TF2 Newbs (Team Fortress 2) Blog

Newbs Stimulus Winners for July!

1st place – Darcblazer 1049 (2839) Spine Chilling Skull or Voodoo Juju!
2nd place – Scott Eats Bullets 14 (1807) Nv hat of your choice!

runners up if neither one claims within a week.
Brandon 865 (1608)
Grey Devil 10 (624)

Congrats guys.

Newbs Fundraiser!

As some of you may know, our trusty (if you’d call them that) GSP has quit supporting TF2! This affects servers #3,#4,#5,#6, and #8. We’ve had a pretty good run with them, but there has definitely been some hiccups along the way. We were truly at the mercy of strangers when it came to decisions regarding our servers. In the past we’ve had unexplainable lag or glitching, that the GSP’s never really had an answer for, and occasionally they’d just decide to change our IP addresses.. We just had to turn the other cheek, and keep paying their wild rates. SAD story, I know..

BUT TIMES ARE A CHANGIN’. One late night in Octo’s hidden lair, as he was soldering plush stickies to his motherboard – the thought struck him.. We don’t need no stinkin’ GSP.. Rather than find a mediocre replacement GSP, We’ll build our own server that we can maintain and make decisions at will with. Free Newbs from the corporate stranglehold these commies have on us! … So the idea was born, a brand new machine to be built in TF2Newbs honor to keep our servers chugging away, and the gibs flying. This way Octo can keep a close eye on the machine, make tweaks as necessary, and pay SUBSTANTIALLY less per month to run the servers! We just need to build them, and that’s how the Newbs Fundraiser was born.

What is it? You may ask.. It’s a lot like the other fundraisers you may have encountered in the past, except this one is chalked FULL of hat giveaways! If you thought Newbs Stimulus was making it rain on your TF2 noggins, hold onto your seats. I’m prepared to give away up to 30 HATS! WHAT?! CRAZY TALK. Yeah, well that’s what we do here. We give you a well groomed environment to play on, as well as some new swag to show off in the kill cams. How will it work you may ask? I’ll tell you.

This is a two stage fundraiser.

Stage 1 is building a rock solid machine that will be living on the west coast, that will be replacing the loss #3,#5,#6, and #8. Depending upon how it handles 4 to 5 servers, we may even add more (Octo builds machines like tanks). But reliability will be our first priority.

Stage 2 is building a slightly less tankish, but still respectable machine that will live on the east coast (I think Virgina has been talked about). Currently we only have one server on Ye ‘Olde East Coast slated for shutdown – Server #4 aka Octo-Land. This new machine will help expand the Newbs empire into areas unknown, and bring about a new generation of Newbs to the forefront. If we reach Stage 2, we’ll also be padding our Newbs Stimulus fund with some better hats, as well as hosting contests that have unusuals as prizes!

Our goal right now is to make it through Stage 1 as quickly as possible, because in one month we’ll be losing almost half of our servers. We want to have this new machine up and running, and ready to go before that day even comes. So far we’ve raised $1535 of our goal of $3000 for stage 1!! Koans stepped up to the plate big time, with a $500 donation!! Koans has been a loyal supporter from the get go, and is truly setting the bar high for those who are seeking the title of Newbs Elite. Haley has since stepped up and made an ‘official promise’ to MATCH Koans’ $500 donation in September. While this blog post was being reviewed by Octo another large donation came in from an Anonymouse individual. Big shout out to all the members of our community for stepping up and getting the ball rolling on our quest to be free of the man, all while cutting overhead to allow us to give away cool shiz : )

PRIZES?!?

How many of you people just scrolled here? I don’t blame you, that’s a wall of text haha.. You’re one of those people who cheated at those choose your own way books aren’t you.. PRIZES. Let’s talk about them!

But wait, I first have to tell you how you enter into the contest to win the prizes .. Silly.. Every $5 you donate gets you a ticket into our insane drawing. Picture women spitting flames, midgets getting shot out of canons type drawing.. Because there will be a lot of winners, and some people will forever have their hat lives changed. You can also give in game items as your donation. Every $5 worth of items you donate will go right back into the pool for other Newbs (and potentially yourself) to win! So let’s say you donate earbuds, you get 4 tickets into the drawing.. Just as if you would have donated $20 cash, and you have the opportunity to win them back! Crazy, I know. I’ll be handling the donations, so if you aren’t able to donate cash but would like to participate in our giveaways, contact me.

(For those of you who donated to the server expenses when Octo was extra poor after his car got broke into, your donations will count towards tickets in this raffle.)

Stage 1 Unusual Announced!

Not for the faint of heart.

 Stage 2 Unusual Announced!

Serious Business

This is our tentative layout for hat giveaways:

Checkpoint 1 – $1000 Donated: 5 Hats given away.

Checkpoint 2 – $2000 Donated: 10 Hats given away.

Checkpoint 3 – $3000 Donated – STAGE 1 COMPLETE: 15 Hats given away Update: Burning Panama!

Checkpoint 4 – $4000 Donated: TBD

Checkpoint 5 – $5000 Donated – STAGE 2 COMPLETE:  UPDATE: Sunbeams Rack!

So you can see how things could really heat up. There’s a potential for 30 hats to be given away, as well as 2 Unusuals! We’re not talking confetti either here folks.. These will be hand picked by yours truly.

There’s been a lot of talk about additional prizes to be added, and I’ll update you on those as they come. But as of now these checkpoints are confirmed. One item that was in the works, but unfortunately wasn’t able to be obtained

Koan's trying to catch a Fundraiser prize. This guy just doesn't quit.

How to Donate:

Go to www.TF2Newbs.com and you can’t miss the donate button. If you’d like to donate hats/promos or other prizes contact myself at http://steamcommunity.com/id/thejibberish/

Forum Thread: http://www.tf2newbs.com/forum/index.php/topic,7025.0.html

Thanks guys, let’s take Newbs to the next level!

-JiB

Step up to get your rep up.

If you’re currently a member of [N] and would like to become a part of the Newbs admin team here’s your chance. The process is quite simple, yet only few will survive.

-Change your tag from [N] to /N/

This helps us distinguish you from our casual clan members.

-Find out what you can do to help.

There’s tons going on behind the scenes of Newbs that we could use help with from time to time.. Keep your eyes open for opportunities to shine (IE helping with the website, graphic design.. Etc..)

-Bring your friends.

If you’re playing with someone who frequents the servers and seems like a cool cat, tell them about the website. If they end up joining [N], tell them to post who sent them here in their application.

-Help starting the servers

Quite possibly the easiest way to get noticed. Some of our servers start without us lifting a finger, while other take some prodding. When you want to play some 2fort, don’t join the one that’s full.. join the one that’s got 3 people playing and help it grow. Better yet, join the empty 2Fort (or payload for that matter) and invite your friends.

-Be a team player

There’s nothing worse than an admin with a bad attitude. Someone famous once said give a man power and see the true content of his character.. Or something like that. Basically if you’re a jerk without the ability to slap people around the map, it will most likely be worse if you’re given admin. While some are quite dedicated to the cause, they are overlooked due to their bad attitudes.. Keep this in mind, as Crap has a log on each and every one of us (myself included ; ) and he’s pretty good at bringing out that time you were plastered dropping profanities in front of the childrens on #4.

-Let us know.

If you’re interested, let us know here. Hang out in the steam chat. Can’t stress this one enough. Great way to get servers started, as well as getting to know your fellow Newbs.

Newbs makes no promises. As stated before, we only choose the right man (or woman) for the job.. But if you’re here reading this, you’re probably on the right track.

JiB

http://wiki.teamfortress.com/wiki/The_Essential_Accessories

Yup, we got socks and matching sweatbands.  If I didn’t love my octopus treasure hat so damn much, I’d complain and say that TF2 is now a full fledged FPS Doll & Accessory simulator.   But, I guess the old tall GI Joes had different clothes which increased their killing ability, so..  Yay for new items!

In case you missed the 12 page thread, we had an epic 12v12 / 11v11 highlander last night on cp_well.

Fisticuffs. The only way to settle a dispute.

People started filtering in 20 minutes early or so and we were looking to be right on schedule for our start time. However getting 24 people together does take some time. I think overall the load in was smooth-ish.

Take 1

Payload won the first game pretty handily. At this point the server was overwhelmed by the sheer awesome these teams were spewing and decided it needed to crash hard. It’s never been temperamental before, but Murphy’s Law states when you get a bunch of people together who are on a mild time schedule to kill each other.. There may be issues. The server rebooted pretty quickly and seemed much happier after that. 2Fort was not left without a few AWOL players, but that was solved pretty quickly. Thanks to some Newbs legends who answered their call to duty,(CarotidArtery, Yellow Frog, Stax) the game continued on at 11 v 11.

For those who persevered, I salute you.

Payload got the best of 2Fort and swept the first round (4-0). For the second round we thought it’d be fun to have each team pick the opposing teams classes. Payload had flexed their muscles, now it was time for some fun.

Pure comedy

Unfortunately I didn’t snap a screenshot until we had lost the third game, but you get the idea. It was a blast. We turned on all talk and just let loose. These games were actually pretty close, and with a ton of fail on both sides. Yellow Frog as scout, JiB as engy, Gabe as spy, and Gggly’s medic spam = Good times. In the end Payload had their way with 2Fort winning 7-0. The last game was the most epic, as 2Fort pushed the last point several times, but failed to take home a W. I was very happy with the turn out, and want to give a big thanks to Crap and Dondi for helping put this together. Crap helped keep the peace after the server crashed, and was kind enough to do a server gift once things got rolling again. Dondi did a great job coordinating the event, and keeping the thread updated. Octo also came through in the clutch while at Cotixan to get a few config issues sorted out.

Ultimately, I consider the evening to be a success. The Gauntlet has been thrown, and it’s only a matter of time until 2Fort shines like we all know they can. Newbs on Newbs – it just doesn’t get any better than that.

JiB

As some of you may know, today we had an event where I opened 100 crates, with 100 keys, and recorded the results for all to see!!! 

The full results can be seen at http://tf2newbs.com/box_results.txt the first column is crate type, then second is the name of the item found.   If someone wants this in csv, let me know and I’ll put that up too.  Or you can just look at the backback and see all the goods (in the order they were found) http://www.tf2items.com/id/tf2newbs_crate_event  the 2 items on page 3 were random drops.

Unfortunately no unusuals were found, but all is not lost.  Through fuzzy mathematics it appears I broke about even on the entire endeavour.

Lets break down the items, and the math….

Columns are number found, crate type, item name, estimated value (based on valve store)

     11 #1 distinct lack of hue (2.49)
      7 #2 duel game (0.99)
      7 #1 equalizer (1.99)
      6 #2 australium gold (2.49)
      6 #1 vita saw (0.49)
      5 #5 name tag (4.99)
      5 #1 gunslinger (2.45)
      4 #3 bushwacka (4.99)
      4 #2 l’etranger (2.49)
      4 #2 blackbox (2.49)
      4 #1 scottish resistance (0.49)
      4 #1 old guad (2.49)
      3 #2 shortstop (2.49)
      3 #1 name tag (4.99)
      3 #1 abundence of tinge (2.49)
      2 #5 southern hospitality (0.49)
      2 #5 powerjack (2.49)
      2 #4 whoopee cap (4.99)
      2 #4 pain train (1.99)
      2 #3 distinct lack of hue (2.49)
      2 #1 nappers (2.49)
      1 #4 duel game (0.99)
      1 #4 battalion backup (4.99)
      1 #4 abundence of tinge (2.49)
      1 #3 stout shako (4.99)
      1 #3 homewrecker (2.99) [cost of buying things to craft it]
      1 #3 duel game (0.99)
      1 #3 description tag (2.49)
      1 #2 stuntman (4.99)
      1 #2 puglists (4.99)
      1 #2 pain train (1.99)
      1 #2 chieftains challenge (4.99)
      1 #2 a deep commitment to purple (2.49)

I based prices either on how much it’d cost to craft, pricing of similar items, or just what what it is worth in trade / etc.  For example: nappers are nearly worthless to trade, but crafting two of them gets you another hat, which is probably worth at least 4.99 in the steam store.  

Summing up the total for all those brings us to MSRP of $244.50  – thats even with me considering the chieftan and the stout shako as $4.99 hats, when they can trade higher than that. 

For this event I spent $249.00 (in two chunks, since steam wallets can’t hold that much) to get 100 keys.  I begged and pleaded for free crates.  So if we ignore the interest I could of been earning on this money if I had invested it instead of spending it on keys in a video game I came out about even.   I might be a little off with the values, but if you consider that it brought a bunch of people together, and that a lot of people had a good time I think it was worth it.

So I’m pleased that I broke about even on store value, unfortunately in game value of many of these items is pretty weak compared to the store price.

My results lead me to believe that opening crates isn’t necessarily a bad method of attaining items, as long as the crates are found or were obtained for nearly nothing. 

If anyone out there wants to donate a unusual hat to a good cause, let me know on steam  http://steamcommunity.com/id/octodhd