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[Mictlantecuhtli]

I've raegquit twice so far today. I think that's the proper initiation.

[Knick]

I've raegquit twice so far today. I think that's the proper initiation.

If you just started, you are going to be horrible at it.  I initially took the approach (even playing in practice mode) that it was like Doom.  It isn't.  It really isn't.  The reality is that the AI is pretty good, and human players are even better.  It takes a while to learn such basics as charging a heavy when his gun is spun up, or learning to flank as a pyro.  I started as a sniper, switched to pyro, then heavy, then engineer, and occasionally a medic. 

I am still a poor scout, spy, or demoman.  I am a mediocre soldier, depending on the circumstances.  I am not good at rocket jumping.  It takes time to learn each role.

Overall, I suggest finding a character you like, sticking to it, and learning it.

[Mictlantecuhtli]

I'm alright with Engineers and Heavy [which is supposedly the easiest class, FWIW], I've had success recently with sniper. I am god-awful at being a spy though. 2 points is my best. :c

I also got a level 65 bazooka my second day, which was neat. Too bad it kinda sucks.

[Descan]

Spy is relatively easy, but you gotta know peoples habits, the lay-out of the map. And it's a good deal of ambush and lie-in-wait, hence the map-knowing. And some maps just aren't that great for spy. Payloads are generally good, and attack/defence ones, even Control Point. As long as the map A) has a fairly linear goal, so that most people are headed in the same direction and you don't have many people looking behind them, and B) has a fair number of back-alleys you can use to get behind enemy lines, those ones tend to be better spy-playing maps.

Though I have had good times where I just basically saw people I wanted to kill and did it. So it's a bit of a toss-up.

Anyway, even if you get good at the "anticipate where people will come through and what they will do" thing, it's still a toss-up whether you'll be any good in any given round. You can be either at the top of the score-board, or the bottom, there's no real middle-ground. (This might be related to how backstabs give you double points, one for the kill and one for the backstab. So if you get a kill, it counts as most other classes 2 kills. So you could have a mediocre kill-rate in a match but still be leading by like 20 points (assuming you aren't doing anything else, like capping the intelligence or sapping engineer buildings, which tbh you should be doing))

The wiki has some good basic tips for each of the classes, at any rate. General tips, specific strategies, and map-specific class tips.

[Werdna]

Spy is probably the hardest for a beginner.  It benefits the most from map expertise, and is really all about guessing what other players will do and blending in long enough to stick it to them.  At this point you aren't in a good position to predict anything about the veteran player-base, and most of them have years of experience detecting spies.  It's hella fun once you get the hang of it though...   A good basic thing to learn and practice however is to use the cloak to get to an enemy sentrygun unseen, sap it (don't forget a disguise), then try to kill the engineer before he fixes it.  It doesn't require a ton of spy skill, you'll learn the basics of the cloak timing and places to use it, it helps the team, and sentry-removal tricks are a good skill to have in your toolbox. 

[misko27]

Yeah, Spy is that class you get into last if you don't want to be blown up too much. A lot of it is just learning not to get immediately creamed immediately before and after a stab.

If you want to practice, I recommend just disguising and blending in with the enemy for as long as you can. No stabbing, just try walk with the team. It'll take practice to get to a point where you can just be in a place undisguised and not die (for a while I was absolutely sure that I gave off some kind of spy aura that set me off). The other thing is cloak management. You will die a lot from this. Cloak works on everyone from beginners to pros (well, not dead ringer, but that's the exception), and by knowing where the ammo kits are and general places to hide, you can extend your distance tremendously.

[EnigmaticHat]

I stopped playing spy because of how often the class is played on pubby servers.  They seem to favor assassin classes, which is fine I guess.  But when you have three spies on your team, and two of them both suck and are using the dead ringer, you know there's going to be at least one pyro on the enemy team that is doing nothing but spy checking.  A surprise based class does not lend itself to being spammed, and its frustrating because if you wanted to have a reasonable team composition (AKA only one spy) you'd have to constantly switch off whenever some idiot switches and starts going for their one kill every five minutes with the dead ringer.  Which of course means you'll never play spy, because there's always some idiot trying to use the dead ringer.

To clarify, I have no problem with people being bad at TF2.  I just get annoyed because I feel it gets in the way of my fun.

[Putnam]

My favorite type of class rush is spy rush, but only if everyone disguises as a friendly pyro.

[PTTG??]

Best rush is heavy rush.

It is very slow rush.

[JoshuaFH]

I stopped playing spy because of how often the class is played on pubby servers.  They seem to favor assassin classes, which is fine I guess.  But when you have three spies on your team, and two of them both suck and are using the dead ringer, you know there's going to be at least one pyro on the enemy team that is doing nothing but spy checking.  A surprise based class does not lend itself to being spammed, and its frustrating because if you wanted to have a reasonable team composition (AKA only one spy) you'd have to constantly switch off whenever some idiot switches and starts going for their one kill every five minutes with the dead ringer.  Which of course means you'll never play spy, because there's always some idiot trying to use the dead ringer.

To clarify, I have no problem with people being bad at TF2.  I just get annoyed because I feel it gets in the way of my fun.

As a terribad spy myself, I too would like an opportunity to play in a low skill enviornment. It's too bad that alot of kids hop onto pubs, and they see the mysterious lone wolf secret agent James Bond character, and their mouse just naturally gravitates towards him when looking at the class selection screen. Unfortunately, noone tells them that each spy beyond the first merely causes them to step on eachother's toes, and that a single pyro that's doing nothing but 360's can hard counter a dozen spies easy.

[Descan]

This is why I play on smaller servers. 18 players, MAYBE 24 if I'm feeling frisky. As soon as the bottom player drops off my tab-list, it's too big.

[Osmosis Jones]

Best rush is heavy rush.

It is very slow rush.

This. So much, this.

[miauw62]

I used to play on a server where draws would be resolved with Sudden Death. Accompanied by turning everyone into heavies and locking them into melee. Always glorious, but it doesn't happen a lot because they're 24/7 turbine/2fort servers.

[Mr Space Cat]

PTW.

[misko27]

Best rush is heavy rush.

It is very slow rush.

Yes. I was once on a team of 10 heavies, 2 medics. So glorious. We all traveled together (pl_upward), and they basically lost each point as soon as we managed to walk there. Even sentries and spies couldn't stop the armada. A pyro who died near the starting area complained "It was only heavies. What could I have done?" We actually started because these two guys were both eating sandwiches, and someone on the other team replaced the sandwich eating sounds with the Popeye song; he was complaining, so more people went Heavy and started eating. He started panicking as the timer ran out, saying over the microphone "Oh god no all the heavies no".

I also saw a soldier rush though, and that was pretty damned impressive as well. You can't cap against that spam. It was before the Short Circuit got it's thing though, so mileage may vary now.