TF2—A Perspective.

I sure seem busy on TF2 anymore, with the whole unusual trading business going on now. It seems like only yesterday that I was giving you an update on how I was up to those two fairly nice unusuals (it may have something to do with the fact that I was telling you about it only 4 days ago). They’re gone now. As you can guess by the picture now hovering to your right, I’ve been in another major trade, so let me give you the lowdown as to what went on: Seriously, just about an hour or so after I made that post, a guy makes a post on m TF2OP trade, asking me if I was interested in a Stormy Storm Ten Gallon. I told him that I may be interested in it, and asked him his price, about an hour later he sends me a friend request.

He’s interested in my Ten Gallon partially, and I’ll admit—I was into the Hotrod. Stormy Storm’s probably my second favorite effect in the world, and it’s on my second favorite hat, and the guy just so happened to re-name it to “The Lightning Rod.” I was seriously having a hard time controlling my typing; almost feeling that he could sense my sweaty hands from the other side of the series of tubes connecting us. He wanted both of my hats for it, and I politely declined. After a genuine amount of debating, I came back with a 2:3 proposal, (this guy was a hat collector, and had a good few low tiered hats lying around his backpack) and he thinks about it. I get an answer of “How about 2:2 and I’ll do 2 painted Bills, black and white.” The deal had been struck.

This trade, in his opinion after completion, went my way by about 5 keys; but he was happy. I got (in all) a Stormy Storm Hotrod, a Green Confetti Western Wear, and 2 Bills (black and white, respectively) in return for my Orbiting Fire Texas Ten Gallon and Blizzardy Storm Attendant. From here, I sold the Western Wear to a good friend of mine for 1 Earbud and sweets equaling a Bills hat. I sold my 2 Bills and 1 refined for a Genuine Merc’s Pride Scarf, a clean El Jefe, and a clean Attendant. Since then, I’ve expanded my backpack to a total of 500 slots, and have begun collecting metal and keys, looking to expand my collection and reach the final goal of a Sunbeams Ten Gallon.

Look! Actual In-Game Screenshots!

Today however, I decided to get out of the trade server and into the game that is Team Fortress 2; a small escape from the heart-pounding trades. I’m a regular in a community, and so whilst in their Ventrillo server (for all of you out there who aren’t familiar with Vent, I suggest going out and downloading it. It’s like Skype, but runs on a lot less RAM.) They were talking about playing on the Payload server, which is almost always empty. This was going on while I re-sorted my backpack, so I thought, why not join them when I finish?

After a good, fun round of going Heavy with a Frying Pan, we decided to get serious, as serious as Payload gets in this server. Pulling out my trusty Strange Gunslinger, I decided to give it a good workout. I broke the 900 kill marker, and was getting ever closer to “Completely Normal.” As you can see from the picture, we kind of broke the last round of PL_Thundermountain, but who cares? I rediscovered my old love for normal TF2.

I still hold that Payload is my favorite gametype, even if I still love Dustbowl from my old pub stomping days on the Xbox. Most of you who do read through these posts have probably gone through the same dilemma: playing Hat Fortress 2 without touching base with the original game. I suggest trying it again, it may remind you why you play the game in the first place.

--Santa