Should Medics Shot Call? Q&A #1 (TF2)

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Competitive Team Fortress 2 Streamer/Youtuber

#TF2 #TeamFortress2

[UncleDane]

"It is what it is."
I believe this mentality has been the #1 thing preventing Competitive TF2 from being attractive to the average TF2 player. Until the established competitive community is willing to expand the weapon whitelist and diversify the map rotation to match that of vanilla TF2, the scene is going to remain a tiny percentage of the playerbase. You are likely right that the optimal class lineup for high-level TF2 is [2 Scout, 2 Soldier, 1 Demo, 1 Medic] - but that curated metagame is simply not exciting to a huge majority of TF2 players. To be fair, the people who are making the rules have been the same people who are playing it, so if the competitive community wants to keep being selfish and effectively discourage a ton of passionate TF2 players from getting into the scene, then so be it. Just remember: that mentality can never bring about the significant growth the comp community has been so desperately wanting.

[ziixx]

Hey, that is my question! Thanks for answering!

[comicaze]

Thanks for answering, SLIN! I understand your response and I'm glad I had my question answered so I can have more information on this topic. Personally, I'd atleast love to have more class variety if they do get some reworks but I understand why the community has come up with the system that works. I'm fine with not really getting what I want since in the end I'll still play TF2, but I would just love to see the classes being shown off

[Jack-eliv]

Made me think back to those good old videos! Keep it up!

[MooshBoosh]

Thanks for the video Slin.

I liked your response for the last question. I think class viability and map variability will grow as TF2 competitive grows, if map-makers take an interest in the comp-centered design, and as things like creators.tf's tinkering with weapon balancing, but it would obviously be better if Valve put more resources into TF2 for that sort of thing. But overall, unless they had a specific team that worked with top players and tournament organizers, it would never be perfect; so, that's why I feel leaving it to the community is a weird limbo that is kind of a call-to-arms. So if the competitive community takes on the arduous task of re-balancing gamemodes via modification, tweaking maps, and creating new maps, then that's totally up to them. If not, that's that.

[whammeister]

The problem with highlander in my opinion is that while 6s is a gamemode based on class viability and gameplay, hl exists simply because there are 9 classes in the game. It's not as "optimized" as a gamemode, often making the game completely controlled by the combo and the sniper. I honestly wish it did work better since being able to interact with all of the classes is really interesting. Not saying it's objectively not fun, I just don't think it will ever be taken as seriously as 6s.

[tubagod]

I disagree, most classes can know what their team mate's health due to the new hud ui. I agree that it's the medic's job to track ubers, however, it should be a combat class that should determine what they are going to do based off of the uber status. Not only that, but popping ubers are mostly based on when a team mate says either their famous last words, or the first words to an ubercharge, "pop it." Medics are usually placed farther away from the combat so that they won't die as easily, but say, if your maincaller was the scout, he can say that "Oh this is a free kill, I hit him 110" or "Their soldier has bad positioning, target him rq" etc... The maincaller who is a damage dealer can easily call what enemies the team should focus fire. Solemn Vow can change all this but, communication is required to say "Scout is 50" and by the time you get the word out after you looked at him to make sure you can see his health, the scout is either dead, killing your team, out of range or killing you. Now, I'm not saying that medic maincalling can't be done, one of the best medics in the EU, Raymond, would shot-call for Se7en. I think medics COULD shot-call, but I don't think it is the most viable option for most teams.

Edit: Great video tho.

[TheOneTheOnlySpaghetti]

On the first question you mentioned that the medic can see the health of all the players on the team and see that there over healed. yes he can but the lines underneath the hud icon can show the players health aswell.

[eimazd]

Regarding that last question, while it is true that payload and a/d suck for small teams (and ctf sucks all the time forever), it is kind of annoying, both as a spectator and as someone who tried comp and got really sick of playing really fast, that there's also no koth, which *is* a pretty balanced gamemode design-wise.
And yes, I know that Product is a thing, but that's the ONLY koth map I ever see, and even then it only shows up in, like, one out of every ten matches. 6s is, for all intents and purposes, only 5cp, which, as a spectator, makes it get pretty stale when I notice "oh, okay, so they're at even ubers. I can skip the next thirty seconds to a minute because I know absolutely nothing will happen."

[rJPEG]

What about prolander, watching a few matches was actually quite exiting compared to the typical cp 6s. Pro lander implemented the same feel of HL but required a lot more coordination and teamwork. But to be fair, prolander and HL are just glorified sniper vs sniper matches. The most off of the off-classes spy was utilized sometimes to get a med pick, sap a sentry, or even take out the sniper. I feel as if prolander isn’t recognized as much.

[RustedApart]

If you could rebalance the Quick-fix to be more viable in Highlander and other large-team sizes yet also not overpowered in 6v6, how would you do that?

[countingcards]

I’ve got a question on how to get into comp and how to know if I’m good enough. I play demoman in Europe and I dominate in most casual matches but I’m not sure how good I have to be to play competitive

[djarcher]

God I can't wait to build my new computer! Imma play tf2 24/7 ^^