User:MastahDizzy/Mastah's "Project Fortress" Rebalance

This chart is designed with the open intent of suggesting balance changes that fits the vision of an unmodified game of Team Fortress 2, and which can benefit both the casual and competitive community.

Weapon statistics will remain fundamentally simple to prevent confusion and respect the original intent that the developers may have had regarding the title, and as such, most weapons that are significantly underpowered will be appropriately buffed in this chart to be able to contend with the competitively viable options that are made available within the same slot.

Weapons that may not have polarising perceptions of their viability depending on player experience and format will potentially be tweaked to remain equally viable and less frustrating to deal with in the case that they would happen to be.

Now, while this chart is made by myself, based on the personal experiences that I may have on the game, it should be noted that my ideas shouldn't be taken for gospel, and that if you got any feedback, I'll be free to receive it and potentially incorporate within this chart, though I cannot guarantee that your suggestion will be always taken into account! Bleh!

Core Modifications

Class Changes
Random critical hits are now disabled by default. Random bullet spread is now disabled by default. Random fall damage deviation is now disabled by default.

Gamemode Changes
Capturing the intelligence doesn't grant critical hits by default. If the enemy intelligence is dropped, it can then be returned instantly when it is touched. The intelligence will remains on the ground for 75 seconds instead of 60 before being automatically returned.

Multi-Class

Weapon	Changes	New Statistics	Editor's Note
Reserve Shooter	Added: +25% more accurate  Changed: Deploy speed increased from 20% to 30%  Changed: Explosions that aren't inflicted by the user cannot be used as a source of mini-crits anymore.	Mini-crits targets launched airborne by grapple hooks, rocket packs or the user's explosives  +25% more accurate  This weapon deploys 30% faster  -34% clip size	While the Reserve Shooter is technically good for combos, notably strong against Soldiers and Demos due to its perks, and can also preserve the range of a regular Shotgun unlike the Panic Attack, its lowered clip size means that its usage seems redundant when compared to the burst close range capabilities of the Panic Attack, and the consistent range of the Stock when placed within the context of most formats (with 6s being the notable exception, as the Reserve Shooter is actually ban-worthy here due to team composition). By making this weapon able to switch faster and get better accuracy, while being only able to gain mini-crits from targets launched by the user's explosions rather than any explosive source, the Reserve Shooter not only gains a niche as a quick option that is better at dealing chip damage and aerial shots on a whim, but also keeps a lower clip size to balance it out against other Shotguns, on top of becoming better balanced in the context of 6s since its most defining trait in the format is now way less polarising in terms of matchup. Overall, the Reserve Shooter is turned from a shotgun that is somewhat underwhelming in most formats, but too strong in 6s, to a firearm that is a decent sidegrade in both casual and competitive settings.
Family Business	Added: -15% slower reload speed  Added: Can now be equipped by the Soldier, Pyro and Engineer	+33% clip size  +15% faster firing speed  -15% damage penalty  -15% slower reload speed	Its larger clip size and faster firing rate means that this shotgun really is a slight upgrade to Stock thanks to a faster kill power against light classes, better consistency and strong spammability, which also results in higher damage potential overall. Introducing a mild debuff in its reload speed helps this shotgun retain most of its unique perks from its initial 8-shot clip, while making the reload more noticeable, thus making this weapon better at engaging combat, but also longer to get it back to its full clip, thus making this weapon a strong sidegrade as a result of this small modification. Also, by giving the option for the other classes that can equip shotguns to also use the Family Business, we're not only bringing what is basically an easy-to-implement unlock for a third of the game's roster, but we also get the opportunity to have unique decals on the weapon's cross based on the class that equipped it, which can make for nice easter eggs to implement, on top of giving more variety gameplay-wise.

Scout

Class Changes	Editor's Note
Added: All of the Scout's Pistols have their ammo capacity increased from 36 to 48 ammo	Pistols, while being fine by design, suffer from a surprisingly low ammo capacity, as it allows for only four clips to be used, in the case that no form of ammo refill has been taken by the user. By slightly raising the roof from five clips instead of four, we incentivise Scouts players to use their secondary more often for mix-up, though the core strengths and weaknesses of it remains unchanged.
Added: All of the Scout's Bats have a built-in Alt-Fire throwable.	Bats were intentionally gimped in terms of damage output to make up for the speed that the Scout has, but on the other side, the general theming of the character means that it is actually somewhat odd that bats virtually carry no core utility without relying on unlocks to be practical. Through the introduction of a universal Alt-Fire system for the bats, we actually turn the Scout's melee into a tool that, while weak from up close, can still be used to mix the opponent up at mid-range, and thus serve as a better template for other bats to be balanced around. It would also give some utility for bats that would have otherwise remained undertuned and unused, due in part to the fact that they were balanced around what was fundamentally a weak weapon from the inception of the game. Shoutouts for Miracule Weep for mentioning this concept. It honestly makes way too much sense.

Weapon	Changes	New Statistics	Editor's Note
Shortstop	Changed: Shove damage increased from 1 to 40  Changed: Shove force increased from 344 to 512 HU  Changed: Shove cooldown decreased from 1.5 to 0.8 seconds  Changed: Shove range increased to that of a regular melee attack (48HU)  Changed: Shove can be auto-cancelled into primary fire (but still has to deal with its innate cooldown)  Changed: Reload speed decreased from 1.52 to 1.2 seconds	Increase in push force taken from damage and airblast  Holds a 4-shot clip and reloads its entire clip at once.  Alt-Fire to shove and combo someone!	The Shortstop is a fine weapon by itself, with its better range and quick firing speed giving it a niche as a mid-range Scout primary. However, the shove is usually too hard, flimsy, unrewarding and committal to use, and the reload speed is definitely too slow for a weapon of its type, so, by giving combo potential to the shove and reducing the reload speed, we allow the weapon to be more flexible in its use and less punishing for whiffing shots with.
Baby Face's Blaster	Changed: Improved move speed on wearer from -10% to +20%  Added: Wearer never takes falling damage  Added: No air jumps when active  Added: +15% bullet damage vulnerability on wearer  Removed: No more speed meter	+20% faster move speed on wearer  Wearer never takes falling damage  No air jumps when active  +15% bullet damage vulnerability on wearer  -34% clip size	The speed meter is too unreliable of a mechanic to be properly used, since any ounce of aerial movement and damage taken can easily gut your meter, which results in highly inconsistent speed that can mess with both your footsies and aim, for the variations in movement can throw a wrench at your tracking. An improved speed stat however is quite a powerful perk for a Scout to have, so, by treading the line between stronger grounded speed, lower durability and more predictable air movement without overtuning any trait, we can potentially make the Baby Face's Blaster a proper sidegrade that's much easier to wrap your head around when compared to Stock. Since the lack of air jumping with your primary paired with worse durability against pellets from shotguns and other forms of bullet damage are reliably offset by superior footsies on the ground, it should be fair game for anyone. As a final note, the removal of fall damage is added solely for the purpose of not forcing the player to switch weapons in order to prevent it, primarily as a direct result of becoming unable to air jump when the primary is active.
Back Scatter	Removed: No random critical hits  Removed: -34% clip size	Mini-crits targets when fired at their back from close range  20% less accurate	The reduced clip size never really made much sense from both a gameplay and graphical perspective, since the Back Scatter's lower accuracy already gives it a unique niche as a weapon that is easier to land shots from upclose, with burst potential if said shots connects from the target's back half of their hurtbox, at the cost of obviously having less range due to the bullet spread being less precise, and thus somewhat less capable of landing pellets as reliably once we fall out of close quarters. With these simpler stats, we effectively make a decent sidegrade to Stock, that is easy to understand, and becomes balanced by virtue of being slightly specialised, but still decently capable at performing the tasks that the regular Scattergun may do.
Winger	Changed: Clip size increased from 5 to 7 bullets (-40% instead of -60%)	+15% damage bonus  +25% greater jump height when active  -40% clip size	The Winger is actually very useful as a movement option, and the small damage boost can be helpful, but the clip size is usually argued to be made too small when compared to the other pistols available in Scout's arsenal. Seven bullets is still an understandable decrease, but at the very least, it keeps the damage rate reasonable while preserving the mutual trade-off of a pistol that's better at moving, but worse at peppering.
Pretty Boy's Pocket Pistol	Changed: Heal on hit increased from 3 to 4HP  Changed: Firing speed increased from +15% to +40%  Added: -60% damage penalty  Changed: Clip size decreased from 25% to -50%	+40% faster firing speed  On Hit: Gain up to +4 health  -50% clip size  -60% damage penalty	When compared to the stock Pistol, the Pretty Boy's Pocket Pistol is basically a marginally improved weapon in terms of damage output, that also doubles as one that gives health back on hit, which basically makes you wonder why the Stock option even exists when a practical is out there to be played with. Here, the Pocket Pistol has been redesigned to hinge more into its utility, while becoming the weakest handgun of the bunch for dealing raw damage. It is technically better at spamming, landing shots, and thus getting yourself healed, but the significantly lowered damage and clip size makes this weapon a proper stamina-centred sidegrade to the regular Pistol.
Bat	Added: Alt-Fire: Launches a ball that slows opponents	Alt-Fire: Launches a ball that slows opponents	As a result of the universal buff for Scout's melee, the Bat now becomes an actually useful melee since its projectile can be used for combat, while having no listed drawbacks, thus warranting the use of this weapon in practical situations.
Sandman	Added: +20% faster weapon switch  Removed: -15 max health on wearer  Added: -25% damage penalty  Added: -50% slower recharge rate  Changed: The projectile doesn't slow opponents anymore.  Info: The boost in weapon switch is universal, and therefore applies to all the weapons in the Scout's arsenal	Alt-Fire: Launches a ball that hits opponents  +20% faster weapon switch  -25% damage penalty  -50% slower recharge rate	The original Sandman was overpowered due to having a projectile that was way too much rewarding for the ease of use it granted, while the current version is too underwhelming due to having being balanced around the Bat rather than around more viable melees in the Scout's kit. Here, with the new stats, the intent was to turn the Sandman into a melee that, while not as applicable combat wise due to having a slower recharge rate and weaker damage output, benefited from turning the Scout into a class that traded off the efficiency of a quick mid-range option that can be easily refilled for what was effectively a slightly improved combo game, which somewhat makes the Sandman a sidegrade to what is effectively an improved Stock in that context.
Candy Cane	Added: Alt-Fire: Launches a treat that heal teammates  Added: +50% health from packs on wearer  Removed: 25% explosive damage vulnerability on wearer  Added: -75% health from healers on wearer  Added: 15% slower move speed on wearer  Info: The treat behaves like small health pack for other players, and like a melee refill for the user (in a fashion similar to the Heavy lunchboxes)  Info: The slower move speed is an active effect, which means it is only applied when the Candy Cane is deployed	Alt-Fire: Launches a treat that heal teammates  On Kill: A small health pack is dropped  +50% health from packs on wearer  -100% maximum overheal on wearer  15% slower move speed on wearer	The Candy Cane was originally designed to be a melee that passively helps the Scout and his teammates out by dropping medpacks that could heal his team, but the problem was that not only the Scout was gaining only little use from the heal itself, but he would also get obliterated by any rocket, pipe, or sticky that would have came his way, which arguably made this melee the worst in his kit due to how much harder the explosive matchups turned out to be. Here, the Candy Cane now becomes a weapon that forgoes the combat capabilities of the Bat, the pocket potential of the class itself, and even become somewhat of a commitment to use due to the slower movement on deploy, but to make up for these notable flaws, the Scout now has the option to drop medpacks on command every ten second to help his team, while his medpacks (from both his kills and the map) now grants him much better reward, all while removing the debuff that virtually made the Candy Cane awful in the first place. Basically, it gives a support/stamina niche for this melee, which allows it to compete with the other melees that may exist in the Scout's kit, since they usually revolve more around either movement, damage potential or consistency.
Boston Basher	Added: Alt-Fire: Launches a ball that slows opponents  Info: The pre-existing stats of the Boston Basher only applies for the melee hits, not for the projectile.	Alt-Fire: Launches a ball that slows opponents  On Hit: Bleed for 5 seconds  On Miss: Hit yourself. Idiot.	The Boston Basher basically gains the same buff as the Stock Bat, which is fine, given that the weapon already has good utility as an hit and run option that can also be used to fill Über.
Sun-on-a-Stick	Added: Alt-Fire: Launches a fireball that burns opponents  Info: The fireball deals 4 seconds of afterburn  Added: 50% slower recharge rate	Alt-Fire: Launches a fireball that burns opponents  100% critical hit vs burning players  +25% fire damage resistance while deployed  -25% damage penalty  -50% slower recharge rate	The Sun-on-a-Stick is hindered by the fact that it lacks any synergy in the Scout's kit, thus making its damage buff only possible through a coordinated attack with your allied Pyroes, which is not only incredibly impractical, but also not that notably rewarding, given the difficulty to use said melee for a fiery combo. By giving the possibility for the Scout to use a fireball, we not only make the positives of the melee actually applicable, but also competitively viable when compared to the other unlocks that can be used within the same slot. Also, it would be very funny to throw little suns at your enemy with a class that can move around like a mosquito.
Fan O'War	Added: Alt-Fire: Launches a ball that hits opponents  Added: This weapon deploys and holsters 60% faster  Info: If the target would normally take mini-crits, the projectile can also be affected by the "mini-crit to crit" stat boost.	Alt-Fire: Launches a ball that hits opponents  This weapon deploys and holsters 60% faster  Crits whenever it would normally mini-crit  On Hit: One target at a time is Marked-For-Death, causing all damage taken to be mini-crits  -75% damage penalty	The Fan O'War struggles to gain viability outside of Mann VS Machine because of the redundancy that its effect may carry when it comes to landing combos when a Scout player can simply land meatshots on his target to gain a better return on investment without wasting a melee slot with this weapon. By giving notably improved deploy and holster speed, we give this weapon the potential to be very quickly deployed, and then followed up into a meatshot, for as long as the user gets within melee range, which is already kind of a notable commitment if the initial hit whiffs due to poor spacing or timing. The universal ball change can also slightly synergise with the pre-existing stats, since the ball can now crit without requiring a headshot if the opponent is Marked-For-Death, though the ball doesn't slow, much like the Sandman does.
Atomizer	Added: Alt-Fire: Launches a ball that slows opponents  Removed: -15% damage vs players  Added: -80% slower recharge rate	Alt-Fire: Launches a ball that hits opponents  Grants Triple Jump while deployed  Melee attacks mini-crit while airborne.  This weapon deploys 50% slower  -50% slower recharge rate	Given that this melee is already fundamentally strong, it would only be logical that the projectile capabilities of the Atomizer would be gimped by giving the slowest recharge rate of all balls, on top of lacking the slow effect of the Stock Bat. However, since the weapon can technically mini-crit when airborne (or underwater, as a result of the Source code being absolute spaghetti), I felt like the damage penalty contradicted this other stat, so now, the Atomizer deals pretty normal damage for a bat. This will allow it to preserve a unique niche as a movement tool that can somehow be used like a Budget Neon Annihilator, at the cost of having arguably the weakest projectile of the bunch, due to how long it takes to recharge.

Pyro

Weapon	Changes	New Statistics	Editor's Note
Scorch Shot	Changed: Damage penalty increased from -35% to -60%  Changed: Cannot destroy stickies anymore	100% mini-crits vs burning players  Flare knocks back target on hit and explodes when it hits the ground.  Increased knockback on burning players  -35% self damage force  -60% damage penalty  This weapon will reload automatically when not active.	As a secondary tool, the Scorch Shot is designed to be a reliable splash tool that can easily build afterburn, hinder enemy mobility and combo into itself. The problem with the current iteration of this weapon though is that while it trades its perks off by technically being a worse combo tool than the Flare Gun, it only does so marginally thanks to its powerful buffs, while being significantly better at doing literally anything else, so adding a stronger damage penalty will help preserve the perks that this weapon has while also making it notably worse at dealing damage than the Flare Gun itself, and thus turn it into a sidegrade that is better at being a jack-of-all-trades to make up for its loss of burst damage from any range. Also, given how easy it is to just connect a projectile from the Scorch Shot thanks to its innate splash properties, it can only be reasonable to remove the weapon's ability to destroy stickies since it is so potent at doing such a thing, for visibly no trade-off of any kind.
Thermal Thruster	Changed: Swapping weapons is now possible when the Thermal Thruster is deployed  Changed: Holstering the jetpack now behaves like for any other weapons in the game instead of having to deal with a committal animation.	Push enemies back when you land (force and radius based on velocity)  Death from above! Fires a short-duration blast that launches the Pyro in the direction they are aiming. Deal 3x falling damage to anyone you land on!	The Thermal Thruster is useful, but its unique modifications when it comes to its deploying and holstering animations makes this secondary needlessly clunky to use for a secondary that quite literally prevents the Pyro from using combo tools like their shotguns and flares. By making it less committal to just use, we not only make the Thermal Thruster less frustrating to play, but we also give a better incentive to use it as both an approach and escape option to make up for the more limited range that the Pyro effectively has.
Gas Passer	Added: Creates an explosion that deals set damage, which isn't affected by either damage or radius fall-off  Added: Any opponent that is hit by the Gas Passer's explosion will automatically take afterburn (though the effect can still be extended by non-afterburn damage thanks to the "gas" status being applied)  Changed: Players soaked by the Gas Passer are now counted as "wet"  Changed: Passive refill decreased from 60 to 30 seconds  Changed: Damage required to fill the meter decreased from 750 to 600HP  Removed: Spawning and resupply do not affect the Gas meter  Removed: Gas meter starts empty  Info: The explosion's radius is of 160HU (10ft, or 3.04m)  Info: The explosion deals 50HP of damage to anyone within its perimetre	Gas meter builds with damage done and/or time  Creates a horrific gas explosion that coats enemies with a flammable material and lits them on fire (even if they're enemy Pyros!)	The Gas Passer can easily be considered the worst weapon in the Pyro's entire kit, and can be argued to be one of the worst weapons in the game period, thanks to a myriad of flaws that had plagued this throwable since its inception. To make it viable, it was therefore modified to gain a slew of buffs that allows it to have proper applications that other secondary unlocks may not be able to fulfil, while preserving balance in mind. The explosion (and the built-in afterburn that comes with it) has been made to give a little oomph to the Gas Passer when thrown, and since this projectile is famously known for being notoriously hard to fill, the cooldown that comes both from damage and its passive effect were reduced to acceptable levels, as to allow it to rival with the other flaming projectiles in the Pyro's kit. The two listed debuffs that were originally listed for the weapon were also notably overkill and absolutely gutted its applicability, so removing these can only make sense to make this tool more useful in the longer run. Since the "Gas" effect also technically didn't wet players that were soaked by it for some reason, reintroducing said property also allows the Gas Passer to have great synergy with the Neon Annihilator, and by proxy, make said melee more viable than ever. All these modification can, hopefully, turn what is arguably a terrible weapon into one that is actually viable to use, and fun to play and experiment with, on top of remaining unique gameplay-wise.
Homewrecker	Added: +15% damage resistance when active  Added: User can see their teammates metal count, on top of their own (100 metal)  Added: User can withdraw and use their metal on buildings  Added: Melee behaves like a Wrench-type weapon, and can therefore be used to upgrade and repair buildings, on top being able to break sappers.	+100% damage vs buildings  +15% damage resistance when active  -25% damage vs players  Behaves like a wrench, and can therefore be used to upgrade and repair buildings, on top of breaking sappers as well.  The user can see their teammates metal count, on top of their own.	The Homewrecker is normally a melee that is way too niche in its use to warrant being used over more competent melees like the Powerjack or the Back Scratcher when it comes to practicality. By adding the ability to see your metal count and that of your fellow Engineers, on top of being able to help them by gaining the ability to upgrade and repair buildings, the Homewrecker remains a technically situational weapon that now excels at giving support to your Engineer, without overlapping their role as such. The added damage resistance when deployed also gives the weapon another, more universal utility as a light counterpart of the Fists of Steel, which can justify the use of this melee, even in cases when Engineers may not be around (either because they may set things up, or because nobody picked the class). Shoutouts for Miracule Weep for suggesting the idea of turning this weapon into a wrench-like melee. Without him, I would have otherwise been in a bind when it came to its hypothetical balancing.

Medic

Class Changes

Editor's Note

Added: All of the Medic's Melees (with the exception of the Übersaw) now have a built-in "+16% ÜberCharge added" on hit

The Übersaw is fundamentally a powerful melee that, while meta-centralising for the Medic, is also not inherently unfair to use due to the commitment that the user has to go through by trying to melee an opponent with what is effectively the number one target in the game. By giving the possibility for all melees in Medic's arsenal the possibility to gain Über on hit, we allow the Medic to gain use from his other melees, while preserving the utility that the Übersaw has as the most rewarding melee to use for gaining meter, as it still requires four hits to gain a full Übercharge, as opposed to the six hits that other melees would require to gain a quasi-full meter (96%, to be exact).

Weapon	Changes	New Statistics	Editor's Note
Vita-Saw	Added: Alt-Fire: Consumes an organ to gain Boost for 4 seconds  Added: -20% slower firing speed  Changed: The amount of organs that can be collected is now capped to 2  Removed: Organs do not retain Übercharge anymore upon respawning	Collect the organs of people you hit  Alt-Fire: Consumes an organ to gain Boost for 4 seconds  -10 max health on wearer  -20% slower firing speed	Organs as a mechanic was originally made redundant by the fact that the Übersaw's ability to gain meter on hit virtually overshadowed this melee in almost all metrics, but on the other hand, being potentially able to retain Über while benefiting from a universal meter gain on hit for Medic would turn what was a usually pointless stat into one that would be somewhat overpowered and annoying to deal with in competitive play due to how hard it would make it for the enemy team to count the Medic's Übercharge from knowledge alone. By turning organs from their original state into a limited resource that can be used to improve the user's mobility for a short span of time, we effectively allow the Vita-Saw to become a melee that excels at improving the Medic's movement and enabling a hit and run playstyle for a class that would otherwise be somewhat lacking in this department.
Amputator	Changed: Regenerated health is now gained passively, instead of actively  Changed: Alt-Fire doesn't make the user taunt anymore  Added: Alt-Fire is now meter-dependent  Info: Said meter take 10 seconds to recharge  Info: The effects of the Alt-Fire are active, which means the user cannot support their team with said buff if they switch weapons (much like an Übercharge would)	Alt-Fire: Applies a healing effect to all nearby teammates when the melee is deployed  +3 health regenerated per second on wearer  On Hit: 16% ÜberCharge added  -20% damage penalty	Turns the Amputator's taunt into a meter-dependent effect that is way more practical to use for healing your team in a perimetre, all while feeling much less commital to apply, as the effect is instantaneous and doesn't force the Medic into a taunting stance. The universal change given to bonesaws as a whole, on top of the added bonus of passive regeneration can give this melee a strong niche as a hybrid survival/support oriented option that can contend with the Übersaw thanks to the unique playstyle it enables.