Featured – Page 291 – The Daily SPUF

We’ve been getting new weapons all along!

January 16, 2016 Medic 2 Comments analysis, balance, criticism, new, weapons

The other day, aabicus mentioned that a weapon (the Persian Persuader to be precise) had essentially been removed from the game. While it hadn’t really been removed, the stats that make the Persian Persuader the Persian Persuader had been changed completely, making it a pretty mediocre weapon in the process. But as everyone screamed in realization as one of Demoman’s more interesting and niche melees had disappeared, something else occurred to me. We’ve been getting new weapons all along! The Persian Persuader is one of many of these new weapons. Alright, it doesn’t have the excitement of getting a new… [Continue Reading]

Featured

On Hype

January 15, 2016January 15, 2017 aabicus 0 Comments developer, hype, On Shooters, overwatch, payday

Gamers have a love/hate relationship with hype. It fuels our soul, keeps us looking to the future and fills our minds with the tantalizing possibilities foreshadowed by either a PR Department or just the words of our online comrades. Sometimes the final product fizzles in the sun, sometimes it handles itself well enough but doesn’t meet hype, and on rare occasion it can exceed everyone’s expectations. But is too much hype a good thing? From a developer’s perspective, it makes sense to try and drum up as much excitement over a product as possible. Your goal is to get people… [Continue Reading]

Featured

On Pre-Match Paralysis

January 14, 2016 aabicus 1 Comment criticism, idea, mechanics

The Pre-Match freeze is something that every TF2 player has experienced, something that you encounter every single match you play, and something that’s been in the game from the very beginning. And yet I think it may be one of the least-discussed facets of the game. I know I thought about making an article on it twice in the past two years and both times abandoned the notion due to lack of content. Why does it happen? When I first wondered about it, I wasn’t even sure if it was intentional. Maybe the map’s loading, or something in the background has… [Continue Reading]

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The Gun that Made a Jarate Master Out of Sniper

January 13, 2016 aabicus 0 Comments sniper, weapon

It was a bizarre trail that led me to picking up the Sydney Sleeper again for the first time in years. First this reddit thread reminded me of my single favorite experience as a TF2 viewer; following STAR_’s team through the 2013 Charity Mixup tournament. Every teammate except STAR_ had never played TF2 before, and through skirmishes and close calls they honed their teamwork and somehow reached the finals to take on Team Mixup with TF2 creator Robin Walker. STAR_’s star performance as a sniper was so inspiring that (exactly like when I first saw it) I immediately switched to maining Sniper and jumped… [Continue Reading]

Featured The Competitive Corner

Why Does Valve Keep Buffing Medic?

January 12, 2016 Medic 0 Comments battle medic, buff, criticism, medic, nerf, tough break

Do not buff Medic! No, seriously, don’t. That seems like an insane thing to say, considering I’ve been calling myself Medic, The Medic, BLU Medic and many other variations of the word for the past three or four years now, not to mention the fact that out of my 1700 hours of TF2, about 900 of them are as Medic. But hear me out for a moment. Medic is the most powerful class in the game. No one else has the pushing power capable of taking down sentries harmlessly. No one can stand in the way of an Ubercharged power… [Continue Reading]

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Less Sure About Gun Mettle Changes as Time Goes On

January 11, 2016 aabicus 0 Comments criticism, gun mettle, skins

I’ve never exactly had a positive relationship with the new CSGO-style weapon skins in TF2, but at best my opinion was neutral. They weren’t exactly hurting anything, and they were strictly cosmetic. I also supported the new weapon pickup mechanic, as I describe in this article. But as I play more TF2, mainly because my Christmas desktop is badass enough to allow me to do so on high settings, I’m finding that both of these mechanics are annoying me far more than they’re endearing themselves. The new skins are really bothering my weapon recognition. Now, at the moment you can… [Continue Reading]

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The Ullapool got Cabered

January 10, 2016 aabicus 0 Comments demoman, melee, mourning

So I was playing on sd_doomsday, as I am wont to do, attempting to revitalize my old Sticky Jumper spark. For a weapon that hasn’t changed, it’s amazing how different it feels having to play with the new roster of available melee weapons. ‘Head Launcher‘ my beloved Persian Persuader is still deceased and all of the swords have become less attractive with the new draw times. My other favorite the Scotsman’s Skullcutter is still too slow and sets my teeth gnashing every time I die because my Demoman was taking his sweet time switching to it. When you’re switching to your… [Continue Reading]

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Carpet-bombing with the Iron Bomber

January 9, 2016 Medic 0 Comments analysis, balance, boom, demoman, explosions, weapon

Demoman for the longest time was my least-played class, and for good reason. While classes like Soldier and Heavy do tons of damage even at low skill levels, good luck actually ever hitting anything if you intend to do the same as Demoman. He is an unusual class, with a deceptively high skill ceiling. The days of Left-Click-Right-Click-BOOM are a thing of the past. And since I already play one intense, deceptively hard class that everyone relies on, I never really fancied taking on another. That has changed. I’ve been edging towards playing more Demoman for ages, sick and tired… [Continue Reading]

Featured

The Only Weapon Removed From TF2

January 8, 2016 aabicus 0 Comments analysis, criticism, demoknight, melee, nerf, persian, weapon

I know I already wrote an article on this, but the Persian Persuader has become the first weapon removed from Team Fortress 2. I’ve searched my memory banks and the TF2 Wiki and I’m almost positive the Tough Break Persian Persuader is the first weapon ever to have every single one of its stats removed and replaced with new ones. (I’m not counting the generic sword stats that every bladed Demoknight melee shares, those are inherent in the classification.) For comparison, we went from this: +100% increase in charge recharge rate All ammo collected becomes health Cannot pick up ammo To… [Continue Reading]

Featured Now for Something Completely Different

Dawnguard Snipin’ – Part 5

January 7, 2016 Medic 0 Comments dawnguard, dawnguard snipin', meep, my legs are tired, Skyrim, sniper

Ya know what, mate? This is gonna be a long trip, I can feel it. Longer than even last time maybe. But now I’ve read those stupid scrolls, we know where we’re going for a change. As we walk, stupid vampire girl and I stumble across a dragon nest. Been here before, but this time, something was different… I ain’t got no idea what’s happened here. That’s a dragon. Apparently. I ain’t got a clue, mate. We back away slowly from that horrible thing and continue walking towards our destination. It’s some cave on the edge of the country. Lots… [Continue Reading]