Team Fortress 2

[whyarecarrots]

People, look at the scale of the graph and what it shows:

I POSTED IT BECAUSE IT WAS CLEARLY BORKED, NOT BECAUSE IT WAS A CLEAR REPRESENTATION OF THE STATE OF TF2¬!!!1!
[/rage]


On a slightly less heated note:
@Wedrinkritalin: I personally found it very hard to play soldier to begin with, despite it being recommended as a good starting class. It was only once I actually got some experience with it that I found myself getting more kills: played well (and I can't play Soldier well really), it's a very powerful class.

[wedrinkritalin]

Yeah really powerful, I always thought rocket jumping was just for fags and skill videos but if you have a buff it can be really useful

[Darkobra]

Updates to Team Fortress 2, Half-Life 2: Episode 1 & 2, and Portal have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The specific changes include:

Team Fortress 2, Episode 1 & 2, and Portal


Added support for the Novint Falcon


General

Added an option to the advanced multiplayer menu to select left or right handed view models

Fixed a bug where a spectator's wearable items could be seen floating around the player they were spectating

Fixed a bug where a fake Spy hand would appear on the screen of other players

Custom death animations now only play 25% of the time

Fixed teleporters not being build-able in some places where they should be (such as within the pit at the end of Badwater Basin)

Fixed rare client crash on connection and level change

Removed refract from water ripples caused by bullet impacts for performance reasons

Added log entries for player extinguished events using the medigun, jarate, flamethrower and dispenser

Started tracking localization settings to help make decisions regarding localization in the future

Fixed the blank progress bar in the upper-left of the screen when the client scheme is reloaded


Mapmaker requests

Added spawn flag to func_respawnroomvisualizer that allows it be non-solid to players

Added SetSolid input to func_respawnroomvisualizer to change solidity to players dynamically

Added OnWonByTeam1 and OnWonByTeam2 outputs to the TFGamerulesProxy


Sniper

Fixed a bad detection case in the "Friendship is Golden" achievement

Changed the description of the "Triple Prey" achievement so it better describes how to get it

Critical arrows now have a trail and correctly deal enhanced damage

The Huntsman now defaults to be right handed

Friendly arrows will no longer trigger the near miss sound on you

Fixed several sources of floating arrows


Spy

Fixed disguised Spies occasionally looking like they have invulnerability, instead of the correct fake Spy mask

Disguised spies will no longer lose their disguise weapon when they interact with a weapon locker

Fixed a bug where the spy's watch would randomly change models during play

Fixed uncloaked spies flickering in and out of the cloak effect when taking damage

The Cloak and Dagger now always regenerates at its intended rate. Previously it only regenerated at the correct rate when the spy was cloaked

Increased the Cloak and Dagger regeneration rate slightly

Capped the rate of energy loss from moving faster than run speed (falling / air toss) while cloaked with the Cloak and Dagger

The Dead Ringer's cloak consume rate has been slightly reduced, giving about an extra second of cloak time on a full meter

Emerging from the Dead Ringer's cloak now drains up to 40% of the cloak meter instead of 100%. This drain only happens if the meter is at least 60% full

The Dead Ringer's cloak meter can now be regenerated from ammo sources

The Ambassador now only crits when fully accurate and no longer penetrates enemies

The Spy can no longer change weapons from the knife while shocked by the Razorback

Force-A-Nature & Flamethrower air blast knockback effects no longer work on disguised spies

Fixed disguised Spies showing the wrong teleporter effects when using an enemy teleporter

Gentlemen! The spy has been buffed again!

[elitewalmartsecurity]

I find that almost everyone I see on servers uses the bow. Why? Because running into a battle and being able to potentially kill everyone you meet from SHORT range as well is just fantastic. Also it's a nice "fire and forget" weapon if you know someone wants to get somewhere. Or if you're holding off a small area.

[Sable]

I really like the Huntsman and the Sniper Rifle - I find myself switching between them a lot, depending on the map and how badly I'm doing (I am a very bad Sniper). I did finally get Jarate, which I still think is hysterical.

The Spy changes are welcome, it really makes the class more viable. I can't decide which I like more: being the Spy that makes engies cry, or being the engie that wrenches Spies to death by the dozen.

[Cureless_Poison]

I prefer the Huntsman over the Sniper, even at long range. With the Huntsman you can fire over cover and hit people but still be safe from other snipers.

For me: I like being able to snipe and keep full awareness of my surroundings, as where the sniper limits you to the scope. Plus I find it much easier to instantly head shot people running into me with the Huntsman as opposed to the Sniper.

[Master Gunner]

I often switch between the sniper rifle and the huntsmen depending on what the situation calls for. Generally if I'm attacking, in an enclosed/small map, or using Jarate, I will use the Huntsmen. Often though, I find I'm better with the sniper, and end up resorting to that.

[Darkobra]

Linux Dedicated Server


Improved connection logic to help servers that aren't automatically reconnecting to Steam, and added extra logging to track it

Added extra data gathering to help us understand and improve Linux performance


Team Fortress 2

Changed cl_flipviewmodels so it can no longer be set while connected to a server

Fixed problem with Loadout Menu "Back" button not preserving the currently equipped weapon

Fixed a case where an observer could set the observed player's view models

Fixed the Heavy's punches not matching mouse button presses when the view models are flipped

Fixed Bonk! ammo count exploit after using a regeneration locker

Fixed Dead Ringer damage reduction exploit involving Spy taunting

Reverted Force-A-Nature and airblast knockback on disguised Spies, so that they can once again be knocked back


Missed notes from previous update

The Ambassador no longer penetrates buildings

Removed the movement speed penalty on The Razorback

A slight spy nerf and removing the speed penalty. I still won't be using the Razorback.

[whyarecarrots]

On the subject of the sniper, I tend to play with the bow and the jarate, mostly because I find the sniper rifle frustrating to use, and while I;m not much more successful with the bow, I like the machete/jarate combination: I find it fun and quite successful in smaller games, although I tried it in a larger game today and got nowhere...

[Darkobra]

I've given up on getting the hang of the Huntsman. It just moves too slow for my tastes. I love the sniper rifle as I can rail down several snipers and enemies with headshots. Scouts are a bit trickier but not impossible.

If they get too close, jarate and machete, watch them run into a sentry around the corner.

[Lyinginbedmon]

Huntsman is definitely faster I think, but I prefer the precision and distance scouting advantage that the rifle gives.

If Valve could somehow make it such that I could have both at the same time in game (Rather than the single use ammo Jarate and Razorback), I'd certainly be set with rifle, huntsman, and kukri.