I suppose, there being a new TF2 update, I should post a little about it. I would be playing it right now but my computer can't connect to VALVe's inventory servers, which means no weapon switching and possibly no weapons drops at all.
I got on a little last night, I was able to see my inventory and the crafting page, though I wasn't so brave as to try crafting while the inventory servers were overloaded. I played 1-2 hours and got 20+ items, including the Eyelander (sword), Targe (shield), and the Direct Hit (launcher with faster rockets). I'm really glad they dropped all three, as these were the three items I was most anxious to test.
I will admit, when these updates were announced I thought the Demoman got the short end of the stick. Soldier got a new, faster rocket launcher while Demoman got a sword and shield? Demoman got the option to be a melee class? But oh man is it fun. The Targe and Eyelander are awesome. The Targe lets you rush, and if you rush far enough at the end of the trip you get some crits. It also severely cuts down your fire and explosion damage. Of course, you don't get a sticky launcher anymore, either.
I found that with the targe on payload maps I could just crouch behind the cart, ignoring the rocket/sticky/grenade spam, because the cart would heal me faster than those things could damage me (crouching behind the cart it's mostly splash damage anyways). A few times Demos exploded a patch of stickies I was in the middle of, and I just got launched in the air, I didn't die. Okay, once the fall killed me.
This is a great time to play, because it's a free weekend and there are also a lot of new weapons to try. This means a lot of people are screwing around more, testing these new weapons, and the uber-serious assholes that occasionally populate the servers are nowhere to be seen or are at least biting their tongues. There's too much chaos, charging, and spam to take it seriously. That's not to say the objectives are being ignored, people are still mostly playing right, but it's a much more experimental and fun environment. Everyone's just having fun with their new weapons. Besides, you can't have a sword and shield and actually be mad if your team loses. You have a sword and shield! How can you be sad or angry after you've just charged someone and cut their head off?
**I've just tried to join a game. I could access my inventory in the game itself, but I got an error message that the servers I was playing on couldn't connect with Steam's item servers, so I couldn't use any of the new weapons. Other players on the server had the new weapons though, so I don't know what was going on. I guess the gaming gods are just trying to keep me off the servers.
**-30 minutes later =/-**This is starting to piss me off, and it epitomizes what's so great about single player games--none of this waiting bullshit. Of course, you'd think having independent community-run servers would solve that problem, and it does to a degree. I can still play even though Steam's own servers are overloaded, I just can't use any of the new weapons.
**Yet another 30 minutes later**...and, I officially give up. I've wasted too much time stalling, hoping I'd get to play with these new weapons some more and pick up some new items while they're being dropped at a pretty high rate. I'd try later, but I seriously doubt anything will be fixed in a few hours when everyone is home from work and the servers are even more overloaded. What a disappointment.
I really should have know better than to expect anything different.
David
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