I wish TF2 would go back to its roots.

I love all of their updates and such, but there are plenty of days where I wish I could just go back to before the air blast, before sandvich, before huntsman, and so on, and just play the game like it was originally made. The game felt so much more rigid in its character designs, which I really loved.

Now, I feel like the game has kind of lost its simplicity with how many weapons and such that's been added. Even the basic upgrade weapons were fine, though I feel like Engi's was a little too ridiculous (I'm looking at you, Wrangler), likely so it could keep up with the times.

I just wish there could be an option for servers to only be vanilla and make the characters act like used to without having to play it on the 360 instead.

I'm sure a lot of people share your opinion, you only need to visit the TF2 section of the steam forums for a second or two to see that. I miss how it used to be myself sometimes, but there are a few things that have been added since that I think I would miss if they disappeared (the sandvich being one of them).

Some sort of server variable that allows you to deactivate the unlocks would be nice though. Trying to find a good balance between some of the newer unlocks and the older ones just seems too difficult to achieve so that seems to be the only option.

I agree in that sometimes I wish I could just play Vanilla. There has to be a server mod or a variable out there that can do it. If not, I wouldn't see why Valve wouldn't do it.

There actually is a vanilla "mod" so to speak; though it's a just a combination of a few server side tweaks (disallowing all update material, unfortunately you can't leave hats & badges.) And a "mod" pack that resets some values to the way they were at release.

Honestly; Vanilla is fun, but I think the biggest issues is that many of the maps available right now don't take advantage of what the new weapons and upgrades offer.

Once we have a map that actually gives me a reason to Charge'n'Targe besides lulz will be a good map.

Or a map that really makes use of rocket jumping.

Ect.

I agree that more maps could use some areas where rocket/sticky jumping is mandatory. I know some of the original maps have them but the only one that springs to mind is on top of B in Gravelpit.

I was just annoyed when they took the 6 shots grenade launcher away, i mean i know they have to nerf stuff cos ppl get pissy but surely they could just say "no" to nerfs.
Yeah i agree with you's all but somethings they did add were quality, sandman and the huntsman being my fav's.
At least its better than the console versions, cos they didnt even recieve the updates XD

Surprisingly, my biggest gripe besides some of the newer weapons (Christmas stuff, mainly) is the compression blast. It really breaks some maps, like Warpath, and makes it nigh impossible to uber through and get some offense going.

If only Valve would take my idea, which is giving the Soldier, Demo, and maybe Heavy (not so much the heavy, since he's already a counter to Pyro) a new secondary that is a few barbell weights strapped to their outfit that makes them immune to the compression blast (and take less explosive knockback) but slows them down as well.

Xyless wrote:Surprisingly, my biggest gripe besides some of the newer weapons (Christmas stuff, mainly) is the compression blast. It really breaks some maps, like Warpath, and makes it nigh impossible to uber through and get some offense going.

If only Valve would take my idea, which is giving the Soldier, Demo, and maybe Heavy (not so much the heavy, since he's already a counter to Pyro) a new secondary that is a few barbell weights strapped to their outfit that makes them immune to the compression blast (and take less explosive knockback) but slows them down as well.

You're right about the heavy not needing this upgrade. He should have been immune to the airblast already for some pretty obvious reasons.

It's just the one thing I have yet to see that has no concrete counter to. It can be said that, because bullets can't be reflected, those should, but bullets don't help much when you're flying in the air, completely disoriented or poofed while on fire, not even getting a chance to respond quickly before you get the axtinguisher to the face.

It could also be said that a sniper is a counter, but BS, this isn't CS. Snipers are only as effective as the level layout lets them be, and the pyro isn't really the easiest character to pinpoint a head with, considering that whole "flames blocking your view" thing.

I honestly don't have that much of a complaint with the air blast. I think it fits the pyro, and keeps him at a disadvantage at range. What they needed to do, and failed miserably at, was to give good reasons why you should use the backburner. Crits on the back simply isn't good enough, and that's why EVERYONE and their mum has air blast. I completely agree on ubers, ubers are pretty much useless now if you have a pyro on your team. Even a heavy goes flying. I think that solution would just be to make you heavier while you're ubered. You can still be pushed, but the push wouldn't be as dramatic.

The time for flame-air blast-axtinguish is fading tbh. It's rare when someone does it successfully but way more common when they get blown to shreds.

With the new Flamethrow (Degreaser) you can Flame-Airblast-Axe much faster now. So it works fairly well.

Also; Pyro's BB gives a boost again, +15% damage.

And that's more than enough to make it a valued weapon again. It's just better for your CQC maps; like in the bases on CTF_Well

Yea... I miss vanilla TF2. I tried playing it not too long ago, and just the menu screen made me decide to turn it off and play something else.

I wasn't a die-hard fan of TEE-EFF-TWO, so I am not an authoritative voice on this one at all(but almost anything else..... ;)). I enjoyed most of the updates when I would actually sit down and play some.. But this community slowly but surely losing its overall tenacity as far as actually playing multiplayer games put a damper on my own personal zeal towards playing games like this.

I only really enjoy playing TF2(and to a lesser extent DODS, though I can enjoy myself pubbing that fairly often) with good (albeit online) friends. This crazy bunch of assholes gave me some of my most cherished gaming memories(though to be fair, years of hedonism have left me drawing blanks and seeing blurs when I go much further back than the weeks after the Church of Norris fractured).

Moving on, this touches on an aspect of the philosophy of games. Online games have an inherent double-edged sword when it comes to keeping things fresh. It is a great service to the gaming community when a developer freely updates a game that they have already even spent their profits from initial sales on their hookers and blow. Regular bugfixes, anti-cheat measures, and the king of it all.. new content is fantastic. The downside is the game evolves and the loving thoughts you have for your game can suddenly become merely memories.

Unfortunately you will have to accept this fate most of the time. Remember a game for what it was to you, not what it may be today. MMO's are especially harsh with this reality. Anyone who played a first or second generation MMORPG at launch is all to familiar with how much harder, time-consuming, and ultimately rewarding the game was initially and now you have some prepubescent punks whining because it took them more than 34 seconds to get to the other side of a zone on account of the devs raising the level requirement for the fastest mount(or something similarly ridiculous =P).

My favorite MMO to date is Dark Age of Camelot. I played in beta, then bought the game. I ended up getting a coworker who was a huge D&D nerd when he was in high school to buy a PC solely because I showed him DAOC and he fell in love with it. I made a ton of friends in game and slowly watched the game change into something almost unrecognizable. DAOC eventually even opened up special servers that were essentially old versions of the game. It didn't have the newest expansion(that added a lot of gimmicky stuff to be a bit more like WoW to some degree), it reverted back to the original PvP(RvR, as it were) zones instead of the brand new ones everyone complained about, and a few other things.. I made the right choice.. Not to even try it..

For you see no matter what, I will not relive those fond memories of a game that no longer exists like it did then. My long-winded, ranting point is.... Enjoy your games while you can, cherish the memories, and keep looking for that next great high....