Some Answers Are Here for the Unlocks

[Rits]

Straight from http://www.teamfortress.com/ . Copied and Pasted for those that haven't seen it.

Every one of you deserves a medal!
May 22, 2009 - Erik Johnson

First off, a quick note: We put so much stuff into this update that we didn't manage to cover it all on the internets before the update went live, so we made a special Bonus page. In addition, our merchandising crew had as much fun coming up with Spy & Sniper themed merchandise as we did making the update, so make sure you go and check it all out.



Secondly, we wanted to take a moment to talk about the new item drop system in the update, since we're getting a lot of questions about it.

Why did we build a new system?

* With our first four class updates we were tying the new weapons for each class to a set of achievements. Our intention was to make a set of achievements that eventually all players would get, and would be fun to get along the way. In some cases we did a good job at this (Scout), and in some cases we did a bad one (Medic). Across all of the class packs we were disappointed in the number of people that got to play with the new weapons, and feedback from the community was generally not favorable with this approach.


What did we do?

* For the last number of months we've been working on using the Steam Cloud to store a player's inventory. With that finally in place, we were able to deploy a new system focused on the giving of items to players. That new system watches the amount of time that players are playing TF2, and gives them a chance to find items at regular intervals. They aren't guaranteed to get the item at those points, but they have a pretty good chance. We based the system on granting items on the amount of time played because we don't want players to have to do weird things like join achievement grinding servers to get new content. Basing it off time also has the benefit of ensuring that if you play a lot of TF2, you're going to get more items than players who don't.

How long do I have to play to get an item?

* When we were tuning this system we first looked at the average amount of time that players spend playing TF2 daily. From there, we set the goal of most players having around 20 items in their inventory after a couple of weeks of play. If you're someone who plays a lot of TF2, you're going to get items a lot faster than that. In the first few hours after the release yesterday, we had some issues that prevented the system from working properly, so that timeframe was not indicative of the system as it's designed.

Is this the way we'll find items from now on?

* Like everything else we build, we'll be iterating on this system for a while, and have a lot of features planned. Some of the next things we have planned are:

- Item trading. This is why you're finding duplicates.

- Giving players a method to influence the system so they can work directly toward getting specific items.

- Adding more rare items like the hats.

We're going to be working on and rolling these out while we're also working on the next class pack, with the goal being to get it all released before then.

[Thorn]

I am not a fan of this new system personally. I actually felt bummed out last night when I logged off and I felt no closer to getting the new unlocks than I did 12 hrs earlier. I shouldn't feel bummed out when a new update comes out right? =(

[Aez]

Personally, I find it fine except that there's no way to influence which items drop currently. That would contribute significant to the feeling of progress toward an item.

[MrBlah]

I dont like it at all.... I got the Huntsman after playing only scout for maybe an hour today.

[Plinko]

I got a Razorback in the middle of maybe my second hour of playing almost entirely pyro. I have to say, so far I preferred the acheivement based method.

[eraD]

I don't mind this system, I think it is better than the achievment one. I have all the unlockables except the Cloak and Dagger.

[Guardian]

One thing it DID do is cut down the snipers and spies.

I got the ambassador after playing for quite a while. I'm not sure but I only started recieving items (new and old) after playing after the new update.

Hopefully they'll increase the drop rate or something.

[ScurvySD]

I haven't picked up a single thing in several hours of play. If they were achievement based I'd have at least 2 from each class by now. Thanks, Valve.

[Rits]

[quote="eraD";p="174417"]
I don't mind this system, I think it is better than the achievment one. I have all the unlockables except the Cloak and Dagger.
[/quote]

lol, this is funny. Says the person that has almost all the unlocks that they don't mind the system.

I didn't get anything yesterday. Got an axtinguisher first thing today, then the FaN. Finally got a new one, the razorback. Then I got the Cloak and Dagger and the axtinguisher again.

I've been playing mostly spy and sniper...they used to be my two least favorite classes and now I love them. It seems after the update the pickups are a little bit better.

[NoodgeVader]

I hate the new system. You can get the items without even playing the classes that use them. In my opinion Valve just hit a new low.

[shimmybot]

yeah it is pretty silly

[=|ZAG|= bulldeezee]

Really not enjoying this new system, the achievements don't mean anything. I'd much rather be working for the unlocks.

Being relatively new to TF2, I didn't have all the unlockables for the classes I don't play regularly. In the last 2 days, I've received all the heavy unlockables despite not "earning" them. Feels like cheating almost.

[TheCarpe]

Cheating is the people who went to achievement servers and had all the weapons in an hour. All this system does is reward those players who play the game, and you don't even need to play a class you're not proficient with to get that cool weapon you want to try. It might taker some time, but you're playing anyway, right?

I played for about 4 hours total yesterday and got a second Kritzkrieg, then a Jarate. The more you play, the more weapons you'll pick up, and the beter chance you'll get the one you want.

Moral of the story?

Just play TF2

[Gizanked]

[quote="=|ZAG|= bulldeezee";p="174437"]Really not enjoying this new system, the achievements don't mean anything. I'd much rather be working for the unlocks.

Being relatively new to TF2, I didn't have all the unlockables for the classes I don't play regularly. In the last 2 days, I've received all the heavy unlockables despite not "earning" them. Feels like cheating almost. [/quote]

there were unfortunately a large number of players in the tf2 world that thought achievement servers and console commands were the way they wanted to "earn" the unlocks. the new system is nice because then now we don't have to worry about people farming in our normal servers... no need to worry about that scout double jumping in spawn or the medic that is holding his uber to get so many kills... or the heavy that once ubered tries to punch people.. or the pyro that goes around trying to hit people with flares all the time ( oh wait... ) . Point is, normal gameplay has continued for the most part through this update, whereas with the old updates it took usually a week or two for normal matches to resume. yeah the sniper and spy limits are always hit.... but thats better then watching snipers get backstabbed on purpose just to get achievments

[Novacaine]

You can get new items without even playing... I just went into a server to spec for a while and 20 min later got another one. I never even picked a class.