Sometimes, my dear readers, yours truly can be quite naïve.
When trading was implemented recently I thought this would solve a lot of minor problems, helping people to get hats or weapons they want. I didn’t quite consider the negative effects which now start to rear their ugly heads.
The most superficial, yet the most common problem is the annoying trade-spam which tends to dominate the in-game talk these days. People are shouting out for items they want, loudly offer items they might want (...)

Oh dear, another big update to cover. Valve realized several threats at once and rolled those into the Mann-Conomy Update. This finally implemented the long-awaited trading, the items of the Polycount Contest and – in a rather surprising move – introduced an in-game shop where the player can buy items – Weapons, Hats and a few new, store-exclusive items.
Trading was originally mentioned back in early 2009 and was since then requested and expected almost feverishly by the community. Well, it’s (...)

When you are playing offensive Engineer on an A/D/PL map you are always wishing you could set up your stuff during that precious minute before all hell breaks lose and a poor Engy usually can’t set a foot out of the gate, let alone erect a building outside before the rest of the team has made the initial push.
But sadly respawn areas are usually no-build-zones, designated by the mapmaker as areas in which an Engineer can’t place a building. Well, let me add quickly: For the most part.
There (...)

Quite soon Valve will incorporate the items from the Polycount Contest into TF2. Besides new hats we will also get new weapons. But do we really need more weapons?
At this time each class has had its own update and been given an alternative set of weapons for all slots. Some of these have been more successful and satisfying than others. But in many cases the player has the choice between two variations of weapons, often offering a different style of playing and different strengths. One of (...)

As you surely all know the European TF2 League ETF2L, with some cooperation with Valve, is organizing a Highlander tourney. It’s designed as an open tourney, geared specifically towards non- or semi-competitive players.
The idea is quite simply to give pub players the opportunity to get a glimpse into the world of competitive gameplay, to give them a chance to experience more structured teamplay and also to introduce them to a lot of like-minded other players in a more organized context. (...)

Well, so far the Engy Update might not have changed gameplay in general on a relevant scale. But certainly it has changed the way people play the class. And from within the diversity of (new) ways to play Engineer a new school of engineering gameplay appears to become prevalent. I’ve dubbed this type the “Play-It-Safe Engineer”.
The introduction of movable buildings has created a lot of new strategic possibilities to the Engy. On maps with dynamic gameplay (A/D, PL, 5-CP) he is finally able (...)

Engies and Spies: An eternal love story. A love story where, you know, the relationship has reached the point at which murder has become perfectly reasonable.
In principle nothing has changed between Spy and Engy with the Engy Update. Yet I feel that circumstances have made the Engy more vulnerable to his arch enemy.
It’s quite obvious in the case of the Wrangler. There you are, holding a remote control, squinting and trying very hard to identify through the bloody shield what’s going on in (...)

Anybody still here? Have been quite a while, I know.
I’ve been busy with a project connected to work, but quite frankly I also didn’t exactly have any great ideas what to write about. Okay, I would be lying if I said I had any great idea now, but there are a few things whirling inside that grey mass that claims to be my brain. So let’s see if I can get some of these things into a shape coherent enough to share with you.
I’ve predicted the changes applied by the engy update could have a huge (...)

Over the last weekend I’ve tried to obtain all the new weapons so I can live up to my journalistic responsibility to you, my dear half dozen readers . This included some idling as well as some good ol’-fashioned achievement whoring, but eventually I’ve got them all together. So now it’s time to offer some first impressions on the new toys Valve has given the Engy with his class update.
Short Recap:
The Frontier Justice
Replaces Shotgun. No regular crits. Mag only holds half the ammo of the (...)

As expected shortly after the 100th wrench was dropped the Engy Update went live!
With that the seventh class update was applied, concluding the update round for the last remaining class.
Of course the update went live in the middle of the night and I was far too tired to give it a glimpse. Especially since all I could have done was to look at the new maps, since getting my hand on the new weapons was likely to be a more lengthy process (or so I thought).
So this morning I took half an (...)