The Glade 4.0

Ok, what went on that I missed? I logged on yesterday for the first in a while and received a new "hat", a halo of incorruptibility.

Someone at work told me about Valve cracking down on the people who are idling on servers to gain the free hats and other swag. As a parallel to that, they are giving the ones who never idled, this Halo.

Is this all correct, I can't check gaming sites from work.

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This must be Thursday. I could never get the hang of Thursdays.

That's about right. I haven't logged in to the game for quite some time, so I wasn't a part of the whole debacle. However, I do hear that there is a pretty huge rift between the two sides(the idlers and the non-idlers) in that the people with the halos will not help out those without them or kicking them from the servers. The same is being done by the other side as well...though, I would have to imagine that the idlers are probably more guilty of these sorts of things since they would be the type considering their actions. Probably the same kind of person that would go to achievement servers and farm achievements. All in all, it seems very silly.

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Los Angeles Kings 2014 Stanley Cup Champions

"I love this **** team right here."
-Jonathan Quick

With the last spy/scout pack, Valve introduced two things. New hats (which are cosmetic only) and the ability to randomly obtain the side-upgraded new weapons for each class (that they've released them for) just by being logged into the game.

The hats had an extremely low drop-rate. WoW whelplings have a better droprate, to give you an idea.

One user made a program that simulated being logged into TF2, without having to actually log into TF2. This allowed people to get the weapons and hats. It's the same thing as people signing into the game and joining "idle servers" and then minimizing the game.

This went on since May, so 4 months. Valve suddenly came out with the announcement that anyone who ever used the idle program, even just once and for 3 seconds, suddenly loses all their new weapons and hats. Those that never used it, received the "Cheater's Lament", which is a halo.

Valve has no problem with people who sit, in-game, in idle servers. They just did not like people using a third party program to simulate being logged into the game and doing the exact same thing.

The reason why the community is now in a giant **** is because of how Valve handled it. Having their weapons and hats taken away was fine with most of the idlers (most knew it was a grey area in the first place). The real problem is that Valve did three things to rip the community in two.

1. They gave a unique hat to the non-idlers, which was just to rub the idlers nose in it (because 99% of idlers were only doing it for a hat).
2. They named the item "Cheater's Lament" which implies those who used the third party program are cheaters, when the term "exploit" is probably more valid (again, Valve has no problem with those who sit in idle servers, doing the very exact same thing... as long as their TF2 is fired-up).
3. The fact that the hat is a halo represents everyone else has taken the "moral high road" (Valve's own words) and this has caused elitism amongst many players.

There are reports of all kinds of goings on now. Medics refusing to heal anyone who don't have a halo. Medics refusing to heal anyone who DOES have a halo. Servers kicking and banning people who don't have halos. Servers kicking and banning people who DO have halos.

The people who idled are being called all kinds of insults and what not on the forums. It's really split the community almost in half.

Again, if Valve had just removed the items this would have been a minor rant for most people and it would have been over by now. It's the halos that did it.

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

Hehe, I logged on a played for a bit just to get the halo.

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Raell Kromwell

I thought I just saw a heavy with a Jayne hat... Can anyone tell me if this is real?

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Raell Kromwell

I think I've seen similar, yes.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

Yes, that's a real hat. They've introduced at least 2 new hats for each class (and some have a third option, to go hatless... engineer looks WEIRD without one).

Go here and click on the classes, at the bottom it shows all their hats.

http://tf2wiki.net/wiki/Main_Page

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

Seen it again, it doesn't look as good on blue team as it does red. Played quite a bit this weekend. So rusty...

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Raell Kromwell

http://www.teamfortress.com/1308.htm

Hummmm

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Raell Kromwell

Engineer update tease?

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

That is what I was thinking.

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Raell Kromwell

Needs moar demoman, imo.

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Los Angeles Kings 2014 Stanley Cup Champions

"I love this **** team right here."
-Jonathan Quick

Well-made RL video of TF2.

[youtube]aeTFkgpDpqw[/youtube]

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

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Raell Kromwell

That was awesome. I can't wait to see what they have planned.

That's hilarious. Don't miss the exploits of Saxton Hale, featuring Indonesian Berzerker Sharks! An Ape Will Die on Every Page!

What is most awesome about the comic Raell linked, though, is that Valve adopted a fan's characterization of the announcer.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

It's better than I could ever have hoped.

It'sWar!

That's right. Valve is letting the players decide, in Team Fortress' bloody fashion full of hilarious giblets, whether we get the Demoman Update or the Soldier Update next!

Log on, and play some rounds. At the end of the week, Valve will tally up the Soldiers killed by Demomen and the Demomen killed by Soldiers, and the class with the higher grudge kill count, server-wide, gets an update. And they'll be doing counters, updated daily to keep track of which class is leading.

Earn your gear, maggots!

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

Ohhhhh! This is going to call for some serious play time....

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Raell Kromwell

As a soldier, or medic-healing soldier, or demoman-softening up pyro, I hope.

Or, as a suicidal demoman, I suppose, though I frown on that more (as it actively damages your team) than the others.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

I love playing a Soldier, I am not very good at it and I am way out of practice. Still, have rockets, will travel.

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Raell Kromwell

Ditto.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

Good lord. This is crazy. When one class gets updates and everyone is playing them, it is one thing. This...

Brutal.

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Raell Kromwell

I remember this game....

I used to play it before having a child.

Awesome idea, though. Still waiting for the engie update.

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This must be Thursday. I could never get the hang of Thursdays.

No, crazy is when you find a server that allows FF during the "waiting for players" stage at the beginning of a map load. The mass of raw explosions in your spawn room is unbelievable.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

I suck...only 28 Demo man kills so far.

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Raell Kromwell