Season 27 Whitelist Announcement!

This whitelist will not affect the Fresh Meat Challenge.

Over the past few weeks, leagues have been collecting feedback from polls or personal conversations (for Premier/Invite players) regarding potential Global Whitelist changes. With the collected opinions, administrators from around the globe came together and expressed their region/league’s opinion. The recent threads on teamfortress.tv as well as GentlemanJon’s survey results were also taken into account in our meeting.

The participating leagues in the meeting were ozfortress, ETF2L, ESEA and UGC.

Prior to the meeting, a preliminary list of the most contentious current weapons (see below) was compiled and the meeting was centred around that list. It was agreed that the meeting would be held in private, as the previous meeting in the TF.TV Discord amounted to essentially several hours of arguing resulting in whoever spoke the loudest having the greatest input. However, as we believe transparency to be essential when considering such changes, we have documented the discussions regarding each weapon below.

The weapons discussed are as follows:

Vaccinator – Banned

The Vaccinator has been a very controversial weapon across all regions. It was primarily used when there was an Über disadvantage for your team due to its high defensive capabilities. The weapon also has the capacity to force awkward team fights and removes the 6v6 fundamental of Über tracking altogether. The Vaccinator is also the only Medigun that negates forms of damage while still allowing those affected to capture control points. For these reasons, the Vaccinator is now banned.

Jarate – Banned

Jarate is a weapon that most players are familiar with but has recently made a resurgence in the competitive scene. Jarate is uncontested as the best Sniper secondary in the sense that it allows the Sniper to have a greater impact in team fights by granting his team a temporary increase in damage output, at no expense to those using it. For these reasons, Jarate is (once again) banned.

Crusader’s Crossbow – Unbanned (Unchanged)

One of the most talked about weapons globally, the Crossbow has divided the opinions of the competitive TF2 community. This item was discussed at great length and for the time being remains unbanned. Whilst the ability to grant burst healing to teammates is exceptionally strong, the Crusader’s Crossbow adds greater depth and variety to the class’s gameplay. It allows Medics to become increasingly involved in team engagements and gives the medic huge clutch potential. Despite being objectively the strongest primary weapon available to the Medic, we believe the positive aspects of the Crusader’s Crossbow and its importance to the metagame outweigh its negative aspects. For these reasons the Crusader’s Crossbow will remain unbanned.

Machina – Unbanned (Unchanged)

The Machina’s damage buff is mostly insignificant, and the utility of collateral shots isn’t consistently viable enough for the weapon to be considered unbalanced. As such, the Machina remains unbanned.

Cow Mangler 5000 – Unbanned (Unchanged)

Despite not needing ammunition packs as most weapons do, this upgrade itself is not significant enough to be considered unbalanced. The alt-fire charge shot does not have momentous impact on the game, and the weapon’s downside of virtually 0 Sentry Gun damage remains quite prominent. For these reasons the Cow Mangler 5000 will remain unbanned.

Solemn Vow – Banned (Unchanged)

The Solemn Vow, despite testing in ETF2L, will remain banned. Although it had seemingly little impact when tested, we remained uncertain as to what changes this weapon’s passive ability would create when used in league play and high-stakes matches. For these above reasons we elected to keep the Solemn Vow banned.

Natascha – Unbanned (Unchanged)

This weapon was generally disliked due to the slowing ability of its bullets as well as the small amount of damage resistance it granted the Heavy. However, the damage resistance was amplified when used in conjunction with the Vaccinator, and with the removal of the Vaccinator we believe this damage resistance will be near negligible. The utility of the speed reduction is somewhat limited and situational and in most regards the weapon is otherwise a downgrade from other available heavy primary weapons. As such, Natascha remains unbanned.

Pomson 6000 – Unbanned (Unchanged)

Although the weapon depletes Übercharge, the amount removed is minimal and insignificant, especially at range. The projectiles are also large and slow-moving, making it relatively easy to avoid. Furthermore, due to its limited effectiveness at range, the weapon is situationally worse than the Shotgun. Engineer also rarely participates in team fights as well. For these above reasons, Pomson 6000 remains unbanned.

Loch-n-Load – Unbanned (Unchanged)

Even though the grenade shot by the Loch-n-Load is faster, it deals significantly less damage per minute over the stock Grenade Launcher. The smaller damage radius and the lack of spam ability considers the weapon balanced and as such, the Loch-n-Load remains unbanned.

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