See this thread post for more info:
http://www.tf2newbs.com/forum/index.php/topic,14036.msg184889.html#msg184889
What kind of hat? It’s an Unusual Combustible Kabuto [scorching flames]!
That piece of digital headgear is worth almost 300 keys… and it can be yours, if you win the contest. Click the link at the top!
Congratulations {N} Haley (aka Danger Zone)!!
[N] Obey
Wow… there’s a lot of new content in TF2 right now! A new Halloween Event with multiple new maps, revival of all of the old Halloween Events, new Halloween contracts, plus the Invasion event that started earlier in the month… Mannpower is now out of beta… Here’s a running timeline of TF2 events:
PLEASE NOTE: Sorry about the lack of clickable hotlinks. Something’s wonky with WordPress this morning, and the TF2 Wiki is not responding. Check back later, as I’ll be updating this page over the next several days with images, links, and more specific info.
A reskinned Gorge attack-defense map
A new, community-made payload map
A new, community-made King of the Hill map
A new, community-made control points map
During Scream Fortress VII
General
PASS Time update
Mannpower update
[N] Obey
Sorry about the delay–[N] Obey and {N} Wife have moved to new digs, and of course TF2 would patch while I’m living in Box Fortress 2. It doesn’t help that my laptop is having power supply issues… look, I’ll quit bitching and get to the patch.
Short version: It’s another community content-patch.
INVASION EVENT ends November 5th!
I WAS RIGHT! Probed is one of the new maps…! The UFO materials gave it away.
Blogpost and splashpage.
pd_watergate
[N] Obey
NFL and elite soccer leagues everywhere are horrified: a new challenger has appeared! Finally, a sport where YOU CAN KILL THE OTHER TEAM without having to join a player’s union. The patch summary:
Don’t forget: “Gun Mettle” Season runs through September 30th, so you can be completing contracts while playing the new game mode.
“Soccer? Is that you?” Actually, PASS Time is more of a capture-the-flag remake, with a single flag that spawns over a neutral point, and to be thrown into the opposing goal as the objective. And when you don’t have the ball (or “jack” as they call it), you’ll fight for it in typical TF2 fashion: destroying the enemy with your weapons. Official blog post here.
It’s a simple variation on the familiar CTF theme. All you have to learn is how to throw and pass the ball, and that’s simple: hold the primary fire button for a targeting cursor, then aim and release to chuck it. You can also pass it to allies in the same manner, and you can call out for passes as well.
Steal the ball from the enemy by killing the player and/or applying a melee hit. Stealing the ball (or being the first to recover it) will grant you a moment of invulnerability, health regeneration and a small speed boost. The game’s center of action will constantly be moving with the ballcarrier, so speed and mobility will be very important. Note that many of the recent weapon tweaks had this game mode in mind when they were launched.
PASS Time is currently in a live beta, similar to rd_asteroid has been for the last year. Currently there is just one map, pass_warehouse: a long, narrow map with plenty of rusty trailers to jump around, air lifts shooting you into the sky, and speed boost zones. Because of the beta, expect changes to be applied to maps and gameplay alike.
One difference: you have to take the ball to the enemy’s zone to score, not your own! You’ll be closer to enemy respawns when nearer their goal than not. You’ll definitely need teammates to respond to respawning enemies and goaltending sentries. There are also few ammo and health pickups, so don’t get killed too quickly or you’ll be scored on while waiting to respawn.
There are Valve Beta servers running Warehouse now, but they may not come up in Quickplay. Search for them in your Servers menu, and bookmark a Valve server, as it will probably be 24/7 for a while.
Essentially, half of the team will try to attack or chase the ball, and the other half ends up defending (probably because some players don’t want to chase all over the map). These are the roles I’m seeing so far:
Scout: Right away, a lot of players will play Scout, just for the increased movement speed and jumping ability. Grab the Atomizer and Soda Popper for extra jump, and possibly Bonk! for your secondary, but a skilled Scout player will shine in a killing role also. This game could devolve into everyone playing Scouts, until you run into a goal-camping Engineer.
Pyro: When the enemy all goes Scout, naturally you’ll want to go Pyro so you can harass them with fire. But without water or cliffs to airblast them, Pyro is a little out of his/her element. Consider a Powerjack for speed and the Reserve Shooter.
Soldier: Rocketjumping really helps you get around, and you’re needed to destroy sentries and discourage campers. Your various buffs and the Disciplinary Action are necessary, since a single attacker usually fails to score. Try to convince your Scout to help you keep up. The Rocket Jumper may even be preferable, but then you can’t carry the ball.
Demoman: Although your role is defense, you’ll usually be chasing the ball and harassing the opposing team. Your stickies are needed to remove sentries, but you’ll shine as a demoman, charging ahead of others and stealing the ball with melee.
Heavy: You’re likely to spend most of your time between your goal and midfield, killing those who would take the ball, or guarding positions that would attack your sentries.
– THIS PART UNDER CONSTRUCTION–
Did you enjoy being able to take three steps out of spawn, scope up your sniper rifle of choice, and be able to cover both the enemy’s spawn and the map’s single point in the same view? Did you enjoy getting headshot every time you took a step to the left after you respawned from the last headshot? Well, koth_suijin has changed all of that.
As you can see in my screenshot above, two decorative, apocalypse-immune Japanese blinds has been placed horizontally on each side of the central point, preventing snipers from having an unobstructed view of the point or enemy spawn from their own. However, the blinds are not tall enough to protect against well-placed sentries on the top level above the point.
Also, note the fencing in the screenshot. It has been altered to allow easier passage around the spawn-side stairs on each side. The bridge on the neutral center, however, was not given this increased access.
Moreover, health and ammo pickups have moved around. There is a convenient walkway under the blindside wall’s bridge along the cliff, with a newly placed medium health kit that scouts and spies will surely appreciate.
In an effort to further encourage TF2 players to be on the lookout for game-ruining, economy-crashing game exploits, a standing bounty has been named by Valve for those who forgo the urge to be a profiteering haxz0r butthead and do the right thing in the first place: the Finder’s Fee is an all-class hat given by Valve when you self-report such bugs and exploits to Valve, such as a recent hack that allowed someone to create impossible items (like MvM robot weapons) with a Name Tag and an exploit. If you do earn this hat, you’ll probably Win the Internet for that day as well, so there’s that, too.
Hey, it’s not an unusual Cheater’s Lament, but people will recognize your contribution to the game. And the TF2Newbs community no-likey cheaters.
As usual, full patch notes taken from The Official TF2 Wiki.
tournament_readystate client command when using per-player ready status modemp_timelimit timer for maps that don’t end the round when the map timelimit runs outKoth_Suijin with the latest changes from the authors
-ugcpath parameter for dedicated servers to control location of downloaded workshop contentsteamapps/workshoptf_workshop_map_status to view currently tracked maps and their statusFindMap and CanProvideLevel API for server-side mods. These functions now always expose the full workshop names for maps when known, even if not the map is not yet installed.pass_warehouse
Fixed a PASS Time sound bug related to carrying the Jack
[N] Obey
Contents of this post:
Useful Links:
NOTE: Most recent observations of GM weps here.
“Gun Mettle” Season runs through September 30th, 2015.
As you may recall, the Team Fortress 2 has been busy completing contracts and earning rewards by participating in the Gun Mettle event. There are several dozen Decorated (a quality reserved for reskinned stock) weapons that can be earned, and many of the most common weapons can be had very cheaply. I’ve observed the following:
There are five grades of wear: Factory New, Minimal Wear, Field-Tested, Well-Worn, and Battle Scarred. Each grade determines how much of the weapon’s reskin design is displaced by an appearance of wear and tear, and each quality seems just as common as the others. Collectors clearly prefer the least amount of wear.
In all cases, the Factory New sells for three to ten times as much as its Well-Worn and Battle Scarred counterparts. A Minimal Wear weapon sells for two to three times as much as Well-Worn and Battle Scarred weapons also. This is likely because the design is much crisper and not missing many visual effects. Note the price difference in the above rocket launchers, which have the same item quality but different grades (and thus different visual effects).
Also, weapons do NOT wear as you use them. They simply spawn with one of five permanent levels of decorative wear.
A few weapons exist that have one, but that’s because bugged killstreak kits dropped for a short time as an MvM tour reward for each kind of weapon. Such weapons are rare to very rare, and those kits were removed in a quick patch. (Possibly something intended for a later TF2 patch?)
At first, cases sold for above US$5, but as supply increased, prices fell. Now there are thousands for sale on the market; Concealed Killer cases are going about $0.15, and Powerhouse cases are about $0.40 each. Remember: these cases require a Gun Mettle Key to open.
This simply follows the increased demand for Scout and Sniper rares, similar to the demand for Stranges and Aussies.
There are currently no Strange or Unusual Teufort or Craftsmann weapons. Strange Gun Mettle weapons are selling for roughly fifteen times the price standard weapon of the same wear. All Unusual and Strange Factory New Gun Mettle weapons are selling for well north of US$50; only several dozen have successfully sold on the Market, however. There are too few of these being sold to provide a reliable price range.
These are Isotope, Hot, Cool, and Energy Orb. They either animate at the end of the weapon, or along the length of the weapon.
Please note that I’m simply listing the lowest current sale price for these items.
CRAFTSMANN COLLECTION
Craftsmann Decorated weapons are earned as contract rewards only.
I’ve included the Steam Market’s current* lowest selling prices below. Factory New weapons command the high range, and the Battle Scarred or Well-Worn usually sell for the cheapest. The lowest Market price will vary, and vary a lot in the case of Stranges.
*Aug 9, 2015
TEUFORT COLLECTION
Teufort Decorated weapons are earned as contract rewards only.
CONCEALED KILLER COLLECTION
Concealed Killer weapons are dropped from Concealed Killer cases only.
POWERHOUSE COLLECTION
Powerhouse weapons are dropped from Powerhouse cases only.
As of Aug 9 2015:
Backpack.tf says that, after staying at a stable 19 ref since May, keys fell to 16 ref, yet that 16 ref is worth only $2 there.
On Trade.tf, keys fell from 19 ref to 15 ref during the month of July before finally stabilizing at about 15.5 ref. (Strangely, I’m only getting data thru July 18th >.< )
In the Steam Market, Mann Co. Keys have been steady between $2.40 and $2.50.
In the Steam Market, Gun Mettle Keys have slid down to about US$2.50 (they had been about $2.70 at the start of August).
Over the month of July, buds have fallen about a dollar to the $9 to $10 range in the Steam Market. On Trade.tf, earbuds stabilized at 4 keys this past week, climbing from 3.2 keys in the second half of July. Likewise, backpack.tf lists about 4 keys.
The price of a Bill’s in the Steam Market has stablized to a $6 to $7 range, after having fallen under $5 in the month of June. At the start of 2015, they had been nearly $9 but had been steadily falling.
Backpack.tf agrees, listing Bill’s Hat at 2.2 to 2.3 keys as well and Trade.tf listing at about 2 keys.
Most non-Botkiller Strange weapons can be bought between $0.08 and $0.50. However, Aussie Stranges differ depending on where you trade them:
Most Collector’s weapons can be bought on the Steam Market for $6 to $20 depending. Applying a Professional Killstreak Kit increases the price as well. They don’t sell very often, however.
The cheapest Unusual hats can be bought on the Steam Market for $23 to $25, including many cancer Heavy hats with effects such as Flies.
Thanks for reading! I intend to update in about two months.
[N] Obey
P.S. Previous TF2 Prices Blogpost: Jan 26
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