Five Free Weapons in Payday 2 Every Player Should Try

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In honor of my favorite pistol (number 3 on this list) getting its first ever skin in the most recent Sydney safe, I thought I’d write a Payday 2 article designed for new players, showcasing a number of free weapons that you should definitely give a shot. This guide assumes you own none of the paid DLC, and are subscribed to the Payday Steam Group for the free community weapons. 1. Platypus Sniper rifle – Sniper rifles in Payday 2 come with infinite penetration, meaning that you can kill as many cops as you line up. Even more importantly, it can penetrate Shields,… [Continue Reading]

Wrap Assassin updates

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The updates hardly did anything, but I’m still immensely satisfied with the changes Valve made to the Wrap Assassin. Since my last article on this weapon, there have been two buffs. The first turned the ornament into a pseudo-explosive that deals area-of-effect but only bleed on a direct hit, which was driving me nuts because I didn’t actually know that when I recently picked the weapon back up, so I couldn’t figure out why I frequently got a hitsound but no resulting bleed hitsounds. But now that I understand it, I’m 100% okay with the entire concept. After all, previously nothing happened… [Continue Reading]

TF2’s Shorts are Better Written Than Overwatch’s

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Uh, hi. Aabicus and I were discussing elements of writing in both Overwatch and TF2, specifically in terms of the two Overwatch shorts focusing on Winston and on Widowmaker in comparison to Expiration Date. I suggest you watch them and take a look at how the action interacts with their respective narratives, which is what I will focus on here. These are pulled directly from a Skype discussion, so no examples are currently cited. In Expiration Date, the action is tied in with the character’s deep insecurities, their impending mortality, their desire for human connection, and their hopes for better… [Continue Reading]

Why Killing Floor 2 Isn’t Actually a Beta

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I’ve been avoiding writing this article on Killing Floor 2, because I’ve already made it quite clear that I’m disappointed in the game and its developers. There’s not much to be gained from just ragging on something over and over, and I’m only giving them further undeserved attention. But since I made a video on their Versus mode, I needed a tie-in article, and I figured I’d cover probably my biggest gripe with the game: Tripwire marketing it as an “open beta.” A beta is an unfinished version of a product that the developers are working on completing, and I’ll grant that… [Continue Reading]

Lessons TF2 could learn from Dota 2

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That’s right, I think it’s time we take a break from off-topic threads about Overwatch to talk about Dota for a second. You know, the game that Valve actually spends development time on. As Dota 2 is the most played game on Steam by an enormous margin, one has to wonder what it’s doing (besides, you know…being updated) that TF2 isn’t. While some lessons don’t apply as well since we’re talking about two completely different genres, I’ve compiled a list of things about Dota that TF2 could benefit from. 1. Optimization: Let’s start with the obvious one. Valve has always… [Continue Reading]

Butting Heads in the Apocalypse

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I’ve always loved watching competitive eSports. There’s nothing more electrifying than watching the absolute top players of a community murdering each other with insane reflexes, top-tier strats and telepathic teamwork, all with a pair of announcers following you along for the ride. But for the first time, I’ve found a competitive mode that really bears serious analysis just because of how creative the community had to get to even translate the base game into something eSport-worthy. I’m talking about Valve’s greatest asymmetrical shooter, Left 4 Dead 2. (A short crash course for people unfamiliar with L4D2 versus: Each map on a campaign, one… [Continue Reading]

Your Mileage Mei Vary

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After the 500th time getting frozen and dispatched like freezer-burnt meat, I finally went to play Mei myself, convinced that I could just channel my W+M1 skills and start wrecking the enemy team as easily as the Meis seem to always do in the closed beta. Long story short, that didn’t work out. Mei is not nearly as easy to play as she acts. Her liquid nitrogen gun seems to behave somehow like the flamethrower in TF2 when it comes to particles, meaning there’s an invisible sweet spot you need to keep trained on your target if you want to freeze… [Continue Reading]

Overwatch comes out today!

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Get hyped, Overwatch comes out in just a few hours! Imma buy it the second it comes out because I promised myself I’d never preorder again after the colossal disappointment that was Killing Floor 2, but if you’re hoping to score the Noir Widowmaker skin, you have a very brief window of time to obtain it right now. And this is a game to get in on the ground level, because I have a feeling this one’s gonna stick around for a long time. It took most of the good stuff from Team Fortress 2 and added things that make… [Continue Reading]

Oh look, Overwatch is live.

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Overwatch is finally live, after a stupidly long time of waiting. Well, should be. This article will be released beforehand, because the release date for people playing in Europe is between midnight and 2am on the 24th. Through closed and open betas and a scandal with Tracer that I’m pretty sure they made themselves to get themselves good publicity, the game is finally out and everyone can go be a hero or an edgelord. It’s been a pretty smooth ride, considering, as Blizzard have been plotting their revenge for Valve stealing Dota 2 for so damn long. If they really… [Continue Reading]

Somewhat basic heavy guide

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We all know the general image of TF2’s heavy: He is fat, slow, easy to kill, requires no skill, loves his sandvich and above all, loves to say “pootis” while at the same time feeding the enemies you’re trying to kill. It’s no big suprise Heavy has this image because most people don’t know how to play him. But behold, for I am going to teach you the very basics of playing Heavy! And maybe one day, you will start loving that Russian guy, just as happened to me.   The skill in Heavy Before I say anything else, it… [Continue Reading]