Team Fortress 2 update due in days

By Oli Welsh Published 12 December, 2008

Tweaks coming for Spies and Engineers.

Valve's Robin Walker has said on the Team Fortress 2 blog that a new update to the multiplayer shooter is on the way "in the next few days".

The update will bring a couple of extra features for the Spy and Engineer classes. Engineers' teleporters and dispensers will be upgradeable to level 3, while Spies will be able to recharge their cloaking ability by picking up ammo. The update also includes some new user interface features.

"These are just to work on some class balance and depth issues that we've seen in the wild with these two classes, but aren't meant to replace their entire class packs," said Walker. "They will be getting more attention further down the road."

The next class pack proper after this update, however, will be the Scout. Also in the works are an engine performance overhaul bringing in improvements from Left 4 Dead, and a "massive" update to the Xbox 360 version of Team Fortress 2 which will include all the changes made to the PC game in the last year.

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About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (29) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • christourlord #1 3 years ago

    YES! Fucking YES!

  • DFawkes #2 3 years ago

    Awesome. I love being an engineer, being able to upgrade dispensers is a small but worthwhile update, and I can't see it causing too much misbalance.

  • Azazel #3 3 years ago

    Right, can someone explain this to me because I've googled it and can't find a decent explanation anywhere:

    What is with the new Levels for weapons? How do I level up? Is it based on time-played, achievements or what? I understand that the new weapons for the medic and pyro are achievement based...

    Just got back into TF2 having kind of left it a few weeks after it was first out. I had forgotten how supremely awesome it is :)

  • kinky_mong #4 3 years ago

    Good news about the 360 finally getting the update, but isn't it a bit too late? I assume most of the TF2 community have moved on to Left 4 Dead now.

  • Jimbob89 #5 3 years ago

    @kinky_Mong
    I dunno, with this update to TF2 i'd be more than happy to go back and play it. Although l4d is awesome, it can get a little tiresome.

  • danteire #6 3 years ago

    NNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOO....

    *falls to knees*

    KHHAAAAAANNNNNN..


    Damn, my computer is still broke so cant enjoy TF2 goodness. But the added stuff sounds nice, Spies will become vicious if they can recharge their cloak. Wonder what bonuses upgraded teleports and dispensers offers?

  • Dark_Wolf_1991 #7 3 years ago

    Too late for me vavle, I sold The Orange Box due to the lack of DLC in TF2...... I hope they don't do the same for Left 4 Dead.

  • Dizzy #8 3 years ago

    >I assume most of the TF2 community have moved on to Left 4 Dead now.

    Possible... but I guess they will return in a few and bounce between DLC releases for TF2 and L4D.

  • Azazel #9 3 years ago

    :D

    If the game is good enough then there will always be people who stick with it and TF2 is a very good game.

    That's my experience of online PC gaming anyway... hell, I'm still playing in Quakeworld leagues 10 years later... *that's* staying power!

  • Schiraman #10 3 years ago

    Turned on my PC this morning to find Steam downloading these updates :)
    Seems like a good selection of stuff, can't wait to give it a go.

  • Menace #11 3 years ago

    Yeah still playing TF2 ever since the first demo release. Got L4D but it has failed to grab me, but a lot of the people I used to play with do play it often (on PC for what its worth).

    Looking forward to the updates! =)

  • DFawkes #12 3 years ago

    I'm assuming the disperser and teleporter upgrades and teleporter upgrade will work the same as turrets/real-life (hit with wrench), and that they decreased recharge time. That's just a guess though, but I can't see how else they could be upgrades. Perhaps making a teleporter a spawn point, or expanding the heal radius of a dispenser, but those would probably unbalanced things.

    I've been away from TF2 for a few weeks, so I'm looking forward to getting back into it.

  • sneetch #13 3 years ago

    @Dark_Wolf_1991
    "Too late for me vavle, I sold The Orange Box due to the lack of DLC in TF2...... I hope they don't do the same for Left 4 Dead."

    /cries

    Dammit Valve! Damn you to hell! If only you'd been quicker then Dark_Wolf_1991 would still be playing!

    I'm sure the knowledge of what might have been will haunt them.

  • sneetch #14 3 years ago

    @Azazel
    "Right, can someone explain this to me because I've googled it and can't find a decent explanation anywhere:

    What is with the new Levels for weapons? How do I level up? Is it based on time-played, achievements or what? I understand that the new weapons for the medic and pyro are achievement based...

    Just got back into TF2 having kind of left it a few weeks after it was first out. I had forgotten how supremely awesome it is :)"

    You don't need to level up, the weapons have levels but the levelling up was I believe scrapped in favour of unlocking them through achievements. You unlock one weapon each time you get an achievement milestone for a class (you get one for each 10-12 of the class's achievements) when you unlock it you can choose to use it.

  • X201 #15 3 years ago

    Supporting and expanding a game that has been out for over a year is a disgusting way for a developer to operate, they'll never get any fan support with actions like that.

    Don't they know that the correct way to operate is to push any old crap out to the market and then just refuse to support it and not even be bothered to fix the bugs even if they break the game and make it nigh-on unplayable (I'm looking at you Just Cause)

  • DugBriderider #16 3 years ago

    It's blooddy obvious. Do a Portal:Still Alive and release TF2-360 as a seperate digital release. I would buy Orange box if I have to but I had it on my ageing PC and would much prefer a low lag TF2 on the 360.

    It's so bloody obvious I'll eat my hat if valve don't do it,
    then I'll cry a bit,
    then I'll get a cheap copy of Orange box on the 360.

  • WillyWanka #17 3 years ago

    Thank fuck! 360 FINALLY gets this stuff \0/ \0/ \0/

  • dsmx #18 3 years ago

    How about making it so the pyro isn't stupidly overpowered.

  • Bremenacht #19 3 years ago

    TF2 on 360 is rapidly becoming unplayable because of the exploits. Skywalking is fine, but the underground turrets are horrible and I'm certain some people have found ways of keeping a medic-charge - without a medic.

  • sneetch #20 3 years ago

    @dsmx
    "How about making it so the pyro isn't stupidly overpowered."

    *bing*

    Done. :)

    They're not that great at distance, up close they are but they're supposed to be the close-quarter masters so that's OK.

  • booner #21 3 years ago

    I love Valve

  • skillian #22 3 years ago

    I'd imagine the Pyro's advantages are magnified on console, as precise aim is less important so he (she?) is probably the character least adversely affected by using a pad for control.

  • JDT_JDT #23 3 years ago

    The weapons don't really have levels - it's just a joke at WoW/name your MMORPG's expense.

  • apainlessa #24 3 years ago

    the changes...

    "Updates to Team Fortress 2 have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The specific changes include:

    Team Fortress 2


    The Engineer's teleporters can now be upgraded to level three. It will recharge faster the higher level it is

    The Engineer's dispensers can now be upgraded to level three. It will give out metal and heal faster as it is upgraded

    Spies will be able to recharge their cloaking ability by picking up ammo off of the ground or from health cabinets

    Some changes to the second part of the first stage of Goldrush to give the attackers more of an advantage

    Any weapons that fire bullets (shotguns, sniper's machine gun, heavy's minigun, etc.) can now break apart the Demoman's stickybombs

    The icon on the HUD for a person calling for Medic will now give more information to the medic (if the target is low on health, on fire, etc.)

    Added an achievement tracker that will allow people to choose specific achievements that they are trying to get

    There is now a custom icon for death messages when the player was killed from a critical hit

    Added a new particle effect for when a player enters the water

    Added smoke to the feet of a rocket jumping soldier

    Players will now have some particles swirling around them so other players can see when they are overhealed"
    Edited by 1 at 12/12/08 @ 15:10

  • metalangel #25 3 years ago

    How about team damage? So you can't just in around shooting everyone you see in case they're a spy? Or just port the vastly superior Team Fortress Classic instead?

  • dsmx #26 3 years ago

    I was talking more about the pyro's ability to be faster than almost every class is my biggest complaint, second comes the scouts gun which unless your at a melle weapon range does no significant damage.

  • subtlesnake #27 3 years ago

    "How about team damage? So you can't just in around shooting everyone you see in case they're a spy? Or just port the vastly superior Team Fortress Classic instead?"

    Effective spies rely on their cloak more than their disguise. If you uncloak into a groups' blind spot then you can cause massive havok without them noticing you beforehand. And by allowing spies to recharge their cloak by picking up ammo, Valve are making them even less dependant on their disguise.

    I think that's a much better solution than eliminating spy checking altogether (which is more or less the effect of ff), because good spies should still be forced to evade enemy players.

    "I was talking more about the pyro's ability to be faster than almost every class is my biggest complaint, second comes the scouts gun which unless your at a melle weapon range does no significant damage."

    The pyro is as fast as the engineer, sniper and spy, and slightly faster than the demoman. The medic and scout are faster.

    So really the pyro is only significantly faster than the soldier and heavy, which are heavily armed to make up for that fact. The pyro seems faster than it is because while backpedaling (from its flame) your speed is reduced, allowing the pyro to catch up.

    But that's the only real strength of the pyro in the first place: surprise attacks. If its speed was reduced then it wouldn't be able to chase after people at all, and there'd be little point ubering one (other than to take out sgs).

    As for the scout – well at long range you should be using the pistol not the shotgun, and your speed should in any case allow you to close the gap very quickly. But at melee range the scattergun is devastating (it does up to 105 damage per shot), and because the damage doesn't trail off that much it can still be effective at close to mid range.

  • JediMasterMalik #28 3 years ago

    Remember, friendly fire was in the game originally, they removed it completely because it was a massive pain in the arse.

  • DFawkes #29 3 years ago

    I'd get banned from every server quite promptly for team killing if friendly fire was back. Might be a nice option though, but I'd never play with it on. I'd have to stick to Medic with Medigun permenently!