passive and aggressive scout roles aren't as clearly defined as roamer and pocket. a lot of teams don't even have a passive or aggressive scout, just 2 scouts. just see which one of you likes to rush into the other team more and which one of you likes to cap more.

Passive scout doesn't usually commit for picks or trades and cleans up around the combo or demo.

Agressive scout extends more on the flank and will commit for trades or picks when the opportunity arises but most importantly only when said picks or trades will benefit his teams position.

Passive agressive scout poisons the mumble atmosphere and kills the team.

#based_scout

passive chills out
aggressive extends
just be sure not to take it to the point where the passive scout NEVER goes for plays and the aggresive scout NEVER protects the combo

The whole passive/aggressive scout roles is a relatively new idea and I think it's very unnecessary, even damaging, to define scout roles like that. With soldiers it's necessary to define roles because one is usually running gunboats which making them better suited for bombs and distractions and unsuited for protecting the medic. On the other side of the coin the scout duo usually run the same gear which allows them the freedom to adapt roles with ease. TF2 is a very fast-paced, dynamic game and you need to be dynamic to succeed. The best scouts are the ones who can read their environment and play off their teammates instead of restricting themselves to one particular playstyle.

For example: let's say your scouts have defined scout roles and the "passive" scout is on enemy crates and the "aggressive" scout is on the point at badlands mid. Your team knows there's a half-health soldier in their yard. If the scouts follow their roles instead of playing off of other and being dynamic then the passive scout will go back and cap and the aggressive scout chases down the soldier in yard. Since it would take longer for the "aggressive" scout to reach the soldier the window of opportunity to frag may have closed. A much more efficient approach would be to have the scout closest to the soldier chase him down instead of having the scout who is far away do it.

This is what it is okay; I said empty your mind. Be formless, shapeless. Like water. Now you put water into a cup it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle it becomes the bottle. You put in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.

why do players constantly take aliases that have been used before

riverdude??? riverdragon???

the other day in pug na someone was using the name Fragg, REALLY???? FUCKING CHRIST MAN

good thing no one will take defy as an alias ROFL

actually there's 3 scout play types
passive, aggressive, and vagina

Only thing I can think where this would apply is during mid fights.
1 scout to protect the demo, the other to go in for picks.

There aren't defined roles like some people think, it's just playing around what your team needs in the current situation. Playing smart would be having both scouts be able to stay passive or go aggressive in any situation.

yeah i wasn't gonna use defy at first, but NES_MAN_BOI was taken so i was shit outta luck, what a drag

predefined scout roles are outdated

If you're JUST an aggro scout, you're baiting your team 24/7.
If you're just passive, you'd be better as an offclass.
Knowing when to be passive and when to be aggressive is what makes a scout vital to a team. If you can get a pick without over-extending, you're aggressive and get it. If you just need to lay back and cap the point, you're passive and get a point. If you can't figure out what to be and how to be it, it's more of an experience issue.

It might be a good idea to define roles early on if you're a lower-level team. With that said, after a while you should be able to occasionally flip those roles mid-match to confuse the opponent.

A passive scout should bomb in from time to time - even if it's not his strong suit.

An aggressive scout should know to pull off from time to time - even if it's not his strong suit.

Roles are just guidelines for performance. They're not laws by any means.

How to play scout "like mike":

never flank
never backcap
never shoot medics

and

always walk through doors ahead of your teammates

How close am I?

;)

Usually one of your scouts is going to be more aggressive than the other. So naturally this will kind of create a passive/aggressive scout. However I don't think it's good to specifically assign them because the scouts both need to be able to play passive and aggressive depending on the situation anyway.

It's good to know if you play better when you're passive or when you're aggressive, and it's good to not play generally aggressively when you're better at playing passively (and vice versa). It's not good to assume you can get away with always playing passively or always playing aggressively, and there's no reason to classify yourself as a type of scout, implying you could explain why you didn't chase down the lit medic by simply saying "I'm not the aggro scout."

Just play smart. Part of that is knowing what areas/styles you play smartest in, but another equally important part of that is knowing when to leave that behind and be where your team needs you.

SHIT HE'S ON TO ME!

unless you have memphisvon as roamer, you can never scout like mike.

what I learned this season is that if you restrict yourself to passive play because you're bad you don't get better

I only found it helpful to define scout roles for mid fights. other than that, both scouts should be proactive during the rest of the game

I'll give the same speech here as I do in noobie mixes.

The idea of passive and aggressive scout *does* exist to a degree in the game, but the problem is with the words, at the risk of sounding like a Wittgenstein fan boy, its the fact that the words passive and aggressive mean different things to different people, hence the danger in their use. Passive scout to any number of scout players may have numerous different connotations as to what that sort of behavior would actually be.

Instead here are some different terms I have invented with the intention for them to apply mostly to mid and stack pushes (although scouts are interchangeable post-mid).

Passive Momma' Bear scout. He protects the demo at mid, but he doesn't avoid damage - he spams a few chip shots, and watches his cute little cubby (the demoman) do his spam thing. But, as soon as somebody attempts to harm the demo in any way shape or form, the momma bear scout transforms from a gentle giant who likes fruits and nuts, into a godless, soulless, killing machine - who then tears out the throat of the nearest opposing player. The momma bear will also tend to be the scout that gets pulled into the combo on pushes, and has to basher build (just for consistency and because they're already acclimated to playing near the combo). But post mid-fight that's not as important.

Then you have, at mid, the aggressive social services scout. If it's found that the opposition has a dead-beat momma bear scout that isn't guarding her wittle cubby, he will take possession of the opposing teams demoman, by turning him into a nice sandwich. If it turns out that they do have an active momma bear, then the social services scout will simply interview their momma bear for a time (ALL A CLEVER DISTRACTION FOR YOUR ROAMER to have some space) and then return to your medic to rejoin your model family near your medic for heals.

Post pushing scout roles are virtually interchangeable and are really a matter of convenience and personal taste/habit or catered to skill sets.

thank you

This game needs a passive-aggressive scout. He'd just bitch about his job and the game all the time. Actually, we probably have enough of those.

Enigma can you change my name to dify? /s

Honestly, scouts are scouts and just should go with the flow of the game, doing what's needed to win.

this is kind of how every class works

the question lies in the "what's needed to win" part

You should take the time to have a discussion with your scout partner fairly regularly, especially when you're newer to the game, or trying a new map. While strictly defined roles are generally bad, knowing how each other feel most comfortably playing is important. And communicating during games is important too. Let the other scout know if you're going aggressive for a pick, or if you're going to hold back a bit when he's getting more aggressive. There's no set way you guys need to play; you just need to work together in a way that benefits the team the most.

Thanks for the replies. I'm not new to the game, I just see frequently on the forums people advertising themselves as passive or aggressive scouts and I didn't really know what that meant.