Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Crit
Twinkle, twinkle, little crit
Oh how sweetly you do sit
Oh how could we ever know
How much destruction you can sow
We are all aware of the numerous ways in which Team Fortress 2 differs from most FPS’s. We are also aware of how some of these design choices divide the community. Not least among those is the presence of critical hits, affectionately (or not so affectionately in some cases) dubbed crits. For some people, they are the bane of their existence. Several servers are now No-Crit servers, with many players opting out of the glowing tracer shots, sparkling rockets and brutal melee swipes. However, before you type “no crits” into that search field, think again. For critical hits are glorious!
Crits, it’s crits. We hope it’s crits, it’s crits
I don’t mean circumstantial crits- the backstabs, the headshots, the axtinguisher. While glorious in their own right, they are not representative of the real critical hit. For the bona fide crit is a fluke, a whim of Lady Luck designed to give and take in equal measure. Occuring somewhere between 5 and ten hits per hundred, nothing controls crits but an invisible die, along with a slight modifier based on your performance so far this life.
It seems odd that Valve would let something so destructive be controlled purely by chance. Take the sticky mine. A crit sticky is the single most destructive attack in the game (with the exception of instakills and the Almighty Train God), dealing a whopping 353 damage at point blank (plus 260-180 splash damage up to 6ft, fact fans). The splash alone is enough to kill anything but a Soldier or Heavy (without Overheal) in one go. Some might say this is too much, especially for a weapon that’s more often than not used in bunches. Indeed, many times playing as a Medic, I have been moved to frustrated tears by a Demoman launching stickies at my heal target, luckily landing a crit, and eviscerating me from 6ft away. However, I would argue that this is more a fault of how the Demoman can be played (though that’s not for here…) than with the critical hit system itself.
For while Fortune takes with one hand, she unfailingly gives with the other. For every time you’ve been killed by a lucky crit, you will have also had moments where you were fortunate. And, boy, do they make for good war stories.
For instance, once, while playing Gravel Pit as an offensive Sniper, I found myself stuck at the B-C route, unable to stick my head out of the door. Waiting by a dispenser, I noticed a Pyro-Medic pair approaching. “Oh bother,” I thought. “This isn’t going to end well.” However, not concerned with a poxy Sniper, the Pyro made a beeline for the Engineer, unguarded by his Sentry. While he was distracted, I decided that if I was going to die, I’d die fighting, however futile. As he immolated my comrade, I approached him from the side, Kukri bared, and struck him. Water off a duck’s back (or perhaps fire would be a better analogy). I could see how this would end- the Pyro would turn to me and I’d die a fiery death. Figuring I was dead either way, I went for another blow. With a satisfying ‘CHUNK’ it critted. The Pyro fell limply to the floor. Emboldened by my kill, and feeling like a slim Australian version of the Hulk, I went for his Medic, who had barely enough time to switch to his syringes before a second critical Kukri blow sliced him in two.
Crits, glorious crits
I’m aware that I can take little credit for this story. After all, it was just two lucky rolls of an invisible ten-sided die that ensured my victory. But how many other TF2 experiences are based on luck? As a Spy, you are very much subject to the whims of chance- no matter how skilled you are, a Pyro’s playful blast of flame burns through your invisibility in an instant. When forced to cross a Sniper’s field of vision, you pray that he will be distracted by someone else long enough for you to pass.
That said, however, I can see there is one game type in which crits can potentially break down the game’s balance. That mode is, of course, Arena. As CodedOne said recently, in a match where there are no respawns, and each death matters, being on the receiving end of a critical rocket is no longer a minor inconvenience, but a potentially game-changing event. But I’m not sure that removing crits from Arena altogether would improve it. It would seem hypocritical of Valve to remove a gameplay feature from one gametype without doing so for all others, and I believe that TF2 without random crits would not be an improvement. I feel the best solution to this would be for the players to create more no-crit arena servers. No-one can really object to this, as anyone who doesn’t mind crits will still have the option to play with them.
All in all, though, with the exception of Arena, random crits are a harmless game mechanic that in over a year of playing TF2, we should really have got used to by now.
Zorgulon on December 23rd 2008 in demoman, sniper, soldier, team fortress 2, ubercharged
Stumble it!
Nessmk2 responded on 23 Dec 2008 at 2:53 pm #
I agree, whole-heartedly.
SAC responded on 23 Dec 2008 at 3:46 pm #
Someone likes musicals. :O
SRSly, what up with all you people playing Arena? Fantastic features right there, just what I believe gaming needs; less playing and more sitting around waiting to play.
Lord Destructo responded on 23 Dec 2008 at 4:11 pm #
Agreed. I believe that crits add a tinge of insanity and randomness to the game mechanics.
Perfect for a dose of unpredictable, controversial experiences which you will later blabber on to your fellow tf2 mates.
Food Fight responded on 23 Dec 2008 at 7:15 pm #
Completely agreed. I hate and love em and there’s nothing like dropping a crit stickie into a group of 3 plus people and watching them all explode.
Kritzkreig soldiers/demos for the win.
Col. Stauffenberg responded on 23 Dec 2008 at 8:10 pm #
As I said in CodedOne’s piece, random crits aren’t worse in arena. Arena just better demonstrates why they’re a stupid mechanic.
I was convinced that random crits suck almost since day one. I tried to “get used” to them for months, without being convinced otherwise. When Valve made nocrit a server option, I tried it out. Then I wondered how I ever put up with them for so long.
It’s very pleasant to not have to worry about dying for no reason other than an invisible die saying you should. I guess the downside is that you have to actually earn your kills rather than hope you’ll conjure a glowy rocket and instawin a fight. What a shame.
abbe responded on 23 Dec 2008 at 9:46 pm #
I feel that crits make the game unfair, anyone can kill anyone with a crit, no matter how skilled they are. But most of all, I personally feel cheated of a good game when crits happen, for me or for someone else. If I get killed in a situation where I clearly should have won, I get cheated of the win. If I on the other hand survive a situation I should have died on or it would be incredibly close or up to the players individual skill, I feel cheated on a close tight good game.
I absolutely hate random factors in games that cause instant death, which is why I can never play a game like CS.
So I will always try and find a no-crit server thankyouverymuch.
Also, the crits for heavies are bugged, so I get the graphics and sound but not the actual crits, that’s awesome.
Angmarian Warrior responded on 23 Dec 2008 at 10:37 pm #
“I feel the best solution to this would be for the players to create more no-crit arena servers.”
What about disabling crits in arena by default, and creating custom crit arena servers?
FunkyB responded on 23 Dec 2008 at 11:02 pm #
“…anyone can kill anyone with a crit, no matter how skilled they are…”
You forgot to say why this is bad. “Unskilled” players can kill with a crit, however “skilled” players will kill with crits more often due to better aim, better play and the damage-based crit boost. Therefore removing crits helps “unskilled” players. Personally I detest the term, but if you have to label a TF2 gametype as ‘noob’, then by this logic it has to be no-crit servers.
General Goose responded on 23 Dec 2008 at 11:08 pm #
I agree completely.
And crits are always funny when you catch a cloaked spy, or someone dominating you, or someone who slaughtered half your team in one life.
xeno responded on 23 Dec 2008 at 11:29 pm #
“It seems odd that Valve would let something so destructive be controlled purely by chance.”
Heh, good thing it’s not PURELY by chance then. You start with a 5% crit rate (I think), and through damage (or ubercharge meter) your crit rate goes up to a maximum of 20/25%. Or, something like that.
However, I agree crits are glorious. And pfft, who’d player arena? Why wait when you can be gibbing?
Mr. Noobinator responded on 23 Dec 2008 at 11:37 pm #
uh…is this post by any chance a continuation of the previous post about crits? =\
then again, if its already come to this, i guess crits is quite a highly debatable subject in TF2
Saurous responded on 24 Dec 2008 at 1:14 am #
I agree or disagree, depending upon how long it’s been since I was killed by a critical. On one hand, it’s horrible and angering when, as a pyro, a scout that you should have been able to immolate in a second manages to beat you with a scattergun crit. However, it’s also hilarious to smash an offending spy’s stupid ass into the wall with a timely wrench crit.
As with most annoying factors of TF2, I’m split over it. Pyros are okay if there aren’t a bunch of them. Arena’s pretty fun when you don’t end up having to sit out two rounds in a row.
I’m not, however, divided over the demoman. He can go and dive under a Train God.
SirMax responded on 24 Dec 2008 at 1:19 am #
Crit stickies do FAR too much damage. This would explain how one crit sticky blew up me, my sentry, my dispenser, a medic, and a heavy. Scattergun crits also make me annoyed because the scout is possibly the cheapest class in the game if played well, but sticky crits are a tad bid powerful in my humble opinion.
Furious Badger responded on 24 Dec 2008 at 1:55 am #
Here’s my take; agree wholeheartedly that the “sit and wait” mechanic of Arena sucks. That’s not crits, though. Crits themselves are fine. Like others have said, you get a better crit rating through kills; meaning it’s an advantage more to good players than bad. Sure, there’ll be the odd time when a sniper sees the pyro coming and gets a machete crit for the kill before he burns to death, but so what? It’s not like that happens very often, at all. I find it amusing, when I’m the pyro. It’s not fundamentally different when I pop around the corner into the sniper deck, ready to wreak fiery carnage, and I see a heavy spin up and blasticate my face all over the wall.
If you’re only annoyed by crits when you die to one, the issue isn’t crits. It’s you having issues with being killed. If you have issues with killing others with crits, then I’ll accept that your issue is actually with the crit mechanic, rather than just suppressed anger that you got beaten.
dekichan responded on 24 Dec 2008 at 2:11 am #
Coming from WoW, crits were calculated in for your damage output. I think there’s a mind set that %10 is small and doesn’t happen that often. So when you crit, it’s considered lucky. But %10 isn’t actually that small. Crits do help those who shoot more frequently.
Anyone read the article on how the more hardcore a game gets, the fewer people the game gets accessible to? Games can become an upwardly spiraling skills race. The game gets better to the most skilled players, but at the cost of the size of the player base. It gets frustrating to get beat all of the time and new players won’t even bother anymore. Crits help keep a game more accessible. Yes, crit mechanics help the better players by upping the percentage, but crits by themselves help new players by giving them breaks. Especially if you shoot a lot.
minor correction: When rolling for a percentage of a hundred, that’s two 10-sided dice. One 10-sided die rolls one in ten.
dekichan responded on 24 Dec 2008 at 2:29 am #
I like OMFGNinja’s joke about critting on purpose. I like it because he’s got the mechanic down that he can kind of expect when you might get a good roll.
I’m sure most of you have seen it, but for those who haven’t, after getting several kills in a row as a spy, he shoots someone with the pistol and gets a crit. With the higher crit rating, he can feel confident about trying to shoot someone. It’s in his video.
I just bring it up since it shows how frequent even %5 can be. Those who dislike crits, may feel they don’t like their “skill” being beaten by “luck”, which is completely valid. To be able to accept crits then, is to say that a crit isn’t luck, but a factor of the game.
Killa-Ewok responded on 24 Dec 2008 at 2:40 am #
Hey guys! What’s special about tomorrow?
ALL TOGETHER NOW!
bjj responded on 24 Dec 2008 at 2:49 am #
Just take them out of arena. Really. It’s a new gamemode with new rules…
And all it does is irritate people when they have to sit out even longer because some random person happened across them and got a crit.
I like crits, usually. They do give you a burst of energy, and can be fun to abuse.
But I hate some things about them. Like the fact that I almost never get them. Since Day 1 of playing TF2, I honestly have not gotten more than 1 crit in every 100 attacks. They just don’t happen. And when absolutely anyone but me gets Heavy crits, they can kill me from across the map, AFTER I have run around a corner. But when I get heavy crits, they don’t kill anyone, even though I hear them hit, over and over.
So basically? Crit calculation needs to be reworked. Hard numbers are preferable to ‘oh, say, roughly, this many?’
I’ve gone DAYS without getting a single crit.
Anonymous responded on 24 Dec 2008 at 4:18 am #
Do crits ding if you miss and it’s not a rocket or sticky? I thought most guns won’t show that you crit unless you hit. So if all your crits miss, you wouldn’t know you were shooting crits. bjj, I don’t mean to sound condescending at all, but maybe your crits happen to miss? Perhaps play soldier and you will see for sure how often you crit.
Corodan responded on 24 Dec 2008 at 5:44 am #
Yeah, for some reason, I’ll play as heavy or pyro, and when the graphics+sounds start playing, the glowing green silly text that we all adore (or hate?) to see doesn’t appear.
Quite frustrating, especially when an ubered SCOUT is coming to BAT you to DEATH. AND ALL OF HIS HITS WERE CRITS.
Meh. I still like crits though. Kinda like that heroic time when it was badwater, t’was a soldier on the roof, and I spotted an engineer wielding a shotgun (suspiiiiicious) heading for a snipers back. the Train God must have been smiling down on me, for my intentions were to protect, I fired at the soon-to-lack-spine sniper (this was quite a distance) and right before the spy finished his long backstab animation, his liver(!) decorated the rocks.
Never got a thank you though. :/
abbe responded on 24 Dec 2008 at 6:16 am #
I Said:
“…anyone can kill anyone with a crit, no matter how skilled they are…”
FunkyB Said:
“You forgot to say why this is bad. “Unskilled” players can kill with a crit, however “skilled” players will kill with crits more often due to better aim, better play and the damage-based crit boost. Therefore removing crits helps “unskilled” players. Personally I detest the term, but if you have to label a TF2 gametype as ‘noob’, then by this logic it has to be no-crit servers.”
But then again crits are completely random. You cant press on a magic crit button and use it skillfully. If you could collect “crit power” and release it whenever you wanted it would have a certain amount of skill to it. But as it is now, its completely random and you might be able to increase your chances of getting it by playing ‘good’.
I dont label TF2 as a ‘noob’ game, I class it as a ‘fun’ game, but the crits are certainly making the game less about ’skill’ to the favor of ‘luck’. Something that I detest completely, as I’d rather be Good than Lucky at something.
As I play a heavy as my second-most played class, I certainly feel less favored, with about 75% of my crits turning out to be duds. If this will eventually be fixed, then I might feel a bit different about them, but don’t hold your breath.
Wyatt responded on 24 Dec 2008 at 6:35 am #
I read Coded’s article and decided not to post. Now I read this one and well, my overall opinion is lighten up. If being beaten by “luck” is that big a deal then by all means, go play the no-crit server. C’mon though, it’s not that big a deal to get crushed by a crit every now and then. I could see if you are playing a public server and getting the smack talk only to get downed by a crit and receive more verbal abuse but still, sit a bit, respawn and get back in the game. I’ll tell you what crits really do, they keep good players on their toes. The possibility that that lone sniper, engineer or noob may be able to kill you with a single melee strike forces you to play smarter and avoid death. The private server I play on hosts some very good players. We swear that one of those guys buys his rockets from the black market because he crits all the time. What it is is that he’s very good at staying alive and he’s a good shot. So after a little time he’s tossing crit rockets left and right. Sure its aggravating but he’s good and he’s rewarded for being good. I don’t have the same problem as my kamikaze style doesn’t lend to me staying alive very long. That’s my problem to work on, not a problem with crits.
As for arena, it’s actually one of my favorite modes in the game but I’ll explain why. I really only play it on that private server with guys I’ve made friends with and we constantly harass each other during the match. When you are waiting for the end of the match that’s when its time to root for your teammate and do your proper zombie duty and spy for them over the shoulder.
So again, lighten up, you’ll enjoy the game more.
Wyatt responded on 24 Dec 2008 at 6:39 am #
abbe – “I dont label TF2 as a ‘noob’ game, I class it as a ‘fun’ game, but the crits are certainly making the game less about ’skill’ to the favor of ‘luck’. Something that I detest completely, as I’d rather be Good than Lucky at something.”
But… by the end of the match doesn’t your skill show through in your score. Even with the luck element its still very obvious who is “Good” and who is “suck”. I’ve never had a problem being one of the highest scoring players on a team crits or no.
bjj responded on 24 Dec 2008 at 7:09 am #
I play mostly Soldier, Engineer, and Scout.
So I can basically count my crits.
And I do not get them. I’ll be lucky to get one crit rocket in a round, and my kill:death ratio averages 2 or higher, so it’s not that I’m not killing people to boost my chances.
abbe responded on 24 Dec 2008 at 9:08 am #
Wyatt:
Of course, though its a matter of enjoying the game fully, crits unfortunately lower my enjoyment of the game, although not enough for me to stop playing on regular servers completely. My friends does not care of them and find crits jolly good.
supremesonic responded on 24 Dec 2008 at 10:09 am #
You missed “It’s beginning to look a lot like crits-mas”.
As such, this post is irrelevant.
Jonii responded on 24 Dec 2008 at 10:43 am #
Crits are a great thing, I think. You never know when they’re going to come up, and break any repetitiveness of the game. It’s boring to think “Yeah, I’m better than him and have more health and a Medic, so I’m gonna win,” but it’s fun to be on edge thinking “I need to be on my toes in case of a crit! Medic! Take cover while I kill him!”
Being on the recieveing end can be annoying, but, like you said, they can make for great “war stories.” I was on a duel map the other day, and after getting a nice kill streak, they (about three of them left) began to retreat and run for their spawn door. As they began to pile in, I shot a crit-rawket that ended up flying into their spawn with them. There was a slight pause after their spawn door closed.
DING!
Jonii CRITTRAWKETT’D Demo
Jonii CRITTRAWKETT’D Soldier
Jonii CRITTRAWKETT’D Heavy
Good times, good article.
Zorgulon responded on 24 Dec 2008 at 11:00 am #
A lot of people are saying that they ‘never’ get crits. Whether this is just you being very unlucky, or a selective memory I don’t know. You can typically expect to get at least a few crits per game, obviously depending on what class you play and what you’re doing. If you happen to get a critical miss, than that’s not really the game’s fault.
@Anonymous
All weapons have a critical indicator, even if they are in fact Critical Misses. There’s a sound effect, plus explosives (grenades, rockets, stickies, flares) will sparkle teamcolour, bullets and syringes will have teamcolour tracers, and melee attacks have a different animation (e.g. Heavy uppercut). There are different sound effects for firing (a crackling sound that I can’t describe) and hitting (the *chunk* i mentioned in the post.)
@bjj
I know what you’re talking about. The Minigun is still inaccurate, but what crits do to Sascha is basically increase the effective range slightly, while making mincemeat of anything close to you. Outside of Medium range however, you’ll still not hit very often, and even though you will wear down a lot of health when you do, they can escape.
The round the corner thing is a latency issue- the bullets hit you before you rounded the corner, but you didn’t ‘feel’ them until you had.
Devenger responded on 24 Dec 2008 at 10:41 pm #
Servers without crits feel soulless. Crits are bloody hilarious. Quite simply, the trick to fighting crits is not to get hit in the first place… your odds of surviving a crit run improve dramatically if you are mid-rocketjump, so I tend to be for half of the average fight. 40 health is a small price to play for temporary aerial attack capabilities!
I am fine with crits for the most part. However, a couple of things frustrate me. The first is crits having a constant damage output regardless of range, on any weapon; this makes weapons go beyond their default role, a la revolver sniping, minigun long-range obliteration, most other bullet attacks being silly. Crits should be defeatable through evasion and skill (sometimes, at least); an infinite-range Heavy doing 40 damage a hit doesn’t give the being-attacked a satisfying crit-charged battle, it gives them just helplessness. (Also, bullet crits don’t look as shiny. It’s always a bit of an awkward surprise.) The second is crits not having any impact on Engineer constructions; I think Engi equipment should be generally more durable, but take significantly more damage from crit shots (right now it feels like the Engi doesn’t need to play by the rules). Hell, you could even allow the sentry to crit if you wanted to balance things up.
Two Soldiers having a fight where one is getting crits isn’t a foregone conclusion, because rockets can be predicted and avoided. If two Heavies fight and one ‘rolls’ the crit, there’s nothing to it.
(P.S. having trouble with Soldiers crit-rocketing you? Play Pyro, classic flamethower… return the package. Then love crits for FOREVER.)
Wyatt responded on 25 Dec 2008 at 3:35 am #
Zorgulon – “All weapons have a critical indicator, even if they are in fact Critical Misses.”
My favorite critical indicator, the meat stab! You know, the one where it sounds like you just gutted a pig. Good stuff.
n00bie51 responded on 25 Dec 2008 at 3:56 am #
People who hate Critical Hits must understand that it’s an integral part of the game. There are subtle, yet significant changes to the gameplay. Critical Hits take out over healed opponents in a split-second, but without them, Medics can turn the tide of battle even more. In some maps, it’s been noticed that defense has an advantage over offense and vice versa with the absence of Critical hits. Basically, I’m trying to say that although Valve enabled players to disable Critical Hits, it wasn’t the way the game was meant to be played (which is not necessarily good or bad). I can certainly appreciate the appeal of Critical Hits and how they make this game different from other shooters.
Having said that, I don’t blame anyone who doesn’t like Critical Hits because they feel they the kills aren’t earned or deserved and they feel it taints the experience. Being able to play well enough to boost your Crit rate up to twenty percent still isn’t consistent enough for me to consider it as a reward for playing well. I say this frequently: Critical Hits are not conducive to skill-based, competitive gaming where consistency is important, but it’s part of Team Fortress 2 so I don’t mind playing with or without them.
abbe, I don’t think Counter-Strike is influenced by random factors that cause instant damage. Yes, bullet spray and recoil create inconsistency (especially in conjunction with a netcode I see problems with), but I would say that these factors can actually be controlled, whereas it’s different with Critical Hits. You can fire in bursts to lower bullet spread while firing accurately. I can’t learn how to shoot a Critical Hit when I want to (unless I have a Medic backing me up with a Kritzkrieg).
SirMax, you seem to forget that Critical Hits only do regular damage against Sentry Guns, Dispensers, and Teleporters. Critical stickies are quite soul-destroying, but they wouldn’t be enough to take out all your structures. Otherwise, it would be absolute Hell to play as Engineer.
dekichan, I don’t know if Critical Hits make the game more accessible to the newer players. I like casual gaming as well as competitive gaming, but they should never interfere. I don’t want anyone’s damn peanut butter in my chocolate, otherwise I will throw gratuitous amounts of bows.
Finally, this debate has been raging on since Team Fortress 2 has been released. Must we continue this discussion on ÜberCharged.net?
Zorgulon responded on 25 Dec 2008 at 7:15 am #
@n00bie51
It is Crits-mas after all!
n00bie51 responded on 25 Dec 2008 at 8:15 am #
i c wat u did thar
Lolz responded on 25 Dec 2008 at 8:31 am #
@SirMax
Criticals do the same damage to buildings than normal hits. Also i’ve had this game 4 6 months and have only just started playing dustbowl (i need to get out more) but can you explain to me why their are 3 maps?
Zorgulon responded on 26 Dec 2008 at 12:00 am #
@Lolz
Welcome to the good maps!
Dustbowl is a six-point cp map that is divided into three areas, probably to make it easier to navigate and so the respawns move up as you progress. If you look, the areas follow on from eachother to make one large map, and the respawn room RED defended from becomes the BLU starting point in the next round.
Lolz responded on 26 Dec 2008 at 10:44 am #
Thanks, i’ve been playing all my time and i mean ALL my time on tf2 over the past 6 months on dm_duel_v1 the most suck ass map ever. It’s an (almost) completely semetrical map which consists of WCS, spammers and trigger-happy retards. I’ll never go back after my recent experiences at dustbowl.
Mr. Noobinator responded on 27 Dec 2008 at 12:09 am #
i still stand by my opinion of people being hypocrite (no pun intended) about crits, where they hate crits but they wish their next shot is a crit.
that aside, demo’s sticky crit is a tad bit powerful. but then again, its not likely for demo to shoot a crit sticky on his first 3 shots, assuming the crit rate is the default. consider it as a reward for getting a sure-kill nade.
How Valve Could Make Us WANT To Spend More Time in Lumberyard | ubercharged.net responded on 14 Feb 2009 at 9:01 am #
[...] Let’s admit it. Arena Mode was a flop. At the very least, it didn’t meet its full potential. Most players agree that they like the deathmatch-esque style of play, but the consequences of death were just far too severe, especially it the player was killed by a critical hit at the very beginning of the match. [...]
Anomalous responded on 12 Aug 2009 at 12:16 pm #
As a self-proclaimed Master of All Crit Knowledge, I do play on a 100% crit server. I only have one thing to say, QUITYERBITCHIN!, I say to you all, sure it’s easy to live when not a single weapon short of a fully charged sniper can you in one hit. Real men and women (yes, our clan has a few) play with full crits.