(Started writing this in the morning before the above posts)
Don't care about cs:go-ifying the weapons, I play with viewmodels turned off anyway
Random Damage Spread is off by default (ConVar tf_damage_disablespread is set to 1).
Only took you about SEVEN YEARS Valve!
Now give us tf_use_fixed_weaponspreads 1 and/or turn off random crits please
Borneo's pretty good, haven't played Suijin but it looks gorgeous, and holy shit they actually added Snowplow!
New feature : Weapon exchange and pick up. Weapons dropped by killed players can no longer be picked up for ammo. Killed players will now also drop a medium ammo box. Players that can normally equip the dropped weapon (proper class) can look at the weapon and press the 'action key' to exchange it with what they have equipped. The player's equipped weapon will be dropped on the exchange.
Really interesting, obviously it's mostly a way to get people to care about skins but I'm wondering if there's anything cool you can do with this gameplay wise. It wouldn't be consistent because what they drop is random but it's still interesting.
Spy no longer smacks himself in the face while reloading a revolver (New Spy revolver reload animation that does not block cross hair)
Cool!
Changing to a new disguise while already under a disguise takes 0.5 seconds instead of the normal disguise time of 2 seconds
How much does this buff disguises? I don't play spy enough to know myself. Might be useful?
While invisible, Spy receives 20% less damage from all damage sources
Huh. Ok.
Spycicle changes are a nerf - pyro's will be able to find them after they pop spycicle although they won't be able to track them with their afterburn, they'll have to follow them with the flamethrower for a while. Seems sensible, the downside of failed medic picks was real but on the whole spycicle was by far the best-in-slot (maybe still is?)
Enforcer
Changed +20% damage bonus while undisguised to +20% damage bonus while disguised
Not broken anymore? Glad to see they've decreased its power though, that thing was crazy.
[It's at this point I'm realising just how much stuff they've rebalanced but I'll keep posting my initial reaction
)
Big Earner
Added 3 second speed gain on kill
It's not useless anymore! Cool mechanic.
Kunai still seems bad, just less bad I suppose.
Nice buff to CnD, it's a cool watch that got a bit overshadowed by DR in pubs.
Big changes to DR! Will have to see how this plays out to get a feel for it.
Increased base wrench construction speed on hit boost by 50%. Buildings now build 2.5x faster instead of just 2x (additive of 1.5x + base speed)
Afaik this just applies to the initial set-up time of level 1 buildings? Doesn't seem to be that big a deal.
Building pick up speed penalty reduced from 25% to 10%
Nice quality-of-life change.
On Wrench equip change, buildings no longer self-destruct unless the building type is changed (i.e. Only Sentry explodes when switching from Wrench to Gunslinger)
Don't care about the csgo-ifying of weapon
Yay! Was annoying not being able to switch from gunslinger to normal wrench cos I'd lose my tele
Building repair costs increased from 20 metal to 33 metal to repair 100hp per wrench hit (from 5HP per metal to 3HP per metal)
More repair per swing and more metal cost, interesting. I've not found that running out of metal while tanking a sentry is a problem so I think this pretty much just a buff to repairs. Given how much you can tank with the wrangler shield + rescue ranger I don't think this was needed but ok then. [edit: obviously not the case any more lol]
Mini Sentries can now be repaired
Wat
Mini Sentries can now be wrench construction boosted
Mini Sentry base build speed decreased. Mini Sentries that are wrench boosted build slightly faster than previously.
Mini Sentries start at 50% health on construction and gain health during construction instead of starting at 100%
Nerfs! But mostly for the really offensive minis I think, the ones plopped down defensively will still be horrible. But hey valve nerfed minis at least a little bit woo!!!
Wrangler
Ammo and Repair given to a shielded Sentry is reduced by the strength of the shield (66% reduced) when shield is active
Disregard what I said earlier about tanking sentries, big nerf here. Especially to the rescue ranger given the changes to wrench repairing. I guess it was coming because they were a pain in the ass to kill, I just hope the wrangler's still good enough to be viable cos I really liked that playstyle.
Jag is fixed at least, even though it does slightly lower repair-per-swing the faster swing might just make it the most useful for repairing sentries. Yay for options!
Being able to spam Short Circuit and just deny all projectiles was bullshit, at least there's a little bit of skill involved in timing your hits now.
Probably still bullshit though
Eureka Effect is now non-terrible, not sure if it'll actually be used with the 50%-metal-pickups thing but at least you'll actually be able to repair the sentries that you put up.
Baby Face's Blaster
Added Boost reduction on taking damage.
Increased amount of Boost lost on air jump
Will see how it plays how but I was hoping for more. If you can't hit them in the first place then I don't think slowing them down on taking damage will make much difference. Maybe it's a severe decrease, we'll see.
Excited to see that Pocket Pistol is no longer automatically best in slot! Goodbye +15hp bonus, nobody actually liked being forced to use you
Super interesting tradeoff mechanic here, well done valve.
Airstrike really was crap, dunno if this is enough to make it viable. Sensible changes at least.
Equalizer and Escape Plan
Changed no healing penalty to 90% less healing from Medics while active
Not that important cos they have to change away from it anyway but this is a thoughtful change anyway.
Blackbox changes seem inconsequential? Dunno if I'm missing anything but I don't think this'll change much.
Liberty Launcher
Now has +25% clip size
Still a noob-magnet probably
Loch-n-Load
Changed +20% damage bonus to +20% damage against buildings
Downgraded from 'spammy undodgable bullshit' to just 'spammy and undodgable'. At least it's not doing 120hp and nearly one-shotting light classes anymore. Thank fuck they've done
something about it anyway.
Quickiebomb Launcher
Damage is now increased based on charge amount when the bomb is fired
SNIPER DEMOMAN AAAAAAA
Scorch Shot
Hits and explosions always minicrit burning targets
Wow, scorch shot was in a fine place before but now it's pretty lethal.
Will have to test the new detonator jump, glad to see it's being made more interesting.
Vaccinator sounds kind of insane now, another one I'll have to see in-game to see how it works.
Hoovy changes!
Natascha
Added 20% damage resistance while spun up
Does this include 'spun up' include 'while firing'? If so then in a Sascha vs. Natascha fight there's now very little difference between who wins, assuming both start firing at the same time. 30% more spinup time isn't *that* big a deal so I think Natascha is really competitive now.
Tomislav
Now 20% more accurate (less spread)
Increased spin up bonus from 10% to 20%
The 10% difference was absolutely miniscule so that's a fair enough buff. Interested to see how the greater accuracy plays out, might be really annoying to play against if heavy's are now good at ranged fights.
+ lots of nice changes to his underpowered unlocks. I think Sandvich is still king but it's nice that they're buffing the alternatives a bit.
Increased switch speed to panic attack might just be enough to make it viable. I wonder if it stacks with the degreaser switch speed? Another interesting option.
-
Pretty awesome balance changes on the whole. If anything they could've afforded to go even further with some of them but most of this is a step in the right direction. It's been a long time since the game got this kind of polish, good to see them continue to invest in it
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I guess they can't part with random crits for competitive because weapons are balanced based on crits.
Still can't set targe demomen on fire, so utterly stupid.
