Well, here we are, about five weeks past the release of the Uber Update, and not even two weeks past the arrival of Doctor Grordbort's rockets. How far have we been in this five weeks, and where's TF2 at now? We'll jump in with quick run-downs on the Uber Update sets, and throw a bit more experience and knowledge at some of the weapons I was on the fence about.
Black Market Business
The Tomislav is still useful, even after the spinup nerf. In my opinion, it removes the Heavy's main weakness, and does in in a way that is atrociously blunt (but I'll keep my opinions to myself!). It can't take on Heavies and large groups quite as well as it could, but it's still viable. Whether or not it works its way into acceptance will be determined. The Family Business and the Eviction Notice still lose out to the Sandvich and the GRU.
The Man of Honor
The Enforcer is a beast when used with the Dead Ringer, and isn't much of a nerf even to traditional invis watch users. Cloak before you get to the battle and bam! downside negated. It's the weapon of choice in nearly every situation at the time. The Big Earner is a fun little toy and certainly more useful than the unfortunately awful Conniver's Kunai, but it still doesn't match a simple butterfly knife.
Lawrence of Australia
Bazaar Bargain, even in my little time playing Sniper, feels like a downgrade. Pulling off two consecutive headshots just to break even feels cheap, and headshots still kill 6 classes without any charging. It's just not worth the extra effort. The Shahansha is a bit more useful if you get yourself into a desperate melee situation, but the Bushwacka is probably more reliable in those oddball situations.
One Thousand and One Demoknights
The Splendid Screen is a bit less ganky when it comes to absorbing rockets and pipes, which is pleasing, and the tradeoff is an 85-damage slam at any range. It's useful in places where the Targe is useful, which is not often. The Persian Persuader is nice for a Demoman surrounded by dispensers or carts, but it's gimmicky in other situations and the Demoman is perhaps the class most prone to running out of ammo. The Booties' charge turning is hard to handle, at least for myself, but the +25 health is useful at times. Nothing beats a default Demo, but all three weapons manage not to be useless.
The #1 Fan
The Soda Popper remains useful as a sidegrade. Mini-crits are a godsend if you can time them right, but if you meet heavy resistance, you're out of luck. I haven't seen any big strats for the Atomizer yet, but I'm positive it could be useful in the right hands. Winger is still a piece of junk.
Airborne Armaments
The Liberty Launcher is nice for pub soldiers who can fall back after three rockets worth of shots, but it falls victim to the same problem the Black Box has - no ammo in firefights. I'm still a bit on the fence about the Reserve Shooter, I've personally seen it used well (and it has such a sexy firing sound), but I am very concerned that not even the weapon switch speed will make up for only having 3 shots. Market Gardener is a bit of a joke: if you're not rocket-bombing, you're probably not doing it right.
The General's Formals
I've played around with the Mantreads a bit, and I haven't noticed very much difference in my playstyle as compared to rolling with a backpack. Stomping on people's heads is something I have yet to accomplish (read: it's hard) and again, you should really be shooting rockets! Blast force reduction is nice, but doesn't negate actual abilities. The Disciplinary Action is a decent counterpart to the Equalizer - save your teammates and your Ubers instead of yourself. It's down to preference and coordination with this 'un.
The Clinical Trial
According to the Wiki, the boost in speed applied to the Medic only activates when the Overdose is out. Damn Valve and their non-specific attribute wording. It's still better than the Syringe Gun, I think - better to run and live than die trying to pull off a syringe-related clutch kill. The Quick-Fix will function better as a possible Kritz sidegrade and is much more of a larger-team-count weapon. The Solemn Vow is nice and all, but it's not as useful as it could be, and it's still not an Ubersaw.
Other Uber Update Thoughts
Detonator ain't got no hops. I'm saddened. Flare-jumping is much harder to pull off effectively, and the Flare Gun is more reliable for the full-crit damage. The shields also received a minor nerf in the coming patches that removed the ability to keep your charge bar full after cancelling it yourself. This is something I seriously hope Valve takes a longer look at.
From here we'll move into Dr. Grordbort's Victory Pack, a two-weapon set of Soldier items.
The Cow Mangler 5000 has a ridiculous amount of stats. It has infinite ammo and 5 shots loaded, and carries the potential to charge a shot that mini-crits, sets enemies on fire, and disables buildings. However, it deals less damage, reloads a bit more slowly, deals 80% less damage to buildings, and cannot fire crits under any circumstances. It's a bit of a slap in the face to Spy (disables buildings), Pyro (sets enemies on fire), and Engineer (long-range building disabling). Ignoring that, it's still a five-rocket-launcher with only a 10% damage penalty and a 5% reload speed cut. Very useful, and perhaps a touch overpowered, for the crowded server, though whether it'll make the cut in competitive is unknown.
The Righteous Bison is a much more easy-to-understand weapon - it's a pistol for the Soldier, kind of. You get four unreflectable projectiles that penetrate enemies, and there's no ammo count - but you only deal 20% damage toward buildings. It's better for bigger groups, but the damage output is a bit on the low end compared to some close-range buckshot. Probably not useful in the long run for competitive matches.
Coming soon, an article on power creep - yes, I promise it's coming! Everyone who had sent in replies has been read, and you may see your name in the upcoming article!
Comments, if you please!
Comments
The building aspect is nice as it does just about as much damage as you need to heal back (45 every 2 seconds ish for direct damage, otherwise lets you weaken yourself for later healing) and it allows you to just do something like that. It's rather safe too, due to the speed of the switching and the autoreloading of the flare. It's just a bit more utility to the class, lets you do something during the lull after a mid fight.
I did not know this first part. Noted.
The second note is also true. Is that bit useful for you? I haven't seen it used to much potential in the games I've played, but I am no Pyro main.
There are currently two or three things going for it that I'm sure you didn't factor in :|
1. Detonator crits when you switch weapons before it hits. Maybe a glitch but hey its been known for a month.
2. Detonator lets the pyro build uber.
And the lighting people on fire with the charged shot is not a slap in the face to the pyro, it's just a cool aesthetic effect.
Sorry, my job is to be the pyro main around these parts.
They don't run a main heavy now, as he's moving into a backup position, but they were insane with it, once my team started to even think about countering him it was already 2-3 rounds too late. But anyhow, that aside: I still think it is a tad OP, though not as much due to it not being so good on last, as it allows far too much flexibility / mobility to a class which, even with a weaker gun like that, still has a massive damage output (and health). Admitedly I've not played more than half a dozen games against it so that's not much experience, and the fact that it was quite new (1-3 weeks) at the time probably added to its strength.
Anyhow, to sum up my thoughts as I'm going off the track too much: it removes the heavys main weakness but does not take away enough of its two main advantages.
I'm rethinking the Tomislav now, I didn't really think of the above. I agree with it he's weaker than vanilla when holding. It's more balanced considering not a lot of teams run a lot of heavy besides on last and are not very used to it. I was a bit biased by my previous experience before I went on holiday against Yoyotech, who used to run a main heavy.
Thanks for the comments, again.
Not a problem. You scared my inbox with all the replies though.
Thanks for providing input, I love seeing stuff like this. I agree with you that the Tomislav takes away the Heavy's biggest weakness, which is a major buff to the class. I guess I was eyeing it from a defensive standpoint, whether holding last or playing Gravel Pit, where damage is king while you're trying to keep enemies off the point. Demonstrating his effectiveness as a pocket is a better look at the weapon, and I agree with your points.
I stand by everything I said before my mathematics skills though.
Well the thing is, the interval between shooting rockets is the same, so you can't count the additional speed more than once. You'll be doing the same damage per second (until the 4th rocket comes into play), just the one with the LL will do his damage, say, 0.5 seconds sooner if they're shooting at each other from across badlands bridge.
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