Valce said on January 16th that "a large scale modification" was in the pipe for the game; six days later, PC Gamer UK got the scoop - unlockable weapons for each of TF2's nine classes.
The major gameplay addition is set to role out for the Medic class initially, which will receive two new items that act as alternative versions of its current load-outs. Weapons are unlocked by earning a certain number of achievements, and once unlocked players can select them from a new Loadout menu.
Unlock number one is earned by acquiring half of the thirty five new Medic achievements, the second for acquiring them all.
PC Gamer UK explained, "The unlockables aren't just beefed up versions of the weapons, they balance major advantages and disadvantages to fundamentally alter the role of that class.
"The first Medic unlock, for example, is called the Overhealer. Instead of temporarily buffing people's health to 50 percent above their normal maximum, it permanently boosts them to double their standard health. The downside is that it'll be dramatically worse at building Ubercharge - in fact, Valve are toying with not letting it Uber at all".
Details on the Medic's second unlock are scarce, but it'll be another healing ray that alters the way the class plays.
But the scoop wasn't finished. It additionally revealed a new game mode that'll feature in a brand new TF2 map called Goldrush, the map set to release alongside the already reveled re-worked version of TFC map Badlands.
"One team must escort a small mining cart through a series of Dustbowl-like map segments. The cart moves faster the more Blue players are near it, but stops entirely if even one Red player is in range. Blue have to escort the cart all the way to Red's headquarters within a certain time limit", Gamer said.
Not content with spilling all that detail Wednesday just gone, the magazine waded in the following day with word that Valve is shortly to release a CTF version of map Well, which launched as a control point level in TF2.
We're expecting CTF_Well to arrive next week, and apparently it's a great map with the mode really suiting the layout of the level.
"The area near what was once the second-to-last control points have been renovated to give another set of stairs to the upper floors of each team's home building, but other than that the structure of the map is largely unchanged", PC Gamer explained.
"It's better suited to large numbers of players, since the action tends to be more spread out on CTF maps. As an extreme example, Valve's Robin Walker recalled having to defend his team's dropped intel underwater, in the moat outside the train yard".
Valve's yet to set a release date for the debut of unlockable weapons or the Goldrush and Badlands maps, but with full details now breaking it can't all be too far off.
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Sounds Awesome - Matt
