Open the release [Valve], let out the [Steam]

[Myatar_Panwar]

http://jmz.iki.fi/images/steam_powered.jpg
This thread will take the place of the previous Orange Box thread, which has now expired. Feel free to discuss anything Steam related. Although discussion will primarily cycle between valve games such as Team Fortress 2 and Left4Dead, feel free to discuss anything steam related.

I hope nobody minds that I started the new thread. It didn't seem that anyone had decided to do it yet, so I figured why not. Awesome thread title credit goes to Arbitarity.

What is Steam?
Steam is a free to use program used to digitally distribute video games. I like to see Steam as "The Future" :smallwink:. All games bought over steam are played with steam running, and any of your friends can see what game you are playing at any time, and join with ease. It very much like X-Fire if you are familiar with that, except Steam also acts as a distributer of games.

How do I get steam?
You can get steam for free here (http://store.steampowered.com/about/).

What kind of games are on steam?
The good kinds. Valve games are probably the more popular steam products, but steam has begun to expand their list of developers willing to sell their games through them. Games like Call of Duty: World at War, Prince of Persia, and Warhammer 40K, Dawn of War are all available on steam.

You mentioned 'Valve'. What the heck is that?
Valve, to put it simply, is a game company. They have created some of the greatest games at least I have ever played. Half-Life and Half Life 2, Team Fortress 2, and Portal are a few of the games which have made Valve famous. In fact, according to their site, Valve games "account for over 80% of the PC online action market." Whether thats completely true or not doesn't matter. They are just plain awesome. They also happen to be the creators of Steam.

Is there a GitP Steam Group?
Yes (http://steamcommunity.com/groups/gitp). If you would like an invite, please post your steam id (your actual id, not your "nickname") and someone will invite you.

Games probably being discussed, and games you should be playing right now.

Left4Dead

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd216/Karloke23/untitled-7.jpg
Left4Dead (http://www.l4d.com/) is a cooperative zombie survival game, in a few words. In the campaign setting, the players work together, each playing a common movie archetype, to fight off the zombie horde. Each part of the game is played like a movie, each with 5 chapters. There are 4 total "movies".

The entire campaign can be played with 3 friends over the internet (you makes 4), from beginning to end. Also, if you want a bit more of a psychotic spin, you can have other players play the Zombies in the special Versus mode! The computer AI is bad enough, but when you have real people behind those zombies, it can get brutal.

But wouldn't it get boring just playing the same few chapters over an over again you ask? In any other game, yes! But in Left4Dead, the AI is specifically controlled by something called the "AI director". If you were to compare it to a tabletop game, I guess you could call him the Dungeon Master. Based on the players actions, the AI Director will enhance the game to fit their "needs" of the players (namely death...). So if the players are standing still for too long, the director will likely send a horde after them. Or maybe one of them is straying a little too far behind, a smoker will appear and rope him in. This makes for a different game experience everytime.

Team Fortress 2

http://www.gameguru.in/images/team-fortress-2-preview.jpg
Team Fortress 2 (http://www.teamfortress.com/) is essentially a online multiplayer shooter, with a bit more of an emphasis on teamwork than most. There is no death match in TF2, only objective maps. The two biggest are Payload (escorting a bomb cart on a map. It moves when it has people adjacent to it. The defenders must stop the cart from reaching the finish in the time alloted) and Capture Point (the offensive side must capture a number of points in the time alloted. If they capture one point, time is extended to capture the other points).

Upon entering a server, you will be prompted to pick a class to start playing as, and a side. You are not bound to this class, you may change at any time. The two factions in Team Fortress are RED and BLU. The BLU side is primarily offensive while the RED side is primarily defensive. Why are they fighting? Who cares!?

There are 9 classes in TF2:
-The scout (fast runner and close quarters combat)
-The solider (rocket launcher wielding offensive character)
-The pyro (armed with a flamethrower, high close quarters damage)
-The engineer (can build sentry guns and replenish ammo, primarily defensive)
-The demoman (uses sticky bombs to set traps for his enemies, useful for taking out sentries)
-The spy (can disguise as enemies and cause general havok behind enemy lines)
-The medic (the healer of the group, heals with a medigun)
-The heavy (the tank, high hitpoints, slow moving, and a minigun)
-The sniper (uses his sniper rifle to take down powerful enemies from a range)


The List - Forum names with their steam ID (taken from Zakama's thread. It is NOT finished. With the some 100 people in the group and the search-every-5-minutes cap placed on the forum, this could take some time... It may be easier to just PM me or post here with your forum name->steam ID, if you care)
Zakama -> RugglesIV
revolver kobold -> draper13
Dumbledore Lives -> Lord_Darth_Paul
Dairun Cates -> DairunCates
Mushroom Ninja -> Mushroom Ninja
Dispozition -> legendinhislunchbox
Killersquid -> Killer_Squid
Arbitrarity -> =(e)=™[GitP]Arbitrary
Myatar_Panwar -> [GitP] Myatar
AlterForm -> angelicdeath6
Phase -> Phase
LightWraith - Wraith28k
The Linker -> [GitP] Lilplinka
Zenos -> Ciaphas Cain [NOR]
Albub -> Phallus in Bumderland
expirement10K14 -> Ghostie1137
Nothingclever -> somethingclever844
Deth Muncher (PM Him for username)

Apelords List (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=5372468&postcount=21) - shows steam/forum name and the multiplayer games they own as well as a link to their profile (If you would like to be on the list, either PM/post me or Apelord69 with your multiplayer games and a link to your account information, or add one of us as a freind over steam and we will get your information)


Cool things
Pyro's TF2 Banner. Like TF2? Use this!
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x151/Pyro8761/Banner1.png

Give me moar cool things to put here! :smalleek: I know onasuma made a chart at some point with topics to talk about, but I'll be damned if I could find it.

[AlterForm]

AlterForm -> angelicdeath6

[onasuma]

Bah, i wanted to make this... So much I was gonna add...]

Ah well, my fault for not saying anything and sleeping.

[Myatar_Panwar]

What did you want to add? I'll stick it up there.

[Dispozition]

Hmmm...New thread...Yummy. Anyway, how many people in the group are Australasia area? I'm thinking about making a more actual getting together in games clan for GitP, but since I'd be the one running it, you'd have to be able to get a decent ping on Aussie servers...

[revolver kobold]

I'm in Perth, West Australia. Give us a shout if you are up for some TF2 or Left4Dead, I'm available most week nights.

[Bryn]

Give me moar cool things to put here! :smalleek: I know Z-Axis made a chart at some point with topics to talk about, but I'll be damned if I could find it.
Onasuma made that list, actually :smallwink:

This might be a good time to ask if anyone wants to be promoted. I think I've already set it up so anybody can post announcements but if you think you'd make good, sensible use of admin-powers then just ask!

[Dispozition]

Never! We 5 shall be the only rulers of the GitP clan!

But seriously, 5 of us is probably enough. Considering there's just under 100 people, that's a fairly good ratio if you ask me, even more so when you look at how we don't really do much, if anything :P

Also, Gitp AU is up. Invite only, so drop me a friend invite or a message when you see me on steam friends. Hopefully we can get into some leagues as well and actually do some kinda competitive gaming :P That or just much around in Gmod, TF2 and L4D :D
A sexy vector of the GitP foot for the group pic will be forthcoming when I can be assed doing it :P

[revolver kobold]

If it doesn't have wallabies, hats with corks on them and the Sniper from TF2, I will be very upset.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

Apparently, Empire: Total War is coming out on Steam.

[Mc. Lovin']

I'll get up a list of people's steam ID's later, and what multiplayer games we have to play :smallsmile:

[Phase]

Phase -> Phase

Dawww!

This thread should focus a little less on Steam, a little more on Valve. Afterall, not everyone likes Steam, but if you don't like what Valve has done for gaming history, you have no soul.

[Zenos]

Log-in name: Darlsu
Usual name in-game: Ciaphas Cain [NOR].

[The Linker]

Yeah, what Phase said. The title really is awesome, but I don't know that we'll attract fans of TF2 and L4D with it. Plus, do we truly want this to become a discussion of ALL Steam games? That's a lot! That's, like, everything except WoW. :smalltongue:

Also:

The Linker ---> [GitP] Lilplinka

[Myatar_Panwar]

This thread should focus a little less on Steam, a little more on Valve. Afterall, not everyone likes Steam, but if you don't like what Valve has done for gaming history, you have no soul.

IMO, if you can't appreciate what steam is doing for PC gaming, you have no soul. :smallwink: Digital distribution offered with an in-game rating, a universal friends/group list, and an actual list of popular/important games is pretty amazing. I've probably bought more Steam games than I have boxed copies.


Yeah, what Phase said. The title really is awesome, but I don't know that we'll attract fans of TF2 and L4D with it. Plus, do we truly want this to become a discussion of ALL Steam games? That's a lot! That's, like, everything except WoW.

2 good points there. Would just changing the title to "Open the Release [Valve], let out the Steam" work you think? And maybe a little more love in the OP as well.



Anyway, any more suggestions? And sorry onasuma, for some reason I thought Z-Axis made that chart. Thats probably why I coulden't find it. :smalltongue:

I'll be sure to edit the OP into a more Valve friendly piece of work when I get home, but for now I've got some turkey to go consume!

[Albub]

I'll get back into steam gaming when my suspension ends and I get video game privileges back.

Albub --> Phallus in Bumderland

[The Linker]

But as for addressing all games, I'd bet that people will still keep to discussing the usual popular valve titles. But everyonce in awhile I woulden't mind being reminded/told of something else cool on Steam. For instance, I really wish my friend, who capitalized on the situation, would have told me about the 75% off deal on Overlord last week, before it was too late. :smallannoyed:


Too true, too true. Maybe we could have the OP have something along the lines of "This thread is particularily for discussion of Team Fortress 2 and Left 4 Dead, but is definitely open to all Steam games and Steam-related news." Man, that's wooden. Please don't take that verbatim. :smalltongue:

I was also wondering about the capitilization. You've got the first word capitilized, and the two subjects of the thread -- then Release is capitilized. To me, it sort of hides the fact that Valve is an important word. Newbies probably wouldn't see it at all. Putting brackets around both Valve AND Steam might make it look better, but I dunno. You've got me thinking too much now. :smalltongue:

As a final note, I like the FAQ-style conept you've got in the OP, but, since we may be focusing on Valve more, I would suggest a 'What/Who is Valve?' question as well. In addition, stipulating it as a "For newcomers" section may be good, too.

These are all just suggestions -- the OP is already much better than my World of Warcarft OP, that's for dang sure. :smalleek:

[Leper_Kahn]

My ID is: LeperKahn1315

@v No, actually I've never played Team Fortress 2.

[onasuma]

I think its time for a challenge. People, you've played tf2. But, have you ever wondered who the best dualist in GITP is? Now is the time to find out.

Some basically, i want to organise a 1 v 1 arena tornament for the reason of working out the best dualist on itp. Below are the rules:


All matches will be 1 v 1 arena to the best of 3 rounds.

Each player may choose each class of each grouping only once during each of these. For example in round 1 it may be pyro vs. medic. On the second round the pyro can be anything but pyro and the medic anything but medic, so they pick heavy and pyro. Then on the last round pyro + heavy must take a support class (spy, medic or sniper) and the medic + pyro must be a defensive class (engi, heavy or demo)

Each time you win a match you get 5 points, draw you get 2 and lose you get zero on the table of points.

A match won by single melee kill (on the last round) that is NOT a backstab is worth double points for the leader board

Once everyone has played everyone else we will count up points and the one with the most wins


Taking sign ups.

[Mc. Lovin']

Count me in.

(list of [GitP]ers comming up)

[Mc. Lovin']

If I don't know your current Giant in the Playground forums username I'll use your steam one.

I'll add other multiplayer games to the list if you ask through PM

The names link to their steam users profile, where you can add the person. This is particularly useful for Left 4 Dead users, so we can set up whole "friends only" versus servers.

Finally, if you aint been online for ages I aint adding you! Sucks to be you I guess (but you won't be reading this)

Apelord69 (http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197986192592) - UK (GMT)
Multiplayer games:
Half Life 2 Deathmatch
Counter Strike Source
Team Fortress 2
Garry's Mod 10
Left 4 Dead
Multiwinia
Synergy

Z-Axis (http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197972293272) - UK (GMT)
Multiplayer games:
Half Life 2 Deathmatch
Counter Strike Source
Team Fortress 2
Garry's Mod 10
Synergy

Onasuma (http://steamcommunity.com/id/Onasuma)
Multiplayer games: - UK (GMT)
Counter Strike Source
Team Fortress 2
Left 4 Dead
Synergy

Maestro (http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197989971527) - UK (GMT)
Multiplayer games:
Counter Strike Source
Day of Defeat Source
Team Fortress 2
Left 4 Dead
Multiwinia

Dispozition (http://steamcommunity.com/id/legendwhat) - Australia (GMT +10)
Multiplayer games:
Half Life 2 Deathmatch
Counter Strike Source
Day of Defeat Source
Unreal Tournaments
Team Fortress 2
Left 4 Dead
Multiwinia

Malic (http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197994261513)
Multiplayer games:
Team Fortress 2
Left 4 Dead
CSS

A Flying Spork (http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198000107875) - UK (GMT)
Multiplayer games:
Team Fortress 2

Illiterate Scribe (http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197997499561)
Multiplayer games:
Team Fortress 2

Phase (http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197999711156)
Multiplayer games:
Left 4 Dead

Shadow Magi (http://steamcommunity.com/id/Shadowmagi)
Multiplayer games:
Team Fortress 2

<*(((>< (http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197989187136)
Multiplayer games:
Team Fortress 2
Left 4 Dead

Alter Form (http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197995209943)
Multiplayer games:
Team Fortress 2
Zombie Master

Askaris (http://steamcommunity.com/id/Askaris45) - UK (GMT)
Multiplayer games:
Team Fortress 2
Left 4 Dead

Attilargh (http://steamcommunity.com/id/attilargh)
Mulltiplayer games:
Team Fortress 2

Vazzaroth (http://steamcommunity.com/id/ugtpwnd)
Multiplayer games:
Counter Strike Source
Team Fortress 2
Left 4 Dead

Waffle SS (http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197984815967)
Multiplayer games:
Counter Strike Source
Day of Defeat Source
Team Fortress 2
Left 4 Dead

Eldpollard (http://steamcommunity.com/id/eldpollard)
Multiplayer games:
Team Fortress 2
Left 4 Dead

Catbarf (http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197978938068) (has THE MOST TF2 acheivments I've seen)
Multiplayer games:
Counter Strike Source
Team Fortress 2
Left 4 Dead

Chiasaur11 (http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198001130257)
Multiplayer games:
Half Life 2 Deathmatch
Team Fortress 2
Garry's Mod 10

Fireleaf (http://steamcommunity.com/id/fireleaf)
Multiplayer games:
Counter Strike Source
Day of Defeat Source
Team Fortress 2
Left 4 Dead

Jinura (http://steamcommunity.com/id/fireleaf)
Multiplayer games:
Counter Strike Source
Day of Defeat Source
Team Fortress 2
Age of Chivalry

Mr. Wizard (http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197973279835)
Multiplayer games:
Counter Strike Source
Team Fortress 2

Seventeenth Squid (http://steamcommunity.com/id/seventeenthsquid)
Multiplayer games:
Team Fortress 2

Talandar (http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197962188062)
Multiplayer games:
Counter Strike Source
Day of Defeat Source
Team Fortress 2
Left 4 Dead

The Baron (http://steamcommunity.com/id/Scintillatus)
Multiplayer games:
Team Fortress 2

Arbitrary (http://steamcommunity.com/id/314159) - Canada (GMT-5)
Multiplayer games:
Team Fortress 2
Left 4 Dead

Liplinka (http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197972468884) - Canada (GMT -5)
Multiplayer games:
Counter Strike Source
Team Fortress 2

Myatar (http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197996928270)
Multiplayer games:
Team Fortress 2
Left 4 Dead

Ruggles IV (http://steamcommunity.com/id/rugglesiv)
Multiplayer games:
Counter Strike Source

Setra (http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197980693479)
Multiplayer games:
Counter Strike Source
Team Fortress 2

God of Pie (http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197993031965)
Multiplayer games:
Team Fortress 2

Okay, that's all I'm going to do for now. I'll finish the list later on. PM me if you need any changes done :smallwink:

[The Linker]

Hmmm... I've played all of five minutes of Counterstrike: Source; it just came with HL2. I can't decide if it should be up there. :smallconfused:

One factor is that without it, I've only got one game in the list, and that's totally lame. :smalltongue:

[Mc. Lovin']

I mainly put all multiplayer games up there for any planning of GitP games, so we know how many people have what game, and who we should invite to that game. (I wanna do a lot more clan matches with this new thread)

But also, I put it up there so you can easily add anyone in the GitP group.

Anyway, it's not hard to say "No I dont wanna play CSS, go choose someone else" :smalltongue:

[The Linker]

Heh, yeah, I guess I should be used to it. At least two or three times so far, I've had people invite me to Left 4 Dead games... which I've had to sadly reject. :smallfrown:

Christmas... Christmas shall come soon...

[Arbitrarity]

I think its time for a challenge. People, you've played tf2. But, have you ever wondered who the best dualist in GITP is? Now is the time to find out.

Some basically, i want to organise a 1 v 1 arena tornament for the reason of working out the best dualist on itp. Below are the rules:


All matches will be 1 v 1 arena to the best of 3 rounds.

Each player may choose each class of each grouping only once during each of these. For example in round 1 it may be pyro vs. medic. On the second round the pyro can be anything but pyro and the medic anything but medic, so they pick heavy and pyro. Then on the last round pyro + heavy must take a support class (spy, medic or sniper) and the medic + pyro must be a defensive class (engi, heavy or demo)

Each time you win a match you get 5 points, draw you get 2 and lose you get zero on the table of points.

A match won by single melee kill (on the last round) that is NOT a backstab is worth double points for the leader board

Once everyone has played everyone else we will count up points and the one with the most wins


Taking sign ups.

Rock, Paper, Scissors.

Meh, I guess I'll join. The problem is, IMHO, that there are some classes much better 1v1, and support classes are weak 1v1, unless they get lucky. I'd likely end up Sniper, Scout, Demo or something.

The other issue is RPS balance. A player might get lucky, as in Sniper vs Heavy, Scout vs Spy, Demo vs Engi, Engi vs scout, etc.

Also, 1v1 arena, health matters a lot. Which map? Lumberyard, for example, has the useful health kit, unlike Badlands. This biases towards Engineers, Medics, and Sandviches.

Dang, that melee kill makes scout more attractive. Chancey though, with the lack of health. Hm. Practice.


Oh, nocrits plz.

[Mc. Lovin']

PS.

I made Phase the player of the week 'cus I think it's cool that he changes his avatar according to the moon

(and he got L4D)

[onasuma]

Rock, Paper, Scissors.

Meh, I guess I'll join. The problem is, IMHO, that there are some classes much better 1v1, and support classes are weak 1v1, unless they get lucky. I'd likely end up Sniper, Scout, Demo or something.

The other issue is RPS balance. A player might get lucky, as in Sniper vs Heavy, Scout vs Spy, Demo vs Engi, Engi vs scout, etc.

Also, 1v1 arena, health matters a lot. Which map? Lumberyard, for example, has the useful health kit, unlike Badlands. This biases towards Engineers, Medics, and Sandviches.

Dang, that melee kill makes scout more attractive. Chancey though, with the lack of health. Hm. Practice.


Oh, nocrits plz.

Medics with blutsager are good in 1 v 1 and the other two support classes both have in instant kill. Id call it equal.

Map wise, 3 maps: arena gravelpit, arena granary and arena badlands. One per map.

I say people make their own luck. And anyway, if we get 12 people playing, lucks gonna balance out.

And yes, engis, medics and sandviches are attractive. Your problem is?

Also, no crits is a given

[Phase]

PS.

I made Phase the player of the week 'cus I think it's cool that he changes his avatar according to the moon

(and he got L4D)

Sweet! Bow, minions! Bow!

[onasuma]

Dont make me come over there and steal your hea...



Never mind...



(also, more people get on the steam chat more often. No ones ever on.)

[Arbitrarity]

Medics with blutsager are good in 1 v 1 and the other two support classes both have in instant kill. Id call it equal.

Map wise, 3 maps: arena gravelpit, arena granary and arena badlands. One per map.

I say people make their own luck. And anyway, if we get 12 people playing, lucks gonna balance out.

And yes, engis, medics and sandviches are attractive. Your problem is?

Also, no crits is a given

I talk too much :P. Most of my ramble is formulating plans, and mentally clarifying. Classes are hopefully balanced 1v1, though not against each other, of course.

Good for nocrits. This makes that melee kill even harder to come by. I should keep track of my opponent's potential classes.

[Dispozition]

EDIT: Ignore me, I didn't read his post...

Also, if you can list your country, or the country of the server you play on as well as your steam usename, it'd be awesome. Makes it way easier to organise matches and that.

[Mc. Lovin']

(also, more people get on the steam chat more often. No ones ever on.)

Okay O, from now on, If I'm on steam I'm in the chat.


*People and Games list has been updated*

[Mc. Lovin']

EDIT: Ignore me, I didn't read his post...

Also, if you can list your country, or the country of the server you play on as well as your steam usename, it'd be awesome. Makes it way easier to organise matches and that.

Okay, but that'd have to be PM'd to me as well, I don't know where you all come from :smalltongue:

[Dispozition]

Okay, but that'd have to be PM'd to me as well, I don't know where you all come from :smalltongue:

I was talking to everyone, not you :P

[Mc. Lovin']

That'd be my bad then.

[Arbitrarity]

I always assumed this was the pun made by valve when they came up with steam. Or something of this nature.

[Myatar_Panwar]

Back and with plenty of tripdephan :smallbiggrin:, I have updated the OP to put a bit more of a valve emphasis to it.

And I probably won't do to well, but I would also like to compete onasuma.

Edit: Also, would Apelords list be preferable for the OP? Having one place to have everyones information would definitely be handy, I just wasn't sure how complicated you guys wanted to get.

(also I was too much of a lazy bastard to do that much work)

[AlterForm]

Tryptophan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tryptophan#Turkey_meat_and_drowsiness)

Just...just sayin'. :smallwink:

[Mc. Lovin']

Back and with plenty of tripdephan :smallbiggrin:, I have updated the OP to put a bit more of a valve emphasis to it.

And I probably won't do to well, but I would also like to compete onasuma.

Edit: Also, would Apelords list be preferable for the OP? Having one place to have everyones information would definitely be handy, I just wasn't sure how complicated you guys wanted to get.

(also I was too much of a lazy bastard to do that much work)

Sure, if you want. It'd be easier there then half way down the page, I'll tell you when I update it (I'm about half way through everyone in the GitP steam group, if you aren't in there yet then add me on friends [apelord69] so I can put you on the list)

[Myatar_Panwar]

Sure, if you want. It'd be easier there then half way down the page, I'll tell you when I update it (I'm about half way through everyone in the GitP steam group, if you aren't in there yet then add me on friends [apelord69] so I can put you on the list)

Added.


Tryptophan

Just...just sayin'.

menacingglare.gif

I am a pretty horrible speller. This has to be the third time I've been corrected on these forums. Even firefox cannot help me! /weep

Also, did any of you guy's see this (http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3171334)? Its probably just a mistake or some cruel trick, but it would be cool if it were true.

And it got me to thinking: If a 10th class were to be added, what could it possibly be?

[onasuma]

Either a none damage based class, maybe something with knock back or similar, a melee class or a very bulky yet unable to deal out much damage class

[chiasaur11]

Thanks for putting me on the list.

Just a couple of minor corrections and additions:
1) Chiasaur11, not Chisaur11
2) I also have Garry's Mod and HL Deathmatch. Not much, but there you go.

[Mc. Lovin']

Thanks for putting me on the list.

Just a couple of minor corrections and additions:
1) Chiasaur11, not Chisaur11
2) I also have Garry's Mod and HL Deathmatch. Not much, but there you go.

Hokay! Done.

I think, maybe, you should link to my post in the first post of the thread, then you dont have do keep changing the list whenever I do.

[The Linker]

Hey, yeah! Garry's Mod 10 should be added to the list for me as well. I've never played it with anyone online, except once, a long time ago, in version 9, and I was named Mingebag. Yup. Didn't even know how to change my name. The other players quickly closed me off in a pen and went about their business. :smalltongue: But yeah, I'd love to play with fellow GitPers to what it's like.

[Myatar_Panwar]

It would be awesome to have a GitP GMOD event. I don't know what we would do, but it would be awesome!

The only problem being that I always have a hard time finding a server without ridiculous restrictions on creation (probably supposed to be fighting servers or something), or crazy lag.

[Volug]

Tell me what you guys think of this TF2 pic...
http://img117.imageshack.us/img117/84/dndcharthf7.png


I personally think they should switch spy and soldier.


And my steam ID is the same as my username.

[Archangel Yuki]

So I was playing Left 4 Dead the other day, and had an awesome team that was just so cooridinated and worked together that i wanted to cry.

Thus, it was much to my dismay when the server randomly started switching teams bewteen every map. Has this happened to anyone else? Its the first time it has ever happened to me personally, and I was wondering if it was a normal occurance.

Also, in 2nd note: I have discovered complete cheese way of winning on the last stage in No Mercy. :DD :smallbiggrin:

[LightWraith]

Yeah, I've had my team switched around in Versus before. Kind of frustrating when you're trying to practice teamwork.

[1stEd.Thief]

This is just a general comment about Steam:

I think digital distribution is fine and all, but I bought the Half-Life episode pack because I wanted a game to play when I had NO INTERNET ACCESS! (yea, it happens sometimes)

Steam won't let you play your games if you aren't logged in, and I think that's junk. Maybe if they had a timer (like 5 game launches max without logging in) or something It'd be fine... but I bought the game specifically for OFFLINE play. :(

[chiasaur11]

Tell me what you guys think of this TF2 pic...
http://img117.imageshack.us/img117/84/dndcharthf7.png


I personally think they should switch spy and soldier.


And my steam ID is the same as my username.

I'm not sure about the Scout. I mean, he is a colossal jerk.

Also, Gary's Mod 10 no longer has Mingebag as a name option thing, it seems from my minimal testing. But I could be wrong.

[onasuma]

This is just a general comment about Steam:

I think digital distribution is fine and all, but I bought the Half-Life episode pack because I wanted a game to play when I had NO INTERNET ACCESS! (yea, it happens sometimes)

Steam won't let you play your games if you aren't logged in, and I think that's junk. Maybe if they had a timer (like 5 game launches max without logging in) or something It'd be fine... but I bought the game specifically for OFFLINE play. :(

Why do these people always end up here?

You can, I repeat can, play games while not connected to the internet via steam. Theres a lovely "start in offline mode" button which you press, the last account that logged on to that pc will log on, then go to the games tab and play the games.

Geez, how many people do we need to tell?

[chiasaur11]

Why do these people always end up here?

You can, I repeat can, play games while not connected to the internet via steam. Theres a lovely "start in offline mode" button which you press, the last account that logged on to that pc will log on, then go to the games tab and play the games.

Geez, how many people do we need to tell?

To be fair, some games can be trouble to get started in offline mode.

Just saying.

[Neo]

yeah, and you have to be online to get achievements, which can be a pain, like when your router reconnects moments before almost getting Man vs Tank in L4D lol.

btw for the list my username is [email protected] on steam, feel free to add me, i've got pretty much all of the HL2 online games apart from Garry's Mod, though i'm pretty much just playing L4D atm.

[The Linker]

Where are these huge numbers of people that have come here asking about playing Steam games offline? I've been here since the beginnings of the Orange Box thread and I've not seen one person with that complaint. :smallconfused: I guess they all made threads of their own?

[onasuma]

Where are these huge numbers of people that have come here asking about playing Steam games offline? I've been here since the beginnings of the Orange Box thread and I've not seen one person with that complaint. :smallconfused: I guess they all made threads of their own?

Well, i know ive answered 2 or 3. Maybe I just seem to remember things that dont matter and exadgerate them due to my general grumpiness today (from illness) but im sure theres been a whole lot more.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

I'm probably going to get Steam to pre-order Empire: Total War on it to get my free Rome: Total War.

[Dispozition]

To be fair, even in offline mode a lot of games don't like working unless you've played them while online in the past little while. I had this problem with CSS, DoDS, and a few other games that I hadn't played in a while when I was at a lan. We only had net access for one comp but enough cables to lan us all up. Had to connect, run the game, then close it and disconnect before it worked.

[Demented]

I'm not sure about the Scout. I mean, he is a colossal jerk.

None of the TF2 characters qualify for "good".
The scout's a jerk. The Heavy likes killing things. The Medic, well, have you seen the ubersaw?

[Volug]

And this video persuaded me to mess with bots on TF2.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dn9970dxQ2g

[nothingclever]

My ID is somethingclever844 and I only just recently started playing Team Fortress 2.

[Archangel Yuki]

My ID is somethingclever844 and I only just recently started playing Team Fortress 2.

I would reccomend the Doorman Is God servers. Not just to you but genereally everyone. They are quality servers that have good mods and quality players.

My steam is getting ready to dump, but my nick is Yuki if you manage to catch me on the Doorman is God servers. I jump bewteen.

Spy ftw.

[Phase]

I suppose this would count as a Valve related game...

Is anyone else following the mod Black Mesa? Because they just released a trailer and...

http://www.onboarderror.com/videos/BlackMesaTrailer_HQ_720p.wmv

[The Linker]

I've definitely been looking forward to that. I can't get too attached, though, because I know it'll be a VERY long time before we get to play it. :smalltongue:

I can no longer look at the moon without imagining it sucking on a pacifier and waving its rattle at me...

[Myatar_Panwar]

Wait, so that is Half Life 1, but using the updated engine and graphics capabilities? Damn thats awesome. I'm playing through HL1 right now for the first time, and even though its quite awesome, the graphics/physics are certainly showing their age.

[The Linker]

It won't be COMPLETELY the same, I hear. They're doing it from the ground up, and I think they're adding some things in. Anyway, check out the website: www.blackmesasource.com

Go listen to the music, in the downloads section... it is truly epic. :smalleek:

[ObadiahtheSlim]

I would reccomend the Doorman Is God servers. Not just to you but genereally everyone. They are quality servers that have good mods and quality players.

My steam is getting ready to dump, but my nick is Yuki if you manage to catch me on the Doorman is God servers. I jump bewteen.

Spy ftw.

I don't really play on the DiG servers. I don't care for the 32 man TF2 servers for one reason only. The maps and gameplay aren't balanced for that sort of thing. You get too much soldier and demo man spam and its no longer a test of skill. I prefer the smaller servers. Ours (nQa (http://stats.nqaclan.com/hl/hlstats.php)) are all 24 man servers and you get much better gameplay.

[NeoVid]

Has anyone else noticed that if you have a keybind for 'kill' in L4D, you have a self destruct button to use as a Boomer?

And as for TF2 servers, I highly recommend my other group's own server, Boontex Roffing Empire (get to it by connecting to tf.boontex.com). It's a server for serious play, though... the admins boot people for dragging their team down.

[Phase]

Well, crap...

My Mike broke. Don't know how, don't know why, but it just up and broke. I'll have to get a new one on the way home tomorrow...

Crap...

[shadow_archmagi]

Returning to ZM talk for a moment


Not really. ZP is about a slow building hoard and a long camping session. ZM the hoard doesnt really change much and theres alot more of them.

That, and, of course, in ZP the zombies are just individual players wandering about, building barrel towers, and whatever else random players do. In ZM the zombies are mass-controlled units (think starcraft) so they tend to have a strategy, even if that strategy is "EVERYONE CHARGE THE FRONT DOOR."

Also, Zombie Panic is about camping. ZM's mapping philosphy alternates between ZM and L4D; There are some maps that are all about camping all the time, other maps that are a straight "GO FROM HERE TO HERE" and other maps that are "Okay, you're in a garage, outside the garage are two tires, a battery, and two gascans. Collect them all and bring them back and then defend for a bit"



Sounds like a poor man's (read: my) kind of L4D. DL'd, trying right now...

[EDIT]: Can you recommend a server?

It isn't too much like L4D; You've got more teammates and the nature of having an AI vs a person controlling the army makes the philosophy of the game totally different. In l4d, you stick together no matter what, always. You never pull a lever until absolutely everyone is read. In ZM, you split up and go as fast as possible; every second the ZM gains more resources.



EDIT: Also never play on an Upgrades server.

TDR and Alters are pretty good servers, although pick TDR first, as some of Alter's admins are less than stellar.

[AlterForm]

Yeah, found [TDR] on my own. Great server. :smallbiggrin:

[NeoVid]

Has anyone else noticed that if you have a keybind for 'kill' in L4D, you have a self destruct button to use as a Boomer?



Screwed that one up, this only works if you bind 'explode', not 'kill', it seems.

[Mc. Lovin']

Ha Ha, bad luck Neo.

[Myatar_Panwar]

Heh heh, yeah I was playing Deathtoll last night, and while we were crossing a bridge, one of the guys just disappeared randomly, his loot dropping to the floor. He quickly responded with a "Don't ask."

Later we learned that he forgot to re-key the console "kill" command. :smallbiggrin:

[Phase]

Hey, does anyone know why some random infected sometimes randomly catch fire or explode upon death? It's happened a couple times to me so far. Could Chicago Ted be involved?

[The Linker]

http://fanboys-online.com/index.php?comic=311

:smallbiggrin:

[TheThan]

Used to play team fortress 2 a lot with my friends, but I frustrated and stopped playing because my computer needs a graphics card upgrade so it’ll run decently.

I used to play the soldier and the heavy mostly sometimes the medic and pyro. I stayed away from the others because of my lousy graphics card. I got pretty good with the solider. Though most people whine about the solider being over powered. Which isn’t the case with all the new upgrades they have now. Most people complain about the splash damage of the rockets, but its only really bad in enclosed spaces. Give the players an inch to move around and they can survive the splash damage. which is why they are good in maps like 2forts where there is limited space.

[Vazzaroth]

Oh man, 3 pages! I havn't noticed this was here for 3 pages?! :smallmad:

Stupid Subscription feature not picking up Edits... :smallfrown:

[Mc. Lovin']

I had awesome fun on TF2 last night

We got Ask, Onasuma, Z-Axis, Myself and Spork playing TF2 on a server. Nice to have a little bit of rivalry between people on the server (nicer to be winning it though)

But something I really liked was the ranking system on the server. Perhaps it's because I was pretty high up, but also because this gives me more reasons to come back, so I can kick some asses and beat O's rank :smallwink:

And in L4D I was trying third person mode. It's pretty disorienting, and the aim's off, but it's sort of fun. I enjoyed it anyway, but if I need to get serious then went into first person mode.

[expirement10K14]

Invite please?

Steam ID is Ghostie1337


I mostly play CS and Insurgency because my computer can't run Left 4 Dead. /cry

[chiasaur11]

Invite please?

Steam ID is Ghostie1337


I mostly play CS and Insurgency because my computer can't run Left 4 Dead. /cry

Can it run TF2?

Because TF2 is awesome.

[Myatar_Panwar]

Grr, looks like some of the changes I made to the OP about a week ago were lost somehow. Anyway, now I have a link just leading directly to Apelords list. So much easier.

And I can't seem to figure out how to invite people to the group. I recall that you only have to be a member to invite, but I may be thinking of something else, and you may need a group leader to invite.

-

Has anyone played Spellforce 2 before? Kind of off topic I know, but its on sale right now, and it looks pretty interesting, and the review isn't that bad. Just wondering if anyone here has opinions on the game.

[Bryn]

To invite someone to the group, just right click on their name in your friends list, go down to "invite to group", and click on the group. Then they have to accept the invite :smallwink:

[Dispozition]

Has anyone played Spellforce 2 before? Kind of off topic I know, but its on sale right now, and it looks pretty interesting, and the review isn't that bad. Just wondering if anyone here has opinions on the game.

I've played the demo, seems fun. I would buy it but I don't have enough in my paypal. Unless 80 USD suddenly became worth 100 AUD again overnight...

[Mc. Lovin']

Well O, I'm now on position 34. I can't remember what you're on, but I'm defnatly catching up.

[onasuma]

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/459-Left-4-Dead

Felt it was worth mentioning.

[Phase]

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/459-Left-4-Dead

Felt it was worth mentioning.

He seems to like it...

Strange...

[onasuma]

Well, it is made by valve...

[Bryn]

Games Yahtzee has liked:
Portal
Psychonauts
Prince of Persia

...
Left 4 Dead.

So much for my 'games beginning with P' conspiracy theory. (Though really Call of Duty 4 and Fallout 3 were also given moderately positive reviews, so that theory should have died long ago).

[InaVegt]

As I'm morally opposed to DRM, I'm not using steam, and would instead suggest that game producers try to work out similar systems without DRM.

In addition, I think it's a scary concept that people can see which game I'm playing, and which games I have.

[Vazzaroth]

As I'm morally opposed to DRM, I'm not using steam, and would instead suggest that game producers try to work out similar systems without DRM.

In addition, I think it's a scary concept that people can see which game I'm playing, and which games I have.

I hate DRM but I couldn't' disagree more. Steam seems a great solution, I've never ever had issues with it (After I moved from Dial up to DSL, that is), and I import every game I purchase to steam and try to get everyone I know to use it because I love the Messaging system and letting other people know what I'm playing.

[Bryn]

Now that's a different perspective!

I wouldn't class Steam as DRM. There is no restriction on how many times you install a game, and indeed it makes it easy to download and install games on any machine you like, even if you've lost the disc. It doesn't prevent copying or modifying of game files - indeed, it even encourages by releasing the Source SDK and other tools.

Steam does require a CD key to activate each game, and to be connected to the Internet when you register. After that point, it can continue to run the games in offline mode.

Steam does not prevent you from sharing games with your friends, to a degree. If you want a friend to play a game you have, log in with your Steam account on their computer. Steam does prevent an account from going online in two places at the same time, though, which means you would not be able to play multiplayer games together unless you all have a copy.

Similarly, Steam does not force you to broadcast your game-playing habits to the world. It is easy to set it up so that you don't log in to the Steam Community features, meaning that nobody can see that you're playing a game. I don't know if it's possible to disable your profile page, though.

I find Steam very useful, partly because of the convenience of getting games online (although it has recently become cheaper to buy hard copies of games and register them on Steam, rather than buying them online) and also because I find the Community features very useful in playing online with [GitP] et al.

It may be that you disagree with HL2, L4D, etc. forcing you to download Steam. This is fair enough, though I've never found it to be a problem.

[Greg]

As I'm morally opposed to DRM, I'm not using steam, and would instead suggest that game producers try to work out similar systems without DRM.

In addition, I think it's a scary concept that people can see which game I'm playing, and which games I have.
Those my little pony games are soooo not cool.

I like Steam. You can download the games as many times as you want as many times as you want and you only have to enter a CD key once. If that.

Can I be added to the group? Steamname greg8891

[The Linker]

Plus, as long as you can remember your steam account name and password, it's really, really easy to get Steam games to other computers, which is where DRM usually rears its ugly head. You just download Steam, log in, and you can download all your games. It'll be even better once you can download your saved files and settings along with it. (No idea when that's coming, though.)

Of course, this doesn't work terribly well without a good internet connection, which is where Steam is not-so-great.

[InaVegt]

The problem is, even a CD-key, or whatever you name it is DRM.

A big problem with DRM is resale, which is legal in most of the world. As soon as you lose your CD-key (oftentimes quite easy) you cannot sell most games. In Steam, you cannot resell unless you sell your entire account.

[Myatar_Panwar]

Steam is indeed DRM in my eyes.

But frankly, having to be online to download my games or such easy non-sense, in exchange for such an amazing service, is a trade-off I am way more than happy to oblige to.

[Vazzaroth]

PC games have NEVER been re-sale friendly though. Thats just a by-product of our platform.

[InaVegt]

PC games have NEVER been re-sale friendly though. Thats just a by-product of our platform.

They have been. I clearly remember the days when there were no CD-keys, and it wasn't even common to have to put your CD in the drive, and there were very few measures to check the legality of the CD if it was checked.

It should be noted that in those days, most people didn't have Internet (Eternal September had barely started, if it had.) and CD burning was not available to home users yet.

[Vazzaroth]

Anything even close to being considered Modern PC gaming*

[InaVegt]

Anything even close to being considered Modern PC gaming*

Putting in your disclaimers after comments about problems solved by these disclaimers have been made is poor practice, and will not hold up in court.

And I like those old games, I play them much more than those modern hack and shootfests that are so prevalent.

[Vazzaroth]

Who said this was going to court? Besides, DRM only became an issue after the Internet became prevalent, so bringing up anything before them is moot, as far as I'm concerned.

And even Starcraft required both a CD key and putting the disc in your drive, and that was one of the first major online games.

[InaVegt]

Who said this was going to court? Besides, DRM only became an issue after the Internet became prevalent, so bringing up anything before them is moot, as far as I'm concerned.

And even Starcraft required both a CD key and putting the disc in your drive, and that was one of the first major online games.

The Internet existed back then, but it wasn't nearly as common. (1995, Eternal September had been going on for one and a half year, but wasn't nearly as big as it is now.)

Edit: Oh, and, illegal stuff was spread over the the internet (Usenet FTW)

[Vazzaroth]

Yes, but the DRM crackdown hasn't started getting momentum until about the 2000's.

[Dispozition]

Just a note on steam, an account can be logged in on multiple computers, but only one can be connected to the internet. Means you can LAN on the same account easily. Do it fairly often with my friends.

[Arbitrarity]

Oooh, useful. Offline mode? I didn't know that, that's pretty awesome.

[Dispozition]

Oooh, useful. Offline mode? I didn't know that, that's pretty awesome.

Just make sure you've played the game within the last month or so online. Doesn't always need to, but most of the time it won't play unless you have.

[Zeful]

As I'm morally opposed to DRM, I'm not using steam, and would instead suggest that game producers try to work out similar systems without DRM.

In addition, I think it's a scary concept that people can see which game I'm playing, and which games I have.

Except they can't. The criminals that make the CD-less cracks, key-code generators, and the like are just as competent programmers as the creators of the game most times. Short of creating a new programing language, based off a another, fake language, little will stop hackers. Due to the internet, companies can't just slap the hacker with a lawsuit for perceived damages ranging in the 6-8 digit range. They could sue the owners of torrent sites, and shut them down (which I would do as a CEO). But I'm guessing that some are outside the game's country of origin, making such legal action impossible.

So Pirates created the DRM problem, the only way it's going away is if, suddenly, every pirate is struck dead, and that knowledge is wiped from the internet.

[InaVegt]

And since DRM doesn't work, like, 99% of the time, why bother? If the pirates are interested, they'll get it, if they aren't, you're losing money anyway, and why bother putting locks on an unwanted object.

Why do companies exist insist on placing locks on software that are broken quite soon after release. (Often within a day.)

The only currently used model that works to prevent unlawful use of your software is the MMO model.

[Zeful]

Because Corporate shareholders want some form of investment protection or else they will withdraw their investment.

It becomes a choice. DRM or no (PC) gaming industry. There's no middle ground to the shareholders.

EDIT: And I think you want "insist" rather than "exist", but then I've thought of creating a company whose founding purpose was to place locks on software, so "exist" could be the right word.

[Bryn]

DRM thread ≠ fun thread...

Does anyone know if it's possible to change Steam games that you have into gifts? It seems likely to be possible, and if you could, it would be easy to re-sell games to other people. Since I've never tried, though, I don't know.

[Mc. Lovin']

DRM thread ≠ fun thread...

Does anyone know if it's possible to change Steam games that you have into gifts? It seems likely to be possible, and if you could, it would be easy to re-sell games to other people. Since I've never tried, though, I don't know.

Acheivement unlocked:
Re-rail a thread.

Although no, you can't.
To carry on my gloating, I have a new high score of 30 as a medic in one life. Woulda been more if I didn't have to leave for a family get together.

[onasuma]

Bah, now i have to out medic you again...

[Mc. Lovin']

You can try :smallamused:

[Bryn]

My medic highscore got deleted, somehow :smallfrown:. It was my highest (at a mere 17 - I die a lot when I play TF2). One day, it was 17, the next day it was right back down to... erm, 11 or something.

Any tips for sticky-jumping Demomen on surviving the landing? Specifically in the final stage of Dustbowl, where the point is right opposite where the attackers leave. I repeatedly sticky-jumped right across to where the point was only to get slaughtered by the Reds as soon as I landed.

[onasuma]

Use less stickies.

[Bryn]

I'm using only one sticky. The problem isn't landing, it's the other team :smallwink:

[Dragor]

My medic highscore got deleted, somehow :smallfrown:. It was my highest (at a mere 17 - I die a lot when I play TF2). One day, it was 17, the next day it was right back down to... erm, 11 or something.

17 is a 'mere' score to you? Wow, I was really proud of getting 21 as a Medic.

[Bryn]

No, not for me - it's a 'mere' score for everyone else in this thread, from the sounds of things.

Prior to that 17, my highest overall was 16.

Take from that what you will :smallbiggrin:

[Greg]

Can I be added to the group? Steamname greg8891
This? Please?

[Vazzaroth]

This? Please?

Taken Care of. Welcome. :smallsmile:

[Dispozition]

Medic highscore of 39 here >.>
Not from farming either, it's a legit one. My 16 caps as heavy is slightly farmed though :< Only one of my stats that is however :D

I'm still proud of my sniper highest damage beating a lot of other peoples any other class highest damage. 4,531 in one life...Goddamn that was an awesome game.

...I'll stop gloating now, my bad :<

[Arbitrarity]

Medic highscore of 39 here >.>
Not from farming either, it's a legit one. My 16 caps as heavy is slightly farmed though :< Only one of my stats that is however :D

I'm still proud of my sniper highest damage beating a lot of other peoples any other class highest damage. 4,531 in one life...Goddamn that was an awesome game.

...I'll stop gloating now, my bad :<

I meh at your 39. I have 60. Also legit. The only non-legit score I have is my heavy, which was at 30 until I joined an empty server, pushed a cart for a while, and ended up with ludicrous numbers of captures.

39 is my sniper. Max damage is 5709 (as demo, of course).

I'm still a lousy scout, pyro, and mediocre at spy, heavy, soldier, demo. I'm an OK engi, because it's trivial, decent sniper (though not very, yet. Quickscoping is hard) and good medic.

[Dispozition]

I'm pretty bad at scout and demo...Spy I have good moments but most of the time I suck. Soldier I'm average, same with pyro and engi. Sniper is a hit and miss, either stupidly good or okish. Heavy or Medic I'm normally at the top of the game score wise.

Best fun I've had as medic was with another medic also holding an ubersaw...We got 4 ubers in a row, and although we were just screwing around, we managed to have the top two positions on our team. The rest of our team hated us, but we still won :P

[Greg]

Taken Care of. Welcome. :smallsmile:
Thanks. I've not played much in a while.

[Mc. Lovin']

Medic highscore of 39 here >.>
Not from farming either, it's a legit one. My 16 caps as heavy is slightly farmed though :< Only one of my stats that is however :D

I'm still proud of my sniper highest damage beating a lot of other peoples any other class highest damage. 4,531 in one life...Goddamn that was an awesome game.

...I'll stop gloating now, my bad :<

Oh don't worry, people have become quite accustomed to the gloating round here, makes it more competetive :smallwink:

[Mc. Lovin']

Oh hey, just noticed this: http://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=2096 :smallsmile:

Okay, told everyone ... *reads*

EDIT:
Wow. Wow wow wow wow wow.

That's pretty kick ass eh? I think I'm gonna get back the Orange Box for the TF2 update on X-Box :smallwink:

(Gamertag: Cpt Karma, if anyone's interested)

[Arbitrarity]

WHOA. When did that appear?

I checked that site a few hours ago!

[Dispozition]

Bah! The day I don't check the blog and we get the engi update...Hell YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAH

EDIT: Ahahahah, read before you post, dumkoph. Scout is just as cool.

[Surrealistik]

While we're on the subject of gloating... (http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197964740600/stats/TF2)

[Vazzaroth]

One good thing one bad thing.

The new Engie and Spy changes were pretty desperately needed. The engie one keeps them busy and AFS (Sentry) more to balance things, and the Spy cloak NEEDED something to make it faster. Its basically useless on any map besides tiny ones or when theres about 8 people per team (Most servers are either alot more people or only 2-3 per team, both of these situations are horrible for spy.)

But the fact that they sound stumped with the scout means that update is probably a LONG way off. :smallfrown:

[Myatar_Panwar]

Hrm, I wonder what the upgrades to the Dispenser and Teleporters will make them look like...

Anyway, I don't usually play Scout much, but have been lately, and look forward to the update. Aside from the upgrades, I look forward to having a full team of scouts zipping around the map. :smalltongue:

[AlterForm]

While we're on the subject of gloating... (http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197964740600/stats/TF2)

Is your heavy longest life for real? That's almost 6 hours, isn't it?

[Bryn]

Surrealistik... you've spent more than a month on TF2? :smalleek:

Edit:
Most teleporters built:
132 (as Engineer)
o.O

Scout update = :smallbiggrin:
Scout update that will make me useful on Dustbowl = :smallbiggrin:2

[Surrealistik]

Pretty sure the Heavy lifespan is glitched. Everything else is legit, and yes, I was extremely into TF2; used to play competitively.

Oh, and if you're wondering about the teleporters, those are teleportations, not actually teleporters constructed. This happened in one long, very drawn out stalemate of a game.

[Greg]

I got all the pyro weapons and the first heavy and medic weapons. Then I went onto an achievement server. Boy do I regret that...

[Dispozition]

I got a few things on achievement servers, but nothing that screwed my stats :P

[Myatar_Panwar]

I got a few things on achievement servers, but nothing that screwed my stats :P

Same. I went in for the heavy ones (I don't play heavy much, and wanted that sandvich!), but the server made it so it was practically impossible to mess up your stats (though it wasn't the greatest for getting achievements either), as you would spawn like 3 feet away from the enemy spawn every time, instantaneously after death.

[The Linker]

SCOUT UPDATE! YES YES YES! :smallbiggrin:

I'm very excited about this. Guess why. (http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197972468884/stats/TF2)

...have you looked at it?

Done yet?

Ok, yeah, my Scout hours are glitched, as I've said in this thread at least three times before. :smalltongue: But still, it would be well ahead of the others regardless. Just take 84 hours away from my scout hours, and you have 80 Scout hours to the Soldier's (2nd best) 41.8 hours. I love the Scout, and I'm VERY pleased to hear he'll be made useful on Dustbowl and Goldrush. There have been times I'll play a Scout, like, 10 minutes after we've gotten the first point on Stage 2, Dustbowl. Yeah, that'll work. Maybe all three sentries will be sapped when I get there!

Eventually, I'll grudgingly switch to Demo or Soldier to actually, like, help the team. :smalltongue: But with this? I may never stop Scouting. :smalleek:

I've actually found the Scout to be extremely useful as a defender on Stage 2 of Dustbowl. For the first point, there are many ways to get behind enemies who aren't paying attention and backstab them. I mean back-scatter them. I mean shoot them in the back with the scattergun.

But a Scout is also very useful for just hopping around in the open field, firing randomly at anyone who comes out, while dodging like mad. People don't want to come out if there's an enemy RIGHT THERE, so you can relieve pressure on the defenders. The best part? There's health EVERYWHERE. There's four 100%s and two 50%s just around the first point. It gets to the point where I grab health when I've taken 20 damage. Literally, my best Scout rounds have been right there. I think I've gotten 4 dominations in a life at one point, though my stats don't seem to show that. :smallconfused:

As for Point 2, you can just run around on the little bridge above the two tunnels, where defending engies sometimes put teleporter exits. Every enemy that comes through will do one of two things; 1) They don't notice you. Answer: Jump down and scattergun them once or twice in the back, then run. If they're not dead, of course. :smallamused: 2) They do notice you. Answer: Jump around like a monkey until a teammate comes and kills them for you. :smalltongue: It's a wide enough area that it's very hard for an enemy to be able to kill you if you jump around right. Then, if they start paying attention to a teammate... well, see answer #1. :smallbiggrin:

...man, my posts are really long when the Scout comes up, aren't they? Sorry. :smallredface::smalltongue:

Non-scout related thing: Engies will be able to upgrade their teleporter, eh? Is this the exit or entrance we're talking about? :smallconfused: I'm guessing it'll be collective; whacking either one will go towards a single count.

[Arbitrarity]

How is scout going to be made more effective against sentries, anyway? I mean, it's an idea, but engineers are one of the few scout counters, and most of the reason why scouts become useless on dustbowl, etc.

[Surrealistik]

Personal teleporters.

[Arbitrarity]

That... actually makes a lot of sense.

Oh, update is out. Yay :smallbiggrin:

WOW big demo nerf. Engis! Shoot those stickies off your sentries during uber!

Damnit, this seems to encourage engi camping even more. Hopefully the spy buff will help.
Between this and airblast, uber is becoming increasingly useless for wiping engineer nests :smallyuk:

[Dispozition]

The aim isn't to make scouts more effective against sentries. Sentries are a hard counter against scouts, they're meant to be able to own them, not matter what. Scouts don't need to be able to kill sentries, no way in hell. There have been a couple of good ideas (in my eyes) on the steam forums, mainly bat replacements. But I'm not going to try and predict what the updates will be, I'll just wait for them.

Also, spies have no been buffed, they have been fixed. The ammo pickup should always have replenished cloak, every single player I've asked about it agrees.

[Arbitrarity]

The aim isn't to make scouts more effective against sentries. Sentries are a hard counter against scouts, they're meant to be able to own them, not matter what. Scouts don't need to be able to kill sentries, no way in hell. There have been a couple of good ideas (in my eyes) on the steam forums, mainly bat replacements. But I'm not going to try and predict what the updates will be, I'll just wait for them.

Also, spies have no been buffed, they have been fixed. The ammo pickup should always have replenished cloak, every single player I've asked about it agrees.

Fixed to become better = buffed. I'm not saying spies were powerful enough before the update; far from it. But they are more powerful now, even if only slightly.

And I hope they don't allow scouts to destroy sentries, certainly. A distraction or similar is the common counter idea, and it seems reasonable. Allowing the scout to just walk by a sentry makes more sense than allowing them to, say, skirmish in the area of the sentry.

[The Linker]

I can't have Steam open long enough to update, so I can't see what y'all are talking about. (Computer's been infected by a trojan, I think. Bleh.) What does this nerf consist of? Demos can't detonate their stickies during an uber? I gotta know! :smalltongue: And, was the that the only major thing?

[Arbitrarity]

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



Here you go. I forgot I needed text not part of a quote :P

[Dispozition]

I'm more interested in the medic thing. I can finally ignore idiot spamming medic knowing that they don't actually need it. One time I had a scout continually spamming medic and running around me on full health...What's worse is that he was leading the server in terms of score...Idiot...

[The Linker]

Nice! Thanks. :smallbiggrin:

Heh, I always thought Goldrush stage 1 point 2 did still need to be made easier on the attackers a bit. The first change definitely helped, with the removal of the defender's main entry into the two-story side area, but it was still like 70-30 for the defenders.

The new particle effects sound cool. Soldiers will actually look like rockets! :smallbiggrin: And I should survive a bit longer as a Scout if I know that Heavy has like 400 health. :smalltongue:

Achievement tracker should be neat, too. I wonder if you can set tracked achievements by class. I could put Infernomancer on for the Pyro, Kollectivisation for the Heavy...

And, yes, poor Demos. :smalltongue: I wonder... do you think we'll be able to shoot them out of the air now? That would be AWESOME. Dashing towards a Demo, unleashing a scatter shot that both hits him for 60 damage and obliterates his sticky that was flying towards my face... :smallbiggrin:

[Arbitrarity]

I'm more interested in the medic thing. I can finally ignore idiot spamming medic knowing that they don't actually need it. One time I had a scout continually spamming medic and running around me on full health...What's worse is that he was leading the server in terms of score...Idiot...
Sounds like a good investment. Keeping skilled players overhealed tends to be a wise move, as they really benefit from the extra health. Scouts, maybe not so much, but it lets them automatically survive non-crit grenades, and gives them enough health to take a rocket and a decent shotgun hit. Of course, I usually end up yelling at scouts to stop running in circles around me when injured.

Oddly, when I play non-medic classes, I barely notice medics. If I get buffed, I'll thank them with the voice commands, and if they stick to me, I'll tend to warn them that I'm a lousy (soldier, demo, heavy, pyro), and not the best choice to uber (then I get ubered. What.) But otherwise, I'll run first for dispensers and health packs, and barely notice my health get topped off. Similarly, in chokepoints, I attack and retreat, but rarely notice my health refilling particularly. It seems... natural. I barely see the massive effect medics have, even when I keep getting healed.

Until, of course, we have no medic. Then I get annoyed, because combat classes NEED disposable health. Soldiers can't survive close combat too long, nor can demos, and sandvich is often difficult to use in a fight.

[The Linker]

I'm definitely staying away from the game's forums at all costs for a while. I suspect there will be a lot of 'RUINED THE GAME' and 'VALVE KNOWS NOTHING ABOUT CLASS BALANCE', and it all just depresses me. :smalltongue:

...anyone wanna be brave and scout* it out? :smallbiggrin:

*sorry.

[Vazzaroth]

With this, I think theres even more ground now to buff the demo's normal grenade launcher to 6 in a clip... you know, because the FREAKING GUN ITSELF has 6 slots.

But seriously, I hate demo as he is now. I think they should primarily use the Grenade Launcher, and I love that weapon, but compared to using stickies, it blows. That might have just changed. DLing update now...

Edit: However, if in an update they give the demo something like a proximity mine instead of stickies... THAT would be awesome. Even if we could only have 1 or 2 out at a time.

[Arbitrarity]

I think I like the new engineer upgrades. As something other than engineer, oddly.

The new teleporter limits engineer spam on linear maps, with the rapid recharge making many TP's futile. Similarly, the dispenser eliminates clustering and downtime for classes, where they would normally huddle, waiting to heal. This makes a well fortified base an effective place to replenish.

At the same time, the engineer now has very conflicted priorities. With a full level 3 dispenser, he can assemble a sentry in no time, and upgrade teleporters easily. However, that slows his other building, making choice of building very important.
Furthermore, the engineer is now severely crippled by sapping and building destruction, since he often cannot save everything, and each level 3 building that goes down is 500+ metal, which takes precious time to replace. Similarly, rebuilding is very slow now.

[Surrealistik]

God I hate the Demoman nerf.

[Dispozition]

No, you hate the demo balance :P

But I haven't played since the update...I have it downloaded, but I haven't played. Might be in an hour or so. Anyway, Engi by far got the best of this update.

[The Linker]

How fast does a level 3 teleporter recharge anyway? 5 seconds? 3?

[onasuma]

Im so excited now! My 3 favourite classes all get a little something, and my least favourite gets a nerf.

scout update is gonna be awesome, even if i only dare play it on defence scout is my favourite class, or at least ties with spy. Medic is my probable "best" class, and now that theres info on the medic call thing i can be more useful than running around half a map trying to find the heavy whos on 298 health and standing next to a med pack, so hopefully that'll increase my generic effectiveness.

Now i have a test. Bye all.

Edit: Oh and also, i cant join any servers...

[Mc. Lovin']

While we're on the subject of gloating... (http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197964740600/stats/TF2)

Holy sh-

That's ... a lot of points ...

[onasuma]

How fast does a level 3 teleporter recharge anyway? 5 seconds? 3?

Its 3, I timed.

[Surrealistik]

No, you hate the demo balance :P

Not quite. Yes, the Demoman was slightly OPed at the comp level, but I don't feel that this was the best solution.

[Killersquid]

Looks like its time to practice scout a bit.

[Arbitrarity]

Its 3, I timed.

Level 3 dispenser recharges 20 hp/sec, 80% the health of a medigun on a recently damaged patient. Also makes 60 metal in 6 seconds.

[Pyro]

I'm kinda disappointed the new teleportes don't have new models. I was half expecting the level 3 version to have a spoiler or something.

[AlterForm]

The new upgrades are fun until you get everything to level 3, then you're either back to sitting on your arse or putting everyone else at level 3 then back to sitting on your arse. :smallyuk:

At least for me.

[revolver kobold]

I thought that was the charm of playing an Engineer? You sit back on your arse, racking up points, while everyone else does all the real work.

Sort of like what engineers are like in real life.

(No offense intended to any real engineers who may read this comment...)

[Dispozition]

Two new engis on turbine are practically unstoppable now :P
Me and some random were just camping the hallway with everything level three. We only got completely destroyed once, and it was by 3 demos, a medic and a heavy :P

I was running about using shotgun and pistol to full effect, I even got two ubers off medics :D

[onasuma]

Is it only me who thinks they bumped the normal nade damage and kept it under their hats? I was playing engi a bit yesterday, and my little camp was destroyed by a demo with normal nades in 2 hits. Im sure they didnt used to be that good.

[Dispozition]

Is it only me who thinks they bumped the normal nade damage and kept it under their hats? I was playing engi a bit yesterday, and my little camp was destroyed by a demo with normal nades in 2 hits. Im sure they didnt used to be that good.

Used to take 3 to kill a lvl3 sg...I dunno. They might have reduced the health for the engi's buildings...

Wait, normal nades, so pipe bombs? Yeah, 2 was what it was. They're stronger than stickys.

[Surrealistik]

Well I'm happy to report that I still own Engineers and their Campomatic 9000s almost as easily before the demo nerf as after, using stickies no less. Seems like things aren't as bad as I dreaded.


The new upgrades are fun until you get everything to level 3, then you're either back to sitting on your arse or putting everyone else at level 3 then back to sitting on your arse.

Waiting for the inevitable demo/uber to ruin all of your hard work :P

[Dispozition]

Waiting for the inevitable demo/uber to ruin all of your hard work :P

Actually, I defended my nest against an uber demo and a heavy at the same time...You just need to know what you're doing and hope they aren't as good as you :P

[Smight]

Team fortress
Weekend Deal - 50% off
9.99 $
if you dont have it now is the chance to get it.

[Dispozition]

Team fortress
Weekend Deal - 50% off
9.99 $
if you dont have it now is the chance to get it.

If you don't have it...WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!!!!

No, but really...I find Engi quite a bit more enjoyable with the new update. I doubt I'll be doing much with the scout when his update comes, I don't play him much and I'm fairly bad with him...

Also, Lvl 3 dispensers are impossible to kill, I mean...seriously. Gravel Pit, defending B, three engis, SGs got killed as soon as we got them to lvl 2 a lot of the time, not once did our dispensers get killed, not once! We won the round, goddamn awesome. Then, once again as Engi, I sneak capped C in overtime :D

[The Linker]

Hmm, does this mean the Scout update's getting released this weekend? That seems much too fast for Valve, so I doubt it. :smalltongue:

[Surrealistik]

Actually, I defended my nest against an uber demo and a heavy at the same time...You just need to know what you're doing and hope they aren't as good as you :P

You didn't defend against it, your teammates with explosives/air blast did :P (and if you somehow managed to pull this off solo, that demo and heavy are terribad beyond belief). That's the thing; any remotely competent demo is pretty much unstoppable versus sentry nests (even if you're a pro engineer) unless you have teammates harassing him, and even then he's likely to succeed. This is why engineers are rarely used in comp/pro level play, despite the popularity of scouts at that tier. An uber demo is all but guaranteed to destroy them, unless there are several people with explosives/air blasts devoted to disrupting his aim.


Hmm, does this mean the Scout update's getting released this weekend? That seems much too fast for Valve, so I doubt it.

The Scout update will almost surely be released in January.

[onasuma]

Hmm, does this mean the Scout update's getting released this weekend? That seems much too fast for Valve, so I doubt it. :smalltongue:

Does what mean it will be released this weekend? Ive seen nothing to suggest that.

[The Linker]

Just that the last three times, they had a free weekend that coincided with the class packs. I thought, maybe there's a possibility that they're changing the free weekend to a 50% weekend...!

Oh, never mind. I didn't REALLY think they'd release it so soon. :smalltongue: Besides, I forgot about how they said they would be waiting until after the new year.

[Dispozition]

You didn't defend against it, your teammates with explosives/air blast did :P (and if you somehow managed to pull this off solo, that demo and heavy are terribad beyond belief). That's the thing; any remotely competent demo is pretty much unstoppable versus sentry nests (even if you're a pro engineer) unless you have teammates harassing him, and even then he's likely to succeed. This is why engineers are rarely used in comp/pro level play, despite the popularity of scouts at that tier. An uber demo is all but guaranteed to destroy them, unless there are several people with explosives/air blasts devoted to disrupting his aim.

I killed all his stickies, ran out once uber had ended, got medic, SG got demo, Heavy ran away :P
And yes, he was a fairly bad demo.

[Phase]

Just that the last three times, they had a free weekend that coincided with the class packs. I thought, maybe there's a possibility that they're changing the free weekend to a 50% weekend...!

I hope they don't do that! I want to try the free weekend. I don't want to make an investment in TF2 just yet.

[Mc. Lovin']

Just that the last three times, they had a free weekend that coincided with the class packs. I thought, maybe there's a possibility that they're changing the free weekend to a 50% weekend...!

Oh, never mind. I didn't REALLY think they'd release it so soon. :smalltongue: Besides, I forgot about how they said they would be waiting until after the new year.

This one co-incides with the Engi / Spy mini update.


I hope they don't do that! I want to try the free weekend. I don't want to make an investment in TF2 just yet.

Are you KIDDING me? It's £7 PZ! You mad mad fool.

[Phase]

Are you KIDDING me? It's £7 PZ! You mad mad fool.

I would have trouble justifying it to myself on the heels of L4D. I don't like to spend money on games and then spend money on other games that would take up the time of the first game.

EDIT: Does anyone know how long it will be on sale?

[Myatar_Panwar]

All steam sales only last the weekend. Get it NAAAOWWW.

[NeoVid]

Dear god, I can't believe how much better the Spy is now.

In the couple of hours I've gotten to play since the update, I've already managed to tie the backstab record that took me several hours of intense effort as defensive Spy on Steel to reach in the first place. And I did it on Goldrush 3, a lousy Spy map. Hell, I was one badly-timed rocket from breaking that record.

The fact that I can stay cloaked for the entire length of the map, or kill someone, grab their weapon and get enough cloak to immediately escape is truly a beautiful thing.

Engineers are harder to play, while also being more valuable to the team, and now as a Demo, I've got to make sure to put my stickies above doorways to blow up unsuspecting suckers, which are OK changes with me.

But all I care about is new and improved Spy pwnage.

[Vazzaroth]

Wow, I've gotten so used to NOT playing spy I haven't really tried it since the patch, but I didn't know picking up ANY ammo would recharge it. I thought it was just Dispensers, Ammo Boxes, and Supply Lockers, not Weapons.

I sort of Except that to get Nerfed out, and I wouldn't mind either way, but spy is def. more viable now, although I still hate playing him on the ridicules 32 player servers. 24 is Plenty X_X (Although anything below 18 is stupid... IE The console versions and their 16 player limit. You can't even have one of every class on a team!)

[Myatar_Panwar]

Heh, this spy update puts a funny scenario in my mind:

The team heavy is out of ammo, after a long fight. He sees a discarded shotgun and walks ahead to scavenge it. It disappears. The heavy, confused, walks farther ahead to scavenge the rocket launcher. It also disappears. The heavy is not amused.

[ObadiahtheSlim]

I actually kinda prefer the smaller server. I've had a ton of fun playing some 8v8

[NeoVid]

Damn.

Now that I'm back in the mood for TF2, I just ran across a video of Wonderwall (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzqvTN0GKp0), a guy generally considered the best Soldier player.

I can barely figure out how he even does some of these things.

Man, I need to get a clue how to play that class well.

[Mc. Lovin']

I would have trouble justifying it to myself on the heels of L4D. I don't like to spend money on games and then spend money on other games that would take up the time of the first game.

EDIT: Does anyone know how long it will be on sale?

I was going to come up for some nice juicy justification for you to sink your teeth into, but now that the deal's over it'd only make you feel bad for missing out on it :smalltongue:

[Surrealistik]

a guy generally considered the best Soldier player.

I've heard of Wonderwall, but I've always thought Reptile was 'the best' Soldier.

[The Linker]

Eh, that's why I try to avoid those pro videos. If it's a game I like to play, all it does is depress me. :smalltongue:

[Vazzaroth]

I actually kinda prefer the smaller server. I've had a ton of fun playing some 8v8

My ONLY issue with less than 9V9 is that you can't have one of each class. But this is coming from a player who will play a class he hates just because we don't have any at the moment (Soldier) or play scout on Def. because no one else is... Although as a scout I have had only a few less kills as the best 1 or 2 players on my team before on D.

[onasuma]

But scout on defence is awesome! There are barely ever any sentries blocking your murderous rampage, and the majority of the time on maps like gold rush and dustbowl, theres a large open area around the first point, somewhere you can later run around harassing.

[Mc. Lovin']

But scout on defence is awesome! There are barely ever any sentries blocking your murderous rampage, and the majority of the time on maps like gold rush and dustbowl, theres a large open area around the first point, somewhere you can later run around harassing.

Oh hey, that's a pretty good argument. I'll say that every time "elitists" have a go at scouts on red :smallwink:

[Dispozition]

I really wish I could play scout, I really do...I'm absolutely horrible with him. I tried playing a whole round today, but I just couldn't...0 kills, 5 deaths, 1 assist, nothing else...Man, I suck so hard at twitch aiming with anyone but medic and sniper...

[The Linker]

Yeah, I don't think Scouts should be in the 'Offensive' section. On maps like Well, sure, you may be able to do well if you can find paths not blocked by sentries, but on maps like Dustbowl, the only real role they have on offense is rushing to the very end of the map before the first point is capped, and getting a ninja-cap. I've gotten a few of those on Dustbowl stages 1 and 2, lemmee tell you. :smallamused:

I'm always the first to try spy-capping Stage 3, too, especially when we have the first point but are getting completely owned at the front lines. If you can sneak behind and hide near the point, and there's nobody defending, it's actually simple to nab it if you time it right. You just need to watch the scoreboards and see who on the other team is dead, and thus up for respawn, and cap it at the point in between waves where no one will be able to get to you in time. There was one memorable instance where the Red team had us pinned down for 20 minutes, COMPLETELY owning us, and when I snuck behind for a spycap, MY team was actually upset.

Teammate #1: Awww, what? I didn't want to win THAT way!

Teammate#2: Huh, I feel bad. That's a sucky way to lose.
Teammate #1: It's a sucky way to WIN, too!

I felt a little bad after that. But only a little. If Red's not going to defend the game-winning control point... :smallamused:

[Smight]

Anyone wants a guest pass for TF2, pm me your steam account name.

[NeoVid]

Forgot about Reptile. I thought of WW first since I've never heard anyone say that some other player is better than him.


Eh, that's why I try to avoid those pro videos. If it's a game I like to play, all it does is depress me. :smalltongue:

I watch them because I have a chance at learning something. Though in this case, I'm not likely to be able to use what I learned. Of course, if I did take the time to practice crouchrocketjumping backwards or airshotting people with rockets, it would do me some good... though I never remember to when I'm in the game. Sigh.

[Vazzaroth]

But scout on defence is awesome! There are barely ever any sentries blocking your murderous rampage, and the majority of the time on maps like gold rush and dustbowl, theres a large open area around the first point, somewhere you can later run around harassing.

Preaching to the choir. I managed to clear our base of a nasty Red infestation on 2Fort in about 15 seconds. I got like 4 kills and an assist. Scout on D can hit the enemies from directions they didn't expect, and it's awesome.

[chiasaur11]

So, on an unrelated note:

Anyone else here played Minerva: Metastasis?

I finally got around to it and, well...
I liked it better in a lot of ways than Half Life 2 itself. Managed to beat it without walkthroughs or cheats, but the last bit with the pipes and the zombies gave me a bit of trouble.

[Phase]

Anyone else here played Minerva: Metastasis?

I finally got around to it and, well...
I liked it better in a lot of ways than Half Life 2 itself. Managed to beat it without walkthroughs or cheats, but the last bit with the pipes and the zombies gave me a bit of trouble.

Yes! It's one of the only two mods I downloaded, and the only really good one. The one thing I didn't like was that, thanks to the ingenious method Adam Foster has of utilizing every inch of a map, I got lost A LOT. But I'll be glad to see what he'll be adding to Episode Three. :smallwink:

[The Linker]

Huh, I noticed you playing it earlier, Chiasaur. I was wondering what it was.

...

So...

What is it?

:smalltongue:

[Arbitrarity]

Something I am going to be playing, that's what it is.

[chiasaur11]

Huh, I noticed you playing it earlier, Chiasaur. I was wondering what it was.

...

So...

What is it?

:smalltongue:

A one player Half Life mod, made by one person, with no new weapons, enemies, or spoken dialog, few levels, ambiguous plot, infinitely respawning enemies in some locations, and less square feet than most if not all official games or mods.

In spite of all that (or in part because of it) it is the best mod I have had the good fortune of playing.

Valve apparently agrees, as they hired the guy for level design in episode three. Seriously, good stuff.

[The Linker]

(You mean Half-Life 2, right?)

Sounds good. I'll have to check it out. :smallbiggrin:

[Surrealistik]

Yeah, I don't think Scouts should be in the 'Offensive' section.

They're guidelines in the absolute loosest sense. The biggest missteps of these classifications are evident when it comes to the Heavy and Demo, two classes which are absolutely devastating on O.

[chiasaur11]

(You mean Half-Life 2, right?)

Sounds good. I'll have to check it out. :smallbiggrin:

Half Life 2, Episode One if we're being precise here.

He also made a mod for the first Half Life, but I haven't tried it, so, can't really comment.

Also: Peggle Extreme is now free on Steam. So, if you love Peggle, and don't have it...

[ObadiahtheSlim]

Isn't Peggle Extreme more or less a demo?

[chiasaur11]

Isn't Peggle Extreme more or less a demo?

Yeah, but it's an Orange box-y demo, with ten new levels, so...
Yeah.

[Myatar_Panwar]

Whooo I beat my Pyro record today. Pyro is my most played (and favorite class), so it was an awesome moment for me. Up to 22 points now, 16 kills. It was pretty great, revolving mostly around rotating between 2 health pack locations in goldrush (takes a circle), burning all in my path. Finally died when a heavy appeared right ahead of me, revving natasha.

Probably the best part was when I turned a corner, flamed a heavy, backed up, then when he came to pursue me, I had my axtinguisher out and crit his face off.

I'm sure its not alot for many of you, but in truth I'm not a very good player (not very good at staying alive for long periods of time, impatient I guess), and my Pyro scores have been trumped by my sniper (second favored class) and heavy (one of my least favorite classes) score for quite some time. They still are better (29 and 25, respectively, I believe), but at least its comparable now.

Also, I am really, really loving the spy buff.

[Dispozition]

I'm generally fairly good at staying alive, just because I main medic. His main job is to stay alive to keep others alive, as such, I hardly ever stand still while anywhere near a firefight or objective, I'll be constantly jumping, strafing and just running around healing. This tends to carry over to other classes, I never stand still, making it hell for medics to heal me :D

This is only if I don't go combat medic though...When I decide I want to kill people as medic, I die...A lot...But I get a decent kill count too :D

[onasuma]

But, are you a combat medic with a blutsauger or a needle gun? I had a failed connection to steam a few days ago, and by gum, needler is awesome on offense medic, those crit streams can take out a heavy in 3 seconds or so.

[Dispozition]

I used to needle, but now I bluts. I find I'm facing scouts and pyros more than heavies, and bluts is more effective against pyros by far. I find two combat medics together a near unstoppable force, even if the other team can juggle effectively. A ubersaw/uber chain really does work well on defence, keeps the enemy in once place for a minimum of 20 seconds, a whole minute if the medics are good and the defenders lack leafblowers/decent soldiers.

[Myatar_Panwar]

Time is running out to buy stalker. Its only 5 bucks, so I'm definitely considering it. Anyone have any kind words to say about it?

Also, I've been playing the mount and blade demo via steam for the past few hours at least. It really is just a huge amount of fun. I'd recommend everyone with steam and some free time to give it a try. The demo isn't really constrictive on your actions at all, you caps your playing at level 8 (which took me awhile to get to).

[onasuma]

So, this is what I think is going to become my favourite use for sniper from now on, because its damn funny. Sure, you get next to no kills, and you'll be dieing a few times, but this is funny enough to make it work.
First, find either a gaping hole or some area denied by an sg. Wait until you see stickies lining up for a jump over it. As the demo runs towards the stickies, shoot one out from under his feet. He will now miss his target and land head first in a pit or with a sentry to deal with.

[ObadiahtheSlim]

We had a clan scrim last night. We picked captains and then they had a melee battle in the middle to see who could have first pick. I played mostly pyro and engie although I was heavy for the first round. Got myself a reflect kill on a rocket. It was pretty sweet. Anyway we caped all 6 points in dustbowl in like 13 min. Then on defense we rocked them. They just barely managed to get the 3rd point before our defense completely shut them down.

[Edan]

I have some time so I decided to install TF2 that came with my Orange Box a year ago. I haven't really played online shooters much so I am a total noob. Any noob friendly tips that I can learn.

Also, my steam id is chaalop so I can hop on and maybe play when I get some spare time.

EDIT:
I thought I would mention, my laptop just edges past the minimum requirements. So I won't know how good it runs until I try it. Are there tricks to increase performance? I can post specs if you ask for them, but I know they aren't pretty.

[onasuma]

This guys (http://uk.youtube.com/user/EvilDaedalus) how to play X videos are the best out there. Watch them all. Enjoy them and learn.

[chiasaur11]

Huh. The Steam store isn't working for me today.

Anyone else having the same problem?

[Illiterate Scribe]

Illiterate Scribe -> Illiterate Scribe

CLANG!

[Myatar_Panwar]

Huh. The Steam store isn't working for me today.

Anyone else having the same problem?

Yup. Supposedly last year the exact same thing happened... right before they had an awesome holiday sale! Whoo!

[chiasaur11]

Yup. Supposedly last year the exact same thing happened... right before they had an awesome holiday sale! Whoo!

Sweetness.

Hope Mass Effect is part of one, if they do it.

That, cheap, with no (non steam) DRM would be awesome.

[Killersquid]

CLANG!

WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!

Haven't been on much, just got back from college, and been with family for a bit, will probably be on in a few days.

[Myatar_Panwar]

Well... the sale doesn't appear to be happening. Which makes me sad. :smallfrown:

Although I got these (http://store.valvesoftware.com/productshowcase/productshowcase_L4D-InfectionWarningShirt.html) shirts (http://store.valvesoftware.com/tf2/tf2-tee.pyro-mens01.html) for christmas, so everything is better now. :smalltongue:

[Mc. Lovin']

Awesome shirts man! I'd get some but they're too pricey to ship to the UK

[Phase]

Yeah, okay. Team Fortress 2 is ten dollars, I'm getting it. The deal is far too good for me to turn down for no reason. It's mine.

[Volug]

I just got the orange box.

For myself.

Cause I haz uber laptop =D

No more mooching off friends. (b^_^)b

I like to train with 1v1 if anyone has spare time (on team fortress 2 of course), my username on steam is the same as this.

I played Half-life for the first time, well, number 2... I'm at some sort of water puzzle where there are a lot of... Man hacks? Anyway, so far the game for me is just "meh" but I think that's cause I don't like a lot of shooters besides Team Fortress 2 and Red Steel, and the fact I don't know what Half-life 1 is...

[Phase]

I played Half-life for the first time, well, number 2... I'm at some sort of water puzzle where there are a lot of... Man hacks? Anyway, so far the game for me is just "meh" but I think that's cause I don't like a lot of shooters besides Team Fortress 2 and Red Steel, and the fact I don't know what Half-life 1 is...

I am love Route Kanal. I've heard of people who don't like it as a chapter, but it's one of my favorites. Just wait 'til Nova Prospeckt, that's where the fun REALLY starts.

[Arbitrarity]

In my opinion, Half-Life 2 is a bit worse than the later episodes, at least in the beginning. While the long, overland treks with vehicles are good for drawing out the game, they last a bit too long, and serve as larger interludes between areas of major combat. Water Hazard is annoying, and Route Canal just is a bit too far from anything interesting.

However, Nova Prospekt, and onwards are really, really fun, except for the dumb squad AI. A lot more people to interact with, and much more deadly combat. Episodes are fun, though Ep 1 doesn't really have any plot at all.

[The Linker]

I'm surprised no one's mentioned how much the fun picks up with the, oh, what's it called, GRAVITY GUN!? :smalltongue:

And oh, is it fun...

[Phase]

I like to train with 1v1 if anyone has spare time (on team fortress 2 of course), my username on steam is the same as this.

I'll do this! I'll just friend you, then...

[Bryn]

In my opinion, Half-Life 2 is a bit worse than the later episodes, at least in the beginning. While the long, overland treks with vehicles are good for drawing out the game, they last a bit too long, and serve as larger interludes between areas of major combat. Water Hazard is annoying, and Route Canal just is a bit too far from anything interesting.

However, Nova Prospekt, and onwards are really, really fun, except for the dumb squad AI. A lot more people to interact with, and much more deadly combat. Episodes are fun, though Ep 1 doesn't really have any plot at all.

What? Water Hazard is one of my favourite levels! Racing through those canals at high speed, running down combine is loads of fun. The buggy levels aren't as good in my opinion, but I didn't find it bad.

There are a few awkward moments in Water Hazard, sadly. There is one point where you have to be perfectly aligned along a circular pipe or you fall off and have to go back round, which is rather annoying and kills momentum if you get it wrong. Otherwise, though, it's a blast.

On Synergy, though, this changes completely. The vehicle levels are no fun on Synergy, since it's all too easy to get left behind by the others and be left driving through an empty level which is not nearly as exciting as when you are being shot at by Combine the whole way.

In normal, single-player Half-Life 2, though, it's a load of fun.

Anyway, I generally find the sewer levels go past fairly quickly. I reccomend using the pistol and aiming for headshots - it's really easy that way and you'll be through it in no time. In general, don't slow down and it's great fun.

In comparison to the episodes, Half-Life 2 is less advanced graphically but it has a whole load more content. I wouldn't go and say any part of the Half-Life series is significantly better or worse.

[The Linker]

There are a few awkward moments in Water Hazard, sadly. There is one point where you have to be perfectly aligned along a circular pipe or you fall off and have to go back round, which is rather annoying and kills momentum if you get it wrong.

Yeah, that part always kind of bugged me. It's during the section where the helicopter starts dropping mines on you and the awesome music kicks in, too -- not a great time for something that may take a few tries. :smalltongue: Disturbs ma flow, yo! Of course, when you get it right the first time, it's doubly awesome. :smallbiggrin:

[Mc. Lovin']

Deals! Deals! Deals!

BUY! BUY! BUY!

Here's what caught my eye.

25% off

Valve Complete Pack $75
http://store.steampowered.com/sub/1134/

THQ Collector Pack $75
http://store.steampowered.com/sub/1205/

Complete Popcap Collection $75
http://store.steampowered.com/sub/1161/

Left 4 Dead $37.50
http://store.steampowered.com/app/500/

50% off

id Super Pack $35
http://store.steampowered.com/sub/440/

Civilization IV Complete Pack $25
http://store.steampowered.com/sub/393/

Unreal Deal Pack $20
http://store.steampowered.com/sub/683

Team Fortress 2 and Counter-Strike: Source are 10 dollars each
http://store.steampowered.com/app/440/
http://store.steampowered.com/app/240/


75% off

Half-Life: Opposing Force and Half-Life: Blue Shift a dollar each
http://store.steampowered.com/app/50/
http://store.steampowered.com/app/130/

Portal $5
http://store.steampowered.com/app/400/

Bioshock $5
http://store.steampowered.com/app/7670/

_/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/

And for us brits;

Valve Complete Pack £39.74

THQ Collector Pack £39.74

Complete Popcap Collection £39.74

Left 4 Dead £20.24

id Super Pack £18.99

Civilization IV Complete Pack N/A

Unreal Deal Pack £11.49

Team Fortress 2 and Counter-Strike: Source are £6.99 each

Half-Life: Opposing Force and Half-Life: Blue Shift are £0.99 each

Portal £3.49

Bioshock £3.49

I'm so getting the Company of Heroes games tonight ... :smallwink:

[The Linker]

Heh. You can be our resident sale-attention-bringer. :smallbiggrin:

Your first job is coming up with a better name for your job. :smalltongue:

[Mc. Lovin']

As my first (other) job let me bring your attention to what I think is the best deal there

BIOSHOCK (score of 96 on metacritic, one of my favourite games)

Under four quid. FOUR!

[chiasaur11]

As my first (other) job let me bring your attention to what I think is the best deal there

BIOSHOCK (score of 96 on metacritic, one of my favourite games)

Under four quid. FOUR!

That's less than a finn for the yanks.

I am strongly considering this game.

[Myatar_Panwar]

That's less than a finn for the yanks.

I am strongly considering this game.

Stop considering, and BUY BUY BUY. You wont regret it.

Also, Mount and Blade, only 15 bucks people. Or at least try the demo. Its worth it.

[AlterForm]

That's less than a finn for the yanks.


Less than a WHAT for a WHO? :smallconfused:

;)

[Mc. Lovin']

Here's a nicer list, but I couldn't be bothered to check if it's finished or not;

Official Holiday Sale Page (http://store.steampowered.com/holidaysale)

± 75% off = Green
± 50% off = Yellow
± 25% off = Orange


The list is sorted alphabeticly.

Audiosurf
9.99€ -> 4.99€ [50% off]
9.99$ -> 4.99$
5.99£ -> 2.99£

Beyond Good & Evil
4.99€ -> 3.74€ [25% off]
9.99$ -> 7.49$
4.99£ -> 3.74£

Bioshock
19.99€ -> 4.99€ [75% off]
19.99$ -> 4.99$
13.99£ -> 3.49£

Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare
49.99€ -> 37.74€ [25% off]
49.99$ -> 37.74$
29.99£ -> 22.49£

Company of Heroes
9.99€ -> 7.49€ [25% off]
19.99$ -> 14.99$
13.99£ -> 10.49£

Company of Heroes Opposing Fronts
19.99€ -> 14.99€ [25% off]
19.99$ -> 14.99$
13.99£ -> 10.49£

Counter-Strike Source
19.99€ -> 9.99€ [50% off]
19.99$ -> 9.99$
13.99£ -> 6.99£

Dark Messiah Might and Magic
9.99€ -> 7.49€ [25% off]
9.99$ -> 7.49$
5.99£ -> 4.49£

Darwinia
9.99€ -> 4.99€ [50% off]
9.99$ -> 4.99$
5.99£ -> 2.99£

Dawn of War Everything Pack
29.99€ -> 14.99€ [50% off]
59.99$ -> 29.99$
33.98£ -> 16.99£

Dawn of War Platinum Edition
14.99€ -> 7.49€ [50% off]
29.99$ -> 14.99$
16.99£ -> 8.49£

Defense Grid The Awakening
19.99€ -> 14.99€ [25% off]
19.99$ -> 14.99$
13.99£ -> 10.49£

Doom II
9.99€ -> 0.99€ [90% off]
9.99$ -> 0.99$
5.99£ -> 0.99£

Far Cry
9.99€ -> 7.49€ [25% off]
9.99$ -> 7.49$
4.99£ -> 3.74£

Far Cry 2
49.99€ -> 37.49€ [25% off]
49.99$ -> 37.49$
34.99£ -> 26.24£

FlatOut Ultimate Carnage
39.99€ -> 19.99€ [50% off]
19.99$ -> 9.99$
29.99£ -> 14.99£

Frontlines Fuel of War
9.99€ -> 7.49€ [25% off]
29.99$ -> 22.49$
16.99£ -> 12.74£

Half-Life Blue Shift
4.99€ -> 0.99€ [90% off]
4.99$ -> 0.99$
2.99£ -> 0.99£

Half-Life Opposing Force
4.99€ -> 0.99€ [90% off]
4.99$ -> 0.99$
2.99£ -> 0.99£

id Super Pack
69.99€ -> 34.99€ [50% off]
69.99$ -> 34.99$
37.99£ -> 18.99£

I-Fluid
9.99€ -> 4.99€ [50% off]
9.99$ -> 4.99$
5.99£ -> 2.99£

Jade Empire Special Edition
14.99€ -> 11.24€ [25% off]
14.99$ -> 11.24$
8.99£ -> 6.74£

Left 4 Dead
44.99€ -> 33.74€ [25% off]
44.99$ -> 33.74$
26.99£ -> 20.24£

Multiwinia
9.99€ -> 4.99€ [50% off]
9.99$ -> 4.99$
5.99£ -> 2.99£

Portal
14.99€ -> 3.74€ [75% off]
19.99$ -> 4.99$
13.99£ -> 3.49£

Sacred Gold
9.99€ -> 4.99€ [50% off]
9.99$ -> 4.99$
5.99£ -> 2.99£

Savage 2
6.99€ -> 5.24€ [25% off]
9.99$ -> 7.49$
6.99£ -> 5.24£

THQ Collector Pack
99.99€ -> 79.99€ [25% off]
99.99$ -> 79.99$
52.99£ -> 39.74£

Titan Quest Gold Edition
19.99€ -> 14.99€ [25% off]
19.99$ -> 14.99$
13.99£ -> 10.49£

Peggle Deluxe
9.99€ -> 4.99€ [50% off]
9.99$ -> 4.99$
6.99£ -> 3.49£

Relic Super Pack
49.99€ -> 37.49€ [25% off]
49.99$ -> 37.49$
26.99£ -> 20.24£

SpellForce 2 Shadow Wars + Dragon Storm
29.99€ -> 22.49€ [25% off]
29.99$ -> 22.49$
16.99£ -> 12.74£

Spore
49.99€ -> 37.49€ [25% off]
49.99$ -> 37.49$

STALKER: Clear Sky
29.99€ -> 14.99€ [50% off]
34.99$ -> 17.49$
18.99£ -> 9.49£

Team Fortress 2
19.99€ -> 9.99€ [50% off]
19.99$ -> 9.99$
13.99£ -> 6.99£

Trackmania United Forever
39.99€ -> 19.99€ [50% off]
39.99$ -> 19.99$
22.99£ -> 11.49£

Trails 2 Second Edition
9.99€ -> 2.49€ [75% off]
9.99$ -> 2.49$
5.99£ -> 1.49£

Unreal Deal Pack
39.99€ -> 19.99€ [50% off]
39.99$ -> 19.99$
22.99£ -> 11.49£

Unreal Tournament 3
19.99€ -> 9.99€ [50% off]
19.99$ -> 9.99$
13.99£ -> 6.99£

Valve Complete Pack
89.99€ -> 67.49€ [25% off]
99.99$ -> 74.99$
52.99£ -> 39.74£

Virtual Villagers
9.99€ -> 4.99€ [50% off]
9.99$ -> 4.99$
5.99£ -> 2.99£

World of Goo
19.99€ -> 14.99€ [25% off]
19.99$ -> 14.99$
16.99£ -> 12.74£

X3 Reunion
19.99€ -> 9.99€ [50% off]
19.99$ -> 9.99$
13.99£ -> 6.99£

BIG EDIT:

I aint even gonna bother pretending I did this list:
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8751717&postcount=448
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8751722&postcount=449

[Myatar_Panwar]

Man, I don't even know why they are selling savage 2. That game is free on their website.

[chiasaur11]

So, does Bioshock still have Securom on Steam?

Just curious.

[Mc. Lovin']

So, does Bioshock still have Securom on Steam?

Just curious.

nope.

(tencharandthat)

[Job]

Looking for a Steam group invitation please :smallsmile:.

Job => Chopstewie

"[GitP]ChopStewie"

[Dispozition]

Not available in Australia, BAH!

[chiasaur11]

So, I figure I'll get Bioshock and Mass Effect. Maybe the two Half Life expansions.

Still plenty of time to think it over. Ah, Steam. You make scarcity much less of an issue.

[Volug]

Anyone play on the Zombie fortress servers on TF2?

It's very very fun, I want them to make night-time dustbowl an official map, it's awesome looking.

[mathieumg]

mathieumg -> mathieumg

[Myatar_Panwar]

Anyone play on the Zombie fortress servers on TF2?

It's very very fun, I want them to make night-time dustbowl an official map, it's awesome looking.

I have once. It was interesting.

But I would love some dark time maps in normal TF2. LOVE.

[onasuma]

Hmm...

The new Prince of Persia is looking pretty cheap at the moment. Can anyone whos played it give me me points for an against it? Its either that or (another) carnefix, so my opinion is split.

Edit: Oh, and beyond good and evil is 4 pounds. Get it.

Edit 2: Oh, its no longer a carnefix at all, but a decision on which steam games i get. With my slightly over 30 pounds, i think im going to get Psyconaughts (sp?), beyond good and evil, Painkiller and the new Prince of persia. Before i do buy them, Id like to see if anyone thinks im missing out on an especially good bargin in the steam sale and if Beyond good and evil should be swapped for hitman 2.
I love online sales. They're cheap to start with, and then they get so much cheaper.

[revolver kobold]

Stick with Beyond Good and Evil, much better than Hitman 2.

[Greg]

Are mass effect and spore actually for sale in europe yet?

[AlterForm]

Hmm...

The new Prince of Persia is looking pretty cheap at the moment. Can anyone whos played it give me me points for an against it? Its either that or (another) carnefix, so my opinion is split.

Edit: Oh, and beyond good and evil is 4 pounds. Get it.

Edit 2: Oh, its no longer a carnefix at all, but a decision on which steam games i get. With my slightly over 30 pounds, i think im going to get Psyconaughts (sp?), beyond good and evil, Painkiller and the new Prince of persia. Before i do buy them, Id like to see if anyone thinks im missing out on an especially good bargin in the steam sale and if Beyond good and evil should be swapped for hitman 2.
I love online sales. They're cheap to start with, and then they get so much cheaper.

YES. YES. THREE TIMES YES.

[Mc. Lovin']

Looking for a Steam group invitation please :smallsmile:.

Job => Chopstewie

"[GitP]ChopStewie"

Done n Done

[Greg]

I take it it's ok to friend anyone in the GitP group?