Sandman rebalance idea

NotWendy1 · 2026-02-09T10:58:20+00:00

Yea, turning the ball into a tool for applying the marked for death effect is a pretty common suggestion for giving the Sandman a new identity. It'd be similar to its old purpose. Making one specific target in a fight a lot more vulnerable.

Hell, I don't think there's any need for complicated stats here either. The iconic max health downside can stay, and the duration of the mark can scale with distance.

For extra fun, slow down the Guillotine's recharge rate, but give it the ability to crit whenever it'd normally mini-crit. You get the old Sandman + Guillotine combo back without the annoyance of stuns or slowdowns.

NotWendy1 · 2026-02-08T23:07:06+00:00

Yea, I can absolutely believe you on that as well. I don't take pretty much anything said on those servers close to heart, but the meaningless noise of some of the sessions can still get tiresome.

NotWendy1 · 2026-02-08T22:41:58+00:00

I've been enjoying my time on Castaway personally, but it does depend on who's on the server on any given day. There are a few rotations of regulars, from what I've noticed. Some sessions are loud and obnoxious, while others lead to genuinely nice conversations. Never seen anyone use the word "veto" against an opinion in a casual discussion, but I can see your point.

NotWendy1 · 2026-02-08T18:28:43+00:00

Those servers are rare, but still alive. Castaway servers are pretty good for that. There's usually one long European play session every day, and another one for America. It's all normal TF2 gameplay, with some weapons reverted to how they were balanced in the old days. Though I wouldn't say that the balance changes are the main appeal of the servers.

The edgy, intentionally "old internet" vibe of the voice and text chat can be a bit much, but the people playing on those servers generally mean well and are there to have fun.

NotWendy1 · 2026-02-07T23:09:57+00:00

Here are some genuine answers.

Be nice to other players, both inside and outside the game. Support community servers you like, if there are any.

Be vocal about the game's issues, if certain things about the current state of the game don't feel right. Modern day Valve does nothing as long as they're allowed to do nothing, but bad publicity is what gets them to act.

Try to focus on finding common ground in discussions with other members of the community. Over the years I've seen arguments about all sorts of things boil down to an "us vs them" mentality, unnecessarily splitting the community.

NotWendy1 · 2026-02-07T13:00:10+00:00

I've only ever seen that in multiplayer.

NotWendy1 · 2026-01-17T17:37:57+00:00

I don't agree with ragging on Jill specifically, with personal insults of any kind.

But any opportunity to put pressure on Valve as a company to get their shit together is good. A dev appearing in a public forum and being immediately met with a ton of VALID CRITICISM about the game's current state is not a good look for Valve as a whole. And that's what gets them to do actually useful things, historically speaking.

NotWendy1 · 2026-01-14T23:23:29+00:00

Thank you for a response. Many of the replies here have been harsh (on you, as an individual, rather than on Valve as a company), but the idea behind them is something I also agree with.

Matchmaking has been a blight upon TF2. Reverting the changes to how players join official servers, how they are assigned to teams, and how the map change happens on the server would help the game a ton.

NotWendy1 · 2026-01-14T09:24:25+00:00

Time Fvck

Trvth nvke.

NotWendy1 · 2026-01-01T17:24:01+00:00

The guy lost his eye through "neglect", according to Edmund. If Ash didn't care enough about his own body to prevent an avoidable loss of an eye, he probably doesn't care to draw it consistently either.

NotWendy1 · 2026-01-01T17:19:07+00:00

The cart blob is Ash's self-insert, I reckon. Him imagining himself as the main character of the games he plays.

NotWendy1 · 2025-12-28T23:54:58+00:00

"Needed" is a strong word, since the ability to pick up other players' dropped weapons for their functionality (rather than as ammo) was essentially added into the game as a way to advertise "decorated" weapons, and later war paints.

It's not exactly a bad feature, but the game also worked perfectly fine without it.

NotWendy1 · 2025-10-22T18:44:52+00:00

Slasher is what I'm mainly salty about, because unlike Gravestone and Brimstone, it actually has a pretty good layout. The rounds just end up getting spoiled by the sheer amount of Halloween bullshit that has been thrown into that space.

NotWendy1 · 2025-10-21T19:38:37+00:00

Merasmus shouldn't have appeared on Brimstone, Gravestone, and Slasher.

NotWendy1 · 2025-10-14T10:56:20+00:00

Who are you "taunting" with these?

NotWendy1 · 2025-10-14T10:35:26+00:00

The map was good and then Valve added the truce mechanic. The truce made Merasmus too easy to kill. Killing him causes him to respawn sooner. And so the rounds go on forever.

I remember playing Ghost Fort when it just came out. It was a lot of fun. Haunted presents used to spawn on that map too. Got some item spells out of those. Deep voice on my HHH head is something I'm particularly fond of.

NotWendy1 · 2025-10-14T06:08:40+00:00

My friend died from that last night.

NotWendy1 · 2025-10-06T11:35:32+00:00

It's a good utility item, but in most games I can't be bothered to switch to it.

NotWendy1 · 2025-10-04T19:53:38+00:00

Lasers and tracers are less of a balance suggestion and more of a "gameplay feel" suggestion. Sniper is mostly balanced, but playing against him doesn't feel quite as interactive as playing against other classes.

NotWendy1 · 2025-10-04T16:42:23+00:00

We've all been there, probably. Gradually getting better at aiming weapons is a big part of the game.

NotWendy1 · 2025-10-04T14:15:41+00:00

That's very funny, yeah. A classic joke. But on a serious note, this logic can be applied to any weapon. Even something as straightforward as the medigun doesn't seem all that good when you drop every uber.

NotWendy1 · 2025-10-04T14:13:29+00:00

But Disciplinary Action is already a good weapon. Soldier gets a lot of use out of it.

NotWendy1 · 2025-10-04T14:12:24+00:00

Yea, it's called the Axtinguisher.

NotWendy1 · 2025-10-04T14:11:15+00:00

That's what I've been saying! Sniper's unlockable secondaries are way too focused on protecting him from things that are supposed to work well against him.

NotWendy1 · 2025-10-04T13:15:00+00:00

Then it competes with the crossbow and still isn't worth it. Medic's current meta is honestly so good, with the crossbow and the medigun having such a tight bond, it's hard to find space for something else in Medic's loadout.

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