Why 300 Ping Is Horrible Except When You’re A Sniper

I don’t know why I’m really writing about this, but after having played on the SPUF standard server (which you really ought to visit because it’s fun and all that) with ping that fluctuated between 270 and 400, I feel like I should. Normally, I’m okay with high ping. It depends mostly on where the server is, but I get more issues with American servers than, say Asian servers. Probably because there’s more sea between me and the physical location of said server. So, the first thing I ought to mention is that the game isn’t really laggy. I do… [Continue Reading]

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The Wrench in Balancing Plans

Whoo doggie, the Engineer. If people are not playing rock paper scissors over who between him and the Heavy has the lowest skill floor, they’re having arguments over his weapons so bad that they make [insert appropriate argumentative body here] look like a teen romance! How can one guy cause such a fuss that has SPUF so evenly divided that it could be the motivation for a community made WAR update? Well, if I was to answer it in a reasonably sized sentence (which as an academic, should be impossible) I’d say it’s because the Engineer is, in many ways,… [Continue Reading]

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E is for MEDIC!

Yes, E is for Medic. Okay, fair enough, it’s also for Engineer and everything else beginning with E, but I’m not talking about what words start with. I’m talking about the default key that the Medic! call is bound to. Some people bind the Medic! call to other buttons, but most people I have spoken to leave it as E. It’s close, it’s handy, it’s easy to spam. It’s also the bane of all Medics.

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Why the Quick Fix Medic* is Now Viable in MvM

*And other healing-centric loadouts The Two Cities update has vastly improved the medic’s abilities in MvM. Gone is the “kritz machine” of old, now you can do exactly what the medic should be doing in the first place, and be an integral part of the team. And it’s just as fun as anything else. For reference, there are two major abilities the medic received in this update that attribute to this: revives and the shield.

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My favorite TF2 unused content

As the devs of a seven year-old game, the Team Fortress 2 team has had a long time to come up with ideas for our beloved shooter. Obviously not all of them can make the final cut, but a good amount of them have been added in unfinished and relatively inaccessible states. Luckily the community has its ways of discovering this unused content, and here are some I feel a slight pang when I think of because they probably will never see the light of day. 1. “That Dispenser is a Spy!” Valve is routinely adding new addconds to TF2.… [Continue Reading]

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The Rescue Ranger: Solver of practical problems

As an Engineer main, the Ranger is by far one of my favorite weapons. While it takes some skill to use well, the payoff is ridiculous and is overall a fun weapon to use. Also, 120 damage crits at any range is a godsend for a shotgun. I’ve jarateed off many friends with a lolcrit smashing them in the face. The Rescue Ranger is a weak weapon in combat, shooting repair claws that do 60 damage at close range and 20 at long range, with a base damage of 40. But then again, the Engineer was never meant for shooting… [Continue Reading]

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Mod Showcase: PropHunt

  Salutations, SPUFers, TF2 players and old people who are lost on the internet. Let me guess what you’re thinking: it’s either “Why do the nurses keep stealing from me?” or “I’m sick of the default TF2 gamemodes!” CTF, filled with Snipers. Payload, filled with Engineers. Arena, filled with… uh… nobody. Well, you’re in luck today Gramps, because Team Fortress fan and sex panther Brickinator is here to tell you all about some mod gamemodes to preoccupy your feeble brain. Take your pills now lest you forget it all by the end.

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Playing the Team Fortress Classic Medic

In general, you can take what you’ve learned from playing Team Fortress 2 and translate it to Team Fortress Classic. They are the same 9 classes after all, and they have mostly the same loadouts, just with more shotguns. Some things will throw you for curveballs (I wrote a pretty extensive guide here) but in general you can guess what each class is about. Except one. TF2 will not prepare you in any way to start playing the TFC Combat Medic. Especially if you’ve played the TF2 Medic. Playing the combat medic like this will instantly label you as a… [Continue Reading]

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The Second Opinion

Halloween’s over now, and its passing takes with it the 102 cosmetic items, the Halloween paints and spells, transmogrifiers, spooky crates and event keys. But there’s one item in particular that we’re all going to miss. Okay, maybe not everyone, but most people. Fine, not most people, but most Medics. Alright! Some Medics. Some Medics will miss this item. I’m talking about the Second Opinion. Yes, he is… Oh no.

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Health Points and You

I’m going to rant. Ranting is something that Medics do often. It’s understandable really. In a low-skill environment, Medics have to work far harder than anyone else to get anything done. Moving up the skill ladder eases these issues, but they’re still there. The problem not only lies with the Medic himself, but with his team and who he’s healing. Today’s rant is about how people look after their health. Or don’t.

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