Valve have updated the free to play Team Fortress 2, with a new Summer Event that runs through September 15th, 2024.
Not only that though, there's finally going to be a new comic. As confirmed by Erik Wolpaw on Twitter/X that mentioned: "Jay and I are done with script (my proof: last page)(note: 184 script pages != 184 comic pages). If me and Pinkerton die in a writing accident, comic still comes out. If Heather and Maren die, though, you're screwed. Pray for them. 3 variant covers!".
We've also seen recently that Valve has been a bit more active on dealing with the bots too, which briefly saw the TF2 player counts (SteamDB) shoot up earlier in July although it has stabilised again now, the Summer Event has caused another little bump in more players. Valve even put up a new support page that's real firm about TF2 bots and cheaters noting that "Team Fortress 2 game bans are permanent, non-negotiable, and are not removed by Steam Support".
The Summer Event includes:
- Featuring 10 new community maps: Embargo, Odyssey, Megaton, Cachoeira, Overgrown, Hadal, Applejack, Atom Smash, Canaveral, and Burghausen
- Added the Summer 2024 Cosmetic Case
- Contains 23 new community-contributed items
- Added 4 new community-contributed taunts to the Mann Co. Store
- Taunt: Can It!
- Taunt: Cremator's Condolences
- Taunt: Straight Shooter Tutor
- Taunt: Unleashed Rage
- Added 38 new community-created Unusual effects
- 18 new effects for Unusual hats
- 20 new effects for Unusual taunts
- All cosmetic and taunt cases will grant Summer 2024 Unusual effects instead of their normal Unusual effects during the Summer event. This does not include crates.
The actual update notes include various improvements and fixes to the game overall too like some mysterious "Security and stability improvements".
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Philadelphus Jul 19
Quoting: scaineHow are 100K people still playing this? Or are the numbers actually a true-er reflection of just bad the bot problem has actually become?After Valve did their big bot purge earlier this month multiple people have been reporting playing for hours without a single bot in sight since then, so this seems like actual human numbers (probably with a bump from the summer event; I might hop back in myself).
As to how, well, it's a great game with staying power (so you've got the people who've been playing for a decade or more) and it's been around long enough to have new gamers get older and discover it for the first time.
Quoting: scaineHow are 100K people still playing this? Or are the numbers actually a true-er reflection of just bad the bot problem has actually become?
I don't think a game gets this big for this long after release without being as good as it is, to give the glib response. The bots a certainly part of that number, but coming from my experience, TF2 has the all the mechanical depth you'd ever want for one who wants complexity, but the simplicity and low skill floor for those who want a casual mess around.
Also from my experience, a lot of these players are people who also played it 15 years ago and never fully stopped. Every few years I hop back into it and see many similar faces. The reliance on community servers helps retention too in a way.
Quoting: PhiladelphusQuoting: scaineHow are 100K people still playing this? Or are the numbers actually a true-er reflection of just bad the bot problem has actually become?After Valve did their big bot purge earlier this month multiple people have been reporting playing for hours without a single bot in sight since then, so this seems like actual human numbers (probably with a bump from the summer event; I might hop back in myself).
As to how, well, it's a great game with staying power (so you've got the people who've been playing for a decade or more) and it's been around long enough to have new gamers get older and discover it for the first time.
Wow, so they've done something ? I might have to reinstall it then.
Quoting: PhiladelphusAs to how, well, it's a great game with staying power (so you've got the people who've been playing for a decade or more) and it's been around long enough to have new gamers get older and discover it for the first time.
That must be it. And it's free. But while I have hundreds of hours in Mann vs Machine, the bots were insane even back when I played, over a decade ago. I had voice turned off after all the anthems and music and memes that "people" spammed into voice, but even the text chat was brutal - some of it was just juvenile, but quite a fair bit would get you either assaulted or arrested if you said in the "real world". It was the opposite of a safe space. Really unpleasant.
If Valve have tidied it up, then fair play. Amazes me that it still garners 100K gamers though.
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