Medic strategy adjustments + my best game ever

[Adabiviak]

I didn't read the release notes (and am failing miserably to find this in a search) and learned last night that the Medics can drop a medpack by pressing the alt-fire button before their uber is built up at the cost of whatever ubercharge they've acquired. I think you get a freebie though? Is the amount of health in the medpack equivalent to the amount of uber you had built up at the time? I still need to think of places where this is useful other than a retreat where we're under fire.

So we're the aggressors on the last point of Dustbown and we have them pretty well pinned on the last point. It's an insta-spawn server so you know what kind of fragfest that can be at that point. I'm quite close to uber, I'm workin' a pyro, and there's about ten seconds on the clock: this is it. We come through the side gate and through the corridor of the shack there and I start spamming the uber button because they have been putting stickies in there around blind corners and I really want to win this and the uber never comes apparently I dropped a medpack and my ubercount started over. Note to self...

I was playing with a rash of lousy heavies too. Maybe they were rookies? If we're pinned around a corner by a sentry and you're a heavy on the front and I uber you, that's your cue to step up to the mic and take it out. If I'm healing you and I run past you on fire, you should know there's a pyro not far behind that you should probably take care of.

This is the most dominations I've ever had in a game (and when I finally quit the server I had 845 points. I was after 1000, but too many people left before I could get there. My Steam profile says that I only have 3 dominations. Are they only counted on 'stock' servers/maps? Anyway, both teams were quite skilled, people were actually using their microphones to coordinate our efforts, and the banter was funny (someone had the username xxxSagat and someone else kept playing the 'tiger uppercut' sound byte over the mic). SO funny. Every TF2 game should be this good.

 

[Rapstah]

Stats only count in one lifetime.

 

[Adabiviak]

ah... the domination doesn't reset when you die, so even though there's seven shown, the stat count only counts those you acquired during a single life? Gotcha.

 

[Pesmerga]

180 Deaths? Man, anyone can get that score in 180 deaths. Shamrock can get that score in 180 deaths.

 

[Shamrock]

180 Deaths? Man, anyone can get that score in 180 deaths. Shamrock can get that score in 180 deaths.

Really?


That was low.

 

[Uber Kitty]

I had no idea medics can do that!

 

[Omnomnick]

Yeh, Medics get all the points the fighters get, but with less of the fighting and more of the hang back and retreat occasionally.

 

[Qonfused]

One assist = half a point. I'm not sure how many healing points equal one point, though.

 

[ailevation]

holy crap, I think I should start playing TF2 today... medics dropping medipacks?! superb.

 

[Pesmerga]

holy crap, I think I should start playing TF2 today... medics dropping medipacks?! superb.

This only happens on custom servers.

 

[Mahalis]

Yeah, it's a mod. Those servers usually let the Engineer drop an ammo pack by alt-firing the wrench.

 

[Adabiviak]

It was a modded server... I was wondering where that option came from. Another note to self.

Yeah, I die. A lot. If a heavy is holdin' down the fort and he's about to die, I'll jump into the line of fire to get some health on him and maybe give the engineers enough time to get the sentries levelled up. Wrenches, bats, revolvers all seem to kill me with one hit. If I even look at a pyro, I'll die. Basically, if I come under fire, I'll die.

 

[Druckles]

If a heavy is holdin' down the fort and he's about to die, I'll jump into the line of fire to get some health on him and maybe give the engineers enough time to get the sentries levelled up.

What server do you play on?? It's just unbelievable the kinds of people we have being medic. It's just ridiculous. And one of the reasons I stopped playing as a Heavy so much. Whenever there's a decent medic around, I can rack up plenty of points and kills. But with a crap medic (especially some of the recent medics I've had), I might as well not have one.

Personally I'm not a very good medic, so I don't even try, unless it's absolutely necessary. But at least I know when to hit my uber button. And who to actually heal! And whenever I try and do a heavy-medic combo with someone, they end up being some really moronic heavy who acts exactly as you've described above.

 

[Adabiviak]

Any server with low ping and a lot of people. I always laugh when the gates open and a medic runs out on the front line with their syringe gun blazing. Having played engineer a bit, I find myself healing them more than I used to. For example, if they're working on a level 1 sentry and are under fire from an enemy who's burly enough to take the sentry hits, I'll focus on the engineer to keep him alive long enough to get his sentry to the next level (and promptly destroy the enemy). I've also been healing snipers on the 2Fort battlements. If both teams are heavy on snipers, keeping ours buffed up on health may allow them to take hits without dying or having to retreat for health, allowing them to suppress the other snipers, giving our team a sniper-free exit from below. Any teammates running off the balcony also gets a quick shot, because at least two will take a hit from opposing snipers as they make the jump. I've also been practicing switching ubers from one person to the next if we've got a hodge podge of classes making a final push for a capture under heavy fire, but this seems to throw them off guard. Another medic with 100% or close uber is also on my list of priorities, because the odds are that his pending uber will allow us to move forward.

There are times and places when it's appropriate to uber engineers, snipers, and spies; they're just very infrequent.

 

[Jintor]

I have seen an UBAR'd engineer used very effectively.

It was a pretty unique ocassion though.

 

[Sam]

One assist = half a point. I'm not sure how many healing points equal one point, though.

Medics get a full point for an assist. 600-ish healing gives you a point too I think.

 

[Warbie]

I've also been healing snipers on the 2Fort battlements.

Don't take this the wrong way - but that's probably the most useless thing a medic can do (unless you're simply building an uber). Most snipers on 2Fort, especially on publics, are only fighting other snipers. They hide for ages (letting entire armies run along the bridge), slowly edging out and trying to kill their counterpart. These guys cancel each other out in their uselessness (the measure of a good sniper is how many classes he kills other than snipers). Even if you have a decent one running around and covering the bridge, you'll likely be alot more use on attack.

I've also been practicing switching ubers from one person to the next if we've got a hodge podge of classes making a final push for a capture under heavy fire

That's a real skill I think much of being a good medic is being able to assess a situation and make priorities extremely quickly. It's not uncommon in a clan match for two teams to collide, uber, and for nobody to die because both medics are switching so well. They'll also be constantly buffing everyone while building the uber - unless the heavy needs focus, our medic is rarely on one target for more than a second or two - and give people a boast before they rocket/nade jump. However, the most important skill is not dying. Run away, let people die if needs be - the best medics do not die and waste charge.

 

[Absinthe]

I'd play the medic more often (cuz I like it) if most people weren't stupid. The medic is not a personal assistant, but the average player seems to treat them as if they are. "Just continue playing as you usually would, but with bonus heals!"

There are few things that aggravate me more than a heavy I'm healing who refuses to budge and move forward. Or teammates that retreat all the way back to their base just so they can play defense and whore stats. Or people who charge blindly into massive firefights, taking damage I can't possibly overheal, giving zero regard for I - the man who is saving his ass.

Of course, nobody else ever switches class. So the lone person who actually wants to do something constructive towards victory just gets punished by the assortment of clueless idiots that make up his team. It's doubly painful when you're facing a team that does use medics (a fair few of them actually) and inevitably wipe the floor with your asses, and yet your fellow teammates never contemplate the idea of... y'know... doing the same.

 

[Warbie]

And then you join a friendly clan and all those hassles go away

I can barely stomache TF2 on a public as teamplay is non existent. It's tdm with spamming and 9/10 victory is down to luck.

 

[Jintor]

You've got a point. If you join a server where one side is completely ****ing dominating, it's because the other side is usually playing TDM while the winning side is actually ****ing working together.

On a side note, teams with mics tend to work together surprisingly well, even on public servers.

 

[delusional]

I find jumping around like a crazy person all around my patient when I'm getting shot at from many angles. I also jump when escaping from the battle avoiding rockets and bullets. I usually survive for a long time like this. I don't spread my uber around as much though since the person might see that they don't have uber and stop rushing.

 

[Mahalis]

I have seen an UBAR'd engineer used very effectively.

It was a pretty unique ocassion though.

Wrench in a large group? I've seen that a few times. The crit chance is pretty nice.

 

[Planetary]

Wrench in a large group? I've seen that a few times. The crit chance is pretty nice.

Not just nice, the best. Even more crits then the bonesaw, if the Valve stats page is to be belived.



I've actually seen an ubered sniper with my own eyes, if you can imagine, not so much the damage but the surprise factor is what counts with ubering a different class from usual.

Still never seen an ubered scout though.

 

[delusional]

Not just nice, the best. Even more crits then the bonesaw, if the Valve stats page is to be belived.



I've actually seen an ubered sniper with my own eyes, if you can imagine, not so much the damage but the surprise factor is what counts with ubering a different class from usual.

Still never seen an ubered scout though.

I've seen someone who just stayed with a single sniper in 2fort the entire time of the round setting off uber after uber.

I've only seen ubered scouts when scouts were all the medic could uber and the medic was about to die.

 

[streather]

an ubered pyro is a scary sight to behold, on 2fort there were loads of us in the sewers 3 heavies, couple of engineers, soldier, a medic, 2 dispensers, 2 fully leveled up Sentry guns and not 1 survived the uberpyro lol

 

[Iron_cube]

Unusual ubers, eh?

 

[Revenge]

Don't underestimate the syringe gun!

Get enough practice with the whole projectile arc thing, and you'll be surprisingly deadly. Sure, if there are others around, you should be healing, but if all you do is flail around helplessly when that scout comes for you after your buddy got sniped, then you're not playing the medic to the extent of its capability.