The new Team Fortress 2: Mann vs. Machine Update is exactly what the game needed. Something that actually required teamwork. Unfortunately that is not how the average player is used to playing.
Community Servers
The first thing to say here is that you might spend more time waiting to get in Mann vs. Machine than you do playing. There are not nearly enough of them and the number of players that can play on a server for Mann vs. Machine is much less than a standard game. Even when you start loading onto a server you might get a bad connection and get thrown out. In order to get into a game in a timely fashion my friend made his own server for our friends to enjoy. My suggestion is that if you think that there is any possible way you could make your own server, then try it out. Otherwise the time you spend getting onto a server will be lengthy for quite a while to come.
Mann Up Servers
After paying a dollar you get to play on the Mann Co. servers, I would think they would make enough to take care of everyone, but no. There is still a wait and bad connections with the Mann Co. servers for Mann vs. Machine although it is not nearly as long as the community servers wait. I wish they would be a bit more realistic with the wait times though. The wait goes down to about a minute and then right back to ? or a large number of minutes. If they have no idea then just keep it at ?. I hope they at least add more servers for this aspect since people are paying for the privilege to play on them.
It says four minutes, but it was lying.
Mann vs. Machine Gameplay
The difficulty for Mann vs. Machine is doable if you have teamwork. Not all the different missions are the same difficulty though. If one specific mission is giving you trouble give another one a try. The large enemies that have special abilities are a nice touch. Figuring out what is coming and how to deal with the challenge is a nice change of pace for TF2. Eventually there will be guides and the whole process will become standardized, but being there in the beginning and discovering counters ourselves is a good feeling. Going in with random people though does not usually ensure teamwork though. TF2 has never required teamwork in the past. People all have their own ideas of the best way to play and do not want to hear ideas about what they should be doing.
Overall
If you have not tried Mann vs. Machine mode yet you definitely should. Maybe you should wait until it is not so new and full though. Hopefully the server problem will be taken care of soon.
Tips For Playing
- Get a group of people you know together to play. Random people generally will not be able to put together the level of teamwork needed for playing this mode.
- Engineers and classes that can do lot of damage are necessary.
- On rounds with spies have someone help the Engineer, so he doesn’t die or get sapped by spies.
- Engineers should learn to pick up their items right when the Sentry Buster crouches down. It can not move any more after that. The Sentry Busters are usually the smallest problem for a team, so do not expect them to be killed every time.
- Make sure that your team puts an emphasis on picking up the money. If you do not get enough money for upgrades the later stages will be that much harder for you.
- Don’t get wedded to only one class. Sometimes a person will need to switch to another class for a round and not put any points in it to give the team what they need.
- Don’t switch your weapons. Figure out what you need ahead of time.
- Engineers should put their dispensers down where the other classes can use them as well. There is an ability to increase the range so everyone should be able to use it if it is placed right. Also going to get more ammo and health can mean that the whole team loses.
- If you are on the last round use all you have. Buyback and canteens are your best friends since you do not have to prepare for any other rounds.
Here we are messing around after winning a hard earned victory.
