Just going to add my two cents to the BFB.
Baby Face's Blaster
Current stats with the following changes:
- Max boost acquired after 140 damage, up from 100 damage
100 damage is a little low. It allows a single meatshot to almost fully charge the boost meter. This change would require at least two meatshots, or around 3.5 medium range shots. Additionally, a full pistol clip deals around 180 damage at medium range, and 96 damage at long range, assuming no shots miss (lol). Assuming you only hit 50% of your shots (thanks to spread, and it's probably a lower percentage than this), you would now need around two clips at medium range to get to full boost.
- 20% boost removed on air jumps, down from 25%
Important when considering how gameplay changes with the next change, but it also means that the 140 damage you spent goes to waste a lot less easily. Boost is harder to obtain, and should fall slower. One of the biggest issues with the BFB is how often your speed can change, and how much it can change in those bursts. From a pub focus, it's a little confusing for newer players when their speed keeps drastically changing, and while not a subtle effect by design, it should have a more gradual transition in both ways. From a comp focus, it's really fucking hard to track someone whose speed keeps changing so drastically. Gradual transitions are good in both cases, as long as they aren't too extreme.
- Jump height reduced by 40%
This is the biggest change that I feel really balances the weapon. This makes it so that Scouts that grab the BFB trade vertical maneuverability and positioning for horizontal speed. It's a playstyle change, more of a sidegrade. What 40% does is make it so that a Scout with the BFB can only jump a little higher than a standard class while using up both double jumps and losing 20% of their speed. They can perform small jumps that allow them to get over ledges, which are very big issues on certain maps like Upward (defense spawns), without losing any boost. However, in order to take certain paths that require a full crouch jump, they now need to spend 20% of their boost, and they have to take those jumps slower. It stops them from going to places that only full double jump scouts can accomplish if it's a vertical location, which is part of the downside of the weapon, but they can still cross double jump gaps if they have full boost, which is part of the horizontal improvement that they should have in the first place. The number can be fine tuned after playtesting on major maps, of course, so that all jumps that should be achievable are achievable, but I figured 40% is a nice number because it gives a little wiggle room for you to mess up and still achieve what any class can in terms of single jump height.
Another idea that I had, but had issues:
- Just removing double jump
The Scout's double jump isn't only for climbing over obstacles and ascending to other floors, it's also part of what makes the Scout able to dodge in midair - performing an air jump will completely reset their momentum and change their direction in any way they want. It's too core to the class to remove. The jump height nerf allows them to keep that maneuverability without having the standard height advantage that double jumping gives.
I want to contribute to a couple of other ideas here but I don't have enough time to write any more. I'll definitely check in with this thread later tonight and write up some changes for currently banned weapons.