ParanoidDrone

I promise I don't try to discourage anyone on purpose. D: This is true. I've dominated him, albeit rarely, so it can be done. You just can't rely on walking up to him in disguise and hoping he doesn't notice you. He WILL blow you away if you try that. Bots have an absurd Spy sense, or at least they did last time I played. Something to do with how they already know you're a Spy but are programmed not to do anything until you blow your disguise I think. They may have changed the behavior though, I haven't played against bots in a while.

I will confess to being irritated when half our team stops for a Heavy picnic on ctf_well when an enemy Scout continues to cap our intelligence repeatedly, but in general this is true.

Was that round recent? I remember Turbine winning the mapvotes a lot lately. (Not that I really stick around to play there...)

Holy shit.

Spiffy, but Gamemaster and I had the same problem on a Valve server not too long ago. Curious...

Put it on Ebay for actual dough? It's been done before I think.

<3 you Powerlord.

I tweaked Launchpad some more. Linky. Stage 3 still isn't there and I'm getting increasingly annoyed with myself for it, but there's no reason I can't keep iterating what I do have. (You can noclip and get a sneak peek at point 3A if you want.) Changelog from stage2b: Changed layout near death pit in Stage 1 Added an extra rock on sloped ground in front of Point 1B Removed back exit from RED spawn for Stage 1 (This is an experimental change and is not necessarily permanent) Extended walking area above RED spawn for Stage 1 and added a staircase for easy access Changed geometry in Stage 2 between points to address size issues Slightly modified layout in the large building in Stage 2 Also textured the interior of said large building Changed number, placement, and size of various health and ammo drops around point 2B Added extra signage in various places throughout the map

Oh yeah. That. Someone (Zephy?) was aiming for a Medic while fully charged but hit me while cloaked instead. And it pierced and got the Medic anyway.

It also lets you jump onto Steel E from the rim before the bridges extend. And that's about the most useful jump I've been able to do with it. Kind of sad, really. The Diamondback (new Spy gun) was really fun to use. The damage penalty is identical to the Ambassador, so the crits do 102 apiece. Because you don't need to aim for the head and either wait between shots or deal with an inherently slower fire rate, it ended up feeling stronger for me. I enjoyed it.

*checks calendar* It's still August. Why are we installing the plugin again? o_O

Barnblitz, a single-stage payload map a la Badwater with a snow theme. Badlands got a KOTH version. New item sets for Scout, Soldier (2 of 'em, plus an unrelated promotional set), Demoman, Heavy, Medic, Sniper, and Spy. (No set bonuses for any of them.) Also a new standalone weapon for Pyro. Hats out the fucking wazoo as usual. Free to Play users cannot find cosmetic or promotional items by random drop and have only 50 slots in their backpack. Upgrade to premium by spending any amount of money on the game -- retail copy, Mann Co. Store, etc. Premium users get a Proof of Purchase hat. Owners before F2P went live got premium accounts by default. Complete redesign of the TF2 website. Meet the Medic

There was a kerfluffle (I love that word. Kerfluffle.) a couple of weeks ago where some guy had a spray that showed gratuitous amounts of sideboob, albeit no nipple, and Yahoo told him to stop using it. The guy countered by saying that nothing in the MOTD said "no porn sprays." He was a complete troll and I ended up permabanning him for ignoring admins, but I think that was the main incident that brought this to light in the first place. FWIW I draw the obscenity line at genitalia and (female) nipples -- yay double standards -- but I've been told that it's generally an admin discretion thing, so in this case I went along with Yahoo's ruling since he got first dibs.

Way to go, Valve. </sarcasm>

It occurs to me that Free Hat Friday was going on right under my nose while I tuned out voice chat as I tend to do unless I hear my name or something. (Cocktail Party Effect, look it up. Or something similar, anyway.) I can't decide if I care or not.

Now I'm wondering how phill got his hands on the .vmf file. o_O Anyway, the new version that Powerlord put on the server is from before last night, so none of the suggestions made have been implemented yet, but there is a significant change to Stage 2 between the points.

So I was pleasantly surprised to find that someone had nominated Launchpad and enough people voted to play on it. Then I realized it was an older version but oh well. We had some productive conversations ingame about some issues such as map scale, confusing layout, and suggestions for functional geometry, but I'd appreciate any and all feedback. Screenshots in particular are really helpful when talking about specific parts of the map. (Especially since I can just check back here if I forget.)

I would like to take this moment to express my undying hate for Dustbowl Stage 3. That is all.

Well after FPSBanana got hit with that virus a while back people seem to distrust it a lot more. Dunno what its reputation is nowadays, but that's what I recall. OHMYGOD I HAD THE BEST IDEA: Custom hitsound of the Spy saying "Ow" in a hilarious monotone.

"Kill me." Later. (Yes, yes, I know, GameBanana, but this was too funny.)

It started with just the two front exits, with the intent that more than one door would help RED defend against spawncamping. But it was still pretty easy for BLU to waltz by and attack RED right out of their spawn, so I added the third exit in the back.

You're not the first person to point this out, unfortunately. Is it a problem of insufficient/conflicting signage or too many twists and turns or something else? (Screenshots would help -- "When I'm standing in this location it looks like I should go here instead of there.") The original concept for the map involved a large deathpit next to the main route, but I know that most people hate dying to the environment so I put a fence by the edge so you had to be blasted off by the enemy or else do it on purpose. Then I overhauled the layout and we have the wooden deck that's there now so that you can get to the other side without being in full view of enemy Snipers. I'm glad you like it though.This may come as a shock, but I'm trying not to give Spies too many advantages. Sufficient ammo for cloak, hallways wide enough to sidestep enemies, and interesting cover and height variations are the limit of my efforts on that front. Indeed. Some areas are more exiting than others depending on whether or not I got any inspiration. I have a small confession to make -- that building is only there to take up space. (The alternative was yet another rock.)

So I've been trying to work on Launchpad again as of late. Stage 3 isn't implemented yet, but I've made some changes to Stages 1 and 2. If anyone wants to try it out and give some feedback, that would be wonderful. (If Powerlord or FireSlash want to put it on the server for some playtesting, that would also be wonderful, although I believe they have more pressing matters to deal with right now.) Linky.

But it's true. Engineer needs some love.

Those cons were already present, just unlisted. (The slower reload is new though.) Fun fact: The Mangler has lower base damage, but its damage rampup caps at 150% rather than whatever the norm for rocket launchers is. Unless they ninja-patched that while they were at it.