And in non-WoW news…

I’ve been playing a huge amount (for me) of Team Fortress 2 lately.

The new interest in the game is due in part to a new podcast I’ve been listening to called Control Point. I started with the inaugural episode posted back in October 2007 and am up through episode 12 or 13 now. They’re a great group of hosts, with lots of laughter and great information to share – which is exactly my type of podcast.

I’ve played some casual TF2 on and off since I bought the Orange Box through Steam when it was released last fall, and it’s still the best multi-player shooter I’ve ever played. Or at least the most fun. I found Counterstrike, Halo and Battlefield 2142 to be interesting, but not all that fun to play. The simplicity of the gameplay, the classic art direction and the tongue-in-cheek humor of TF2 is exactly what I need in a shooter.

I’m still at only 76% completion for in-game achievements, but finishing those aren’t all that important to me. The best thing about this game for me is contributing to the cause…pushing through the front lines from behind a flame-thrower or a bazooka, or sprinting around healing everyone I can so they can hold a control point and keep the pressure on the incoming offensive. It’s such a rush to be in the midst of that frenetic gameplay.

My favorite class used to be the soldier or the pyro, but lately I’ve been running medic if I can. The funny thing about playing a medic is the surprise you get from teammates when they realize you’re actually healing them when they need it. It’s nice to be in that support position. And a really great side-benefit is that I get a crapload of kill assists, depending on whether I’m healing someone when they make a kill. So even though I’m a healer, I usually end up in the upper ranks of the scoreboard.

And really, nothing is more satisfying than when I see an opportunity to nail someone with my melee bonesaw. God I love that.

Here’s a random screenshot from this weekend. The theme of the hour was for the entire team to play as one class…in this case: engineers. Lots of nice defensive positions, but we were battered all to hell by soldiers, heavies and demomen in the end. And it must have been heaven on Earth for sapper spies.