Oh crap, you just went to ÜberCharged.net and you found another contributor posting an obnoxiously long article you don’t want to read through. In that case, just go down until you see the bold print and go from there. Don’t you miss the old days when madlep only updated UC like once a week, if we were lucky? Now if you don’t go on for that long you’ll have ages of content to look over if you don’t want to miss anything. But I digress.
Some of you may know that I don’t approve of the unlockable content in TF2. For the longest time before the Gold Rush update, players only used the default weapons that the game came with. I’m not saying I haven’t had fun with the class packs, but I can never go back to playing TF2 the way it was before the class packs, before the significant changes.
In my opinion, they aren’t balanced and they don’t fulfill the role they should. Once you had the Blutsauger, the Über Saw, the Back Burner (back while it still had +50 health, Valve fixed this issue and I think it’s an acceptable alternative to the default flame thrower and not a blatant replacement), the Axtinguisher (arguably), and the K.G.B., you would never have gone back to the default items they replaced because the drawbacks were too insignificant. A 20% slower rate of fire as opposed to quickly building up an ÜberCharge in a few seconds? A 20% slower rate of fire as opposed to 100% Crits for five seconds? The unlockable content should have served as alternatives to win the battle for your team, not outright replacements. I can see only a few, such as the Kritzkrieg and Natascha, being balanced.
I’m aware that this topic isn’t new, but I have thought up of a realistic compromise that I think could be achieved.
This is what I’d propose to Valve: Allow servers to disable unlockable content. I was talking to my friend about this, and we decided to affectionately label them as “Orthodox servers.” When you spawn as a Heavy or a Pyro, you’re just left with the default weapons, and when you join a non-Orthodox server, you revert back to your previous weapon setup. Vanilla TF2, the way I believe the game should have been played, and TF2 can’t be enjoyed the way it was before the class packs were released. You may certainly disagree, but I think this is a reasonable compromise that wouldn’t affect the players who don’t mind the unlockable content and would appeal to those who do.
The only problem I could see is possible technical limitations; is it possible for Valve to allow servers to disable them? I hope so. I miss vanilla TF2. Valve once updated the servers so that they could have the ability to disable Critical Hits, to cater to the players who didn’t like Crits. Also, there may be plenty of people willing to play in no-Crit servers, but if there isn’t a signficant amount of players who would like playing on Orthodox servers, then Valve may not bother to do something about it.
Despite its significant shortcomings, I still go back to playing occasional matches of TF2 on the Xbox 360, merely because they don’t have the class packs. I’m not going to deny that they’ve extended the longevity of TF2, and I certainly appreciate the tremendous effort Valve has put in for the community, all for free, but I didn’t think it was the right decision. The only way I would have approved is if they released all the class packs when the game came out. However, TF2 would have been delayed even further, with endless beta testing for balance issues and glitches. That’s why I think they shouldn’t even have been released. Even though they may put in a considerable amount of effort working with new unlockable content, they can’t foresee all of the possible balance issues or conflicts with future class packs. If I may be so bold, you could almost call us Alpha-testers.
It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been playing TF2, your rockets do the same amount of damage as mine (unless you Crit, of course). Valve has mainly focused on what they see in public games, not caring as much for the competitive aspect, trying mostly to cater to more casual players. That’s understandable, but developing long term rewards, in my opinion, might create the game into a less newbie-friendly environment, and I think that contradicts what Valve has set out to do in the first place. Imagine players like madlep who perhaps only play TF2 for a few hours a week and can’t be bothered with spending time to unlock Achievements and the weapons. They’ll be at a considerable advantage and put off the game at best. I understand that these rewards are meant to be for the dedicated long-term player, but at this time I believe the class packs do not accomodate the casual players the way Valve may have intended them.
To summarize: Valve should work to balance the unlockable content more, but at the same time provide a vanilla mode for servers that disables unlockable content. I believe it will be a reasonable and feasible compromise.
Feel free to share your opinions and criticisms, I want to know what your stance on this issue is. Thank you for reading, and to madlep for giving me an outlet.
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