A new post has surfaced on the TF2 Official Blog.
It states that the next update pack is underway but gives no further details besides teasing us with the title: “Git along there, little doggies”. So, now we’re supposed to speculate that the engie pack is next? I, for one, won’t be trolled that easily.
The post also outlines how TF2 respawn time is calculated:
Respawn waves occur on regular intervals, based on the map settings. Most of our maps use a 10 second respawn wave time. That 10 seconds is then modified by the map state, generally reduced for the team that controls the most capture points. Each team’s respawn wave time is then scaled down if the team has less than 8 players in it, to a minimum of 5 seconds if team has 3 or less players in it.
And, as with all aspects of the game, a lot of thought has gone into the respawning process and how it can improve overall gameplay, right down to the spectator camera you watch while you’re waiting to be reborn:
…we’ve seen that new players learn a lot of advanced techniques by spectating better players. This is one of the reasons why the spectator camera tries to find a team mate who’s playing the same class as you.
Interesting stuff. Read the rest right here.
63 responses so far ↓
1 [VGN] Chronos[Ha-G] // Oct 8, 2008 at 11:10 am
It goes for a person playing the same class? Huh - I never noticed that before.
2 SteveCentra // Oct 8, 2008 at 11:21 am
Engie pack!? My guesses of either a scout or spy pack were totally off!
3 Deadly_Dragon // Oct 8, 2008 at 11:26 am
Oh cock. I hope to god it’s not the engi pack and that was just to throw everyone off guard.
If engi is next, pretty much every single attack/defend map is going to end in stalemate for the next week.
On the other hand, maybe some people will learn how to build teleporters and put sentries in positions which actually have an effect.
I’d still rather have scout unlcoks though, just because a team of 12 scouts is hilarious.
4 roBurky // Oct 8, 2008 at 11:45 am
I think they’ve said that for classes that would wreck the game if they filled a team, they would release two class packs simultaneously to offset it.
So sniper and engineer will be paired with something offensive, I guess. I bet soldier for the engineer, because any other class would be rather imbalanced in one way or the other.
5 Kowl Slaw // Oct 8, 2008 at 11:50 am
What would the engie get anyway? Speculate people, speculate!
6 Jesse Henning // Oct 8, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Yeah, I don’t buy it. The post before this one was entitled “Gentlemen,” which would have pointed towards the Spy, so I think you’re right — they’re just messing with us.
7 PsychoDuck // Oct 8, 2008 at 12:06 pm
Putting together what #4 and #6 said… Maybe we’ll be getting spy and engie upgrades at the same time? Hey, it could happen. That would indeed keep the game from being wrecked by an entire team of engies.
8 Niko Kruzel // Oct 8, 2008 at 12:14 pm
You do realize if it’s spy or engineer that spy only gets two unlocks and engineer only gets three. Check it out for yourself in the loadout section.
9 Ledundead // Oct 8, 2008 at 12:20 pm
They could update the loadout selection screen.
10 Kollega // Oct 8, 2008 at 12:24 pm
Niko Kruzel,loadout screen can be changed anytime i think. And Chris,Re:Spawning title is just hilarious! About whole topic,what if VALVe guys totally misleading us by suggesting it’s Spy or Engie,while in reality,they prepare Soldier or Scout or Demoman update? Anyway,if it somehow involves Spy,i’m going Pyro. I HATE fucking spies.
11 Still Not Chris // Oct 8, 2008 at 12:35 pm
Fucking spies.
Also, it will be neither spy nor engie. We’re overanalyzing.
12 IdleHands // Oct 8, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Well if you go with what roBurky said about double release to help keep gameplay balance, wouldn’t it be best to do both engie and spy together?
13 PsychoDuck // Oct 8, 2008 at 12:56 pm
IdleHands, I just said that :|
14 AlphaHawk // Oct 8, 2008 at 1:04 pm
You should make one last TF New post before they release the full details of the update Chris, get some last minute ideas in.
15 Arthur // Oct 8, 2008 at 1:04 pm
Surely “Gearing up” is a second engie hint?
16 IdleHands // Oct 8, 2008 at 1:07 pm
PyschoDuck;
oops so you did, my bad sorry. must remember to read better
17 The Pants Were Dead // Oct 8, 2008 at 2:04 pm
I think the heavy will get the roller skates he always deserved.
And the pyro will get a dress.
18 RC-1290'Dreadnought' // Oct 8, 2008 at 2:09 pm
It might be an engie/ spy combo.
I base this on:
- the names
- the balance that will be conserved between those two.
- ehh…. Can’t remember.
19 Roadrunner // Oct 8, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Git along there sounds more demo-ish.
For example, when they posted “gentleman” my guess was that it was for the demo, for one reason.
I made a post about it on my joint-blog. and now would be a brilliant time to promote it :D
http://www.rustbowl.wordpress.com
20 Max // Oct 8, 2008 at 2:32 pm
I believe the title. I think Valve is going to release the engineer and spy updates simultaneously so that the balance of the game isn’t thrown off too much.
21 AlexW // Oct 8, 2008 at 2:33 pm
An Engie/Spy combo wouldn’t work. Spies are effective anti-Engie personnel, yes, but not when you know they’re coming. It would have to be one of the direct combat classes in the set with the Engie, and that still doesn’t change that the Scout is the one that needs a change most urgently. The Engie is boring to play, but still feasible and useful if they and their team are smart. The Spy is utterly lethal and an effective tool for reducing the enemy’s effectiveness. The Scout can’t do anything in almost every scenario. Plus, with Heavies now a better choice than before the ideal countermeasure to a Scout plague is already in place.
22 The Pants Were Dead // Oct 8, 2008 at 3:12 pm
I think it would be interesting to vamp opposing classes. I mean, if you think about it, the game dynamic won’t change, but then that is good for people who do not play those classes. For the ones who do play those classes, it’ll provide a nice little competition to see who can outsmart the other class’ advantages.
23 Demo // Oct 8, 2008 at 4:24 pm
“Also, if you haven’t seen it yet, we’ve recently put up the Left 4 Dead blog. Erik Wolpaw is posting over there, and he’s the man behind Glados in Portal. He’s much funnier than those of us on TF2, so if I were you, I’d stop reading this and go bookmark that instead.”
Nay Valve! Nay! We still care about TF2, screw L4D and give us a scout update! Nao!
24 Altaco // Oct 8, 2008 at 4:42 pm
What if they’re releasing Engineer and Spy at the same time? Hilarity will ensue.
25 Aftershock // Oct 8, 2008 at 4:48 pm
Since when is the Engi boring to play?
He’s my most played class by easily 10 hours, and i just can’t drop him, as much as spy is quickly ascending my chart.
26 Kowl Slaw // Oct 8, 2008 at 4:53 pm
Well, whatever it its, there will probably be another free weekend, and if there is anybody that hasn’t downloaded it yet (heaven forbid :P), then we shall PWN n00bs all weekend.
27 Baggie // Oct 8, 2008 at 5:09 pm
ha! I noticed that it auto-ed on a player that was the same class, I feel very superior now.
28 The Pants Were Dead // Oct 8, 2008 at 5:57 pm
Did anyone else notice that they said they’d be dealing with several email topics, but only answered the question about respawning?
29 Blackout62 // Oct 8, 2008 at 5:59 pm
(posted in the wrong post)
ahem
http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=8904286&publicUserId=5380397
30 Gravekeeper // Oct 8, 2008 at 6:00 pm
I never noticed that either, though it’s very obvious now that they mention it (I have a lot of Engineer time, and I do indeed see the cam following my fellow Engies a lot)
Also, maybe we should just keep it simple. There’s three types of characters. Offense, Defense, and Support. If you’ll notice, they’ve updated one character of each so far, starting with Support. That means that if they follow the same order, either the Spy or the Sniper is next.
Also, since we’re speculating on Engies (and my post pretty much fell on blind eyes in a previous entry), I’ll copy part of it here, to add to the fires of wild speculation.
“….the Sentries could have limited ability to track and shoot at projectiles (like they do in Meet the Demoman). That way, they could have some protection, and it would balance itself out because now a Demoman can distract Sentries by lobbing grenades over them, while other people work on taking them out- makes it a team effort.
As for some anti-spyware, the Engineer could have some way of uncovering doppelgangers near him. Maybe something like a trip wire that automatically uncloaks/undisguises a Spy, but that an alert Spy could spot and jump over to avoid. Or, some infrared goggles that the Engineer holds up to his face (meaning that he can’t be wrenching or shooting at the same time).”
31 Mike // Oct 8, 2008 at 6:27 pm
Portal Prelude’s out!!
32 Mike // Oct 8, 2008 at 6:33 pm
But be prepared to download more .wav files than you have in any CS/TF2 server combined.
33 Cpt. Falcon // Oct 8, 2008 at 6:52 pm
I read AlexW’s post about a possible balance to the engi might be something to offset how boring it is. A class gets boring when you aren’t in the action, which makes sense with the engi because he usually sits near his sentry when on defense and waits, (me excluded, I run around and shoot people, but can never get back to my sentry in time to knock sappers off) so it would be obvious that to make the class not boring, you’d have him be in the action.
And then it hit me.
http://www.teamfortress2fort.com/custom/24/images/gallery/40cec878-13a2-4884-a546-921b73455e52.jpg
Heavy Gear!!!
34 AlphaHawk // Oct 8, 2008 at 8:37 pm
Metal Gear?!
35 Tom90deg // Oct 8, 2008 at 9:12 pm
Gravekeeper, That is a amazeing idea. The IR Goggles that show Spys would be amazing I think. I picture this…A engie is stationed at one area, with his goggles on. And he just shouts out commands, “Spy going though gate A” etc. To balance it, I think that makeing it so ONLY the spy is visible, or only visible when cloaked or disguised would balance it nicely.
As for other upgrades…A enhanced Wrench is pretty much a gimmie. I would personaly really like to see a Rivit gun. Imagine a pistol, with less damage, but when it hits a building, it’s like getting hit with a wrench, or maybe 1/4th of a wrench. It’d give the engie some flexibility, and let other engies help repair when they’re far from another engies stuff.
For the last one…Not sure. I’d LOVE a portable sentry, or maybe you can have 3 small ones or 1 small, 1 medium.
36 minespatch // Oct 8, 2008 at 11:09 pm
I know this is off-topic, but I heard something about a new class called “plumbers”, does anybody have any reconfirmation about that?
37 Sinister Minister // Oct 8, 2008 at 11:11 pm
See, I told you people the title of the last post meant nothing.
38 macho // Oct 8, 2008 at 11:22 pm
Interesting, I never noticed that it switches to the same class either.
Anyway Robin didn’t quite explained how the respawn timer worked on dustbowl/goldrush maps. I guess it’s static - 5 seconds for the attacking team and 15-20 seconds for the defending team.
39 Das Ganon // Oct 8, 2008 at 11:34 pm
I think the next one is the spy based on the whole balancing thing. They’re going to go support, Defend, attack, like they did with the previous 3 updates so that it keeps balanced.
because we all know that 12 spys, while annoying to death, isn’t really an issue if theres one pyro, or a heavy (a decent heavy….. but still the huge amount of lead in the air will still take out spys)
this way they can do the Engi update next because if they have all the new engi stuff, its dealt with.
40 Gary // Oct 9, 2008 at 12:07 am
EMP capability, even if not in the form of a grenade, is gonna be a great addition IMO :)
maybe a dispenser which detonates with an EMP blast, but as balance only dispenses ammo, or armor, but not both?
41 Gary // Oct 9, 2008 at 12:08 am
my bad. .. i meant health. not armor. (wtf was i thinking)
42 elk // Oct 9, 2008 at 12:16 am
you’re living in the long forgotten land of tfc, gary!
43 Das Ganon // Oct 9, 2008 at 2:48 am
not forgotten, its just they kinda put a Left 4 Dead billboard in the way…..
44 Lack_26 // Oct 9, 2008 at 5:55 am
If they do split the sentries down into separate entities I would love to be able to change the height (of the weapon) of each piece. Because otherwise you would lose any advantage of hiding a sentry behind some cover.
45 a westie // Oct 9, 2008 at 9:01 am
Personally, I want to see a melee sentry that hides in shadows, then rolls around the room punching people with spring-loaded boxing gloves in a similar style to a scout running around a heavy’s back. I could see it being near useless, but also very funny. Perhaps the engie could build more than one to compensate for having no projectiles?
I like the idea of a double class update of Spy and Engie. That way, people know to use pyro against the spy (Pyro has his own updates, so everyone should be competent by now), and the obvious response to all the sentries is to sap them. Of course, if I were Valve, I’d release all these engineer update pages to get people excited, and then on the release day turn the blog into just a massive JPEG of a spy tearing off an engie mask, with details on the software update.
46 Shon // Oct 9, 2008 at 10:08 am
Personally I still hope for a Scout update. I rarely see people playing scouts and after trying them for awhile, I can see why. Sentries are brutal to scouts.
I think an Engineer update would be nice if they broke engineers out of their usual sit and turtle tactics. If they had a sentry that was weak but mobile, or maybe some gadgets that have to be aimed by the engineer. If you give them something to do on the front line without being anchored to a spot, I think most players would gladly take the chance.
47 Gravekeeper // Oct 9, 2008 at 5:30 pm
Thanks, Tom90deg. I knew I had forgotten something- damaging explosions from detonated buildings, as a few have mentioned. It would give Spies something to think about, and, to make it fair, the explosion could hurt anybody on both teams.
I also like the Rivet Gun idea a lot. It would make the Engie’s radius a lot bigger, since he can make repairs from afar. It should be like a slightly harder-hitting Needle Gun, but with a bigger trajectory drop-off.
If you’ll notice, the Shotgun has been replaced for both the Heavy and the Pyro with niche weapons. I’m thinking the Engie’s shotgun won’t last long, either.
48 Das Ganon // Oct 9, 2008 at 9:30 pm
We’ve switched this heavy’s shotgun with a sandwich. lets see if he can tell the difference.
“Dis Shotgun go nom?”
49 Kollega // Oct 9, 2008 at 9:45 pm
Okay,Chritopher obviously didn’t posted anything new last day,so i’ll throw in a couple of ideas here,using power of this blog.First and foremost, buildings health icon sould be replaced with an actual gear symbol,pyro’s afterburn can use it’s own kill icon,and “medic!” call should display caller’s health and whether he’s on fire. Also,because i like Heavy a lot and he seems underpowered even after update,i suggest he should be more heavy - that means less knockback from anything,and ability to smash enemies when jumping down and landing onto one.I mean,what can be more fun than jumping onto crowd of enemies,or getting hit by flying Heavy? And can his fists taunt gib enemy,because his fists are so HUGE and glorious?
50 Kollega // Oct 9, 2008 at 9:48 pm
P.S. Ideas mostly aren’t mine,but they all got mentoned here on 1fort.
51 Gothic // Oct 10, 2008 at 3:59 am
@49: YES. THE HEAVY SHOULD BE ABLE TO CRUSH THE LEETLE PEOPLE UNDER HIS FEET.
52 Killa-Ewok // Oct 10, 2008 at 5:00 am
VALVe fucking with us again, I’m pretty sure that we have an Engie Pack, and Meet The Spy.
53 Roadrunner // Oct 10, 2008 at 10:38 am
Hi chris, i dunno how I could contact you to show you my remix of the classic Isaac Hayes, TF2 style.
but here it is: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=86664AJJ
Just thought i’d share with the world my remix :3
54 Mr. Brit // Oct 10, 2008 at 10:55 am
Pistol unlock: Six-shooter. Like the spy’s pistol, so slower R.O.F. and reload but stronger and more accurate. The big catch is that it always crits against Spy’s who have a sapper on a building but never otherwise.
Shotgun unlock: Similar effect to the airblast, shooting a projectile changes it’s team, but doesn’t deflect it so he can still be self killed. It does less damage to enemies (maybe none) and has a low crit chance.
That’s all I have, but the idea was to let Engies take down Spis sappin’ his stuff quicker and to give him some defence against stickies and rockets.
55 Mr. Brit // Oct 10, 2008 at 10:55 am
That has to be the stupidest misspelling of spies ever.
56 Kollega // Oct 10, 2008 at 11:11 am
Gothic,are you being sarcastic or you’re serious? Anyway,ability to bodyslam TINY LEETLE MEN would add up to Heavy’s lethality,and won’t overpower him. Less knockback however,is a bigger deal.I mean,Heavy is so slooow,and Pyro is also able to own close-up.What’s the point of Ubered Heavy then? If he would be more resistant to knockback by sentries and explosions and even airblast,it would make him more viable in certain situations.
57 Kollega // Oct 10, 2008 at 11:15 am
And Mr.Brit,yes that misspelling seems so.Unlock ideas is not amazing,but nice.As a professional RED Engie on Dustbowl/Goldrush,i would take ‘em with me.
58 Smurfy // Oct 10, 2008 at 11:31 am
The next class update is going to be for Civilian, duh!
59 Killa-Ewok // Oct 10, 2008 at 11:37 am
@58
Or for the Spectator.
60 Gravekeeper // Oct 10, 2008 at 3:08 pm
@59
I’m sure many would be happy with that update; The Spectator is the most-played class in full servers you want to play in, so it just goes to show how many people like to play as him.
He’d get awesome unlocks, like a way to see which servers are almost full short of reserved slots- and server-joining priority over normal players, even if the normal players have already started to load the map and server info.
61 minespatch // Oct 10, 2008 at 5:08 pm
The spectator?
62 TheDon // Oct 29, 2008 at 9:46 am
Two classes would be a nice addition. If it was just engie, then 2fort games will be fun.
63 TheDon // Oct 29, 2008 at 9:49 am
Anyone guess what the next ‘Meet the…’ is? I’d like to see the pyro one.
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