i dont know how easy it would be to put your proposed changes into a plugin but

in my humble opinion the easiest way (logistically) to nerf sniper would probably be to ban stock rifles and bazaar bargain (stupid but simple)

next most viable rifle would likely be hitmans heatmaker which has weaker bodyshots (40 uncharged, 120 fully charged) so we can keep awesome headshotting long range class (i dont know how the other attributes of the heatmaker would affect sniper play)

however, it doesnt really address the problem of sniper slowing down play outside of last, only remedies the most pressing issue by making getting value more difficult

sidenote: i think a lot of snipers at higher levels tend to not miss the head much, but in a vacuum this change would help

i also agree that unbanning unlocks would make it easier to battle sniper comps as well but talking about unlocks should be a whole other ordeal

serious discourse about 6s in 2025 is posting "tier lists" about "gamestates." when are we gonna have actual discussions about the issues in this game

also

sniper is aids. half of the community recognizes that it's aids, and the other half of the community who says shit like "complaining about sniper outs you as a noob" wants sniper to stay in 6s so they have easy gameplay with the braindead class

and i dont care if sniper has good skill expression, yes its impressive to have good aim, but fundamentally sniper is just too powerful for 6s play. you can always say stuff like "both teams can snipe" but no one has ever enjoyed playing with a sniper, against a sniper, or in a sniper mirror

imo the game will be 10x better if sniper gets banned but it will never happen because rgl puts literally every decision up to a poll and the moron scout archetype accounts for too many players and subsequently votes in this community

i am fairly confident that there are already talks behind the scenes in the various competitive leagues about creating a promod. whether it happens or not is up in the air

from my understanding a lot of RGL's projects specifically are already decently ambitious, and im sure that there are motivated people willing to put in the work (and id like to think a project of this size would have money behind it)

using the promod as a balancing tool should be the last priority of whoever would take up the mantle of this project. QoL changes, potential anticheat improvements, baking dm server queues and maybe even pug services into the client, all seem very interesting and i think these are all more pressing matters than balancing

i also think using the promod to improve the viewing experience of competitive tf2 would be awesome. obviously there should be improvements to production tools, but beyond that, im personally imagining some kind of way to spectate matches live in STV, similar to how you could spectate CSGO major matches while having the caster's voice broadcasted through the STV.

also, in the same vein of CSGO, potentially having the demoui functions of CSGO/2 would be literally the greatest thing ever, and this feature should be like 50% of what would make a promod appealing to established competitive players

as for balancing changes (despite my belief that it should be the lowest priority), i used to believe that sniper and maybe even engi should be outright banned to improve the pace of tf2. but now, with the possibility of a promod, the idea of applying damage falloff to the sniper rifle and sentry and/or applying statistical nerfs to either of classes intrigues me a lot

promod time

https://youtu.be/TYh2ZaoLjMo?si=eXqq34oWZV6B51YK

does anyone have a .vtf of both this thin default seeker and the thin sniper crosshair at 0:14

because botmode wont clarify i will give my thoughts on the window idea

the window won't save combo scouts from eating spam. it will honestly make it worse for scouts because any lane aggression around the left or right of the nipple would be telegraphed by the window = makes it incredibly easy for a demo to trap himself off, entirely avoid the scout aggression, and deal the damage anyways

a scout being able to fight around the nipple without being spotted is kind of essential to make point fights actually winnable. if a demo could perfectly target a scout wherever he goes on the point by seeing him through the window, it would (imo) just turn bagel into another clearcut where edging the point as a combo scout is nigh impossible. fights would entirely rely on trades and winning the post OR actually winning house fights instead of just brawling in the houses to draw eyes / get damage

i think the house / point play on bagel is honestly perfect and the only issue with the map, as it stands, is how powerful the forward hold is

guys i want to play really bad

i wanna play next season
any div any class
my discord tag is loafe
tyty :)

i blame rekuso for open pugs
and dank
fuck these guys

shouldve posted sooner but i have nothing but good things to say for dinko
very passionate and always looking to improve
mechies good and always getting better
great addition to team environment
good pickup for mid-invite / maybe even playoffs next season

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/19798270924843669/3C9CDFB9DEFB068A3A9CEE53F9554070684D7E0B/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false

the new eu pug service has a system where you can vote for which captains you'd like before the pug starts if theres more than two (optional vote) i think thats cool imo

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/908065487978627112/1239097525047394304/caption.gif?ex=66c8d0bf&is=66c77f3f&hm=be5a0088679a3890f6f7b541eee46a2e7e5b50476e9fbbb9fb16bf67d5da1b7d&;

preposterous dm
teach him and he will carry you

the future of tf2 lies in gregs hands