Hey guys. I am making this post to give my fellow Starcraft 2 players an idea of why they should try Team Fortress 2 and how they can get into it. I am hoping I can break down the barrier to entry that has been artificially been built up by the constant development of TF2 and the lack of a really helpful nexus of information. I am going to cover a range of different levels of experience with the game so feel free to skip to the section that applies to your own experience. Before getting into the how to play I want to get into the what and the why.
What is Tf2? I am going to keep this short and sweet because I figure this will be common knowledge to most people but basically Team Fortress 2 is a class-based first person shooter. The game pits two teams against each other each fighting to complete the game mode objective within the time limit. Each team has access to the same 9 classes each with all unique weapons and attributes. These 9 classes provide an all different playing experience depending on the game mode, weapon unlocks, and in-game situation leading to an atmosphere of constant discovery and compelling replayablity.
Why should I care about TF2? The most obvious answer to this question is that TF2 is a great game. I am not here to compare TF2 to other games instead I am going to go over some of the things that make TF2 so great to me. The first thing that comes to mind is just the aesthetics. This game has one of the most original art-styles that I have ever experienced especially in a time when First Person Shooters (FPS) games have been focused on making the graphics more and more realistic. Basically the game realized that immersion and graphical brilliance isn't a one way street towards realism but a topic open to the interpretation of the users. With this in mind they have developed a themed world with its own characters and humor. In line with the aesthetics are the characters of the classes. At this point almost every class has its own "Meet the *CLASS*" video that provides so background to what it means to be each one of the classes outside of the weapons and in-game voice prompts. Hopefully we will get the Pyro soon. Alright, so far all I have really hit on is the flavor because that is a big reason why the game is so immersive. The next reason is that the game isn't campy, or round based, or designed to be a stalemate. Now let me follow that up by saying that although this may happen on 32 man servers it is due to the amount of players and even then can be countered with correct play. If you want a shooter with constant action, strategy besides just mindless shooting, and constant growth and updates then TF2 is the game for you. Lastly you should care about TF2 because it has a competitive side which you can pursue if you ever feel like you have hit your skill-ceiling. This competitive scene has great outlets to work your way up to the top with players that are mindbogglingly good.
TF2 for the player with no PC FPS background This part of the guide is written for players that have little to no experience with FPS games on the PC. I really hope if this is you that you are reading this before you have already started playing TF2 because if not then you are probably very frustrated. The first thing you need to understand is that the TF2 player base is mostly made up of players who have player PC FPS's for multiple years spanning multiple games with similar controls. So if you go into a normal game and expect to slowly learn how to play with people of similar skill level that just isn't going to happen. Before I go any further I want to make it clear that this shouldn't discourage you especially if you are a Starcraft 2 player or have reasonable computer experience because many of the skills with transfer over for you. The first probably hardest thing for new players is to understand movement. This is because for most experience players it is like an instinct, their fingers are constantly hovering over the right keys and the have an acute understanding of exactly how far they are going to move for how long they hold each key (very similar to using control groups and hotkeys in SC2). Making movement instinctual is the first step to learning to play TF2. So with this is mind the first thing a new player should do is to open TF2 and go straight into the training. It start by explaining movement and all the basic controls if at any time you miss something or want to change controls just simply hit Escape and navigate through the options on the bottom of the screen.
Also the other trainings unlock as you complete them but don't have a lot of the explanatory quality that the soldier tutorial does. If you need to fill in any of the gaps check out the wiki here for explanations of all the classes and their weapons. Once you finished all the trainings try playing against only bots; this can be found by clicking on the training again and then selecting offline practice. From here you will be given 3 game modes to practice. Once you select a game mode the map selection screen will pop up; with this screen you will be able to choose the number of players and to choose the difficulty of the bots. Play with the number and difficulty of the bots as well as experimenting with all three game modes. The maps I suggest familiarizing yourself with are
Control Point: cp_badlands, cp_granary King of the Hill: koth_viaduct, koth_badlands Payload: pl_badwater, pl_goldrush
If you start to get burned out just playing against bots or just feel like you have a pretty good idea how to play each class then go to the wiki linked of above and read about all the unlocks and how each class should play. This is good because it will help to stop you from being overwhelmed by all the unlocks and not understanding what is happening. If you have made it this far congratulations, you know the basics about playing a FPS on a computer and you are about equal in knowledge and TF2 experience as the next group so continue reading.
Players with non-TF2 computer FPS experience This section of the guide is written for those who have completed the first section but also players who are familiar with movement, aim and other FPS basics. The goal here is to get you acclimated to TF2 rather than overwhelming you with the all the possible unlocks. Before even starting the best thing to do is to have some knowledge of the basics of each class. They are pretty self-explanatory but check the wiki here if you aren't comfortable playing it by ear. The first thing you should do when you open up TF2 is make sure that you are familiar with the controls and to adjust your settings. Once you have fixed your settings to your liking click on training on the main menu and go into offline practice.
From here try out all three game modes on a variety of maps (my map suggestions in the above section) favoring at first one class. As you play with the difficulty of the bots and the number of players make sure learn how each class plays and even pick a couple favorites. Once you think you have a pretty good understanding of how the classes work in offline mode take another look at the wiki here especially the weapons. The first weapons you will see for each class are the initial weapons the game initially came out with while the other primary weapons are unlocks that are available through random drops, purchase via the Mann Store (I think one purchase activates your TF2 beyond free to play but confirm before buying yourself), trading and crafting.
The items section of the menu is your gateway to your loadout for each class for which can be changed on the fly either through the loadout hotkey or hitting escape and going to items. These items have been constantly added to TF2 since it came out so it is a good idea to read over what the all do so that you can tell how and why you died. As should probably be expected some of the items are lame while others are super fun but I guess it all just depends on the situation and your preferences. You will get the chance to decide what you like as you get more drops. The more you play the more random drops you get. Whew that was kind of along little rant about items but I just wanted to put it out there before I talked about how to start playing because that is often what throws people off. If you just keep dying and you don't know why it is really freaking frustrating. I am not promising that you won't die to a lot of stupid stuff especially when you are starting out but if you at least know what is happening then you can hopefully avoid frustration and then seek out whatever unlocks look the most fun to you. So yeah about the playing now, if you have tested out a lot of the maps and modes you probably have a few favorites. There is two ways to start playing, there is the lazy I don't care where I play way and the server filtering way. The lazy way is to just click play now. It allows you to choose which game mode you want but generally puts you in either a laggy server, a server with few people, or a server on a boring map but if you don't care then it is the easiest. The next way to find a game is to use the browse servers menu. This tool has multiple tabs to help you keep track of the server you like or hate, where you friends are playing and servers that are lag free, populated and on the right map. In order to find your perfect server navigate to the internet tab and click all refresh. The tool will start finding servers and scrolling super fast; just wait for it to finish refreshing or else it can be really annoying. Also while it is refreshing you can add filter which allow you to control what map you want, exclude servers with no one in them or that are full, pick a ping threshold, and make sure it isn't password protected. Also you can sort servers by all the categories at the top.
A couple things to beware of when joining servers are false player reporting from servers and reserved slots. Often big servers have one of both of these features that make searching for them really annoying. The first thing to look out for is false player reporting, basically what this means is that the server says the are say 24/32 players in the server but when you join there are not that many players. Servers do this to try to artificially keep their server populations up by tricking people looking for games. This will become more apparent as it happens to you more and more but the easiest way to avoid being a victim of this is to right click on the server you are about to join and click on server info. This will bring up another window which you should then refresh, once refreshed the server info will show you a list of the people playing on the server along with their points and the time they have been on the server. This will show the accurate amount of players as well as showing if there are any bots (evident by ridiculous hours of play time). So although this is relatively easy to avoid the second thing isn't really as obvious. This second thing is the reserved slots. Servers are often sponsored by gaming communities which allow donators and members to have access to the server at all times. This normally looks like a server with either one or two open slots on the server listings. When you join however you get a message that says you were kicked due to reserved slot so you basically just have to find another server. I doesn't take long to just join another server but if you are tired of hitting reserved slot servers then just join a server with a lower population and you are less likely to have problems. I suggest with this knowledge trying out different maps until you find one you like or even a specific server that you like but from here just go out and enjoy. For your first few times out I suggest pl_goldrush and cp_dustbowl as maps that provide a solid pub experience. From here you should be able to explore the game, play with all the different unlocks as you get them, and have some fun! If you get a break or want some more resources check out the bottom of the post in the links section where I will link more outside of the game content. Also once you get a hang of pubbing and how the games works head on over to the next section.
Competitive TF2: So You Think You're Hot Shit This section is written for players who have decent experience in TF2 but just kind of got bored of playing pubs. I realize playing competitively isn't for everyone but for those who didn't even know it existed it is important to get it this out there. Basically there are two main competitive formats out there, 6v6 and Highlander. I am going to start with Highlander because I think that it is the most similar to playing on a public server and because quite frankly I don't have as much experience with it. The format name is based on the idea that there is only one of each of the nine classes allowed to be played, basically 9v9. Highlander is a chance for people to play their favorite classes within a competitive environment with restrictions that cut down the insanity a little bit. Currently CommunityFortress.com has a strategy series going where they interview some highlander teams about how they play. I will link one of the articles from my favorite highlander team (because of their name), Oedipus and the Motherfuckers, here. Highlander is played on a pretty wide variety of maps differing from 6v6 due to its high player count. If you are interesting in giving it a shot check out the links at the bottom of the page or visit tf2lobby.com where highlander lobbies are semi-rare but usually at least available a couple times a day. On to 6v6 the main competitive side of TF2 and where you can really test your skill. I am not going to spend a lot of time talking about the format because I think it has already been done better than I could do here. This link explains it pretty much flawlessly so please read through it before continuing on because I hope I can address some of the basic things that have fallen through the cracks and how to get started. Ok, so now I am assuming you have a basic understanding or how 6v6 works but are a pub player doesn't know where to get started. The first step is TF2lobby.com, which in my opinion is one of the greatest things to ever come to competitive TF2.
Basically this is a site the organizes pick up games. It is connected with Steam though so it can be a little intimidating logging in through your Steam account for fear of piracy. Even though I told you it was safe I would suggest you do whatever you need to do where that means comparing the login to the actual Steam site or logging into the real Steam first to feel safe. Once you have logged in you will be able to join the lobby listings. When first writing this I forgot some really good advice but thankfully someone caught it with a reply.
On July 04 2011 01:27 OmaplatA wrote: I've been playing TF2 since near the beginning, around April 2007. #1 advice to new players: when you start out, play Medic.
The reason is the TF2 community is pretty well established, and like other multiplayer FPS games, can be pretty hostile to new players who don't know the ropes. But Medics are always welcome. Plus, it's an easy class to play, and you have time to observe how others do it, how the maps flow, decision making, etc.. Also, the uber is what TF2 was built around, so you can really make an impact by using one at the right time
From here I am just going to create a straight up list of Dos and Don'ts.
Do -Read the help dialog explaining how lobby works before joining your first game. -Be humble and attentive to the chat box when you join your first few lobbies. -Choose one of the cookie cutter classes that are available or leave if the class you want isn't. -Practice your rollout to middle on the map you want to play before joining a lobby (youtube is a great resource for this). -Ready up promptly. -Join the game in a timely manner. -Minimize and use the report feature when those in game ask you to report a missing player. -Listen to voice chat of your teammates and try to coordinate with them. -Type "fov_desired 90" in console without the quotes because it gives you a must for competitive play. (It widens your field of view)
Don't -Get discouraged either by angry people, getting kicked for being new, or playing poorly because the only way to get better is to play. -Click a random offclass and ready up. -Be afraid to ask questions. -Join a lobby unless you have at least 40 minutes in which to finish it.
And that is pretty much all the ones I could think of that were really obvious. Tf2lobby is a great tool that basically autoconnects people to a Pick-up Game (PUG) with 1 click and sets classes. Also make sure you do not leave to many games because next to each players name is a reliability number which shows how often you have stayed or left. If your reliability is bad you will often be kicked so just make sure you are aware. I won't talk too much about custom HUDs and other stuff but below I will link a lot of resources that may be able to help your further if you are interested in playing on an even higher level of PUGs, joining a team and competing, or just keeping track of the professional scene.
Conclusion\ Wow holy crap this guide took a long time to write so I hope you guys are getting something from it. I know it is kind of a wall of text and it is probably incoherent because I am going only on a first draft but let me know if it helped. Also feel free to PM or post if you need any help whatsoever. I am by no means a pro player so I don't have immaculate information or knowledge of the game but as a regular PUG player I thought maybe I could share my passion for TF2 with people who already share my passion for SC2. Again, I hope you enjoy and the links will follow.
TF2 Important Links Tf2 Official Wiki- A source with a lot of the basic TF2 information. Community Fortress- The main NA site for TF2 news and some coverage information for the pro-scene. Competitive Wiki- Mediocre information about how to start playing competitively Ubercharger.net Competitve Play- Awesome series of articles on playing TF2 competitively Official Website- Home of the official blog for all announcements TF2 and also where you can download free to play TF2. eXTV- A source for NA TF2 casting although rather inconsistent the eXTV Justin.tv will usually be more up to date. Vanilla Tf2- More European based site with news and VanillaTV which seems to cast more regularly than eXTV. TF2 Official Video Page- Has all the flavor video for each class along with the content from the Saxxy Awards where players made a bunch of their own amazing 1:00 videos. Steam-Client you need to run TF2.
Please tell me if there is anything I forgot or if you guys have some changes. Thanks!
Edit: Added pictures to help explain, sorry if they are all weird sizes or don't make sense I am not very good at manipulating them. Hope you guys enjoy and it isn't overkill... that much. =)
Online games have gotten progressively more stressful, so please... Do: work as a team, don't try soloing the other team all the time. Don't: keep picking gdamn spy and sniper all day. If your team already has one, you really don't need another unless your sniper is losing the sniper war. If there's already 2 snipers, or 2 spies, don't ever touch those classes. Please.
Thanks so much! As a sc2 semipro who sorta doesnt like fps but wants to enjoy with friends this will really help me get started.. never really played any fps before and people seem to have fun with this. Thank you so much
You should add the little pointers like crouch jumping if shit is too high, keeping sniper xhair at head height and so on. Also avoid wall of text with dot points, pictures and bold.
Thanks for all the positive comments guys. This is written from a North American perspective so a lot of the links are of that flavor but I know the European and Australian scenes are pretty huge as well so if there is anything I am missing let me know.
On July 03 2011 13:32 frogurt wrote: You should add the little pointers like crouch jumping if shit is too high, keeping sniper xhair at head height and so on. Also avoid wall of text with dot points, pictures and bold.
Otherwise good idea.
Just took your suggestion let me know what you think. =) Tips and more editing will be next.
Good write up, I've played a lot of TF2 and a year ago was on a not-so-successful competitive team. Just want to give my two cents as to why I don't play this game as often though...
It's really fun when you want to just sit down and play a casual game. It isn't very hard to do well in TF2. Most of the people who play are very very bad at this game. This is probably because of its style so it attracts people who wouldn't normally play an FPS game. It's really fun to play if you just want to sit back and enjoy a game for a few minutes. I'd also recommend playing on 24 man servers because 32 man servers are just awful (though if you're good at a class like Demoman or Soldier you can literally go 70 and 5 on a 32 slot server). This is all well and good, but I'm getting into a stage where I like competitive and challenging games and TF2 just isn't it for me. I still play from time to time with some of my friends but I'm almost always just trolling now if I play. I got over 1000 hours logged in TF2 so that could explain some of my boredom and being tired of the ease of the game.
Don't let the competitive part of the OP fool you. While there is competitive play in TF2 and TF2Lobby is an awesome tool for scrimming with your team (or just playing PuGs) competitive TF2 is a complete joke. Streams have very low viewer counts, there is virtually no prize money, and a lot of the high level players are just people who used to play Quake but weren't good enough to keep up with the competition. TF2Lobby itself is fun though, just don't expect to get the same enjoyment you would out of watching "pro matches" like you would with other video games.
Finally, so that I don't sound like a total downer, if you're just starting and want a fun and easy to play class choose Pyro or if you wanna learn the game faster try Medic. If you want to learn a class that's gonna be able to wreck people's faces play Soldier or Demoman - just know that these two classes can be easy to pick up and get kills but probably have the highest skill ceiling in the game. Scout is really fun and on less populated servers is gonna wreck, if you get good with him he can faceroll people like Solly and Demoman. Don't even bother with Spy, Engineer, or Heavy. Those three classes are really easy against people who are bad but they are the worst classes in the game. Oh, although if you just wanna have fun or troll people then Spy/Engie/Heavy are great classes.
On July 03 2011 15:29 overt wrote: Good write up, I've played a lot of TF2 and a year ago was on a not-so-successful competitive team. Just want to give my two cents as to why I don't play this game as often though...
It's really fun when you want to just sit down and play a casual game. It isn't very hard to do well in TF2. Most of the people who play are very very bad at this game. This is probably because of its style so it attracts people who wouldn't normally play an FPS game. It's really fun to play if you just want to sit back and enjoy a game for a few minutes. I'd also recommend playing on 24 man servers because 32 man servers are just awful (though if you're good at a class like Demoman or Soldier you can literally go 70 and 5 on a 32 slot server). This is all well and good, but I'm getting into a stage where I like competitive and challenging games and TF2 just isn't it for me. I still play from time to time with some of my friends but I'm almost always just trolling now if I play. I got over 1000 hours logged in TF2 so that could explain some of my boredom and being tired of the ease of the game.
Don't let the competitive part of the OP fool you. While there is competitive play in TF2 and TF2Lobby is an awesome tool for scrimming with your team (or just playing PuGs) competitive TF2 is a complete joke. Streams have very low viewer counts, there is virtually no prize money, and a lot of the high level players are just people who used to play Quake but weren't good enough to keep up with the competition. TF2Lobby itself is fun though, just don't expect to get the same enjoyment you would out of watching "pro matches" like you would with other video games.
Finally, so that I don't sound like a total downer, if you're just starting and want a fun and easy to play class choose Pyro or if you wanna learn the game faster try Medic. If you want to learn a class that's gonna be able to wreck people's faces play Soldier or Demoman - just know that these two classes can be easy to pick up and get kills but probably have the highest skill ceiling in the game. Scout is really fun and on less populated servers is gonna wreck, if you get good with him he can faceroll people like Solly and Demoman. Don't even bother with Spy, Engineer, or Heavy. Those three classes are really easy against people who are bad but they are the worst classes in the game. Oh, although if you just wanna have fun or troll people then Spy/Engie/Heavy are great classes.
Wow, I think your opinion is just totally wrong and part of what is wrong with the scene. I feel like the problem with TF2 in the NA is that our population competitively has dried up to the kids that don't give a shit and troll and have no respect for the game or helping people. I understand you don't find it fun to watch but to call the whole scene a joke is just ridiculous. There are a lot of hard working people out there that bust their asses to produce content even without the huge viewership of SC2. Not only are the producing the content but the content is excellent and doesn't deserve to be shrugged off. For me TF2 is one of the most fun games to watch competitively but there just hasn't been enough content and exposure, maybe I am the minority but I would definitely suggest that people check it out. Especially in recent times it has been even more accessible with the gap between competitive and pub play due to the popularity of the highlander format.
Finally I want to address this idea that everyone in the game is not just bad but very very bad. I just don't think this is the average players experience and sorry if I think you probably aren't as good as you say you are. If you were at the level where you were winning lobbies easily then why didn't you just move to the next level of the #tf2.pug.na channel where you can legitimately play a pick up game with professional players. I don't mean to completely shit on you but it is just so frustrating for me because this seems to be the attitude of a lot of the community members in FPS games. It seems like it is full of stupid preteen premadonnas who think they are just miles ahead of everyone else and because of that they can talk shit and troll people who actually are trying to improve the scene for no other reason then they are amused by making other hardworking people feel bad. I mean just take the case of Jaeger's Tips and Tricks videos, I don't know if you remember but basically Jaeger (a pro soldier) put out a bunch of videos for the community and instantly ridiculous backlash for no reason whatsoever. It is like people just learned about trolling the day before and decide to screw with stuff that is legitimate for no reason.
And I guess finally finally, I just want to say that this who idea that TF2 pros are just shitty quake players is ridiculous. I kind of feel stupid even explaining this but the Quake scene was an established scene(and a great game btw) before TF2 came out if players in that scene were winning what reason would they have to switch to another FPS. Basically they would have to be morons to switch if they were winning. Skills from other FPS's transfer over to TF2 so this idea that it would have its own unique players and players coming in with competitive experience and a determination to play competitively wouldn't make it is laughable. It is like you saying that all SC2 players are just washed up WC3 and SCBW players. Who cares it doesn't detract from the game and in fact it adds to the storyline. I want to see that kind of high level skill in TF2. After also having over 1000 hours I just want to say that I watched a stream two days ago and I didn't care if I was one of only a couple hundred or a thousand but instead I cared about the content and I love the content.
Hey, just a difference of opinion. As I said, I thought this was a good write-up. I don't enjoy competitive TF2 and to me the whole idea of playing that game at a competitive level is as I said, a joke. Not just cause of the lack of viewers and general interest or the insanely low cash prizes but also because the game itself is a very casual FPS game.
I don't want to be misunderstood either. When I said that most people who play TF2 are very very bad I wasn't talking about the competitive community. I'm talking about the game in general. I tried to keep all of my conversation about the competitive scene in just one paragraph so if that was confusing I apologize. If you go pubbing though you're going to have a very easy time doing well in TF2 because as I said, most of the people who play it are very very bad. Yes, there is more competition if you go to TF2Lobby or if you start doing #tf2.pug.na but on virtually any pub server if you're experienced at PC FPS games you will top frag a lot. Just my experience.
I'm not trying to down too much on the game, I obviously have enjoyed it. Just giving my perspective as to why I don't play it as much. If I came across as some sort of elitist or someone who thinks they're "super pro" then I apologize. I just don't much like the competitive community in TF2.
On July 03 2011 15:00 Ruscour wrote: I'm considering playing, can anyone from Aus/NZ confirm that they shut down the local servers? I read that somewhere.
There are plenty of quality servers available in Australia, if that's what you're asking. Many are run by the big ISPs such as Internode. All you have to do to find them is to filter the server list by location.
On July 03 2011 16:43 overt wrote: Hey, just a difference of opinion. As I said, I thought this was a good write-up. I don't enjoy competitive TF2 and to me the whole idea of playing that game at a competitive level is as I said, a joke. Not just cause of the lack of viewers and general interest or the insanely low cash prizes but also because the game itself is a very casual FPS game.
I don't want to be misunderstood either. When I said that most people who play TF2 are very very bad I wasn't talking about the competitive community. I'm talking about the game in general. I tried to keep all of my conversation about the competitive scene in just one paragraph so if that was confusing I apologize. If you go pubbing though you're going to have a very easy time doing well in TF2 because as I said, most of the people who play it are very very bad. Yes, there is more competition if you go to TF2Lobby or if you start doing #tf2.pug.na but on virtually any pub server if you're experienced at PC FPS games you will top frag a lot. Just my experience.
I'm not trying to down too much on the game, I obviously have enjoyed it. Just giving my perspective as to why I don't play it as much. If I came across as some sort of elitist or someone who thinks they're "super pro" then I apologize. I just don't much like the competitive community in TF2.
I guess the one thing we do agree on is the community can be pretty meh sometimes but I think to call the game a joke is pretty ridiculous. Maybe I am misunderstanding but it seems like you are saying you think the whole scene is shit and people trying to actually play the game seriously are doing something wrong. I just don't see your reasoning at all, what is wrong with it competitively?
I mean I personally feel like the level of skill is amazing, players are always evolving and getting better, and that there isn't any real reason why TF2 should be treated as inferior to other FPS games. I mean with the way CS and Quake are taking hits I hope that it can be a refuge for a lot of the pros that need to move on to a newer game. I love both of those games but there isn't really anything on the horizon for them. There may not be anything on the horizon for TF2 either with the dropping out of coL and EG being a ways in the past but I at least hope with this new free to play model and raising awareness of an already awesome community in SC2 there is an opportunity to make a case for TF2.
I just don't understand what you think TF2 is missing to go as far as call competitive TF2 a joke and say people shouldn't expect to enjoy watching it.
I don't really want to derail this thread anymore than I might have, so I'll just say that in my opinion this game is really fun to pick up and play but I wouldn't try to get into the competitive side unless you've already spent at least 150 hours in one of the four comp classes (Medic, Scout, Solly, Demo).
On July 03 2011 17:17 overt wrote: I don't really want to derail this thread anymore than I might have, so I'll just say that in my opinion this game is really fun to pick up and play but I wouldn't try to get into the competitive side unless you've already spent at least 150 hours in one of the four comp classes (Medic, Scout, Solly, Demo).
Yeah quality time frame there but for new players that isn't necessarily set in stone but you need to make sure you are fairly decent enough. As you said earlier 24 man servers are a good measurement tool for how decent you are compared to 32 man. If you dominate in those and you have a decent number of hours on the class you want to play then you are probably good.
On July 03 2011 16:43 overt wrote: I'm hatin' on the competitive TF2 scene 'coz that game's like, for kids and shit
Obviously the general pub skill level is low, but that doesn't mean that there's no skill in the game, in fact, I would say that TF2 contains the most depth out of of competitive FPS out there currently, not only because it's not a (and I realize the irony in generalizing another FPS during the defense of my own) "run around and twitch-er" and because of that team dynamic we all know and love.
There's a reason why most TF2 Players come from a Quake Live background, they are both games that require amazing precision and skill to be at the top of, which is why you can hardly judge the complexity of a game based on its most simplistic appearances.
I'm not too familiar with the TF2 community or higher end play, but in general what I've understood is that it's a passable game for competetive play with a healthy playerbase to keep up the competition. It's in no way a perfect match for competetive play, but with the gaming industry being what it is these days, TF2 is one of the better options you've got.
my advice to anyone is just to play the game, try different game types and find what is fun for you. Don't pay attention to any class guides or any balance threads on steam forums(they are shit).
Personally, it was arena that really got me into the game. Made lots of friends and eventually I moved onto comp play but I still pub. For anyone that wants to jump into comp as fast as possible, I would recommend playing lots of deathmatch mods, and hopping onto tf2lobby. tf2lobby is pretty terrible, but its the easiest start to 6v6 play.
Also it is certainly not considered a joke as a competitive game... many quake/cs players enjoy comp tf2 and vice versa.
edit: oh and here is a nice RECENT frag movie of tf2. From the last season of esea-i, shows frags from every player on the team and has snazzy editing so I thought it would be a good vid for people not familiar with tf2
it says 12hour download. anyway to speed up steam download games, it took me a bloody hour to download kotor1. download speed from speedtest is 4.2mpbs
On July 03 2011 18:28 gullberg wrote: You say COMPETITIVE TF2 and yet you link to TF2lobby, effing facepalm son.
Just use #tf2pickup (Atleast that was popular when I played 2 years ago)
All the other shit seems to have died off, tf2lobby is great for learning to play competitively. If you are better than that you don't need a fucking guide.
On July 03 2011 18:59 Isaac wrote: it says 12hour download. anyway to speed up steam download games, it took me a bloody hour to download kotor1. download speed from speedtest is 4.2mpbs
Damn that sucks I have had some trouble with things starting at a high downloading speed but then slowing down a ton. You could try pausing and unpausing.
On July 03 2011 18:59 Isaac wrote: it says 12hour download. anyway to speed up steam download games, it took me a bloody hour to download kotor1. download speed from speedtest is 4.2mpbs
Steam servers are under huge pressure currently with the sale all downloads for me have been slow.
Tf2 is a great game, it makes a difference from the normal cod/bf serious theme, well worth a try
On July 03 2011 18:59 Isaac wrote: it says 12hour download. anyway to speed up steam download games, it took me a bloody hour to download kotor1. download speed from speedtest is 4.2mpbs
To my calculation, your actual download speed would be around 500KBps. TF2 is around 10GB, so if your full speed connection can be that right, it would take around 6 hours. I downloaded the whole thing with 1.5MBps xD took around 2 hour ^^
On July 04 2011 00:04 TelV wrote: Where did he get those Splatter Effects? My Game is like: Oh He died,there is his Body,but no rolling pieces of his body -,-
The German version is cut :p
Uncut=limps fly around after killing someone and massive amounts of blood.
German version= no blood and "splatter" means cog wheels, hamburger etc flying around(not joking...)
The free version was uncut for Germans until 3 days ago. One way to play uncut is: Delete the team fortress 2 low violence.gfc-file under steam/steamapps(you have to have steam closed for that), start hotspot, start steam and connect to a server, tab out and close hotspot or your ping will be horrible. As soon as you close the game steam will download that team fortress 2 low violence.gfc file again...
Don't know if this gets you banned tho. € It's actually such a hassle that I just started to play the cut version, it doesn't matter that much to me anyway, I play mostly Medic :p
I always get an error saying that steam is overloaded when I try to download this game. Is there any way of downloading it without going over steam? :sadface:
But one thing you can do is go into your steam settings and look for "set download region". Change it from wherever you are to someplace else, like Estonia (if you're not in Estonia)...sometimes that can help when download servers are overloaded, which they frequently are
OP, this is a great guide, nice work.
I've been playing TF2 since near the beginning, around April 2007. #1 advice to new players: when you start out, play Medic.
The reason is the TF2 community is pretty well established, and like other multiplayer FPS games, can be pretty hostile to new players who don't know the ropes. But Medics are always welcome. Plus, it's an easy class to play, and you have time to observe how others do it, how the maps flow, decision making, etc.. Also, the uber is what TF2 was built around, so you can really make an impact by using one at the right time
On July 04 2011 01:27 OmaplatA wrote: ^ No, you have to go through steam
But one thing you can do is go into your steam settings and look for "set download region". Change it from wherever you are to someplace else, like Estonia (if you're not in Estonia)...sometimes that can help when download servers are overloaded, which they frequently are
OP, this is a great guide, nice work.
I've been playing TF2 since near the beginning, around April 2007. #1 advice to new players: when you start out, play Medic.
The reason is the TF2 community is pretty well established, and like other multiplayer FPS games, can be pretty hostile to new players who don't know the ropes. But Medics are always welcome. Plus, it's an easy class to play, and you have time to observe how others do it, how the maps flow, decision making, etc.. Also, the uber is what TF2 was built around, so you can really make an impact by using one at the right time
Good point about the medic stuff I knew I was missing something I am going to edit and add it right in to competitive part maybe I will just add your quote itself. Thanks.
Cool read, not of a whole lot of use to me as I generally just play TF2 purely for fun. I'm not actively trying to get better and be competitive like I am with SC2.
I think I'm fairly decent at the game however, and will check out TF2lobby.
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