WETA Workshop takes time off from The Hobbit to design for TF2

by Jessica Conditt on Jul 23rd 2011 5:00AM

In case you missed it buried behind the Soldier's glorious mutton chops, Team Fortress 2's new weapons from Dr. Grordbort's Infallible Aether Oscillators were created in conjunction with WETA Workshop, the makers of Orcs, Na'vi and Prawns for most of the blockbuster movies of this generation.

WETA's Greg Broadmore designed Dr. Grordbort's Infallible Aether Oscillators, which include the Righteous Bison and Cow Mangler 5000, two new weapons in the Victory Pack. To better acquaint players with these stellar WETA weapons, Valve has posted a comic featuring the Soldier and WETA promises special promo coupons at its booth at San Diego Comic-Con. Just watch out for the cow pies.

Source: TF2 Blog

Tags: comic-con-2011, pc, sdcc-2011, STEAM, Team-Fortress-2, valve, victory-pack, WETA

Reader Comments (41)

It says a lot about TF2 when these weapons somehow look generic.

If by "generic" you mean "doesn't scream TF2", that's because they were designed to be retro scifi weapons. And they were designed by another company, as the article says.

The Righteous Bison can be bought from the company. An actual prop. So they couldn't design it to scream "TF2" when it wasn't meant to be a TF2 item to begin with.

@Drakkenfyre Pretty sure Eight Hundred's comment was complimenting Team Fortress 2's unique and crazy art style.

@Hank Hill

Ah, I read it backwards. As being someone unfamiliar with TF2, and thinking these reflecting on the entire game.

@Hank Hill

You know what's generic? Propane tanks. Team up with Dr. Grordbort to make me a crazy, unique propane tank, then we'll talk.

Generic SPUF-based outcry in 3, 2, 1...

Oh, the outcry was 4 days ago.

And some of it was justified.

These weapons use no ammo.
Cow Mangler 5000 has 5 shots per charge. Recharges to reload.
The Cow Mangler 5000 has a charged shot which mini-crits, disables buildings for 4 seconds, and sets people onfire like a Pyro with a half-duration burn.

Only downsides to it are no random crits, and reduced damage to buildings.

@Drakkenfyre They added more downsides and revealed several that weren't known before:

It's current description is this:
Does not require ammo.
Alt-fire: A charged shot that mini-crits players and disables buildings for 4 sec.
-10% damage penalty
No random critical hits
5% slower reload time
Deals only 20% damage to buildings
Cannot be crit boosted

5% slower reload time is new as of yesterday's second update, plus they fixed the charge shot doing more damage than intended (which is the real nerf that was needed to bring it back inline with the other weapons).

Both of these weapons, upon original release earlier this week, bore the quite remarkable distinction of having a massively higher polycount than anything else in the game. The Cow Mangler's itself was literally higher than three classes combined, and it shot a projectile more hardware-taxing than any of the characters themselves.

Suffice to say, they toned it down in a following update, but damn it was ridiculous.

@ouenwoof
Indeed. I play on a laptop, and whenever someone fired the weapon my game went into slideshow mode and I couldn't do anything til I was dead.

I basically couldn't play until they fixed it.

The Cow Mangler 5000 was something like 23,000 polygons.

While the Demo, the highest poly-count character, was around 8000 polygons.

@ouenwoof
get an i7 jeez

@Tihn

Because the solution to an unoptimized weapon in a game, which is higher in polygons than anything else in the game, is to replace your CPU, or buy another system.

Not waiting, like 2 days, for Valve to fix it. Which they already have.

@Tihn
Why don't you buy them for us?

Hopefully someone will go there and give me a coupon code! Yes!?

Maybe some will land on ebay

It drops. The coupon only gives you a unique Righteous Bison. The item still drops, can be crafted, and bought.

@heroftime They are on eBay.. just search "Team Fortress 2", it's not worth it in my opinion though. Just craft it with a Battalion's Backup + Reclaimed

I checked. People are wanting around $13 for it.

It gives you a unique one, but unless it's more than just "Unique, untradeable", it's a rip-off. if you really want to buy it, it's cheaper to buy it in the game.

@Drakkenfyre Yesterday someone had a lot of like 23 of them for 1.99 each

@Nap

That's a shame, because if this awards a unique one, like a Genuine one, even tho I am against paying for weapons, I would have paid $2 for one. That's cheaper than the in-game store, and would have gotten you a unique one.

@Drakkenfyre
It's just a standard "non-tradable" item, so that was five dollars wasted.

Now I can finally live the dream of having an FPS avatar with mutton chops. The pipe is only a glorious extra.

And the info box for TF2 really needs to be changed. It's not $20 anymore (hell, it wasn't $20 for the past two years,)

Thanks WETA, for the most unbalanced weapon in TF2 history. It makes playing as any class other than a soldier just ever so much fun.

The Cow Mangler....TEE HEE!

Ah yes, the Super Overpowered 5000. It'll be nerfed within a fortnight.

@Gandalf the Grey IT was nerfed for the first time yesterday. Namely, it now reloads 5% slower, and the damage for the charged shot was lowered.

However, Valve also updated its list of downsides to match how it's actually implemented in game... Namely "Cannot be crit boosted" and clarified that it "Deals only 20% damage to buildings"

Psh, I'm still getting more kills with the Liberty Launcher. It's better the rocket hits their face faster than some silly laser. Albeit lasers are pretty cool.

But speaking of which, the only gripe I do have about this is the charge shot when it hits. It hits my frames per second like a truck. Hopefully then can fix that a bit.

I don't think the game is ruined by the upgrades but I liked it better without them. I just put in 3 hours last night but I liked it better before all the upgrades and crafting. It would have been better if it was more leveling than random drops. I know people, like WoW addicts, dig random drops but I hate it.

I have not played TF2 this past year or so. You can now buy weapons that changes the balance of gameplay? Or are these purely cosmetic? I stopped playing when they started the micro-transactions. Now it's free to play. Do gamers that actually bought the game New get anything out of it? Can you know buy your way to the top of the leader boards?

@HaVoK308 All weapons have an upside and a downside; some being more or less dramatic than others.

For instance, The Black Box, a rocket launcher for soldier gives +15 Health per hit, but reduces clip size by 25%.

The Cow Mangler 5000, though, seems a bit overpowered (though I've never personally used it) It has 5 shots per clip and infinite ammo, cannot get random critical hits but has a secondary fire charge shot that takes all 5 shots in the clip and does a mini-crit and can disable engineer buildings for like 5 seconds.
I believe I got all of that right.

@HaVoK308 You can get these items as random drops or craft them as well. It's a Reclaimed Metal + Black Box for the Cow Mangler 5000 and Reclaimed + Battalion's Backup for the Righteous Bison.

@MrPistachio An update yesterday changed that, now it's:

Does not require ammo.
Alt-fire: A charged shot that mini-crits players and disables buildings for 4 sec.
-10% damage penalty
No random critical hits
5% slower reload time
Deals only 20% damage to buildings
Cannot be crit boosted

@Powerlord Honestly it should disable buildings for 4 sec but enable the shield on that sentry gun for the duration it's disabled.

Unless engi has some sort of new sentry gun coming out that we don't know about which helps counter some of the new counters.

Almost all weapons are droppable as well as buyable. The things which are exclusive to the store are cosmetic-only.

There are a few weapons which are game tie-ins with other games. To get those you buy the game before the promotion is up. Some of them can drop, or be crafted. The ones that can't are cosmetic.

The tie-in weapons are usually remodels of existing weapons. There are exceptions, like this, but this wasn't based on a game.

So you have a choice, Either wait for the item to drop, craft them, or be impatient and waste a shitload of money on the store. (Weapons range between .49 and $12.99, including this one.)

I'm too fond of my Black Box to use it to craft this monstrosity.

@MrPistachio I traded for another one to craft it, it was worth it, nerfed or not.

Despite their optimizations, being under siege by multiple soldiers using this weapon causes extreme amounts of graphical lag.

This weapon is nothing but trouble.

Tried it, has its uses now and then, but my Black Box + Buff Banner will always be my main

I like their jibe on the Space Marine theme.

Ahh, I prefer the Liberty Launcher anyways. Lol, the rage over the weapon's power is justified however.

Team Fortress 2

WETA Workshop takes time off from The Hobbit to design for TF2

Reader Comments (41)

Posted: Jul 23rd 2011 5:44AM Eight Hundred said

Posted: Jul 23rd 2011 7:31AM Drakkenfyre said

Posted: Jul 23rd 2011 7:57AM Hank Hill said

Posted: Jul 23rd 2011 8:03AM Drakkenfyre said

Posted: Jul 24th 2011 12:29PM TheBrainninja said

Posted: Jul 23rd 2011 5:55AM MintagedVortex said

Posted: Jul 23rd 2011 7:25AM Drakkenfyre said

Posted: Jul 23rd 2011 12:42PM Powerlord said

Posted: Jul 23rd 2011 6:03AM ouenwoof said

Posted: Jul 23rd 2011 6:19AM Neofalcon said

Posted: Jul 23rd 2011 7:27AM Drakkenfyre said

Posted: Jul 23rd 2011 8:24AM Tihn said

Posted: Jul 23rd 2011 8:36AM Drakkenfyre said

Posted: Jul 23rd 2011 8:51AM twocows said

Posted: Jul 23rd 2011 6:54AM heroftime said

Posted: Jul 23rd 2011 7:26AM Drakkenfyre said

Posted: Jul 23rd 2011 9:48AM Nap said

Posted: Jul 23rd 2011 10:49AM Drakkenfyre said

Posted: Jul 23rd 2011 11:18AM Nap said

Posted: Jul 23rd 2011 2:09PM Drakkenfyre said

Posted: Jul 24th 2011 6:03AM mcnichoj said

Posted: Jul 23rd 2011 7:36AM SitriStahl said

Posted: Jul 23rd 2011 7:47AM Drakkenfyre said

Posted: Jul 23rd 2011 9:08AM Unreal Armos said

Posted: Jul 23rd 2011 9:52AM Captain x Kirby said

Posted: Jul 23rd 2011 11:24AM Gandalf the Grey said

Posted: Jul 23rd 2011 12:45PM Powerlord said

Posted: Jul 23rd 2011 11:29AM yab said

Posted: Jul 23rd 2011 11:41AM FriedConsole said

Posted: Jul 23rd 2011 12:41PM HaVoK308 said

Posted: Jul 23rd 2011 12:46PM MrPistachio said

Posted: Jul 23rd 2011 12:46PM Powerlord said

Posted: Jul 23rd 2011 12:47PM Powerlord said

Posted: Jul 23rd 2011 1:01PM Keyelite said

Posted: Jul 23rd 2011 2:07PM Drakkenfyre said

Posted: Jul 23rd 2011 12:47PM MrPistachio said

Posted: Jul 24th 2011 3:53PM Gandalf the Grey said

Posted: Jul 23rd 2011 1:35PM Ignatius said

Posted: Jul 23rd 2011 3:07PM Gaddes said

Posted: Jul 23rd 2011 4:22PM EliminatorZigma said

Posted: Jul 23rd 2011 8:34PM Dooliss said

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