Team Fortress 2 Classless Update: Day 2 - King of the Hill mode

[Hectic Glenn]

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[br]After many subtle hints from the TF2 blog, day two unveils 'King of the Hill mode'. So you have to defend a CP? But what is different?

Gameplay begins with the point initially locked?after a short time, it will open for capture by either team. Once the point is captured by a team, their team clock will start a three minute countdown. If the enemy team manages to capture the point back, their clock will start counting down while the other team?s clock freezes at the time the point was recaptured.

With a new game mode we will obviously be getting new 'koth' mode maps. The first is a brand new map called Viaduct (see below) which is the first TF2 map with snow. Two other maps are being converted for koth, nucleus and sawmill. See the full update here[br]

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[PorkPi]

I love how the have the "100% free!" thing so people can't complain.

 

[Asknoone]

Oh, oh, oh, snow.

 

[Darkside55]

I love how the have the "100% free!" thing so people can't complain.

They're gonna get people to relax, then they'll hit ya with the monthly fee!

Also, called it.

 

[kineaesth]

Congratulations, Darkside, your interpretation of the lines 'defend a hill' was, in fact, correct!

I am rather excited by this. It seems very strange that the initial class updates took so long in between to implement, and went so far as to have trailers for hype, and now they're basically trotting them out on a rapid basis.
Something's changed at Valve, something that makes them actually produce content quickly and efficiently. I've got to be honest, I don't like it. It scares me.

 

[Omnomnick]

Saw this before Glenn did ;D

Anyway, snow looks awesome - I just wish they focused less on new gamemodes and more on expanding existing ones like Payload or TC. TC and/or Payload in Alpine or Snow would be the best.

 

[Reginald]

I haven't played a game with a good King of the Hill mode since Perfect Dark. This is going to be amazing. It better be anyway.

 

[Darkside55]

Congratulations, Darkside, your interpretation of the lines 'defend a hill' was, in fact, correct!

I know man I'm some kind of genius.

Anyway, snow looks awesome - I just wish they focused less on new gamemodes and more on CAPTURE THE FLAG

Fixed.

 

[Eejit]

I am rather excited by this. It seems very strange that the initial class updates took so long in between to implement, and went so far as to have trailers for hype, and now they're basically trotting them out on a rapid basis.
Something's changed at Valve, something that makes them actually produce content quickly and efficiently. I've got to be honest, I don't like it. It scares me.

I'm fairly sure the officialising (it's a real verb I swear) of community maps vs making their own plays a big part.

 

[kineaesth]

Lazy sods!

Maps aside, the same thing happened with L4D2, and it was very unexpected. In my head Valve aren't the type of developer to actually release things promptly.

 

[Laivasse]

Anyway, snow looks awesome - I just wish they focused less on new gamemodes and more on CAPTURE THE FLAG

Fixed.

And agreed. Still holding out hope for news of a new CTF map in this update but not much.

I'm a sucker for snow, though, so pretty snow etc etc.

 

[Darkside55]

I'm fairly sure the officialising (it's a real verb I swear) of community maps vs making their own plays a big part.

Also officializing hats that were already on FPS Banana.

 

[Polaris]

Viaduct looks absolutely beautiful. Snow in mountains on sundown, it can't be more perfect.
Makes me think how awesome will Episode Three look like.

 

[Operational]

I've played some unofficial koth maps and they are tons of fun.

Also more hidden stuff:

 

[Hectic Glenn]

Digi sent me this one too: http://www.teamfortress.com/classless/hidden/populace/

I'm pretty certain the trading system will be up and running by the end of this classless update...

 

[Eejit]

omgomgomg RO-BOT as engi unlock?!?!?!

 

[Omnomnick]

Maybe something similar, with weaker guns that can patrol a small radius backwards and forwards.

 

[Mr-Fusion]

Cool sounding update!

 

[kineaesth]

new blog post!

 

[huntingbear]

whats the other

 

[kineaesth]

 

[Raziaar]

And to think, I'll be here for this shit at DAY 1, unlike every other TF2 update released where I wasn't even playing the damn game anymore!

 

[Sloth]

Erm, will there be re-spawn for KOTH or will it be a Arena style map?

 

[kineaesth]

Erm, will there be re-spawn for KOTH or will it be a Arena style map?

I'm thinking respawn. Single lives wouldn't make much sense.

 

[phoinix]

I'm the kind of person who likes to finish everything he starts. So DAMN YOU VALVE, WITH ALL THESE UPDATES I"LL NEVER BE AT PEACE!

 

[Hectic Glenn]

Erm, will there be re-spawn for KOTH or will it be a Arena style map?

Like KA says, a single life wouldn't make any sense. The first 3 minutes is establishing a hold on the koth map, and if you die in those 3 minutes you wouldn't be able to participate when the hill point actually becomes available for capture to actually hold it.

I can see what you are thinking though, since arena wasn't much of a success. Lets hope this is a bit more fun.

 

[Sloth]

Cause in my mind, Arena was a focus on small maps - KOTH can do the same while still being awesome gameplay wise.

 

[Penguin929]

I wonder if roaming hills are possible. I've always found those kinds of king of the hill enjoyable.

 

[CaptinDirt]

A classless update is a very interesting approach, no more class farming, plus they can focus on improving the gameplay instead of just pimping a class...

Though how does the new demo, sniper, and medic hat look like? It doesn't show them on the page.

 

[the.v.dog]

omgomgomg RO-BOT as engi unlock?!?!?!

I think that there will probably be female and robot versions of each class- on the alarm board there are three signs, 'is a man', 'is a woman', 'is a robot'.

 

[Slug Advisor]

A classless update is a very interesting approach, no more class farming, plus they can focus on improving the gameplay instead of just pimping a class...

Though how does the new demo, sniper, and medic hat look like? It doesn't show them on the page.

Or, you know, the other set of hats?

 

[Eejit]

It's out.

August 13, 2009 - Team Fortress 2 Update Released


Updates to Team Fortress 2 have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The specific changes include:

New Content

Added King Of The Hill game mode

Added custom animations played by the losing team during the post-win state. They are moved into third person camera to enjoy them

Added lots of new hats


Additions / Changes

Added "Auto Reload" option to the multiplayer advanced options

Clip-based weapons that reload a full clip at a time can now have their reloads aborted by firing

Pistol now fires at a fixed rate, not based on the speed at which you press the firing button

Added a color blind option to add a Jarate icon above enemies who are busy accepting a terrifying existence where they have no dignity

Significantly reduced the amount of network traffic being sent

Capturing the flag in a CTF game mode gives the entire capturing team 10 seconds of critboost

Sappers attached to a teleporter automatically place another Sapper on the other end of the teleporter, if it exists

Engineers wrenching a teleporter will repair the other end as well, and remove Sappers from both if they exist

Disguised Spies no longer trigger On-Hit effects (like the Blutsauger's heal)

Removed self-inflicted minicrits. Fixes Jarate'd Soldiers/Demomen having ineffective rocket/grenade jumps

Added an item panel to the spectator cam that shows non-standard items being carried by the player you're spectating

Added an "Inspect" key that allows you to look at items being carried by your team mates

Backpack improvements:

Added drag & drop to move items around. Item positions are maintained on the backend

Added multi-select, allowing you to delete multiple items at once

Added a new key to the key binding page that opens your inventory directly to your backpack

Fixed mouseover panel being incorrectly position when the backpack first appears

Cloaked Spies standing in valid backstab positions no longer raise their knife

Added current map name and gametype to the bottom right of scoreboard

Added class icons to tips on the loadout and loading screens

Improved visuals around flags when they're being carried by a player

Improved critboosted visuals, making it much clearer when an enemy has critboost

Updated the loading panel to show the game type under the map name during level transition

In-game chat dialog now supports full Unicode characters

Added BLU main menu background

Added response caching for some server queries to help reduce the CPU load from DOS attacks

Teammates no longer block friendly radius damage. Prevents nearby teammates causing rocket/grenade jumps to fail


Map Changes

Update PLR_Pipeline

Increased the starting advantage in the third round if a team has won the first two rounds

Fixed carts not continuing to the second round if they're capped at the same time in the first round

Fixed being able to shoot pipebombs over the starting gates in the first round

Fixed being able to open the doors in the first round before the setup time was finished

Fixed players getting stuck in some doors

Fixed players being able to get onto rooftops and out of the map boundaries

Fixed other minor bugs and exploits

Added community map Arena_Offblast

Added community map Cp_Yukon

Update Arena_Sawmill

Fixed DirectX8 bug where some models would not be visible

Fixed exploit with building teleporters outside of the map

Updated CP_Granary

Made a few changes to improve balance based on competitive community feedback


Item Reworks

The Force of Nature

The enemy knockback now only works in close range and behaves more like the Pyro's air blast

Enemies cannot be juggled by the FaN's effect

The self-knockback has also changed to respect the firer's view angle. Looking up while shooting will no longer propel the enemy upwards

Knockback is now scaled by damage done

The Sandman

A Scout will receive 1 point for stunning an enemy and 2 points for a long range stun

Stunned players now take 75% of all incoming damage instead of 50%

Ubercharged players can no longer be stunned

Heavies spinning their mini-guns will continue to spin when stunned (whether the left or right mouse button is pressed)

The minimum distance to stun a target has been reduced

The negative attribute has changed from "no double jump" to "-25 max health"


Fixes

Fixed various issues around layout & presentation of items inside the Backpack and "X is carrying" item dialogs

Fixed an exploit that allowed players to work around sv_pure

Particle files are now protected by sv_pure

Fixed critboost effect getting stuck on when you die while critboosted

Fixed Timer HUD element backgrounds not being the correct color if you change teams during waiting for players

Fixed a couple of issues with the way critboosts affected The Huntsman and the Spy's knife

Fixed an exploit where you could reload The Huntsman faster than intended

Fixed Heavy "civilian" exploit

Fixed a set of exploits using the DXSupport config files

Fixed r_screenfademinsize and r_screenfademaxsize exploits

Fixed sentries firing at a fully cloaked Spy if they're still the closest target


Community requests

Added a HUD element for hybrid CTF & CP maps

Supports 1 or 2 flags, and any number of CPs

Mapmakers need to place a "tf_logic_hybrid_ctf_cp" entity in their map to enable it

Added custom kill server log text "train" and "saw" for deaths caused by these environmental hazards

Format: "%s<%i><%s><%s>" committed suicide with "world" (customkill "%s") (attacker_position "%d %d %d")

Added new "medic_death" event for server logs

Format: "%s<%i><%s><%s>" triggered "medic_death" against "%s<%i><%s><%s>" (healing "%d") (ubercharge "%s")

healing is the amount the Medic healed in that life

ubercharge (1/0) is whether they died with a full charge

Added "func_respawnflag" trigger entity. It will remove & return the flag if a flag carrier touches it, or if the flag falls into it