Doesn't valve's teaming system literally just work like "go wherever the hell you feel like, make up teams as you go along"?

Yeah, he wouldn't have much of a problem switching between the two, especially now that DOTA is a big enough thing where he could probably leave it alone without much changing.

Even simple stuff like having announcements whenever there was a LAN or a big tournament could do wonders. They already do blog posts for that, don't see why this wouldn't be a lot easier.

Hell, why limit to ESEA? Look at how DOTA2 happened to successfully fund one of the biggest-prize pool tournaments in esports. Valve can pull some pretty amazing stuff in terms of competitive TF2, the question is mostly "how deep are they willing to go with it", more than anything else.

I'd think that the short circuit would be convenient once the wrangler's fixed. Being able to basically click any incoming projectiles out of existence is really great, but it isn't wrangler-great.

And in that aspect, it'd be a simplistic as changing back. If it's that awful in the long run, presumably.

My one worry is less on valve's side, and mostly on this community's. To pull any of this off nicely, we need a community-wide acknowledgement that actively nerfing or banning should be the last thing we do. A lot of this is very clearly based around adapting as an important skill, and that won't happen if nobody's willing to adapt.

Small things:

1) I'd personally ban the boston basher in certain situations, in case I want to set up our team in a way where our ubers can consistently come first. ditto w/ the vita saw
2) if the enemy pyro's consistently good with his DPS output, I'd either ban his degreaser or his axetinguisher, to cut off a lot of that damage source and enforce him to play more laid-back
3) if there's a good spy on our end, never not ban huo-long heater

This sounds really fun, not really from a balance perspective but from a metagame perspective.

So that's a "yes", then

Do you just scream and shout slurs at everyone you talk to, or

I think you're more angry than anyone else in this thread

is that a lazy euro thing too

how is clockwork stream
how is clockwork stream
how clockwork get streamy

Maybe just make him a bit squishier? Honestly, it's hard to think of any decent nerfs that wouldn't make him immediately less fun to play and watch. Being able to transition between aggressive offense and tricky defense is sort of gig, really, even if that wasn't the intention, and I like that.

...and is that a bad thing? If we point out what weapon in a slot is clearly the better one, then we can find out how to balance it from there. Whether that means nerfing that weapon, or buffing the others isn't something I wanted to imply, I simply wanted to get into a different conversation.

You just said to stop arguing about it, only to continue the argument right after saying that because you couldn't help yourself having the last word.
ggwp

Something I'm sincerely wondering regarding the metagame is the Boston Basher. Isn't it... kind of odd that the one good advantage it had going for it in the long run was supposed to be its major disadvantage? And that accidental advantage is so good, that there's not really any reason to use anything else.

...Are we sincerely arguing for a pyro nerf? He's one of the worst classes in the game, and we're arguing that he's not nerfed enough?

I'd put the minigun's blame on the other items not being very good, really. Heavy's other primary options have, in their best times, only managed to be "obnoxious" as opposed to "good".