i guess what i'm saying is when valve released the soda popper they wanted the average pub player to have fun with it. having crits is fun. any item that would be balanced first around comp play would be extremely difficult to use for the average player. it would simply go unused. valve could give so little as a mouse fart as to how a weapon affects the comp scene. but as the line between pub play and 6s play begins to blur (more weapon variety, more offclassing) they may put more of an emphasis on how the comp scene plays with a weapon before the pubbers get their hands on it. who knows, maybe putting the mini sentry back in might bring a bunch of engineer lovers to comp. more viewers = more players = bigger leagues = more sponsorships = more money.

i highly doubt that we will get anything close to the changes WE would want for comp tf2. valve is trying to take this opportunity to turn the undesirable weapons through buffs or changes to desirable ones. that means making each weapon unique, powerful and fun for pub use. that means more weapons like the mini sentry, wrangler, soda popper (even though scout is unpopular in pub play, go figure), the huntsman, the market gardener and less weapons like the direct hit. it's our job to turn these unconventional pub weapons into creative, powerful, refined weapons of murder. that's what the difference between pub and comp players should be in their eyes it seems.

in essence, i'm not trying to argue the strength or weakness of a particular weapon. i'm advocating that we make a movement as a community towards change. towards more viewers and bridging the gap between pub/hl/6s play. if we want more attention from the higher ups we're going to have to show that we're willing to scratch their back if they scratch ours. how will we make valve more money? by doing things pubbers never dreamed of doing with their favorite weapons. by wearing super sweet hats or unusuals that people will want to wear imitations of.

keep in mind that new items are designed with the pub player-base in mind. that means valve creates weapons that would be fun to use for players who have generally slow reaction times. except for the direct hit. and guess how many times i've seen pub players use the direct hit.

yep.

i see what you're saying and agree to an extent. the risk vs reward is a tad off but let's break this down proper.

let's say we're holding badlands yard:

pros
mini crits on doused enemies

may cause enemy team to fall back without a fight

cons
sniper is required to peek in order to throw. if anyone is close to the entrance the sniper is peeking he has no reliable escape mechanism. he can surf a rocket or a sticky but he cannot simply push forward with counter-aggression as the other classes can. potential free pick.

you still have a sniper after he throws the jarate.

this may also have a positive impact in relation to how people position themselves. they'll think more actively about where they're standing so that potentially no more than two people get urinated upon. all i ask is that you think about the anticipation from the viewers, the excitement and the dynamism in gameplay it has to offer. stalemates are boring. i think both players and spectators can agree. let's eliminate them.

i'm all for trying it. i want the game to grow. i want the game to be exciting for more than just the existing 6s fan-base. but i promise you that i am one of few who will support this idea as an inviter.

run pyro! you of all people can't be opposed to this!

plus, they still have a sniper after the jarate. it'd be worth revisiting as a community. just to try it. maybe see if we like it. just the tip.

am i getting trolled

you're ignoring the fact the some items need to be rebalanced and i agree with that.

using a different weapon should always be situational. i believe that's what the TF team wants with the game. they don't want you to always use the scattergun because the damage output is the highest. you're only focusing on the strengths and not the weaknesses of the item. with minus fifteen health you can get one shot by a close range rocket. you can die to one sticky. it's a pretty big difference. in addition, you wouldn't run it on every map, or even to every mid and that's the point. it would be good on granary last because it's wide open which means a decent stun time. you wouldn't use it on badlands last because your max stun would only reliably be 1 second. the point is that items are ideally situational and if they're too strong at that, they get rebalanced. i think what we need to do is think differently. worried about a sandman coming to stun your ass? run a pyro, airblast that shit away. ask huey lewis he gives no fucks about running pyro in 6s.

stuns: if the sandman stun is too long (at potentially 8 seconds, max distance) or the health debuff for the scout is too weak then valve can revisit the item.

example: imagine a world where losing the mid fight didn't mean losing the round 80% of the time. imagine a world where you don't have uber on granary last and the opposing team is pushing in but your scout hits a SICK sandman stun and you negate that advantage. how much more exciting is that to cast and watch? a lot.

crits: no shit.

healing: what?

i actually just imagined a world where all unlocks are allowed in 6s.

it would be fucking madness but imagine the increase in viewership and new interest from non competitive players. frankly, they don't understand why we only use vanilla loadouts on nearly all of our classes.

imagine a soldier who perfected the art of the beggar's bazooka jumping to mid super fast with gunboats to then blow up three people at process choke. that would suck to the the three people that just blew up but man that would be cool as fuck to spectate. you may think, "wow, that sounds stupid as fuck. i died instantly before the mid fight even started." well, guess what! mid fights now start even further back! put defensive stickies up at choke in preparation for the beggar's bazooka bomb or turn into giblets. go through three different entrances. there's now a choice for the medic between healing the soldier or the demo on round start. create counter-strategies, evolve and have more cards up your sleeve. imagine a world where instead of having two or three different rollouts per class we had two to three different rollouts per weapon. i've been playing the game since literally day one. i've been in competitive tf2 since it was born. it is getting a little stale and i think a change like this would be extremely difficult to adjust to at first but in the long run it would eliminate stalemates, there would be many more opportunities to make big plays or to just make plays your opposing team hasn't seen a thousand times before. you'll hear some top teams say "we're not worried about x team because we've seem them play and have played against them many times before." well, no longer! you can now bonk behind your enemies while your team pushes forward with a jarate/mad milk off uber push.

tl;dr i want to see some new crazy shit.

hey thanks for putting this together, Terywj.

brad's a fucking monster and when he's on his a-game he plays on another level.

the energy and focus he brought to matches was always a treat.

what exactly is going on under that blur?

i just have to know.

so let me reiterate.

someone who is not innately good is telling people who aspire to be good to quit a game he doesn't like. is that right?

i wouldn't normally respond to something like this but i feel somewhat obligated to. i am proud to say that i have seen numerous players who were Low Open now in Mid-High IM and are contesting some invite teams. it brings a nerd tear to my eye to see people grow like that. it takes true dedication. while there is some truth to being 'naturally good' at anything, the fatal flaw that those people have is they generally don't nurture their ability and take it for granted. while here you have the LARGE majority of people who aren't naturally talented who put in the hard time to improve. who watch their demos, who are their own worst critics. these are the players who are the next big thing. what you put in to the game is exactly what you get out. all i ask is that you spend your time wisely. be introspective, don't blame others. instead of asking "i did a ton of damage at mid, where were you guys.. ?" ask "what could i have done differently?" this is the outlook of a great player in the making. and i can tell you with overflowing confidence that this game and its players are only getting better. tf2 may be getting a little grey in the mane but she still rides like a dream. play on, brothers.

not necessarily true. while doing anything for an elongated period of time will help you get more efficient-- the only way to ensure timely improvement is to enjoy yourself and have a goal while doing so. self improvement is solely your responsibility, so use your time wisely. what i have found is as you continue to work on movement, it will supplement your aim. now your movement is based off of several things; what, where and how many you're fighting. while 1v1 scenarios hardly ever arise, it's good to know that each class requires different movement to counter.

against scouts, mirroring is usually the most reliable form of aim supplementing movement. nothing works 100% of the time and nothing is fool proof so make sure to have more than one card up your sleeve in regards to how you take on 1v1s. try slowing down your shots. most people get in the habit of firing their scatter as soon as a shot is available but as scouts and brothers in arms we must break this habit. think about each shot before you take it. you may say "but if he doesn't wait between each shot and he hits me every time, won't he kill me first if i line up each shot?". if that's the case, analyze your movement, are you making too many wide strafes? are you holding down one key for too long? even the 'best scouts in the game' can miss an entire clip sometimes. people miss the most shots when they get too excited about a kill. i cannot recall how many medic flanks i've botched by getting too anxious about the kill and whiffing 2-3 shots. just relax, take a deep breath and line each shot up until it becomes natural and you turn into a man-scout-machine.

against soldiers, you'll find that the majority do not even 'aim'. they will instinctively fire where they think you will go. the answer is fairly straight forward to this one, simply be one step ahead of your enemy and do not go there. if you encounter/trade shots with a soldier and get knocked down to sub 50 hp, your first instinct will be to run or find the nearest medpack. do the opposite. rush into him between rockets and either finish him or blow him up on his own splash. getting comfortable fighting soldiers can take time. recognize positional advantages, his available ammo and eating splash from his own rockets. in time, soldiers will melt by your scattergun.

against demos, most people will forget that there are two dimensions of movement and this is what causes their unnerving death time and time again. demos rely on positioning themselves such that they can shut down areas (with stickies) or small 'imaginary' corridors with pills. each pill can be used as a short area denial making it impossible to chase demos down when they are not out in the open. you can neutralize this area denial by utilizing backwards/forwards movement as well as left/right movement. be patient when fighting a demo as a lack of patience and a rush for the kill will oftentimes get you killed. waste their ammo dodging in TWO DIMENSIONS (believe it) then move in. delaying or strafing outward will throw a demo off usually as pills/sticks require more prediction than rockets. they will almost always unload their arsenal in the shortest possible distance between you and them. he wants you to move in, don't rush it.

how many you're fighting is relational to how much you'll be firing. if there are a lot of enemies firing at you, you won't have much time to aim. drawing fire is an important skill to have as scout. it can be used to succumb enemy ground without having to use uber or during non-uber pushes. these situations are ideal. don't get greedy while you're doing it or it might result in a death.

where you're fighting is very important. as a scout, you are very fast, you know this. your ability to gain positional advantage is unrivaled. exploit this heavily. i'm out of room. :(