#tf2weaponideas

It may surprise you, but Valve designed the Pyro’s flamethrower with the psychology of the human on the other end of it in mind.

In the developer commentary they stated that they wanted fire to be as visually noisy as possible so as to disorient players and give them a sense of urgency and panic. It doesn’t just stop there.

There are a few things I, and probably most people, feel while they’re on fire:

A sense of vulnerability that comes with losing health

Urgency, even if it’s not going to be lethal

The constant distraction of losing health that puts me on edge

So there are tactical benefits to setting your opponent on fire, too. I fight worse when burning; that’s something I’m almost sure of. And I do believe Valve took that into effect when making the class.

You may’ve heard it referred to as the “Lucksman” for its uncanny ability to get headshots even if it’s not striking a target in the cranium.

Well, there’s a reason for that, and it lies in the difference between projectiles and bullets.

The Huntsman’s arrows are registered by the engine as projectiles, which is all well and good, because they’re not hitscan - which is to say, bullets, which are calculated as lines drawn across the map once fired and have no travel time.

Projectiles (all of them) have slightly larger hitboxes, collision detection meshes, than just lines drawn across the world. This is likely for a myriad of reasons - lag compensation, projectile pitch and yaw (especially in the case of grenades), simple aiming aids; there doesn’t seem to be any universally accepted reason, and I can’t provide a definitive answer.

Anyway, this means that the Huntsman, as a projectile weapon, finds it slightly easier to hit classes even if it’s not hitting directly on their body.

Because all characters have a head hitbox, and that hitbox is only enabled in the case of headshotting weapons, it has to override the body hitbox in the area where it exists on the character. That means that a hit to the neck, say, will likely be counted as a headshot for the purposes of the Huntsman.

No, seriously, it is.

I don’t want to present the illusion that I want all weapons to be used the same amount; not only is that borderline impossible, it would lend itself poorly to gameplay. I just want each weapon to have a fighting chance of sorts and be adequately designed to bring something new to the class that has it.

A certain amount of imbalance in weapons is a good thing, so long as it’s not too terrible. Sometimes a less-effective strategy is better than a commonplace one because of the human element of the game. We won’t fight well against something we aren’t expecting, and that’s why a “really stupid” strategy can sometimes work out surprisingly effectively.

Rifle charge is an excellent example of Valve thinking things through when designing their game, which is something I wholly endorse. In the developer commentary, they stated that it was effectively a method of making the Sniper easy to overwhelm with a large rush and by extension making him adept against single targets.

To be succinct: if a sniper had the ability to one-shot any class with any headshot, things would get ugly fast. Sightlines, when watched by a competent sniper, would be near-certain death for small groups or individual players.

By contrast, if all headshots dealt 150 damage with no exceptions, the sniper would be far less dangerous and one misstep could be forgiven for heavier classes.

The problem with both of these scenarios is that there’s no real tact and skill put into planning a shot. If there’s no charge, there’s no variable; a sniper needs only take as many shots as they possibly can in a certain length of time. However, with a charge, new mechanics get introduced:

Team communication to find out how much health given enemies have

Weighing the ups and downs of several weaker shots versus one slower, stronger shot

Weighting classes in the priority order; Medics and lighter classes become easier to pick off in a pinch, while the other four classes become somewhat less desirable pickings

Encourages snipers to keep out of danger to give the fullest range of options (as well as obvious non-charge-related benefits)

Encourages teams to protect the sniper

That’s a lot of new things to think about that elevate the sniper above just a mechanics-oriented class, which ultimately makes him more fun to play and more interesting in the long run.

Attaches to enemy players, rather than buildings

(+) causes the weapon equipped at time of sap to damage friendlies, and 10% damage to the sap victim

(+) consumables will have the opposite effects (e.g Sandvich drains health)

(+) engi buildings would be take +50% damage from wrench

(-) cannot sap buildings

(-) only one active on a target at a time

(-) destroyed by any victim-friendly melee weapon (in case there are no engies about)

(-) +15% bullet and fire vulnerability

Submitted by thescootybootypootypatootie some many months ago when I wasn’t checking my inbox.

It’s a question people ask me a lot. Since I’m known amongst my circle of friends as “the guy who knows things about balance occasionally,” they try to ask me for what’s “best” in-game. I always give them my personal preference and a hefty disclaimer of “I am not usually right.”

Scout I like the stock Scattergun or Back Scatter with the Pistol and Atomizer. The extra mobility afforded by the Atomizer is absolutely fantastic, while the others are just solid choices. I prefer the Scattergun when doing combat against enemy Scouts/Soldiers, but the Back Scatter is far more fun and effective against Medics.

Soldier Kind of depends. Disciplinary Action is, as usual, fantastic; I use it all the time. I use the stock loadout when I’m trying to play as a more bulky class, usually with a Medic, but nothing warms my heart more than Liberty Launchering around and turning my enemies into Rorschach tests.

Pyro I’m boring here. I just run stock Flamethrower, stock Shotgun and Homewrecker. The only times I switch are when I’m on a map where the Detonator can get me a surprise flanking maneuver.

Demoman As my bread and butter, Demoman naturally sees a lot of diversity in terms of loadouts on my computer. Stock works just fine for me, but I equip the Loch-n-Load if I have a building to scrap. And for Demoknighting, I use the booties, Splendid Screen and Eyelander. The other weapons are usually pulled out for when I need to stay fresh.

Heavy My minigun choice depends a lot on my team composition; more assault classes means I’ll use Natascha or the stock, but when push comes to shove the Tomislav is my weapon of choice. Did you know that you can bunny-hop with the Tomislav and, if you time it right, never have to spin down while still maintaining full speed? Sandvich (almost always) is my secondary, and I roll with the Eviction Notice for a melee.

Engineer Definitely a varied class. A vast majority of the time I’m using Jag/Wrangler/Shotgun, but on Payload offense and most defensive situations I may use the Rescue Ranger. The Gunslinger and stock Wrench come out when I need immediate results and Spy protection respectively.

Medic Personally, my Medigun of choice is the Quick-Fix or Vaccinator. I’m comfortable using the stock if I have time to build, though (e.g. before rounds). Naturally, I bring my Crusader’s Crossbow along with me - them heals. And my melee, depending on whether I’m running stock medigun or not, is either the Ubersaw (with stock) or Amputator (without). Yes, yes, Ubersaw is somewhat of a pigeonhole, but I love the ability to heal multiple targets at once for when it gets overwhelming.

Sniper I would probably use full stock here, but I like the design of the Tribalman’s Shiv and - more importantly - Léon: The Professional is one of my favorite movies by far. That means I have to use the Hitman’s Heatmaker, Cleaner’s Carbine and the Liquidator’s Lid. No exceptions. When I get a name tag, I’m gonna name the Heatmaker “This is from Mathilda.”