Team Fortress 2 - are hats good or bad?
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I've seen a lot of debate about this, over on TF2chan and the Steam forums. Some people argue that ever since hats have been introduced, TF2 has had a falling-out, and losing touch with what it once was. (Usually those people are ones who've been playing since the beta.) They say that the hats distract people from the game, or that they ruin the game's mood. I've seen a lot of reasons, and I'm not going to go through all of them here. But then others say that the hats make the game more enjoyable, and contribute to the silly nature of the game that's been there from the beginning. After all, isn't this game supposed to be a spoof on military games and the 60's in general? Hats just add to that. And then there's the people who swing it both ways.
Personally, I think the hats add more character to the classes. I get a good laugh out of seeing a slug on a Pyro here, or a Spy that looks like a hobo with the Camera Beard.
Where do you guys stand on this?
Really? I quite like the hats. I find them amusing, and they tend to end in some hilarious conversations, such as Spy wearing five different hats on his head and trying to infiltrate a base at the same time. (LOL hobo spy, never thought of that.)
Ahaha, yeah. Or people getting in character, like with a soldier wearing the drill hat and yelling at everyone. (Lol, just need a Ghastly Gib and a Camera Beard on. It's hilarious.)
i kinda like the hats, although i do find some of them to be pretty silly...but i like the challenge of trying to get them, and collect enough weapons and scrap metal to try and make them, haha :)
Wow, I didn't think the hats actually caused debates? I think they're fun little addons, its exciting when you finally get one. Also it's nice to have a use for all the weapons I find that I won't use--I just craft them into metal until I have enough for a hat :3
<p>I feel that playing it isn&;t just about winning a round and maybe finding an interesting item along the way, it is all about finding the items. I found myself playing and logging hours into the game just to find weapons that I could craft into scrap, and eventually trade that away for hats instead of playing because it was genuinely fun. Or worse yet I found myself spending money to unlock crates to find cool little unlockables that are completely unnecessary. I quickly realized that I wasn&;t playing for fun anymore, I wasn&;t playing because I loved setting up sentries as an engie or runnin&; and gunnin&; as a scout, I was playing it because I wanted items. And it seems to me that many other people are doing that now as well, I mean there are servers dedicated to trading or idling for god&;s sake.</p>
<p>The item system didn&;t ruin the game for me, in a way it made it exciting and humorous. The class updates were always well thought out and each item had a background and a clever story and you earned them for the most part through the achievement system for each individual class, which made earning the weapon a source of a feeling of accomplishment. The Mann-Conomy update however did water down the game for me, it is safe to say I suppose that it &;ruined&; the game for me. Now I want to make myself perfectly clear and say that I understand why they implemented the store and that the store itself is not required to play the game. The Mann-Co Store is a necessary evil. Without it people would be selling hats for hundreds of dollars and/or coming up with sleazy schemes to steal items (much like happened with WoW accounts). I stuck through it though, having understood the need for the store I brushed it off and continued to play. After the newest update though I can&;t bring myself to be excited about TF2 anymore, I found myself preparing to play a game like I was about to grind experience. I just didn&;t enjoy it anymore, I enjoyed getting a new item, but I didn&;t enjoy the ride before getting to the item anymore. The items seem so impersonal and strange now as well, they have little to do with the classes and it is beginning to feel like an actual hat simulator, as the community often jokes about.</p>
<p>So after a lot of pondering I have decided to call it quits, and to bid farewell to my beloved TF2. I did the same thing when I realized I wasn&;t playing WoW for fun anymore, I was playing for the epic loot or the titles I &;needed&; to have. It was a good ride, and I had a lot of fun. I&;ll never stop enjoying the TF2 characters or music, but the time has come for me to stop trying to enjoy the game. I love Valve and in no way blame them for updating their game, they will continue to make fun games and I will likely continue buying them. I fully understand that none of the updates to TF2 (Mann-Co. Store, new items, crates) are even necessary to play the game, but they have made it feel like they are to me. So as I put on my Vintage Texas Ten Gallon and ride off into the night, I wanted to thank Valve for giving me one of the most enjoyable gaming experiences I ever had for a time, and I wanted to thank every TF2 player for making the game a blast.</p>
<p>It was fun.
Basically, this.
I began playing TF2 during the month of December, 2007. I'll include this because I feel that the original spirit of the game has been shamelessly diluted.
First, let me begin with the fact that I hate hats. Perhaps it's because I'm butthurt and never got many. When hats were added I was excited because I'm a sucker for collectables and I especially enjoyed the fact that the hat complimented each player's personality. Okay, cool. That was fine with me until I noticed people becoming ridiculously competitive for the hats or just lazing away on an achievement idle server. It was ignorable, for the most part, up until Valve decided to "reward" people who weren't cheating with - you guessed it - a hat. This caused a rift in the community; the people with hats and the scorned "cheaters" who had all of their items, etc. gained from idling taken away.
This was one of the many nails in the proverbial coffin for my relationship with TF2. Next, I'll tackle class updates. Class updates were always fun, in game and out. The weapons were balanced well, everything was great. Meet the Team videos made any TF2 player squeal in absolute delight. The Sniper vs. Spy update was probably the coolest class update; I enjoyed seeing more team interaction and again, weapons that suited each character's role and personality perfectly. That's cool with me.
Then the engineer update happened. Alright, new weapons and gear for the Engy. It's about time. Then Valve decides to "make things interesting" with the golden wrench bullshit. What was the point of this? I'm not entirely sure, but the outcome was another sizable rift in the community; some of the winners of the wrenches (which were chosen randomly while crafting) were hacked by other players. Needless to say, it was a shitstorm. Not to mention the emotional anguish caused by a lack of a "Meet the" video. It's been what, one and a half years since a new one's been released?
And finally, this mann conomy nonsense. As if I needed more competition and commercialization in my TF2. How about no? I can go into details there, but I'll sum it up by saying that making hats even more in demand than they used to be by releasing them to a store where they can be bought for money does not make me happy in the least.
I love Makani, but the comics make me rage. Trying to establish canon in the way of names, relatives, etc for the team members of this series is quite possibly one of the most ridiculous things they've ever done.
In conclusion, I feel that TF2's atmosphere has been lost by aesthetic, gimmicky items with a faulty system of obtaining them. I enjoyed the small community vibes I got from playing the game, the emphasis on having fun and playing to play instead of playing for x items on y class. Trying to "explain" TF2 and make it bright and shiny is probably what killed it for me. Part of the reason why I enjoyed the community so much was how creative the users got in writing fiction and brainstorming certain aspects of each one.
I'm an oldfag, whatever, but you damn kids don't know what you missed out on back in the good old days.
also your forumset is highly distracting. my god, you have no idea how difficult it is to type up an argument when you have to look at that for several minutes.
[flower=deadlock]
I really wish I'd gotten the game when it first came out, but I just got into the whole thing last year.
I do agree that the hats, items, and pointless updates are killing TF2 slowly. I just try to ignore the whole the thing and play for the joy I get out of getting headshots when I play Sniper. I play for the game, not the hats.
I just really wish people would stop messaging me to trade shit when I'm playing the game, though.
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