Team Fortress 2 Beta

The Team Fortress 2 Beta is a Template:W version of the game that is separate from Team Fortress 2 itself and is open to all owners of it. Released on December 2, 2010, this is the second period of public beta testing, the first one occurring before official release of the game. The current beta is used for purposes including, 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 Steam account is entitled to, the complete Saharan Spy pack, the Gloves of Running Urgently, and any weapons that are currently under testing. Random drops, Trading, and Crafting are currently enabled. The Mann Co. Store, however, is not available. The current Team Fortress 2 Beta differs from the beta first released to any user who pre-ordered the game back in 2007, and is more similar to the closed beta from 2009.

Changes currently under test

Changed weapons

Class	Item	Old	New
Scout	Mad Milk	Players heal 75% of the damage done to an enemy covered with milk.	Players heal 60% of the damage done to an enemy covered with milk.
	Sun-on-a-Stick	Minicrits against burning players -15% damage done Base damage: 30 Crit: 90	Full crits against burning players  -25% damage done Base damage: 26 Crit: 79
	Fan O'War	Marked for death status lasts 10 seconds	Marked for death status lasts 15 seconds
	Shortstop	~	20% slower reload speed
Soldier	Battalion's Backup	Takes 175 damage to fully charge	Takes 350 damage to fully charge
	Concheror	20% of damage done by teammates is returned as health during buff	35% of damage done by teammates is returned as health during buff
	Equalizer	~	Damage formula tweaked, no longer possible to one-hit-kill certain classes when at low health  Automatic and manual Medic calls are supressed
Pyro	Backburner	No compression blast +15% damage done	Added compression blast, 50 ammo per blast  +10% damage done
	Flare Gun	Mini-Crits against burning players at close range, full crits against burning players at long range	Full crits against burning players regardless of range
	Powerjack	+25% damage No random critical hits	No damage bonus  Random critical hits enabled  +20% damage from melee sources while active
Demoman	Loch-n-Load	+10% damage done	+20% damage done
	Eyelander	No random critical hits No damage penalty Base damage: 65 Crit: 195	Random critical hits enabled  -25% damage done Base damage: 49 Crit: 146
	Horseless Headless Horsemann's Headtaker	No random critical hits enabled No damage penalty Base damage: 65 Crit: 195	Random critical hits  -25% damage done Base damage: 49 Crit: 146
	Claidheamh Mòr	No random critical hits No damage penalty Base damage: 65 Crit: 195	Random critical hits enabled  -25% damage done Base damage: 49 Crit: 146
	Ullapool Caber	No random critical hits No damage penalty Base damage: 35 (149 explosion) Crit: 149 (300 explosion)	Random critical hits enabled  -25% damage done Base damage: 26 (149 explosion) Crit: 79 (300 explosion)
Heavy	Dalokohs Bar	25.7 second cooldown	No cooldown
	Fists of Steel	60% less damage from ranged sources while active	40% less damage from ranged sources while active  20% slower weapon switch
Engineer	Gunslinger	No random critical hits No damage penalty Base damage: 65 Crit: 195	Random critical hits enabled  -25% damage done Base damage: 49 Crit: 146
	Southern Hospitality	No random critical hits No damage penalty Base damage: 65 Crit: 195	Random critical hits enabled  -25% damage done Base damage: 49 Crit: 146
Medic	Vita-Saw	~	Allows player to see the enemy's health
Sniper	Sydney Sleeper	~	25% faster charge rate

New weapons

Class		Ammo Loaded	Ammo Carried	Damage Range	Notes / Special Abilities
Medic	Quick-Fix (New)	N/A	N/A	N/A	Über effect: Megaheal Heal rate increased 3x on heal target and medic Heal target and medic immune to stun and damage forces  Heal rate increased 50%  ÜberCharge rate increased 50%  Not able to overheal (attempting to overheal will still build Übercharge)  Match the speed of any faster heal target
Pyro	Detonator	1	16	Base: 30 Crit: 90 Afterburn: 6 / sec. × 10 secs.	On hit, ignites enemy.  Alt-fire detonates flare in flight. It creates a small explosion which ignites nearby players, but does less damage than a normal hit. Knockback can be used to flare jump.  Guarantees Critical damage on burning targets, regardless of distance (only when flare is not detonated).  20% explosion damage vulnerability on wearer.

Maps

• cp_well: Made the 2nd point defender spawn door one-way.
• koth_badlands
• Goldrush (payload)

Other changes

• Combat text now displays bonus points.
• Starting position of combat text is now based on the player's distance from the target, making it easier to see when near the target.
• Added an option (hud_combattext_healing) to display combat text for healing done on heal targets.
• Medic overheal effect is now more noticeable.
• Replay system (not currently available on Mac)
• Coaching system
• Voting system
• Training for the Demoman, Spy and Engineer
• Paint more integrated with lighting system
• Paint supported on DX8

Inactive changes

Class		Weapon	Ammo Loaded	Ammo Carried	Damage Range	Notes / Special Abilities	Active
Heavy	Beta	Natascha1	200	N/A	Base: 340 / sec. Crit: 720 / sec.	On Hit: 100% chance to slow target   Slowdown-on-hit effect falls off over distance   -25% damage done   30% slower spin-up time	Not Active (1/06/2011)
	Beta	Natascha Variant 1	200	N/A	Base: 312 / sec. Crit: 648 / sec.	On Hit: 100% chance to slow target   Slowdown-on-hit effect falls off over distance   -35% damage done	Not Active (1/06/2011)
	Beta	Natascha Variant 2	200	N/A	Base: 340 / sec. Crit: 720 / sec.	On Hit: 100% chance to slow target   Slowdown-on-hit effect falls off over distance   -25% damage   -20% (60) max health on wearer	Not Active (1/06/2011)
Engineer	Buildings	Buildings	N/A	N/A	N/A	Damage against buildings (sentries, etc) reduced 50%	Not Active (1/13/2011)
Medic	Stock	Medi Gun	N/A	N/A	N/A	ÜberCharge grants Medic and patient 8 seconds of guaranteed invulnerability.  Players being healed are immune to movement-impairing effects generated by hit-scan weapons.	Not Active (1/06/2011)
	Unlock	Kritzkrieg	N/A	N/A	N/A	ÜberCharge grants patient 8 seconds of guaranteed critical damage.  Players being healed are immune to movement-impairing effects generated by hit-scan weapons.  Has 25% faster charge rate.	Not Active (1/06/2011)
All Classes	Health	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	All Classes have double Health	Not Active (1/13/2011)
	Health	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	All Classes have 25% extra Health	Not Active (2/11/2011)

Patches

Main article: Patches (Beta)

Bugs

• An Engineer can prepare to build a Combat Mini-Sentry Gun, switch to either the Wrench, Southern Hospitality or Jag, and still deploy the Combat Mini-Sentry Gun without having the Gunslinger equipped. This does not work the other way around to build normal sentries with the Gunslinger equipped.
• Despite being synced with the changes in the January 10, 2011 Patch, the Kritzkrieg and other crit boost sounds occasionally continue to play after the effect ends.

See also

• Team Fortress 2 Closed Beta

External Links

• Official TF2 Beta Forum on Steam Users' Forums
• TF2 Beta Blog Post
• TF2 Beta Update history