WAR!-Update

“

In my experience, Miss Pauling, nothing kills a friendship faster than a healthy competition.

— The Administrator

”

Das WAR! Update war ein Klassenupdate für den Demoman und den Soldier. Es war der zweite Patch für mehr als eine Klasse und das sechste größere Update. Das Update wurde zuerst am 9. Dezember 2009 angekündigt und am 17. Dezember 2009 veröffentlicht..

Anders als vorherige Updates beinhaltete das WAR!-Update zwei Wettbewerbe, die in und außerhalb des Spiels stattfanden. Der erste wurde zu Beginn des Updates angekündigt: Im HUD von jedem, der als Demoman oder Soldier spielte, erschien ein Kill-Tracker, der jedes Mal um eins hochgezählt wurde, wenn man (als Soldier) einen feindlichen Demoman oder (als Demoman) einen feindlichen Soldier tötete. Die persönlichen Kill-Zahlen wurden zu einer Gesamtpunktzahl zusammengerechnet, die jeden Tag des Updates auf der Updateseite angezeigt wurde. Der Soldier gewann mit 6.406.065 Kills zu 6.372.979, wodurch ereine zusätzliche freischaltbare Waffe, die Raketenstiefel, gewann.

Der zweite Wettkampf war der Propaganda-Wettbewerb. Spieler wurden dazu aufgefordert, Propaganda-Plakate für die Klasse ihrer Wahl zu entwerfen, die wahlweise den BLU Soldier oder den RED Demoman unterstützten. Die Poster wurden an Valve geschickt und von der Propaganda Contest-Webseite bewertet. The three leading prizes were later revealed to be a special Towering Pillar of Hats, Noble Amassment of Hats, and Modest Pile of Hat (for first, second and third place respectively), with unique models and names, distinguishable from the normal models by the attached orange prize ribbons.

Announcements

The WAR! Update page officially began on December 10th, 2009, as announced on the TF2 Official Blog post "The War Update". The Update was released on December 17th.

Day 1: The WAR! Update began to track kills.
Day 2: The Propaganda Contest was announced.
Day 3: Crafting was announced.
Day 4: The Eyelander and Chargin' Targe were announced.
Day 5: The Direct Hit was announced.
Day 6: The Equalizer, Buff Banner, and Scottish Resistance were all announced. The titles and icons for the Demoman achievements and Soldier achievements were also revealed.
Day 7: The Soldier was announced to be the winner of the kill contest, receiving the Gunboats as a prize. The Control Point map Gorge and Capture the Flag map Double Cross were also announced. The achievements which were teased the previous day had their descriptions revealed.

Additions

Weapons

Class	Weapon	Name
Soldier		Direct Hit
		Buff Banner
		Equalizer
		Gunboats
Demoman		Scottish Resistance
		Chargin' Targe
		Eyelander

Maps

Game Mode	Image	Map Name	File Name
Control Point		Gorge	cp_gorge
Capture the Flag		Double Cross	ctf_doublecross

Pre-announcement references

New Administrator Voice Files

Teasing of the WAR! update began with the December 7, 2009 Patch, when new Administrator voice files were added to the game, which were randomly switched out with the normal voice files during gameplay if a Demoman and Soldier were being played by opposing teams. She would voice her disappointment and hint at the upcoming conflict, stating that her trust had been "betrayed" and that "friendship will not be tolerated".

WAR! Comic

The first official hint came on December 9th 2009, with the blog post "Attention Employees...". It contained a single sentence of "Friendship ends in one day." and a link to a comic where Miss Pauling revealed to the Administrator that the BLU Soldier and RED Demoman had become friends. Fearing that the two would eventually find out they both work for the same person, the Administrator told Miss Pauling to contact Saxton Hale and order some new custom weapons as she was going to make the friends compete with each other.

This comic continued over the next few days alongside the update itself. It continued on to show Saxton Hale being contacted and shipping out the new weapons, and the Demoman and Soldier being tricked into competing with each other.