Account types

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Revision as of 02:46, 26 August 2011 by Rocket Ship BBQ (talk | contribs) (Partially readded my edit because 1.F2P *can* receive gifts, 2.F2P players *can* get hats from friends trading, 3.felt necessary to say only cosmetic items unable to craft, except set hats.)
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Way to go, pally!
The Scout on the decision to make TF2 free

Team Fortress 2 offers two main types of accounts; "premium" and "free". On June 23, 2011, with the release of the Über Update, Valve adopted the Template:W (or "F2P") model for the game, creating a distinction in account types for players who purchased the game before June 23 and players who download the game afterward. Free and premium accounts only differ in restrictions on the system of items, and as such, no restrictions for either type affect gameplay or offer particular players any advantage over others.

Comparison

The free account type defines all players who have activated the game on Steam on their respective account. In comparison to premium accounts, the free account offers players less capability to trade, craft and store items in their backpack. Free accounts reduce the player's backpack size to only hold 50 items, and disable some cosmetic crafting blueprints available to them. In addition to this, the player can only receive items through trading and cannot send items through trading. Additionally, the item drop system will only drop Standard items (only weapons).[1] Although typically no gameplay restrictions are placed on free accounts, dedicated server plugins have been developed to block players with free accounts from connecting to the server at all. Some game-altering set hats are also unable to be crafted. Additionally, the Team Fortress 2 Beta is only available to premium players.

A premium account is an account that has purchased a copy of Team Fortress 2 when it was sold prior to June 23, 2011, and any free account that has activated the game and has made a purchase from the Mann Co. Store. The premium account type offers no newer restrictions on obtaining and storing items, nor on standard gameplay. Players who purchased Team Fortress 2 prior to June 23 were also rewarded with the Proof of Purchase all-class headwear item.

Item system restrictions

Feature Free Premium
Backpack Limited to 50 slots 300 slots (expandable to 1000 with the use of the Backpack Expander tool)
Items Standard[1] Standard, Rare, and Cosmetic[1]
Crafting Limited blueprints[2] All blueprints
Trading Can only receive items Can send and receive items
Gift Wrap Can only receive gift-wrapped items Can send and receive gift-wrapped items

Upgrading account type

Players with free accounts can upgrade their account to premium by making any purchase of any amount from the Mann Co. Store. While the least expensive item on the Store at present is the Crit-a-Cola (priced at $0.99 / £0.79 / 0.95 / 92rub / R$ 4.99 / 4.10), the minimum amount that can be stored in the player's Steam Wallet is $5.00 / £4.00 / 5.00€. Upon purchasing any item, the player's account is immediately upgraded to the 'premium' type and all previously-imposed restrictions are removed.

Players who had previously purchased a retail copy of Team Fortress 2 will have their account upgraded to premium upon activation of the game on Steam, and will also receive the Proof of Purchase item.[1]

See also

References

  1. a b c d Team Fortress 2: Free-to-Play FAQ, tf2.com, June 23, 2011. Accessed June 26, 2011.
  2. List of blueprints available to free players

External links