Valve wants YOU! plus some TF2 updates

[The Mighty Gerbil]

drools a bit and feels depressed at the same time http://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=3327. >.< now I just have to make something and be accepted T_T.

As to the TF2 update there are a few interesting things which I shall put in bold and comment on in red.

Various improvements to Spy disguise and feign death

Disguise weapons copying weapons with special animation requirements (Sword, FaN) now look correct

Spies now play the appropriate death cry on feign death based on the corpse that appears

Feigning death can now play custom death animations like a normal death (head loss, sniper shot, backstab, etc)

Feigning death due to explosive damage now has a chance to gib, like a normal death

Corpses from a feign death now use the correct wearable behavior (hats stay on, or fall off as they should)

The weapons dropped by feign death corpses now have appropriate physics and collision for their type

Combat text for damage done to Spies that feign death will now show the un-modified damage amount

Fixed Spies that feign death while disguised as enemy spies dropping fake ragdolls wearing a mask

Fixed a couple of physics issues on ragdolls created by feign death I guess improving it is good but no one with experience is fooled by the Dead Ringer to begin with. The problem is when you shoot a spy once and he instant dies it's a high probability he used the DR. It's especially true once you know a DR spy is already around >.<.

Added convars to further customize the "play a hit sound whenever you injure an enemy" option

tf_dingaling_volume". Sets the volume of the hit sound

tf_dingaling_pitchmindmg". Sets the desired pitch of the hit sound when a minor damage hit is done

tf_dingaling_pitchmaxdmg". Sets the desired pitch of the hit sound when a major damage hit is done

tf_dingaling_wav_override". Specifies an optional custom wav hit sound. If unspecified, the default ding sound is used

Added Medic Ubersaw kill taunt No more violin In fact the animation does not seem to be that interesting at all

Added backstab death animations for Scout, Spy, Medic, Demo, Engineer, and Pyro. All death animations have a 25% chance to play

Updated various localization strings


Changes

Removed the clamps on the "viewmodel_fov" convar

Added "viewmodel_fov_demo", a convar that controls viewmodel fov during demo playback

Force-a-Nature will now correctly knock back players on the ground

Increased minimum damage required for the Force-a-Nature to cause a knockback from 30 to 40

Changed the Direct Hit to only minicrit enemies that have been launched into the air by an explosion If the direct hit needed a nerf I don't think this is it as most players won't air shot you. I guess Valve wanted to make jump dodging safe again?

Increased the rate of the Soldier's Rage generation by 40%

Reduced the duration of the Soldier's Buff Banner effect from 14 seconds to 10 I expected a change to make it a bit easier to use. Hopefully this will do it. It's problem is getting people to rush when you use it so now you will have more opportunities but less time to gather people.

Reduced the explosive damage resistance on the Chargin' Targe to 50% I could have said they would do this exactly as it now matches the fire resistance. I think they may have to do more as the swordsman is OP due to his speed and HP more than anything else.


Fixes

Fixed the Scout's legs twisting out of shape during a double jump

Fixed player models popping up and then down when they duck during a jump

Fixed Sniper rifle not penetrating friendlies Rejoice Whon they say the have fixed it... again!

Fixed Bonk! Atomic Punch phase effect

Fixed rockets not being removed if they explode in func_nogrenades zones

Fixed the Sandman being able to bat balls through doors

Fixed the Gunboats absorbing damage from the Soldier's grenade kill taunt

Fixed the naming of non-unique quality unique items (Community Kritzkriegs, etc)

Minor fixes to the crafting UI

Changed the item layout in the crafting panel to better fit the backpack panel

Each 1 of the 4 crafting pages now shows half of 1 of the 2 backpack pages

Fixed the crafting panel next/prev page buttons being hard to use while dragging

Fixed the "equipped" label in the item panels stealing the mouse focus from the item panel itself


Updated Novint Falcon settings (no effect on non-Falcon players)

Recoil/Reload force added for the Direct Hit rocket launcher

Recoil/Reload force added for the Scottish Resistance sticky bomb launcher

More defined flesh hit force added for the Equalizer pick axe

More defined flesh hit/world hit force added for the Eyelander sword

Added swing forces for Eyelander sword

Added appropriate trumpet forces for Blu Buff Banner

Added appropriate trumpet forces for Red Buff Banner

Shotgun reload for Heavy & Pyro changed to feel more appropriate now

Changed Huntsman pullback force so that it goes in the right direction (was still pulling as if the Huntsman was on the left hand side of the screen, which was default until a later update)

To talk about swordsman for second. The problem is the power he holds is to extreme once you have full buffs. They are...

1. Faster than a scout if you use the targe charge. The buff is slightly less fast itself. The thing about the Scout is Valve has said they designed them with a slow reloading, close range, weapon which encourages him to attack, use his speed to run away/reload, get hp if needed and then attack again. The grenade launcher has both a longer range and significantly more power. The Targe makes it easier to run away too. Here is the speed of each class for comparison http://tf2wiki.net/wiki/Classes#Speed

2. Has Soldier attack power and greater hp. Being effective relies on aiming the grenade launcher but it's entirely possible.

3. Has the damage debuffs on top of that.

Sure he is supposed to be difficult to power up and make you feel powerful when you do but I think it's a bit too much.

 

[Tek7]

Changed the Direct Hit to only minicrit enemies that have been launched into the air by an explosion

Fail.

If I manage to hit a player in midair with a rocket, the rocket should land a minicrit.

If I manage to launch a player with a rocket (and it doesn't deliver a minicrit) and then hit that same player with a rocket in midair, the rocket should hit for a full crit. That maneuver is the stuff that Quake 3 frag videos are made of.