If Medics Could Fly…
A few days ago, I gave Team Fortress Classic a try. Now, Aabicus has beaten TFC to death when it comes to articles for the Daily SPUF, so I won’t go into too much detail, but what astounded me the most was the game’s lovely Medic. When you hear the word Medic, what springs to mind? Normally, it’s either a soldier class who can heal or revive people (most games with a not-very-differentiated class system) or a class that spends their entire time healing, keeping everyone alive (like, for example, Team Fortress 2). Point is, Medics normally do a lot of the healing, so they are generally slightly weaker than their friends. For balance’s sake.
Nowhere in that last paragraph did the idea of an explosive-jumping, bunny-hopping, flag-capturing lunatic with a perfectly accurate nail gun who spreads infectious diseases to enemies appear in most people’s minds, unless they’ve already played Team Fortress Classic or Fortress Forever or any of that sort of thing. Anyway, the point I’m trying to make is, how would such a Medic fit inside the current TF2 world? What if we got the Combat Medic instead of the Medic? What if… Medics could fly?
Alright, alright, Medics can kinda fly, if you use the Quick Fix and pocket a jittery Demoman or Soldier who explosive jumps everywhere, but if you want advanced mobility, you’re utterly reliant on another class. And even then, you’re not technically flying…
I suppose if we carry on down this road any further, it’s obvious that Medics being able to fly would break the game completely. Screw physics and team mates, just fly to the intel and back again. So how about something more subtle? Explosive jumping. Yes, explosive jumping. In Team Fortress Classic, Medics have concussion grenades which explode and knock people around. How about giving THAT to a Team Fortress 2 Medic? Of course, it’d have to replace something. Probably your damage dealing weapon. But grenades were always considered a bad idea, are we brave enough to give them to a Medic? Maybe, if they do no damage but just knock people back.
Even that though may be too powerful. Explosive jumping makes one INCREDIBLY mobile and it’s even worse if it does little damage. Plus, grenades are the Demoman’s domain. Next on the list of advanced mobility is double jumping. Scouts can double jump. And triple jump. And almost literally fly because of the Soda Popper. So how about we make Scouts triple jump by default and let Medics double jump? Eh, no. Too game breaking. It’s much harder to pin down someone who can move in three directions apart from one.
So what about making Medics faster? Well, there’s no point doing that since we’re already faster than normal. We’re faster than every class apart from Scouts. Or charging Demomen. The Overdose and the Quick Fix add even more speed. It’s all pointless really.
Oh well. A Medic can dream about flying, can’t he?
