Phlogisticast Episode 2

Episode 2 of the Phlogisticast is out, officially making it longer than 99% of podcasts on the internet! *noisemaker* The episode is dedicated to Scout and all his charming weapons that fill a special place in our hearts (with lead). The guest star is, naturally, a Demoman/Medic main who I’m sure has lots of great things to say about his double soft counter. So what are you waiting for? Fill that Boost meter and speed on over to Youtube to watch it! And what’s that? Episode 3 of the Phlogisticast is out too! What’s episode 3 about? Why, SPUF’s least… [Continue Reading]

Battle of the Healers – Medic VS Sona again

“Medic, what the hell are you doing?” Well, Sona got reworked, so I felt I ought to give her a chance and see if she fares better than Medic now or not. The Team Fortress Classic Medic will never change and chances are that the Team Fortress 2 Medic won’t change either, but since Sona has, maybe she does better now? Um, well, actually, no. Before we start, we ought to go over what happened to the poor mute musician. Before the 4.13 patch, Sona got by with equal cooldowns on her 3 main skills and her gimmick was that… [Continue Reading]

Engineer: subtlety at its finest

Hello, My name is Wwlink55, or Clockwork Rainbowdash on Steam, and this is my first article for the Daily SPUF. I’m someone who absolutely loves the engineer. The sweet feeling of a scout being mulched down with bullets, the clang of a wrench on the skull of an enemy spy, or the beeping of a sentry, looming through the hallways. It’s a bit of an art form to me, and having everything in the best possible spot is such an awesome feeling. The key to this, is subtlety. Before you just throw your buildings down, think of all the possibilities… [Continue Reading]

On Melee

First-person shooters have always loved the melee weapon, even as they render it essentially obsolete. No amount of situationality can prevent the visceral joy of beating something to death (especially something wielding real guns) with the bludgeoning instrument of the dev’s choice. Melee hasn’t changed very much since the early years of Doom and Wolfenstein. It often has the following upsides: · First or second weapon found in the game, if not just equipped from the beginning · no ammunition required to use · sometimes makes less noise than other weapons, or other unique combat advantages (usability underwater for example) · sometimes… [Continue Reading]

Balance vs. Novelity: What do we do with the Pomson?

The Pomson is a subject of innumerable controversies, some want it nerfed to the ground, some want it as it is, some want it to be dat Bison reskin, and et cetera. But which one must we run with, and how can we understand which perspective one will prefer? The Issue The Pomson, when first released, was a spammy weapon of mass destruction (not that far to my opinion, but still). One issue was that it was very deleterious to Medics and Spies, removing well-earned (or not so well-earned) Übercharge and Cloak. It was a mundane concept at first, not… [Continue Reading]

Remember those bots?

Most people hate the AI-controlled bots, that were based off the AI for the Left 4 Dead AI survivors and infected. It’s not hard to see why, as many servers rely on bots to entertain the few people in the server during quieter times of the day. They’ve become the pawns of those who run servers only to make a profit. Everyone’s favourite teacher of TF2 tricks, AngrySockPuppet, even made a video about how the abuse of bots is making life a misery for people who just want to play a game of Team Fortress 2. These bots came in… [Continue Reading]

Super Important TF2 Decisions

If Brink and Loadout taught us anything, it’s that players love to get to make their own decisions. Customize their inventories and weapons just the way they like it, be the masters of their own destiny, etc. To this end, TF2 probably gives their players more decisions than both of the previous games combined. But in some cases, these decisions can result in choices that are less than relevant. In fact, you could say these decisions make no difference whatsoever. 1. Rotating your teleporter entrance. The teleporter exit determines what direction your teammate is facing when they come out (and… [Continue Reading]

What I think should happen with the Demoman’s Shields

Let me be frank, I’m a Medic main so I’m going to be a tad biased here, but I’M the person who’s always being targeted by these damn sword-swinging bastards and whenever I need a good bit of explosive work done, all I can ever find are more of these damn medieval wannabes. Just because you have a grenade launcher, doesn’t mean you’re an explosives expert. You have the same, if not less explosive power than a damn Soldier if all you have is a grenade launcher, a shield and a fancy sword. Oh and let’s not forget that these… [Continue Reading]

“OH GOD MY EYES!”

Once upon a time, in a galaxy far far away, a young Medic decided to look for a nice Team Fortress 2 wallpaper for her desktop. But unbeknownst to the little Medic, someone had turned off Safe Search on her search engine. As the scrolling continued, the nasty pictures started appearing. One by one, they corrupted the little Medic’s mind, before driving him completely insane. After much agonizing pain, the Medic screamed, smashed his laptop to bits and went outside for some fresh air. Alright, that was slightly over-dramatic, but things can happen when that safe search function is turned… [Continue Reading]

Behaving Strangely: Is A Kill-counter Affecting Your Ingame Behavior?

Once upon a time, in the earliest days of my TF2 experience, I was an avid user of the typical “Puff-and-Sting” Pyro loadout.  I wandered about flailing my postal pummeler at anything that crossed my path or flinging flares haphazardly across the map.  It wasn’t effective in the slightest, but it was what made me happy. One day, this changed.  I was randomly given a Strange Shotgun, and I was suddenly a dedicated shotgun jockey.  Engineer and Soldier, both shotgun-wielders, quickly rose to second and third place in my most-played classes.  I didn’t even notice this at the time, but… [Continue Reading]