Official Team Fortress 2 Game Nights (PC)

Folks on Stan's are very patient and generally like to help you learn the finer points of the game. We almost all have mics and communicate pretty well. Nobody is going to yell at you for doing something wrong. I'd say just jump in with the expectation that you will die a lot at first. Even when you're getting slaughtered Stan's is way more fun than your average public server.

Welcome to the server Duckilama and ShadeRaven. Don't worry about not knowing the game perfect; just jump in and ask questions. There are a lot of really good players on the server and I can't think of a one that won't help if you ask.

this actually makes me a bit nervous in joining the Goojers.

This is the best place to learn.
I'll bet anything that I am about the suckiest FPS player here at GWJ, but I love it anyway, and it's because of the people here. Even if you suck, you can still have fun. We're not a clan, just people that like playing together with a huge "No Asshats" rule.

My approach to FPSes is generally to pick the healing class and just pretend like I don't have a weapon for a good long while. I did that even before I found GWJ, because generally, people will overlook a whole lot of noobage if you're dropping health packs or reviving fallen companions, even on public servers.

And really, if you're going to be new to a game, this is definitely the crew you want to do it with.

Got my orange box in hand and I'm going to try to join you guys for TF2 now and again. It's been awhile since I've played with GWJ. Are we using Vent or TS?

MyBrainHz wrote:

I'd say just jump in with the expectation that you will die a lot at first. Even when you're getting slaughtered Stan's is way more fun than your average public server.

Hell, I've been playing on Stan's since the beta, I've been in the top 20 on the server stats (21st now... Grrr...) and I still die more than I kill. It's still fun.

PsychoKillerZ wrote:

Got my orange box in hand and I'm going to try to join you guys for TF2 now and again. It's been awhile since I've played with GWJ. Are we using Vent or TS?

Valve has a built in chat system which is pretty good, you just can't talk with the other team.

Excellent. You know, when I saw my Steam rating listed as "Teh Suck", I figured that was just them doing some advanced scouting on my FPS skills. I am quite capable of dying with style, though.

I suppose I could do the healing bit, too.. although, after having to heal for hours and hours (and hours) a week in WoW, I'd like to eventually get a break from dying in the back lines. I'd like to think I have the skill to be a corpse both near and far.

ShadeRaven wrote:

Excellent. You know, when I saw my Steam rating listed as "Teh Suck", I figured that was just them doing some advanced scouting on my FPS skills. I am quite capable of dying with style, though.

I suppose I could do the healing bit, too.. although, after having to heal for hours and hours (and hours) a week in WoW, I'd like to eventually get a break from dying in the back lines. I'd like to think I have the skill to be a corpse both near and far. ;)

Steam ranking is completely based on hours the game is loaded.
Just leave yourself in the menu overnight.
Not that I have done that...;)

Just don't do what I did. I figured I'd be a sniper for a while so I could hang back, check out the action, and just get used to the flow of the game before I pick up any other classes. Now sniping is all I can do. Diversify. Be the heavy and run into those tunnels guns-a-blazin'. Be the soldier and run in that tunnel bazooka-a-blazin'. Be the pyro and run through that tunnel whilst discharging your thermal based weapon excessively. Did I mention I hate running through the tunnels? I don't think I've ever killed any opposing team member in any tunnel without dying myself. That's if I even get a shot off.

Tunnels are sniper stops.
That's it, no other functional purpose.

I think being a medic is a good way to learn maps if you follow the right person. You need to follow someone who knows the maps or you'll be two people running around who don't know the maps. Additionally, you can still do decently without knowing the maps so you feel like you're helping out (and medics are almost always helpful).

If you want to learn about the classes and maps, go to www.tf2wiki.net. It has a lot of information about the classes, maps, and strategies. The best way to get better is to play but while you can't play you can read about strategy.

EvilHomer3k wrote:

You need to follow someone who knows the maps or you'll be two people running around who don't know the maps.

Ah, man... there goes my strategy of following Duck around then! I figured that if we accidently shot each other, at least it would be with a "healing gun."

I'll check out the wiki entry for TF2 later. I know the WoWwiki entries were a gold mine of information.

As far as being a medic, goes, the first rule you should learn is always be healing. Even if you're healing a fully healed scout continue healing him until someone else comes around. If you are healing you are charging your uber. So heal all the time.

When I play medic, I tend to heal heavies and soldiers first. They benefit the most from being healed because they're slower and tend to take more damage. Heavies without a medic are sitting ducks. A heavy with a medic is tough to bring down but a heavy without a medic can be killed by a scout without too much trouble. Generally, heavies and soldiers are on offense as well. Defensive players can easily stop by a dispenser or supply room.

Try to sniff out spies, too. If someone calls for healing, try to run through them. If you bump into them, they're a spy. Spies will often target heavies so if someone tries running between you and the heavy they might be a spy. Shoot them. If someone doesn't run past the heavy they're possibly a spy, too. Everyone is faster than a heavy and nobody likes waiting to get back into the action. Shoot them.

Damn, I'm going through TF2 withdrawls. I'm not going to be able to play for another week. Of course, at that time I can give the fresh bloods a proper greeting Oh and I've was trying out the scout class for a while before I went on vacation, so I think I might try giving people a break from the butterfly knife in the back for a while and replace it with a scatter gun.

See you all soon!

I know I didn't miss you tonight tkyl.
Mybrainhz and I were team spying really well on well.
It was awesome.

Awesome games tonight guys, the server was really hopping.

I wish I had taken some screenshots of us spying on Well, boogle, but I forgot. Alas.

Ah, man... I wish I could have been there tonight. I could have used getting fragged a few times to take off some of the edge, but had promised to heal Kara. Healing focus is about all I ever do, so that won't be a problem. On average, in a 10-person group, I contribute about 0.5% of the damage.

I am looking forward to the time where I have enough game knowledge to try something other than medic, though. Even if it comes at the expense at laughter directed my way.

GG's tonight. I was definitely happy to see a bunch of new medics running around. They weren't hard to find tonight.

I don't know if anyone else is down for it but on one server I was playing on they had a remake of the classic CTF version of well.

The download of it is here:
http://www.fpsbanana.com/maps/40657

Probably my most favorite classic CTF map of all time.

Now if only they'd remake the gas chamber map.

Nice games tonight, though MyBrainHz, make sure not to overdue it with the events.

Do I really sound like Gabe Newell? That remark by someone (0johnny0 maybe, not too sure) caught me a bit from left-field, and I'm sort of curious.

By the way, in case anyone was curious about the "Explode on Command" script, here it is in all its glory:

bind "f10" "kaboom"
alias "kaboom" "wait 3; explode"

Always a hit at parties.

I'm bummed I missed the games tonight. I like that fact that you guys are nice enough not to ditch me while I'm healing--it sucks to watch your partner duck around a sharp corner and break the link, something that tends to happen a lot on public servers.

Speaking of medics, Kier and I had a fun little medic-duel the other day while waiting for people to show on Stan's. Boy, that syringe gun is lethal if you learn to aim it properly. I think my new trick is going to be syringe gun spy-checking while I wait for a heavy/soldier to wander over to the staging point.

Nice games tonight, though MyBrainHz, make sure not to overdue it with the events.

Zuh? When I made the event last night there were 3 of us on Stan's. If it's irritating I apologize - I don't want to be overbearing.

MyBrainHz wrote:

Zuh? When I made the event last night there were 3 of us on Stan's. If it's irritating I apologize - I don't want to be overbearing.

I wonder if that's what I saw a brief glimpse of last night. The server said there were 11/24 players in there, but when I joined, there were only 2 or 3 others in game and something was just ending. Someone said, "It's over, dude." That was the summation of my initial experience on the server.

I did join a public server thereafter.. and was dreadfully newbish. After about 35 minutes, I finally realized that keeping a healing stream going (even on uninjured teammates) builds up something called the UberCharge. Of course, I didn't actually know what that was until the very end of my 50 minutes of play. Sadly, the longest I lasted was about 3 minutes and the most I healed was barely 900 in that span. I've definitely got to get better at dodging, hiding, and avoiding the good old knife-in-the-back greeting.

Man, it was fun though, despite being lost on the maps and still trying to figure out how to heal multiple targets (or even finding just 1 to team up with) effectively while avoiding the flames, rockets, snipers, and backstabs (just to name a few of the many ways I managed to die... Hey, is that my foot over there?).

ShadeRaven wrote:

I've definitely got to get better at dodging, hiding, and avoiding the good old knife-in-the-back greeting.

Just a heads up that might not be obvious until you try it. The healing gun works in all 360 degrees, so you can turn around and run backwards all you want to watch for spies without breaking the stream.

Great games. Forgot how much fun Stan's was. It has been a while since I have jumped into TF2. I was planning to do Halo 3 Zombie Skate, but while I was watching a movie on my PC, a Steam reminder popped up about TF2 and jumped in. I had a lot of fun causing havoc as a pyro.

Most frustrating moment came durnig well when 3 of our guys on red (me included) got squashed by the same damn train and there went our entire middle CP defense. They swung us down to our last CP, but we swung back from the deficit to win. Was a great feeling.

hehe darn it guys! I am stuck in southern cali with a computer that will play! This is torture.. ohh well heading back to home shortly so maybe some TF2 action this sunday.

Oh my God, The Spies on last night were ridiculous. I can't even count how many ubers I lost to Boogle and Brains. I think its the first time I ever shouted in frustration out loud. My roomates were concerned.

Great games though I had a tun of fun.

Itsatrap wrote:

Speaking of medics, Kier and I had a fun little medic-duel the other day while waiting for people to show on Stan's. Boy, that syringe gun is lethal if you learn to aim it properly. I think my new trick is going to be syringe gun spy-checking while I wait for a heavy/soldier to wander over to the staging point.

Yeah I had a lot of fun with that too. I got a few surprise kills last night when people saw a lone medic and thought I was an easy kill. Once you get used to it the syringe gun is pretty useful, especially the arcing fire.

Ducki! I'll fly; you shoot. Seriously, it'll be good to get some playtime in with you, it's been too long.

MyBrainHz wrote:
Nice games tonight, though MyBrainHz, make sure not to overdue it with the events.

Zuh? When I made the event last night there were 3 of us on Stan's. If it's irritating I apologize - I don't want to be overbearing.

I like getting that little note "event starting for GWJ TF2" from Community, but I'm new here.

that was a blast last night! There was no one in the server, and i was chatting to Dr_Awkward so we jump into stan's lounge and he says 'hold let me see if i can get some goojers'....low and behold 20 min later we had a server of maybe 18 or more red and blues. What a great community you freaks are..
Had a couple of great nemesi' (nemesises? nememsiss?) as well in some of the games...fun fun ('cough' Atlas as a heavy with medic in tow 'cough') (Anondyne as the bat wielding scout)

Kiers is a rockin' medic, but i kept thinking 'i am new don't make me the uber, i will just run us off a platform or something'..ahhhh

Tannhauser wrote:

Do I really sound like Gabe Newell? That remark by someone (0johnny0 maybe, not too sure) caught me a bit from left-field, and I'm sort of curious.

It was not me, not sure who that was..:)