theory – Page 6 – The Daily SPUF

Who is balancing this game anyway?!

February 19, 2014 A Pointed Stick 0 Comments balance, theory, weapon

Recently, Team Fortress 2 had an update delivered to the game that changed some content, including changing how Quickplay is used, however something that really interested me was the weapon changes, or rather the change to the Short Circuit. Now reading this somewhat confused me. Wasn’t the entire point of the Engineer’s beloved Short Circuit to make him more effective at safe-guarding his nest by more actively partaking in the defensive process? Why implement a downside that seems to discourage the Engineer playing defense? I then started to think back to the Short Circuit’s use after recent reiterations, back… [Continue Reading]

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Spam and Spawn-camping: Legitimate tactics?

February 9, 2014 aabicus 0 Comments criticism, fun, TFC, theory

Spawn-camping. Some love it, some hate it. Spam. Some love that too. Some hate that too. Everyone though hates it when they can’t even get out of their own spawn room! Today, we’ll discuss whether spam and spawn-camping are something to be encouraged or whether they should be wiped off the face of the planet.

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What if everyone had more health?

February 7, 2014 Medic 0 Comments theory, weapon

Everyone knows how much health everyone has. Four have 125 health. One has 150 health. Two have 175 health. One has 200 health. One has 300 health. Yawn, boring. But what if everyone had double their current health?

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Medic weapons that would never work.

January 24, 2014 Medic 1 Comment analysis, balance, medic, theory, weapon

For as long as I’ve been a Medic, I’ve always been amused by the lack of weapons that we’ve received. Normally, this would be a reason to be angry, but it makes us creative. It makes us think up our own weapons. Unfortunately, this leads to a lot of crazy ideas, many of which would never work, some because they are just too complicated, others are just too stupid. But the majority just have a few flaws.

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Why all Melee Unlocks should be Balanced like the Demoman’s

November 28, 2013 aabicus 0 Comments analysis, balance, demoman, loadout, melee, theory, weapon

SPUF enjoys arguing about TF2’s balance. A lot. One of the most common issues to sprout up involves TF2 melee weapons. It’s no secret the vast majority of stock melees are underpowered, except those with utility like knife and wrench. If their only job is to deal damage, then they’re gonna suck because every class has a plethora of primary or secondary weapons that deal more damage at longer ranges more effectively. So when most competetive TF2 players agree that the bottle is the best Demoman melee weapon, this may seem unusual. How can it really be the best choice… [Continue Reading]

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Why 300 Ping Is Horrible Except When You’re A Sniper

November 27, 2013 Medic 0 Comments sniper, theory

I don’t know why I’m really writing about this, but after having played on the SPUF standard server (which you really ought to visit because it’s fun and all that) with ping that fluctuated between 270 and 400, I feel like I should. Normally, I’m okay with high ping. It depends mostly on where the server is, but I get more issues with American servers than, say Asian servers. Probably because there’s more sea between me and the physical location of said server. So, the first thing I ought to mention is that the game isn’t really laggy. I do… [Continue Reading]

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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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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 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.