Team Fortress 2, Xbox 360, and Being Behind the Times

[Morat20]

Due to life -- spouses, post-graduate degrees, jobs, kids, lack of money -- I only recently acquired an Xbox 360. Several of my friends are in the same boat.

We've found we enjoy the co-op and head-to-head sort of games. We've been defaulting to Halo 3 alot co-op campaign (we're currently laming our way through Legendary), not much multiplayer because we firmly believe in not talking to morons on Xbox Live and no matter how we set up the multiplay, we end up playing two games as a party then getting broken up even if if there's three of us and the teams are three-man.

We play a lot of Carcassone, too. Addictive little game. When I can drag both of them off Fallout 3. I don't have time for that game yet.

Anyways, we all picked up the Orange Box over the holidays (mostly for Portal, I admit) and we've been considering trying Team Fortress 2.

We are not the best at FPS. I'm mediocare, one of my friends rates "occasional flashes of something that could be mistaken, by 60 year olds who accidentally started their grandson's console, might be called skills" and one of them is pretty hopeless. None of us are terribly serious about anything but the "fun" part, except for Mike the Achievement Whore.

So, having rambled through that: What's the best approach -- in terms of servers, classes, whatnot -- for three marginally skilled, never-played-the-game before types? We never even played the original Team Fortress.

Tips, advice, helpful mockery -- all accepted.

[Prospero]

I'd stick to medic, heavy, and pyro. Oh and engie. The medic's gun stays attached to the person you are healing with you having to track them. This lets you focus on just staying alive and picking a good time to set off your uber. If you are playing a heavy, the skill is picking when and where to fight, not necessarily aiming the big shooty thing. With the pyro you can just hold down fire and run through a group of bad things and watch them burn, which is immensely satisfying. And of course with the engie something else does the shooting for you, so you really don't need to have any twitch skills. The skill there is in finding good places to set up your gun.

All of these classes have a fair amount of depth, but they are pretty good starting points, and will let you get your feet wet. I'd say stick to maps like dustbowl and gravel pit first. I think they have very focused goals, and have pretty straightforward layouts.

[Morat20]

Sounds reasonable. We're very up with suicide charges, although I've found my preferred style is to kill you from very far away, but from what I've read I'll just get knifed by a Spy. I can do fire. Lots and lots of fire.

Dustbowl and Gravel Pit are fairly straightforward? Good.

Anyone tried this on Xbox Live? I think there's a purely social side and a ranked side. I think we'ld prefer the former.

[Sky]

60 year olds who accidentally started their grandson's console

You don't want to mess with my father in 360 shooters, he's in his mid 60s.

[HaemishM]

I wouldn't necessarily recommend the medic for beginners. If you like to stand still and shoot things, the sniper is great fun. But yes, be prepared to either: 1) get stabbed by spies or asspounded by bunny-hopping scouts or 2) have pretty decent tradeoff sniper duels. There is immense satisfaction in getting a headshot on a heavy that just lost uber.

I think of all the classes, the hardest to play well is the spy, though even when you suck like me, it's still fun. The soldier is also a decent first-timer class because it's so straightforward. The one secret about TF2 I figured out is that no class has a good low skill weapon - they all require thought and careful targeting. The engie's turrets are the closest thing there is to a spray and pray weapon, and setting these up in the wrong area means you'll get dick for kills.

[Strazos]

I need to recover my Steam account at some point and get my sniper on.

Dustbowl. Much Love.

[NiX]

I need to recover my Steam account at some point and get my sniper on.

Dustbowl. Much Love.

DO IT! I need a buddy!

[Morat20]

I wouldn't necessarily recommend the medic for beginners. If you like to stand still and shoot things, the sniper is great fun. But yes, be prepared to either: 1) get stabbed by spies or asspounded by bunny-hopping scouts or 2) have pretty decent tradeoff sniper duels. There is immense satisfaction in getting a headshot on a heavy that just lost uber.

I think of all the classes, the hardest to play well is the spy, though even when you suck like me, it's still fun. The soldier is also a decent first-timer class because it's so straightforward. The one secret about TF2 I figured out is that no class has a good low skill weapon - they all require thought and careful targeting. The engie's turrets are the closest thing there is to a spray and pray weapon, and setting these up in the wrong area means you'll get dick for kills.

Well, my friends and I dicked around on a private map -- just the three of us, getting a feel for the controls and such.

Later, I joined a few actual games. I REALLY like that you can change class, btw. :)

I think I was the most help as a medic. I'd latch onto a soldier or a heavy and keep them up and moving -- trying to time the immunity charge took some work, and I once accidentally ubercharged one of our spies.

I tried pyro some. I flushed out a few spies (FUN!) and had a lot of fun setting things on fire, sometimes I even managed to hit enemies. I did find that "Pyro versus turret" = "dead Pyro" though.

I avoided sniper, played heavy a few times when we were defending (the difference between "Heavy by himself" and "Heavy with medic hiding around corner healing you" is pretty huge.

Engineer I tried, but I need to work with turrets -- I didn't place them well, can't ever decide whether to drop a turret or a dispenser first, and they always seem to be facing the wrong way.

I also got introduced -- several times -- to the damage a good spy can do.

[Prospero]

Once you guys get the content pack( not sure on the release date ) solo heavy becomes a lot more pleasant. I carry the sandvich almost exclusively anymore.

Whatever your alt-fire button is will rotate the blueprint of the structure you are trying to build, so that you can get it facing the right direction. Technically it is faster to drop your dispenser first in your build order, although on 2fort I usually drop my sentry first since the supply cabinet is about four feet away.

[Morat20]

Once you guys get the content pack( not sure on the release date ) solo heavy becomes a lot more pleasant. I carry the sandvich almost exclusively anymore.

Whatever your alt-fire button is will rotate the blueprint of the structure you are trying to build, so that you can get it facing the right direction. Technically it is faster to drop your dispenser first in your build order, although on 2fort I usually drop my sentry first since the supply cabinet is about four feet away.

Well shit, I really WAS facing them backwards! How can you tell what end is front from the blueprint?

[Hindenburg]

Isn't there, like, a huge arrow in the blueprint indicating the direction that it will face?

[Morat20]

Isn't there, like, a huge arrow in the blueprint indicating the direction that it will face?

Probably.

People were shooting at me, okay? Mistakes were made. Also, possibly assumptions that it had a 360 degree firing arc.

[Prospero]

It does, but it takes it awhile to rotate all the way back. Pro tip: Your teleporter exits are directional too. Be nice and have them not face walls.