RIP Art Style

[FadedOasis]

www.riftjunkies.com/2011/02/03/rift-invades-team-fortress-2/

[Doctor Wheeze]

:I

Level 10 RIFT Fire Axe
Improves upon Mother Nature's original
design for volcanos by increasing portability.
Modern science is unable to explain exactly
where the lava is coming from.
On Hit: target is engulfed in flames
-20% damage done

Level 10 RIFT Fire Mace
Spiky end goes into other man.
+35% damage done
-45% damage vs non-burning players


At least they'll be craftable.

[scrambles]

I'm not too fond of MMO's, but I liked the Yogscast about Rift. Looked cool; I probably will never buy it however and I most certainly won't pre-order it for those items. I guess Valve will do whatever it takes to keep tf2 "hip*" and "fresh*" to the non-loyal players, because they know the loyal players will keep coming back no matter what.

*- Sarcasm

[vultanphase]

I kinda want the axe to have jiggly-bone physics all over the place. Somehow I think it would be more entertaining limp.

[rhench]

It's been well over a month since I played TF2, not entirely due to all this, as I've been a bit addicted to CIV 5 lately, but still, something feels different about the game. I'm less inclined to just log on anymore, more for long stretches. I don't know. Maybe it's just that I've been playing for over 2 years now, which is far more than I play most games. I went through a trading phase, a Scout phase, a Medic phase, a hat phase, and a bunch of other things that show how complex this game has evolved, and while I've been against World of TF2Craft from the beginning, I guess the original business model wasn't profitable anymore.

Everyone told me that I was overreacting with my World of TF2Craft comments, but we're already there. Different loadouts, different cosmetic items, boss events on changed maps for holidays... I'm not saying it's all bad, but it is different. Some days I miss grinding out Dustbowl the way it used to be. Some days I'm glad I don't have to. I don't even know what my point was supposed to be.

[elacordeonachi]

Just so you know, I read somewhere that the Rift Items will be craftable in the future. Not sure on the timeline though, Kotaku vaguely said that it might be after a month.

[xadera]

I... don't really see a problem. I think these items look pretty cool and are no more detrimental to TF2's art style than earbuds or alien swarm parasites or even teleporters. In fact, I think these are a good addition to help reinforce TF2's style of "not a serious fps". While other fpses are focused on getting that slightly different but realistic weapon or having outfits that blend in better with your surroundings, TF2 goes "fuck that shit, we just wanna goof around!". I mean, sure, there was the whole "50's" art style they had going, but that's just because it's hard to take the 50's seriously.

And to be honest, all of these updates have actually made me wanna play TF2 more than I did before, and not just because I like trading. I mean, I played back in the days of vanilla TF2. Played for a couple of months. And then stopped for nearly a year because it quickly grew boring. When I heard they had new weapons for classes, I actually got excited. I like being able to change my gamestyle or taking into account more complex scenarios. Now the game feels so enigmatic I just wanna play "just one more round" because it's fun trying completely different strategies.

As for the hats. I didn't really care about hats before. They're pretty cool, but with the chances of getting them being so slim, I didn't care. But, once I could trade, I wanted to play dressup. Why? Who cares; it's not like it's affecting my gameplay (and before you mention the trading idlers, usually those people suck and you're better off not having them participate anyways).

Valve deserves to make a bit more money off of TF2. They have a fantastic business model: they listen to the players! Sure, they've made a few errors, but even crates aren't that bad when they don't actually count as one of your drops (you get 2 crate drops separately from everything else per week) and you can simply delete them. But come on; they've got a game they update for free, allow everyone to play for free, and interact with the community for more content and balance. For free. And their success with such a model is encouraging other developers to do the same!

Also, Valve themselves aren't wasting much time on TF2, from what I can tell. They might have been able to hire some more people to work on it with the influx of funds, but for the most part I'm fairly sure they have a rather small team dedicated to the upkeep of TF2. And with TF2 being one of the most popular games that is known for not being very serious, I can understand why they'd want to use it to promote other developers and just have fun with these other games.

I'm sure my point probably got lost somewhere in there, I should have been asleep an hour ago. Oh well XD

[Doctor Wheeze]

The default weapons are still, for the most part, the best options. The alternates are sidegrades at best and absolute garbage like the piss rifle and the chocolate bar at worst. The few upgrades (ubersaw/vitasaw/amputator, equalizer) are all melee weapons and aren't game-changing. The polycount bonuses also have some pretty beefy drawbacks. You are almost never at a disadvantage by taking all vanilla loadouts.

These weapons especially. Why in the hell would the pyro want a melee weapon that sets people on fire. Why would the scout want a poor man's axetinguisher. Why.

[xadera]

Cake, you are one of the few that seems to have tremendous difficulties with trading... I can't even imagine what must have been going through your mind when you made some of the trades you have XD And even despite that, it's not that difficult trading with friends. I mean, even you were doing fine with the "Get MKWEA regulars weapons" that Faded had. Faded just hasn't done it again because, quite frankly, everybody seems to be able to get all the weapons they want just fine, either through drops or trading or crafting. Heck, most of the newer items are just silly, like most of the new Heavy Set (because melee heavy is suuuch a good tactic /sarcasm ).

Though, yes, the set hats with stats were a bad idea. Even Robin Walker has admitted to that and it's why the new set hats aren't actually a part of the sets, they're just aesthetically tied to the weapons.

[rhench]

When they added trading, it was almost a guarantee that you were never going to get all the weapons by drop any more. Hell, people were pissed off the first time weapons came out that couldn't be earned by achievements, and that was because people were pissed that you couldn't get them without hours of play on a class (that was the Sniper/Spy update for those who are wondering). You just aren't going to get all the weapons without trading, drops are unreliable. I got three Direct Hits the day they came out, and then didn't get one for six months, back when I played regularly.

I'm honestly not complaining. I'm just commenting that the game is a completely different animal than it was when I started playing over 2 years ago. Yes, it had to in order to stay alive. Yes, Valve is great for providing possibly my favorite and most-played game of all-time for free for two years. I don't begrudge them finding a way to make more money off of it from players who already own it, I just note that it changes things, and that sometimes I'm wistful for the old days. Hell, when the trading came out, I bought a Towering Pillar of Hats, partly because I've wanted one since they came out (there's an in-joke behind it that no one will get except Pneuma, and only because he was there when it happened in real life) and partly because I said to myself, "Steve," I call myself Steve, "Steve, you've played this game for hundreds of hours for the price of the Orange Box. I think another $10 is in order for this fabulous company."

Cake, I do understand your point about trading with friends, I think. I'm kind of greedy when it comes to trades normally, and I have a hard time getting out of that mindset sometimes. But when it comes to friends (as Edison, Sora and a few others know), I'm generally cool to just give people stuff they don't have or want. I've gotten enough free stuff from friends (like Edison, Sora and a few others) that it all evens out in the end.

Also, I love Minecraft.