Maggots!

Uninspiring title but I figured it fit. So I’ve finally had some time to play around with the newly-updated TF2 now that a lot of the serious bugs (most of them related to Steam connections) have been ironed out. It’s a lot of fun. So far I’ve only unlocked the Direct Hit (precision rocket launcher that trades splash damage for speed and damage) and the Equalizer (pickaxe that does more damage and increases your speed depending on how little health you have, also has a taunt that causes the soldier to cook off a grenade in a suicidal explosion that causes 450 damage in a 6-foot radius). The Equalizer so far is my favorite of the two. Being able to travel almost as fast as a scout when at critical health and being able to dish out massive melee damage as a result is a sick amount of fun and a good way to take one, two, or even more guys out with you in a rush that would make even the miners of 1849 look like turtles.

I also had some time to experiment with the crafting system. So far I only really know how to make scrap metal out of 3 of the same item, and all I had on hand for that was 3 extra ubersaws, but I think this works out since it means people have to do a lot of crafting and thus have to play for a long time to work up to stuff they want, thus keeping the system from being abused (in theory).

Oh and in case anybody doesn’t know somehow, the soldier just barely edged out a victory over the demoman, securing the unique fourth item which is a pair of boots that reduces rocket jump damage. Ideally an item that would truly benefit either class so a good idea from Valve indeed.

Craft Fair

So over the past few days Valve (yes, I’m talking about them again) are doing not only their dual Soldier and Demoman class update, but they’ve also decided to add a competition to it, in which whichever class kills more of the other gets an exclusive 4th class upgrade. Pretty nifty in my opinion, which apparently is not shared by a lot of people on the Internet because they still think the L4D2 boycott is still going on (I’ll get to that in a moment). Over the weekend however, Valve introduced something that is either a great idea or it has the potential to be the idea that finally breaks TF2.