Spy Update
A bit of detective work by Skizzerz in the forums unearthed this little gem

(Clicky for the full image 1.6mb warning for the 3 people who access ubercharged.net on dial up)
Yeah, it’s a hoax by Kaanin (read the last line the full image), but it’s incredibly well done with a lot of thought put into it. It would be totally plausible if it didn’t actually say it was a hoax in the fineprint. The weapon ideas aren’t that bad either, and would totally work in the game.
You listening Valve?
madlep on June 28th 2008 in Uncategorized, patch, spy, team fortress 2, valve
Newt Pulsifer responded on 28 Jun 2008 at 11:30 am #
FANTASTIC!!!
Gehn responded on 28 Jun 2008 at 12:01 pm #
I love the icon for the Gentlemen achievement. That alone should make its fakeness obvious, though it would be really cool to see Valve use that picture for reals.
J3553 responded on 28 Jun 2008 at 2:37 pm #
look at the very bottom line.
VERY BOTTOM. Look closely.
J3553 responded on 28 Jun 2008 at 2:38 pm #
@J3553 (Me)
Crap, just read the description.
DISREGARD PREVIOUS COMMENT.
Pinko responded on 28 Jun 2008 at 2:51 pm #
@J3553
Look at the description.
DESCRIPTION. Look closely.
Pinko responded on 28 Jun 2008 at 2:52 pm #
@J3553
Crap, just read the second comment.
DISREGARD PREVIOUS COMMENT.
(Sorry, I just couldn’t resist. :D)
wizarD. responded on 28 Jun 2008 at 3:01 pm #
I thought the gentlemen thing wouldve been real, I mean they used FYI I’m a Medic for an achievement.
Anyway, it fooled me, untill I read the whole ubercharged post. I was too excited to read.
Dark Master responded on 28 Jun 2008 at 3:02 pm #
I think those changes to the spy class are pretty good, I especially like the ability to prime the knife and the quick recharge to the cloak (the dispenser may just boost the recharge, rather then filling it instantly). I’m not sure if the spy’s speed should be as high as the medic’s, but it definitely should be higher then it is right now.
As for the new weapons, I really like the idea for the magnetic sapper, its perfect for helping to break deadlocks, but forces the spy to give up his ability to kill unattended buildings effortlessly.
The Garrote is a pretty good idea too, but I think it should be difficult for the spy to change to and from that weapon, as well as having no attack except for it’s strangle. Otherwise it’s pretty good, because the spy can’t kill a buch of people at once with it equiped.
Finally, the Silenced PPK is probably the least strong idea, as it is just a rip off of the Back Burner. I think that a pistol that deals untraceable damage (you can’t hear where its coming from and there is no red on screen to tell you where it came from), provides no death cam, and deals reduced damage. Now the spy can’t run from those who find him, but can harass the enemy team from anywhere.
Dark Master responded on 28 Jun 2008 at 3:04 pm #
Hun, I wonder if those untraceable shots would be good for a new sniper rifle too… one that can’t headshot and has less rounds….
Pulviriza responded on 28 Jun 2008 at 5:13 pm #
Another obvious problem, it says that in the ‘first’ community map pack.
Rawket Lawnchair responded on 28 Jun 2008 at 6:04 pm #
That had me going, It was done well, though before i found out it was a fake, I thought Valve had gone back to making obscenely contrived achievements again.
waebi responded on 28 Jun 2008 at 8:47 pm #
not more crits :S
Lollercoaster responded on 28 Jun 2008 at 9:02 pm #
Lol, the grammar mistakes just make it too obvious. Seriously, “the spies running speed”? “Its not a very good…”? It hurts my eyes.
BreadHeadFred responded on 28 Jun 2008 at 10:51 pm #
@ Lollercoaster: I agree, but as a matter of fact, Valve has an equally bad grammar error in their Well (CTF) video (the one that you can see when you’re on the “welcome” screen on a server). It’s something like “…the enemies base…”, I think.
Skizzerz responded on 29 Jun 2008 at 5:12 am #
hooray!
i was mentioned somewhere important!
Lolololololololol responded on 29 Jun 2008 at 7:35 am #
Yeah ‘2 new maps’ and then no mention of maps.
“Meet the Medic” and then no mention of meeting anybody.
Otherwise, the magnetic sapper sounds like juuuust the sort of gamebreaking thing Valve would do.
Minzerta2010 responded on 29 Jun 2008 at 11:14 am #
These weapons are pretty awesome. And the idea of having dispensers recharge the cloak and supply cabinets completely refill them is great. I’m not quite sure i understand the whole priming the knife thing.
Direction responded on 29 Jun 2008 at 12:58 pm #
The garrote would be sweet if there was a sort of struggle game that went with it, depending on the class depends on how easily they can break it, but a good spy could always finish them off either way.
Dark Master responded on 29 Jun 2008 at 2:06 pm #
Priming the knife means that when you attack with it, you don’t have to wait for the attack animation. You click and hold the mouse button, the spy redies his knife (takes a second or so). The knife hits as soon as you release the mouse button. The spy has to do that whenever he attacks with the knife, but this way you won’t miss people because you can’t follow them when you’re right up to them.
Ozcar responded on 29 Jun 2008 at 6:22 pm #
Because I couldn’t catch sleep last night, I thought about this nicely done hoax while I was lying in bed. And in fact I think that the strangling wire would be a quite good weapon. Maybe not as it is presented in the picture, though. Let me explain my own thoughts about what the weapon should be like:
- Replaces butterfly knife
- Can only be used on a target from directly behind
- Inflicts 200dps, no crits
- Very limited reach: you must be almost touching the person you want to kill
- Using it will drop your disguise if you are not cloaked
- Can be used while cloaked. Killing enemies while cloaked gives a few effects. First, you do not drop your disguise under your cloak, and second, while strangling, your cloak meter stops and after an succesful kill you get a 40% boost to your cloak bar.
So, what this means is that this weapon’s primary use would be killing enemies while no-one can see you. Of course, when somebody sees a lone player dying all by himself, there are bound to be a few bullets flying your way, but with skilful dodging you might be able to kill quite a few enemies before you are killed. If you are killed. Some might argue about how this gives an unfair advantage against a lone engineer, for instance, but keep in mind that this weapon can only be used from directly behind! Otherwise it is completely useless, so eg. positioning your dispenser directly behind you would give you a nice cover from spies.
I also have come up with animations when somebody is dying. The person being strangled himself just comes to a full stop, his vision turns directly upwards and it start to fade rapidly to black in synch with your heath points dropping to zero. If the spy is killed or forced to retreat before the victim is killed however, then the vision will return to normal (the health points will not come back, of course), the character will cough a few times and then he is ready to go again! Anyone else sees a player stopping (maybe with a visible spy behind him) and turning into a very uncomfortable position and in the end stumbling to floor. The spy would see the animation of him setting the wire around his victims neck and then a meter would appear telling you when your victim is dead.
So, this would obviously suit spies who want to kill lone enemies, but against larger groups of people this would only result in maybe a couple of kills before you are set in fire/torn to pieces by bonesaw/etc. But of course to ability to be unseen while doing this will definitely give you a few more seconds of time to live, seek cover and then ambush another careless player.
So, what do you think?
NightStriker responded on 29 Jun 2008 at 11:14 pm #
Whew that scared me until I heard it was a hoax. I don’t think I want to play TF2 while the Spy + Sniper Achievements come out.
Sanns responded on 30 Jun 2008 at 6:31 am #
Are you kidding? The Spy and Snper updates are going to be so much fun. N00b spies and snipers are the best players to !@#$ with!
Nometet responded on 01 Jul 2008 at 4:10 am #
Lol. Had me convinced. Good idea though.
RJ-Pilot responded on 03 Jul 2008 at 3:21 am #
Want….garrote…so…cool….gaak!!
Gentlemen…
derhimmelstoss responded on 07 Jul 2008 at 2:50 pm #
I wouldn’t mistake it for the real thing because it has grammar mistakes.