my TF2 cents: Engineer Heaven. M

Here is what I think of the update for my most beloved class. I think Nabs summarized the impoprtant stuff well, but I feel we need to hear a bit more. I am referring to the engineer's new right arm. Basically this thing has the best taunt I have seen. I'd like to take you back to the demo update. We were all surprised that demo knight was introduced, adding a completely new class, effectively, to the fray. I believe this is what The Gunslinger achieves: a new way to play the engineer. allow me to explain. Pre-update, Mr. Engineer was primarily a defensive class armed with the same weapons that many classes enjoy (shotgun, pistol). The frontier Justice, and especially The Wrangler trade the engie's somewhat minimal direct fire power for better sentry gun operation. I comend valve on this, as they created something tha treally benefits the class's role, and not a throw away gimmick weapon. On the other hand, (...) we have the new cyborg arm. This reminds me a lot of the sword. Health buff, decrease in maximum firepower, but allows the engie to keep moving. I guess as the engie lover I am, I should really go a bit deeper.

Frontier Justice: such a cool name, second only to the blautzenflauger. The clip size was initially oh so painful, but I seemed to have adapted, making every shot count. No random crits in no worries, as it doesn't rely on crits to be successful (cough cough rockets). It also encourages the engineer to keep his sentry alive, sometimes over his own life, which I think just great. Having a deep bond with you sentry really does so much to build the engie's character. I applaud valve for this. Now to the nitty-gritty: the mechanic. As sad as it was to see my beloved sentry go down to a sapper while I was sewer-side chasing peeps, I could help but have a small orgasm at the 33 crits I had received. I once again applaud valve for their choice here. Rewarding a players hard work and toils will do a lot for gaming. So I promptly set off on rampage. the best thing about shotty crits, it that no one really expects them to have a large effect. after OHKOing several demos from across the famous 2fort bridge, I briskly strolled into BLU base. As you can imagine, there was small war going on. 3 red sentries outside, God knows how many inside. And there were plenty scouts and soldiers in between. "But not for long" I thought to myself as I gunned them down instantly. I felt like a God. I would pop my head in, take out a few spam-spammers and then retreat for instant dispenser heals and warmth. About 8 kills later (roughly a massacre) a blue glowing ball of fun decided to grace me with its presence, and smear me all over the wall. As I sat there looking at annotations of my various organs sprawled about the base I thought "Well that was fun. Lets try to get to 50 crits this time." I love this gun.

THE WRANGLER: if there is one thing that is consistent in TF2, its cool nomenclature. Every new weapon (with the possible exception of the medic's) has been a well executed combination of functionality description and general character. I admit the backburner may have been a little obvious, but you didn't have to even read its descritpion before you snuck behind an unsuspecting noob and instantly kill him. (come to think of it, you never 'face-stab' with a BB, so they should make the BB's target area the same as the butterfly knife's) Yes, I'm getting off topic but the point is wrangler (or 'ranga' as I fear it may now be known) Is a perfect name. Just perfect. It builds ties with the engie and his Texan backround, and describes its purpose. I must say, i had fun with this one. I'm not sure how many of you have tried that make-a-level-3-sentry-on-the-battlements-and-see-how-long-it-takes-the-snipers-to-gang-up-and-kill-it but it usually went down pretty quick. So first thing I did was join my fellow engineers on the battlement to get one back at those pesky bodyshotters. It was a sight of beauty. 3 sentries showing the opposition in spiraling rockets and hot lead. The glowed with so brightly, I felt at one with my beloved machine, as I trapped scout after scout on the sky box until their invincibility juice wore off, and their limp corpse well onto the bridge and flopped into the water with a satisfying splash. Feelings aside (as I am a true engineer), this weapon has potential. The lack of a automatic pistol to hunt down enemies was not as bad as I thought, as staying close to my beloved was all I could think of, and its new range meant I was always safe. I haven't tested the shield, but I imagine its going to be a bitch to bust. When a level 3 SG is firing at twice its usual firepower, the last thing a solly, or heavy or demo would want is to have to put 3 times as much spam into it. I'm not even sure if the soldier or demo have enough ammo in their respective primary weapons to take it down without ducking out to slide more explosives down their barrels. One thing demos and friends have over SGs is brains. Generally a player can outsmart the computer controlled firing platform. Not anymore though! for example, demoman is tossing is little grenades up the sewer stairs, bouncing them off walls to take down my sentry. Seeing the incoming barrage, I wrangled, absorbed mos tof the incomeing damage, and fired some preemptive rockets, and teh rest is up to splash damage. finally a way to stop spam, thankyou very much. I don't think this weapon will show up much in professional play, which is a shame really, but it has changed 2fort forever IMO, and isn't that what TF2 is all about?

THE GUNSLINGER: I am yet to get an accurate idea of this weapon's true potential, as every server form here toTMR1C is littered with mechanical killing machine. Once the hysteria dies down, we will get to actually see if this thing can do what it was supposed to do: ambush. For those of you who have reached the second milestone or have been lucky enough to find one (or both and craft an engie class token) you will have noticed that this ting goes up fast, bloody fast. No more nervous waits hoping that no pyro attacks it before it can cover your arse. Your Arse is now insta-covered. Also, I like the idea of being able to throw it down in combat and force your opponent to choose: take down the player and then bail or kill the SG, or vice versa. I think that in many situations, it will not be a matter of choice, and you will atleast be able to take him down and atleast one of you or your metal companion will live to kill some more. However it is not all balloons and party streamer. Lack of repair or upgrade makes it useless in the normal sentry role, which is why the 100 metal cost is great. Most painful of all, 1/2 damage compared to the damage of a regular level 1 SG, which is crappy in its own right and can easily be sandwich tanked (or did they patch that edible medkit?). The claw itself looks funky as, and the crits mechanic encourage same daring engineering. The health boost is nice, and really should tell the player "YOU ARE NOT A NORMAL ENGINEER, DON'T JUST CAMP THE INTEL!!!!!!" I think this one will be fun for killing demo knights on koth_nucleus and pissing off people running (or equalizing) their bloodied behinds to a medkit. I doubt it will go much further. Most importantly, a cyborg holding a pistol is beyond cool.

I don't think I have it in me to go into detail about the new maps (sick!) and being able to carry your buildings around (game-breaking!). I apologize for all the tangents and irrelevance of this report. Its nice to get that off my chest. But before I go, If you ever wrangle a mini-sentry, i'll gut you like a Cornish game hen.

pseudoabdul