Hot on the heels of its urine-soaked April Fool’s joke, Valve’s official Team Fortress blog has word that the Sniper will be the recipient of the next Team Fortress 2 class update, complete with special abilities and Achievements. The blog mentions that this will be “the largest update yet, with multiple new maps and a bunch of gameplay tweaks.” Â There’s also a bit of commentary on the status of the Xbox 360 update, talking about the issues getting all that content onto the 360, which I’m sure will make about 23 people really happy.
Personally, I’m really disappointed at the class choice, because if there’s anything TF2 doesn’t need, it’s more bad Snipers. 95% of the people playing Sniper today aren’t really playing TF2 — they’re playing some other made-up game where their only goal is to get headshots, and team goals never enter their thought process. They never change classes, no matter how bad they are or how many snipers their team has, and they refuse to move from their hiding spots no matter how close the other team is to capturing a point. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve crouched behind a cart and a sniper has watched me push it across the entire level instead of jumping down and trying to stop me.
So what many TF2 games boil down to today is the question: “how many bad snipers do you have on your team?” When played correctly, the Sniper can be a hugely effective class, but most of the time, snipers are just dead weight, the equivalent of AFKs who do little to help your team when you’re in desperate need of teleporters or medics or whatever. Â My only hope is that the update does something to encourage Snipers to get into the action instead of sitting in the rear and forgetting they’re actually part of a team.
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