analysis – Page 4 – The Daily SPUF

Meet Your Match Weapon Rebalances!

July 17, 2016 aabicus 1 Comment analysis, balance, update, weapons

There are so many new weapon changes that came out with Meet Your Match, and for the most part I’d say the changes are a net positive. I’m not even sure where to begin, so I’m just going to go through the list and highlight the weapons I care about, and say my piece. First of all, the Sydney Sleeper is awesome! Two huge changes that buffed this weapon while raising its skill ceiling and its support capabilities, now it can extinguish teammates with scoped friendly-fire and deal area-of-effect jarate splash on scoped headshots. The former ties in with the… [Continue Reading]

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Concepts

June 29, 2016 General_B 0 Comments analysis, balance, melee, suggestion, Team Fortress 2, theory, update, weapon

Valve doesn’t like adding new concepts to the game, which is why there are so many +/- weapons, even the ones that don’t look like they are. The Airstrike for instance, is entirely +/- but the description doesn’t show it as such. Anyways Valve occasionally figures out they can change around a concept for new weapons and balancing, and then do it to a bunch of weapons (cough, switch speeds in tough break getting added to like 30% of melee weapons, cough). This seems like a new thing but switch speed has been around for ages in the Degreaser and… [Continue Reading]

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Organ Trail and Me

June 13, 2016 SilverWolf 1 Comment analysis, criticism, non-tf2

I remember picking up the original version of this game. I thought it looked like a laugh and had some interesting (and unforgiving) mechanics. I’d installed it nearing midnight and had work at 8 in the morning. “Screw it,” I thought “five minutes.” The next time I looked at a clock it was 3, nearing 4am. my heart pounding against its cage as I dragged my final survivor into the safe zone alongside his wounded leader who’d become incapacitated at the final hurdle. Everyone else was dead. I felt an elation like nothing I’d felt before in a game, after… [Continue Reading]

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Little-Known TF2 Mechanics

May 30, 2016December 5, 2016 aabicus 0 Comments analysis, chat, glitches, mechanics, pyro, sniper, spy

In order to make this list, said TF2 mechanic needs to (1) heavily affect some aspect of playing the game normally, (2) be completely unexplained or hidden, and (3) be something I somehow only learned in 2016 despite my pathological addiction to analyzing every facet of this game. I’ve divided the list into three “major” and three “minor” mechanics. Major 1: Projectile Models on some weapons affect aerodynamics. Several of the projectiles in TF2 actually care about the drag on the fired projectile, which means that, for example, most of the grenade launchers fire even more differently than their stats… [Continue Reading]

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TF2’s Shorts are Better Written Than Overwatch’s

May 27, 2016 OrangeyBlueInk 0 Comments analysis, comparison, criticism, overwatch, writing

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]

Now for Something Completely Different

Pharah – Overwatch’s Soldier Wannabe

May 20, 2016 Medic 0 Comments analysis, comparison, overwatch, soldier

During the brief time that I played Overwatch, I tended to drift towards two characters: Pharah and Reinhardt. While I liked Reinhardt for his personality, giant shield and huge mace, I tended to play Pharah because I understood her. She plays very, very similarly to our beloved, overly patriotic Soldier. Like Soldier, Pharah uses a rocket launcher, jumps high into the air and has 200 health. Unlike Soldier, Fareeha Amari did actually get accepted into the military. And there’s a few differences here and there. But she’s essentially the same character, but easier. Much easier. The main ‘thing’ with playing… [Continue Reading]

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MeeM’s random SPUF article

May 16, 2016 MysticTheMeeM 1 Comment 6v6, analysis, comparison, theory

Now, I get that as a medic main I meet a bunch of friends (perhaps more than any other class main) just from playing the game. Indeed, many of them I become really good friends with and we get along great. But, as with most friendships, eventually people drift apart. (And yes, mopey post ahead.) Now my steam friends list is full of people I’ve met from a bunch of different games. From guys I spent hundreds of hours to guys who randomly decided to help me through the first part of that game I got yesterday and spent a… [Continue Reading]

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Overwatch’s Widowmaker

May 14, 2016 aabicus 0 Comments analysis, overwatch, sniper, widowmaker

I’ve already mentioned that Overwatch did not escape the “if one team has a healer, they win” syndrome, and they are likewise still suffering from ” chronic Sniper-itis”. Even the subreddit has noticed the amount of bloody snipers limping around in the back not being particularly useful or fun to fight against. Which is a shame, because played well Widowmaker can be so much more than a sniper. When not scoped in, her rifle becomes a bullet hose that Soldier 76 would be jealous of. Her E-attack is a poison mine (the only non-Ultimate DoT attack in the game) which serves… [Continue Reading]

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Which classes in TF2 are Specialists and which are Generalists?

April 29, 2016 aabicus 0 Comments analysis, Classes, comparison, roles, unlock

SPUF goes through phases when it comes to things to argue about. Some debates are seasonal like holiday updates, some are deceased like the Gunslinger, and others are eternal like random crits and autobalance. But one that crops up every now and then is the question of Specialists v. Generalists. It’s generally agreed that some classes in TF2 are more specialized than others. Engineer can do a number of things well, but he’s rather pigeon-holed into those categories especially when compared to Scout and Demoman. Where to draw the actual line regarding which classes are “Generalist” engenders much debate, with Soldier being the only one… [Continue Reading]

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On Community Updates

April 22, 2016 Medic 0 Comments analysis, community, cosmetics, crates, criticism, end of the line, invasion, update

Community updates have always had some sort of sparkle to them. You get a ton of great content-creators gathering and making something as a team. Right now, we have two communities working together on two very different but rather complimentary updates – the Iron Gauntlet, which features Mann VS Machine maps and robotic cosmetics, and the Mayann Project, which is more of an Indiana Jones themed update. Both look very promising and some cool themes behind them. And of course, more Mann VS Machine stuff is always good for me. Thing is though, despite the fact that community updates bring… [Continue Reading]