It’ll all be blown over by Christmas
Assuming you’ve not been hiding under a rock since last weekend, you’ll probably know by now that war were declared. And whilst many of us have donned our fatigues and flak jackets and taken to the killing field to slaughter the hated enemy, not all of us did with the same gusto. Let’s face it, at least for the majority of us, neither Demoman or Soldier ranks as most played class. Yet this war is still going to affect all of us.
Whoever said war never changes was wrong, because this one right here has already changed the whole game. Teams all over are abundant with Soldiers and Demomen (although the balance seems slightly in favour of Soldiers). And unless you plan on ONLY playing those 2 classes, you might find the game a little different when you step into the shoes of one of your favourite 7 bystanders.
Team Balance
But I’ll get to that in a minute; first let’s look at how team counts are affected by an abundance of more explosive combat classes WITHOUT complaining about so called spam. In times of peace, Demomen and Soldiers aren’t particularly common, much to the irk of many team players. Now all of a sudden, they are, and teams are finding themselves with both an offensive and defensive balance, as what would’ve been your third spy becomes your third soldier instead. You may find yourself playing in a more challenging and competitive game, with less teams being rolled over thanks to an absence of any real fighting strength. Here’s hoping this will last some time after the update, with new toys in the hands of both classes.
Medic
It’s immediately obvious why those sadistic Deutschlanders are revelling in this war. Almost everywhere you look there’s a worthy pocket, be he Demo or Soldier. Now is probably the best time to bring out your kritzkrieg and assist in raining critical explosives over an unsuspecting enemy. What better time to earn your blast assist achievement?
- Ever felt like you’re carrying the team?
The canny Medic is one who doesn’t take sides, and helps his team, alternating between soldier and demo buddies as the battle shifts bolstering the offence/defence of the team as needed. There’s a lot of fun to be had here, so enjoy it.
Pyro
This war may look like a great opportunity for the Pyro, and I’ve heard from a few sources that now is an excellent time to practice your reflections. This is not a safe assumption; these are probably the same people who’d tell you that an incoming tsunami is an excellent time to practice your surfing. Airblasting isn’t easy, and just because more rockets and bombs are flying your way doesn’t mean you’re gonna get any better at sending them back. More than likely you’ll just get overwhelmed by them and repeatedly gibbed. Although if you are already quite good at reflections, now might be a good time to shine.
- Ask any Pyro; it’s better to go surfing when the waves are calm.
Remember though, that Soldiers can be deadly targets up close thanks to their high health and splash damage. Demomen on the other hand, can be easy targets when you get near, but closing the distance is another thing altogether. Clever play is as always, key to a rewarding game with the Pyro.
Engineer
Poor fellow, if you’re resilient enough to be playing Engineer right now you might find yourself a little more prone to frustration. It doesn’t take a genius to work out that all these Soldiers and Demomen are going to make construction more than a little tricky for you. Now might be a good time to take up ninjaneering; and if that doesn’t work, why not just join either side in the war and hope for real that it’ll all have blown over by Christmas.
- A change of career is just around the corner.
Scout
At first glance you might think life for the Scout hasn’t changed so much, but depending on your typical approach, you might want to rethink that. Clusters of high health classes make flanking with a scout a much riskier move, as right after you’re spotted by that damn Medic you find yourself staring down the barrel of three rocket launchers. You’re still the master of picking off strays, particularly those lone Demomen; Soldiers too, if you can keep your wits about you and dodge the point blank rockets. A reduced number of Engineers will also give you a little more free-reign over a lot of maps though with the extra Demomen you’ll want to keep an eye open for sticky traps.
- Think of it as a target rich environment.
Heavy
You could find the husky russkie a tough choice, for all the same reasons the Engineer does. Not only that but you might find your ‘loyal’ Medic is leaving you for a more destructive pocket. Getting up close and personal around those explosive classes will be tough, but is key to causing some big hurt here, and provided you can survive a few direct hits from pipes and rockets you might want to consider keeping hold of a sandvich so you can chow down and go back for more.
- Right after you gave him your last sandvich.
Spy
Slow moving classes, and an easier choice for disguises. Spies are as deadly as they’ve always been, and could find hit and hide tactics a lot easier with fewer classes capable of pursuit. Backstab sprees will be much easier against a less mobile enemy team, although when you’re spotted you might find yourself facing an explosive end. Unless of course you use your dead-ringer to slink off and return for more later.
Sniper
It’s easy to say Sniper war hasn’t changed, but that’s not exactly true. He has all the same advantages of the Spy here; slow moving, big headed targets and an enemy team with less classes capable of closing the distance giving him a longer lifespan.
So that’s that. Edwin Starr was wrong, war is good for something; overall an improved and more challenging TF2 experience for us all. So take a breath of fresh air from war contributions, and mix things up a little bit, your team will appreciate it.
Many thanks to Tygrys for the epic GModdery.
Stumble it!
kanodin responded on 16 Dec 2009 at 2:18 pm #
In all fairness the scoreboard screenshot was when we were specifically doing 2 teams of all soldier (with medic) vs all demoman (again with medic). And in defense of my honor I had only just joined.
Medic responded on 16 Dec 2009 at 2:25 pm #
All of a sudden TF2 has improved? My Spy and Scout gibs filling the bucket right now beg to differ.
You should have added something about maps, as Dustbowl is unplayable now without rage. Thought it was bad? Go to a server playing Dustbowl and you’ll figure out what I mean.
lols responded on 16 Dec 2009 at 3:03 pm #
Direct Hit sounds AWESOME.
Can’t wait to get one and gib some Demos.
Anony1200 responded on 16 Dec 2009 at 3:21 pm #
Actually,no,I’d say that,if you have a reliable Medic,your job as a Heavy has gotten a lot easier.Snipers are much less common and Spies are preying mostly on the projectile throwers,which is good for you.You can take damage to the face relativly well for a large amount of time with that Medic and you do great against large,slow targets with slightly above-average health that like to stay about midrange.
To add onto that,Scouts are usually busy pestering and being distractions(something you didn’t say,ironically:they’re great at distracting people dumb enough to try and shoot them with a not-hitscan weapon).
Azul responded on 16 Dec 2009 at 3:26 pm #
It is definitely nice seeing more soldiers than spies/snipers. There should be limits on both those classes. They are great and every team needs one, but I don’t know how many maps I’ve played on where our team has 3 spies and 3 snipers for some reason… that’s a recipe for fail… especially on the cp maps. I mean, spies don’t really cap highly contested points because they are always invisible or disguised and snipers only see the point through their scope. The only times I’ve seen a team win with 3/3 is when the teams are super unbalanced in terms of skill. A team could always use another soldier or demoman though. There really aren’t any downsides to these high health, in your face, explodey classes.
Chronomeister responded on 16 Dec 2009 at 4:45 pm #
Not gonna lie; I want that medic picture as a background. Actually they all would be pretty good.
As for picking classes I’m doing what I’ve usually done. Pick class 0, random, and go from there. Although when the killing first started happening, I went to Kritz medic and had tons o’ fun.
gelugon2105 responded on 16 Dec 2009 at 5:54 pm #
Yup, good times for a Medic. Ever managed to kritz-assist-kill 6-8 enemies in a couple of moments?
Pad See Ew responded on 16 Dec 2009 at 5:59 pm #
Love the screenshots, TeslaTank. Very tasteful G-Mod use.
Pad See Ew responded on 16 Dec 2009 at 6:03 pm #
Just saw the credits, very good shots TyGrys.
Eman responded on 16 Dec 2009 at 6:30 pm #
Good read! Glad to see someone who isn’t just bitching about spam.
Arthur responded on 16 Dec 2009 at 8:10 pm #
I agree, the biggest mistake people are making is joining larger population servers. This was is much more enjoyable in a spamless 6v6 situation.
Soylent Robot responded on 16 Dec 2009 at 11:06 pm #
I cried at that one with the Heavy :c
Tesla Tank responded on 16 Dec 2009 at 11:26 pm #
Full sized GMod images are here:
http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/8363/ctf2fort0033.jpg
http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/5168/ctf2fort0034.jpg
http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/3206/ctf2fort0036.jpg
http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/9325/ctf2fort0037.jpg
http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/4739/ctfoutsetdewdleb60001.jpg
-=Pvt. Gomer Pyle=- responded on 17 Dec 2009 at 3:05 am #
Thanks for the images…
Reid responded on 17 Dec 2009 at 3:14 am #
IMO now is a *great* time to play scout. You have to play on an open map like badlands, though. Close quarters mean no way to escape splash damage. All these noob soldiers and demomen don’t realize when they’re getting blasted from behind by a scattergun, so you can pull of a lot of harassment.
monchberter responded on 17 Dec 2009 at 6:01 am #
I’m a pretty dedicated Pyro player and a mean reflect killer, but anything more than 4 Soldiers or Demo’s on the opposing team is just plain not fun to play against.
Every corner is spammed, there’s little you can do when they are massed apart from the odd reflect crit when you’re lucky.
I’ve had some truly miserable rounds in the past few days and can’t wait until the “Worlds Easiest Class” and is ex one eyed friend get back to more balanced numbers.
mew4ever23 responded on 17 Dec 2009 at 8:10 am #
Oddly enough, engineer during this war hasn’t been nearly as bad as I thought it would be. You just need to be on the move, watching for spies and demos.
Remember, if you’re at your sentry, and something starts killing it, check its blind spots. Every sentry has them.
Sandman responded on 17 Dec 2009 at 9:29 am #
@monchberter: Agreed, 4 enemies is the limit for reflecting projectiles. But 3-4 is really the sweet spot, as the chance of random crits is pretty decent. I’ve had a few spectacular reflects over the past couple of days. Got 2 soldiers, a medic, and a demo on a reflected crocket yesterday.
But I also agree with the article. This is a time to show off your reflect skills, not a time to build them. Fire up some tr_walkway if you’re new at it, you’ll learn faster and come away with better skills.
GrgoljBlaster responded on 17 Dec 2009 at 10:03 am #
Demoman and Soldier were my most played classes before War. Now I usually don’t even play them unless there’s lack of them on server (very rare ocasion).
Gufu responded on 17 Dec 2009 at 10:27 am #
I am on the picture. Yay.
Also, interesting article.
Bobby responded on 17 Dec 2009 at 10:53 am #
Playing the spy is so fun now, there’s so much spam and chaos that they don’t even notice 5 of their teammates getting stabbed in a row
LaZodiac responded on 17 Dec 2009 at 6:54 pm #
Now if only I didn’t suck at every class, I might be able to have some non instint death fun.
Slow moving my ass. Can’t snipe for shit.
Badger responded on 18 Dec 2009 at 9:31 am #
My god, I just noticed I’m in the team roster screenshot.
That was an amusing Soldier vs Demo match, though.
Koolkevk responded on 18 Dec 2009 at 12:51 pm #
I am amazingly over-excited that my name appears in that screen grab.