Team Fortress 2 beta post balancing patch

I got so addicted that I wasted one full day just playing it. It feels like the game that I used to know, but more fun. It’s not just senseless tossing of grenades or dominations of the snipers anymore. It’s all about strategy.  Let me first go through some of the balancing changes.

Sniper: None

Engineer: None

Pyro: Is now god of closed quarter fighting. I think they increased the flame thrower’s damage by too much. A duel between HWguy and Pyro usually ends in pyro winning. Even if you live, the flame on your body will still kill you.

Soldier: The rocket blast radius is bigger, and the rocket jump is higher now. Basically back to the same level as TFC. Soldier is an exact copy from that game.

Demoman: Grenade damage slightly decreased and are limited to 4 grenades per reload instead of 6. Reason being, that no one will use soldiers because demoman is statistically a better performer.

HWGuy: Minigun is now more accurate and can do critical hit when bullets hit the head.

Spy: None.

Medic: None.

Scout: None.

My best class is now a soldier because its power and controls are exactly the same as TFC, my experience with soldier are usually better than anyone on my team. Using soldier usually land me on the top of the frag list. That is, without capturing anything. A quick check on my kill ration shows me that I do around 6:1.

Tried sniper a bit. I still have a hard time hitting people. Still slowly adjusting to the new sprite 3d model and feel. For instance, I used to aim for the top of an enemy’s head in order to land a head shot in TFC. TF2 moved that spot to somewhere lower. Around the neck area. Moving target is also different now, the net code that calculates a hit is strange and I haven’t figured it out yet. Add all this, to the fact that I’ve been gaming with my alternate hand and I used to play TFC with reverse mouse, my sniping accuracy is comparable to that of a noob. At least I still know some of the strategies.

I can’t really explain it. I hate the fact that snipers are nerfed so much, but I also love the fact that it is very team oriented with its built in voice chat ability. A team with someone who issues commands usually wins against a mob that just want to frag. Except of course, when I decide to be an engineer/soldier to defend. Even so, a good combination of HWguy, medic, soldier and scout will usually destroy my defense.