Team Fortress 2 gets new “Mann-Conomy” update, adds in-game item store

Ryan Wilsey 30 Sep, 2010 at 7:30pm ET Article published in Gaming

TF2 sells items feature image

Valve has recently announced on their official Team Fortress 2 blog the details for their latest update—and it’s a big one. Among a nice collection of new gear for a few of the classes, Valve has created an online marketplace to buy and trade items, which they have dubbed the “Mann-Conomy” Update.

There’s quite a lot of details that have gone into the new Mann Co. Store update, all of which are addressed in their lengthy FAQ. A few points to take home are the following: for starters, players can continue to play TF2 and earn and craft items like they always have been, without seeing any difference at all, and Valve will continue to hand out free updates. In the new in-game item store, items such as weapons and hats can be purchased with real money, siphoned through the newly-created Steam Wallet system.

Another interesting point is the enhanced customization players can do to their items. They’ve added new kinds of items that allow for even more personal taste, such as the ability to name items and change their color scheme—all of which is cataloged in the item store. They’ve even doubled the size of everybody’s item backpack to allow for more loot.

A new button, "shop for items" has been added to the TF2 home menu screen.

As always, Valve continues to strive to keep the game’s community alive and active, and this update is no different. One of the nicer features is the added ability for players to trade some of their items. Currently, limited-availability items and those purchased in the store can’t be traded (may change in the future), but the rest of the items acquired by just playing the game can be swapped with friends—thus, there is still incentive to play the game and earn the randomly dropped items. Also, community item contributors will get a share of the profits, based on the sales of the items they’ve created.

Finally, to kick off the store, they have released new gear sets for five classes, including Soldier, Scout, Pyro, Sniper, and Spy. When all the items in a classes’ particular set are worn, a special effect is activated. For example, the Scout receives +25% maximum health, and the Sniper cannot be killed by headshots.

Comments

30 Sep 2010 ~ 8:45pm Bandrik I forgot to make mention of another nifty part of this update. Similar to the Golden Wrench update, Valve has released a mini-comic to coincide with the Mann-Conomy update. It features Saxton Hale, the burly CEO of Mann Co.

And holy crap, does he kick some serious Hippie ass. Go check it out. Now.
1 Oct 2010 ~ 3:16am Myrmidon Oh god.

People are either going to love this, or are going to go BATSHIT INSANE with rage. There is no middle ground.

...taking all bets!
1 Oct 2010 ~ 8:14am mertesn I think it's an excellent plan. They now serve all but one of the four type of players:
1. The "earn it through hard work" player who believes the items are most appreciated when gained through skill.
2. The "lucky punk" who gets nonstop rare drops.
3. The "will buy virtual items with real money" player who just wants the awesome stuff, no matter the cost.

The only player they have not served is the "I'm gonna whine and gripe about how Valve ruins the game with every update and cry at every random drop that goes to someone not me and even when I get a random drop I'll complain that the item sucks and I already have a billion of that one and when someone gets something through achievement it's because they're achievement farming jerks and now they want to rape my wallet and make me buy things after I paid them for this game and they gave me tons of free updates and expansions but it's not enough they still owe me FFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUU..."
It should be noted that this category of player can never be satisfied and should be ignored completely.
1 Oct 2010 ~ 9:34am _k My first reaction to this was RAGE since they are making a virtual store to buy stuff in game that is considered freeish, especially since to change item colors you have to pay for a one time use item.

Then I realized they just made a pay service to pick up some extra money. This is a game that is going to have a long life cycle and Valve is pushing for a long life by making sure the game is still profitable in 5 more years when it is really old and runs on an underclocked toaster that you buy at the Outlet Sams.

I still do not agree with the pay amount for items and making some one time use but that is more of an ethical debate then a real debate.
1 Oct 2010 ~ 12:08pm Linc It's a fine update.

Buy want you want.

You won't stop me.

Actually, I think they jumped the shark on complexity a while ago. TF2 is no longer a game I feel comfortable introducing to non-techy friends. Losing track of achievements was the first symptom. The second was needing to Google to find bloody "upgrade" paths for crafting and now adding so many weapons you can't even name them all is the icing on the delicious complexity cake. It's no longer the casual FPS it started as.
1 Oct 2010 ~ 12:39pm shwaip I don't care unless they introduce items that can only be purchased.

I also am less than pleased to see another item that slows.
1 Oct 2010 ~ 12:52pm SpencerForHire A lot of the items allow for very different play styles on the existing roles. That is a plus.

The minus is how much a lot of the new stuff costs to buy... As much as a whole game! Craziness!!

Either way, I'm going to reserve judgement until I've had a chance to see the impact on the community.
1 Oct 2010 ~ 4:17pm BuddyJ I think it's cool that the item creators benefit from selling their goods in the store. Finally, all the folks who spend long hours modeling, coding and skinning have a chance to get paid for what they've done.
1 Oct 2010 ~ 7:45pm Tim I play TF2 sometimes, I prefer the Orange X3 DDR map, both because of the layout and the various voice things that go off when people kill or get killed. They are funny. There's a couple FPS Doug lines in the list that get played sometimes. The ones screaming about headshots.
1 Oct 2010 ~ 8:08pm primesuspect I read National Geographic every month. It's the only magazine that I enjoy from cover-to-cover. This month's issue has a great feature about Australian megafauna (huge mammals that lived side-by-side with early humans). Sometimes it bugs me how many advertisements are in National Geographic but I understand that publishing a magazine of that quality must cost a lot so I deal with it.
2 Oct 2010 ~ 10:01am shwaip There appear to be a few items that aren't in the list in the OP (gloves of running urgently, a medic item).

I've gotten a couple crate drops...unfortunately you have to buy keys, you can't find them. Lame
2 Oct 2010 ~ 10:25am NiGHTS The reaction to this update is kinda interesting on the grand scale of things. It looks like the playerbase and outside viewers have no problem shelling out extra cash for unique/standard items to play with mostly due to the fact that it's Valve that's doing it. People are willing to reward them for all their hard work (and free giveaways up to this point) as they continue to play.

However, I'd say that same majority are very against DLC to begin with. More specifically, the microtransaction model that certain publishers roll with ...which ultimately is what's happening here, isn't it?

I'm not poo-pooing on anything here, just kinda thinking out loud and making an observation. Compare this response to EA/Activision doing the same thing (outside of GuitarRockHeroBand).
2 Oct 2010 ~ 10:30am shwaip I think people also realize they can still get the items for free (yay drops), and that valve has been giving them free content since tf2 came out. They don't mind supporting that model and you're also not being put at a disadvantage by not buying items.

(also stealth buff to the scottish resistance)
2 Oct 2010 ~ 2:21pm cola So far there hasn't been much whining on the part of the "in game" people I've been playing with, so far as I can tell people are more or less pleased with the new stuff.
2 Oct 2010 ~ 3:27pm Bandrik When I first tried to look through the shop (at the time of this article's writing), the shop wasn't ready yet. I've since had a chance to peek around.

Overall, I really like its layout. You can preview all the times being held/worn by any class that can equip it, and it's a rotatable 3D model, to boot. What-you-see-is-what-you-get, for the win. I only wish that for the items that can be painted different colors, would have been nice to preview the modded color.

Only main drawback I see is the prices. Yes, as noted above, some of the prices are simply outrageous. Any of the "new set" hats, for example, are $17.00. I mean, eff, REAL hats seldom cost that much, and at least block harmful UV rays. These are virtual hats that don't do crap.

But I suppose with the wealth of rabid fans that obsess over in-game hats... Valve has just found a big way to cash in.

In the meantime, for any Soldier players, check out the new item that lets you practice Rocket Jumps. It holds 8 rockets instead of 4, and does zero damage. And it's only 50 cents. I will be picking it up, for sure... and your first purchase comes with a free Mann Co. hat! Win!
4 Oct 2010 ~ 12:42am Cliff_Forster I am not going to fall prey to the micro transaction model. I don't care if you have a cooler hat then I do, I just don't. Now that said, I don't really mind that Valve is doing it with TF2. I can't think of a title that has given me more game time for so little money, so I understand that they would want to find a way to monetize it. Still, $5 for an electronic play hat in this screwball economy? Hey, whatever, if you say it enriches your experience, or maybe you just wanted to support Valve, I understand. For me, I just have different priorities.
16 Jul 2012 ~ 12:51am primesuspect I BOUGHT INTO THIS HOOK, LINE, and SINKER. I have no regrets.
16 Jul 2012 ~ 1:03am SpencerForHire

Ya don't say.
18 Jul 2012 ~ 12:14am Bandrik
I BOUGHT INTO THIS HOOK, LINE, and SINKER. I have no regrets.
18 Jul 2012 ~ 12:16am Theironhand TF2 zombie mode.
18 Jul 2012 ~ 12:22am BobbyDigi
I BOUGHT INTO THIS HOOK, LINE, and SINKER. I have no regrets.

Oh yeah, he's paid his dues