Soldier

Thoughts On Current Design

Currently, Soldier has a 40% resistance to his own rockets while he's airborne. Cool! Want to know what would be even cooler? Pyro being able to share that resistance when they reflect rockets. In preperation for this...

Reasons For Changes

Okay, before you kill me, read the rocket launcher changes first! ...Please?

Thoughts On Current Weapon

The stock Rocket Launcher has always been a solid and mostly balanced weapon. However, to make due with what I started in Passive Attributes...

Reasons For Changes

Besides allowing Pyro to now benefit from reduced damage from airblasted rockets used to blast jump, this serves as the primary nerf to Soldier (besides the change to projectile damage calculation - see General Changes). By now making the resistance work like the Gunboats's, it makes it so that Soldier has a more defined weakness to his primary and can't just jump while in close quarters combat to avoid 40% of the splash he takes while still dealing full damage to the enemy. A necessary change to make Soldier not as masterful in every combat situation.

Thoughts On Current Weapon

The Air Strike is a fun concept to play with, and well-executed, but it can use some tuning in regards to how abnormally weak the splash radius penalties make the rockets while blast jumping while still being a bit too strong when starting out and used as a weaker stock on the ground.

Reasons For Changes

The barrage shots while blast jumping is nice, but it shouldn’t require near-direct rockets to hit. The blast radius penalty has been removed during blast jumps, but increased when you’re not doing so to shift the power more into blast jump attacks to further incentivize actually using the Air Strike properly. I also reduced the bonus attack speed to a 40% attack speed cut instead of 65%. This should still let you fire all your rockets with a fast barrage, heck it should allow you to aim said barrage easier, but it especially makes the starting out phase weaker by making the strategy of doing a middling rocket jump during combat to fire the remaining 3 rockets at the enemy at a quick pace. I could see the snowball increasing the firing speed back to being the +65% after 4 kills, but currently I don't see it as necessary when +40% is quite strong as-is and the Air Strike is already a strong contender for the slot.

Thoughts On Current Weapon

As I find it, the Beggar’s is fine as it stands. You could try to remove the RNG found in the spread and replace it with other downsides, but I don't really think it's something worth going over. Though...

Reasons For Changes

Does anyone ever actually get hindered by this downside? The only time I can think of is in MvM, and even there it's only a small inconvenience.

Thoughts On Current Weapon

The Black Box is a surprising weapon to me. It does so little, being two extremely basic stats, yet it does it all right. I can't call the Black Box unbalanced, nor can I call it unfun for the user or enemy, nor even overlapping other rocket launchers. This will be one of the very few unlockable weapons that will remain untouched.

NO CHANGES

Thoughts On Current Weapon

Being one of two of the first Grordbort weapons added to the game, the Cow Mangler has shown its age when it comes to its design. Most of the time, it’s just a reskin of the stock, but with a charge shot that is useless against players outside of getting cheesy kills on a far away objective or getting a lucky hit on a Sniper, realistically only serving to disable buildings. But it also has meaningless downsides outside of when dealing with buildings, so who cares?! ...Yeah, I think it's time for it to be more unique and uphold the Grordbort title a little better.

Reasons For Changes

This weapon has caused many headaches while trying to balance it, but here we finally are - a version that doesn’t rely on a charge shot any more! Mostly. This version essentially fires less powerful versions of the old charge shots that lets you to slow down sentry function and set people on fire, but for every shot! However, this also comes at the genuine downside of needing to charge every non-consecutive shot before it's fired, plus you setting yourself on fire if you hit yourself. This will make it much more varied compared to the stock rocket launcher while keeping most of what made the weapon fun beforehand, even finally allowing you to deal with Engineers at a reasonable pace without being a direct upgrade.

Thoughts On Current Weapon

A neat sidegrade to the stock launcher. In fact, this is one of the most prime examples of balance done super well. Only two things stand out to me for being perhaps excessive.

Reasons For Changes

It makes no sense that simply because a Soldier has the Direct Hit means that he can do massive damage to a blast jumping Soldier/Demo or Thermal Thruster wielding Pyro (sometimes even one-shotting them!). You or your team should definitely have to knock them in the air for that kind of power. I also extended this courtesy to Engineer's buildings - they're stationary targets that you'll be hitting directly anyway, so getting the damage bonus on them makes little sense, and encourages the game to have weapons like the Wrangler to stand a chance. I'd rather have neither!

Thoughts On Current Weapon

Ahh, the Liberty Launcher. Nobody's favorite rocket launcher. It tried to be just the middle ground between stock and the Rocket Jumper. However, it's safe to say that the Gunboats outclass them... well, ten times out of ten, in addition to being the most commonly agreed "crutch" of all TF2 weapons to nobody's benefit. Improvement is very much in demand here.

Reasons For Changes

As a rocket-jumping rocket launcher that is meant to be paired with a shotgun, I thought it would be cool if it did higher rocket jumps and did more knockback against players hit, plus a slight holster speed bonus for some shotgun action, especially the item set shotgun, the Reserve Shooter. I also included a buff to banner duration to make sure that the synergy isn't just limited to 3 secondaries. I then lowered the damage penalty, increased the self-damage reduction, and clipped the previous upsides.

Thoughts On Current Weapon

Though extremely simple and barely skirting itself out of the definition of "reskin", the Original serves its singular role to completion. However, I'm inclined to do two things to it.

Reasons For Changes

Justice has been served.

Thoughts On Current Weapon

It’s fine, even if it's weaker than other choices. I personally think that this is a case where the idea has enough merit despite being less than ideally competitive to your other choices, but I do think it could get some quality-of-life benefits.

Reasons For Changes

Now see, this is the REAL reason random crits need removed: to lower the amount of “bad” stats on the Rocket Jumper! I don’t see why there to be an ammo limit to the jumper weapons when they don't do damage and are meant for training purposes. Additionally, though it makes sense to make the Jumper weapons not allow you to fly across the map with the intel in Capture The Flag (and by proxy the Robot Destruction core, since it functions the same way), other modes shouldn't be affected by such a penalty. Player Destruction simply got caught in the crossfire and obviously doesn't need it, PASS Time already removes your weapons with the JACK in hand, Special Delivery requires you to stand your ground on the elevator which the Rocket Jumper is terrible at, and lastly Mannpower has everyone equipped with a grappling hook so having the Rocket Jumper's mobility isn't so much of a disparity there. To remedy this, I have replaced the old penalty with one that only affects CTF and Robot Destruction and also fixes the problem directly with -100% knockback with the objective in tow rather than disallowing Jumper users from doing the objective altogether.

Thoughts On Current Weapon

A strong banner and a great example of a weapon done right for the most part. Now, unlike other weapons, the bulk of this weapon's changes are in the General page, so check it out there instead.

Reasons For Changes

Ignoring the general changes to the Reinforcement effect since those were again explained in the General page, I wanted to standardize the banner effect details in the description moving forward. Neat, eh?

Thoughts On Current Weapon

Another great banner, though it lacks any form of passive upside that makes equipping it not feel as great as other banners. One idea comes to mind.

Reasons For Changes

+10% reload speed is not a big bonus by any means, but it makes using the Buff Banner feel better, rather than knowing you don’t have any bonuses like the other banners. It also helps the Air Strike and Beggar's Bazooka the most, which are currently the two rocket launchers that benefit the least from the Buff Banner.

Thoughts On Current Weapon

The Concheror has been known to be the strongest banner of the three for quite some time. Not only does it charge in just 480 damage compared to the usual 600 for some reason despite having an equally strong banner effect, but the passive effect is easily the best one (even if some people do tend to exaggerate how good it is). I'll be making some modifications to make it more in-line.

Reasons For Changes

Seeing as the banner effect is just as good as the others, it's fair for it to charge with the same damage. I also changed the passive effect to the faster movement speed to lessen the overlap it has with the Battalion's higher health pool (i.e. being able to survive 2 Demoman grenades) while still feeling strong and giving a taste of what the banner effect has in store.

Thoughts On Current Weapon

Allows for more rocket jumping in trade for a weapon slot. Though it never fully negates the use shotguns have, and (at least on paper) introduces an unavoidable weakness to Pyros when you don't have a secondary that can't be airblasted back, it's safe to say that the Gunboats are... easily Soldier's best and most versatile secondary pick. Being that rocket jumps now barely do any damage to the user with these equipped, rolling out becomes lightning fast and you can escape most situations with a rocket jump and fight again after regrouping instead of dying and waiting for a respawn. This feels especially unfair for the enemy who can often find it next to impossible to actually take out a Soldier with these equipped as lacking a shotgun doesn't really offer counterplay that rocket jumping away from a bad situation doesn't remedy. I'm going to introduce a genuine downside to using these boots to make up for it.

Reasons For Changes

I'll have to admit I wouldn't have done this for the longest time, and I expect the reactions of most people to not enjoy this nerf. However, I feel that max health being reduced is the best way to keep the Gunboats a little less dominant over other Soldier secondaries by providing something to lack that isn't just missing your shotgun, though I did add in a sizable resistance to falling damage to lighten the blow. My best hopes are that this makes the Gunboats a tinge more situational to allow other choices to see some action on more professional Soldiers, while making them more fun to use (particularly when used casually) by allowing fall damage to not wear out your health pool faster than your rockets do.

Thoughts On Current Weapon

It's rather telling when even Valve said that the Mantreads weren't good in the Jungle Inferno change notes. Extra turning control, stomping players you land on, and large knockback resistance are niceties, but aren't close to being worth trading in your shotgun for.

Reasons For Changes

The Mantreads are a good example of a "for fun" weapon, and these changes fully embrace that aspect. Stomping on people is made easier by a complete resistance to knockback when blast jumping and a super stomp to fall at maximum speed. In addition, near misses can still be utilized from the shockwave that knocks people back, which can even be combo'd with the Direct Hit. This should hopefully make the Mantreads's fun aspects more realistic to achieve.

Thoughts On Current Weapon

What I think the purpose of this weapon was supposed to be was that it could penetrate enemy players and deal a decent damage in total in chokepoints where it is possible to hit multiple people with it. But why do that on Soldier when you can instead use your rocket launcher and get better results? Quick answer: there isn't a reason to. The Bison’s best claim to fame as your secondary is hitting retreating enemies and dealing damage multiple times, but the projectile is so slow that it’s a pointless endeavor.

Reasons For Changes

Making the Bison move faster was an obvious choice, but then it ruins the only valid point of using the weapon: hitting the same enemy multiple times against fleeing enemies, so that’s where I combined the best of two worlds and made it slow down while hitting an enemy. I also made the damage extremely consistent, both in a general fix to its hit detection and with a base of 40 damage on the first hit with and 10 less per additional hit; you can be assured that your laser damage is far more reliable. Should you hit a fleeing enemy perfectly, you can deal a massive 100 damage in a single shot, or at least make off with 40, 70, or 90 damage on less perfect shots. I can guarantee that this Bison is no longer bottom of the barrel in Soldier secondaries and a contender to be as strong, if not stronger than the stock shotgun!

Thoughts On Current Weapon

Nobody uses the stock shovel. It's as simple as that. All of Soldier's other unlockable melees (outside of the Equalizer) all provide something extra for the Soldier to be capable of while losing out on very little. Stock, on the other hand, has nothing to look forward to. Even as the base for being a basic melee, it's not really an excuse for it to be entirely useless.

Reasons For Changes

Lower your pitchforks and torches! ...If you have them raised. Or have them at all. This stat from the Market Gardener is something that works well without being too intrusive on other weapon unlocks outside of the Market Gardener itself, which will be getting its own touch-ups, while making for a valid use case for stock. However, being as the Market Gardener itself has a few arguable flaws in of itself (namely, how do you exactly stop them?), I have implemented a knockback vulnerability as well.

Thoughts On Current Weapon

Being serious, the whip is BETTER than the stock shovel in fights due to the serious increase in melee range which is even more than the Demoman swords, despite the damage penalty. Here’s two ways to go about it.

IDEA #1 - Trade Mobility For Other Mobility

Reasons For Changes (IDEA #1)

It makes sense for this weapon to have increased range, especially when you’re trying to hit teammates with it to give speed bonuses. However, in fights, a 70% increase is too much. As such, I made this increased range match swords and have the same switching speed penalty as swords. As for the other changes, the goal is to nerf the power of rocket jumping by removing Soldier's innate resistance to self-blast damage, making it clear trade for the new mobility option that also affects teammates.

IDEA #2 - Gloves Of Running Urgently Style Nerf

Reasons For Changes (IDEA #2)

It makes sense for this weapon to have increased range, especially when you’re trying to hit teammates with it to give speed bonuses. However, in fights, a 70% increase is too much. As such, I made this increased range match swords and have the same switching speed penalty as swords. In addition, the damage penalty has been switched to a GRU-style max health loss penalty to prevent it from being free speed at little to no cost.

Thoughts On Current Weapon

The Equalizer got the worse end of the bargain when its original stats were split into two weapons. Sure, the damage has the potential to get you out of bad situations, but it’s not very likely. However, the stock buff benefits it greatly, and thereby it won't actually be getting much of an independant buff it'd otherwise get.

Reasons For Changes

This should help make the Equalizer able to do its job better by being more readily available during combat, while also still maintaining the usage of rocket jump crits (though you'll have to be at low health to get similar/more damage than stock). In addition, there is now a unique kill icon to the Escape Plan so that they aren’t identical, and the user's health is now shown to other players when deployed so that enemies can better gauge how much damage the Equalizer will do to them.

Thoughts On Current Weapon

I used to think the Escape Plan was a grand example of weapon design, granting increased move speed, but cause mini-crits to the wearer to make them even easier to take down. My opinion has since changed along with the Disciplinary Action. Being as it's entirely optional to deploy the weapon in the first place (i.e. if the MfD is going to get you killed despite the speed boost, just don't deploy it!), I think it needs an additional downside, as I don't think the MfD is enough on its own.

Reasons For Changes

These changes are simple. Less damage is unavoidable and simply means that it's more often than not going to be effective as a combat tool, allowing the new stock shovel (and Equalizer) indirectly have more solidified roles as Soldier's combat melee picks.

Reasons For Changes

These changes make the Market Gardener essentially make rocket jumps cost half the normal health, but you're forced to go for rocket jump crits as the downside for these half-health jumps. You can get a clip refill for successful market gardens, making it a neat sidegrade to stock for some situations, but being a hinderance for when you want to chain multiple rocket jumps or bomb an area.