Sandman?

[Skunk]

My problem with Sandman, as Ailure clearly knows:
In Arena, Sandman is law. Any decent Scout with a Sandman is just going to RAPE the compeition. One SHORT range bonk is enough to send a player to the depths of hell, no matter what the class. Especially on Lumberyard which has a dead zone and on Watchtower with a long enough fall to kill at low health.

I'm almost curious if Valve would make Arena stock TF2, no unlocks. That'd be interesting.
"You cannot use your unlocked items in Arena!"

[Dravu]

[miniskunk]

I like that idea of no upgrades in Sudden Death. Certainly not something too difficult to implement in code or even just making it a rule on our servers. I would support it.

[Ayeaka]

I....wouldn't.

Because, you see, I LIKE my Blutsauger, and Ubersaw. I also like my Sandvich, thankyou. :<

Blocking them all because of ONE melee weapon is ridiculous. And I really don't see that much of a problem because of the sandman. it's a new weapon. Strategies need to be altered.
....so?

[Makaze]

[Skunk]

My main problem with Sandman is just that: you stop dead in your tracks, can't do anything, but wait. That's not that much of a problem in normal gameplay where if I die I'll just respawn and generally I tend now to avoid running straight at Scouts with wooden bats. They're like snipers and pyros and other "shoot in a straight line" classes. You approach them in a zig zag pattern so if they do fire, they'll miss unless they're good at leading you a predicting your movements. In Arena though, they just need that one hit. Then you're dead. Sandman combined with other instant kill weapons is just rape. A Spy and Scout combo would be extremely effective. One bonks, one stabs, instant kills all around.

On the other hand, it DOES give the Scout an advantage. Remember, before the unlocks, no one was crazy enough to play Scout in Arena except us who were diehards to the class. Even if you knew how to play the class effectively they had low health, a light body, and a weak melee weapon. Now they have a weapon with blowback that can keep enemies away from them, an item that can stop enemies from approaching, and an item that makes them temporarily invincible. All of these together or seperate makes the Scout an arena worthy player.
And think about all the new Scouts in the Arena now! If they're using any of these items they are at a disadvantage to Scouts -not- using the items. FAN scouts have to worry about reloading every two shots while Scatter scouts unload on them in quick succession. Drink scouts now have to worry about getting pistoled in their slow time. And Sandman scouts have it worst of all: if they miss their shot, they don't do as much damage on a swing, allowing metal bat scouts to beat the living crap out of them.

I still hate it though. It sucks leaving the spawn on Watchtower and suddenly being hit in the head with a freakin' baseball and knowing that in less time than it takes you to wake up the scout who hit you (Ailure) is going to FAN you right off of that pipe and to a watery grave below. And if he doesn't do it, having such low health, they pyro camping the health items will.