Pretty sure that random div 2 players also take part in deciding what map pool and whitelist should be in all divs, and that admins are capable of taking separate feedback from prem players into account. But I agree that it's better to balance the game around the highest level of competition, even if something doesn't seemingly appeal to the majority of playerbase.

This is actually the reason why I prefer plugins to weapon bans, to keep as many vanilla mechanics in the game as possible. The plugin precisely removes one problematic upside of IB, but the ban cuts out both of its mechanics (hitbox + rollers) from the game, so I don't see how bans make the game more "vanilla" (unless by vanilla you mean 2011 tf2 without unlocks or something). Of course, I don't want to see etf2l turn into creators.tf with 100 new custom weapons, but if a plugin simply refines the game that we're already playing, then I can only welcome it.

How can changing one stat on a weapon be more massive than banning the weapon entirely? Plugin just makes IB hitbox same as stock, but the ban removes slow rollers mechanic as well, and I don't see as many people having problems with that as with the hitbox. If anything, seeing every demo switch to stock because of IB ban would make the game feel less like tf2.

Winger plugin was used on etf2l for however many seasons now, it doesn't fix any bugs, nobody made any petitions asking for it to be added, it's literally a balance patch for one weapon. There was zero controversy, I didn't hear a single person say that it's bad for the game somehow. A plugin made the game ever so slightly better, so I don't see how "whitelists are fine, but using plugins is a bit too far" argument has any ground. And at this point I trust twiikuu (and comp community as a whole) to make balance changes for tf2 many times more than anyone sitting at valve right now.

There was a similar discussion of IB ban about a year ago and nothing came out of it (no bans or plugins adopted). I hope this time admins take initiative to actually figure out what solution is better instead of sweeping the problem under the rug for another year.

This ban looks like a joke the expense of league rules. Would middle still get a ban if admins saw the evidence of what happened but didn't get any reports from his teammates? If there is "other stuff", why isn't it mentioned in the ban reason? How long do you get banned for if you decide to eat sandvich in spawn instead of defending your last?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBu7SsybUA4

If there was a plugin that removed mangler's right click, then most people wouldn't have a problem with it. Making its projectile more visually distinctive would also be nice, not sure if it's possible to implement though.

• I played about the same amount of soldier and medic with and without plugins. Scout speed was used for both offensive and defensive purposes, so I don't think removing it drastically changes the flow of the game or leads to more/less stalemates. It has the most effect when soldier is trying to force medic during a stalemate, because with scout speed medic could "just heal scout lol" and easily survive 2 rockets, but without it medic actually has to surf a rocket if soldier did a good jump.
  
• Another problem is that medic is not an attractive class to main for newer players, nerfing the class directly will only make this situation worse. I wouldn't mind settling for a compromise if, for example, scout speed didn't work only when medic has 100% uber.
  
• Gunboats plugin on its own is a reasonable buff to soldier, but with no scout speed plugin it allows soldier to get away with bad jumps and survive for no reason quite often, so I don't think that both plugins should stay together.
  
• Winger deploy plugin is great, it was smart to use the same design principle as atomizer.
  
• Solemn vow is a good sidegrade, gives medic more presence in calls during fights, and looking at the other medic to check uber is not free when you also have to arrow people and look around for bombers.

Overall, gameplay plugins are a great idea, I see it as the only prominent direction for this game and I hope it will eventually replace whitelists by fixing the issues of banned weapons (iron bomber hitbox and whatnot). Quality of life changes are a must-have and I believe that this game has potential to be something more than "default tf2" and the community can decide what gameplay changes and rulesets are better on the international level (like it was done before with global whitelist).

aren't we at a point where most gameplay issues can be solved by tweaking it with plugins instead of banning?

https://github.com/irodionr/dqz_hud/tree/2012

Recreated most of the original features like charge meters, fonts, HP, ammo, disguise and uber positions. Hitmarker can be enabled optionally.

Can take a look into this later myself, no need for keys

Agree with the heal over time thing, but dispenser healing is too slow. You can make the healing rate dependent on the target's movement speed when arrow hits, so that medic gets rewarded for hitting moving players instead of standing ones.

https://clips.twitch.tv/EagerRamshackleDonkeyCopyThis