Valve asks for gamers help with next TF2 update

If you guys are anything like me, you just can’t get enough Team Fortress 2. Valve revealed, via their blog, that the next update will deal with the Heavy Weapons Guy. The guys over at Valve posted an article discussing the thinking process that is involved in coming up with achievements as well as new weapons. Valve went so far as to ask for help thinking up stuff for the Heavy.

According to the blog post, the goal of the Heavy’s update is to, “Make the Heavy more viable when he has no Medic to pair with.” Valve even release a list of constraints and extra things to consider so that gamers could help out.

The list of constraints is after the jump.Constraints:

• It shouldn’t have a cumulative effect when being healed by a Medic as well. Heavy/Medic pairs do pretty well as it is.

• It shouldn’t significantly change the Heavy’s role, relative to other classes. In particular, it shouldn’t significantly encroach on another class’s role.

• It should be understandable for both the user and the player it’s being used on.

Extra:

• How much work is it? How many new models, sounds, effects, etc?

• Does it deepen the Heavy’s skill curve? Is it easy to learn? Hard to master?

• Is it an interesting tool to choose relative to the base Heavy weapon it’s replacing? What scenarios can you envision in which each is useful? What arguments can you raise for why each is better than the other?

• How often does the Heavy need to think about it? Is it something he uses once every 5 minutes, or is it something he needs to be constantly thinking about? A greater impact on player decision making is generally a good thing.

• How many other features of the game does it affect? Often, the best ideas are “economical”, with a small set of required actions, but a wide set of resulting effects.

Read: A Heavy Problem.