Part 2:
TF TeamSoldier
B.A.S.E Jumper
- Players often complain that the B.A.S.E. Jumper is frustrating to fight against because the target is simply too hard to hit. This is mostly due to the combination of being able to deploy/retract at will, and the amount of steering control they have - which makes them too unpredictable.
- Changes:
- Reduced amount of air control while deployed by 50%
- Removed the ability to re-deploy the parachute once retracted (until the player lands on the ground again)
Mantreads
- The second least-used item in the game. The aerial stomp mini-game is difficult, and The Gunboats are superior in most scenarios.
- Changes:
- +75% push-force reduction now includes airblast
- Added: +200% air control when blast jumping
Sniper
Darwin’s Danger Shield
- Snipers using this item had an advantage against Snipers who weren't. As a result, players felt like they were required to equip this item in order to be competitive.
- Goal: Remove the increased survivability against enemy Snipers (which invalidates the existing design).
- New design:
- Counter ranged burn attacks (e.g. flares), and strengthen melee fights vs Pyros
- Afterburn immunity
- +50% fire resist
Razorback
- Goal: Reduce the effectiveness of "pocket'd" Snipers in stalemates/standoffs (this primarily happens in organized/competitive play)
- Changes:
- Added: -100% overheal penalty
- Added: Shield regenerates after 30 seconds
Medic
Vita-Saw
- Ubercharge on death is too valuable of an effect to be passive
- Goal: Change the weapon in a way that requires skill and risk in order to gain this effect
- Changes:
- Added "Organs" collecting concept (... you know, hit someone with a saw, and out pops a vital organ which you then take, and hold). Each hit with the Vita-Saw harvests the victim's organs (shown on the HUD).
- Added: On-death, preserve 15% ubercharge per Organ harvested. This effect caps at 60%.
Crusader's Crossbow
- Bolt healing is very high and significantly out-heals the Medigun when the target is in combat. This might be okay given the trade-offs (risk-vs-reward of ranged shots hitting and the opportunity cost, no overheal). However, it's also the fastest way to build Ubercharge - under the right conditions (e.g. corner damage farming with the Medic behind cover).
- Changes:
- Ubercharge gain rate reduced in the same way that the Medigun's healing (and therefore, Ubercharge build rate) is - based on the last time the target was in combat
- Reduced by a third when 1 - 10 seconds outside of combat, and scales up to normal over 10 - 15 seconds
Heavy
All Miniguns
- Changes:
- The 1-second damage and accuracy penalty now applies to the first second of spun-up time, whether or not the Heavy is firing. Previously, the 1-second damage penalty would only be removed after 1 second of firing.
- Accuracy and damage penalties now reset when the Heavy spins down, rather than when the Heavy stops firing. This means if you stay spun-up beyond one second, and fire in bursts, damage and accuracy will remain at 100%.
Gloves of Running Urgently
- Speed (lack-of) is used to balance the Heavy's high health, over-heal and damage output. While we still believe it's OK to have a class of items that increases Heavy's movement speed, players have been able to easily mitigate the existing negatives.
- Changes:
- Added: Max-health is drained while item is active (-10/sec), and regenerated while holstered
- Health will regenerate only the amount drained while active - minus any damage taken during that time
- Each time the gloves are deployed, the drain rate is accelerated for a brief period of time
- Removed: Marked-For-Death effect while active
- Removed: 25% damage penalty
Eviction Notice
- Changes:
- Added: Max-health is drained while item is active (-5/sec), and regenerated while holstered. Health will regenerate only the amount drained while active - minus any damage taken during that time.
- Removed: 20% damage vulnerability
Fist of Steel
- The downside of "increased melee damage" doesn't ever really come into play when it counts (e.g. holding a choke point or objective), and when a Medic is attached, the resulting pool of effective-health is unreasonably large
- Changes:
- Added: 40% overheal reduction while active
- Added: 40% healing rate penalty while active
Engineer
Rescue Ranger
- The ability to repair buildings safely from range without using metal is powerful. Combine this with the ability to instantly teleport buildings from far away - which by itself is interesting and useful enough in many circumstances - and you end up with a package that is very strong.
- Changes:
- Ranged repairs now consume metal (at a 4-to-1 health-to-metal ratio, e.g. repairing 60 damage costs 15 metal)