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.
analysis
Why the CnD deserves some love
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.
They See Me Snipin’, They Hatin’…
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.
Geoff
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.
The Conniver’s Kunai: Sleeper Underpowered
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.
Pyro melees and you!
Another day begins! Many adventures await you and your fellow Pyromaniacs. You set off to good old 2fort. You take your flamethrower. Pick up the old Shotgun, or perhaps your favorite Flare Gun. Put on a hat or two, maybe three, when you find yourself wondering; Should I set my nemesis on fire and hit him with an axe, or with a garden rake?
I’m gonna whip your ass!
Up until recently, every Soldier and his pet raccoon used the Escape Plan. And why shouldn’t they? Giving you a huge speed boost depending on how little health you have, the Escape Plan was basically a get out of jail free card. A tentative one, but one nonetheless. But in the big Move That Gear Up! update, the Escape Plan was nerfed. Using the Escape Plan now leaves you marked for death, making death even closer than usual. To many, this left a huge hole in their loadouts.
Now, it’s the Disciplinary Action’s time to shine!
Curse of Sudden Death! Arena!
Arena is a gamemode that came long ago to TF2, back in times of Heavy Update that introduced the horribly broken Natasha (back then it was, it so was…), underpowered sandwich and KGB that no one wanted to put aside for simple fists. The times changed as did the weapons, and so changed Arena.
Three Reasons we have a Dearth of Heavy articles
First order of business, an apology to all you Heavy mains out there.
You are woefully underrepresented in the ratios of articles on this blog. While Demoman and Medic are soaring high in the double digits, and almost everyone else can boast about at least a few articles dedicated to them, Heavies have only one. And it’s about shotgun heavy.
Well, this isn’t 100% our fault, I like to think. Here are the best excuses I can come up with.
Why you really, really should be a Battle Medic
So you’re playing Team Fortress 2 and the enemy team is full of potatoes. What class should you pick so as to maximize the amount of fun you can get out of the game before the objectives are finished and the inevitable votescramble passes? Well, you could always go Battle Medic. Whilst a Battle Medic may be somewhat of a liability against a team full of combat classes, he is more than capable of handling himself against a less strong team, and has several unique features that make him a superior choice in the field of sub-par class choice combat.