Free weekend. Left 4 Dead getting stale. Figured I’d try TF2.
I was with it enough to pick a medic, since my team didn’t have one. I joined, and within seconds saw at least three cries of “MEDIC!” I had no clue where the people yelling for me actually were. I followed a random team member for a few seconds, and promptly got set on fire.
How do I get started with this game without completely destroying my team’s fun? It’s especially hard because I’m what you might call, cartographically challenged, and probably need to play a given map dozens of times before I figure out where I’m going.
I love the tone of the game (Phoenix showed me Meet the Spy last night :D), but I’m literally scared to play - help!
Thanks!
Don’t be scared. Have fun!
If you’re a medic and people on your team are yelling at you for screwing up, ignore them because they’re assholes.
Pyro and soldier are pretty good noob classes. My personal fav is the demo man.
Bad medics get good players killed and then your team loses.
Shut up, Palooka.
Medic is one of the easiest classes to play, for two reasons:
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Aiming the medic gun is easy; once you’re locked on and healing you just have to keep from getting too far from your teammate.
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You basically play by following people, which means learning the maps easily, especially if you’re following one of the top players in the server.
Hearing a cry for ‘Medic!’ is one thing - the thing to do next is look for the icon. Remember that you’ll hear the cry even if the player is on the other end of the map, so don’t panic if you can’t get to them immediately. The medic-request icon looks like a cartoon chat bubble with a red cross in it, and it will be red for someone really low on health and on fire if they’re on fire. So prioritize, and don’t be surprised if you don’t get there in time when there’s only one medic on a team. (Two medics on a team can work wonders.)
The second rule of thumb is this: always be healing. Even if you’re running alongside somebody newly-spawned with full health, your medgun will Overheal (a set bonus amount of health which will fade over time) and will build your Ubercharge, which is why the Medic is one of the most important players on a team. You use the Uber by hitting Mouse2, and both you and whoever you’re healing are invincible for ~10 seconds. Most often, you’ll want to do this with a Heavy or Demo (to push past a sentry or two blocking the team’s progress) or a Pyro (to just wreak havoc on a group of enemies with impunity). Whoever you Uber will instinctively rush into the nearest group of enemies, so make sure you do it as close as possible so you have at least a slight chance of running away when it wears off.
If you’ve never dealt with enemy spies before, just remember this: any teammate who’s not firing their weapon when they’re near enemies, or who you don’t clip through when your character runs towards them, is suspect. If your back is turned on a spy, they can kill you in one. By the same token, don’t waste your ammo shooting all your teammates - Pyros can spy-check much more easily.
If you don’t have anyone to heal and you run into trouble, don’t be afraid to switch to the Syringe gun. Be aware it is one of the… wackier weapons in TF2. It arcs slightly downward, and the syringes are incredibly slow, so you’ll likely have to lead whoever you’re shooting at by a good few inches on the screen. It does okay damage, tho, so just practice.
Don’t give up, and, as always, have fun! :3
**Palooka **is right though, correct?
What happens is that the strong player is holding back defending because they’re unable to overcome the opposition at the next point. When they get a medic attached, they push out. If the medic doesn’t follow, they’re suddenly overextended, get swarmed, and die. Frequently they were the only person good enough to defend the position they were at, so it’s lost while they’re waiting to respawn.
This happened about a dozen times in a game I just played.
Being a medic is hard. It takes a high awareness of what’s going on and the same from whoever you’re healing.
Skilled medics are essential, but there’s almost always at least one on your team. I’d rather a newbie try his best as a medic than do nothing with a heavy or a sniper.
The best way to be effective immediately is to play soldier. A bad soldier is still a 200 HP beast with a rocket launcher. Just follow around a medic and try to stand between him and anything going at him or cover his flank for him if he isn’t any good. Having someone cover a bad medic makes that medic a lot more effective, since his primary target doesn’t need to waste focus or loaded ammo protecting him.
A big cluster of death around the medic is how you push out and take points. Help build one. If you’re not good enough to be its nucleus, you can still add to it.
Another thing about medics: be sure to heal the other medics on your team. For some reason, a lot of beginner medics seem to completely ignore the other healers. Two medics healing the rest of the team and making sure they both stay alive is extremely effective.
Medic is a lot of fun. Not just the healing, which can really tip the odds in your team’s favor. The bonesaw is a lot of fun to hack at people with. I’ve killed my share of folk with it. 
Sorry for being short, Palooka - it looked like you were doing a drive-by without actually sharing information.
Soldier is a great class if you can get the drop on your opponents - if not, the rockets fire a bit slowly to be effective at mid-range for a new player. Pyro is also a good easy class, but remember it’s most effective if you hug the corners and get in people’s faces. Demo is actually a bit tricky with bouncing bombs (but the best at disabling sentries), and the most complex classes are Engi and Spy.
I’ve played Medic since TFC, so maybe I have a skewed idea of it, but I still maintain it’s one of the easiest classes to start out as. A clan or other well-linked group might well rely on the medics to be the de facto leader and pacesetter, but for most servers you can do fine just keeping the heals coming and staying out of harm’s way.
Thanks so much for the information, guys! I managed to actually play last night, and luckily wound up in a point capture game with a lot of other ignoramuses (and some friends, which helped a lot), and it was pretty much just a free-for-all of striking out individually, dying, and respawning. A terrible environment if you know what you’re doing, I’m certain, but it was perfect for learning a bit about the game and the classes.
Playing a Medic in that mosh was relatively simple. And it was clear that not getting to people before they died was not a big deal at all. Still, I agree that Medic would be a key position in an organized team, and you would do well to know more about the ins & outs of the game before taking it on.
You know what’s simple, though? Setting people on fire! 
I tried most of the classes last night and definitely did best as Pyro. I think I’m naturally a “lurking around corners” type person, and not needing pinpoint aim is definitely a plus for me. I like spy-checking too. I even got some achievements!
So thanks for encouraging me to keep trying. I bought the game and will definitely be playing beyond the weekend.
I’ve always wanted to try this game but always been too afraid that my uselessness would just irritate everyone else.
Is there any newbie friendly SDMB games going on with it?
The one thing I’ve noticed – perhaps I’ve just been lucky – is that most people playing don’t take the game that seriously. I haven’t gotten attached to any particular server, just whichever one had low latency and an open spot, but in most of the games I played nobody was taking it really seriously, and I never got yelled at for being noobtacular or kicked off any servers. I imagine there are clan servers where folks are balls-out serious and don’t tolerate any stupidity, but I have to think they’re few and far between. As long as you’re comporting yourself in what seems to be a useful manner – IE, throwing yourself at the enemy (or healing folk if you’re a Medic) – nobody complains too much.
Yep… people are pretty forgiving in the game.
For the pure noob, I would recommend cutting your teeth on defense at first, until you get more comfortable with the flow of the game. It will be a bit more boring, but you will die far less.
Pyro - Stick behind groups of friendlies, putting flames on everyone you see. Just one or two bits of ammo… This is known as spy checking, and is very useful for exposing enemy spies which are disguised as friendlies.
Engineer - Build a sentry in a good spot. If you don’t know, ask the other guys on the team to show you where a good spot to put yours is. A well placed sentry, even untended, can prevent a flag capture or halt an enemy advance for a few moments. You’ll want to stick near it in case spies come around to sap them.
Heavy - Stick behind walls and wait to ambush enemies that run past. Be wary of peaking out, as heavies are prime sniper bait. A well placed heavy can ruin anyones day though.
Demoman - Find a good choke point, and put up sticky bombs to blow up opponents that try to run past.
I recommend for all noobs to visit the TF2 wiki. Lots of useful information and tactics.
I really feel I’m starting to get the hang of the game, and I’ve only been playing for a couple of hours. Last night me, Dark2phoenix and Cinnamon were playing on the same team. Me (as a medic) and Phoenix (Heavy) were approaching the last control point. The opposing team was setup to defend their last point, but I had a fully charged Ubercharge. We went in and slaughtered the whole bunch and won the round. The next round we did it again, but I was a soldier and Phoenix was the medic. 