Site update.

We want to give you a progress report on a coming site upgrade.  While we will keep most details under wraps we want you to know that we take your suggestions seriously.  We get requests to share the google doc which we edit that fits in the blog.  We know some of you prefer it and want you all to know that we will change things from a UI perspective in our 2.0 version.  There are also iPad/Android and other mobile users who want an easier to manipulate sheet while you are on a beach somewhere or in line at the supermarket (hopefully not driving).  We take those opinions seriously and will address them with our coming revamp.  Stay tuned, TF2 traders.

Manniversary poll results

Well you did it again, TF2 Community.  You chose the sarcastic, snarky answer as your favorite Manniversary Update headwear!  Not really all that unbelievable since the choices are a bit underwhelming even in our opinion.  Birdcage is the clear runner-up.  If miscs had been included would you still love that damn paper hat?  We may never find out because Halloween blindsided us with an impressive update from the good ol' crew at Valve.

One-Man Army	145 (4%)
Your Worst Nightmare	221 (6%)
Counterfeit Billycock	204 (6%)
Outdoorsman	40 (1%)
Tavish DeGroot Experience	97 (2%)
Pencil Pusher	42 (1%)
Buccaneer's Bicorne	157 (4%)
Salty Dog	77 (2%)
Little Buddy	47 (1%)
Gym Rat	38 (1%)
Hot Dogger	67 (1%)
Birdcage	391 (11%)
Surgeon's Stahlhelm	248 (7%)
Backwards Ballcap	99 (2%)
L'Inspecteur	64 (1%)
Swagman's Swatter	38 (1%)
Flamboyant Flamenco	128 (3%)
Virtual Reality Headset	246 (7%)
Hat With No Name	137 (4%)
Hermes	163 (4%)
None, I prefer the free paper hat	709 (21%)

Votes so far: 3358
Poll closed

Boo. Halloween update is here.

  All new items listed and pictures available in this reddit thread here.
 

• Halloween 2011 Event
  • Viaduct has been haunted and is now... Eyeaduct!
  • One full multi-piece costume set has been added for each class
  • Random gifts containing costume pieces drop in Eyeaduct on registered servers
  • 2 new Halloween 2011 achievements
  • Any unusual hats uncrated during the event will be Halloween-themed
  • New Halloween-themed items are available in the Mann Co. store, but only for a limited time!
• Updated effects for The Cow Mangler 5000
• Updated in-game abuse reporting tool to include option for reporting abusive game servers
• Added mapcycle_halloween containing all Halloween event maps
• Fixed team colors and styles not updating properly in store previews
• Fixed bug in reputation trend status display for registered servers
• Fixed a problem that could cause repeated stutters after joining a server
• Fixed the Spine-Chilling Skull not appearing when equipped by soldiers
• New Halloween-themed community-created items submitted to the Workshop are now available in the Mann Co. store!

Undocumented changes

• All Ghastly Gibuses have been upgraded to Ghastlier Gibuses. Ghastlier Gibuses have been upgraded to the new Ghastlierest Gibuses.
• The Halloween 2010 Noisemakers have been made re-availaible in the MannCo Store
• Hitting the Horseless Headless Horsemann now plays a hitsound, as if you had hit a player.
• All hats that had Halloween restrictions can now be worn on an actual full moon. 

A good description by Problem on SPUF on how the new stuff works.

Devil pyro

This is why Valve rocks: halloween update coming soon.

PSA: Don't trust. Verify, verify, verify.

It has come to our attention here at TF2S that a well rehearsed scam going around whereby multiple scammers prey on an unsuspecting player to rip him/her off.  The game is called "Trust" ironically, and the scam involves a player claiming they are quitting TF2 and want to give away valuable items but only if they play the "Trust" game.  This involves other people in on the scam who supposedly also trust the "quitter" and give him items which the quitter then quickly trades back.  This goes around until the victim actually gives something valuable to the quitter and then the scammers all disappear.

Simon1123 on SPUF describes and documents the scam here.  Obviously with a game like TF2 where items translate to real money, use your best judgement.

The dirty discount

A lot has come from the bug recently where hats that were store bought (not usable in crafting) were then sold to unsuspecting buyers at "craftable hat" prices.  The bug is now fixed but essentially didn't show that a hat wasn't usable in crafting while trading in-game.  Don't be ashamed - it even fooled those of us who are supposed to know better (ahem, Jason).  These hats are considered "dirty", which has become a blanket term for anything marking a hat.  A "clean" hat is tradeable, usable in crafting and often also means there is no craft #.  Remember that an item with a craft # higher than 100 can only be seen in a backpack viewer.  A "dirty" hat is either untradeable (without giftwrap), or has gifted by text, or now is also not usable in crafting.  Hats that have craft #'s are also considered dirty by many, but when trading generic items with normal values it is often not mentioned.  It mostly has an effect on prices of higher-value items such as Team Captain or Cremator's Conscience.

There is a dirty discount associated with these hats.  Typically a reclaimed metal off the craft hat price.  Many of these hats now sell for around 2 reclaimed metals, which is about the right price in our minds as well.  The hat looks the same but you just can't craft with it.

New poll: Manniversary hats.

So there are a lot of new items Valve decided to release en-mass last week (also a lot of bugs that keep crashing the game, but hey, it's free right?).  We wanted to see first what people's favorite hat is of the new group.  Hats only this time, next go-around we'll do misc items.

Note: the errors in the poll were due to our intern's mistake.  He will be lambasted and ridiculed for them.  Sorry to the 23 who already voted, please make your choices again for real this time.

New update. We are all human yo-yos. Paper hat now usable in crafting again.

Team Fortress 2 Update Released

Product Update - Valve

Updates to Team Fortress 2 have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:

- Fixed a frequent server crash related to packfiles
- Fixed the following items not being able to be used in the Rebuild Headgear recipe: Lo-Fi Longwave, Loyalty Reward ("proof of purchase"), Spiral Sallet, Summer Shades, Scout Flip-Flops, Lucky No. 42, Summer Hat, Killer Exclusive, Ball-Kicking Boots, Merc's Pride Scarf, Manniversary Paper Hat 

 

(from Kaitostrike on SPUF) EDIT: A note to everyone; craftable does not necessarily mean you can get them out of a craft. It means you can craft two of them together into another hat.

Double EDIT: Crafting the untradable ones on this list will still result in an untradable hat.

Residual update. Fixes last update. Paper no longer craftable.

Team Fortress 2 Update Released

Product Update - Valve

Updates to Team Fortress 2 have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:

Team Fortress 2:
- The Mannniversary Sale has ended, though Manniversary Packages will continue to drop for a short time
- The Mannniversary Paper Hat is no longer craftable
- Removed the painterly filter option on Decal Tools
- Added loading screen tooltip about the new abuse reporting system
- Added a default key binding for filing an abuse report (F7)
- Fixed a common in-game client crash
- Fixed a client crash when opening the loadout screen
- Fixed a client crash related to sniper dots
- Fixed a server crash that occurred when running both SourceTV and Replay
- Fixed high five taunts applying the wielded weapon's taunt effect
- Fixed "Cannot Craft" text not appearing on certain item tooltips (VERIFY IN STEAM TRADING, DOES NOT APPEAR FIXED...TF2Spreadsheet)
- Updated localization files

Steam Workshop:

Trader's update

Ok, so a big update always brings a lot of excitement as well as confusion.

1. As always, we will refrain from posting any prices until there is a "consensus" we see in the market.  What does that mean?  Usually within a few days to a week there is a range that buyers and sellers come up with for each new item.  Some items clearly being more popular often have a wider range in value, as desperate buyers will overpay just to get their hands on one.  Other items that are not as hot will have a smaller range in values, as well as a lower value overall.  Don't you wish you had a backpack full of stethoscopes instead of crates?
2. With these updates there is always a mass crafting bonanza to get low craft #'s.  Note that this spreadsheet is designed for pricing on "generic" versions of items and with the craft #'s that means anything over #100.  There is no set price for crafted items under #100.  Anything in the single digits will command a high price, sometimes buds or higher depending on the item.  If it is a less-desirable item a craft # under 100 may get a refined or less premium on the listed price.
3. As many of you are aware, there is also a premium paid by some buyers for "clean" items that are dropped and not crafted.   This is a limited market, and is more prevalent for the premium items such as Team Captain (and Teddy/Pocket Medic when they were more popular).  You can always tell whether an item has a craft # by using a backpack viewer.  Don't take someone's word for it.
4. There is a glitch with in-game trading where hats that are not usable in crafting are not displaying that fact to the recipient.  This is a glitch with the recent update.  If you are buying "craft hats" then use Steam trading instead, where apparently an items usability in crafting is still detectable.  Don't do the "same hat for the same hat" trades, it could be a scam.
5. Crate #30 the "Salvaged" items crate appears to be rare as of now and is commanding a high price from anxious buyers.  This will likely change so if you are lucky enough to get one of these we suggest you sell it or unbox it now.
6. Halloween is fast approaching.  Don't forget Valve loves this holiday and will undoubtedly have something cool planned.

Strange favorites indeed

No huge surprises here.  The strange rocket launcher is still the new black.  Medigun holds its own.

Stickybomb launcher	289 (24%)
Jarate	268 (22%)
Rocket Launcher	373 (31%)
Medigun	313 (26%)
Sniper Rifle	304 (25%)
Knife	288 (24%)
Grenade Launcher	249 (20%)
Scattergun	298 (25%)
Wrench	115 (9%)
Axtinguisher	133 (11%)
Black Box	207 (17%)
Jag	159 (13%)
Backburner	148 (12%)
Minigun	245 (20%)
Shotgun	301 (25%)

Votes so far: 1192
Poll closed

New update. Steam Manniversary sale.

Here is info.  New hats and other items too!  Very big...


Team Fortress 2
Manniversary:
- Experimenting with a new store interface with a subset of players
- Added several dozen community items in celebration of the Manniversary
- Added loadout presets -- each class can now store four complete loadouts, including weapons and cosmetic items, and change between them with the press of a button.
- Added a new item type that can accept user-applied decals. Take any image off your hard drive, put it on a stick, and then smash people with it! (See the Decal Tool in the store!)
- Added new co-operative high five taunt
- Class select menu now shows the active loadout for each class
- Characters can now equip two misc-slot items at once
- Added a new in-game abuse-reporting system (see "Capture abuse report data" under "Miscellaneous" controls)
- Non-newly-released weapons in the store can now be tried out for free once per week! This will give you a fully-functional version of the weapon to be used in-game for no cost. If you decide you like it, you can purchase it for a discount during the trial period.
- All items purchased in the store can be used for crafting and can be traded after a few days
- Added a new startup music track from Meet The Medic
- Integrated with the new Steam Workshop to enable the publication and management of community contributed content

Maps:
- Added new community control point map Gullywash. Stamps are available in the store to support community map authors!
- Barnblitz is now available for offline practice
- Frontier: various geometry fixes
- Gorge/5Gorge: added team-specific func_nobuild brushes in elevated forward spawn areas

Replay:
- New camera shake functionality added for replays that are not sufficiently dramatic
- New slow-motion functionality added for replays where even camera shake does not provide sufficient drama
- Added support for recording voice chat into replays

Items:
- Pocket Medic can now be equipped by the Soldier in addition to the Heavy
- World Traveler's Hat and the Connoisseur's Cap are now paintable
- Bonk Boy and Foster's Facade are now misc slot items
- Fixed The Director's Vision not playing animations correctly for all classes in the loadout screen
- The Killer Exclusive is now paintable
- When sorting the backpack, otherwise-equivalent items will sort by strange weapon rank and crate series number if possible
- When selecting items from the loadout, weapons with different kill eater ranks will all show up
- Hat of Undeniable Wealth And Respect animations have been added. Really.
- LOD models added to several older cosmetic items

Response Rules:
- Reduced the chance of many response lines occurring
- Responses related to cart progress no longer play when disguised
- Players will now always call for a medic when low on health or when on fire when a medic is under the crosshair, whereas previously the character would ask the medic to follow them
- Named base items will no longer trigger responses that were supposed to be for new item variants
- Added additional Jarate hit responses
- Demoman:
- Added achievement award response
- Removed "I didn't need your help y'know" line if being healed by a Medic
- Saxxy kills will use the same lines as kills from the frying pan
- Taunting with The Pain Train or the Saxxy now plays the same taunt as the grenade launcher
- Added a taunt for The Ullapool Caber
- Engineer:
- Fixed a problem that caused him not to say thanks after exiting a teleporter
- Saxxy kills will use the same lines as kills from The Golden Wrench
- Added a previously unused golden wrench kill line
- Added an occasional response when swinging The Gunslinger
- Wrangler taunt now performs the pistol taunt animation
- Heavy:
- Added a previously unused fist swing line
- Medic:
- Added a line to the response that occurs when doing a battle cry while looking at an enemy while holding a melee weapon
- Taunting with a Saxxy plays the medigun taunt
- Taunting with the Solemn Vow or the Crusader's Crossbow now plays the same taunt as the syringe gun
- Scout:
- Removed the response when killing an enemy Scout or Pyro and moved the lines to the dominating Pyro/Scout response
- Added a rare response to double jumping after getting a recent kill
- Sniper:
- Reduced chattiness when getting many sequential kills
- Added a missing line to the scoped revenge response
- Taunting with a Saxxy no longer play lines that reference a knife
- Soldier:
- Added a line to the getting übercharged response
- Taunting with the Righteous Bison, Battalion's Backup, or the Saxxy now play the Buff Banner taunt

Bots:
- TFBots have a percentage chance of noticing weapon fire based on their difficulty level. Easy bots are fairly oblivious, and Expert bots notice pretty much everything.
- TFBots now treat certain weapon attacks as "quiet" (Spy knife, cloaking/uncloaking, some melee weapons, fists, etc). "Quiet" weapons can only be heard by TFBots when nearby, and their chance of being noticed is halved if the environment is "noisy" (ie., lots of non-quiet gunfire going on in the area). This greatly improves Spies ability to backstab TFBots without the entire team immediately turning on them.
- Spy bot improvements:
- Spy bots are much better about circling around and backstabbing their victims now
- Improved Spy bot target selection in some situations (ie: clusters of sentries and enemy players)
- Spy bots will give up on an attack and retreat if an enemy sentry gun aims at them
- Spy bots now avoid nearby enemies while disguised and/or cloaked so they don't bump into them and give themselves away
- Spy bots now have a simple notion of when their “cover is blown" now
- Spy bots lead their target's position as they chase them down for a backstab now
- Spy bots don't go after victims until setup time has elapsed
- Hard and Expert Spy bots avoid looking at their prey until they get close and go for the stab
- Easy Spy bots don't avoid enemies, or try to get behind before stabbing
- Normal Spy bots don't avoid enemies
- Fixed bug where Spy bots would jump against the enemy spawn gates during setup time
- Medic bot improvements:
- Medic bots stick much closer to running patients now
- Medic bots stick much closer to their patient if they have an Ubercharge ready, or are deploying their Uber
- Medic bots hide from Sentryguns now, too
- Pyro bot improvements:
- Pyro bots are less "pushy" with their compression blast, but will use it against Ubers and to get enemies off of a capture point

Other:
- Razer Hydra support can be enabled via "sixense_enabled 1" in the console. See http://sixense.com/tf2 for details.
- Added "tf_allow_taunt_switch". Set to 0 for disallowed (default behavior), 1 for old bug behavior, or 2 to allow weapon switching any time during the taunt.
- Screenshots can now be hooked up to the Steam Community automatically. There is a new option to control this under "Miscellaneous" in the Advanced Options page.
- Fixed gold ragdolls playing custom death animations when they should be locked in a pose
- Fixed Buffalo Steak Sandvich not having a cooldown if the Heavy is at full health.
- Fixed touching a cabinet while under the effects of the Buffalo Steak Sandvich removing the mini-crits but not removing the melee weapon restriction
- Fixed particle effects not showing up on spy disguise items
- Fixed spies never using genuine, community, or self-made items as disguise weapons
- Fixed demoman weapons primary/secondary being backwards in the loadout screen
- Fixed effects on Sticky Jumper grenades
- Fixed net_graph not updating server framerate when FPS is greater than 1000
- Fixed game servers not being able to execute the retry command
- Renamed tf_show_voice_icons to mp_show_voice_icons
- Updated the localization files

Undocumented changes

• Added promotional items for Football Manager 2012.  ($39.99 pre-order)

1. The Merc's Pride Scarf can be worn by each class.
2. The Ball-Kicking Boots are available for the Scout and spawn a team-colored ball that everyone can play with.
3. Vuvuzela Noise maker.

• Added crate #30 & #31
• The Reserve Shooter can now be equipped by the Pyro. 
• The Widowmaker now takes 30 metal per shot, down from 60.
• Moved the Noh Mercy, Large Luchadore and the Sniper's Snipin' Glass to the Misc slot
• Updated class images on the main menu to be wearing cosmetic items
• Added Misc-slot Flair!, Photo Badge and Clan Pride items supporting Decal Tool
• Added new bot names.
• Shortstop reload slowed down by 50%
• Small health kits now heal 20% of a class' health (previously 20.5%)
• Action slot taunt previews on the loadout screen now play sound.
• Added a tone when a Dead Ringer cloak is fully recharged.
• Summer Shades and Professor Speks now fall off the ragdoll at death.
• Fixed some all-class hats shown duplicated in incorrect positions in the loadout menu.
• The loadout screen now shows the proper team colors of the team the player is currently on.
• The public IP is now displayed in the console when creating a local server, and the output for the exec command has been altered.
• Strange weapon upgrade notifications no longer appear as a toast popup on screen.

New poll, all about stranges

What will Valve do next?  We already saw that crate #29 was the first all-class crate of the strange variety so what will they come up with next time?  They had established a "3 crate, one class each" structure then threw that under the bus.  Are they going to eventually release all the weapons in strange varieties or are we going to see a set group?  They always do something unexpected so there is no telling.  Our best guess here at TF2S is that they have up to crate #31 with the all-class structure then there is an update that moves on from the strange weapons for the short-term.  Share your thoughts here.

Name your price or else...

Our latest poll brought up the subject of trading etiquette.  Many times traders will say they have something available and refuse to tell you what they want for it.  Sometimes it means they have no idea what its worth.  Sometimes they are playing a game where the person to name the price is either the fool because he/she offered too much OR more likely rejected/ignored because the offer isn't what the seller has in mind.  Our traders think "its annoying" more than "smart trading"... When someone is selling something and they tell you to "Offer" for it.

Annoying, they should just ask for what they want.	262 (54%)
Good trading, whoever says a price first is at a disadvantage.	179 (36%)
It doesn't matter to me	44 (9%)

Votes so far: 485
Poll closed