Weapons that Reward you for doing your Job

Within Team fortress 2 there are quite a few weapons that people claim are imbalanced because “they reward you for doing what you should already be doing”. Of course I do not understand how this is a bad thing, how is rewarding players for accomplishing something they are supposed to do as a bad thing? Would you rather valve release weapons that encourage not doing your job? He says, angrily looks at the Rocket Jumper.

One of the most notorious of these weapons is the Diamondback, a revolver that grants in critical hits for every sapped building and backstab kill in exchange for a small 15% damage penalty. Now I will be the first to admit that this weapon needs more of a downside, perhaps in either clip size or firing speed but despite needing a bit more of a negligible downside the weapons core design is far better than the Ambassador.

Why do I find the Diamondback to be a better designed revolver than the Ambassador you may ask? Well it comes down to the Spy’s role as a saboteur and assassin. The Spy’s main job is to backstab key targets and harass Engineers. Both of those things are something a Spy must do in order to fully utilize the upsides of the Diamondback.

Now we have the Ambassador which has the same damage penalty, slightly slower firing speed, more reliable accuracy and crits on headshots. So unlike the Diamondback which rewards Spies for contributing to the team by getting stabs and destructions the Ambassador rewards a Spy for headshots. You know, that thing the Sniper does.

I am not bashing on the Ambassador because I think it is a good weapon in its own right, but I have seen my fair share of Spies equipping this and, instead of going for Engineers and key picks, I see Spies running around with this weapon long with the Dead Ringer, rarely disguising and only going for Ambassador kills. Unlike a Diamondback Spy who knows he has to get work done in order to be effective with his revolver.

But in the end don’t most weapons in the game “reward you for doing your job”. All medi guns reward Medics for healing with Ubercharge, weapons like the Rocket Launcher and shotgun reward you with kills.  With the proper downsides, I find that weapons that encourage getting your job done should always be a welcome addition to tf2 especially with the sheer amount of new players we keep getting.