We can expect class, item and weapon tweaks alongside ”higher level, game-wide experiments” their madmen have dreamed up. Scared?
This public beta initiative is to try out “new technologies without the risk of breaking the game”, and it’s open to any owner of Team Fortress 2 and is accessible through the Steam Library. Valve hates being stuck in a gameplay rut - love mind bending change.
”As you’ve probably seen by now, we like to change things in Team Fortress 2. A lot. And while we’re perfect most of the time, we occasionally get something wrong,” posted Valve’s BurtonJ on the official Team Fortress 2 forum.
”One reason for this is we just don’t get enough data from internal play testing, and another is that we spend too much time watching Tom Bui serenades on Youtube.”
Here’s what has changed in the initial beta release:
Three Natascha variants:
-40% damage
-25% damage, -25% health
Spin-up/down time increased, slowdown-on-hit effect falls off over distance.
Map changes:
cp_granary: new entrance added into the RED and BLU mid ramp room.
cp_5gorge: 5 CP version of cp_gorge.
Misc balance changes:
Players being healed by a medic are immune to movement-impairing effects generated by hit-scan weapons.
