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Actually, moving buildings was a really big change. You could set up places you couldnt anymore because there was no metal nearby, and could actually have a purpose on offense.     Was this nerf a bit heavy handed? Yeah, probably. Was it needed? Debatable. Is it effective? Yes. Does it define the class role better? Yes.     Valve are putting demo back into the place they originally meant him to have. Stickys were meant to be placed for defense, not used for offense. Yeah, they should have done this sooner, like way sooner.  They picked a bad time too. But how long have people been whining for an update? (And for reference, they DO do this to dota 2 as well. Servers go down for patches, meta changes in the middle of tournaments, ect. )   It wasn't the best change they could have made, but I see the logic, and I like the logic. 

Here's my (probably somewhat fallacious) thought: if the most common argument against a change is basically "well, this is how it's been for X years" then it's probably a good change. [/soapbox]

This doesn't just hurt Comp players. This hurts anyone who is halfway decent at this game. It won't affect the usual Valve server dreck, because even the weakened SL will stomp over them since they're too dumb to WASD, and remain too dumb to WASD for the 2 seconds required for the Stickies to reach max again. Who it WILL hurt are the people the game should be balancing FOR. The mid skill players, on high level pubs. In catering to the LCD, they've not changed anything for the people they're catering to, and fucked over everyone else in the process. And it IS for profit. In attempting to cater to these people, you keep them on slightly longer. Maybe ensure they buy something else from the store. Because you know who doesn't make Valve money? The established players. The people who've been supporting the game for years now. They're simply outnumbered by the newbies, and so are irrelevant to Valve's plans for the game at this point. TF2 is nothing but a cash grab now. There's a big difference between including a ton of content in the game and balancing it to improve the game, and including a ton of content and "balancing" it to placate people who are terrible. This isn't "Fox Only, Final Destination" it's "I liked playing Snake, he was balanced and fun. But they made all of his attacks deal 1/3 less damage because a lot of the Mario players were complaining, and they outnumber me".

The Grenade Launcher does not serve as an effective primary for a power class. The best damned Demos in the world (Ex. B4nny) can hit a whopping 60% of their pipes on a good day, and even then the damage spread is a crapshoot, meaning you could kill that Pyro or Demoman in two shots...or you could do it in 3. Compare/contrast the Rocket Launcher or Scattergun. I shouldn't even have to post these numbers at this point. They're easier to hit, and they outdamage the GL. It isn't a primary. It was never meant to BE a primary.

this is the dumbest fucking thing to ever happen to this piece of shit game and i love it

But that's not the argument. At all. Ok fine, I will dedicate one post about why the change is bad, and why I don't really care about it. First of all, for pub, the SL was completely fine. It gave a lot of DPS, but only at a specific range; get closer than that range and the demo is screwed, get further than that and the demo is screwed. Up close he has to rely on direct pipes, which are very difficult at that range (as Rynjin said the best demos in the world barely get a 60% accuracy), and he has to damage himself. Outside of that range he has to charge his stickies, which give for lousy DPS and are easily dodged if you have the slightest bit of prediction. The demo has no backup plan for any class that attacks him out of his comfort range. Second, stickydemo was healthy for pub. One of the hardest and most annoying things to beat in pub is if the enemy just moves like a single big chunk of flesh and dps, often with some medics and heavies to fat it up. Luckily we actually have a gamemode which promotes that strategy in the form of payload (with complementary indestructible dispenser). The only class who could effectively deal with this was stickydemo, as his dps gets multiplied in such a situation, and that's gone now. And let's not forget how sentries just got harder to destroy as well. Third, why it is bad for comp. This isn;t just "because it has always been like that". 6s TF2 is incredibly balanced and well-designed. Some people might not like it because their favorite class isn't used or whatever other reason, but that's personal; from a design point of view, the cookiecutter 6v6 setup is a fantastic design for a competitive game. Every player serves a purpose, every death matters. In comparison, in Highlander 3 out of 9 classes barely even matter at all for the game and often just fight amongst themselves to try and get to the classes that do matter. In 6s, every pick matters because every class serves a purpose. Demo was so important in 6s because he is the frontline of the team; scouts on the side, combo behind and the roamer from above. By nerfing demo the way they did, they basically cut a giant hole in the battlefield, they surgically extracted the skeleton of the entire metagame. How this is going to be filled I can't predict, but I don't like any of the possible outcome; demos dps is too low to keep him as the main dps now so he'd be downgraded to a secondary, shittier roamer. If the combo takes the frontline, medic picks will become the only thing that matters. If a heavy becomes the new main DPS, the game will become much slower and way less skillbased. If the competitive community goes for modding, they'll just alienate themselves even further from pub and just die out. Finally, why I don't really care that much (even though I just typed out this whole thing); I don't have time to play competitive anymore so whatever happens to 6s won;t affect me, although I'd find it a shame to see a format disappear that I've had more fun with than pub tf2 ever could give me. As for demo in pub, it hardly matters because stickydemo wasn't that good in pub and wasn't even played that often, which is why all this complaining of him being OP baffles me so much. Demo is terrible at dealing with flanks or multiple attackers, and I'm not even talking about teamwork here; any two classes who by chance attack the same demo at the same time will ruin the demo, while all other combat classes have a way to deal with it even if that way is just to escape. Yes, a demo will ruin any number of players huddled up to eachother and firing at something else, and will have a decent chance in any 1 on 1, but it's silly to balance a game like TF2 on 1 on 1 matchups. I honestly hardly ever saw stickydemos in TF2; most class-limitless servers have 1, maybe 2 demomen on a team, and without hyperbole 9 out of 10 of those are targedemos. This compared to how often you see 3 or 4 soldiers or scouts on a team (or God forbid, Snipers and Spies) I honestly don;t get why people have so much trouble with demomen. Is it because they fight them less often they don't know how to deal with them? Hell if I know. So at the end of the day Valve made a barely played class even less used in pub and murdered a format I love but never play anymore. The end.

6v6 ended? You say that like it's a bad thing.

Let's say tomorrow the MLB suddenly announces a new change to the rules. Only the second baseman can get someone out by tagging second base while holding the ball. How does this affect the game? Well, depending on the situation, it's not uncommon for the shortstop to cover second base when it would be more efficient than if the second baseman did. If that change was made, months of practicing and training for those situations will have been useless. Could new strategies emerge where the second baseman is glued to second base? Sure. But not only is it unnecessary, it would be a huge dick move to drop it in the middle of a season. And even if we were to call the above analogy a "nerf" to the shortstop, it would still pale in comparison to what just happened to the Demoman.

...That's it? Wow. It's like you were expecting a three course meal and you get a lovely appetiser. I mean, yeah, it tastes nice, but I'm still pretty hungry.

Zoey from L4D? Also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANcqMStDyJk

Tactical hotdog 2stronk

He broke the fourth wall to gaze at me with eyes full of contempt, letting me know that even getting shot through the brain is nothing compared to his hate for me.