for those who are having real issues, a post like this might help. Pointing out the obvious a bit… yeah, but there you go.
Got 2 unlocks after about 3-4 hours play – but hey, it was a fun 3-4 hours.
I approve of the new system (pending all bug fixes). The only weapon unlocks I’ve received are ones that I received accidentally, as in I randomly got the first milestone for that particular class. I didn’t spend time working toward achievements – except I did spend more time taunting on the freezecam…
Not working toward the old achievements doesn’t mean I’m lazy, it means I made a choice not to work toward the achievements.
The new system means I’ll randomly get “rewarded” for playing the game, which sounds pretty good to me. Now, as before, I don’t really care if I get a new weapon.
Please keep in mind that Valve is maintaining this game at no cost to you. Whether their updates are good or bad (bugs excluded), it’s free content either way. Appreciate the fact that they are continuing to support a game that, at 19 months old, is at the end of its life cycle (conventional games tend not to release any patches after the first year).
@PheonixK: I think the millions of active players and Valve would disagree with your statement that Team Fortress 2 has reached the end of its life cycle.
That, and every new update brings in more sales.
@A-Scale
If you’re really silly enough to think that, go ahead quit. TF2 will be better off.
I was wondering. When will the 6.99 price go back up to full price. I’m very much buying this game now but I need to put some money in the bank to do that and it’s the bankers religious holiday today. Anyone know whether it’ll last a week or so?
I was wondering. When will the 6.99 price go back up to full price. I’m very much buying this game now but I need to put some money in the bank to do that and it’s the bankers religious holiday today. Anyone know whether it’ll last a week or so?
I can buy you a copy today if you like, and you can paypal the balance to me when you have the cash. If not me, I’m sure you could find a person you know who’d do the same. I think the offer ends tonight, not sure though.
Although that is a very nice offer sinister I’ll have to decline. It’s bad enough me oweing people money in real life as it is let alone oweing INTERNET MEN. (ANGRY or otherwise) It’s a shame I won’t get it for 7 quid but I guess I’ll just have to get Orange Box. If I did get Orange Box would I have to re-install TF2 and lose my achievements and everything (I got 39 and 4 items) or could I simply add my key to the existing one?
I have no idea. I am happy to send it gratis if you prefer. I’d only spend it on pasties otherwise, which I’m pretty sure are filled mainly with former employees. But fair enough, the orange box thing is probably worth investigating.
You know what, I’ve changed my mind. I remembered I’ve already completed HL2 (well I say completed, I mean got bored the same portion of the way through three times) and Portal which basically makes Orange Box worthless anyway. Is there anyway we can contact each other? MSN/Anything? I’m signed up on the forum now if you want to send PMs through that.
I’m [BZZZZZZZZZZTT] wednesday [BZZZZZSSCCHHHKKKRTT]-at in line on the fourth da[BZZZZZZZZZSSSSSHHHHK] Walker, then Gil[ZZZZZZZZZZT]ill them, kill them a[POP]
Just like to add something: <3 sinister agent.
Indeed, how silly to believe that people might actually want to USE the weapons they were just cock teased with for the course of a week.
@PheonixK:
As has been mentioned far too many times before: I wouldn’t mind Valve “maintaining the game for free” if I could go back and play vanilla TF2 any time I wanted. Which I can’t, since as far as I know, Steam doesn’t like you playing unupdated versions of games it manages…
@aoanla
there are servers that are vanilla only. i’m in friggin australia and even down here there at least a couple to choose from, so in more populous places i bet there are scads.
@anyone else
does anyone know the name of the map with biplanes and ice caves mentioned in the article?
@Freudian Trip: You can uninstall and reinstall all your Valve games (I don’t think it works for all Steam games) as much as you like without losing any achievements/unlocks. Everything is saved to Steam Cloud.
@amesace: Vanilla servers only have have spawn times/ team sizes set to default. They’re not unlock free “original” versions of the game.
The map is ctf_ aerospace_b4
@amesace:
As Walter noted, there’s no way to play the “original” TF2 anymore, vanilla servers regardless. This is a problem with Steam, and presumably any other DRMy game management system, and it’s fairly annoying.
I have played now over 20 hours, mainly with sniper (which I never played before) and done all achievements for it which dont need new unlocks. All I got were duplicate items for other classes. Oh and I got also a mask for demoman, yippee.
“It also means those creepy achievement servers are less in demand.” – Seriously?
Old unlock system wasnt excellent but it was atleast challenging. Now Valve is doing same “casual-mantra” what Blizzard have done to WoW hoping to get new players attracted to the TF2 but I fear that it will only make old players to stop playing (Which propably doesnt bother Valve because they got their money already anyway).
There should be atleast something to “brag”, like making hats only achievable via achievements. Or bring old unlock system back and keep it together with the new sucky one.
Everything to everyone without any sweat. Grrr Valve! (And sorry of grammar errors)
I’m getting frustrated with 0 drops after 17 hours playtime!
P.S. I’m guessing the beautiful map was aerospace, we have it on our custom map server and it is brilliant!
I think this needs to be emphasised:
This to me is what makes the RPS community server, or perhaps even TF2 as a whole, truly great. The fact is that it didn’t even cross my mind that it was an unusual response to go “ooooohhh” and “aaaahhh” over Andrew’s new hat, truly a positive atmosphere. It was only later that I remembered playing in other games where someone’s fortune or someone who plays the game well gets bitched and moaned at constantly by sore losers.
As for the unlock system, for now it may well be a bit frustrating or even annoying when you don’t get what you want, but I think of it like the lottery.
Yes, I get annoyed when I don’t win the jackpot prize, but it is still a completely random system that is for all intents and purposes fairly made, so it’s silly to me to get angry or overly frustrated. Of course this system is still fledging, in time it sounds like it will become much more impressive.
Also certainly do not add more achievement based unlocks, or at least make achievement unlocks something very cosmetic rather than weapons. I don’t agree with any kind of achievement farming server, idling servers are a lesser evil and seem quite silly to me frankly (especially as even then there’s still no guarantee you’d get what you want for now). I’d say it’s a lot better having unlocks show up during regular play rather than only through achievements, as that could be easily abused and it also affected regular gameplay, with people doing weird things trying to desperately get those last few achievements for their unlocks rather than just playing the game for fun.
GRRRRRRRR.
I was actually annoyed yesterday when I recieved Natasha. I was like… wha? I havn’t earned that yet, I’ve hardly been playing the heavy.
Thank you for taking away the fun goal of the achievement system valve. You’ve been delivering greatness for so many years and then you just have to flop flat on your face with this one.
If you want to give people random goodies for zero effort, at least leave in the old system so that those of us who were enjoying trying to achieve for goodies. Both can work together.
I wasn’t playing TF2 “hardcore” or “grinding” I was just enjoying trying to accomplish the objectives to earn the goodies. It makes all the work I felt I did to get all the pyro stuff much less fufilling. I did it legit… now people are just going to get crap randomly. Not cool.
This drop system is the enemy of causal players. Plz just give weaps.
Someone said congratulations to me when I cracked about 4 achievements at once. I didn’t say Thank You back because I thought they were talking to someone else as on every other server I’d been on no-one had said anything of the sort.
edit: Not a bitch at other servers. The TF2 community is 500% better than most multiplayer games out there.
Unlocked 4 Jarates yesterday. I don’t play Sniper or any of the classes I have got unlocks for :( I need BONK!
@Malagate
No kidding.
It’s not just the RPS server either, it’s in general. And it’s been getting better and better lately (I wonder why).
Clan servers are as annoying and bitchy as ever (kids with something to prove) but pretty much every non-clan server I play on presents an amazing experience, people are good to each other.
Earlier on I was on one server where the Red team (which I was on, yay) actually captured thhe points of a match within a minute or two, we defeated the Blu team a number of times in a row, very quickly. And because of this, this conversation popped up…
B Spies are overpowered!
R LIES!!!
B 5 SPIES = OVERPOWERED!!! D:
R K, can’t argue with that.
B We need SIX spies!
Yes, we had five spies on our team, a few of them had ambassadors. This lead to much hilarity, but despite being beaten a few times really fast, the Blu team were great sports about it.
How often do you see that in an online game? If it was CSS or WoW’s PvP, it’d be more lie ’spies r cheap’, ‘ur mom is cheap’, ‘ur mom is [minority]‘ (but with much more cussing).
I love TF2, and the less bitchy players we have around, the better.
@Simpe
“There should be atleast something to “brag”, like making hats only achievable via achievements. Or bring old unlock system back and keep it together with the new sucky one.
Everything to everyone without any sweat. Grrr Valve!”
Are you really saying that playing a game can be likened to the blood, sweat, and tears of someone creating a fantastic work of art, or the sweat on the brow of an old miner after suffering another brush with death (as in, the real thing)? That makes me :(
You’re playing a game. It’s not a game that likens itself to art either, there are some interactive experiences out there that try to do that, and (indeed) actually manage it. But TF2 has never tried to present itself as anything other than a fun gaming experience, don’t try to turn it into something pretentious, something that it’s clearly not.
There is no ’sweat’ involved in TF2, the only sweat that occurs in TF2 would be because of a sunny day and bad air conditioning.
If we establish that, then we can also establish that the only real bragging rights that fit in a game like TF2 are those which are skill-based, and Valve themselves have admitted that only about half of the achievements are, and the rest are only really skill-based if you achieve them when playing the game, instead of farming them.
The statistics of a player, on their Steam community page, say far more to me — as far as bragging rights are concerned — than a player with a certain weapon does. Farming achievements is something anyone can do, having amazing statistics isn’t.
And if someone has amazing statistics, what does it say? It says that they’re good at a really fun game, and such a person doesn’t need to have weapons to overcompensate, because they already know they’re good, and they prove that in every match, every day, just by being who they are and playing a damned good game.
@Freudian Trip
As soon as they implement trading, you’ll have yer bonk. Hang onto those Jarates, there are probably going to be a lot of new Snipers out there who’ll want them.
The real irony is they were trying to make it fair for everyone and get rid of achievement servers but this system just makes it so the hardcore people who afk 24/7 on idle servers get the unlocks and Joe Casual will get frustrated getting 8 unlocks he already has and then give up. Of all the systems they could have gone with this was probably one of the worst, it feels like an MMO with hours of pointless play waiting for the random number generator to come up with your number…
10 hours and I have got nothing. what the deuce is going on here?
If you’re going to complain about idling and getting stuff, learn to do achievements and do something that actually takes some skill, you scrub.
i have logged a godly amount of hours, over 80 since the update and i have had to clean out my loadout of useless items 4 TIMES
thats more than 140 items ive discarded so dont say that u never get items
also i have the sniper hat only, hats = extremely rare
Where’s the unlocks? What happened to them?