While some Team Fortress 2 players are left scratching their heads, some have already heard the Announcer's new dialogue used in game. The developer says the update is not related to a new game type.

"We've got something coming, but it's not a new game mode," Valve's Robin Walker says. "The key to understanding the new sound files is to figure out who's hearing them in-game, and who isn't."

Well, that's certainly cryptic, Mr. Walker! Since I've not heard them in-game yet, nor have I taken a survey of who has, we're still trying to figure this one out.

Tell us about that Robin Walker! The Valve developer explains, "It's getting close to being releasable in a beta form."

The basic idea is that after players die or finish a round you are particularly proud of, you can ask the server to send you a demo of it. "The server then sends you a demo that it recorded, which has the complete game state instead of just what your client saw, and it's in a format that's robust and won't break as easily when we update the game," Walker adds. "In addition, the format has a some side benefits, like supporting full backwards and forwards time scrubbing."

Not bad!

Robin Walker interview [TFPortal]

As with most TF2 class updates, general whining ensues about how everything is ruined, how the developers have phoned the update in, and just how unfair the game has become. But with the latest change in how players unlock new items and weapons, an attempt by Valve to limit Achievement gorging to be "First!!!1" to get weapon X or sandwich Y, things are taking a turn for the unbalanced.

The Spy Vs. Sniper update brought about a bit of randomization to item unlocks, dropping Achievement based milestones. That change was an attempt to address the glut of specific classes populating servers every time a new update shipped and to deal with imbalance—the best players were scoring unlockable items much quicker than the noobs, making the playing field even more off-kilter.

So now you just need to play Team Fortress 2 as you regularly would, with unlockable equipment being doled out under less strict rules.

But some of those rules seem too random. Nor are they public knowledge (yet). Players are reporting logging hours and getting nothing. Some are allegedly leaving the game running in spectator mode and reaping the benefits. Not how it was designed, says Valve's Robin Walker.

He tells Rock Paper Shotgun: "As in everything else we do, we want to iterate, so this is really the first step towards our desired implementation. We also think we have bugs in the system as well, since we're seeing some players not finding any items after a few hours of play, which is not at all how it's tuned."

The lack of piss-filled jars is translating to Valve forum piss and vinegar from the community.

"We want unlockable drops to be a pretty regular occurrence for players," Walker explains, "with the cosmetic hats being the rare finds."

Whether that's any comfort to TF2 players feeling slighted by the lack of handouts remains to be seen. No word yet on when players can expect an update to those rules, but hopefully it's soon.

The TF2 Unlock Teacup-Storm [RPS]

You're just going to have to wait a while to see what that tenth class — previously teased in a Left 4 Dead Easter egg — might be, especially since Walker tells the Escapist ""We've got several new class designs floating around, some of which we like a lot." Valve has to get the rest of the class updates — and those Xbox 360 version changes! — out first, with the Scout currently on deck for a revamp.

Even more changes are coming to TF2, according to Walker, including "some riskier, and hopefully more fun, design choices in the near future." The last gameplay mode Valve added, "Payload," was partially a result of fan requests, something Walker says the developer looks to for inspiration.

Walker dishes some heavy hints on what those might be — hello, massive Engineer changes — but you'll have to read the entire interview to find out what they are.

Storming the Fortress [The Escapist]

But there are only nine Team Fortress 2 classes: Pyro, Engineer, Sniper, Spy, Heavy, Demoman, Medic, Scout, and Soldier. Hmmm... Valve's Robin Walker has hinted at such additions in the past. Maybe they're coming sooner than we think.

And, by the way, Valve. Put me down for some of those action figures.