TF2 summer update is what bliz should do

General Discussion
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( TLDR at the bottom of the post )

I get that actibliz want to be this perfect company where everything in the game is done by them but sometimes they need to let the community in too.

Lets have a look at OW2’s summer update vs TF2’s summer update.

OW2 2023 Summer Update

  • Re-adding lucioball temporarily ( Without Copa )
  • Re-adding past Summer games skins with new ones added at $25 bundles each…
  • 1 epic skin and 1 victory pose for doomfist as well as 1 weapon charm, 5 player icons and 1 doomfist spray for completing challenges
  • New event mode with 1 new map. ( Also temporary for the duration of summer games )
  • No new non-event maps added
  • Several balance changes to multiple heroes

TF2 2023 Summer Update

  • 14 new community maps: Sharkbay, Rotunda, Phoenix, Cashworks, Venice, Reckoner, Sulfur, Hardwood, Pelican Peak, Selbyen, VSH Tiny Rock, VSH Distillery, VSH Skirmish, and VSH Nucleus.
  • 6 new community taunts,
  • 20 new community created unusual effects, 12 for hats, 8 for taunts,
  • A ton of bug fixes ( For a 16 year old game )

( Taunts and unusual items are available in the store but can also be traded from other players too. )

And yes someone somewhere is going to point out to me that “TF2 maps are easier to make” or that “Valve did almost nothing in this update” Which only solidifies my point.

Content doesn’t always need to come from valve ( Or Actibliz ) for it to help support a game and keep it going.

Also I’d bet there is a lot of people in the OW2 community that could probably make some really fantastic maps for OW2 if they were given the chance.

TLDR : Actibliz need to let the community make some OW2 content sooner or later. It’s kinda shameful to see how long OW2 has had content drought.

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…what content draught?

We’ve gotten Junker Queen, Kiriko, Sojourn, Ramatraa, Lifeweaver, and are getting another Support in a month.

Maps wise we’ve gotten Antarctica Peninsula, Shambali Monastery, Midtown, Colosseo, New Queens Street, Circuit Royale, Paraiso, and Esperanca. And are getting two more maps, India and Junker City, in a month.

We’ve gotten Push, a new core PvP mode, and are getting Flashpoint in a month.

And it hasn’t even been a year since OW2’s launch

I think that’s a pretty decent amount of content considering all of it was free idk

It’s also funny cuz Blizz DOES do mini events and community made stuff. They did the community made underwater map, people played it for a bit and it got old. They did the community made Questwatch Rein monster mode, people complained about the balance of it. They’ve done Loverwatch and Halloween Terror and a bunch of random stuff. People just get bored with it quickly, which is fine, because the main game is the PvP. The rest is just supposed to be fun little detours you enjoy with friends for an hour or two

Is this not the same, if not faster, cadence of content that OW1 was getting in the first few years…? The only difference is most skins are sold in the shop or BP now instead of in loot boxes, but that’s skins, which I don’t think most people consider “content”.

I think OW2 is suffering from slow/poor balance patches, and over priced store cosmetics, but I don’t think content releases are a problem at all right now…idk :person_shrugging:

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More user created content? We’ve had some of that. I touched both modes about twice. And then it was in arcade another 3 weeks, wasting space.
I don’ think we should tell Blizz that we could pass off the job of crating better items or otherwise to the community. Especially if Blizz is getting the bank for it.

And yeah, I would argue their stuff is easier to make because Valves engine being around a while now (that’s how all those bugs piled up)

I feel like Blizz tried at least looking down this path, and saw most people are playing ranked/QP. More maps would be okay. But who dictates what makes it into official rotation? I would have been angry if they put Atlantis in the normal rotation in QP and/or ranked.

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Lol what constitutes a content drought in your eyes exactly? So far OW2 has been getting more content than OW1 in its first year, when it certainly was not in a content drought.

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Which we had to suffer 2+ years of no content in OW1 for.

A generally hated gamemode amongst the forums.

Well considering OW2 is just OW1 with a number 2 instead but I’ll postpone my opinion on that.

Sorry but this was the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen and I would never in a million years consider that content in any regard.

And repeated it … And repeated it … And repeated it …

A lot of people consider the skins a signficant portion of content for the game.

Even if we’re comparing OW1 events to OW2. Look at the difference in the amount of skins, emotes, voicelines, victory poses, etc… that was added to the game before they monetized the hell out of it.

Watching each new event add less and less until we reach OW2 where nobody looks forward to the events anymore because theres no "Lets log in to see the latest skins for the event " because there is nothing to spend ingame currency on and everything is $20 - $25.

I’m not talking about these workshop gamemodes. I’m talking map makers. Give people the tools to build their own maps and be able to create custom game modes with them.

I’m not asking them to take up arcade slots or be added to quickplay / comp.

Even if it was just in custom games. Or let people vote on the best community made maps. Maybe the best one could get added to the actual game rotation.

Hell bliz themselves could hire some map makers if their levels are good enough.

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Not to downplay how cool the TF2 update is, but how long did TF2 have no updates leading up to it? If I remember right the last actual update TF2 got was Jungle Inferno like 5-6 years ago.

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Well tf2 updates and ow2 updates are not a fair comparison. Even tho tf2 is the main inspiration for Overwatch.

We will have to see if in when Ow completes 16 years it will still receive updates, or whatever numbered “sequel” it will have at that time.

But it brings a smile to my face to see an update to tf2, even if its from the community. I never miss a Scream fortress update, its always a load of fun and even nowdays the servers get full, so having a content drop different from scream fortress is a good Plus.

Now if only valve updated the engine like how they are making with cs2… or maybe learn to count to 3 and actually release a tf3 but maybe only in a different universe.

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And a big fat 0 in terms of actual (weapon buffs/nerfs, etc.) content

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Even Season 5 - the lightest season so far for OW2 - would’ve been a huge amount of content in OW1.

I think people have rose-tinted glasses.

In the early years of OW1, you were lucky to have 1, maybe 2 events between hero-releases. There are multiple events in this season alone.

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The game is 16 years old and still going strong. Even if valve themselves aren’t adding anything massive to it the community are doing a great job.

I wouldn’t personally say that’s off the table. It’s probably just a case of cs getting it first.

In what world are weapon buffs/nerfs “content”?

Also the fact there is no weapon balance changes kinda says a lot about how well TF2’s characters and their kits are balanced does it not?

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In what world is Hat/Taunt #2445 “content?” Nobody was trying to argue OW1 was getting “content” post-Echo because we were still getting skins and emotes.

Is that why (to name one/the most prominent example) 99% of Medic players have run the Ubersaw + Crusader’s Crossbow combo basically since those weapons came out?

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you mean OW2 should added bots to their PVP matches ?

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this was the point where I decided to ignore the summer games modes. If you don’t play doom, there’s nothing for you

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To be fair OW2’s Season 1 content was made out of what was held back for years. Its hard to compare OW1’s Year 1 content to OW2 since its an “expansion”.

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That’s not really relevant to a conversation about whether or not OW2 is currently experiencing a content drought though.

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And neither mode actually functions well. Lucioball has never felt so horrible to play this year.

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To the topic it doesn’t have a content drought. Though we are currently having quantity over quality and not the other way around sadly. Season 1, 2, 4 had more quality if i have to choose the best seasons.

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By community, does that mean they’re just promoting stuff they’ve basically interned people to do for them?

That’s been my biggest gripe with TF2, that game could so easily: stand up, walk over, say, ‘I want my crown back now’, and just delete OW (probably always could). However, that is IF Valve actually cared to do anything with it instead of doing the bare minimum and relying on their community to do all the work.

Don’t get me wrong, there is charm to see how involved the community is allowed to be to keep the game still going, BUT that should be seen alongside efforts of the dev team supporting it, not in place of.

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Overwatch
Season 1 - new mythic skin, new mode, new maps, 3 new heroes at once, new battlepass monetisation.

Season 2 - mythic skin, new tank hero, more new skins and event game mode

Season 3 - mythic skin, new map, more skins… etc.

Can’t be bothered to list everything from every season both if you call weekly content updates and non stop new heroes, maps, skins and event modes “content drought”… I don’t know what else to say.

They literally started doing this in Season 5 which we are currently in but the game mode was literally just a 1 goliath vs 4 regulars team deathmatch. Played it for the challenges and didn’t touch it after that. I would rather they chose the literal Archives mission recreations, fan made PvE modes etc.

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Meh it’s just community update. Most maps people would not play. They will happy to play 24/7 2fort.

1 Like