It Happened

Living the Dream

I know I promised that I was going to update more frequently, but it never really happened, did it? Between the beginning of a new school year, Mann vs. Machine, and some personal events that were completely out of my control, blogging has fallen to the way side, but I’m trying to get back into it, starting with this: the milestone post. You see this hat? It’s mine. Perhaps I should explain what’s happened in the last few weeks:

Starting with the whole Triad Bundle or whatever the TF2 Team decided to go with, I launched and thought it may be a chance to profit, starting with weapons, I only managed to craft a Neon Annihilator, and it was already out of the 100s. So, about to get off, a quick look in my backpack told me that I could do some hat crafting, and so I figured, why not? What was the worst thing that could happen? Putting in 2 Pyromania hats, and next thing I knew? I was sitting on a Last Breath. Not believing my good luck, this time I tried a 3 refined craft, and came up with something unimaginable: the #13 Champ Stamp.

The crafting gods had smiled upon me this day, my friends. For all of you wondering, #13 is not only a low number to get, but also popular with a couple of collectors. So, I kept pushing my luck. I got a liquor locker, a Point & Shoot, and Outback Intellectual, Apparition’s Aspect, and then the Marxman #23 came into my possession as well. Overall, my haul was pretty good. My friends were mad, mostly since I was yelling at the top of lung in our Ventrillo channel. Going immediately to Outpost and Trading Post to show the world my winnings, I saw this as my chance to really hop into some new wealth, and decided to take a break and play some Dustbowl to celebrate.
In the meantime, I got into contact with one the owners of a Sunbeams Ten Gallon on Outpost, this time offering him my two craft number items, with my two unusuals (the Stormy Ten Gallon and Merryweather) altogether. After much conversation he decided against it, and said that if I could liquidate my items, then maybe we could do business. With some new items in my inventory, I began on the path to my Ten Gallon, this time with a new gusto.

Biding my time, I eventually received an offer of a Massed Flies Tosslecap on my #13 Champ Stamp. Price checking with some of my unusually inclined friends lead me to find out the hat was worth anywhere from 2-3 buds, and so I waved goodbye to the first of my truly rare items, and quickly waved goodbye to the Tossle for a nice 2 buds and 4 keys, at about this time though I realized that liquidating the two unusuals would take longer than I would want. So, I asked how many Earbuds he would want with the two unusuals to take my offer. After much negotiation, I talked him into taking 4, and already being halfway there, I got to work liquidating items in my backpack.

Looking at hats and misc. items in my backpack, I quickly found an easy 50 keys (the equivalence at the time to 2 buds) and started selling items. In the matter of 22 bays, I was up to 26 keys, and was feeling like it wasn’t long until my 500 hour goal would be reached. However, I reached a long, dry patch on day 3; until some came into contact with me about my B.M.O.C.s. I was reluctant to sell my babies, since it was harder to find them now that Christmas was coming close, but I relented. I gave up my two babies in return for 24 keys, and asked him if 2 buds and 50 keys would suffice him. He added me 5 minutes later.

The guy had the same views of TF2 as I did. Engineer was his favorite class, this was his baby, but he had reached a point where he needed liquidation, and so he asked me my trading story. I told him about my ventures from beginning to end, and he thought about it, and made me a deal: put a mark on the hat, and it’s yours forever. I couldn’t be happier to oblige.

And with that, my first and longest goal since I began trading had come to an end, completing a loadout that I had been working on for over 500 hours, but still needing only small patching up in the miscellaneous department. In the end, I had around 7.5 Earbuds invested in the items I gave for the Ten Gallon, paying around 10-12 in a mix of promo and unusual, and coming out with my dream. It was expensive, it was time taking, but it was worth it. From here, I’m not sure what my new goal is. I was thinking a vintage item collection, but it may take some time. Then again, it’s always fun to set a high goal. It may not be as expensive as the 10 Gallon, but it’s a time waster. I’ve always loved vintage items, and I think a collection would do them justice.

--Santa

Mann vs. Machine

I've been gone for a while, and I'll bring you up to speed on that soon-ish but for now there are very exciting things brewing. I got up this morning and was immediately bombarded with a flurry of messages from my TF2 happy friends, it was happening. Watch this to get up to speed

So, today a new comic has come out, and let’s just say that the Machines may be coming sooner than we expected. I love how TF2’s lore is so entangled, and always comes back together. Read it, and get into the idea of it guys, it may actually be before September 2^nd that we get more news on this 2 year in the making update.

--Santa

Sorry Gents, Not Quite Dead Yet

I know I haven't been very punctual with blogging recently—but good news! My finals are over! Starting now, its summer time. All of summer. Just us. So, where to start? I got Civilization V from my good friend, and I’ve been hooked since. I’ve been getting back into League of Legends, and I love the graphics and FPS updates, but I’m not crazy about Darius, since he can literally destroy everything without trying. I got a new unusual: a Texas Ten Gallon in black with Stormy-Storm. It’s beautiful. I also sold a G. Merc’s Pride Scarf for a white Bills hat, a clean Fast Learner and a dirty Front Runner. Overall, I’m doing pretty well, and I’m looking forward to that eventual Ten Gallon with beams, its staring me in the face.

Let’s get back to Civilization V. My friend bought it for me as a late birthday gift (a very, very late gift. 5 years late) and told me I would love it. He didn’t lie to me. I started a game as Kamehameha (not because it sounded like a particular reference to anything) and got the immediate bonus of being able to cross oceans—which is significant in 4,000 BC. In Civ V (for all of you not quite familiar with the game) it’s like risk, but with more parts to it. You can win through peace, culture, or war. You can use economics to help you get to this, and research stuff to help you meet these goals. Being an economic warlord from TF2 I quickly narrowed in my focuses on this idea.

Currently, we’ve hit the 1700’s (AD now) and are dominating little tiny city-states who are standing in my way. We’ve started a new campaign with another friend in it too, and I have my own going on as well. I have to say, I didn’t expect any game to come between me and TF2, but Civ V and LoL are quickly worming their way up and into my time, and I’m not going to stop them. So, I think it’s time to move out of all my time-variable assets, so it’s time to shift into keys and metal on stuff I don’t really want/need. I’m liquidating, and nobody can stop me.

--Santa

TF2: How the Mannconomy Changed our Little Game

So as a frequent reader of this blog may tell you, (which I don't there are any,) that I enjoy hats. I am a connoisseur oh hats. Want to know how to make a game better? Hats. Yes, I can be completely obsessed with hats at times, I know, but I wasn’t truly attached to TF2 until I started trading, and I think it would be a touching story to tell all of you.

So, I when reading the blog when the Mannconomy update was released, I mean really, I had just randomly decided to go to the TF2 blog when it aired. It was pretty cool. I learned about vintages, and I instantly saw my true love. 

Nothing makes me happier than a blue border.

But, at this time, I hadn't started playing TF2 hard-core. I still had my horrid little computer, and about a gig's worth of updating to do, but something convinced me: the aspect of an Engineer hat.

So, about a week into the mannconomy update, I decided to put on my gaming pants, and started my 4 hour download into the world of mannconomics. What followed was a shallow goal: Acquire an engineer hat, anyway possible. I had 2 refined, a V. Gentleman's Gatsby, and a W. Noble Amassment of Hats. (For all of you non-traders out there, V stands for vintage, and NV. non-vintage. A vintage item was an item received before the mannconomy update, its simple mannconomics.)

So, I ended up selling my V.  Gatsby for a key, (There was a powerjack in the crate) and I forget what I sold my V. Amassment for, but all I remember is trying to get that metal. For whatever godforsaken reason I thought that crafting my hat was the best idea. So, I sold just about everything I had to get it. So, when I finally got that 4th refined and my Engy token, it really was a big moment for me. I was literally happy with any hat for the Engineer, except like the mining light or the Safe'n'Sound. But, I was excited.

3...

2..

1...

New Hat Created!

You found: Horrific Headsplitter!

That's right-- I made a butcher's knife covered in blood, for all classes. This was my crowning achievement. I was ready to explode into a fit of QQ induced rage. Of all the times to craft a hat. I crafted it during the Halloween update, and for whatever reason, my Engineer token, supposedly guaranteeing a 100% chance of Engy-hat goodness had given me this blood covered piece of multi-class bullshit. Well, I was mad as hell, and wasn't going to take it anymore. Trading had made me lose my hats, it was going ot get me them back.

I started trading full-time for about a 4 month period. I started out by getting rid of this abhorrent thing that had dashed my dreams of hat-filled goodness. I started hitting the trade servers and yelled out my demands, looking for anyone who may be interested. And then, one man trades me saying:

"HAY MAN WHAT U WANT FOR THAT THING?"

"Well, I'm really looking for an Engineer hat"

"HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM... ALL I GOT IS THIS"

He adds a V. Hotrod, I can only try typo hold in my girly squeals of delight.

"This works well with me."

"ALL RIGHT'

Trade Accepted.

 SUCCESS! Oh yes, this was the beginning of my 500 hour trading palooza. I didn’t play on my Xbox for a good 2 months at the peak. I had one goal: collect the best hats for all of the classes, not a full set, but my favorite. My other goal: bills and buds. For whatever reason, I was never truly concerned about the unusual market, it was usually out of reach, at my height, I only owned 2 pairs of buds, and I was a stupid child, and sold one pair for a very inexpensive price. But now, I think I could possibly be done with trading. I had 3 different runs on trading, all leading me up to my final backpack, which I’m happy with. I used to own buds, but, well, I sold them for New Vegas. I know it’s a bit on the low side, but the guy wanted them, and I didn’t really look at the value tables. And then the dual misc slot update. There really is no justice.

However, I have to say, I am proud of how far I’ve come with the time I’ve spent. I have a hat for every single class, I have the two rarest vintage miscellaneous items, and I even have a bear. What more could I ask for?  Well, I suppose a free Hat of Undeniable Wealth and Respect would be nice, but I can’t have it all. My dream has come much farther than I ever dreamt, and has taken much longer, too. As a piece of advice for all of you inspiring traders out there I put together a list of things that could very well help you:

·         Don’t trade with your heart. Yes, some hats are cool, but if it’s a good trade, take it, you can get the hat back.

·         Set yourself a goal. If it’s unusual, cool. If it’s something simple like a jackhammer, I think you may be missing the point. But, use it as a tool of motivation, it really helps when you have something like the Whiskered Gentleman dangling around in front of your face for motivation

·         The one thing I have always believed is that vintage WILL go up. And for the most part, it has. Be wary of the newest hats, they’ll fluxgate to a high price, and go down to nothing after a month. Scarcity causes a scare.

·         There are three ranks of values in Trading: Bills, buds, Unusual. I never broke that unusual barrier, but once you break one, you’re in that tire, it’s a big experience.

For all of you gamers, geeks, and random assortment of internet dwellers out there, good night. I have things to do, like watch the IGA’s. If Skyrim doesn’t win, the progress is rigged.

--Santa

TF2: The Scary Part Is That I Only Have 2 Weeks!

Well, once again ladies and gentleman, I have had my highest hopes revealed! Late last night Team Fortress 2's blog updates (Automatically notifying via Steam) and I get the message I have been waiting for: Scream Fortress III.For those of you who have been playing for more than 10 days, you may know a bit more about how Robin Walker and his team go about doing their hat-filled updates.

For the past 3 years, the Team Fortress team has taken it upon them to make a halloween filled update, and every year, they've made it bigger. Year one saw the addition of a new map, a mildly disturbing mask for every class, and of course, a free hat to all of those who clicked on a special page, or then dominated anyone who wore said hat. This was the birth of a hat for all, even though Ghastly Gibus isn't that much of a hat.  It gave the ability to all of those poor, hatless people to have one. I remember my first Gibus. Even though it is long gone, I still remember it with fondness. Mostly because I sold it for a Stout Shako.

Year two saw the addition of new masks for every class, the addition of more hats, haunted weapons, and even the first ever mini-boss. The Horseless Headless Horseman was the first baddy to not care if you were RED or BLU, he enjoyed killing everyone. Maybe he was color-blind. Im not quite sure. But what made him special was the ability to "scare" opponents, even shutting off sentries, super-jumping, and of course, gratuitous amounts of HP. This lead to the making of the "Vs. Saxton" Mod where you could fight off  Saxton Hale, or even control the great Australian-Moustached behemoth.

This year intorduces a special costume for every class, a new map, and the Demoman's missing eye, who you must defeat. This is all in the pursuit of a good time, and the addition that you only hve two weeks to collect these items on official servers makes me think of all the time that will now be dedicated to TF2 over the next few days. I had plans to play Reach with friends at a halloween party, but nooooo. TF2 just ruined all of my plans. I had even bought a Monkey Wrench and spray-painted it gold for part of my Engineer costume. I always love scaring the little ones by dressing up like an evil Texan. But, now I will be obsessed with trying to get a costume to make the Soldier look like a robot. Oh well. Time well spent! Time to get to work. Who knows? Maybe I'll stop for a candy break sometime in between.

TF2: Why Did I Sell My Buds?

Yeah, they're still alive. I was getting worried, no post from the TF2 team in almost a month? Preposterous. Even though Robin Walker (creator of the original Team Fortress) can sometimes go onto hat filled tangents for months at a time, even he comes out and gives us something new. Usually hats. No, they were saving up. They released a whopping universal update in honor of my all time favorite update, the Mannconomy update. A few days ago, trading turned 1 year old, and to celebrate: they added a few goodies that I’ve been wanting for awhile now.

First off, they added new hats! (I know, calm down!) But, they also improved the features of uploading hats as well. just follow THIS to see. (This covers the whole update, be warned there is a Baby Saxton Hale exploding out of a bear's chest.) But, that’s not the point; the point is a new miscellaneous slot. That’s right. If you thought wearing earbuds and glasses at the same time was impossible, YOU WERE WRONG! You can also add custom decals to your weapons, and try out weapons from the store, oh and give people high-fives (If you pay for the “taunt”). Re-plays now come with Slow-Mo, and of course, a few new maps. One is for testing your new hats, and one is for playing.

With this update comes what I feel is more attention to what the players have been wanting, even though I now have the chagrin of knowing that Earbuds have skyrocketed. But, I’m okay with that, even though my horrid computer still can’t play games with anymore graphics properties than Toontown (coming up in a future blog!) without crashing. Team Fortress 2 shows that not only the community can play, but can actually play, too! Over this year span, over $2 million have been payed in royalties to hat/ weapon creators, that’s pretty cool. But TF2 continues to do what I love most: be itself, which isn’t what it was in the beginning of it’s life so many years ago. TF2 is the only game where a human of unknown gender can go around with a monocle and hair taped to its face, listen to earbuds through its mask, and of course, wearing a quite nice fire brigade’s helmet while setting people on fire. Yeah, it’s a bit brutal, but it’s so, creative. I do know that they do sell out to Major game developers, but it does fit within the actual game, or it at least feels that way. So, until the day that Hat Fortress 2 doesn’t launch on my computer anymore, I will continue to play, perhaps not every week, but I do love the game, and of course, all of the features it brings with it.

A Look Into the Greastest Game Of All Time, Part II

To start where we left off, the defense classes, starting with the Heavy, the lovable Russian. The Heavy has a mini gun named Sasha, is the slowest class, and likes sandwiches. General Heavy strategy is to stick close to a Medic, keep his mini gun ready, and general crowd control, since he has the most health; he also has the most longevity.


The Demoman is Valve's "Black, Scottish cyclops," Tavish DeGroot He is an alcoholic with a taste for explosive ordinance. He comes standard issue with a a grenade launcher, and a sticky bomb launcher, which allows for you to detonate at will, but can be destroyed by shooting. The special thing about the Demoman, however, is his melee capabilities, as he has multiple sword, and shield unlocks.


Last in the Defense category, and my all around favorite class, is the Engineer, also known as Dell Conagher. The Engineer, a soft spoken Texan, has 11 PhD's, all used to destroy anyone who opposes him. He can build items, such as a Sentry gun (Which has 3 levels, one being a simple gun, 2 having duel machine gun, and 3 adding a rocket launcher), Teleporter, and Dispense, which heal teammate. Then Engineer is one of the classes with the lowest class, but makes for it with the Gunslinger, a robotic fist which grants Dell more health, and gives him a fast-building, expendable mini-sentry.


First on Support is the Medic. The Medic is the greatest support character, giving health to teammates in the middle of battle with his medigun, a portable hospital on his back. The medic, after healing for a few moments, build up an Ubercharge, allowing him to turn himself, and his patient to become invulnerable for 7 seconds using an "Invulin." There are other mediguns, with different purposes, but the Invulin comes standard, and is best for general use.


Mr. Mundy, otherwise known as the Sniper, has a rather obvious job. Hailing from the Outback down-under, he got his skills from years of hunting big game. When he isn't killing people from 5 miles away, he's living in his van, or training for his strict "Jarate" regimen.


The last class, and most elusive, is the Spy, the illustrious French lady killer, or to be more accurate, man killer. With the power to become invisible, feign death, and kill with a single stab of a knife, the spy is one of the most dangerous classes. He can disguise himself, giving him unlimited access to your team, can place sappers on Engineer's buildings, and can be a general pest to somebody unlucky enough to walk by.


What ties all of these odd characters is a battle royal between two companies, Reliable Excavation and Demolition (RED), and the Builder's League United (BLU). This gives the reasoning for team colors and the building styles, BLU being more industrial and RED being rough. The TF2 team releases comics to build an intricate web of connections between characters, their pasts, and how the war has been raging for 100 years. TF2 has become the largest lore in the Valve universe, what really sets it apart from most other games for me. You get a feel for the characters you play, and have feelings for them, and the fun continues through an easy to use server system, where there are more game types than I could make in one post. If you ever get the time to, and have the space on your hard drive, hop on Steam, and start the download, TF2 is now a free game, and while you can't trade on the Free to play version, you can still receive items, and get item drops. The one drawback is the download size, which currently rests at just below 10 gigabytes, and with all the mods I’ve downloaded, I have 20 gigabytes worth of Team Fortress goodness, this game isn’t for the faint of heart, it does have gore, blood, and your characters do have the tendency to explode into giblets, but, it is a very good way to spend an hour or two, in my case, over 700.

A Look Into the Greastest Game Of All Time, Part I

Ladies and Gentleman, this is going to be an opinionated post, for those of the faint of heart, you may want to close this now, for I have found the greatest game of all time, and to put it a step above, its free. That's right, ladies and gentlemen, for a whopping $000 and 000 cents, you can now start to play Valve Software's greatest accomplishment: Team Fortress 2.For those of you whom may not have heard of this accomplishment in gaming, you can quickly run over to their blog: http://teamfortress.com/ for their new updates, most of which I will cover on this blog, but onto the main point, the game itself, a synopsis, and its versatility, this will be my first review of a game.


Team Fortress 2 is the child of Valve Software's creative team, headed by Robin Walker, the creator of the original mod for the Half-Life engine. The game is a class-based, cell-shaded, war game based on 1950's era art style. The game play is fluid, the artwork is fluid, and enough jokes and references to shake a stick at. But, best of all, Valve constantly updates the game, adding weapons for their nine characters (whom I will get to very shortly) which have various effects, from flamethrowers to mini-guns rocket launchers to shovels. Team Fortress 2 adds the idea of using everything but the kitchen sink as a weapon, some in the original style, some in a new futuristic style from other games, making TF2 a truly unique system.


To acquire items you can wait, receiving an item from the randomized drop system every hour or so until you hit the weekly cap of items. You can craft items, as newer items have a "blueprint” for crafting it or you can trade. But, trading's true value lies in one of TF2's greatest strength: customization of your character, in the form of hats. Hats range from a humble fedora for the spy to a Max's head (from the Sam & Max series) for all 9 classes. Some hats also have unusual effects, like an orbiting heart, sunbeams, and of course, flames.
For the main event, you have the classes. You have 9 classes, covering all of the forms of combat you could ever want, broken up into 3 categories: Offense, Defense, and Support.


On support, you have the Scout, first and foremost, a fast little guy from Boston. Out of all the classes, he runs the fastest, and has the biggest egos.  His greatest advantages are for “capping” the Intel, a variant of Capture the flag, capping control points, where he counts as two people, and generally annoying all classes, although he can’t take as much of a punch as most of the other classes, he still has the ability to be strong in a fight.


The Soldier, also known as Mr. Jane Doe, is slower than the average class, but a bit stockier in return. He comes with a rocket launcher, and the ability to be a game changer. The soldier’s primary objective is to destroy building, built by engineers, and to break up medics from their healing targets, (both of which are to be covered later.)


The Pyro, a mostly unknown class, has the power set things on fire with a fairly large ranged flame thrower, another item that he can get is the flare gun, giving him the power to shot flares, and cause burn damage, allowing the Pyro the chance at the kill even if the target gets away. His main objective is mostly checking for spies, general offense in war, and to be a watchdog for Engineers. Int part II, I'll finish the explanations of all classes, and get into the multiple game modes and user-made content.