analysis – Page 17 – The Daily SPUF

The Wrench in Balancing Plans

November 26, 2013 A Pointed Stick 0 Comments analysis, balance, engineer, theory, weapon

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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The Rescue Ranger: Solver of practical problems

November 22, 2013 kierany9 2 Comments analysis, engineer, loadout, weapon

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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No one told me about Sniping!

November 4, 2013 Medic 1 Comment analysis, balance, criticism, request, sniper, theory

Back when I first started playing Team Fortress 2, like a lot of people, Sniper always sounded like a good place to start. It all sounds so simple. Stand far away from everyone else, zoom in with your pretty scope and shoot people from a safe distance. Wonderful, right? Wrong. Oh so very, very wrong.

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The Crusader’s Crossbow is now the least viable Medic primary

November 3, 2013 aabicus 0 Comments analysis, criticism, medic, mourning, request, weapon

After a mere 48 hours of giving us the perfect Crusader’s Crossbow, Valve followed up by nerfing it’s damage by 33%. As someone who has spent hundreds of hours perfecting my skill with this weapon, and considers it my favorite weapon in TF2, let me say that the weapon is now useless. Let me rehash the same reasons I enjoyed the previous crossbow and show how none of them apply any more.

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The Great Heavy Skill Floor and The Not-So Great Heavy Skill Ceiling

November 1, 2013 A Pointed Stick 2 Comments analysis, heavy, theory, weapon

At the risk of being hanged, shot, crit-stickied and more hilarious ways Team Fortress 2 players can hurt each other (Hey Valve, a noose/lasso weapon, make it happen!) I will admit that I am not really a fan of the Fat Scout mentality that seems to have been touted as “the only way to skill-index the Heavy”. It seems rather defeatist to me, like the Heavy needs a super shotgun primary to have some kind of validity in higher skill levels, which is really limiting and rather traitorous to the initial weapons and designs that Valve introduced in Team Fortress… [Continue Reading]

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Sniper Taunts vs. Spy Taunts?

October 27, 2013 Nethero 0 Comments analysis, sniper, spy, taunts, theory

Here’s an observation I’ve made just recently. Based on what I’ve heard from other people and what I’ve noticed myself, taunting as sniper is such a common occurrence that it’s become cliche. On the other hand, taunting as spy puts the player at such an inconvenience that it’s rarely considered. A number of factors make it appear that this is actually completely intentional in gameplay. For whatever reason, sniper very much encourages taunting while spy highly discourages it.

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Why the CnD deserves some love

October 26, 2013 InstaCakes 1 Comment analysis, comparison, defense, event, game mode, guide, loadout, maps, spy, strategy, weapon

Howdy! First post on the SPUF blog here, and since I noticed a certain lack of Spy posts, here’s one about possibly the most unloved (and probably least mentioned!) weapon in TF2: The Cloak ‘n’ Dagger. At first, it seems like a straight upgrade, but when moving it actually drains cloak faster than you’d think, certainly faster than the Invis Watch, and it refuses to collect ammo. Most people just craft it off or let it be as a keepsake or a Spy weapon to collect, but it’s actually damn useful at times. Here’s why.

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They See Me Snipin’, They Hatin’…

October 19, 2013 Medic 2 Comments analysis, class, comparison, criticism, loadout, sniper, weapon

Let’s face it. We hate Snipers. In every single Remove A Class thread on SPUF, the class that gets picked on the most is the Sniper. Despite his loud-mouthed insults, his only-just Australian accent and his ability to throw jars of urine around, people still despise the poor guy. It’s not his fault though, it’s just the way he was designed! The question is, why does everyone hate Sniper? Is it his bad accent? His lack of Mannliness? Finding five of them on a team of twelve? All those jars of urine? The Bushwacka? Not quite.

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Geoff

October 14, 2013 Medic 4 Comments analysis, criticism, loadout, medic, weapon

Sometimes, Geoff isn’t as good a name as it seems. Not because it’s not a good name, but because people go “WTF are you talking about?”, especially when I accidentally call a Vaccy Uber (or a Vuber or a Vaccination or whatever you want to call it) a Geofflette. Names based off an in-joke from a tiny group of people don’t always make for good names. Anyway, let’s talk about the Vaccinator.

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The Conniver’s Kunai: Sleeper Underpowered

October 13, 2013 SPUFblog 5 Comments analysis, comparison, criticism, spy

This knife never gets the attention it deserves. In fact, most of the players I see consider it a perfect sidegrade. It has slipped by for some time now that this knife is quite possibly the second worst knife out there. I’ll outline why very briefly.