TF2 Smissmas Event 2013

BobbyDigi

Notification that an update is coming soon (today) has been sent out.

Details to follow as I gather them tonight.

Edit- Update notes:

- Added new promo items
- Updated the localization files

Hrmmmm

oni_dels

ASTI DES CARIBOUS

The Randolph the Blood-Nosed Caribou is a headwear item for the Sniper. It appears as the head of a red-nosed caribou, placed on the Sniper's head.


The Smissmass Caribou is a headwear item for the Sniper. It is a Reindeer pelt worn on top of the Sniper's head.


The Sack Fulla Smissmas is a miscellaneous item for the Scout. It is a team-colored stocking stuffed with presents that replaces the Scout's backpack.


The War on Smissmas Battle Socks are a miscellaneous item for the Soldier. They appear as a pair of team-colored socks, worn on the outfit of the Soldier, replacing the original grenades.


The War on Smissmas Battle Hood is a headwear item for the Soldier. It appears as a team-colored hood covering the Soldier's eyes, similar to the Head Warmer, with visible stitches on top of it.


The Portable Smissmas Spirit Dispenser is a miscellaneous item for the Pyro. It appears as a snow globe on top of Pyro's oxygen tank, with a snow-covered log cabin visible within. A plaque with the Steam logo and the number 2013 is bolted onto the back.

BobbyDigi

The above items are the unlocks that you can get for randomly crafting the Winter Sale Snow Globe Badge. The Blood Nose being the rarest item, down in rarity from there as ordered above.

There are other items in the random draw so you are not even guaranteed to get a TF2 item when crafting the badge.

PirateNinja

I got two items: a common for spiral nights and an uncommon for path of exile. I'm done hustling the badge/card game for now. Although it is nice when things are volatile like this you can more or less get stuff free, but it takes time and attention. Fun, but back to work.

Bandrik

The thing that kind of bugs me about the trading card game this time around, is that they stated that (to paraphrase) unlike events in the past (summer sale), these winter event cards will disappear the moment the sale is up (you only keep completed badges and rewarded loot).

Thus, there's now a rush to get as many badges crafted as possible. I guess that's fine, but eh... the collector in me is bothered that leftover cards are lost and there's no chance of post-even trading after the dust settles.

trooster89

I agree. Also the past events like the summer tickets one and the coal for Christmas one unlocked things based on in-game achievements. Not just spending money.

I mean I guess I can get half the drops from playing the game, but its too much work. I'd have to play games I don't like that are free or I own to get card drops and then trade those to complete the sets for games where I'm out of drops. All to probably end up getting loot for spiral knights and not TF2.

_k

It is all about bleeding you with cards. Ignore cards and acquire free money from selling them.

BobbyDigi

Just got another update email. This time specifically states the Smissmas update is coming "very soon".

Valve time aside when we get these emails they are usually very accurate. Expect the update within the hour.

trooster89

I hope there's a MvM with a giant futurama-style robo-santa.

BobbyDigi

Happy Smissmas 2013!
- All Players who play TF2 during the event will receive a Gift-Stuffed Stocking! Stockings contain goodies for good little Mercenaries.
- Added community-contributed winter event items
- Added the Giftapult, which can be used to launch gift items to randomly-chosen online players
- Added Naughty and Nice winter keys to the Mann Co. Store
- Premium Players will receive a Secret Saxton to give to another player
- Item grants from previous events (including the Spirit of Giving and the Winter Holiday noise maker) have been re-enabled for all players, including those who deleted their earlier grants

Weapons
- Battalion's Backup:
- Added +20 max HP passive for the wearer
- Concheror:
- Added +2 health per second passive for the wearer
- Crit-a-Cola:
- Reduced consumption penalty from +25% extra damage to +10%
- Diamondback:
- Now also gains a critical attack on successful backstab kills
- Flying Guillotine
- Alt-Attack now also throws the Guillotine when active
- Short Circuit:
- Attack sped up greatly
- Ammunition cost has been lowered to 5 metal per attack
- Players and Buildings are only targeted if in range and in front of attacking player
- Improved visual effects
- Soda Popper:
- Hype no longer grants mini-crits
- Added Hypemode which grants up to 5 extra air jumps when active
- Hypemode is triggered by Alt-Attack when hype is full
- The Beggar's Bazooka has been updated to use the same taunt as The Direct Hit
- Professional Killstreak Mantreads, Splendid Screen and The Chargin' Targe now generate proper effects when on a killstreak. These effects do not stack if another killstreak effect weapon is active.

Cosmetics
- "Head" and "Misc" slots for player loadouts have been converted to Cosmetic slots. All items that were previously Head- or Misc-slot-specific can now be equipped in any Cosmetic slot.
- Unusual effect positioning can now be adjusted for all Cosmetic-slot items
- Unusual Circling Effects have been given a new origin
- Unusual effects for all Cosmetic-slot items are now visible in the loadout panel and character HUD
- Fixed the Wiki Cap clipping with the Demoman's head

Mann vs. Machine
- Fixed being able to inspect Blue-team bots
- Fixed the mission victory screen not always showing the correct information for each player
- Fixed some clipping issues with the stats in the scoreboard

General
- Fixed an exploit where players could move around while using a taunt to attack enemies
- Fixed an exploit related to the Rocket Jumper and the Soldier's grenade taunt
- Fixed killstreaks attained via healing not being considered for round-end win panel
- Fixed the killstreak hud indicator position in minmode
- Fixed Taunt Kills strange scores not incrementing properly for the Strange Scorch Shot
- Fixed strange scores on cosmetic items sometimes failing to increment
- Fixed gift-wrapped items not showing their interior item to the wrapping player in some conditions
- Fixed Steam Sale items granted from Snow Globe crafting not being listable on the Steam Community Market
- Improved bot navigation in cp_gorge
- Improved bot navigation in pl_upward
- Updated several materials to fix issues caused by mat_picmip
- Updated the backpack to filter to automatically filter for valid items when using a tool

trooster89

well there goes the soda popper : (

PirateNinja

Also sad about my soda popper., happy about the rest.

PirateNinja

In my stocking I got...
a name tag
a description tag
a backpack expander
a giftapult
some weapons
a tour of duty ticket

Damn, not bad!

oni_dels

Diamondback:
- Now also gains a critical attack on successful backstab kills

well, gotta stretch out those ol' spy legs...

oni_dels

so i unboxed that christmas stocking they give, and that's all that i got:










so obviously worth it.

BobbyDigi

Daaaaamn!

Signal

RIP Soda Popper. You will be missed.

BobbyDigi

There seems to be another TF2 ARG going on.

Info as it develops here (Reddit)

BobbyDigi

General consensus (including @PirateNinja and @oni_dels above, Thank you gentlemen) is that the stockings all contain the same 5 items (expander, name tag, desc tag, tod ticket, giftapult) + 3 random drops (can be weps or hats)

BobbyDigi

Over 5400 TF2 items have been crafted from the badges. Not 1 Blood Nose yet.

BobbyDigi

RahnalH102

I'm thankful for the backpack expander (and the few I bought from the sale earlier in the year) so much stuff getting thrown in there these past few updates.

Edit: Regarding the card/badge reward items - I was content with what I already had, nothing in the sale had particularly made me get the urge to splurge, but seeing that, and being that today was payday ....

In short, DAMMIT VALVE! You're lucky I already did my Christmas shopping.

CrazyJoe

Bah. I got a crit a cola, soda popper and some thing for the solider that heals 2 per second or something. Scout and Soldier are my two least played classes.

Koreish

I got a skin, not for the Grenade Launcher but for the Grenades; I think, I don't know.

It's this:
http://tf2wiki.net/wiki/A_Whiff_of_the_Old_Brimstone

oni_dels

oh man, dat eyelander!

primesuspect

MY SODA POPPER NOOOOOOOO WTF FUCK FUCK

primesuspect

But it definitely was a bit OP.

Creeperbane2

I got exactly what I needed, backpack expander and a tour of duty ticket. the rest is good as junk

Koreish

I hear the baby face blaster is a good alternative to the soda popper. At least for MvM. I don't know I always just use the stock Scattergun.

primesuspect

Since I started moving away from offensive scout and more into defense, this doesn't affect me SO much, but it's still kind of annoying.

BobbyDigi

Wait until you try it Prime... you can FLY!