Why are we buffing Medic again?
Hey, do any of you remember when I wrote an article explicitly saying to NOT buff Medic any more because as a class we’ll be too powerful and start to fuck with the meta of TF2? You know, this article? I clearly said in it to not buff Medic because he’s in a plenty good enough.
Let me repeat myself. Medic is a super strong class that is pretty simple to play but very hard to be a pro at. Having a Medic on your team does not guarantee you victory, as a Medic can’t physically carry his team in any way what so ever. Well, perhaps maybe, if the enemy team are bots. Bots don’t react well to syringes, I’ve noticed. But yes, anyway, I was talking about Medics. We’re force multipliers, we make the rest of our team stronger. When our team is weak, the multiplier does fuck all, but when our team is strong… well, you get the basics of multiplication.
Medic’s multiplication factor is why Medics are very hard to buff. You never really get huge buffs to the class, and really, even the addition of Uber gains on the Amputator and the Crossbow can’t really be considered huge buffs. I like to imagine it like any sort of damage multiplier – too big and it starts to get dangerous. Same thing happens here, Medics become so strong that the force Medics multiply by can get smaller and smaller. Basically I’m saying that it’s very easy to make Medics overpowered.
The Meet your Match update does exactly that. The multiplier is now too big, to the point where a single Scout is made incredibly strong when multiplying by a Medic’s presence. You see, the Medic multiplier now affects Scouts (one of the most powerful classes in the game, additive-ly) and makes them far more valid as Uber targets. In a world where getting to mid with lots of health and overheal is one of the most important things in the game, the Medics Now Move At The Speed Of Faster Heal Targets ability makes this a billion times easier. This is a change that completely shakes up the 5CP meta, and not in a good way, as it further cements the multiple Scouts to mid tactic.
No one asked for these Medic buffs. The last set of buffs were toeing the line between OP and balanced, but I think these changes have finally pushed Medics over that line. Multiple Medics are a thing now, when they never were before because one Medic’s force multiplier needed at least 4 team mates to be effective. Now, you only need one team mate – a Scout. Who you can now much more easily Uber or Kritz.
Okay yes the Quick-Fix got nerfed but again, it happened the wrong way. None of the actual problems have been fixed. And the 20% speed buff on the Overdose is still a huge buff because no real Medic actually uses their Syringe Gun offensively. A 15% damage penalty means nothing if you never actually shoot anyone.
Of course, when something gets too strong, do you think Valve will go back on their changes? No. They’ve only ever done it once on Demomen, but that was going in the opposite direction, overnerfed to being brought back to normal. Either Medics will remain in this too strong a state for years and years, or Medics will be overnerfed. But without the physical clout that Demomen have, and the overall trickiness when it comes to balancing, both of these scenarios will probably happen.
Sigh.
Why didn’t they listen?