Forum

Well it’s the same issue as the FAN really, the sticky launcher isn’t balanced, like the FAN wasn’t, so terrible players are capable of playing well beyond their ability, as the weapon is so easy to use and so powerful. Surprised really, Valve called them winbombs ages ago yet haven’t done a thing to correct them.

Edit: It’s easy enough to correct, once the sticky has landed on the floor it gradually builds up damage potential, rather than it being used as a better form of rocket launcher

The entire competitive style of playing is based around the demoman being the most powerful class. “Fixing” the demo would be a bullet to the head of competitive team fortress 2.

FAN was always frustrating to play against, it isn’t anymore. The scattergun is, and always will be, a very powerful weapon that just recieved a nice consistency fix. It will take some time before we see if FAN scouts can adapt to the changes before anyone screams under/overpowered.

The FaN never had superior killing ability to the scattergun

Yes Arx knockback , better damage , firing speed and extra-jump aren’t superior abilitys I know

Jeez, you guys are loving the essays eh?

Anyway AcidRenix, I disagree in that as far as I saw most scouts stuck with the scattergun because although the FaN was more powerful it was massively annoying to play against.

Oh and on your theory of annoying = effective, it’s pretty flawed. For example look at Natascha, not really effective but immensely annoying to play against.

The FaN was fustrating to play against because it was effective. Anything that isn’t effective is easy to play against, and therefore not fustrating. By toning down the FaN you’re making it easier to play against and so less fustrating. So is the solution for making the game less fustrating to nerf anything that has any element of power to it?

The sticky launcher is the most effective weapon in the game and was less frustrating to play against than the FAN in the past. The FAN was frustrating because it gave the target very little chance to fight back once the scout hit the first shot. Effectiveness =/= Frustration.

The changes have mostly effected scout v scout duels. A scout using the scattergun has a clear advantage. The close range 2 hit burst hasn’t changed much, the only real difference is that you have to aim the second shot now.

The sticky launcher is the most effective weapon in the game and was less frustrating to play against than the FAN in the past. The FAN was frustrating because it gave the target very little chance to fight back once the scout hit the first shot. Effectiveness =/= Frustration.

Point taken.

The changes have mostly effected scout v scout duels. A scout using the scattergun has a clear advantage. The close range 2 hit burst hasn’t changed much, the only real difference is that you have to aim the second shot now.

But see, that is the problem. The FaN has less shots so they made it easier to hit the 2nd to give the FaN extra burst damage (it’s advantage over the scattergun). The scattergun still can deal the same damage but is harder to use. The scattergun rewards ‘skilled players’ by allowing them to do nearly the equivilent damage of the FaN but also additional damage if they hit their other shots as well. While this makes the FaN easier to use to get off a single burst, in order to keep up with the damage output of a scattergun scout you need to be 100% consistent with maximising that burst damage and even then if a scattergun scout hits all of his shots, it is still by far the most effective weapon of the two (The reward for being skilled).

We all know the FaN is easier for players with a worse aim (it was designed like that), but it also has a cap on how effective it can be which is much lower than the scattergun. This makes it a harder weapon to be effective with, especially at the top levels where scouts are consistently hitting the majority of their shots. Not only that, but if a FaN scout misses that first shot, his damage output is not only halved, but on average, it is reduced below half as the second shot isn’t a setup meatshot. This makes it more of an all in weapon and you pay for your mistakes.

The FaN is going to be more effective in lower divisions, in most cases, where the scattergun scouts aren’t consistently hitting the majority of their shots, but there’s a lot of weapons like this. The huntsman is a typical example. The sniper rifle is clearly the more effective weapon, and it’s harder to use (to be very effective you have to hit a heatshot and you suck at close – point blank range). You are rewarded with extra damage and the ability to kill targets at any range providing you are accurate. I’m sure in the very lowest divisions in terms of the skill of players the huntsman is probably more effective in a 6v6 than the sniper rifle. I don’t see the problem with that though.

Different weapons have always had skill ceilings, so have different classes. A heavy in the lower divisions is much more effective than in the higher divisions. Is that a problem as well? The FaN is limited to 1 in matches, one class, one player is rarely going to determine the outcome of a match, especially when we are talking about a weapon which both teams CAN use.

Either way, the FaN _has_ been changed, i’m just stating why i dissaprove of the changes. Who knows, maybe in the long run i’ll become better with it, or maybe I’ll work on my scattergun playstyle and try to improve. But well done community on restricting the viable options we have even further ;) One dimensional game, here we come!