What the Gun Mettle Contracts Could Mean For Competitive TF2
In my recent article about the weapon-dropping mechanic and specifically its affect on Ubercharges, I mentioned that it could be seen as a sign that Valve is attempting to alter the meta of the game, probably for the sake of revitalizing competitive and keeping things fresh. Part of the reason I think this is because a lot of Valve’s recent decisions have been rumored to be competitively-motivated, and ster (also known as Niichts and STAR_) said a lot of interesting things in his July 2nd Twitch broadcast that went on for 8 whole hours. Considering I can’t ask you to go watch something that long just for the tidbits of info I found interesting, and the fact that Twitch automatically deletes broadcasts after 30 days, I thought I’d sum up what I learned from the video in an article of my own.
ster hypothesized that these Gun Mettle Contracts (and specifically the Gun Mettle coin) are going to serve as the prerequisite to get into the new Competitive matchmaking system once it goes live. In other words, without a sufficiently-leveled contract coin you won’t be allowed to join matchmaking. This would simultaneously solve two major problems that are self-evident in the system: it would prevent hackers, griefers and complete noobs from joining for free, and it would ensure that the user was capable of adequately playing every class on a rudimentary level, since contracts will demand that they complete a series of accomplishments on a wide breath of classes, weapons, and maps. Valve has openly stated that they’re mirroring TF2’s competitive system off of Counter-Strike:Global Offensive, and CS:GO’s system uses the player’s rank in a similar fashion.
SPUF has discussed the possibility of Match-making being paid DLC at length, and there’s no consensus. On one hand, a monetary barrier has a chance of trimming out a sizable percentage of potential griefers and hackers, but on the other hand it could also prevent the Match-making service from getting enough players to keep servers full. Not to mention CS:GO isn’t immune to hacking accounts despite the fact that any hacker must shell out 15 more dollars every time they get VAC-banned. Personally, I don’t mind if it turns out to be paid, though I think Valve should let us know before it becomes too late to purchase a Gun Mettle coin. I’m certainly not paying 7 dollars for the ugly worthless weapon skin reward, but if I need that coin to possibly play competitive in the future, I’d like to know that sooner rather than later.
