Australian Christmas

This article is for content released in the update. For the patch itself, see December 17, 2010 Patch.

The Australian Christmas was a major content update for Team Fortress 2 and was released on December 17, 2010.

A new game mode, Medieval Mode, was introduced which featured a new map, Degroot Keep.

The update increased backpack slots from 200 to 300, and introduced the ability to acquire additional slots, 100 at a time, by purchasing the Backpack Expander item. The maximum backpack size became 1000 slots.

During the event, the Festive Winter Crate became unlockable with a Festive Winter Crate Key that was only available as a purchase from the Mann Co. Store for US $2.49, UK £1.99, EURO €2.49.

The official Valve page for the event may be viewed here.

Origin story

On December 18th, 1788, less than a year after the first settlers colonized Australia, an old cutthroat named Nicolas Crowder arrived on a boat with some other new settlers, took one look at the heat and privations, said "screw this," commandeered the boat, and set course on a one-man voyage to conquer the South Pole. Legend tells that he lives there still.

Every December 18th, "Old Nick" returns down under to find out if Australia's children have been naughty or nice. The nice children are given the greatest gift of all -- they are not abducted along with the naughty ones and carted off to the South Pole.

For the next twelve months, the naughty children make toys to Old Nick's exacting specifications. Then, on December 17th, the presents are gift-wrapped, placed in a sleigh, and driven to Old Nick's mansion, where he opens them. Naturally, given the sheer number of hats and weapons Old Nick receives, there are bound to be duplicates -- and every December 18th, he posts them online, selling them at prices so low that he's practically giving them away.

New additions

Main articles: Weapons, Hats, Item sets

Items

Class	Item Sets	Item	Killicon	Details
Scout	No item set	Boston Basher		On Hit: Bleed for 5 seconds.   On Miss: Hit yourself. Idiot.
		Candy Cane		On kill with any weapon while equipped: A small health pack is dropped.  25% explosive damage vulnerability on wearer.
		Flipped Trilby
Soldier	No item set	Exquisite Rack
		Defiant Spartan
Pyro	No item set	Back Scratcher		+25% damage done  -75% health from healers on wearer  +50% health from packs on wearer.
		Madame Dixie
		Pyromancer's Mask
		Prancer's Pride
Demoman	The Expert's Ordnance  +10% fire damage resistance on wearer	Loch-n-Load	File:Killicon loch n load.png	-60% clip size  +10% damage done  +25% projectile speed  +25% damage to self  Launched bombs shatter on surfaces
		Ullapool Caber		No random critical hits  High-yield Scottish face removal.  A sober person would throw it...
	No item set	Claidheamh Mòr		0.5 sec increase in charge duration  No random critical hits  -15 max health on wearer
		Prince Tavish's Crown
		Scotch Bonnet
Heavy	The Hibernating Bear  +5% Critical hit damage resistance on wearer	Brass Beast		+20% damage done  50% slower spin up time  60% slower move speed while deployed
		Buffalo Steak Sandvich		Move speed is temporarily increased by roughly 35%  Player may only use melee weapons  Damage done and taken will be Mini-Crits  Who needs bread?
		Warrior's Spirit		+30% damage done  -20 Max Health
	No item set	Fists of Steel		-60% damage from ranged sources while active  +100% damage from melee sources while active
		Coupe D'isaster
		Magnificent Mongolian
		Big Chief
Engineer	No item set	Jag		30% faster construction rate  -25% damage done
		Industrial Festivizer
		Buckaroos Hat
Medic	The Medieval Medic  +1 health regenerated per second on wearer	Crusader's Crossbow		Fires special bolts that heal teammates and deal damage based on distance traveled.  No headshots  -75% max primary ammo on wearer
		Amputator		On Taunt: Applies a healing effect to all nearby teammates
	No item set	Blighted Beak
		German Gonzila
		Berliner's Bucket Helm
Sniper	No item set	Larrikin Robin
Spy	No item set	Detective Noir
		Le Party Phantom
All Classes	No item set	A Rather Festive Tree
		World Traveler's Hat		Given to generous souls who have donated to community map makers. The effect will only be visible while on a map that has been donated towards!

Tools

• Backpack Expander - Expand backpack by 100 slots (to a maximum of 1000).
• Map Stamps - Buy Map Stamps to support community map makers. Once a stamp is purchased, a player will receive a hat that includes a stamp particle effect. The particle effect only occurs when a player has purchased a map stamp for the map upon which they are playing.

Trivia

• It is actually summer, not winter, during the Christmas season in Australia because of the tilt of the Earth's axis during that time of the year.

Gallery

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  1st Christmas Announcement from Mann Co.

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  2nd Christmas Announcement from Mann Co.

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  3rd Christmas Announcement from Mann Co.