A prominent figure on tf2center.com, Yoshi is well know for his alternative playstyles. He regularly hosts games, developed a handy browser plug-in for the site and you’ll even hear people call out sentries on koth_product’s cliff as “the yoshi spot”. Despite this, a large portion of tf2center’s user base dislikes playing with him because he almost exclusively plays demo with a shield and takes every opportunity he can to offclass to engineer when he is playing scout. The way he configures his lobbies is also questionable, as he regularly hosts autobalanced lobbies which is certainly not the norm. So, who is this yoshi? What's his deal?

You would think a guy like Yoshi would be an epic troll or at least have a less than savory attitude, but in my experience Yoshi has always been an amicable human being who simply wants to have fun playing tf2 his own way. He gets a lot of hate but he seems to handle it pretty well. My only critique is that his responses are so passive, if he responds at all, that people seem to question if he is a real human being or artificial intelligence developed by masternoob to punish players for being unbanned. Sure, having a sentry gun and a teleporter set up on the opponent’s second control point is anything but standard play, but at the very least he does seem his hardest to make it work. In fact, I’m not even sure if this is a good example of a questionable gimmick play when it sets your team up for free sacks into the enemies last along with being a nightmare to push into. As for his alternative demoman shenanigans, It is undoubtedly true that stickies are superior to all of the shields, as they protect your whole team and not just yourself, but at the level of play typically seen on tf2center, pipes and a shield can do a lot of work and yoshi’s pipe aim is nothing to scoff at. He is honestly one of the better demos I have seen at really taking advantage of the projectile’s arc to hit you in places and times you least expect it. It's always embarrassing to eat a patented yoshi pipe with your forehead while you're standing behind shack waiting for an arrow.

[b]What got you into tf2 and what got you into competitive tf2? Do you have a preferred competitive format?[/b]

[quote]I started playing in 2008, my junior year of college. My roommate bought the Orange Box set which included TF2, and our dorm got hooked on it pretty quickly. A few years later I became a member of a popular casual community/clan called 4L. We started as a network of good friends and steadily developed an extremely talented pool of players who created a team for fun in UGC Season 6. I started on Medic in Highlander. Since then I have started or subbed as Engineer and Medic in UGC and RGL for many years.[/quote]

[b]How has your unusual playstyle developed since you first started playing competitively?[/b]

[quote]My playstyle has always been the same: choose what suits me and our team the best. Whenever Valve released new weapons, I exclusively used them to get an idea of their situational advantages - so I am aware of all weapon pros and cons. The loadouts I use the most are just what I have learned to be the most effective overall for my skill set or team's needs. I understand why other players use rocket launcher over black box, stickies over shields, gunslinger over jag; I would use them more often too if it resulted in more wins, but I am simply more effective using what I am comfortable with - playing to my own strengths trumps conforming to someone else’s personal strengths.[/quote]

[b]What do you get out of offclassing to engineer and playing shield demo? Do you enjoy the theorycrafting that goes into offclass abuse or do you find people’s reactions to a level 3 where they’d never expect it funny?[/b]

[quote]I just enjoy playing Team Fortress 2, there is nothing more or less to read into the way I play.

Engineer is likely the strongest class on forward and last holds because of the added risks of cap speed for those points (on defense you lose a round quickly with nobody watching, on offense defenders have fewer resources to push your sentry because they need to have at least one defend), and I think Scout is one of the least effective unless you are a carry. I also use Pyro backburner for emergency clearance, Heavy if I cannot set up a sentry in time, and Sniper as a change-up for picks. The only complaints I ever get are either the enemy team infuriated at not being able to cap easily, which validates my playstyle, or my own team infuriated that it is harder to push to cap second - obviously less important than losing a round.

I think all weapons are essentially balanced. I remember from Valve’s blog that they update weapon attributes regularly until player usage is equal to their respective primary or secondary counterparts for the class. So basically, if one weapon is used overwhelmingly, they nerf it a bit. Or if one weapon is never used, they buff it. For this reason, I do not think any weapon should ever be discounted and I find my loadout to be the most effective way to achieve a win. I do use stickies intermittently as a change-up to trap second or last point, roughly 3-4% of playtime.

I do not think there is such a thing as offclass abuse. The game was designed to use loadout and class changes to counter your opponent which is why Valve created a UI that takes 2 keypresses to switch loadouts or classes.

I do think it is funny when people die to unexpected sentry placements. However I throw change-up placements to get the kill, not to gain amusement.[/quote]

[b]When i’m playing against you on shield demo, I tell my soldiers to focus on softening your team’s scouts, so I’m curious about what you think your teammates can do to get the most out of you as a teammate. Are there any playstyle changes people should make when they're playing with a shield demo?[/b]

[quote]When playing with me, it’s best for the medic to pocket and use me as a shield. My damage tanking will always provide Medic with a fast healing rate to generate lots of Ubers. Pocketing me makes enemy soldiers and demo essentially useless, and scouts are pretty easy to kill when they have to first get through 2 scouts and 2 soldiers playing in front of me. I am hyper-aware of my Medic’s position and blind spots and usually kill anyone trying to flank or jump him. I often win when given at least 30% heals and playing with a passive Medic who focuses on survival.

As for playing against a shield demo, I suppose keep in mind there are no sticky traps to worry about. It is pretty difficult to kill shield demos; I suggest only scouts or shotgun soldiers deal with him one-on-one, otherwise make a concerted effort to gang up on him when he is reloading his primary and his charge attack is depleted; that’s usually what leads to my demise.[/quote]