A Sudden Flurry Of Content!

Looks like we’ve finally got some new stuff on Team Fortress 2! An update on the 1st and a new comic! There’s also promises of a new map and new custom taunts.

Warning! This post contains spoilers about the new comic! Please read it first!

First off, the update.

An update to Team Fortress 2 has been released. The update will be applied automatically when you restart Team Fortress 2. The major changes include:

• Improved the Backpack UI
  • Added page buttons for all pages
  • Removed prev/next buttons
  • Updated the drag/drop behavior to interact with the page buttons
• Strange quality items can now be placed on the Steam Community Market
• Added a “Show Untradable Items” checkbox to the recipe UI.
• Added the smoke effect to The Soldier’s Stogie
• Added the InfoShow 2014 community event medal
• Added Crate #82 and Crate #83 to the drop list
• Crate drop rates have been significantly lowered
• Removed Crate #60, Crate #75, Crate #76 and Crate #77 from the drop list
• Virtual Reality mode
  • The game will now start in VR mode if it is launched from Steam while Steam is running in VR mode
• Updated the equip_region for the Humanitarian’s Hachimaki, The Special Eyes, the Hero’s Hachimaki, The Blazing Bull, Master’s Yellow Belt, The Lucky Shot, and The Deadliest Duckling
• Updated The Gunboats so they can be used in Medieval mode
• Updated the Wrangler so Strange parts can be applied to it
  • Strange parts only increment if a Wrangler-controlled Sentry does the scoring
• Updated Chemistry Sets
  • Started dropping Series 3 Chemistry Sets with an expiration date
  • Retroactively added Series tags to older Chemistry Sets
• Fixed a client crash related to killstreak effects
• Fixed seeing the incorrect cosmetic items on players when the server has been running for a long time
• Fixed hats not dropping into the world when players are killed
• Fixed the Jarate effect not being displayed on some cosmetic items
• Fixed framerate affecting player turn rate while using the Demoman’s shield charge
• Fixed flashlight shadows projected on players for Linux and Mac clients
• Fixed seeing the fire texture on Runner’s Warm-Up and the Tiny Timber in DirectX 8
• Fixed The Doe-Boy using incorrect team materials
• Fixed some Strange parts not being counted properly when attached to wearable weapons like the Mantreads and Demoman’s shields
• Fixed Spies speaking their payload cart forward/backward response_rules lines while disguised
• Fixed Mann vs. Machine Giant Heavies not playing the correct override sounds for their Miniguns
• Fixed the Huntsman charge bar being misaligned

So, lots of random stuff. No fix for the invisible players and stuff like that, but they did affect frame rate affecting Demoknights and stuff, as well as the bug in which Spies ruin their disguise by shouting about about the cart when it moves. They also fixed a cosmetic bug in which hats would not fall off dead players when killed. A nice little treat. New crates have been added, some of which contain killstreak parts. Also available is a strangifier for the Phlogistinator, which is also nice. Drop rates have apparently been reduced, but it’s too early to tell whether that’s good or not.

What is more interesting though is the promise of a moonbase map and custom taunts in the workshop. Still nothing for maps though, which is a pity as there’s loads of cool maps out there.

Warning, spoilers are ahead!

Now onto the important part: the comic! We’ve been waiting ages for this, and boy did it not disappoint! The comic mostly features Soldier, Scout and Pyro going off to find Heavy in the Siberian mountains, while Gray Mann attempts to find more Australium and Saxton Hale talks about fighting back. The Saxton Hale parts are not the highlight of the story, although it’s amusing how Charles Darling keeps animals in his house, standing on boxes. Seems like everyone wants Australium these days.

Soldier, Pyro and Scout are, as usual, causing trouble. There is a LOT of naked, honey-coated Soldier in this comic. But what’s better is the fact that we meet Heavy’s family, and they are all really nice characters. Heavy’s gained a huge amount of character development. Soldier also managed to get into communism, in a slightly more literal sense. Heavy takes some convincing, but he finally agrees to rejoin the team.

Finally, we find out who Gray Mann was talking to. Kudos to all those who guessed that the mysterious bloke was a member of the Team Fortress Classic mercenaries! Well, most of them. The TFC Medic is apparently missing, only to be replaced by… the TF2 Medic. Yep, Medic’s first proper appearance in a TF2 comic is as a traitor, happy to kill his old team mates. Then again, he’s been implanting random organs into the TFC mercenaries, and they’re all getting on a bit.

The comic ends with Spy, Demoman and Miss Pauling arriving at an airport in Australia, with someone peering at them through a scope. Hopefully that’s Sniper…