like the switch speed on the CZ in CS is one of the biggest drawbacks to the weapon. It'd be interesting to see a similar weapon in tf2 I guess. This could in general be a good way to discourage use of weapons that are kind of broken but not necessarily fixable with other stat tweaks. A longer draw/switch time on the Loose cannon might reinforce the shittiness of it as a PDW for example

also yeah pocket just feels so much better now

I wanted to make a separate thread to discuss it more holistically.

The most recent update featured several changes and balance updates related to weapon switch speed. Globally every class is now slightly better at comboing. I'd argue demo and soldier benefit the most from this, and this almost seems like a 6s conscious decision from valve, since it now allows soldier to more consistently 1-2 a scout with the shotgun. It could encourage the return of shotgun pocket who knows I guess?

The big weird change that should probably be discussed is the axtinguisher: a weapon now balanced because of draw speed. The axt is like, unique in tf2 now. No other weapon has a strong upside balanced by being a slow draw. The fists of steel are similar, but they're a global switch and weapon switching isn't a big thing for heavy. The main point to consider I guess is that valve shows they want to use switch and draw speed as a serious consideration in weapon selection like CSGO.

Is this a good move for tf2? Could an OP shotgun be balanced by a double draw time? Its a change that allows for a lot more subtle fine tuning of class balance obviously, but should it be differentiated on a core level? Should the shotgun universally have a faster draw time than the RL for example? Could giving all melees a fast draw speed be a balance change to encourage the stock melees to not be shit? What weapons should have their draw times altered?

idk

they didn't normalize the class though, they just nerfed it without adding a compensation

the degreaser is still better than the stock by a wide margin

it'll continue to be until they actually add a new mechanic to the stock flamethrower

weapon switch speed was the one part of pyro that was interesting and unique. it made having a strong secondary and a utility primary a viable balance choice and made the class take a different set of skills with properly selecting the right weapon at the right time or w/e

like they didn't buff pyro in any meaningful way, and they nerfed the degreaser, which ends up being a direct nerf to the class. The solution should've been to leave the degreaser alone and make the stock flamethrower fill a different niche.

valve just made a huge fucking nerd essay on how they need to improve public relations and all of /r/tf2 is currently shitting on the engi and pyro changes

if u enjoy calling publords shit u should have a hardon for how many downvotes u can get rn + u can help save comp tf2`~~!!!@#!

valve has been listening to /r/tf2 and reddit in general, and after the R8 shit I think their image needs to be of a company that listens

/r/tf2 currently hates this update, and they're going to try to get it reverted

plsssss

the phlog change is basically irrelevant. Soldier, demo, sniper, and heavy can still pretty easily shut it down

the change is dumb because it made spy less useful against people who taunt in retard spots, but its not like the weapon suddenly became better than it was. As long as the map has multiple exits, you can just flank the dude and two shot him

please everyone tell /r/tf2 nerds that this update is good

like physically go to the site and tell them why all these changes are good for competitive

they're trying to get engi and pyro changes reverted

help

kounter's mom is actually p cute

sam.rudich: hud when
*:･ﾟ✧ trunks lft/ring: soon(tm)
sam.rudich: ok good

they add together
http://puu.sh/lZzOf/8de2acd99f.jpg

holy shit my RL and shotgun are gonna be 140k and 50k im gonna be the pub stomp monster now!!!!

http://puu.sh/lZsrb/295ff00f0a.png

"they shouldn't be punished for having a spy place a sapper on his sentry"

I question a data set that only looks at median or w/e and doesn't notice that there's a weird distribution where the ~80th percentile of users suddenly jumps from .3 KD to 4 KD

like that's not good statistics at all

I question their data because I dont think ive ever seen a phlog pyro keep less than a ~2:1 KD

it didnt need a buff lol