Sniper vs. Spy Update

“

The Adelaide Assassin, The High Lama of Head Trauma, The Sniper vs. The Duke of Spook, The Prime Minister of Sinister, The Spy.

— Blood Feud in the Badlands Poster

”

The Sniper vs. Spy Update was the first two-class patch, and was the fifth major content pack released. The update was first announced on April 1, 2009, and was released on May 21, 2009.

The update was initially believed to be for the Sniper only, and it wasn't until Day 4 of announcements that it was revealed to be for the Spy also.

Announcements

The Sniper vs. Spy Update page officially began on May 12th, 2009, as announced on the TF2 Official Blog post "G'day". The update was released on May 21st.

Day 1: The Huntsman was announced.
Day 2: The Payload Race map Pipeline, the first of its game type, and 2 new arena maps, Sawmill and Nucleus, are announced.
Day 3: The Razorback was announced.
Day 4: The Spy was revealed to also be receiving an update. The weapons Dead Ringer and Cloak and Dagger were mentioned with slight details via a picture of an order form from the Spy.

There was a 2-day gap between announcements due to the weekend. Announcements resumed as usual on May 18th.

Day 5: The Spy achievements are revealed as well as Meet the Spy officially being announced. The Meet the Spy video had been leaked the previous day (May 17th) on YouTube due to a bug which allowed iPhones to view videos marked as "Private".
Day 6: The Ambassador was announced.
Day 7: Jarate was announced along with the Sniper achievements being revealed.
Day 8: The Sniper vs. Spy Update is officially released.
Day 9 (Bonus Day): The community map Hoodoo was announced along with the addition of hats

Additions

Weapons

Class	Item Icon	Item Name
Sniper		Huntsman
		Razorback
		Jarate
Spy		Ambassador
		Dead Ringer
		Cloak and Dagger

Hats

Icon	Name
	Batter's Helmet
	Soldier's Stash
	Pyro's Beanie
	Demoman's Fro
	Football Helmet
	Mining Light
	Prussian Pickelhaube
	Trophy Belt
	Fancy Fedora

Maps

Game Mode		Map Name	File Name
Payload Race		Pipeline	plr_pipeline
Arena		Sawmill	arena_sawmill
Arena	150px	Nucleus	arena_nucleus
Payload	150px	Hoodoo	pl_hoodoo_final

Pre-announcement references

While officially announced on May 2nd, 2009, Valve had hinted prior to the release.

"Jarate: The Jar-Based Karate" Flyer

On April 1, 2009, Valve published a post on the TF2 Official Blog, A sneak preview of the next class update!, showing an order form for the Snipers new weapon, Jarate. However, due to the date of the posting (April Fool's Day), many believed the advertisement to be a joke.

Sniper Update Conformation

The next day, April 2, 2009, Valve published yet another post on the TF2 Official Blog, Wave goodbye to yer head, wanker, which confirmed that the Sniper was indeed the next class to be receiving an update. The post also hinted at 2 other updates, one that would be completed before the Sniper Updates release, and another that include some new content for all classes. These were later revealed to be the Spy update and the addition of hats respectively.

Sniper Primary Weapon Exploration

On May 5, 2009, Valve made a post titled You better hold onto your head, mate which explored the reasoning as to how the Snipers new primary weapon came about. It discussed that one of the main reasons for the unlock was due to players feeling hatred towards Snipers, as they were the cause of many deaths that were outside their area of engagement. The article concluded stating that the Snipers new unlock would promote the Sniper to move in closer to his enemies to give them a fighting chance.

Trivia

The Sniper vs. Spy Update also brought about the implementation of the item drop system. For a brief period, the new Sniper and Spy weapons were only obtainable through random drops, regardless of how many achievements had been completed. This was changed back just over a week later with the May 29, 2009 Patch which bought back the Milestone System in addition to the item drop system.
Sawmill (Arena) was the first map for TF2 created and released by Valve that contained an atmospheric effect with the introduction of ambient rain. Along with Pipeline, it was also one of the first official maps to take place at night.

Update progress

Day 1.Release of the Huntsman
Day 2.Release of Payload Race game mode, Pipeline, Nucleus and Sawmill maps
Day 3.Release of the Razorback
Day 4.The Spy takes over. Release of the Cloak and Dagger and the Dead Ringer
Day 5.Release of Meet the spy, and the Spy achievements
Day 6.Release of the Ambassador
Day 7.Release of the Jarate and the Sniper achievements
Day 8.Release of the complete update
Bonus day. Release of the first 9 Hats and Hoodoo becomes official map