I think that damage reduction works as long as you are cloaked. Thats what I experienced.

He can't out-tank a Heavy, Crovax, since the damage reduction only applies to the first hit and the DR Spy is as vulnerable as any other Spy later. Think about it for a second - e.g. a headshot from a sniper will do 40 damage and trigger the cloak while a normal Spy would be able to not get ANY damage at all because, well, he wouldn't be running uncloaked in plain sight - a choice DR Spies can't make. Taking away the damage reduction would make the DR completely useless since you'd have a bunch of non-cloaked Spies running around and dying all the time since the DR doesn't provide you with ANY means of being truly sneaky.

Anyways - I really hate to discuss balance issues 3 or 4 days into the update even if the Steampowered.com forums are full of threads to improve/nerf/keep the DR as it is.

Still, I know that no rational argument will keep you from complaining, Crovax - I just wish you'd go back to whining about Stickies or perhaps the Sandman.

The ambassador is still broken I think since it does no damage to buildings or stickys.

huntsman is so awesome
finally got it

1 blutsauger and 1 kritzkrieg. I hate Valve.

DR makes you rely on disguise more, because you have no theoretically permanent invisibility. The tricky part is to get behind the enemy lines with DR, but that depends to a large degree on the map too.

In my experience, the eight seconds of invisibility usually suffice. A good example would be 2Fort. The enemy team had sentries on the lower level of the stage room. I just ran into the enemy's fire, thus triggered my DR, and there was enough time to make it to the top of the spiral.

I should mention that I don't think I am totally right and the DR doesn't have any downsides. It's just that before the update I died a lot as a spy and was happy when I could get at least one backstab. Now, with the DR, I get to make a lot of more backstabs and I don't think that my skill suddenly increased

Sawyer - are you you sure that you got damage reduction for the whole duration of the DR? It's absolutely not what happened in my experience... Yes, there's certain "window" when you're immune to damage but it lasts perhaps half a second - not the full 8 seconds. Also - backstabs by a spy actually reduced me to half my life...

In my opinion the DR is simply better for n00b Spies. I also agree that it makes disguises work again - kind of. You are still being spy-checked but can now turn it into to your advantage. Pyros are still your demise most of the time but with the DR the chance that you die from "after burn" is much smaller since you can extinguish the flames yourself.

Skilled spies rely more on their cloak than their disguises and that's where the regular cloak has an advantage over the DR. If you know precisely how to move around the map and when to cloak or uncloak because you are in "blind spots" the DR might not be for you since it will impede your skill. Yes, it doesn't activate instantly but usually, if you're a skilled spy, there's nobody to look for you since you killed them all.

So far I heard many people express their love for the DR but at the same time players who I know as good spies don't actually use it although they have found it...

By the way - I found that the Dead Ringer is an awesome part of "psychological warfare" where you might leave the enemy at a disadvantage even though you actually died.

E.g. today I was killed twice by players who knew that I have a Dead Ringer. They asked me at the next opportunity if they REALLY killed me the previous time since they went looking for a spy for the next 30 seconds.