I originally made this a blog, but seeing as no one reads those/cares much about them, I tossed this here for a better discussion. These are opinions on the current state of TF2...
Meet the Medic or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love TF2
Since I've been playing TF2 (Sept 09) there has been a LOT of changes to game, mostly through the massive influx of hats and weapons, but also Maps and that stamp system. And, before the uber update, I was confused onto why some of these weapons were being added to the game. Now, since I am not valve, I can't not say exactly why these updates to the classes occured, but I hope this allows for some sort logical reason for it. I also wanted to make a blog, so there is that too.
The Uber Update was the "big revelation" for me in my quest to understand why the hell valve was putting weapons like the Claedhmor or the Kunai. It introduced a lot of new weapons that seemed well balanced and surprisingly... good. Pyro got the long anticipated Detonator, Heavy got a new Minigun and (surprisingly) a new shotgun, Soldier got 2 new packs, of which I will mention and talk a little bit about later. Even the demoman(knight) got new melee specific items.
A New Take on Medicine
The first big "A-Ha!" moment for me was with The Quick Fix:
The Quick fix: Ubercharge inceases healing by 300% and grants immunity to movement-impairing effects. +40% heal rate +25% Ubercharge Rate Can't Overheal
Initially, I did what everyone else tried to to do with The Quick Fix, and that was to run it through the paces of determining how effective it was as a way to Push (Stock Medigun) or defend (Kritzkrieg). Surprisingly (yet understandable), I found that it could do neither of these as well as the other Medi-guns. Then, I had an idea. Why not try it as a direct healer? He is the Medic afterall. Just use The Quick Fix to dish out massive heals at chokes or while under pressure (You know, kinda like in Meet the Medic) Even with the lack of overheal, I found this extremely efficient. This made me realize, "Wait second, I'm not ACTUALLY a Supporter now, I'm a DIRECT healer."
Look at the other items from the "Clinical Trial" set, I saw a clear connection to this claim. Specifically, the Solemn Vow. Although being the worst skinned item ever, I feel that it is a powerful tool. Now, while healing you can judge who should attack who, and whether or not to run or not, a typical tool of a healer in most cases, to watch over their team, and make sure they are at their highest level of performance and health.
And based off what I saw with the Quick Fix and the Solemn Vow, I came to a conclusion about the current state of the game. There are classes which are shifting,transitioning and expanding into a new role/personality/gameplay style.
Now, you are probably thinking "what the hell, how are you realizing this now, the Demoma- err Knight, has been doing the same thing? what about him n00b!1?" Well, you're right, I did not realize this until this update. Previously, I had acknowledged and welcomed the demoknight transition, but this update made it clear that there wasn't just 1 class in transition/expansion, but at least 3.
Demo demoknight, demoknight knight demo
Everyone knows of the Demoknight. Since the sticky jumper was added all o d the updates for the Demoman have been moving it towards a melee based class, which seems odd. Why would there be a melee based class (besides the spy) in TF2, a shooter. Well, take a step back and look at what the demoknight uses.
A demopan, in all his glory.
(Now pardon me if I screw something up here, as probably everyone knows, I very rarely play demoman, so if I make some super controversial mistake, it'll probably be here.)
The main parts of the Demoknights arsenal is his sword and shield. His sword being either, The Eyelander, The Claidheamh Mòr, The Ullapool Caber, Horseless Headless Horsemann's Headtaker, Frying Pan or the newly added Persian Persuader and Nessie's Nine Iron. Each of these have their own stats, and if you are not familiar with them, I have provided links to each one. These swords are "powerful" melee weapons which are used to replace the stock bottle. For shields though, we only have The Chargin Targe and The Splendid Screen (again, links provided). There is also the newly added (and aptly named) Ali Babba's Wee Booties, which replace the Grenade Launcher and provide increased maneuverability whilst charging.
A demoknight charges into groups, disrupt enemy movements with his melee weapon, then either die while taking a couple people down, or fall back and charge again when they have the chance. To me, this seems more like "one of those crazy blokes who bludgeons people with a golf trophy." Rather than a Explosive Ordinance expert who lays traps and can cause mass AoE damage. As of the Uber Update, this transition/expansion has been completely cemented in my mind, as now people don't call the Demoman, "The Demoman" anymore, but names like "The Demopan", "The Demoknight" and (my favorite tbh) "The Demorabian."
Tom Bui's: Future Soldier
With the recent Uber Update, I believe the soldier is not beginning to slight transition. The Uber Update introduced 2 new packs and 5 New weapons. Of these new weapons, we have Disciplinary Action, the Market Gardener and The Mantreads. These open up the current gameplay style of the Soldier. Instead of that front lines, "get it done maggots!" Spray and pray, type mentality, he can now be almost like spy, taking the back ways and high grounds as a way to get the perfect Rocket jump to goomba that medic with (although, this is somewhat difficult to do.)
I would though, like to speak briefly about the Disciplinary Action. This is on the same level now as the GRU's, it increases the mobility of the second slowest class, and allows him to get to the front lines (where he should be) faster. But, the near thing about the disciplinary action is that is also allows for the soldier to almost be a minor support class. See an injured teammate? Whip him so he can run out of the line of fire faster to get health. Making a hasty retreat? Whip everyone you can to help get away quickly. Really, I believe that a Disciplinary Action Soldier, with their choice of rocket launcher, and the Reserve Shooter, can be a very strong supporter as well as offensive entity on the battlefield.
The Disciplinary Action: On Hit Ally: Boost both players' speed for several seconds-25% damage done
Conclusion:
In conclusion, this is all probably a pretty big "Duh" blog post, but I felt like I should write it, so I could point out what I see in the game. Everyone wants the game to be like what it was back in 07, or (for me) when they started playing. But sadly, this is impossible. As the years progress, there is a change in the game market and in what consumers want. These changes affect already existing game, and to stay alive, these games need to change. Although TF2 was originally ahead of its time, it now needs to stay up with the market and consumer interests the best way it can. In this case, they are expanding the roles and versatility of the existing classes, either to make them more appealing, or to make them more "fun" for more people. I believe the Uber Update really made this clear, and frankly, showed that the game is starting to get
tl;dr: Valve is adding weapons (slowly) that expand each classes options into new territories. ie: Quickfix makes Medic more of a "healer" rather than supporter.
Meet the Medic or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love TF2
Since I've been playing TF2 (Sept 09) there has been a LOT of changes to game, mostly through the massive influx of hats and weapons, but also Maps and that stamp system. And, before the uber update, I was confused onto why some of these weapons were being added to the game. Now, since I am not valve, I can't not say exactly why these updates to the classes occured, but I hope this allows for some sort logical reason for it. I also wanted to make a blog, so there is that too.
The Uber Update was the "big revelation" for me in my quest to understand why the hell valve was putting weapons like the Claedhmor or the Kunai. It introduced a lot of new weapons that seemed well balanced and surprisingly... good. Pyro got the long anticipated Detonator, Heavy got a new Minigun and (surprisingly) a new shotgun, Soldier got 2 new packs, of which I will mention and talk a little bit about later. Even the demoman(knight) got new melee specific items.
A New Take on Medicine
The first big "A-Ha!" moment for me was with The Quick Fix:
The Quick fix: Ubercharge inceases healing by 300% and grants immunity to movement-impairing effects. +40% heal rate +25% Ubercharge Rate Can't Overheal
Look at the other items from the "Clinical Trial" set, I saw a clear connection to this claim. Specifically, the Solemn Vow. Although being the worst skinned item ever, I feel that it is a powerful tool. Now, while healing you can judge who should attack who, and whether or not to run or not, a typical tool of a healer in most cases, to watch over their team, and make sure they are at their highest level of performance and health.
And based off what I saw with the Quick Fix and the Solemn Vow, I came to a conclusion about the current state of the game. There are classes which are shifting,transitioning and expanding into a new role/personality/gameplay style.
Now, you are probably thinking "what the hell, how are you realizing this now, the Demoma- err Knight, has been doing the same thing? what about him n00b!1?" Well, you're right, I did not realize this until this update. Previously, I had acknowledged and welcomed the demoknight transition, but this update made it clear that there wasn't just 1 class in transition/expansion, but at least 3.
Demo demoknight, demoknight knight demo
Everyone knows of the Demoknight. Since the sticky jumper was added all o d the updates for the Demoman have been moving it towards a melee based class, which seems odd. Why would there be a melee based class (besides the spy) in TF2, a shooter. Well, take a step back and look at what the demoknight uses.
A demopan, in all his glory.
The main parts of the Demoknights arsenal is his sword and shield. His sword being either, The Eyelander, The Claidheamh Mòr, The Ullapool Caber, Horseless Headless Horsemann's Headtaker, Frying Pan or the newly added Persian Persuader and Nessie's Nine Iron. Each of these have their own stats, and if you are not familiar with them, I have provided links to each one. These swords are "powerful" melee weapons which are used to replace the stock bottle. For shields though, we only have The Chargin Targe and The Splendid Screen (again, links provided). There is also the newly added (and aptly named) Ali Babba's Wee Booties, which replace the Grenade Launcher and provide increased maneuverability whilst charging.
A demoknight charges into groups, disrupt enemy movements with his melee weapon, then either die while taking a couple people down, or fall back and charge again when they have the chance. To me, this seems more like "one of those crazy blokes who bludgeons people with a golf trophy." Rather than a Explosive Ordinance expert who lays traps and can cause mass AoE damage. As of the Uber Update, this transition/expansion has been completely cemented in my mind, as now people don't call the Demoman, "The Demoman" anymore, but names like "The Demopan", "The Demoknight" and (my favorite tbh) "The Demorabian."
Tom Bui's: Future Soldier
With the recent Uber Update, I believe the soldier is not beginning to slight transition. The Uber Update introduced 2 new packs and 5 New weapons. Of these new weapons, we have Disciplinary Action, the Market Gardener and The Mantreads. These open up the current gameplay style of the Soldier. Instead of that front lines, "get it done maggots!" Spray and pray, type mentality, he can now be almost like spy, taking the back ways and high grounds as a way to get the perfect Rocket jump to goomba that medic with (although, this is somewhat difficult to do.)
I would though, like to speak briefly about the Disciplinary Action. This is on the same level now as the GRU's, it increases the mobility of the second slowest class, and allows him to get to the front lines (where he should be) faster. But, the near thing about the disciplinary action is that is also allows for the soldier to almost be a minor support class. See an injured teammate? Whip him so he can run out of the line of fire faster to get health. Making a hasty retreat? Whip everyone you can to help get away quickly. Really, I believe that a Disciplinary Action Soldier, with their choice of rocket launcher, and the Reserve Shooter, can be a very strong supporter as well as offensive entity on the battlefield.
The Disciplinary Action: On Hit Ally: Boost both players' speed for several seconds-25% damage done
In conclusion, this is all probably a pretty big "Duh" blog post, but I felt like I should write it, so I could point out what I see in the game. Everyone wants the game to be like what it was back in 07, or (for me) when they started playing. But sadly, this is impossible. As the years progress, there is a change in the game market and in what consumers want. These changes affect already existing game, and to stay alive, these games need to change. Although TF2 was originally ahead of its time, it now needs to stay up with the market and consumer interests the best way it can. In this case, they are expanding the roles and versatility of the existing classes, either to make them more appealing, or to make them more "fun" for more people. I believe the Uber Update really made this clear, and frankly, showed that the game is starting to get
tl;dr: Valve is adding weapons (slowly) that expand each classes options into new territories. ie: Quickfix makes Medic more of a "healer" rather than supporter.
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