Jungle Inferno, the new Team Fortress 2 Update, is here!
I know, I was supposed to do write-ups for each of the days of the Jungle Inferno update, but considering how Team Fortress 2 updates work, with reveals on the first days and the actual event being released on the last day, I didn’t think there would be much point.
So day two was all the new campaign stuff, like the old Gun Mettle update but with a twist. Now, rather than ending up with a billion stock weapons with weird (and often ugly) textures on them, completing part of the new campaign grants you a War Paint, that can be applied to a multitude of weapons. Completing contracts either gives you a new item or earns you Blood Money, allowing you to buy items from a Mercenary Park Gift Shop. This means you actually have some choice in your rewards.
Painted stock items will also no longer drop from crates, their paints being converted into War Paints. Meaning there’s a chance to paint anything in that moo cow Pyro flamethrower texture.
Weapons appeared on Day 3. Pyro has got four new weapons, and Heavy has a Sandvich reskin in the form of a banana, that functions like a worse food item.
The Dragon’s Fury is a new flamethrower which claims to be ‘single shot’. More like a fiery shotgun than an actual flamethrower.
The backpack, the Turbo Thruster, is Pyro’s first ‘passive’ secondary and allows him to blast forward in the direction one is aiming in. Like a really, really easy rocket jump.
The Gas Passer is a can of fuel that leaves a horrible cloud that coats enemies, similar to Jarate, but can be ignited by the Pyro for afterburn damage. This secondary has been suggested for years, so it’s interesting to see that it made it in-game.
The last weapon, a melee weapon, literally Pyro just slapping people. It’s basically the Eviction Notice but for Pyros rather than Heavies.
Unfortunately, apart from technical changes (such as Airblast finally taking a target’s momentum into account) and slight buffs, it seems that most of Pyro’s new stuff is tied in to his new weapons, and almost all his under-used weapons have been untouched. The Sharpened Volcano Fragment, the Degreaser, the Neon Annihilator, all of that, pretty much ignored.
Day 4 announced a long list of balance changes. Many of the changes mentioned in their blog post back in June (FUCKING JUNE) have reappeared, but with different tweaks. The Ambassador is no longer losing its accuracy, but has falloff because even Valve have admitted that being headshotted across a map by a non-Sniper is weird and confusing. More important changes include a revert to the Claidheamh Mor, the Bottle breaking when critting, the Dead Ringer no longer able to pick up ammo to refill its charge, the GRU draining maximum health rather than draining health or marking you for death and the removal of stuns from the Sandman.
But most of those changes don’t matter.
Because the RIGHTEOUS BISON IS BACK, BITCHES!
WOOOOOO!