From Team Fortress Wiki

This article is for content released in the update. For the patch itself, see May 21, 2009 Patch

“ — TF2 Official Blog You've met the Scout, the Soldier, the Demoman, the Heavy, the Engineer, and the Sniper. Then, for some reason, a sandwich. But now it's time to meet the stealthiest, shiftiest, most secretive, suit-wearing TF team member of all... ...again... ”

The was the first two-class patch and the fifth major content pack released for Team Fortress 2.

Initially at the center of the update was the Sniper class, and the day by day progress went smoothly. An announcement on Day 4 revealed that the Spy would also benefit from the update. Each class was given three new weapons along with achievements.

The Update was first announced on April 1, 2009, and was released in the May 21, 2009 Patch.

Announcements

The Sniper vs. Spy Update page officially began on May 12th, 2009, as announced on the Official Blog post "G'day". The update was released on May 21st.

Day 1 : The Huntsman was announced.

: The Huntsman was announced. Day 2 : The Payload Race map Pipeline, the first of its game type, and 2 new arena maps, Sawmill and Nucleus, were announced.

: The Payload Race map Pipeline, the first of its game type, and 2 new arena maps, Sawmill and Nucleus, were announced. Day 3 : The Razorback was announced.

: The Razorback was announced. Day 4: The Spy was revealed to also be receiving an update. The weapons Dead Ringer and Cloak and Dagger were mentioned with slight details via a picture of an order form from the Spy.

There was a 2-day gap between announcements due to the weekend. Announcements resumed as usual on May 18th.

Day 5 : The Spy achievements are revealed as well as Meet the Spy officially being announced. The Meet the Spy video had been leaked the previous day, May 17th, on YouTube due to a bug which allowed iPhones to view videos marked as "Private".

: The Spy achievements are revealed as well as officially being announced. The video had been leaked the previous day, May 17th, on YouTube due to a bug which allowed iPhones to view videos marked as "Private". Day 6 : The Ambassador was announced.

: The Ambassador was announced. Day 7 : Jarate was announced along with the Sniper achievements being revealed. A comic was also released that day.

: Jarate was announced along with the Sniper achievements being revealed. A comic was also released that day. Day 8 : The Sniper vs. Spy Update was officially released.

: The Sniper vs. Spy Update was officially released. Day 9 (Bonus Day): The community map Hoodoo was announced along with the addition of 9 new at-the-time cosmetic items.

Additions

Weapons

Cosmetics

Maps

Pre-announcement references

While officially announced on May 2nd, 2009, Valve had hinted prior to the release.

"Jarate: The Jar-Based Karate" Flyer

On April 1, 2009, Valve published a post on the Official Blog, "a sneak preview of the next class update!", showing an order form for the Sniper's new weapon, Jarate. However, due to the date of the posting, April Fool's Day, many believed the advertisement to be a joke.

The next day, April 2, 2009, Valve published yet another post on the Official Blog, "Wave goodbye to yer head, wanker", which confirmed that the Sniper was indeed the next class to be receiving an update. The post also hinted at 2 other updates, one that would be completed before the Sniper Updates release, and another that include some new content for all classes. These were later revealed to be the Spy update and the addition of hats respectively.

Sniper Primary Weapon Exploration

On May 5, 2009, Valve made a post titled "You better hold onto your head, mate" which explored the reasoning as to how the Sniper's new primary weapon came about. It discussed that one of the main reasons for the unlock was due to players feeling hatred toward Snipers, as they were the cause of many deaths that were outside their area of engagement. The article concluded with stating that the Sniper's new unlock would promote the Sniper to move in closer to his enemies to give them a fighting chance.

Trivia