While there is generally a path around the enemy team that enables you to use the crits, this actually translates to choosing not to charge 10 enemies in the face to charge 2 enemies. And then when you get behind the enemy, the crits bug out and don’t trigger even though you are burying the nozzle in the center of the guy’s back.

This being said, it does work quite well on Badwater, since there are quite a few places where you can drop down onto people thus eliminating the need to get through the enemy lines before surprising them.

If the crits were more reliable and more maps had such vertical mobility, then it might be a balanced unlock. But at the moment airblast beats a situational crit that has worse registration than the Spy’s backstab.

As for Bonk! I use it almost exclusively on 2fort. Assuming there is no sentry in their intel room, you can quite easily Bonk your way past the enemy Sentry guns in the courtyard and if no-one has seen you charge in, only the engineer will be chasing you during the slowdown period, since everyone else is too busy deathmatching to notice. You also don’t need to run away. Once out of the Sentry’s firing zone, merely duck around a corner and wait for the pursuing Engineer. When he appears, your scatter gets bonus damage due to the proximity of the target, and the Engineer gets dominated.

Once past the courtyard Sentries, you take the intel and try ducking out through the grate, since most Sentries on 2fort are unable to track you before you disappear through that opening.

And if all else fails, drop the intel, circle back down through the basement, Bonk! through the other entrance / courtyard, pick up the intel again since all the pursuers have headed for the basement looking for you, and complete the journey out of the base.

This being said, you almost no longer have to do this in 2fort, since you can just go Soldier/Demo, deal with the Sentries, get your speed boosts, and carry the intel out of there at Scout speed.

I don’t, for exactly the reason you just mentioned, although the idea of using it to get at those quick capping endgame points mentioned above is a good one.

I used to love the Sandman when all I was losing was my double jump, so long as you could use The Force well you could still make it when it counted. But the health debuff is to big a price to pay. The Scout has very little health already, with it he might as well be made of paper.

And I sure would use the time machine for this if it didn’t take 81 gosh darn D Batteries per trip and return. Stupid eBay time machines.

The Scout update was a real boon to my experience with the game: I was stuck in a rut playing Medic near-constantly up until that point, but the decision to give Scout an honest try changed that completely. The Force-A-Nature has cemented it as my favorite class because it is stupidly fun and, as Dante said, it feels more natural in combat. I still don’t have Bonk, and by the time I got the Sandman, it’s drawback had been changed to -30 health. Definitely not interested, thanks.

That said, my favorite update has without a doubt been the Sniper’s. I hated hated HATED that class up until the update, because I couldn’t kill a single enemy with the rifle if my life depended on it, and they themselves seemed godlike in their powers to end my life without warning (again, Medic is my most-played class: I’ve a slight grudge against him AND the Spy). But the combination of Huntsman and Jarate has made it a completely different class for me. I’m actually able to contribute to fights, not engaging in pitched battle but picking off the weak and the cowardly (and sometimes even getting a lucky headshot when an arrow shoots wide past the intended target). Or I simply follow a rampaging Heavy, throwing jars and racking up kill assists. “Support class” is an accurate description of my better nature.

Speaking of which, I DO find the Razorback to be useful on occasion, but mostly by luck. It seems that some Spies have not yet learned what the Razorback is or what it does, because an enemy Spy honestly tried to backstab me on Badwater the other day and failed. He was so shocked that he decided to start shooting at an Engineer across the room from me, who appropriately (and predictably) flipped out. I put an end to that by introducing my kukri to the Spy’s skull.

I actually feel the same way about Spy as I do about Sniper: his update did an incredible amount to make the class one I could actually play enjoyably. I do agree with what you once said about the Cloak and Dagger being essential to any defensive Spy: it’s one of my favorite unlocks of any class. Unlike Sniper, though, I still can’t play Spy productively, so I’m going to need a bit more practice before calling it an unabashed success.

As for the Soldier and Demoman unlocks, I can’t comment as I have none. I will say that more than the Targe or Eyelander, though, I want to get my hands on the Scottish Resistance: that sort of back-lines Demoman is exactly the sort I do well at, and I’m enthralled by the idea of multiple traps that can be detonated exclusively.

Merry Christmas!

I usually make a capture if that’s the only sentry. The Bonk! is incredibly useful for that.

The flare gun and the axetinguisher were both great but the update was ruined by a pathetic main weapon alternative. It offers NO change to the style of play you get from pyros, it was horribly overpowerd for the sole reason of adding a ton of health to the pyro when first out and is now woefully underpowered as can be seen by its useage.

Chris said it best when he pointed out that people have realised that they can’t magically teleport behidn enemy lines as pyro and 90% of the time you WILL face people head on. for which you get utterly destroyed. It’s mostly a luck based weapon for if the crits bug out on the other player. It does nothing to change the pyros playstyle and nothing to improve the major issues with him. In fact the best update the pyro got was the aiblast which has so many uses and helps him and teammates out against the powerful explosive classes but it’s applied to his normal weapon.

The backburner is pretty much the laughing stock of the tf2 weapons, and that’s even next to the razorback.

However, I find it useless most of the other time. By the way, I use the sandman and except for soldier rockets (basic, not Direct Hit) – I don’t have a problem with the HP trade-off.

Scouts – do you use Bonk? I’ve got the hang of the FAN now, and it’s ridiculous, but Bonk’s slowness seems to make it useless to me: everyone sees where I’m going and kills me when it wears off. Not crazy about the Sandman – the health is too high a price to pay.

Thanks for seeking me out and saying hi at the PCGLive event Tom, great to meet you in person though I think at the time I was a bit equally shocked and sleep deprived.

If I’m using the huntsman, jarate all the way.

The Backburner is a bit rubbish. I play Pyro a lot, and the amount of times I flame from behind are quite low. (They’re mostly from the side, which then turns into an angry front). However, the amount of times I use the brilliant compression blast to put out my teammates, baffet people off bridges, or fire back projectiles is all the bloody time. Losing the blowback in favour of the backburner is a ridiculous proposition to me. (and many others too!)

I hope they revisit the backburner somewhat.

Natascha (sp?) is lame, but at least it’s useful against charging demos these days. I think more people would use it if they made it more accurate or possibly more lethal at long range. As it is it doesn’t really change the way heavy plays. He stills stands around firing and things, only to get shot in the head or stabbed in the back >:(

Scout is my most played class. I think the stuff he has is good, but could do with a bit more. Sandman is quite good, but I rarely make the ball connect. Given that it’s rarely useful in my poorly-aiming hands I’ve decided not to use it. The FAN is great, especially for jumping into places. (Very good on that new CTF map). Bonk? eesh. I use it all the time to annoy the opposition, cause an SG to kill it’s own engineer, stop an uber etc etc, but other than that’s its pretty useless. You can’t even use it to evade, as the slowdown means even the heavy can catch you. (nb: I was pretty enraged that the chargin’ targe didn’t have ANY form of slow down?!)

Razorback? What’s the point in it. I hope Valve replace it.

Demoman? The sword + shield really annoys me. It seems to make him invincible to everything, and he’s so hard to hit at that speed. Also: a sandman bonk doesn’t work on him, which is incredibly frustrating. I’ve seen one or two charging demomen absolutely chop up the opposition team because there’s not much most classes can do against him. The only things that work are the FAN or Natascha — and we both know how often the second one is used :(

I hate to say it, but I think the sword + shield combo is “OP”.

The thing about the Force is that it suddenly made the Scout make sense to me, the idea of running in, firing off two quick and powerful shots and then either dodging long enough to reload or pegging it after someone else. It also makes you great at preying on those who were wounded or on fire.

Or make the Engineer update so ungodly awesome that we all cream ourselves.

Anywho, I think after seeing all the more recent updates I’ve grown slowly more disappointed with the medic update. It just seems a little too… subtle, I think. Plus very few people use the Kritzkrieg from what I’ve seen.

Please stop writing sub-par literature and deeming it perfect enough to tell the public I wrote it. I won’t promise to sue, but my fight prowess most certainly extends to court-room situations.

Love, Saxton Hale

I have been following your website for a long time. You produce quality material on a regular basis, I must say. Which is why I am finally contacting you.

Judging by the content of this latest article, I think a collaborative relationship between us would be extremely beneficial to the community as a whole.

Our backgrounds are polar opposites in regards to Team Fortress 2. I am a veteran of the stagnant, “traditional” Xbox version, while you partake in the ever-changing PC version.

I would highly value your viewpoint(and help) on my most recent proect. That being, re-writng The Art of War from the perspective of Saxton Hale. The primary goal of this book would be, yes, to entertain, but also to design the perfect Team Fortress 3.

I am able to do this alone, but not to its full potential. Please consider assiting me and my work.

Sincerely,

Neal Kenneth