5 Thoughts on the TF2 Sniper / Spy Update

It’s now been about a week since Valve rolled out the combo Sniper / Spy update for Team Fortress 2. Team balance is still off — you’ll still see teams where 50% or more are snipers and spies — but it’s certainly enough time to get a feel for the new stuff. 5 thoughts:

1)      The new Payload race map — “Pipeline” — is the best thing in the update. It’s nice to have the Payload mechanic without one team dedicated to offense or defense; instead, the game naturally ebbs and flows back and forth. The first stage is probably the weakest, but the middle stage is a marvelous example of simple and effective level design, and while the final stage (the hill) is more gimmicky, it’s a brand of all-out chaos not found anywhere else in TF2. Big thumbs up.

2)      The community Payload map — “Hoodoo” — is also a nice addition and probably underrated. All three stages have alternate routes to the end point that I don’t think teams have properly caught on to yet; many players don’t even seem to notice the huge arrow pointing to the shortcut on the left of stage 3. I think the map will get a lot of play as teams get a feel for the various choke points.

3)      It feels like Valve is on the way to abandoning Achievements as a failed experiment. Maybe it was, with all the Achievement servers popping up so players could get the related unlocks. But with players getting unlockables at random, and Spy and Sniper Achievements being so much easier to get, I’m sad to see the Achievement system marginalized, at least for the time being. Maybe Valve will bring it back at some point and put an emphasis on career achievements instead of gimmicky ones that don’t normally happen in the course of regular play.

4)      I’d expect a nerf to the Sniper crossbow soon. Every Sniper is using it and one-shot kills are way too easy to get.

5)      While Valve is seemingly sinking time into developing TF2 as a persistent game with loot and such, I hope they’re also developing a more robust stats system, both in-game and on Steam. The in-game scoreboard needs more data on who’s doing better: who’s got the best points-per-minute? Who’s moved the cart the furthest? Who does the most damage per life? Who’s the best sentry killer? The final scoreboard screen should have 10-20 awards for players to look over, instead of a measly 3 MVPs. And I’m shocked that Steam doesn’t have a stats page for each player with pages and pages of stats, whether it’s lifetime or the last two weeks, as well as rankings. Get on it, Valve!