Team Fortress 2 Beta

The Team Fortress 2 Beta is a beta version of the game open to all TF2 owners, released on December 2, 2010. This is the second period of beta testing, the first one occurring before official release of the game. The Beta is used for, but not limited to:

• Testing and tuning various class, item, and weapon changes
• Testing map changes and variants
• Running higher level, game-wide experiments (like doubling player health)
• Testing new technologies without the risk of breaking the game

Players receive all achievement-related items, all promotional items their account should have (as well as the Alien Swarm Parasite hat if they earned the Hat Trick achievement in Alien Swarm), the Poker Night items they have unlocked, and the complete Saharan Spy pack (including the Familiar Fez). In addition, there are no random drops, trading is disabled, and the Mann Co. Store is disabled.

Changes

Weapons

Class		Weapon	Changes
Heavy		Natascha	On Hit: 100% chance to slow target   Slowdown-on-hit effect falls off over distance   30% slower spin-up time
		Natascha Variant 1	On Hit: 100% chance to slow target   Slowdown-on-hit effect falls off over distance   -40% damage
		Natascha Variant 2	On Hit: 100% chance to slow target   Slowdown-on-hit effect falls off over distance   -25% damage   -25% health

Maps

• cp_granary: New entrance added into the RED and BLU mid ramp room.
• cp_5gorge: 5 CP version of cp_gorge.

Balance

Class		Weapon	Changes
Medic		Medi Gun	Players being healed by a Medic are immune to movement-impairing effects generated by hit-scan weapons.
		Kritzkrieg

Bugs

• Poker Night variant items come up as their item reference title.
• Crafting still works.

External Links

• Official TF2 Beta Forum
• TF2 Beta Blog Post
• PC Gamer: Valve on the future of Team Fortress 2
• KritzKast discuss the upcoming Open Beta