Team Fortress 2, for me, is a casual interest because of how often I get blasted, smashed, and pummeled. Dudes trash me thorough-like, for real. This is my excuse for not following the ongoing reveals for the Engineer update. According to Valve, this is the colorful FPS' most expansive single-class update ever, as it's set to add maps, items, and even new Steam achievements.
The free update is set to drop this Thursday, but not all is known yet. Valve has been teasing the Engineer additions via a pretty crazy system: players have been unlocking random golden wrenches (basically rare drops) whenever they craft an item, and every 25th wrench awarded to users unlocks more details about what is to come.
According to Big Download, the 50th wrench has been unlocked, and that means we can get our eyes on another part of the update via the game's official site. In this case, it's the Wrangler, a remote-sentry controller that replaces the Engineer's pistol.
== TEASER ==When used, the Wrangler turns off a sentry's auto-locking, allowing the Engineer to manually aim the sentry. And while that might not seem terribly useful, there's a cool catch. The Wrangler creates a "shield that absorbs 66% of all incoming damage" and also gives the turret a double firing rate. In all, the Wrangler sounds absolutely devastating in the right hands (and it also sounds like another solid reason why my interest in Team Fortress 2 will probably remain casual).
Another weapon revealed is a shotgun called Frontier's Justice. It replaces the Engineer's other shotgun, if he so chooses. Packing a smaller magazine, this shotgun has been crafted to dole out critical attacks. According to the game's website, the Justice gets "two crits" for every kill and one crit for every assist that an Engineer racks up with a sentry (before it's blown up).
One map overviews have been teased on the official website as well. I'd feel that any commentary I have would be lacking--as in, I would only be able to say "Hey, that hill looks nice"--so do check out the official website if you're into what's going down this Thursday.
UPDATE: I misunderstood a bit of game jargon. Players are unlocking wrenches by crafting rather than building turrets or dispensers. The Wrangler will also only increase missile fire at sentry level 3. These bits have been corrected in this article.
