games  anime  |  toys
This is a Dtoid readers's blog. For staff blogs click here. Confused? read this Create you own!  |   Members: Login now





Why the new TF2 Achievements are not a bad thing
WDot | 11:01 PM on 04.16.2008 6 comments




It seems a lot of people are up in arms over the new Team Fortress 2 achievements. These 36 achievements are a lot more difficult than people were originally expecting. Normally I'd think people would just shrug it off, but since unlockable weapons are at stake, apparently this is a big deal. Or not.

Think about it. Why do you play Team Fortress 2? Is it to get the achievements? If so, then you're probably useless to the team. Who cares if you're trying to get 25 headshots? You suck as a sniper, so play something else! If you're everyone else, though, you probably play it because it's a FUN ONLINE GAME. It promotes teamwork over mouse-moving skills, it's balanced so that all 9 classes are useful but not overpowered, and it's going to be supported by Valve for a good while.

The new weapons, while interesting, are not game-unbalancing monsters. The new syringe gun heals you a bit when you hit a target--but it is impossible to get a critical hit. The new medigun, when ubercharged, gives an 100% chance to make a critical hit to whoever's being healed by the gun. This one is still unclear whether the person will be invincible also or not, but I'm willing to bet on the former. The latter would completely throw away the balance Valve worked hard to build. And the bonesaw adds percentage to ubercharge, but it's slower. And the fact is, the bonesaw isn't a weapon that a medic can use effectively in open spaces. It's a tool for taking out spies, enemy medics, and people who aren't paying attention. They give the medic more options, but they aren't a ticket to getting ahead.

Let me put it this way: only DEDICATED MEDICS will have a use for these.



According to Valve's own statistics, the medic is played about 11% of the time by all players on official Valve maps. It's certainly not the least played class, but it clearly not the most popular. 90% of the time people are playing classes that are not medic. That means 90% of the time, people should not give a crap whether or not they have access to the "critzcrieg." Even if a heavy is being zapped with it, they still need somebody healing them otherwise they'll be blasted away when they try to play Rambo.

There's really on two types of people who will get these: Cheaters and hardcore medics. The cheaters will of course, set up servers with their friends and play all the scenarios required to get the items. It won't be fun, it'll be work, and I'd be surprised if they can keep their friends' interest long enough to get all 36. Even if they get the items, then what? They can try to be an ubermedic until they find out that they actually suck as a medic anyway. And then there are the hardcore medics. They may still set up specialized scenarios, but probably less so than cheaters and in the end, they probably won't use these new weapons exclusively. Maybe they'd switch permanently to the new bonesaw, and maybe even the new syringe gun if they need health more often than crits. But the critzcrieg is not a replacement for the medigun, and the other two weapons have enough disadvantages to not be easy replacements.

Valve is not cheating you out of weapons. In fact, I think they did this smartly. They made the new weapons so hard to get that only the people who really really care will get them. I think this will prevent servers being flooded with medics because the fact is, that's a lot of time playing a class you aren't familiar with just to get a few new toys that you may not even use.

I'm even willing to bet that most cheaters won't bother. Only 3.3% of the TF2-playing world has gotten the "With friends like these..." achievement. You know, make a team of 8 with only people on your friends list? If they can't organize that, I'm willing to bet they can't organize a team to play for the weeks required to cheat and get all the achievements.*

Just play the game as whatever class you want. It's not like you're increasing your gamerscore.

*I'll admit, I didn't get it either, but then again I haven't played in TFTuesdays or FNF yet, and most of my real-life friends would rather play Dawn of War.



Attached photos:

Photo Photo

Is this post awesome? Vote it up!

0


Comment with Facebook





Click connect and comment instantly!

Comment with Dtoid





New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds

5 comments | showing # 1 to 5

prev next

Reeper's Destructoid Blog
Just imagine the Critzcreig and a regular medigun doing double ubers on a heavy. Holy shit.
ajaxender's Destructoid Blog
Medic is about my 5th or 6th most played class, and ive already done a good number of those achievements. I doubt itll take long to get most of them, and in no way am i a hardcore medic (i normally prefer to kill things myself :P ). Getting all might take some effort though... but hey, itll bring a few more medics into the game, which is never a bad thing.

Some of those achievments are sweet though! "#7 : Play Doctor" made me lol.
twincannon's Destructoid Blog
According to Valve's own statistics, the medic is played about 11% of the time by all players on official Valve maps. It's certainly not the least played class, but it clearly not the most popular. 90% of the time people are playing classes that are not medic.


You couldn't ask for a better percentage than 11% when you're competing with 8 other classes for usage!

Anyway, I don't see how more achievements are a bad thing. The only thing that irks me is I hate when games do "oh you have to do something special with your friends list" or something, just seems discriminatory almost to a degree. Stuff like that will be "cheated" for sure.

Oh and the ubersaw is uberLULZ. 4 hits for 100% uber? Oh god, assault medics will no longer be a joke.
WDot's Destructoid Blog
@twincannon: I'm not trying to put down the medic, I play it almost exclusively. The point is, if someone's playing the medic JUST to get achievements or new weapons, why bother?

Valve is going to roll these out for every class eventually, and 36x9 achievements is going to be insane to try to collect. I don't think Valve meant for the achievements to be a goal for everyone, just fans of the class.
Surf314's Destructoid Blog
Playing as a medic sucks, not because the class sucks but because you have to rely on someone else. You don't know how many times I've chased a guy that decides to just explore the map instead of going for the objective. Or that runs out when Im at 95% uber and gets us both killed. Or any number of other stupid crap I'm not going to list. I'll only play medic if our team really needs one or I can pair up with someone I know.


prev next


Comment with Facebook





Click connect and comment instantly!

Comment with Dtoid





New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds

Comments policy

Destructoid is an open discussion community. You don't need to "audition" to post a comment - just speak your mind. We respect differing opinions on the site, so have at it. Be smart, funny, insightful, clueless, or cute -- but back it up with substance. Keep your cool, keep it fun. We only ask that you act respectfully and above all: don't be a troll and ruin it for everyone else. Don't bring down gamers or we'll, you know, gently shoot you in the face and stuff you into a flaming mailbox. Each comment is your opportuntity to make this community awesomer. Is that even a word?

Avoiding the banhammer only requires common sense: spamming, trolling, racism, NSFW stuff, and other forms of sucking will not be tolerated. If anyone is griefing please report abuse. Be good. Don't suck!

 

 
  get involved

register or login
post a blog
post a forum
enter a contest
contribute a news tip
suggest a feature
be a guest editor
support

new member's guide
login assistance
tech support
report abuse
email our editors
read our dev blog
nuclear crisis?
keep in touch

RSS feed
Twitter
Facebook
Myspace
Flickr
Game nights
Meetup+play online
seriously

about Destructoid
advertising
terms of use
privacy policy
jobs at MM
buy our crap
our network

Tomopop
Japanator
Despingation?




Destructoid is an independently-run publication forged by our love of video games and the gaming community's need of accountable enthusiast press
living the dream since March 16, 2006