TF2 Newbs (Team Fortress 2) Blog

Yeah, finally getting back around to the blog again. Here we go with news about games that many Newbs play:

1. Terraria update
2. TF2 Smissmas 2013 updates
   1. Five new crates
   2. Everybody gets a free stocking
   3. Important! Weapon Tweaks

Please refer to the bottom of this post to see the full patch notes.

1. Terraria update 1.2.2 (PC only) — **limited spoilers** ———————

Christmas Mode/Halloween Mode

The Christmas Mode has been available in Terraria since 2011, but in order to enable it, the system time of your computer must be changed to a date between December 15th to December 31st. During Christmas Mode, most monsters have a ~7% chance of dropping presents, and the NPC Santa Claus can join your town! Santa, who can sell you a bunch of cosmetics, can only join your world once the Frost Legion has been defeated, and he will die on the next morning if/when your Terraria’s game exists on a computer outside that Dec. 15-31 window. Oh, and the presents now drop lots of festive items, including weapons, eatables, costume parts, and of course, candy cane blocks.  “What’s this?! A chakram… made of fruitcake?!?”

In similar fashion, you can enable Halloween Mode by setting your computer’s system time to a date within October 25th to November 10th, which allows Halloween content, including the ~1% chance to drop Goodie Bags.

In multiplayer, only the system date of the game/server host should matter. (Haven’t tested myself, but that’s my assumption.)

Frost Moon

This hardest-event-yet runs in waves similar to the Pumpkin Moon event released this past Halloween, and can only be started in Hardmode by using a (craftable) Naughty Present. With Christmas-themed enemies and new, Christmas-themed loot like the butt-kicking Christmas Tree Sword, this is one event you’re gonna need some badass friends for help.

Full patch notes (as ripped from the Terraia wiki):

Mechanics and Gameplay:

• The content of presents have been altered and now contain more goodies. They are also now placeable and stack in your inventory.
• Santa Claus now has a larger variety of Holiday related items that he will sell to you.
• Frost Moon is a new event that can be triggered in hardmode. It has 15 standard waves as well as 5 extra bonus waves.
• There are several new pets as well as 1 new mount that will drop off one of the Frostmoon bosses.
• Holiday themed wallpaper can now be purchased from the Painter.
• Maximum player buff slots has been increased to 22.

New Music:

• There is now an alternate to the underground theme.
• There is a new track that will play during the Frostmoon.
• The Music Box will now record music instantly upon being equipped.

Bug fixes:

• The Honey Balloon can now be crafted.
• Recording Pumpkin song no longer creates an Ankh Charm.
• NPCs now go to shelter during eclipses.
• World gen no longer saves broken chest slots.
• Increased the damage bonus of stealthing in Shroomite armor.
• Items which regenerate health per hit now have a cap of 2 hearts per second.
• Flame Traps will no longer trigger healing from Spectre Armor.
• Spear Traps are no longer able to fire spear heads upward like projectiles.

 

2. TF2 Smissmas 2013—————————————————-

The following includes info from the December 6th patch to the December 20 patch.

 New Crates #75, #76 , #77, #78 (Naughty), #79 (Nice)

 Crate #75:

Crit-a-Cola		19 .80%
Solemn Vow		19 .80%
Sydney Sleeper		19 .80%
Strange Part: Unusual-Wearing Player Kills		9 .90%
Strange Part: Spies Killed		9 .90%
Strange Part: Burning Enemy Kills		9 .90%
Defiant Spartan		4 .95%
Apparatchik’s Apparel		4 .95%
or an Exceedingly Rare Special Item!		1 .00%

 Crate #76:

Concheror		19 .80%
Revolver		19 .80%
Eviction Notice		19 .80%
Strange Part: Killstreaks Ended		9 .90%
Strange Part: Freezecam Taunt Appearances		9 .90%
Strange Part: Damage Dealt		9 .90%
Front Runner		4 .95%
Cold Killer		4 .95%
or an Exceedingly Rare Special Item!		1 .00%

 Crate #77:

Rescue Ranger		19 .80%
Grenade Launcher		19 .80%
Scorch Shot		19 .80%
Strange Part: Fires Survived		9 .90%
Strange Part: Allied Healing Done		9 .90%
Strange Part: Point-Blank Kills		9 .90%
Builder’s Blueprints		4 .95%
Blighted Beak		4 .95%
or an Exceedingly Rare Special Item!		1 .00%

 Naughty Crate #78: unboxed items have a chance of also being Strange (as well as Festive)

Festive Force-A-Nature		11 .00%
Festive Sapper		11 .00%
Festive Crusader’s Crossbow		11 .00%
Festive Flare Gun		11 .00%
Festive Eyelander		11 .00%
Festive Jarate		11 .00%
Festive Gloves of Running Urgently		11 .00%
Festive Black Box		11 .00%
Festive Wrangler		11 .00%
or an Exceedingly Rare Special Item!		1 .00%

Nice Crate #79: These newly-launched cosmetic items were created by Steam Workshop users. They will eventually be available for purchase from the Mann Co. Store. There are 32 in all, with an equal ~3% chance of getting a specific desired item.

Blizzard Breather		Sub Zero Suit		Dictator		Neckwear Headwear		Trail-Blazer		Dead of Night
Snow Scoper		Nunhood		Angel of Death		Kiss King		Slo-Poke		Minnesota Slick
Toy Soldier		Five-Month Shadow		Mann of Reason		Mann Of House		Chucklenuts		Tiny Timber
Face Full of Festive		Ruffled Ruprecht		Golden Garment		Little Drummer Mann		Scout Shako		Toy Tailor
Extra Layer		Polar Pullover		Dogfighter		Antarctic Parka		Runner’s Warm-Up		Highland High Heels
Tartan Tyrolean		Marshall’s Mutton Chops

You Get a Stocking, I Get a Stocking, Errybuddy Gets a Stocking!

Really! Really: Log in to TF2 during this winter season, and you get one Gift-Stuffed Stocking, an action item. When you use it, you will gain the following items:

• A Giftapult (see below)
• A Backpack Expander; if used, it gives you 100 more slots/two more pages of item capacity, up to a limit 0f 2000 items/40 pages
• A Name Tag
• A Description Tag
• A Tour of Duty Ticket: good for one (successful) Mann vs. Machine “Mann Up” mission
• Three random weapons (rarely, one or more could be a random cosmetic item, such as a hat)
• Note: All of the items except for the 3 random weapons/cosmetics are untradable and show that they have been gifted.

A Giftapult is a tool item that can give another unwanted item that you choose to a random online player. Select the Giftapult, then select an unwanted item. The Giftapult will change to a Loaded Giftapult. When the Loaded Giftapult is used, it will disappear from your inventory, and some random lucky Steam person will be gifted your item. (I’m not sure if they have to be playing TF2 at the time to be eligible, or even have the TF2 game installed, but only Steam accounts that are currently online when the Loaded Giftapult is used are eligible.) You can also buy Giftapults from the Mann Co. Store for only 10 cents US!

…And a Secret Saxton!

Also by logging in, if you’re a premium (not free-to-play) TF2 player, you will also get one free Secret Saxton. If you use it while playing on a TF2 server, one random player on that server (not you) will get one random item drop–most likely a weapon, but with the usual chances of a hat/cosmetic instead. The dropped item will also show that it was gifted from you! Everyone on the server will get a notification that you had sent out a gift. Secret Saxtons cost US$0.99 at the Mann Co. Store.

Weapon Tweaks

The Battalion’s Backup just got a passive +20 health increase. This is the first item to passively increase the max health of a soldier past his usual 200. The Backup is already a defensive item, with its buff granting 35% damage resistance (50% vs. sentries) for 10 seconds; now you’ll be more likely to live long enough to deploy the buff, and can continue to survive while under its effects.

Meanwhile, the Concheror is about to see a lot more play. It now grants the equipping Soldier a 2 health-regeneration-per-second effect! This is fabulous for soldiers who rocket jump to rooftops in order to gain surprise on foes, as they can now heal by standing still, and not have to spend more health rocket-jumping around looking for health kits. The Concheror’s buff grants a speed boost and 35% healing of any damage buffed attackers deal. Roaming Sollies are going to love this; the passive largely reduces the Pyro’s afterburn from his fire attacks. You can also see this as stacking with the Liberty Launcher’s lessened self-damage and/or the Black Box’s heal-on-hit for even more survival power. You even continue to heal with the Escape Plan/Equalizer deployed!

The Crit-a-Cola has a reduced penalty also. Since the Scout is already pretty fragile, he now only suffers a 10% increase in damage while the Cola is in use, while still enjoying increased speed and mini-crits. Be careful if you’re equipping any items that will further increase your vulnerabilities to damage.

The Diamondback will likely see more play now as well. It still has a 15% damage penalty from the standard Revolver, and stores a critical hit each time a building is destroyed while the Spy’s sapper-slot item is deployed on it. But now, it also stores critical hits for each backstab kill you earn! You can easily earn five stored crits if you manage to take out an Engie and his sentry, dispenser, and two teleporters. Of course, you lose the stored crits when you die, and your crits aren’t quite as effective as a Revolver’s. But the Diamondback’s critical hits still score 104 damage per hit; two hits will kill most non-buffed units, or one hit will suffice if they’re wounded. You may wish to practice shooting your Diamondback while fleeing the enemy after a successful sap or backstab if you’re followed by just one other enemy unit. The maximum criticals that can be stored is 35.

The Short Circuit is now more effective than ever for Engineers to remove enemy projectiles. Each shot now only costs 5 metal (down from 35!), and the weapon fires much faster now (0.05 seconds, or twenty times a second!). Spam it to erase any stickies, arrows, rockets, bolts, flares, guillotines, balls or ornaments on the ground or streaking at you and your trusty buildings. You can build a sentry and still have enough metal to take out a handful of projectiles, unlike only two before. It only targets players in front of you in range now, but at the cost of 100 metal, you can spam 80-120 damage to an enemy over one second (4-6 per hit) without having to reload or even aim! (Gee, what would happen if you bought improvements for it in an MvM match…?)

Soda Popper has been reworked. It’s hypermode no longer grants mini-crits, and it no longer automatically deploys when full.  Instead, trigger it with your Alt Attack and you can jump up to five times without hitting a horizontal surface! What was an offensive weapon is now more of a defensive and mobility weapon; use hypermode to clear wide chasms and really jump from building to building. The Atomizer will not grant a sixth jump in hypermode, but you can get even more mileage out of your Winger’s +25% jump height passive. It is still a faster-fire Scattergun, so you can still score some quick kills. But with your extra mobility, you may be able to surprise enemies more than ever before.

 

December 6th Patch Notes (from the Official TF2 Wiki):

• Added Crate #75, Crate #76, and Crate #77 to the drop list
• Removed Crate #57, Crate #59 and Crate #71 from the drop list
• Added new Strange parts that can be applied to Strange cosmetic items
• Fixed a client crash related to the Mann vs. Machine mission victory panel
• Fixed players being able to level-up some Strange items when playing on servers with only bots
• Fixed some cases where Halloween spell effects on items would not appear when they were supposed to
• Fixed robot Engineer head not looking correct for the Botkiller Sniper Rifle Mk.II
• Fixed killstreak notices being stuck on the screen when the map is changing levels
• Fixed Team Shine killstreak sheen effect not displaying properly for the Blue team
• Updated several backpack images to fix issues caused by mat_picmip
• Updated Killstreak Kits to work on Festive and Botkiller variants of target weapons
• Updated pl_upward
  • Fixed players getting stuck in the initial Red spawn room after control point 2 is capped
  • Improved bot navigation
• Updated cp_gorge
  • Improved bot navigation
• Updated Mann vs. Machine
  • Fixed players who join in the middle of a mission not receiving the Upgrade Refund credit if it has been earned by the team
  • Fixed Romevision hats conflicting with gatebot hats in Mannhattan
  • Fixed an exploit that allowed purchasing upgrades for weapons other than what they were intended for
• Updated mvm_rottenburg
  • Fixed a bug where the bomb could get stuck out of reach in the corner near the cap
  • Fixed a bug where bots could be instantly killed by being pushed into the tank tunnel once opened
  • Fixed a bug where money could get stuck in the tank barricade when it was rebuilt, preventing collection
• Updated mvm_mannhattan
  • Rebalanced Empire Escalation
  • Fixed credits not always being collected when they fall into the grinder
  • Fixed a bug that allowed the gates to be captured out of order
  • Fixed a lighting bug related to lower graphics settings that cause the map to be too dark

Undocumented changes

• Added the Naughty Winter Crate 2013 and the Nice Winter Crate 2013 to the drop list.
• Updated the descriptions of Killstreak Kits.
• Mann vs. Machine
  • Giant Bonk Scout: Reduced bonk regen bonus from +65% to +45%
  • Colonel Barrage: Removed -90% rage attribute
  • Colonel Barrage (gatebot variant): Removed -90% rage attribute until after all gates are captured
  • Major Crits (boss gatebot variant): Increased projectile speed penalty from -60% to -65%, and reduced rage penalty from -90% to -80% after all gates are captured
  • Major Crits (non-boss gatebot variant): Decreased reload rate bonus from +78% to +60%, increased projectile speed penalty from -60% to -65%, and removed -90% rage attribute
  • Giant Heal-On-Kill Heavy (boss gatebot variant): Increased rage giving penalty from -10% to -40%

 

December 18th Patch Notes:

• Added new promo items: Portable Smissmas Spirit Dispenser, War on Smissmas Battle Hood, War on Smissmas Battle Socks, Sack Fulla Smissmas, Smissmas Caribou, Randolph the Blood-Nosed Caribou
• Updated the localization files

 

December 20th Patch Notes:

Happy Smissmas 2013!

• All Players who play TF2 during the event will receive a Gift-Stuffed Stocking! Stockings contain goodies for good little Mercenaries.
• Added community-contributed winter event items^[1]
• Added the Giftapult, which can be used to launch gift items to randomly-chosen online players
• Added Naughty and Nice winter keys to the Mann Co. Store
• Premium Players will receive a Secret Saxton to give to another player
• Item grants from previous events (including the Spirit of Giving and the Winter Holiday noise maker) have been re-enabled for all players, including those who deleted their earlier grants

Weapons

• Battalion’s Backup: Added +20 max HP passive for the wearer

• Concheror: Added +2 health per second passive for the wearer

• Crit-a-Cola: Reduced consumption penalty from +25% extra damage to +10%

• Diamondback: Now also gains a critical attack on successful backstab kills

• Flying Guillotine: Alt-Attack now also throws the Guillotine when active

• Short Circuit

• Attack sped up greatly
• Ammunition cost has been lowered to 5 metal per attack
• Players and Buildings are only targeted if in range and in front of attacking player
• Improved visual effects

• Soda Popper

• Hype no longer grants mini-crits
• Added Hypemode which grants up to 5 extra air jumps when active
• Hypemode is triggered by Alt-Attack when hype is full

• The Beggar’s Bazooka has been updated to use the same taunt as The Direct Hit
• Professional Killstreak Mantreads, Splendid Screen and The Chargin’ Targe now generate proper effects when on a killstreak. These effects do not stack if another killstreak effect weapon is active.

Cosmetics

• “Head” and “Misc” slots for player loadouts have been converted to Cosmetic slots. All items that were previously Head- or Misc-slot-specific can now be equipped in any Cosmetic slot.
• Unusual effect positioning can now be adjusted for all Cosmetic-slot items
• Unusual Circling Effects have been given a new origin
• Unusual effects for all Cosmetic-slot items are now visible in the loadout panel and character HUD
• Fixed the Wiki Cap clipping with the Demoman‘s head

Mann vs. Machine

• Fixed being able to inspect Blue-team bots
• Fixed the mission victory screen not always showing the correct information for each player
• Fixed some clipping issues with the stats in the scoreboard

General

• Fixed an exploit where players could move around while using a taunt to attack enemies
• Fixed an exploit related to the Rocket Jumper and the Soldier’s grenade taunt
• Fixed killstreaks attained via healing not being considered for round-end win panel
• Fixed the killstreak hud indicator position in minmode
• Fixed Taunt Kills strange scores not incrementing properly for the Strange Scorch Shot
• Fixed strange scores on cosmetic items sometimes failing to increment
• Fixed gift-wrapped items not showing their interior item to the wrapping player in some conditions
• Fixed Steam Sale items granted from Snow Globe crafting not being listable on the Steam Community Market
• Improved bot navigation in cp_gorge
• Improved bot navigation in pl_upward
• Updated several materials to fix issues caused by mat_picmip
• Updated the backpack to filter to automatically filter for valid items when using a tool

Undocumented changes

• Set the global holiday mode to winter, causing the usual effects such as ropes getting lights and enabling the winter noisemaker.
• Touching a resupply cabinet will remove any clipping items
• Content added to bulletin boards in all maps^[2], and several maps have had new posters added.
• Corrected the name of the Smissmas Caribou from Smissmass Caribou.

 

I hope these blog posts are appreciated. Even though I’m no longer rewriting them all anymore, they’re still a lot of work. Let me know in the comments!

[N] Obey

 

 

 

(See also: The tutorial “A TF2Newbs Guide to MvM Item Hunting“.)

This update is predominantly a Mann vs. Machine update, but there’s some item tweaks in store for the regular game as well.

Also, starting with this patch update, I’ve decided to try to make these update blogposts more readable and less of a wall of bullets (which you can get anywhere, such as your “My News” wall in your Steam client, or at the Official TF2 Wiki. So sit back, and let me regale you with what’s in store.

1. New CP Map: Snakewater

First of all, there is Snakewater (cp_snakewater_final1), a new five-point control point map. Set in a cloudy, alpine area, your team will duke it out in the middle of a logging facility. This isn’t a huge map like Granary; like the recently released Process, it’s a map that works good for 6-on-6 matches and has been playtested heavily in competitive matches. There are no full-health or full-ammo pickups, but lots of smaller and medium ones on this map.

Also, there are new achievements you can earn for playing on Snakewater, as well as Process and Standin, which were released a couple of months ago.

2. Weapon Tweaks

Scout’s Baby Face’s Blaster has been reworked:

• It’s base speed penalty is now only 10% (down from 35%).
• It now shoots identical to the Scattergun, losing its increased clip size, increased accuracy, and its damage penalty,
• It still builds a speed boost when dealing damage with any Scout weapon, still gains when shooting an invulnerable target, and still doesn’t gain when shooting a disguised enemy Spy.
• However, jumping from the ground no longer removes the Scout’s boost meter. And jumping from the air only reduces the boost by one-fourth (25%) of the meter each time, instead of losing the entire boost from a single jump.

So now a Scout wielding this weapon will behave much more like a Scout normally does, jumping in and shooting a close target from vertical/diagonal angles. Hitting your target helps you move quickly to the next, and now you deal full damage close to the target, rather than doing a strange midrange snipe on wounded targets.

Medic’s Amputator got a tradeoff nerf:

• Added a -20% damage penalty.
• Added +3 health regeneration per second while the Amputator is deployed.

The Amputator already had an area-of-effect healing taunt, making it a straight upgrade from the Bonesaw. Now it does a little less damage, but it increases your passive health regeneration when you pull it out. This also means that when you do use the Amputator’s taunt to heal, the Medic will recover more than before. (This is also a means to restore the old Medieval Medic set bonus, which had increased overall health regeneration, but had been removed.)

Crusader’s Crossbow

• Damage over distance is now capped at 75 points (+/- usual variance).

The Medic’s Crossbow is one of the few weapons that deals more damage as the projectile travels farther. Now there is a cap on its healing so that a Medic cannot be both a functional Sniper (it still cannot headshot) or recover a teammate’s full health from a long range with a good shot (remember, it heals teammates). It still makes for a handy weapon when firing into a tight group of bodies (you’ll either hurt a bad guy or heal a good guy), and it still enjoys a faster rate of fire from the tweaks it’s received over the last few patches.

Liberty Launcher

• Added 25% reduced damage from rocket jumps.

Soldier’s Libby gets more love! It already retains a -25% damage modifier, so this change will further applies the same damage reduction you receive from your own rockets when your character is in the air (only) when receiving blast damage from your own rockets. Now it’ll only cost you about 20-35 health per jump (compared to 27-46 from the stock Rocket Launcher), and even less when wearing the Gunboats (I’m guessing only 10-25 per jump when using both). Enjoy that 4-clip, Soldier!

Eyelander

• Moved the eye glow position to the Demoman’s eye patch (his other eye). Changed the glow color to Cursed green.

Let’s you know why your friends are screaming about a “horrible green death machine” when you’re chopping them up. Carry on.

Golden Frying Pan

This ain’t even a joke!

That is a Frying Pan made of pure Australium. Like the Saxxy and Golden Wrench, it causes any foes killed by it to be turned into golden statues. Unlike the Saxxy and Golden Wrench, it is an all-class melee weapon of every class and perform as each class’s default: it can perform Spy backstabs and repair Engineer buildings (if you are those current classes)! Now, you can be Panstabbed!

Gee, how do you get one?  See below….

3. Killstreak Kits and Australium-quality Items

When you complete a Two Cities Tour (see below), you will earn a Killstreak Kit. I’m not sure if this is a tool or what, but this item is supposed to grant you new visual effects for your weapons. And as you finish more tours (probably important in number as well as which tours you participate in), you will earn additional fabricators, which will help you craft progressively rarer killstreaks or visual effects for said weapon.

Hm. The Official Wiki isn’t much help here. I’ll include more information later on….

However, it is possible to earn an Australium-quality weapon, by random drop after completing a Two Cities Tour. The following weapons can now be obtained in Australium quality:

• Scout: Scattergun, Force-a-Nature
• Soldier: Rocket Launcher, Black Box
• Pyro: Flamethrower, Axtinguisher
• Demoman: Grenade Launcher, Stickybomb Launcher, Eyelander
• Heavy: Minigun, Tomislav
• Engineer: Frontier Justice, Wrench*
• Medic: Blutsauger, Medi Gun
• Sniper: Sniper Rifle, SMG
• Spy: Ambassador, Knife

*The Australium Wrench is not to be confused with the ultra-rare Golden Wrench, even though they may look similar.

 

4. There were many other little changes…

…but just too many to post on one blogpost. Go read the official TF2 wiki for the rest of the details.

[N] Obey

Would you look at this… a new TF2 item quality! Here’s the rundown (combining patches from Nov 6-Nov 12):

• Added a new item quality: Collector’s (with dark-red text).
• Added new Chemistry Sets (see below for list).
  • Some of these new Chemistry Sets create Strangifiers.
  • Lots of other Chemistry Sets create a Collector’s-quality item.
    • The recipe for Collector’s-quality items is simply a large number of the same type of item (e.g. 200 Mad Milks to make a Collector’s Mad Milk).
• Eternatween Enchantments (lets a server allow Halloween/Full Moon items for a two-hour period).
  • Requires a successful server vote before being consumed and taking effect.
  • Now has a server cooldown period between votes.
  • Fixed some spells not working properly during Eternatween.
  • Merasmus now has 13 new voice lines specifically for Eternatween, welcoming players to Eternatween, etc.
• Spooky Keys have now converted to standard Crate Keys.
• Spooky Crates and Piles of Curses will be deleted from inventories on a player’s next startup of the game.
• Halloween spells are now permanently affixed to their target item.
  • However, their effects will now show only during Halloween/Full Moon/Eternatween.
• Grandmaster will now update its model based on its wearer’s kill streak.
  • Being a chessboard hat, it will cycle illusory chess pieces above the wearer’s head, going from a pawn piece at zero kills, then each kill changing it in turn to a rook, knight, bishop, queen, and finally king at five or more kills.
• Updated the Jupiter Jumpers so that they can be equipped with the Mantreads or the Gunboats.
• Updated Ivan the Inedible to match the other Spooky Companion items.
• HTML MOTDs (Messages of the Day) will no longer be shown for players connecting via quickplay.
• Removed the prompt to opt-in to quickplay beta.
• Helltower Changes:
  • Fixed an exploit in Helltower caused by changing teams in hell in order to instantly respawn.
  • Increased the projectile speed and damage of the lightning ball spell.
  • Fixed being able to enter enemy spawn with the Teleport spell.
• Bugfixes:
  • Fixed special taunts being overridden by the Thriller Halloween taunt.
  • Fixed the Open Loadout button on the item pickup notification screen from not working properly.
• Added HalloweenSetUsingSpells input to the tf_logic_holiday entity by community request, allowing for Halloween spell usage for custom TF2 Halloween maps.
• Halloween-themed Community Items (see the list in the last blog post) are now back to regular price in the Mann Co. Store (in most cases $4.99 to $7.49).

New Chemistry Sets…!

Relax, no additional skill in math required… or is there? Because you’re gonna need to count higher than your fingers and your toes in order to crate a Collector’s item! I’ve heard of as high as 200-of-the-same-item requirements for these Collector’s Chemistry Sets. Here’s what’s now available:

• Strangifier Chemistry Sets, 13 total, from the August 27, 2013 patch:
  • Bonk Boy
  • Fancy Dress Uniform
  • Sight for Sore Eyes
  • Bird-Man of Aberdeen
  • Toss-Proof Towel
  • Teddy Roosebelt
  • Archimedes
  • Villain’s Veil
  • Camera Beard
  • All-Father
  • Summer Shades
  • Merc’s Pride Scarf
  • RoBro 3000
  • –not counting– Strange Bacon Grease (for the Frying Pan)
• Strangifier Chemistry Sets, 9 total, from the November 12, 2013 patch:
  • Boston Boom-Bringer
  • Lord Cockswain’s Novelty Mutton Chops and Pipe
  • Stockbroker’s Scarf
  • Dark Age Defender
  • Sandvich Safe
  • Foppish Physician
  • Outback Intellectual
  • Blood Banker
  • Professor Speks
• Collector’s Chemistry Sets, 39 total, added in the November 12, 2013 patch:
  • Scout (8 total): Shortstop, Mad Milk, Winger, Flying Guillotine, Holy Mackerel, Boston Basher, Atomizer, Wrap Assassin
  • Soldier (8 total): Black Box, Liberty Launcher, Cow Mangler 5000, Original, Gunboats, Battalion’s Backup, Righteous Bison, Escape Plan
  • Pyro (3 total): Backburner, Detonator, Homewrecker
  • Demo (2 total): Claidheamh Mor, Ullapool Caber
  • Heavy (5 total): Huo-Long Heater, Dalokohs Bar, Buffalo Steak Sandvich, Warrior’s Spirit, Holiday Punch
  • Engineer (3 total): Frontier Justice, Short Circuit, Eureka Effect
  • Medic (3 total): Vaccinator, Vita-Saw, Solemn Vow
  • Sniper (3 total): Machina, Hitman’s Heatmaker, Jarate
  • Spy (4 total): Ambassador, Conniver’s Kunai, Big Earner, Spy-cicle

So, while the existence of Collector’s items may not prevent most people from making scrap metal out of their items, it could cause some players to want very badly to collect all of one particular item in order to craft a Collector-quality item. Who knows, but this might cause metal to be worth more… or at least most random weapons.

[N] Obey

Don’t forget Steam’s “Halloween Sale 2013″!

“Scream Fortress 2013″ runs from Tuesday, October 29th through Monday, November 11th. During that time, players are invited to play on a reskinned Hightower map, but now with spells. When one side wins, everyone goes to a “Hell” where you race to Skull Island for a hat. The side that won has buffed health during this run, and players that die become ghosts to hinder the others for surviving, ending only when one side is eliminated completely. (TF2 could also be counting whether Red or Blue wins more often, similar to the Soldier vs. Demo update a few years back… who knows?)

You must launch the TF2 game during this window in order to (immediately) receive an accessory that will allow you to equip spells, much like the Canteen for MvM. This accessory is called the “Spellbook Magazine”. An in-game reminder will ask you if you want to equip the Spellbook Magazine if you join the new Halloween Map… Helltower!!

November 1st mini-patch:

• Fixed server crashes caused by players becoming ghosts in Hell, spellbooks and switching weapons
• Updated the Crusader’s Crossbow:
  • Fixed an exploit related to switching weapons
  • Reduced damage/healing on target to 50 per hit from 75
  • Reload time reduced to 1.5 seconds from 3 seconds

Scream Fortress changes:

•  Added new Halloween Map “Helltower”: plr_hightower_event
  • It is a reskin of the payload race map Hightower, at nighttime, with a giant clocktower
• Spells can be found by pushing the cart, killing enemies, and during the Witching Hour (?)
• The Clocktower contains powerful magic during the Witching Hour (?)
• Added over 100 Halloween tagged items from the TF2 Workshop
  • Probably all of these items are cosmetics
• Added Spooky Crate #74 to the drop list
  • See below for a probable drop list! [EDIT: Now with pictures and leaks to the wiki!]
    
  • Assumed to disappear at the end of the day of November 11th
• Added Spooky Key to Mann Co. Store (purchasable for US$2.49)
  • After November 11th, they turn into normal Crate Keys.
• Added Transmogrifier tool items for each class
  • Found rarely in the Haunted Halloween Gifts on Halloween event maps
  • This tool item will convert one Halloween-themed cosmetic item into another random one, but from the available list of cosmetics for that class
  • For example, a Soldier Transmogrifier may turn the Pyro’s Corpsemopolitan into a Soldier’s Freedom Feathers
• Added the tool item Enchantment: Eternaween
  
  • This one-use tool item will allow the entire server to enable Halloween/Full Moon items, for a “short time”
  • Can also be uncrated (from Spooky Crate #74) in Haunted quality
• Enabled Halloween even maps in quick play
• Enabled Halloween gifts on Halloween event maps
  • Like last year, standard item drops have been disabled. Again, this should revert to normal on November 12th.
  • Instead, a gift “just for you” appears on the map that only you can see and obtain. You must join the game and have your character touch the gift in-game to obtain the item drop–which is usually a Halloween costume piece, Halloween spell potion, or other item.
• Re-enabled last year’s Halloween Spell Potions
  • The footprint effects, paint effects, weapon effects and vocal effects were all cosmetic in nature.
  • Once again, they should disappear from your inventory at the end of November 11th.
• Enabled MvM event map “Wave 666″ in Boot Camp mode only.
  • Due to an earlier patch, the map name is mvm_ghost_town.
  • There is still no reward for completing the single mission, “Caliginous Caper”.
• New Halloween-themed Unusual Effects
  • Unusuals uncrated from any crate may now have a Halloween-themed Unusual Effect, instead of the standard Unusual Effects available
• Haunted quality items can now be listed on the Steam Marketplace

Other TF2 Changes

• koth_lakeside_event AKA Ghost Fort
  • Merasmus’s health has been lowered an unknown amount.
• Medic’s Crusader Crossbow now silently reloads when unreadied, similar to the Flare Gun for the Pyro
  • See more changes above in the November 1st repatch
• “Fixed” the charge rate for the Bazaar Bargain at zero heads
  • Not sure is this means it correctly charges at -40%, or was changed back to -20%, or something else.
• Medics can now see the clip status of a patient’s active weapon IN ALL GAME MODES now !
• Bugfixes:
  • Updated “The Air Raider” so it can be painted correctly.
  • Updated “The Bone Dome” so it doesn’t hide Pyro backpack cosmetics.
  • Strange Part: Kills While Ubercharged can no longer be applied to Strange Equalizers and Strange Escape Plans.
  • Fixed the backpack panel from using the wrong drop sound when items are moved around.
  • Fixed an exploit allowing unlimited uses of noisemaker items
  • Fixed not being able to earn the Brotherhood of Steel MvM achievement
  • Fixed the camera target not always being visible whe using the replay editor
• Lots of VR changes, including:
  • Removing the IPD calibration tool (using the Oculus config file instead)
  • Added the ability to switch in and our of VR mode without quitting the game
  • VR mode will now run in full screen by default
  • Added support for VR mode on Linux

Over 100 New Cosmetic Items!

While all of these hats and accessories might be getting old-hat for some (no doubt like some of my puns), there is certainly a dizzyingly large number of cosmetics. Here is an alphabetized stack of links to all of these items’ individual pages on the Official TF2 Wiki, unless I get them more organized later.

Note: Some of these items are hats, some are costume parts, some are head replacement parts, and others are just accessories that go elsewhere on your character. But all of them are created by the Workshop Community–and all of them are purchasable for the same price of US$2.49 (for now, anyway)! You may wish to buy a desired item straight from the store, than buying a key, especially once the crates disappear.

Abhorrent Appendages, Accursed Apparition, Alternative Medicine Mann, Archimedes the Undying, Baphomet Trotters, Beacon from Beyond, Beast From Below, Birdie Bonnet, Bountiful Bow, Bozo’s Bouffant, Bozo’s Brogues, Burny’s Boney Bonnet, Cadaver’s Capper, Candleer, Candyman’s Cap, ‎Cap’n Calamari, Carious Chameleon, Carrion Companion, Cauterizer’s Caudal Appendage, Chicken Kiev, Corpsemopolitan, Creature From The Heap, Crispy Golden Locks, Cryptic Keepsake, Dark Helm, Das Blutliebhaber, Death Support Pack, Ethereal Hood, External Organ, Face Plante, Faun Feet, Faux Manchu, Foul Cowl, Freedom Feathers, Glob, Gothic Guise, Grease Monkey, Grisly Gumbo, Grub Grenades, Guano, Hallowed Headcase, Halloweiner, Handhunter, Hardium Helm, Hard-Headed Hardware, Haunted Hat, Headtaker’s Hood, Hidden Dragon, Hollowhead, Horned Honcho, Horrific Head of Hare, Horsemann’s Hand-Me-Down, Hound’s Hood, Hyperbaric Bowler, Ivan The Inedible, Jupiter Jumpers, Larval Lid, Last Bite, Lieutenant Bites the Dust, Lo-Grav Loafers, Lordly Lapels, Macabre Mask, Magical Mercenary, Maniac’s Manacles, Manneater, Mann-Bird of Aberdeen, Medimedes, Monster’s Stompers, Monstrous Mandible, Mucous Membrain, One-Way Ticket, Parasight, Pin Pals, Pocket Horsemann, Polly Putrid, PY-40 Incinibot, Quoth, Ramses’ Regalia, Raven’s Visage, Rugged Respirator, Sackcloth Spook, Scorched Skirt, Second Opinion, Shaman’s Skull, Shaolin Sash, Sir Shootsalot, Snaggletoothed Stetson, Space Bracers, Spectralnaut, Spellbinder’s Bonnet, Sprinting Cephalopod, Squid’s Lid, Surgeon’s Space Suit, Terrier Trousers, Teutonkahmun, Transylvania Top, Trepanabotomizer, Tuque or Treat, Unidentified Following Object, Up Pyroscopes, Vicar’s Vestments, Vicious Visage

Here are the contents of Crate #74, complete with pictures:

Halloweiner		Horrific Head of Hare		Hound’s Hood		Face Plante		Faun Feet		Sprinting Cephalopod
Terrier Trousers		Cadaver’s Capper		Freedom Feathers		Hardium Helm		Hidden Dragon		Larval Lid
Spellbinder’s Bonnet		Faux Manchu		Grub grenades		Jupiter Jumpers		Lieutenant Bites the Dust		Shaolin Sash
Space Bracers		Bozo’s Bouffant		Burny’s Boney Bonnet		Corpsemopolitan		Crispy Golden Locks		Gothic Guise
Macabre Mask		Mucous Membrain		Raven’s Visage		Spectralnaut		Abhorrent Appendages		Beast from Below
Carrion Companion		Cauterizer’s Caudal Appendage		Creature From The Heap		Death Support Pack		External Organ		Glob
Grisly Gumbo		Handhunter		Hard-Headed Hardware		Hollowhead		Maniac’s Manacles		Monster’s Stompers
PY-40 Incinibot		Rugged Respirator		Scorched Skirt		Up Pyroscopes		Vicious Visage		Headtaker’s Hood
Mann-Bird of Aberdeen		Squid’s Lid		Transylvania Top		Cap’n Calamari		Horsemann’s Hand-Me-Down		Lordly Lapels
Parasight		Polly Putrid		Chicken Kiev		Horned Honcho		Ivan The Inedible		Last Bite
Monstrous Mandible		Grease Monkey		Alternative Medicine Mann		Das Blutliebhaber		Medimedes		Shaman’s Skull
Teutonkahmun		Trepanabotomizer		Archimedes the Undying		Lo-Grav Loafers		Ramses’ Regalia		Second Opinion
Surgeon’s Space Suit		Vicar’s Vestments		Hallowed Headcase		Sir Shootsalot		Carious Chameleon		Hyperbaric Bowler
Candyman’s Cap		Bountiful Bow		Bozo’s Brogues		Foul Cowl		Baphomet Trotters		Candleer
Pin Pals		Snaggletoothed Stetson		Ethereal Hood		Birdie Bonnet		Dark Helm		Haunted Hat
Magical Mercenary		Manneater		One-Way Ticket		Tuque or Treat		Accursed Apparition		Beacon from Beyond
Cryptic Keepsake		Guano		Pocket Horsemann		Quoth		Sackcloth Spook		Unidentified Following Object

 

Also Note: All of these items are droppable (in-game present, and perhaps by usual drops after November 11th). Most are paintable, and all are renamable, tradable and giftable.

[N] Obey

 

Worth knowing:

1. TF2Newbs is starting up a volunteer Editorial Board
2. Dota just got a really big patch
3. Terraria just got another patch also

1. Join the TF2Newbs’ Editorial Board!

[N] Big Sexy and {N} Wolf have the blessing of |N| Octo to form a volunteer group of writers, artists, and activity planners. Since admins are usually busy with their admin duties and the rest of their lives, members of this group help to organize and run events, communicate goings-on to the group, post stuff to this blog, and otherwise keep the community as a whole informed and entertained.

So get in touch with one of them if you want to help out!

2. Dota patch 6.79

You can find all of the changes here, but I’ll list below the major changes from the 10/21/13 patch:

• Day/night length reduced to 4 minutes from 6 minutes per phase
• Non-Ancient neutrals now share XP with all heroes in the area, not just those on your team
• Starting gold increased to 625 from 603
• You now gain 1 gold every 0.6 seconds, up from every 0.8 seconds (that’s 25% more gold over the same amount of time)
• Evasion now stacks diminishingly; each instance of evasion may not have grant its full bonus
• The following heroes have been overhauled (or have more changes than the others): Axe, Broodmother, Dazzle, Disruptor, Lich, Skeleton King, Treant Protector, Venomancer, Warlock
• Bloodseeker’s Thirst property has changed dramatically, including now having a global range
• Tranquil Boots have been reworked, with higher passive regeneration

3. Terraria’s Halloween patch 1.2.1.1

“Wait, we just had a Terraria patch! There was a big long post about it a couple of weeks ago.”

That’s right–but it looks like Redigit isn’t done with Terraria yet. Now there’s Halloween content and some bugfixes, but the Halloween content only lasts for a short time (unless you change your system’s date to coincide with Halloween before you create a world, I think). Here are some of the important changes:

• Added Pumpkin, Hay, and Spooky Wood Tiles and Walls
• Most monsters now drop Goodie Bags during Halloween, containing various items including costume parts
• A special medallion summons a Pumpkin Moon event (PC only)
  • Requires a Mythril Anvil and Hallowed Bars to make
  • Killing more monsters during each wave increases the probability of Halloween loot to drop
  • Bug: Does not work during Rain
  • Bug: Can reoccur each night during multiplayer games; requires server restart to fix
• Dryad now sells Pumpkin Seeds year round; Pumpkins naturally grow only in worlds created during Halloween
• Hardmode ores and Lihzahrd Wall Blocks now show correctly on the map
• Floaty Gross now causes weakness and can drop Vitamins
• Vitamins is a new accessory (PC only!) that prevents weakness, and can be tinkered
• Hardmode chests now have a much more difficult process in order to open them:
  • A key mold is now required, as well as a Temple Key, to create the proper key to open a single chest
  • The key molds are a 1-in-4000 drop (!!), in the hardmode biome that matches the chest
• Crimson and Hallow now properly counteract each other, and Sunflowers now properly reduce Crimson’s growth
• Added messages to help players progress in Hardmode

Oh, and expect at least one more Terraria patch: a final patch that will have lots of hardmode content and some kind of “endgame” has been repeatedly hinted at by Terraria’s creator, Redigit. Who knows when? Perhaps in time for Christmas.

[N] Obey