Items
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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.
Contents
Types
There are four types of items:
Obtaining items
There are currently ten ways to obtain items in Team Fortress 2.
Item drop system
The most common way to obtain items is through the item drop system. After a certain amount of time in game, 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, hats, various series of the Mann Co. Supply Crate, certain Miscellaneous items, and some types of tools.
Purchasing
Items can also be bought directly from the Mann Co. Store using money from the player's Steam Wallet. Introduced with the Mann-Conomy Update, the store provides players an alternate way of obtaining 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 from the store on another item will enable it to be traded to other players.
Crates
A Mann Co. Supply Crate Key, available only at the Mann Co. Store, can be used with a Mann Co. Supply Crate to obtain an item. All items received from a Mann Co. Supply Crate are tradable. Opening a crate is the only way to obtain an unusual hat.
Crafting
Players can craft unwanted or duplicate items (such as weapons) into other items like hats or crafting metal.
To craft items, the player must use blueprints. 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
Players can also obtain items via gifting. The Gift Wrap tool allows a specific item, even ones that are usually untradable, to be traded to other players (including offline players). The Secret Saxton and Pile o' Gifts tools, when used, drop random items to players currently in the server.
Trading
The trading system allows players to swap items for other items. This is currently the only way to acquire vintage weapons and Hats.
Promotions
Some hats, Miscellaneous items and weapons have been distributed as promotional items 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.
Dueling
Every time a player levels up their dueling badge (by winning ten duels), the player is awarded a 5-use Dueling Mini-Game, and a random drop. This random drop may be anything that is regularly dropped, such as weapons, hats, or tools. However, a Supply Crate may not be obtained in this manner.
Community Contribution
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
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 formerly had unique levels; this too was merely cosmetic.
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, stock weapons 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
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.[1]
The Name Tag and Description Tag tools enable the player to apply their own custom names and descriptions to items; these modifications are also visible to other players.
Backpack
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.
References
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)
