I Wrote an Article About The Chargin’ Targe

Oh wait, no I didn’t, but boy howdy, everyone else sure did! I haven’t been playing this game for that long (coming up on my three year anniversary this June), but I can say that I’ve never really seen more people upset over something in this game being changed. A lot of folks I’ve seen out there have drawn analogues to Valve’s recent changes to the Demo shields, with their Sticky Jumper nerf. And, I’ll admit, when I saw those Sticky Jumper patch notes, I was a little bit like:

But I quickly got over it. So I can’t jump to the skybox clubhouse on iGSaigns_achievementstrangesengineerv36.bsp, but I can still maintain that general mobility I came to expect from the Sticky Jumper. More than two stickies was just asking for fall damage anyway. When I saw the Targe nerfs rolling around, I was a bit more enthusiastic. I think before all those “Demoknight mains” start having heart attacks and start looking for someway to turn the Soldier with a katana into the mysterious tenth (or eleventh) class, they should probably wait till the inevitable changes to Ali Baba’s Wee Booties. It’s not like Valve hasn’t been going around tweaking all of our older weapons to be more applicable to modern playstyles recently or anything. I think the Demoknight community needs a nice healthy dose of calm down and be patient.

When I saw the tweaks to the Chargin’ Targe and Splendid Screen, I didn’t go “Awwww man, I can’t do things that my computer was never good enough to do, or that I didn’t have the resources to do”. Instead, I said “Joyous day! The Wee Booties will finally be able to be used for their intended purpose!” Because this is really what was at the heart of these nerfs. It’s not about nerfing the shields into oblivion (despite the fact that I maintain how useful the Chargin’ Targe is for it’s resistances and afterburn immunity, giving him very good protection from this game’s other resident close quarters expert), it’s about making the Booties a weapon that actually does something beyond a health bonus, like it was supposed to. Creator’s  Intent, if you will.

For me, anyway, being a Demoknight meant, well, being a knight. Does a knight have a grenade launcher? No. He has dumb-looking shoes that give him more health. Obviously, those looking not to fully invest in being a Knight shouldn’t receive the benefits of being one.