Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with fortress

idkfa - do not want!

phredgreen — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 17:13:17 -0800

I'm fairly noobish to Team Fortress 2, and wanted a place to practice some sniping and heavy action without getting my face blown off by seasoned pros. Some light reading online indicated that there were "achievement servers" - special custom levels set up to practice your skills, so I found one in the serverlist and connected. Once in, another player chatted me to type in !givemeall for more information. What happened was quite jarring. All of a sudden I'm getting nearly every achievement in the roster. Achievements that I was looking forward to working for - boom, there. Every unlockable (except hats), in my backpack. Sounds like a noob's dream come true, but I wanted to earn my goodies, just like everyone else.

I've done some more searching online and the only things I've found were links to apps that I don't much trust, along with dire warnings of being VAC-banned for modding your setup. Beyond that, I joined the forums, but again, all threads about this subject led to little. I have no idea how to directly contact a Moderator or Valve to see if they can correct this issue.

Now I'm kitted up like a champ, but feel like a chump. I'm wondering if anyone here knows of a way to (legitimately) reset their achievements/unlocks themselves or contact Valve and ask them to do so. I feel cheated, and would much rather just reset and then start all of my achievements over again. Any help or suggestions you could offer would be much appreciated.

I get sniped whenever I stop to type

lou — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 08:32:03 -0800

Suggest a good gaming headset? I've been playing Team Fortress 2 on my PC and figured it's about time to invest in a headset with microphone (for better teamwork, etc) but since I have no experience with these things I didn't want to pick one at random and risk shoddy quality or compatibility issues with the game I'm playing. Maybe the hivemind has some ideas? Here's what I'm considering:

- Is it possible to have a headset where I sometimes use the earbuds for sound, and other times have sound come out of my speakers, while I still use the microphone? I really like sound coming out of the speakers when I know it won't piss off the roommates. I don't know if this means detaching the earbuds, or what.
- Bluetooth? Does this mean I can get a headset that will also work with my phone (bonus, not really important). If I go Bluetooth will it come a receiver for my PC (since it doesn't already have one built in) If I do it, range and battery life should be as good as possible.
- Comfort's not really an issue - I don't plan on playing for hours at a time.
- Sound quality should be decent, shouldn't make me hate listening to it.
- Cost - I don't know if I can find the perfect set for less than $50-- unless you know something I don't! Less than $100 is good.

Thanks.

Which Orange Box to Buy for a PS3/Mac User

Doctor Suarez — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 18:54:57 -0800

Which Way to Go on Valve's Orange Box: the PS3, or Apple Boot Camp. A Two-Part Question. I have both a new, powerful Mac and a PS3. I'm salivating over Valve's Orange Box (containing all Half Life 2 content, Portal, and Team Fortress 2.)

Now the trick is, in which format would I purchase the game?

The PS3 version would cost around $60, and while I hear it's a serviceable port, it's supposedly not the best.

The PC version would be $35, but I'd have to finally get a copy of Windows that can recognize all four cores on my Mac Pro. So it'll actually be MORE expensive, but I imagine a better overall experience. Also, this would not be the only use I'll ever have for Boot Camp, just the impetus to start.

So, the main question: Which way would you recommend I go?

Follow up: If Boot Camp, what's the best OS to get for a 4-core system, assuming gaming is the only use.

Where is that?

Rash — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 13:50:33 -0800

What is this building? Castle, palace or maybe even a hotel, possibly on the Rhine or Danube. It's on the cover of a Viking brochure I received and unlike every other photo inside, this one isn't identified!