f13.net

Oh dear god, the Heavy Weapons Guy is next in line for upgrades:
http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/53419

I can only imagine what it will look like the day it goes live.

That's three for three.  Medic was my least played class before the Medic update, then it was Pyro, and right now it's Heavy. 

They need to rename his current gun to Sasha.

Apparently in the Russian language pack that came out recently Valve has the Heavy saying stuff like, "My fists are covered with iron" or some nonsense.

Brass knuckles?  Makes as much sense as any change they might make to his fists.

You figure they have to play up the Russian aspect; I imagine it will be some sort of iron boxing glove.

This deserves its own thread.  Split.  Carry on.

As a Spy user 95% of the time, I'm really afraid that the heavy and sniper are going to get some sort of bullshit radar or proximity mine that completely negates my class.  Hopefully Valve knows better. 

I'd say based on the analysis they put up of the heavy on the TF2 blog, they know what better. Their goal is to make the heavy more usable without a medic.

Linky to their post: http://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=1670

Hmm, maybe giving up the shotgun for a personal, limited uber?  Say, 2 or 3 seconds with increased movement speed (and medic ubers are shortened accordingly)?  Something like that would need a cooldown, though, and Valve doesn't seem keen on cooldowns beyond the spy cloak. 

I'm guessing they give him something that lets him build up his own health so he can survive longer on his own -- maybe a non-critting vampire Sasha a la the blutsauger?  Or decreased fist damage in exchange for going into a berserker uber-rage after he's punched a few people to death?

All the Heavy needs to survive better is the ability to move quicker.  Maybe increased agility for a couple seconds for dodging?

OMGOMGOMG Heavy Weapons Guy! My favorite class.

I'm leaning towards increased agility and a more accurate gatlin gun from wide range as abilities that will be added.

edit: Brass knuckles would be cool too.

I can't see them making Sasha a better long-range weapon, since that would significantly change his role and that doesn't seem to be what they're after.  I could very easily see them giving him a secondary weapon that works a bit better at long range, though, a la the Pyro's flare gun.

Yeah, I agree. My hopes were dashed a bit when I read this part of the TF2 Blog:


That's why they make the big bucks. The long range secondary weapon fits the constraints they've laid out pretty well.

I've been getting toasted by suped-up pyros running around corners lately. Anything that can keep those suckers from getting in my grill is welcome.

Along those lines, it wouldn't make sense to give him stuff that makes him faster or more agile either, since low mobility is one of his defining traits.  If anything, they'd be more likely to give him a weapon upgrade that gives him greater damage output in exchange for decreased mobility.

An uber gatlin gun that transforms the heavy into a non-moving sentry, that can be healed by getting whacked in the head by friendly engineers  :awesome_for_real:

So sort of like TFC?

never played.

Heathen. 

TFC had seperate "armor" and "health" values, like most FPSes.  Heavies had only the normal 100 health, but a whopping 300 armor.  Medics fixed health by whacking people with medkits, and engies fixed armor by whacking people with wrenches.

So back then you would, in fact, have engies whacking heavies in the head with wrenches to fix them up.   :drill:

Hmm, that's what they should do. But based on the pyro & medic, where they just make everything better, I suspect they will do something like reduced cone-of-fire and more hitpoints as the upside, with the downside being some irrelevant shit - maybe no crits while moving diagonally backwards and left plus a crappier taunt.

I pine for the days of infecting n00bs and watching them run off to the spawn to try and stay alive.

Good times indeed.  It's hard to imagine now that the medic had such brutal offensive capabilities and that his healing was mostly a curiosity.

Medics were GODLIKE flag runners in CTF maps because they could use their concussion grenades to fly across the map at breakneck speed.

Yeah, the medic was basically the scout but with more hit points and that godlike plague attack.

I did love shoving my medpack at people. I kind of miss it.

Bring back MIRV grenades for the heavy and let the love flow.

What is it with you people and grenades?  Its bad enough as it is if there is more than one demoman at any chokepoint.  Limiting explosives to demoman was the best design decision Valve ever made.  Ever play the Berlin map on original vanilla BF1942?

I actually wouldn't mind seeing the demoman get the bundle of dynamite that was shown in one of the very early trailers.  Giving it to the Heavy would be a bit much, though.  What do you need explosives for when you have Sasha?