In many ways, it's not. Like any other class update, the War update will reveal three new weapons each for the Demoman and Soldier throughout the week, as well as some maps, achievements, and surprises, right up until the day of release, when everything we've been teasing goes live.
Where the War update differs from other class updates is that we've decided to mix things up a little with, as the Administrator would say, "a healthy competition." A secret, exclusive seventh weapon has also been developed by the TF2 team. In other words, either the Soldier or the Demo (but NOT both) is walking out of this update with one more weapon than the other. If you want your class to have it, you're going to have to fight for it. The more Demomen you kill as the Soldier class will help ensure the Soldier gets the weapon at the end of the week. The more Soldiers you kill as the Demo will help the Demo class get the exclusive seventh weapon. Check back daily to see how your class is doing at the War hubpage — this is also where you'll see links to all the leaked previews of the weapons, maps, and surprises releasing soon with this update.
What if some of you try to cheat to bump the numbers? We'll know. (Though we also know many of you won't be able to resist trying anyway.)
Alright, enough talk. Who'd you rather see get this exclusive new weapon? The Demoman? Or the Soldier? The War starts right now, so get out there and vote with your kills!
As of oh-nine-hundred Eastern Standard time, we are at WAR with the DEMOMAN! That one-eyed bagpipe-playing sonofabitch has been a thorn in our collective sides for long enough! For THIS WEEK ONLY, each and every man brave enough to fight under the Soldier banner will be KILLING DEMOS!
Gentlemen, there comes a time in a man’s life when when HE MUST DRAW LINES! Friendship is FINE for tea parties and shopping trips to the dress store! But when the chips are down, a soldier puts ASIDE friendship for the good of WAR!
Every Demoman gutted, garroted, exploded or otherwise killed by a Soldier will mean a POINT for the Soldier Team! At the end of this week, when the points are tallied AND WE ARE FOUND TO HAVE MORE, we will be awarded an EXCLUSIVE ONE-OF-A-KIND WEAPON.
Gentlemen, I have NO IDEA what this weapon is. I don’t even know if I’ll WANT it. But BY GOD, I know what’s IMPORTANT, and it’s that WE get it and the DEMOMAN DOES NOT.
Am I understood? Then get out there and KILL!
THIS WEEK, lads, we have been granted the opportunity for revenge—against our crew-cutted betrayer, against Brutus Benedict Arnold Judas Bloody Iscariot himself: the SOLDIER! Every Soldier who dies by a Demoman’s hand will be noted in the annals of war. And at the END of this week, when the smoke clears and the dead are tallied, it will be the Demomen who emerge as the most LETHAL BLOODY KILLERS the Soldier’s ever made the great mistake of crossin'!
The Soldier may take our LIVES, mates. They may betray us and they may break our hearts. But they will never take our SATISFACTION. When WE are given an EXCLUSIVE, SECRET EXTRA WEAPON UNLOCK that could have gone to them. And when they look BACK on this week, they will wonder: “Could I have fought HARDER? Could I have killed MORE?” And the answer is: Yes, you bloody well could have. AND THE OUTCOME WOULD STILL BE THE BLOODY SAME.
To war, my loyal Demos! To blood and scotch and bombs! To the death of our betrayers and the sobbin' sound of their dyin' regrets! TO WARRRRRRR!