Items

“

Very good, very VERY good! Click to listen — The Heavy on in-game items.

”

A Scout equipped with two items: Bonk! Atomic Punch (a weapon) and a Bonk Helm (a hat)

Items in Team Fortress 2 refer to objects that players can collect and use within the game world. With some exceptions, weapons are the only type of item in the game to directly influence gameplay; all other items exist for cosmetic purposes.

Types

There are five types of items:

• Weapons
• Hats
• Miscellaneous items
• Action items
• Tools

Obtaining items

There are currently nine ways to obtain items in Team Fortress 2.

Item drop system

Main article: Item drop system

The most common way to obtain items is through the item drop system. After a certain amount of time ingame, the system distributes a random item to the player. When received, the item is placed in the player's backpack and the game displays the newly earned item on screen, as well as alerting the rest of the current server with a text message. Items obtained via this method include Weapons, various series' of the Mann Co. Supply Crate and Hats.

Store

Main article: Mann Co. Store

Items can also be bought directly from the Mann Co. Store for money from the player's Steam Wallet. Introduced with the Mann-Conomy Update, the store provides players an alternate way of earning items instead of waiting for them to drop, crafting, or trading for them. Creators of community-contributed items receive a percentage of sales revenue for their creations.

Items bought from the Mann Co. Store are normally neither tradable, nor usable in crafting (with the exception of tools such as the Paint Can). However, using the Gift Wrap item, available only from the Store, on another item will enable it to be traded to other players.

Crates

Main article: Mann Co. Supply Crate

Items can also be obtained from Mann Co. Supply Crates. A Mann Co. Supply Crate Key can be purchased from the Mann Co. Store and be used with a Mann Co. Supply Crate to give you an item. All items received from a Mann Co. Supply Crate are tradable and it is the only way to obtain an unusual hat. The crates also drop randomly amongst other items in the drop system; However, the keys can only be obtained through trading or via the store.

Crafting

Main article: Crafting

Items can also be created through the Team Fortress 2 crafting system. This allows players to craft unwanted or duplicate items (such as weapons) into other items like hats or crafting metal.

To create items, the player must use 'blueprints'. Initially, certain blueprints are made available to all players to be used, but other specific blueprints must be discovered by players through experimentation. If a player attempts to craft items together that do not match a blueprint, no new item will be crafted and the ingredients will remain in the player's backpack.

Gifting

Main articles: Gift Wrap, Secret Saxton, Pile o' Gifts

Items can be received from other players on the server through gifting. The Gift Wrap tool allows a specific item to be traded to other players (including offline players). The Secret Saxton and Pile o' Gifts tools, when purchased, drop random items to players currently in the server.

Trading

Main article: Trading

The trading interface.

The trading system enables an in-game interface for players to swap items for other items. This is currently the only way to acquire vintage weapons and Hats.

Promotional

Main article: Promotional items

Hats, Miscellaneous items and weapon reskins have been distributed as promotional offers for other Steam games including Template:W, Template:W, Template:W, Template:W, and Template:W.

Events

There are several event-specific items such as the Mildly Disturbing Halloween Mask, Halloween Masks, Golden Wrench or Gentle Manne's Service Medal that can only be obtained at specific times.

Community Contribution

See also: Contribution page

Community items are distributed manually by Valve to reward extraordinary community contributions. Historically, these items have been awarded to users for submitting outstanding maps or models (via the Contribution page), for assisting Valve in language translation or locating bugs or exploits within the engine. Community items were also awarded in other circumstances, as well; self-made item versions are given to players who create items that enter the game officially (via the Contribution page, or through a contest such as the Art Pass Contest). The Wiki Cap was awarded to players who have proven to be valuable contributors to the Team Fortress Wiki, as well as a self-made one being awarded to its designer.

Item characteristics

Levels

Main article: Item levels

Every item in Team Fortress 2 is either assigned a specific level or a random one. Hats are assigned random levels (with a few exceptions) while weapons are assigned specific levels depending on the weapon. Metal, tools, and action items are also assigned specific levels.

Levels are a purely cosmetic feature and have no actual impact on gameplay. An example of this being a cosmetic feature is the levels on the hats released during the Scream Fortress update, which are all level 31, representing the day that Halloween falls on (October 31st). Weapons also formerly had unique levels but this too is completely cosmetic.

Rarity

Main article: Rarity

Item rarity is a cosmetic feature that is included in all backpack items. It is assigned based on when and how the item was obtained and is identified by the colour of the item name when viewed in game or from within the backpack. For example, a stock weapon such as the Scattergun are of the 'normal' rarity (grey), and unique items such as Horsemann's Headtaker are of the 'unique' prefix (purple).

Attributes

Attributes are strings and values attached to an item that determine their effects. An attribute can be neutral, positive, or negative. A negative attribute is one that is harmful to the user, a positive attribute is one that is beneficial, and a neutral attribute is one that is neither negative or positive but more of an alternative behavior.

A full list of item attributes can be found here.

Customization

Main articles: Paint Can, Name Tag, Description Tag

The Paint Can tool can be used to alter the color scheme of items in the game. Currently, the paint can only be applied to hats, but Valve has not ruled out extending the ability to weapons in the future.

The Name Tag and Description Tag tools enable the player to alter standard item names and descriptions and apply their own custom names and descriptions to be visible to other players.

Backpack

File:Backpack.jpg

The backpack screen showing the spots where items are stored.

The backpack is where items are stored, and can be used by players to equip items for play in the Loadout menu. The backpack has a limited capacity of 200 slots, so it may be necessary to destroy, trade or craft duplicates in order to make room for new weapons or items. The backpack can also toggle the display of stock weapons on the screen. Backpack items can be sorted into a certain order according to Class, Loadout Slot, etc.

The capacity was originally a single page that stored 50 items. The capacity was doubled to 2 pages, a capacity of 100 items, on September 15, 2009. It was doubled again to 4 pages, a capacity of 200 items, on September 30, 2010 with the release of the Mann-Conomy Update.

Every item in the backpack will make a sound when moved. Some items have unique sound effects, such as Ze Goggles, which make a sound that resembles the goggles turning on and off. Noise Makers will play their sound effects.

External links

• All Item Types on TF2 Backpack Examiner – displaying all items currently present in the game (collected from the WebAPI schema)
• All Items on optf2.com – displays the same list with more detailed information (collected using the same method)