I read the article and I disagree with most of his suggestions.
1) Agreed.
2) Agreed.
3) The Heavy is not going to tank all the time. He will run out of ammo, as the author mentioned, and he will need to leave. Therefore, the sandvich trades the retreat options for the ability to heal while away from combat allowing him to tank more. The body armor that slows the player is a clumsy tradeoff. The heavy is the slowest and toughest class in the game, and making him slower and tougher is not a good suggestion. The heavy also loses his retreat options and can no longer keep himself in the fight. The KGB's criticals are also highly useful with the shotgun, which can be fired right off the draw to deal 100-150 damage. Alternatively, you get about 1 second of crits with the minigun or 3 seconds to instantly kill someone else up close.
4) His traps alternative goes against the Scout's role. He is in place to attack behind enemy lines, and to be a target killer. He's vulnerable but good at hunting down enemies. Traps turn him into a more defensive player than before. Now he just waits for someone to spring a trap behind his lines and then place more. The purpose of the sandman is to shift an enemy over from being dangerous to vulnerable, allowing for escapes or take-downs, while the traps only work while players stand over them or whatever, making it useless. Single use against any player, because once you hit one you know what every single one of them will do and you will actively avoid them.
5) I agreed with this one.
6) The ambassador's critical headshots and one-two punches transform the spy into a heavy hitter. While previously the revolver was a target weapon (hit someone you know is low on health,) the ambassador makes him able to take out enemies much faster and makes him more long range. Not that bad, but I feel it could be better.
7) The direct hit is targeted with losing its danger up close, which is what makes it better than the rocket launcher. Its tradeoff is the lack of rocket jumping and multiple targets. The rocket launcher turns into more of a crowd control weapon while the direct hit offers close range destruction. Being able to take out four of the classes is appropriate because the scout and spy should be able to dodge and coordinate around the soldier's actions, hitting him when he's weak and can't attack, while the medic and engineer should stay in cover and use their assets to attack him.
8) The chargin' targe, I feel, is a good idea for the Demoman. It trades his sticky jumping for a short critboost and the ability the get closer to (or farther from) enemies. Admittedly, the eyelander is terribly designed and needs a rework, and the satchel idea has been on everyone's mind.
I feel the updates are pretty decent.
