I've been selling off vintage doubles of my weapons (1 vintage weapon in exchange for any 2 non-vintage weapons is my usual rate) and as a result amassing piles and piles of metal. I'm currently sitting on 3 refined and about a refined more of unsmelted weapons.

The thing is though...it's almost a waste to use it to craft hats now. With crate hats flooding the market and the store offering some up for 0.99€, most non-vintage hats' worth has dropped dramatically. Definitely no longer worth 3 refined, which takes a long time to gather. That is a bit of a bizarre byproduct of the vintage/non-vintage cutoff.

I suspect Valve is going to make more craft-related updates that players can throw their metal at because of this. In some ways, the Halloween update already did that by making the special axe craftable only (as opposed to the Halloween hats).

All this power (metal)...and no way to use it!

*random TF2 hat wanting banter by o'cram*
22:16 - O'cram: considering i got you that vintage goggles
22:16 - Derf: yeah, but i have you like a zillion items
22:16 - O'cram: okkkkkkkkkkk
22:16 - O'cram: wuts taht gotta do with giving me that hat you wont use
22:17 - Derf: its called trading you jew
22:17 - O'cram: you dont even know what you want
22:19 - Derf: mosin nagant
22:19 - O'cram: WTF
22:19 - O'cram: and you call me a jew
22:21 - Derf: mosin nagant
22:22 - O'cram: jew
22:23 - Derf: no, i am red army soldier. you are jew
22:23 - O'cram: ....
22:23 - O'cram: you will give me that hat
22:23 - Derf: yes i will
22:23 - Derf: for mosin nagant

O'cram: install the game
O'cram: not as if you have work tomorrow
O'cram: yeah the hat isnt that rare by the looks of things
Derf: ill install it overnight
O'cram: only worth a few vintage.
Derf: rinox said its actually very rare
O'cram: im looking at it on tf2 trade
O'cram: people are trading it for 1 hat plus paint
O'cram: cant be that rare
O'cram: but i wouldnt trade it
O'cram: i want it in my collection
Derf: let me consult my fitness consogliere
O'cram: check for yourself
*Derf gets Rinox's opinion of what it's worth and gets back to ocram*
O'cram: LOL
O'cram: 7 keys huh......
O'cram: considering vintage hats go for 4 keys each
Derf: yeah maybe regular hats
O'cram: no
O'cram: vintage hats
O'cram: look
O'cram: you have no interest in virtual tf2 items
O'cram: correct?
Derf: well, if they ahve some value i am interested in getting something back if i can
O'cram: ugh
O'cram: look
O'cram: just like you got the vintage ze goggles for FREE
O'cram: just give me the mask and tie
Derf: no i gave u all my stuff
O'cram: and anything in the future
O'cram: i will get for you
O'cram: yes
O'cram: but it wasnt close
Derf: i want something actually
O'cram: to the value of the hat
O'cram: ok good
O'cram: what is it?
Derf: mosin nagant

there's an update with new weapons, new map and stuff, the keep map is fun to play for a bit

Something silly and fun:



Played the keep map with Derf yesterday, was ton of fun. I especially like running into the final cap full of enemies with the Ullapool caber + chargin targe as a demo.

TF2 is now free 2 play, appearantly if you bought it you get a hat ... mkay.

I got it as part of the orange box, and I got so many hours of play into it, it was totally worth whatever it ended up costing. Good for Valve though.

Story about it:
http://pc.ign.com/articles/117/1178861p1.html

Will respond later

(I must be the only one still regularly playing tf2!)

Agree with you there Satis, if i'd calculate the hours played/dollar spent it's probably one of my top games (got it as part of the orange box as well).

I used to play regularly as well Ox, just not the last 1 or 2 months, mainly due to lack of time, me being sick or me being too tired. I heard it's a total noobfest atm now though, like in the free weekends, only much worse.

I divided this post into parts since they are all pretty unrelated and all over the place.

Rinox' rant corner

Haha yeah, it's pretty wild out there right now. But that's cool, even if the teams are fucked I can still switch to demo and frag noobs like no tomorrow (since he's still OP as shit, even though I'm starting to hate the pyro even more). I usually play charging targe + ullapool caber. It's hilarious. I'm basically unkillable from explosives and fire, and the moment I get the chance I charge into a bunch of enemies with the ullapool caber and suicide bomb 3-4 of them at a time, or pick out medics.

Or when an opponent thinks he's got me since I just shot my 4 nades and have to reloaded, I just whip out the ullapool caber and take him or her with me. Works like a charm on pyroes since they are always in your face and their burn doesn't do shit to a targe demo.

The update

In some ways, it's a pretty natural evolution. Tf2 has been at prices like 2.5€ and was part of the Orange Box so yeah, it's not like the people who hadn't bought it already were likely to do so now. And this way Valve might still lure in customers it wouldn't have had anyway, but who may get hooked and on the game and spend cash in their hat stores. Pretty clever.

Of course there are haters, but you know, they gonna hate. I won't say the free to play update has done the game much good at this moment, but as always things will level out once those who don't like it leave and those who stay get better at the game.

The über update

simultaneously with the game going free to play, Valve did a massive update with weapon packs and hats for almost every class, and the 'meet the medic' trailer. It's great as usual.



All the new stuff

http://www.teamfortress.com/uberupdate/day_01.html
http://www.teamfortress.com/uberupdate/day_02.html
http://www.teamfortress.com/uberupdate/day_03.html
http://www.teamfortress.com/uberupdate/index.html
http://www.teamfortress.com/uberupdate/scoutpack.html

Also, apparently there are "strange" items now, basically weapons that record your kill count with them and change name ("barely threatening", "mildly scary" etc) as they level up.

On a trading note

I'm trading most of my vintage hats in for metal or non-vintage versions + metal. If you'd be interested in one of my vintage hats, let me know.

loved the video. Hell, I might play again. Blasting the piss out of noobs sounds kinda fun.

Im obsessed with the targe and the two handed sword which gives extra life and speed for each kill up to 4 i think. Demo class is the one i play almost always. Haha, i get such a huge satisfaction out of decapitating people .

In that case you'll LOVE the demo's new stuff from this update Peltz (dubbed: "One Thousand and One Demoknights")

http://www.teamfortress.com/uberupdate/day_02.html

And the music in the meet the medic vid is excellently composed, as always with TF2. Watch it again and pay attention to how it swells from when the medic and heavy leave the hospital and start fragging fools. Really cool.

P and Ox on the rampage.

I hope Ox didn't really top the boards playing as spy? Please tell me he just happened to switch to spy right at the end.