TF2's Sniper Trades Rifle For Bow and Arrow

Keane Ng

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Sep 11, 2008
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TF2's Sniper Trades Rifle For Bow and Arrow



Guns? Who needs guns? Team Fortress 2's Sniper is ditching the weapon that gives him his name for a longbow dubbed "The Huntsman."

What's The Sniper without a sniper rifle? Apparently he's a killing machine, according to what Valve is telling us about one of the new items the class will be receiving in its upcoming update. The Huntsman [http://www.teamfortress.com/sniperupdate/] is a longbow that comes with a simple guarantee: "You will shoot them and they will stick to the wall and they will die."

The Huntsman boasts a potential instant crit if you score a headshot, and can nail an enemy to the wall as "a bolt-ridden corpse hanging...that's gruesome and funny." If the crit or the arrow doesn't kill them, the arrow will stay lodged in the target's body, which not only sounds like it'll be worth a laugh but also might prove pesky to a spy whose cloak won't hide the giant arrow sticking out of the back of his head. The weapon carries 18 arrows and will require a one-second charge for "full power shots."

As revealed last week [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/91518-Valve-Teases-TF2-Sniper-Update], one of Valve's objectives with the class pack is to encourage the Sniper to get out of his roost and into some more face-to-face engagements with his targets. The Huntsman could do that, especially with the one-second charge for power shots that'll potentially make it easier to do some shoot-and-dodge instead of stand-far-away-and-wait-and-shoot.

Now I think bows are pretty cool, but I can see how gun nuts might be upset that the alternative to one of the most lethal weapons in TF2 is going to be a piece of wood and string. A bow-and-arrow is totally weaksauce compared to a sniper rifle, they will say. "Aren't bows are primitive and harmless?" they will ask. To which Valve will respond: "Why don't you ask the dinosaurs? Except you can't, because the cavemen bow and arrowed them to death." It's true, you know.


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wordsmith

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May 1, 2008
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Keane Ng said:
To which Valve will respond: "Why don't you ask the dinosaurs? Except you can't, because the cavemen bow and arrowed them to death." It's true, you know.
... Bloody hell, that makes sense....
 

Cpt. Red

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Jul 24, 2008
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TF2 said:
The question is how to stop these cheaters from wind-sprinting around like they own the place. And the answer is to pin them to a wall. How? With arrows!

"Now, hold on," you might be thinking. "I'm strong, but no one could throw an arrow that hard." Introducing the Huntsman longbow, which solves that age-old throwing problem.
Made me lol...

Seriously though, bows and arrows? How do they come up with this shit?!?!? (meant in the most possible positive meaning)
 

Bobkat1252

The Psychotic Psyker
Mar 18, 2008
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I'm both enthralled and disappointed. The sniper is my favorite class for TF2 and as an archer myself, this is makes him even more exciting. The only thing is though, I had sniping in TF2 down to a science, I hope this doesn't screw up my abilities.
 

Cliff_m85

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Feb 6, 2009
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wordsmith said:
Keane Ng said:
To which Valve will respond: "Why don't you ask the dinosaurs? Except you can't, because the cavemen bow and arrowed them to death." It's true, you know.
... Bloody hell, that makes sense....
Until you realize that humans didn't exist when dinosaurs did.
 

man-man

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Jan 21, 2008
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I play a fair amount of sniper... pretty good shot with the ol' rifle (and I'm not exclusively a "watch and wait from high up and well back" type of sniper - occasionally get in to a bit more toe-to-toe range... or at least within a smaller distance of the front line to get a better sniping angle).

We'll see how useful this thing is, but no doubt within hours of release there'll be people who have gotten stupidly good with the thing and they'll be pissing everyone else off until the effective counter strategy gets worked out and permeates through the game. On the other hand, maybe I'll be stood well back and planting bullet after bullet in the skulls of the newly close-ranged archers.
 

Vim-Hogar

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Sep 2, 2008
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Awesome! I mean, I have no idea how well it'll work out gameplay-wise, but it's certainly amusing...
 

nova18

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Feb 2, 2009
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Cliff_m85 said:
wordsmith said:
Keane Ng said:
To which Valve will respond: "Why don't you ask the dinosaurs? Except you can't, because the cavemen bow and arrowed them to death." It's true, you know.
... Bloody hell, that makes sense....
Until you realize that humans didn't exist when dinosaurs did.
Course we did, thats why we forced dinosaurs into slavery and made them into washing machines, showers, dustbins...

[SMALL]Wait, that was the Flinstones.[/SMALL]
 

Tirin

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Oct 17, 2008
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We-ell, seems Valve knows what they're on about. Since the Sniper probably wouldn't, y'know, suck with a bow, and he's using a decent one, it would be able to fire (in my admittedly not expert opinion) 200-odd feet per second, at the very least. And with an arrow... Well, that's certainly lethal if it hits you in the head.

Shame I only have it for the 360, though.
 

Ashbax

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Jan 7, 2009
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Omega 2521 said:
Mrsnugglesworth said:
I have it for the Xbox. Waaaaaah.
It's coming eventually, don't worry.
Dude, on xbox we are still waiting for the new maps. We is NEVAH gonna get the bow and arrow at this rate >.>
 

cainx10a

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May 17, 2008
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And they wonder why Valve is one of the greatest PC developer, and loyal to it's fan base: which is rather a rare attribute in games developer these days.
 

Bobkat1252

The Psychotic Psyker
Mar 18, 2008
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Ashbax said:
Omega 2521 said:
Mrsnugglesworth said:
I have it for the Xbox. Waaaaaah.
It's coming eventually, don't worry.
Dude, on xbox we are still waiting for the new maps. We is NEVAH gonna get the bow and arrow at this rate >.>
I know, but with the release of L4D content on the 360 for free, things are looking up for a release of TF2 content. Maybe once Valve finishes all the class updates they'll do one big release.
 

Earthbound

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Aug 13, 2008
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Ah, I can't wait until this update. I will not be playing sniper. In fact, I probably won't test out the weapons for a few weeks after the update. As a career spy, I will be doing what I do best. I'll be running up to the eight snipers lined up in a row trying to get headshots and plunge my knife into every one of their exposed, defenseless, cowardly BACKS!!!
*deep breathing*
Yeah, I'm going to enjoy the update.