@Tim_the_Corsair said:

That's funny, Steam got smashed yesterday with the CS:GO beta for preorders, and smashed again for this TF2 update. Imagine what will happen if HL3 ever comes out?

That situation is not even conceivable. You're being silly sir, stop being silly.

Is it over yet?

@Tim_the_Corsair said:

Imagine what will happen if HL3 ever comes out?

Steam would be rendered inoperable indefinitely.

It's up... but all the community servers are full, or you have to pay money to buy a ticket to join "official" servers that actually drop loot... I'm in a queue with 8000-9000 other players waiting to join a community server.

I was in queue for the community servers for like 2 hours and then i lost connection and haven't been able to get back to the queues at all, such a shame

Finally got into a match. It's a horde mode alright. Played as a demoknight with a half-zatoichi and a medic with a medigun. It'll be fun for a bit but I don't think I'll stick around that long.

Let me know if you want to team up for a match though.

I played a few matches and it's fun enough and should be easy to pick up on for anyone new to tf2. It doesn't seem to have the lasting co-op appeal that a game like Left 4 Dead has though. Maybe it's how constrained the maps are and how you spend 90% of the match in the same location shooting in the same direction, I'm not sure to be honest, but it got tiring pretty quickly.

20 minutes in queue.. still nothing

god bless launch days.

@Tim_the_Corsair said:

That's funny, Steam got smashed yesterday with the CS:GO beta for preorders, and smashed again for this TF2 update. Imagine what will happen if HL3 ever comes out?

A singularity would open and drown the world in hats.

I got to play a little, though it sounds like a lot of people didn't. I played about a dozen very short games that crashed shortly after the first wave. Eventually I got into a steady game in which we played to wave four a few times but never made it further due to glicthes.

Sentries tossing giant soldiers in the air, sentries spinning and shooting and generally going crazy, sentry busters not dying, the round not ending when the bomb reaches the drop point, the blue progress bar not moving, infinite spawning, text saying "Press f4 to change team name" being stuck on screen, demomen bombs that seek you perfectly, ect. Expect another big update tomorrow to fix everything.

It did get tiring pretty quickly, and overall I was kinda underwhelmed by it. I mean, it's a fun distraction, but it doesn't feel that substantial.

I joined a server that was stable and bug free... except it was ridiculously difficult. We only had 4 players and were getting wiped out shortly into the first wave. I think the server was set to the advanced difficulty or something, and no one else was talking so there was no strategy going on. Was not fun :(

I played a round so far. I'm really liking, its surprisingly challenging couldn't go further than wave 5.

Yeah, co-operation is something I found annoying too. Generally, TF2 encourages co-operation, but your team doesn't necessarily fall apart if everyone is doing their own thing. And if your team is doing poorly there is always the next map, or auto-balance. That's not the case with MvM. One game I was in had two snipers and a scout, yet no medic, heavy, or engie. I was a demoman and was being useful, but was forced to go engineer because we needed an engie more. It would have been nice to have a demoman and an engie, and maybe one less sniper. Consequentially MvM feels more frustrating than normal when you lose. Alas.

Which gets me to class balance. Snipers, spies, and scouts don't seem as useful as other classes, though I haven't seen their higher level upgrades. Maybe they get some really nice stuff later on, but the spy seems especially useless. Demoman, heavies, and engies really dominate while anyone who decides to switch from a offensive class to a sniper seems like a total dick.

Such an action normally wouldn't bother me, but in MvM you are punished by having to do the same. exact. thing. and meanwhile xxxMikeRotch420xxx continues to have a 2% hit rate with his Hunstman.

There are a lot of enemy types types, why not mix things up? Maybe things are glitched, but in the game I played the waves were always identical and enemies always came from the same pathways. Having to repeat a lengthy wave because your medic wanted to play a melee scout just isn't fun.

Lots of crashes. Haven't finished a map yet because of it.

EDIT: Played a few more games on the official servers and got as far as level 5 of Decoy. If I had to draw a comparison to something, MvM feels a lot like a World of Warcraft raid in the sense that it requires knowledge of the enemies/waves, viable team composition, proficient performance of one's own class role, communication and teamwork, and gear in the form of diligently picking up money and keeping up on one's upgrades. While the AI isn't particularly strategic in their behaviour, their sheer numbers more than makes up for any deficiencies. A wall of robot soldiers might not seem menacing at first, but when walls of rockets suddenly start advancing on you, panic kicks in very quickly. Sentries melt away in seconds if not placed strategically and multiple enemy assault routes means you have to be constantly watching your surroundings. The new mode is not a pushover (for pugs at least).

Oh, so it is full class selection then?

Rad!

Just came to say this mode is fantastic, and I don't even play TF2, it's 3 a.m right now and I played 3 hrs straight of it with the same group. Really great mode and maybe I'll finally get into TF2 now.

Edit: I guess it's probably less fun if you play with dumb people just like anything.

For those who have played already, what is the best way to find a match? Should I go into the boot camp matchmaking thing?

Couldn't get into a game after an hour of waiting. Also fear I'll be a hindrance to any game I join cause I suck.

@redbliss said:

For those who have played already, what is the best way to find a match? Should I go into the boot camp matchmaking thing?

The Mann-Up servers (official servers) matchmaking is running pretty well. You'll need to spend $0.99USD for a pass, however.

Getting into the community servers is going to be a tough fight since people are just spamming servers from the server browser, not mention stability is a huge issue right now.

@andrew2696 said:

Couldn't get into a game after an hour of waiting. Also fear I'll be a hindrance to any game I join cause I suck.

Don't you worry about that, because everybody is still experimenting (sucking)!

The wait times are kind of ridiculous (maybe it will get better after the first few days) and it sucks that you have to pay to earn rewards in the mode, but it seems fun.

Holy sweet buddha BALLS this mode is difficult.

This is absolutely worth the dollar! Incredibly challenging too!

@FengShuiGod said:

Which gets me to class balance. Snipers, spies, and scouts don't seem as useful as other classes, though I haven't seen their higher level upgrades. Maybe they get some really nice stuff later on, but the spy seems especially useless. Demoman, heavies, and engies really dominate while anyone who decides to switch from a offensive class to a sniper seems like a total dick.

According to the blurb at the class selection screen, Spys reveal Robo-Spies and can use the Sapper for area-stun. I joined an empty community server and naturally selected Spy since that's what I mainly play and with just me, it was of no use. But I can see one Spy being very useful in a full match.

I also believe class-switching is highly encouraged in this mode. During and after each wave you see these symbols at the top, signaling what kinds of Robo enemies are coming in that wave. I bet it is expected that you switch up classes accordingly--like, only using a Spy when there are enemy Spies in the wave.

Err, why are most of the servers for this mode 32 player servers when only six people can play at a time? It's making it kinda hard to actually get in and play.

70 minute wait times???? what??? Why can't i just host a game. Are there no normal server lists?? what is going on?

@Brake said:

Err, why are most of the servers for this mode 32 player servers when only six people can play at a time? It's making it kinda hard to actually get in and play.

A player slot is required for each bot, I think.

It could also be a conspiracy,

@Joeyoe31 said:

Hordes modes are such a new and fresh concept. In other news they're not. They're still fun though.

It's actually a bit of a hybrid between Horde mode and tower defence/DOTA. You're preventing the mobs from attacking a particular spot. And there are lanes. It's quite fresh if you ask me.

Unluckily, they also have access to giant bombs, which they’d drag through hell if it meant dropping one in a Mann Co. bombhole.

@the_great_skenardo said:

Holy sweet buddha BALLS this mode is difficult.

I think the matchmaking is broken, so even if you choose a "normal" difficulty, it seems to sometimes put you into an "advanced" map. I didn't pay attention the first time server I got into, but I specifically chose a normal map the second time, and it still put me in one I didn't choose, and I promptly got my ass handed to me the first wave again.

It's a pain to get into a game (presumably that'll improve) but if/when you get in it's well worth it :)

Things seems to be a lot better now. I haven't seen any glitches or experienced any crashes. Some of my complaints about balance have been mitigated as the game sorts itself out. Stuff was just weird last night.

Sentry busters though. Damn. I had like one in every sub-wave, and my team didn't seem to care so I was hustlin like mad. I managed to keep my sentry alive though. :(

I found it useful to place my dispenser away from my sentry a little so it is out of sentry-buster range. In case I die before I can move the sentry, or if the sentry buster kills me, the dispenser still survives.

I waited twice for like an hour, then i got "password fail" what shit.. Let's hope this thing doesn't die out before i get online.

Played around with the Spy a bunch tonight, and it was glorious. Being able to one hit standard robots is a godsend, especially during rounds with lots of melee heavies. Upgrading the sapper is super worth it, and pistol upgrades will help with vehicle rounds. The default knife is more than enough to handle normal enemies, and do decent damage to giants. Scouts are a problem because they run too fast to keep up with, so sapping is going to be important on those waves. Being able to reveal spies is super helpful, as well. I used my canteen for crits for more damage on big robots and tanks, but uber is also viable if you plan on stabbing lots without having to worry about dying too much (or alternatively, Dead Ringer + Kunai). As long as you watch your back and use your sapper intelligently, standard robots don't stand a chance against your knife.

I haven't tested the Eternal Reward effect (disguise on backstab), yet. If it works on robots then it will be a great weapon to use.

Can Spies sap Sentry Busters? Those seem to be my worst enemies as an Engineer, I usually fail to run far enough to save my Sentry. That, and Charged Super Soldiers.

I wish more Pyros would use the Homewrecker too, so Spies wouldn't be such a problem.

Has anyone even managed to finish a whole mission? We couldn't beat the final wave today on the first map, so... Mann Up is so incredibly difficult it's not even funny.

And so much about "class swap between waves is encouraged" while you lose all your progress when switching a class. I'll try to beat at least one Mann Up mission, but then I'm done with it.

@valrog said:

Has anyone even managed to finish a whole mission? We couldn't beat the final wave today on the first map, so... Mann Up is so incredibly difficult it's not even funny.

I beat a Normal difficulty game on Mannworks with a team of six of my friends last night. Having an Engineer definitely a good idea since the sentry dominates the entire battlefield if placed intelligently and the upgraded dispenser has a ridiculous healing radius.

Don't underestimate the value of the canteen. The utility of at-will uber and kritz are obvious, but the ammo refill and insta-teleport are equally useful during waves where the robots push past sentry range.

I mostly played as Scout and managed to fully upgrade both the reload and firing speed of the Scattergun; it was an awesome sight to behold. The "mark for death" upgrade for the Sandman was real useful for dropping giant robots but the slowing upgrade of the Mad Milk seemed wasted on pretty much everything except giant Scouts.

We had a few close calls where Sentry Busters ruined our day, but everyone fell back to the Bomb Hole and we got the sentry rebuilt and held the line.

MvM is definitely challenging, after wave four our so, I felt like the whole team needed to be on their toes. Communication is really the key, I think. If you're not calling out Spies and any robots that sneak past and grabbed the bomb, the whole team suffers. Likewise, a match can be made or broken by poor/smart class distribution.

Good luck out there, everyone!

@Ravenlight: Just managed to complete a Mann Up mission. So the normal ones are 6 waves, and advanced missions are presented in 8 waves? Also surprisingly, everyone received only one item despite the fact that two people had Squad Surplus Vouchers. What gives?

So my ticket has been consumed now. How many missions does a Tour require? I'm guessing this will consume quite some money in the process for those "rare" items. If they're even that rare. This whole thing is still pretty confusing to me right now.

Oddly enough, I always end up playing Engineer. And you were right, it's barely manageable on normal runs, we couldn't do it on advanced because we had no proper communication. This feels like an MMO event or something.

@valrog:

Judging by the chatter on the official forums, it seems like there's some weirdness with items, vouchers, and tickets. If I had to guess, you items will either be delayed or your voucher will be refunded. If neither of these happen in, say, 12 hours, I'd probably contact Valve support. Dollars is dollars.

AFAIK, you only really need to buy six tickets total: One for each of the two stages for each map in Mann Up mode. When you successfully complete a stage, you should be able to replay it indefinitely without using another ticket. If you fail a stage, or are disconnected, your ticket won't be used.

I'm at home now so I'm about to jump back into the game. Good luck, have hats!

@valrog said:

Can Spies sap Sentry Busters? Those seem to be my worst enemies as an Engineer, I usually fail to run far enough to save my Sentry. That, and Charged Super Soldiers.

I wish more Pyros would use the Homewrecker too, so Spies wouldn't be such a problem.

Not sure if I'm too slow or SBs just don't take sappers. I'll try a few more times to make sure. Giant Robots are affected by sappers (slowed), but they never stop completely.

EDIT: Yep, Sentry Busters can be sapped.

@Ravenlight said:

@valrog:

Judging by the chatter on the official forums, it seems like there's some weirdness with items, vouchers, and tickets. If I had to guess, you items will either be delayed or your voucher will be refunded. If neither of these happen in, say, 12 hours, I'd probably contact Valve support. Dollars is dollars.

AFAIK, you only really need to buy six tickets total: One for each of the two stages for each map in Mann Up mode. When you successfully complete a stage, you should be able to replay it indefinitely without using another ticket. If you fail a stage, or are disconnected, your ticket won't be used.

I'm at home now so I'm about to jump back into the game. Good luck, have hats!

You can technically play indefinitely with a single ticket if you don't use their matchmaking service. Just look through the "history" section of your server browser and you should see the list of Valve MvM servers you have played on in the past. You can join as long as there's space and you have a ticket in your inventory. You can do achievements, but since your ticket isn't consumed at the end of the round, you won't get rewards like the people that join through the matchmaking service (no item rewards, Tour progress, etc.,). If you just want to play for fun on reliable servers, this is what I currently recommend. Not sure if it will be removed in the future, though.

Being a HUGE TF2 fan, I finally got to play this and...it's HORRIBLE.

Repetitive and extremely cheap later on, I can't believe this came from Valve, it's as if their L4D team got to do this or something. The only fun part was destroying that unstoppable monolith, the rest sucks.

Again, I love TF2 but this...

Would love to try it out, but after having spent about an hour trying to get into a match and in the two matches I actually was able to connect to, I got the message that "server is using an older version of the game".

Maybe it'll get better... but currently my experience is being less than great with it.

@Zomgfruitbunnies: Any idea on the next tour? Does that require additional tickets?

Anyway, just got matched with some guys that knew what they were doing. It was great, we didn't lose a single wave. Wasn't that easy either, we had to stop four tanks (two at a time), giant heavies and others in order to complete it. It was pretty challenging, but we were pretty organized and things turned out okay.

Wonderful things can happen when people who play Demoman actually blow up stuff.

Also, tips for Engineers. Wrangler is a must. It gives you that edge when you stash your sentry further away and you're out of range for the spawn action. Also, sentry focuses on closest targets instead of high priority targets (Bomb carrying robots, sentry busters, the tank, etc). Too many times have I died because of my own sentry who turned around and filled me full with lead.

I found the mini-sentry to be pretty useless and just causes confusion when you try to set up your base again and your main sentry is not killed off yet.

Also, always destroy your sentry after a wave. This gives a huge benefit with all the crits you will get for your Frontier Justice (It saved our asses more than once).

Do everything in your power to either kill Sentry Busters before they reach you, or bait them and run away with your sentry. It's easier said than done, but sometimes it can mean successfully finishing a wave or having to try again. It can also save you a Canteen boost for when it's really needed (I found that the Buildings Upgrade Power Up is the best).

Teleporters are not useless.

Chiming in with more Engie advice:

Ensure your dispenser is easily accessible to your team mates on the front line. On Mannworks, I actually put it where I can't reach it and rely on ammo box spawns to refill my metal. This lets everyone stay in the action instead of running away and looking for ammo and can be crucial if your team lacks a Medic. Dispensers also have a crazy radius after fully upgraded. Hide them behind nooks where bots can't see them and let the healing and ammo flow.

Kritz and Instant Building Upgrade are the canteens that seem best suited to the Engineer. Kritz is great for focusing down tanks or giant robots and IBE is sometimes crucial if the front line gets overrun.

More tales from the battlefield to follow soon, hopefully!

@valrog said:

@Zomgfruitbunnies: Any idea on the next tour? Does that require additional tickets?

Not sure what you mean by that. Additional maps?

Also, it seems like Valve is locking some of the official servers to be matchmaking service only. I found some of the Valve servers in my history tab are forbidding ad-hoc joining.

@Ravenlight: Crit Power Up affects sentries?

@Zomgfruitbunnies said:

@valrog said:

@Zomgfruitbunnies: Any idea on the next tour? Does that require additional tickets?

Not sure what you mean by that. Additional maps?

Also, it seems like Valve is locking some of the official servers to be matchmaking service only. I found some of the Valve servers in my history tab are forbidding ad-hoc joining.

What I meant was, when you finish a whole set of missions (6 in total, 2 for each map for now), you have to basically start over because your Tour of Duty Badge will increase in level. Does that mean that you have to get another set of tickets, or are you required to buy tickets only for the first tour?

@valrog said:

What I meant was, when you finish a whole set of missions (6 in total, 2 for each map for now), you have to basically start over because your Tour of Duty Badge will increase in level. Does that mean that you have to get another set of tickets, or are you required to buy tickets only for the first tour?

Not sure, but I imagine you would have to purchase additional tickets since the official servers only grant access to ticket holders.