I've been trying to figure out good loadouts...

[Zalkarmus]

but I think this is best. Thoughts? Looks good and clean. It looks especially good on Blu

[JohnJohn]

Hot

[Alecto]

No Caped Crusader = Not apex Soldier loadout

 

That said yours definitely looks better than some of the ones I've seen out there

 

 

But really if there's a cosmetic you like and you want some suggestions for building around it I'm happy to help

[Strange]

Just go on Loadout.tf, pick some hats and see which cosmetics work well together

[Flamadin]

I am not creative enough to figure out a good loadout, so I either luck into one, or just use an official set.

(The Robin set for scout is my absolute favorite, as a kid who grew up in the 70's.)

 

I like the solider set with Mantreads, and rock professional mantreads, so that any killstreak rocket launcher appears professional.

[Zalkarmus]

2 hours ago, Strange said:

Just go on Loadout.tf, pick some hats and see which cosmetics work well together

I used to have a Chiroptera Venenata War Pig with a Scorching Exquisite Rack. I've tried all sorts of effects, but most of them look just plain bad and hardly ever fit all of the maps. Most of the effects look out-of-place, such as Knifestorm and 13th hour; those are some really ugly effects; hence why they're "unusual" I guess. Burning, Scorching and Sunbeams are overdone. Everyone knows those. They're not impressive or pretty by any means. The new Unusual effects are lame cheap-looking copies. The Portals and Bats are locked away inside backpacks. Nebula isn't wanted anymore because everyone knows it and has seen it; there are tons and tons of Nebula Universal Translators. The only good effects which have somewhat of a legacy and a clean appearance at this point are these:

 

Green Black Hole

Time Warp

Frostbite

Disco Beat Down

 

Disco Beat Down and Frostbite are the best. If I could get a Frostbite Exquisite Rack so that the Soldier remained looking like the Soldier, then I would try to get one, but they're all locked inside backpacks. Therefore, all other effects are pointless. So I'm going the complete opposite direction with no cosmetics.

 

The best looking hat I've found is a cheap one... Disco Beat Down Tyrant's Helm, but I want the Soldier to look like the Soldier. Most of the top-tier Stashes and Racks are locked away.

[OnePunchManatee]

2 hours ago, Zalkarmus said:

I used to have a Chiroptera Venenata War Pig with a Scorching Exquisite Rack. I've tried all sorts of effects, but most of them look just plain bad and hardly ever fit all of the maps. Most of the effects look out-of-place, such as Knifestorm and 13th hour; those are some really ugly effects; hence why they're "unusual" I guess. Burning, Scorching and Sunbeams are overdone. Everyone knows those. They're not impressive or pretty by any means. The new Unusual effects are lame cheap-looking copies. The Portals and Bats are locked away inside backpacks. Nebula isn't wanted anymore because everyone knows it and has seen it; there are tons and tons of Nebula Universal Translators. The only good effects which have somewhat of a legacy and a clean appearance at this point are these:

 

Green Black Hole

Time Warp

Frostbite

Disco Beat Down

 

Disco Beat Down and Frostbite are the best. If I could get a Frostbite Exquisite Rack so that the Soldier remained looking like the Soldier, then I would try to get one, but they're all locked inside backpacks. Therefore, all other effects are pointless. So I'm going the complete opposite direction with no cosmetics.

 

The best looking hat I've found is a cheap one... Disco Beat Down Tyrant's Helm, but I want the Soldier to look like the Soldier. Most of the top-tier Stashes and Racks are locked away.

First off, Chiroptera Venenata is super overrated (which you may or may not agree with, but it bears saying). The bat is a low res png and the flames, like burning and scorching, are super low res and choppy. As for the Halloween clouds, yes, they are out of place, and yes, they can be unattractive, i.e. the tan blob in the middle of knifestorm. However, I'd hardly say that Stormy 13th is "really ugly" in a vacuum, as the cloud's shade of maroon is quite appealing, as are the rain and skull effects (although I suppose that's subjective). Furthermore, while the flames/sunbeams are well-known effects, they aren't overly common anymore due to the sheer number of effects (plus they're pretty pricey, in many cases). While they certainly aren't the prettiest effects, I think you're giving them a bit too little credit, especially sunbeams. Also the idea that nebula, which is pretty much universally agreed to be the best effect in the game, "isn't wanted anymore" just because it has a somewhat common all-class hat is fallacious in the extreme. In the case of the nebula universal translator, despite being mercenary grade and the hat itself being rather unsightly, the average price is still around 250 keys. 

 

While BGH, Time Warp, and Frostbite are certainly top-tier effects, I disagreed strongly with your classification of Disco Beat Down being among the top 4. What of Bonzo the All-Gnawing? Cloudy Moon? Harvest Moon? Galactic Gateway? Dark Doorway? And those are just the old effects. New effects like prismatica and frozen icefall are strong contenders as well, with frozen icefall specifically almost managing to be a straight side-grade to nebula, in my opinion. Plus, Disco Beat Down has an aesthetically confusing mix of red, blue, and yellow, not to mention the white orbs vomited out of an emitter at the base of the effect. It's honestly just a sidegrade to roboactive, except that the colors clash worse and it has jagged beams like Miami Nights (albeit much less noticeable).

 

It's fine to have transitioned away from unusual-wearing, but gross generalizations and jumps between extremes isn't a good look.

[Zalkarmus]

1 hour ago, OnePunchManatee said:

First off, Chiroptera Venenata is super overrated (which you may or may not agree with, but it bears saying). The bat is a low res png and the flames, like burning and scorching, are super low res and choppy. As for the Halloween clouds, yes, they are out of place, and yes, they can be unattractive, i.e. the tan blob in the middle of knifestorm. However, I'd hardly say that Stormy 13th is "really ugly" in a vacuum, as the cloud's shade of maroon is quite appealing, as are the rain and skull effects (although I suppose that's subjective). Furthermore, while the flames/sunbeams are well-known effects, they aren't overly common anymore due to the sheer number of effects (plus they're pretty pricey, in many cases). While they certainly aren't the prettiest effects, I think you're giving them a bit too little credit, especially sunbeams. Also the idea that nebula, which is pretty much universally agreed to be the best effect in the game, "isn't wanted anymore" just because it has a somewhat common all-class hat is fallacious in the extreme. In the case of the nebula universal translator, despite being mercenary grade and the hat itself being rather unsightly, the average price is still around 250 keys. 

 

While BGH, Time Warp, and Frostbite are certainly top-tier effects, I disagreed strongly with your classification of Disco Beat Down being among the top 4. What of Bonzo the All-Gnawing? Cloudy Moon? Harvest Moon? Galactic Gateway? Dark Doorway? And those are just the old effects. New effects like prismatica and frozen icefall are strong contenders as well, with frozen icefall specifically almost managing to be a straight side-grade to nebula, in my opinion. Plus, Disco Beat Down has an aesthetically confusing mix of red, blue, and yellow, not to mention the white orbs vomited out of an emitter at the base of the effect. It's honestly just a sidegrade to roboactive, except that the colors clash worse and it has jagged beams like Miami Nights (albeit much less noticeable).

 

It's fine to have transitioned away from unusual-wearing, but gross generalizations and jumps between extremes isn't a good look.

I got a lot of hate last time when I posted here, but I'm turning out to be right. People look like asses when they go on Harvest with Dark Doorway or any of those moons. It's also unfortunate that those moons were never unboxed en masse on actual good hats. The really good effects don't exist - just more Sunbeams, Burning and Scorching get unboxed. Harvest Moon is out of place on bright maps. It's a Halloween effect. Bonzo the All-Gnawing is another random, weird one. Cloudy Moon is just a moon in a cloud, so you need to be on night maps - Secret is the better version of it, so fewer people use Cloudy Moon and that's why it pops up for sale more often. It's that none of them really fit on every map. They should fix the old effects before adding new ones. On top of that, you can just go on Skial and wear whatever you want. As I said in my old thread about a year ago, the prices of old H'weens will remain high, almost never to be sold again and kept in backpacks by people who don't play the game, and the prices of Sunbeams, Burning and Scorching will remain the same or go down because no one wants to pay full price for those either, as more and more are unboxed.

 

I paid 900 keys for the Scorching Exquisite Rack about a year ago, and resold it at a loss, and now people want as much as 1,500 keys for one. That's ridiculous when there are four or five of them up for sale. The prices of these unusuals go up, but they don't sell.

[DRIFTA]

shittalks all the halloween effects and then says DBD is the best effect loool

[Vebster]

wait, did you all just started talking about loadouts after his joke that default loadout is the best?

or maybe i just don't understand something smh

[Zalkarmus]

22 hours ago, Vebster said:

wait, did you all just started talking about loadouts after his joke that default loadout is the best?

or maybe i just don't understand something smh

I don't really want any Unusual effects anymore. There's something too overbearing about most of them. There aren't any in-betweens. For example as to what I mean: I would like to see Sunbeams made less overbearing, with the beams a little more subdued and made more gleaming rather than bright with long beams. More like a small glow. I basically gave away all of my Unusuals and items so I could see what it feels like to have nothing, and when I see Burning Flames or Scorching Flames on a server, I see how overrated they look. I don't like them. Frostbite is the best effect in the game, more so than Disco Beat Down, but Disco Beat Down is the best for the price. They're very cheap. Orbiting effects glitch out to Hell. I had a Morning Glory Rack and a Morning Glory Team Captain, and the sun glitched out all the time. I saw someone wearing one and the sun was glitching out, flying outside the clouds, so I know it's not just client-side.

[Alecto]

2 hours ago, Zalkarmus said:

I don't really want any Unusual effects anymore. There's something too overbearing about most of them. There aren't any in-betweens. For example as to what I mean: I would like to see Sunbeams made less overbearing, with the beams a little more subdued and made more gleaming rather than bright with long beams. More like a small glow. I basically gave away all of my Unusuals and items so I could see what it feels like to have nothing, and when I see Burning Flames or Scorching Flames on a server, I see how overrated they look. I don't like them. Frostbite is the best effect in the game, more so than Disco Beat Down, but Disco Beat Down is the best for the price. They're very cheap. Orbiting effects glitch out to Hell. I had a Morning Glory Rack and a Morning Glory Team Captain, and the sun glitched out all the time. I saw someone wearing one and the sun was glitching out, flying outside the clouds, so I know it's not just client-side.

Sounds to me like you want Vivid Plasma

There's also the new plasma effects (Genus Plasmos, Serenus Lumen, Ventum Maris) that might be worth a look

 

[Zalkarmus]

 

On 12/25/2020 at 1:58 PM, Alecto said:

Sounds to me like you want Vivid Plasma

There's also the new plasma effects (Genus Plasmos, Serenus Lumen, Ventum Maris) that might be worth a look

 

 

I don't like Vivid Plasma much either. Hmm... I don't know what to do. I played a few MvM matches and found it fun, but I don't want to waste money on it and I don't know what else to do now. I've given away or sold all my cosmetics. From $3,500 to $340. TF2 competitive scene doesn't seem realistic. CS:GO sucks. I can't find any games on Steam I want to play except for maybe Street Fighter V... Just bored now.

 

All of this money stuff to buy high-tier cosmetics doesn't really matter... but if you don't want anything, then what else do you do?

 

Edit: My main problem is that I'd like to have everything. I'd like a Burning TC, Burning War Pig, Frostbite Exquisite Rack, Hellfire Rack, Sunbeams Soldier's Stash, Manndarin Flames Australium Rocket Launcher and a Golden Pan. I had some of that, but oh well. None of it is real. I realize I'm talking to nobody, but I'm thinking...

 

Just look how clean. Look at the clean

[Zalkarmus]

I'm gonna make a sh*tty review of every Unusual effect because I'm bored.

[Zalkarmus]

If they're not listed, then it means they're too new, plastic-y looking, and overly-polished that they stand out strangely compared to 1st Gen effects

 

Bee Swarm - not even worth mentioning unless you can get it on a Hive Minder and then it might be worth 50 keys

Dead Presidents - not worth mentioning unless it's on certain stereotypically "black" Demo hats

Aces High - underrated effect that looks clean, but doesn't stand out

Nuts n Bolts - useless effect unless it's on a good Engineer hat, and even then it's bad

Steaming - can look okay, but ultimately just smog that obscures the hat you're wearing

Smoking - same as Steaming, but this looks like an uglier black blob

Terror-watt - Kill-a-watt is the better brother, and this looks ugly

Massed Flies - barely noticeable and useless, the worst effect in the game probably

Bubbling - only good on cute hats

Orbiting Planets - only good as a second Unusual effect, but still erratically pops in and out of clouds

Kill-a-watt - the best electricity effect and can look cool on higher-tier hats like the Team Captain but on most hats looks ugly

Orbiting Fire - random orbiting tiny flame. Not much to say about it. Not ugly, but not interesting

Miami Nights - underrated effect, but only looks good on all-class hats and specifically fedora-style hats, along with a few Engie hats

Stormy Storm - a solid effect, but pretty boring, makes the player stand out too much with a big grey blob above the head

Cloud 9 - okay effect and looks alright on Medic hats, but ultimately a downgrade from the 1st Gen effects, overall boring

Starstorm Insomnia - decent effect, but overshadowed by others, only looks good on cute hats

Blizzardy Storm - very good effect, but really just a white blob above the head that makes you stick out, so it's not quite that desirable

Neutron Star - looks okay on space-themed hats, but not much to say about it as it's very static

Disco Beat Down - best of the cheap effects, but there are lots of them, can look high-tier on some hats and cheap-o bargain bin on others

Vivid Plasma - my most hated effect along with its brother, a very detestable effect

Starstorm Slumber - decent effect, but overshadowed by others, only looks good on cute hats

Green Confetti - this is a good effect, probably the best if you want a subtle effect, but kind of a random eyesore after a while

Purple Confetti - also a good effect, but ultimately becomes a random eyesore

Tesla Coil - okay standalone effect, a little above average

TF Logo - not a bad effect, just not anything special, an ad for the game you're playing

Molten Mallard - random and glitchy

White Lightning - actually a decent effect, but not common on good hats

Omniscient Orb - too static and 2-dimensional

Green Energy - solid effect, nothing much bad to say about it, but it's just a green blob

Purple Energy - solid effect, nothing much bad to say about it, but it's just a purple blob

Haunted Phantasm Jr. - boring effect, not much to say about it

Stare From Beyond - the best of the blob effects because it has eyes

Ghastly Ghosts Jr. - boring effect, not much to say about it, but looks decent when paired with other purple effects

Overclocked - not good

The Ooze - another one of the three best blob effects because it has eyes and some color

Death at Dusk - broken Unusual effect, needs fixed because the sun escapes the clouds often and makes you look like an idiot

Circling Heart - okay on cute hats for Medic

Morning Glory - broken Unusual effect, needs fixed because the sun escapes the clouds often and makes you look like an idiot

Fifth Dimension - okay effect, but too Halloween-themed to be a staple effect

Amaranthine - best of the blob effects

Sunbeams - one of the best, most solid effects and works on almost any hat, but is very basic and common

Frostbite - the best standalone effect in the game because of its rarity and "Community Sparkle" smog above the hat

Phosphorous - rarer, but more random downgrade to Burning Flames

Cauldron Bubbles - only good when paired with another green effect like Chiroptera Venenata or Demonflame

Haunted Ghosts - good secondary effect, but not very noticeable on day maps

Green Black Hole - decent standalone effect (probably one of the best standalone effects, but that's not saying much), honestly pretty grotesque

Searing Plasma - why this effect is so expensive I have no idea, looks low-tier on every hat it's available on

Chiroptera Venenata - I like the bat effects, but the "Adjust Unusual" slider is broken so it doesn't look as clean as it could look when paired with Scorching or Demonflame

Burning Flames - probably the most solid effect in the game, the effect which makes TF2, but also extremely common, and I expect an average price drop for this effect

Galactic Gateway - good effect for night maps, looks bad on day maps, but not available on good hats

SBTWC - my favorite of the bats and a good standalone effect, but I expect it to be broken like other bats

Dark Doorway - good effect for night maps, looks bad on day maps, but not available on good hats

Sulphurous - poor man's Burning but rarer

Hellfire - very solid looking effect, but only when paired with Burning Flames or SBTWC; choose Burning Flames or SBTWC over Hellfire by itself

Anti-Freeze - okay effect, but doesn't look "classic" like Scorching

Demonflame - only good when paired with CV or Scorching; choose CV or Scorching Flames over Demonflame by itself

Darkblaze - only good when paired with Poisoned Shadows and maybe Ancient Eldritch; not interesting by itself

Bonzo the All-Gnawing - good looking effect (but too themed), makes me wonder why they made this one so large compared to other Unusual effects

Circling Peace Sign - boring effect, some might like it, but it's just an orbiting peace sign... think about it

Misty Skull - just a floating skull image; ultimately a downgrade to Secret

Abduction - okay effect but not readily available on good hats

Cloudy Moon - boring effect, just a moon in a cloud; downgrade from Secret

Arcana - one of the best standalone effects in the game, but can't be paired with other effects because none really match the sheen; looks pretty, but isn't really cool in any way

Spellbound - one of the best standalone effects in the game but like Arcana, just looks pretty and not "cool"

Knifestorm - ugly effect on most hats with its weird pairing of dark purple and red blood, but might work okay on spy hats because you don't see it

Scorching Flames - very good standalone effect but not as good as Burning Flames; looks cheaper and less classic than Burning

Stormy 13th Hour - weird effect; not a fan; big dark purple blob

Harvest Moon - a decent effect, but only seems to work on Asian-themed hats like Killer's Kabuto or Furious Fukaamigasa

It's a Secret to Everybody - the best cloud effect in the game bar none

Time Warp - decent looking effect, but still kind of ugly; it's better than GBH

Roboactive - Robo effects aren't that great and this one is an ugly color of purple; yes, it stands out but at what cost?

Poisoned Shadows - very good effect but "Adjust Unusual" slider is broken; not good by itself; good if paired with Darkblaze

Nebula - good effect, but not available on any good hats

 

Overall, the best standalone effects are Burning, Scorching, Frostbite, Disco Beat Down, and Sunbeams on certain hats; Sunbeams has a cheap look to me like Disco Beat Down at this point, and I feel as if Burning is still and will always be the main go-to effect because of the unavailability of the best and rarest Halloween-pairing effects, and the unavailability of Frostbite. However, there are countless Burning hats at this point and if somebody wants one, they will be able to get one, so I expect the price of 1st Gen hats to drop as more stack up on Backpack.tf classifieds.

[Zalkarmus]

God caught me again. I bought a cheap Disco Beat Down War Pig on SCM for $90 because I saw a deal... I found a good loadout I like with it painted Team Spirit, with Kringle and All-Father + Original and this made me want MOAR. I started looking into my old Burning Flames War Pig again and tried to Paypal a guy for some keys... it sends the money to SCM but not to unverified sellers... I'm too lazy and annoyed with myself to try to fix the issue. I'm not paying $450 for a BF War Pig when my dream Unusual is like $16,000 in a Burning Flames TC... At a certain point, you gotta stop yourself... What else is there to do though? Gotta relax because there can be no end to it.

 

I really want to just buy a bicycle and buy the Burning Flames TC. Maybe someday, but that day is not today. Scratch that; never. And in the meantime I tell myself, well, I'll make do with a Burning War Pig... and the cycle continues. Don't get into Unusual trading, whatever you do heh. Not worth it. Everything is crashing.

[Zalkarmus]

I'm gonna have one last good long rant. I'm tired of video games. Especially single-player games. Cyberpunk 2077 is an abomination. I put on Unusuals in the Skial servers and after a while I just saw them as eyesores. I put on my Disco Beat Down War Pig and it literally hurt my eyes and head to have it equipped. I'm playing and I see a Sniper with a Burning/Stormy Storm combo and I just go... take that off, man. Geez. They get annoying. Now, I would play on Skial, but there are no random crits, and for Soldier, this is basically a death sentence. Once I shot two rockets and hit with three melees to a sandviching Heavy, and he instakilled me with the minigun after all that. That was really annoying, so I don't go on Skial servers. At the same time, I get annoyed by all the Unusual effects, but I do recognize the devaluation Skial's item system causes to real Unusuals. Along with all this, there are 5+ Burning and 5+ Scorching Exquisite Racks up for sale, all for 1000+ keys. That is over $2,000 for a misc that is oversaturated on the market. Way, way, way inflated there. Think about that. Meanwhile, I'm going 34:12 in a pub with a unique Team Captain, Kringle, and All-Father. Seriously, we gotta get away from these eyesores, man. Burning Team Captain is like $16,000 if you can find one and a Burning War Pig is like $450, but I want neither even though I could get the Burning War Pig today. I just don't want to see that flame on my head anymore. It's like some sort of relief.

 

Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.