Death & Taxes

The Death & Taxes update was the first major update for Team Fortress 2 Classic.

The update focused on cut content from Team Fortress 2, including the VIP gamemode, the Civilian class, and various weapons such as the Nailgun and Tranquilizer Gun. The update also introduced new original maps, gamemodes, weapons, achievements, and other features.

Announcements

The Death & Taxes page officially began on July 4th, 2020, as announced on the Team Fortress 2 Classic Website.

• Day 1: Introduced the VIP gamemode, Civilian class, and maps Mineside, Harbor and Trainyard.
• Day 2: The Nailgun, The RPG, The Dynamite Pack, The Tranquilizer Gun and The Fishwhacker were re-introduced as weapons, along with The Hunting Revolver, The Mine Layer, The Shock Therapy and The Coilgun as new additions.
• Day 3: The new Domination gamemode was introduced along with the map Oilcanyon. The new Four-Team gamemode, along with GRN and YLW teams, was also announced with the maps Flask and Hydro.
• Day 4: Badwater (VIP) was announced with 6 returning weapons from Team Fortress 2: The Kritzkrieg, The Überspritze, The Huntsman, The Flaregun, The Gunboats and The Sandvich. Scoreboard medals for developers, content contributors, and beta testers, bot improvements, and a new achievement pack were also announced. The update was also officially released.

Trivia

• The name of the update is a reference to a famous quote from Benjamin Franklin: "Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes"
• The Civilian class and the VIP gamemode were originally planned for Team Fortress 2 but were cut.