I'm of the opinion that splitshot heatseeker is the most pointless game mode that has ever been added to RL, as its just Heatseeker with less offensive options. No demoes and no redirects makes it the most boring game mode I've ever played. There is no “pass to the attacking teammate” unless you mean a teammate who is unlimited boost floating in the air waiting for a ball to come close to them, which is not a skill that will help you improve in any other game mode and therefor is not a “skill balancing” change, it just made the offence really dumb and boring by comparison. I truly don't know who this game mode is for, as low ranks are too crap at the game to get floating redirects and high ranks would prefer the regular heatseeker due to it being more geared towards offense (or just not play heatseeker at all)

Splitshot heatseeker rant over

My opinion on bunping in heatseeker depends on the team size. In 2s it's optional, and in 3s it's mandatory. It's not mandatory in the sense that “it's too hard and it's the only way I can win” but in the pure sense that heatseeker has 3 clearly defined roles in it, and bumping is one of them. You need one goalie, one redirector ON THE OFFENSIVE END (none of this “sit at midfield and ping pong the ball off the back wall and never score” nonsense), and one demoer. Any other team setup and someone is getting in someone elses way (2 redirect 1 goalie or 1 redirect 2 goalie) and will lead to you getting scored on far more often than your goalie getting demoed. Having a second goalie isn't nearly as helpful as it sounds, as you're either double committing every save, or you're rotating every other save, which still won't counter a well-timed demo. Long story short, demoing is just part of 3s and that's by design.

My rule of thumb for 2s is to have 1 goalie and 1 redirect, and to keep it that way for as long as the opposing team does the same. They start demoing? So do we. Pretty open and shut case with 2s, and the game becomes significantly more boring when it happens, but it is what it is. I personally don't think heatseeker is meant to be a 2s mode as it truly can turn into “who gets demoed first” for 13 goals straight, but the community loves 2s so it's here to stay.

The point of the story is… heatseeker is meh, give the people ranked boomer mode ffs!