Polycount Madness Week – Day 1: The Spy

Oct 04, 2010 6 Comments by

It should come as no surprise to fans of the oldest-running Team Fortress 2 Spy lesson/shameless advertisement series that the first class to fall under the burning gaze of my evil eye is the Spy. Blessed with an ivory smile and a jewel-encrusted killing implement, the Spy embodies everything that makes video games rage-inducing. Think [...]

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Spy Lesson 11 and Polycount MADNESS Week @ Top Tier Tactics

Oct 03, 2010 4 Comments by

Two big things going on this October: 1. WiNG’s TF2 Spy Lesson #11 is out Yes, after much procrastinating, crying, and self-loathing, I’ve managed to scrape together the eleventh video in my ongoing failspy saga. While YouTube has done its best to completely and utterly fuck my attempts at artistic theft expression, the video works [...]

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Why everyone should stop whining about the Mann Co. Store

Oct 01, 2010 32 Comments by

Yesterday, the dreams of Team Fortress 2 players the world over came true as the Polycount Update pack was released. With 65 new items added to the game, you’d imagine the TF2 community was ecstatic.

Optional and/or cosmetic updates to my game? I’ll have none of it! FORUM RAGE!!!

But, as Valve is wont to include, there was a catch.

A problem.

At least, that’s what one would believe if he were to read the dozens of complaint-ridden threads on SPUF, forewarning the impending death of Team Fortress 2.

What was this insult, that would bring about the End Days? What terrible tragedy could possibly befall the greatest Hat Simulator of all time?

It wasn’t a game-breaking bug, or the removal of an oft-beloved feature.
It was the optional Mann Co. Catalog and Store.

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Tactical Thursday: Xiant’s Thoughts – Where is he now?

Sep 23, 2010 No Comments by

“Long-time” readers may remember that back in July, Top Tier Tactics featured its first (and thus far only) guest article, authored by Xiant. This collaboration was the result of a request by Xiant to share some of his work with T3.

After reading over his blog, Xiant’s Thoughts, I was quickly impressed with everything about it: great article ideas, well-written prose, and (of course) interesting takes on multiplayer gaming strategy. It would be an honor to have Xiant write something for Top Tier Tactics, I thought.

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12 Golden Wrenches deleted for Child’s Play Charity!

Aug 31, 2010 8 Comments by

Thanks again to everyone who has supported this fundraiser.

For centuries, alchemists tried to turn base materials into gold. But as of tonight, you have all turned gold into something much greater: joy, comfort, hope, and love for thousands of children who need it most. Bless you all and cheers eternal.

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Goldengate: The Engineer Update Scandal

Jul 08, 2010 20 Comments by

It was awfully nice of Valve to institute a totally random system for distributing the Golden Wrench. It seemed so ingenious and fair… after all, I got one. But I had always wondered to myself, how can a system be both random, and fair to all time zones? How can a system with no daily drop caps be fair to all time zones, or sync with Valve’s planned day-by-day reveal of the Engineer update? Up until this point, I had assumed they were either geniuses or sorcerers. Or both. Of course, that was before the Steam Team Fortress 2 forums imploded with allegations that the system wasn’t random at all.

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