While it may have been a little buried under the other announcements that came out at the same time, a recent update to Team Fortress 2 brought with it some changes promising to "support future features". These included a new 50-slot "backpack" for you to keep stuff in, as well as a new slot for headgear. Understandably, this prompted a flood of discussion about whether or not this would see TF2 becoming more like Diablo or World of Warcraft... at this stage, it's a little early to tell, but the Magic 8-Ball is pointing to a pretty definite "maybe".

(The game's also been updated this morning via Steam - a tweak to cp_egypt based on gamer feedback, and still more changes for these fabled "future features".)

So. We've learned that -at this point- the hats will just be a cosmetic addition to the game, and the backpack will be somewhere to stash your gear. Valve have come out and admitted, however, that the Team Fortress 2 devs are interested in exploring "more radical, RPG-style mechanics" - but they're not going to make any drastic changes to the game without first testing the water and finding out how much each tweak will impact on the game, and on the community.

Valve spokesperson Robin Walker went on the record recently explaining:

"The primary change here is simply the decoupling of achievements and unlockables, which is the source of most of the negative feedback we've received around previous class packs. It'll provide multiple ways for players to get items, with a plan to add more over time."

At this stage, the cosmetic-only head-slot items are looking at a release date some time before the Sniper Update hits (if they're not ready in time, they'll simply form part of the update). Walker explains that this is the first step along the path of letting gamers have some control over their experience - which in turn adds the problem of ensuring the "silhouette-based" class identification remains in place.

Another major problem has come from people requesting a "vanilla" game mode, filtering out all of these new RPG-style additions. Walker explains Valve's position:

Almost all the requests we've received in this area have come from competitive players. While we don't think this update adds any new issues for competitive play, we are aware of the desire for leagues to control what their players are using, so we're thinking about how we can help them do that. Still, we're optimistic as ever. We believe that the more interesting & viable choices available to competitive players, the more depth there is for them to use to their advantage. It'd be a shame if they're prevented from exploring the strategic possibilities that the new items add.

Rest assured that the devs are also dealing with gamers' complaints that they see TF2 as a "pick up and play" game, and these new additions will add a level of grind to the title. Valve promise that the updates will "provide multiple ways for players to get items", with both casual and more hardcore gamers able to "have some fun" finding items and making decisions about which ones to keep, and which to discard. The general vibe from Valve is that even they're not sure how they're going to proceed with this, and they're relying pretty heavily on gamer feedback - so, if you have any thoughts, complaints or even compliments, make sure you jump in the forums and let them know!

Oh - and, as a closing comment, Walker confirms that Valve are "not done yet" on the Meet the... videos, with the Pyro, Medic and Spy videos still to go. "We've saved the best for last!" he promises.

Team Fortress 2 Updated cp_egypt with changes based on player feedback, added additional health/ammo and updated routes Additional character loadout menu changes to support future features

Robin Walker recently spoke to Shacknews.

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Thanks to Axwell for this news submission!
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