What does picking up Winter Gifts in TF2 do

The TF2 Forum community has had a thing for hats ever since the Spy / Sniper update when they (and the random drop system) were implemented.

They like to complain about hats, cheer about how awesome their hat is, or worry that too many people are complaining or cheering about hats.

Of course, it may have all petered out, but Valve decided to add more hats. The classless update only added fuel to the fire with such quotes (from the Blog Update news itself) as: http://www.teamfortress.com/classless/day01.php or,

Throughout history, men have worn hats as a way of showing how much better they are than other men. “I buy hats,” a behatted man seems to say. “I am better than you.”

It appeared to reach its height when the Valve blog (not an update post, mind) itself seemed to indicate that hats were the most important things to the developers.

Observe.

Suffice it to say that Team Fortress 2 is no longer a first person shooter with RPG elements. It is 100% a hat simulator.

Certain classes are better against certain other classes.

In general: Heavy is weak against Spy, Sniper, and Demoman.

Heavy is strong against Scout, Pyro, and Medic.

Heavy is even (more or less) against Soldier.

An Engineer versus Heavy depends entirely on if the Engy has a level 2-3 sentry or not. A mini-sentry or level 1 sentry will almost always see the Heavy win at full health. In this case, the Engineer should flee. If he was building mini-sentries, building them as you flee is an excellent idea, as it will slow the Heavy down to kill it, or make him ignore it to chase you, dealing him damage all the while.

Medic is weak against Scout, Pyro, and Soldier... well, most of the classes in the game, but those three in particular.

Medic is strong against the Spy, simply because a Medic that continually moves will generally outrun or dodge a Spy's backstab.

The thing is... a Scout has the best chance of killing a Medic if he can manage to get behind the Medic, simply because a medic is a 2-shot kill with the standard Scattergun at close range.

Now, the best defense against a Heavy/Medic pair is to work with your own teammates. If you can take out one of the two, the other teammates may be able to take out the other.

If you really do need to combat them alone, Sniper is likely your best bet. As tempting as it is to go after the Medic first, if he keeps moving, he can generally outrun your scope. However, a fully charged headshot will one-shot the Heavy.

If they Uber, run, unless you're an Engineer trying to keep a sentry nest up. In this case, repair repair repair, and hope that they aren't smart enough to have the Medic block the sentry's knockback effect. If you can get a Pyro to help you by airblasting the Medic or Heavy away, even better.

P.S. NEVER go head-to-head versus a Heavy, he will always likely win simply because of how much damage he does.