54 replies to this topic

[VoidWhisperer]

What about making a sub-forum for comp FAQ? Guides would be pinned and people could ask questions. Though this might deviate from the original point of this forum.

 

A guides forum is in the works

[Mother Tereza]

 

What about making a sub-forum for comp FAQ? Guides would be pinned and people could ask questions. Though this might deviate from the original point of this forum.

 

A guides forum is in the works

 

New forum for guides and how-to created http://forums.tf2cen...s-rules-how-to/

Only TF2C members have a rights to create new topics there.

[Kaelan Frey]

The notion of being embarassed to play Medic is silly. Seriously, from what I've read, this is nothing but anxiety. While you carry a great responsibility in your team, which is carefully managing your uber and keeping everyone alive, it's a job where you must have some level of assertiveness (literally) and be able to coordinate your team so you can win. Having this mindset will never deter you from playing Medic. Let me explain:

 

Top players didn't say that the Medic is the most important class in the game off cheer luck, he is literally the guy who controls the entire team's flow. His healings, ubers, kritz and let's not forget - his deaths - are a great part of what determines the outcome of a match. You can have a team with one bad scout and still have a chance to win against a slightly less or samely skilled team, but should you have a Medic who has no idea what he's doing, and the other team mates don't know any better to help him out, you're bound to lose against anyone.

 

This may sound intimidating, but really, it shouldn't. It all boils down to education, a person unexperienced with theory and practice is bound to fail miserably. In my view, the flamers don't have the right to insult the one who fails, and they should rather help them be better rather than replacing him immediately. Sometimes those flamers aren't even realizing the Medic's actions and aren't following his calls/intuition (remember: a team in competitive should always follow the organization...ing that works best for them - usually decided by the MAIN CALLER), and considering that the Medic's activities are often done behind-the-scenes, they won't be aware of it's obvious effects, and how he could contribute to them.

 

It's obvious that this doesn't give the right to the Medic to be a complete jackass and ruin everyone's game with his poor judgment, Here we go again: education. You can't just hop in into a 6v6 or 9v9 match not knowing anything about it's meta and expect to have a good time, unless you're in just for the kicks (I never found constantly dying and being yelled at fun). In my opinion, every player who is seriously considering to play a 6v6 or 9v9 match with (or not) a new class for the first time should always try it out with friends of some skill or at the very least read a few articles at comp.tf to understand the roles of each class, the flow of the game and calling. When I started, comp.tf didn't exist, so I had to stick with the former. Newbies (and advanced players) are incredibly privileged nowadays, with easy access to streams, POV videos, tutorials and whatnot.

 

Should you legit care about playing Medic, you must be able to prove that you care about playing as him just like you should be able to prove that you care about playing any other class. For example: I'm a horrible Demoman, seriously, I can't do jack shit as him when it comes to deathmatching, but at least I TRY to play a little bit better. Call me a tryhard or whatever, but giving up because you're bad will only make you more miserable; it's childish and it's pathetic. If you keep trying, you can meditate (not literally) on the mistakes you've made, and figure out ways to make sure you never do them again. NEVER stoop down as low as the flamers. They will only beat you with experience on trolling. Be assertive.

 

Unfortunately, from what it looks like, it seems that I've built this entire premise to reach one sad conclusion: You're most likely to get flamed, or have a bad time, when you play Medic for the first time or for the rare occasion you feel like it. However, Medic boils down to a few factors: Knowing your thing, knowing your needs and your team's needs, and have your team play according to your Medi Gun, not the other way around (though you should know how the healing priorities go, and that healing is your job etc etc etc that's the first factor damn it. and if a more experienced person wants to main call, then HE SHOULD). If you read and learn about those three things, you will never have trouble playing Medic and no one has the right to flame you about it. Defend yourself.

 

Do you play other classes? Just adapt your Medic plays to the team mates who are occupying those classes! Seriously, from what I've gathered, people find it way easier going from Soldier to Medic than from Medic to Soldier (for example) - so, why the hassle? Of course, there are better Medics than others - shit, I'm only Div5, and I know Div1/Prem medics like F2 and Pyyyour exist, and that they play better than I do. But that won't deter me from playing Medic, he's my favourite class in competitive TF2 anywhere.

 

In short, you shouldn't be anxious to play Medic. If you are, just educate yourself on his role, try it out and the anxiety will go away. When I played Medic in competitive the first time, I was also pretty anxious, but then I got the gist of it... and I loved it. (much better than being a pub medic, seriously!)

Yes, I am aware that this humongous wall of text will only help those who are afraid to play Medic in lobbies (or even mixes), not those who don't LIKE him or prefer to play as another class... but that is an entirely different story, there are people who don't like to play the other classes too...

[mir]

Medic is too complicating for me. I don't have a mic, so it's really hard to try and communicate.

[R.E.M.]

Medic is too complicating for me. I don't have a mic, so it's really hard to try and communicate.

 

You can buy a microphone for like £5 from the local supermarket...

[DudeMartin]

The notion of being embarassed to play Medic is silly. Seriously, from what I've read, this is nothing but anxiety. While you carry a great responsibility in your team, which is carefully managing your uber and keeping everyone alive, it's a job where you must have some level ofassertiveness (literally) and be able to coordinate your team so you can win. Having this mindset will never deter you from playing Medic. Let me explain:

...

 

I read your entire post and I agree. I understand that in order to fulfill the role of a Medic you need to be well-informed in the metagame, the role of your team, and your own role. However, one does not just simple acquire this knowledge out of thin air. In order to understand how to play Medic you actually need to play Medic, especially if you plan to play Medic on a competitive team. For those who want to get into competitive but are not well-informed or experienced, a good place for them to start is TF2Center lobbies. However, unfortunately, if you enter a lobby - especially a 6v6 lobby - and you are pretty clueless,  you will most likely get flamed. I've witnessed this many times firsthand. I feel this is the source of newbie's reluctances for playing Medic.

 

The other part of it, the part which is personally more applicable to me, is that playing Medic will more or less random players just does not turn out to be a very pleasant experience, for a variety of reasons. You've touched upon this too, but a big problem is that the majority of the time, the entire team is not in Mumble, and often, the people who are not in the Mumble are the pocket Soldier or the Demoman. Having played two seasons of competitive as Medic, playing without a pocket than I can communicate with or a team that does not listen to me is quite awful. Even if in the rare case that the entire team is in Mumble, I find that they often don't listen to my calls. For example, I would call "let's push left" and the pocket completely dismisses it and walks elsewhere. The enjoyment one gets from playing Medic is heavily vested in the communication, (mechanical) ability, and trust of the other team members, which are often components that the average lobby player lacks. As a result, playing Medic usually simply does not sound fun. Why would play a supporting role when my team does not listen to me or even show up to listen to me? I'd rather run around and shoot people as Scout. I suspect that the relatively small group of people that exclusively play Medic just gain satisfaction out of healing people, saving people, or just executing a perfect Über. But it takes a special kind of person for that.

 

Having a way to enforce every player to join Mumble would be a good start, but I don't think that will fix the problem. I honestly think that this isn't a problem that can be solved with a tweak to the lobby system, it requires the general player population to better understand how to play with Medics. I suppose a good way about doing this is to encouraging them to play Medic, perhaps with a notification saying, "Hey you've played 5 lobbies as Scout, perhaps try Medic?" or something of the sorts.

Edited by DudeMartin, 12 April 2014 - 08:04 PM.

[Damien]

I'm one of those complete newbies that tf2center was created to help, and while medic is somewhat boring compared to other classes I know my DM skills for any class are frankly pathetic, having only picked upp the game a few months ago and not being able to play more than an hour a day. In short I've really been wondering which class I should play when I jump into the deep end in a 6s lobby... I thought med would be great because there's a shortage but jeez if I'm gonna get yelled at... sigh. I'll probably end up doing it anyway and I'll be glad to do so. Reading guides obviously can't provide the experience that playing will and as long as I'm learning I don't care how. I still think it's basically everyone's responsibility to play med whenever necessary... even if no one liked it, which obviously isn't true, as long as it's shared fairly everyone would be able to play their fave class 5/6ths of the time, or at least close to that. Also, the ozfortress academy/mentoring forum has some really informative guides and info, ranging from generalised meta stuff to specific map tips. Maybe there should just be a sticky linking to all these great guides and guide libraries that are online? Hey, perhaps there should be a shift towards encouraging newbies to play med in mumble mandatory servers so they can get a grasp of the game while providing a useful service. There's really not that much a med needs to practice that can't be provided by an informed and POLITE pocket/leader, at least to some extent. The hardest part of this would be changing the culture to make it intolerable or at least frowned upon to yell at your medic, no matter how new or bad they are.

[Dr. Girlfriend]

I'm new, and want to medic main. I haven't played a competitive match yet, though I've been reading and watching video about what goes on, attempting to learn. I can tell you I feel discouraged from trying just from reading about the environment. Aside from the flaming, most posts I read heavily discourage people who aren't completely amazing at the game from even considering trying medic. 

 

I'd like to learn, but am hesitant to just go in alone and blind and have a terrible time learning medic.

Edited by Dr. Girlfriend, 14 April 2014 - 05:50 AM.

[fraac]

If you're going to have your own pool of servers, have those by usable by anyone starting a lobby as medic. Maybe give them the option to reserve pocket for a friend.

[cuddle bunny]

As someone who mains Medic and is very very new to 'lobbying' (my first game was last night), I'd have to agree communication is the key. I luckily had a great team that actually talked to each other on mumble and after letting them know I was a complete newbie to this type of gameplay, were very patient with me and gave me lots of instruction and advice. Even though I went in not even knowing the map and to be honest, I was pretty nervous (haha), I found playing medic to be quite rewarding and fun and I will definitely be looking to play some more in the future

[eunwol]

I main Medic, but can't stand when people yell into their mics about how I died.

[cuddle bunny]

I main Medic, but can't stand when people yell into their mics about how I died.

 

Haha. A lot of players are overly harsh on medics. But too be fair, there are some pretty terrible medics out there. 

During a game though, I don't need to be scolded or yelled at for my mistakes; if anything, I need to be told how to improve (in a constructive way, not a 'don't die next time d-bag' way).

[eunwol]

 

I main Medic, but can't stand when people yell into their mics about how I died.

 

Haha. A lot of players are overly harsh on medics. But too be fair, there are some pretty terrible medics out there. 

During a game though, I don't need to be scolded or yelled at for my mistakes; if anything, I need to be told how to improve (in a constructive way, not a 'don't die next time d-bag' way).

 

That's exactly how I feel. I find myself to be a good enough Medic, but all-in-all, I'm not good enough to fend off anybody getting behind our flanks (AKA Scout, Soldier). I've run across a few games where I've done amazing, some others not so much. To be honest, I like criticism, but yelling about how "bad" I am, isn't going to solve any issues (in my view). Suggestions and so on would be helpful.

[cuddle bunny]

 

 

I main Medic, but can't stand when people yell into their mics about how I died.

 

Haha. A lot of players are overly harsh on medics. But too be fair, there are some pretty terrible medics out there. 

During a game though, I don't need to be scolded or yelled at for my mistakes; if anything, I need to be told how to improve (in a constructive way, not a 'don't die next time d-bag' way).

 

That's exactly how I feel. I find myself to be a good enough Medic, but all-in-all, I'm not good enough to fend off anybody getting behind our flanks (AKA Scout, Soldier). I've run across a few games where I've done amazing, some others not so much. To be honest, I like criticism, but yelling about how "bad" I am, isn't going to solve any issues (in my view). Suggestions and so on would be helpful.

 

I was lucky enough to play with a team that actually coordinated and told me what to do.

If I saw a spy or scout behind me I'd call it out and for the most part my pocket would take care of it.

 

I guess you just have to get lucky with your team. Or purposely go in with people you know. Which is hard.

I only have 1 friend who lobbies (which is why I played for the first time last night) so I know that struggle. I want to play now but am a bit too nervous to go on my own. I don't know enough about maps or strategies and I'm scared that everyone will end up raging at me haha. 

 

It's such a chicken-egg situation..I want to feel more confident before I start to play more but I need to play more in order to gain that confidence. Haha.

[R.E.M.]

Just so you know, medics are NEVER supposed to deal with people flanking them unless you're on your own or your pocket is really really busy already. If you die to someone who came behind you, it's not your fault. It's kinda your pockets fault but it's mostly the flank's fault for not calling/killing/watching the flankers.

 

To be honest as a medic you can play whole games without attacking anyone and still be efficent at your class so trying to kill people flanking you is a really bad idea if you're new to med so I would recommend learning the most important stuff (positioning, pushing, holding, calling, tracking enemy uber % and milking ubers) before whipping out the ubersaw/syringe gun.

 

Good luck finding some cool lobbies and don't be afraid to ask for help/advice on the site as I find the majority of people will be willing to give you help.

[cuddle bunny]

Just so you know, medics are NEVER supposed to deal with people flanking them unless you're on your own or your pocket is really really busy already. If you die to someone who came behind you, it's not your fault. It's kinda your pockets fault but it's mostly the flank's fault for not calling/killing/watching the flankers.

 

To be honest as a medic you can play whole games without attacking anyone and still be efficent at your class so trying to kill people flanking you is a really bad idea if you're new to med so I would recommend learning the most important stuff (positioning, pushing, holding, calling, tracking enemy uber % and milking ubers) before whipping out the ubersaw/syringe gun.

 

Good luck finding some cool lobbies and don't be afraid to ask for help/advice on the site as I find the majority of people will be willing to give you help.

Thanks for the advice! I'll keep it in mind when I play next!

[Angry rock]

I mostly play medic in lobbies but here's what I hate about it and why i think people don't play it:

 

1. without mumble and comms med is much harder to play med

2.If your team is bad it's never fun and you always get killed (and that's usually why you get blamed)

3. people like to blame the med on everything (a scout flanked me and killed me with 2 meatshots - I am blamed for dying, everyone is at 30 hp and keep overextending - I am blamed for not keeping them alive, pyro is roaming for no reason and i am blamed for getting backstabed )

 

examples:

 

-I'm healing the heavy, their demo and med come behind me and pop kritz, killing me

-Heavy blames it on me 

 

another example

-our heavy is at 125, pyro is at about 60 and demo is at 125

-they are all overextending

-Demo is yelling med although he has the most health and he's in a perfect position to get killed by anything

-he dies and ofcourse I am blamed because i didn't heal him although everyone else was low

[Sarcasm]

I think that even if you can't directly comm with some of the people, you can still medic. You just have to be more selfish.

 

A way I play medic and its worked so far is to grab one of your friends, and have them play with you. That way you aren't alone in your games, and you know at least one person is gonna work with you. If its a combo class from a team you're on, fantastic.

 

In terms of people overextending. Even if they aren't in mumble, yelling at them in voice or taking a moment to type out "Get back here, stop aggressing" does way better than just standing there and feeling sorry for yourself.

 

I'm gonna be honest, medic can seriously suck. Everyone wants to kill you, everyone hates you and you've got no major defensive mechanism. But I feel the overall goal of lobbies is to show you what its like to play in a basic competitive atmosphere, with varying levels of skill. Your job as a medic isn't to carry the game, and win FOR them. Its to help you expand your knowledge of how the game is played, and constantly work on keeping yourself alive. You can look at a game and say "my team is bad", and instead of just being sad, take it as "Alright, lets just see how long I can keep myself alive every time. Am I able to get uber? If so, how much safer can I play so that I don't have to die as much". 

 

The goal of competitive tf2 is not just to have fun, but to learn, and work on improving yourself every game. You learn more from losing closer games, than picking up a bunch of high plat players and rolling the game.

[flip]

as a medic main I can understand why there is a shortage. It's just not for everyone. In an fps, most people just want to be better than the enemy and own them. Some people don't find being a better healer than someone else enjoyable. 

 

That said, I think If you added a link on the homepage to a guide on how medic works in comp, that might help. You could add it to the rotation of speech bubble quotes that are on the homepage.

[TheMattgician]

I really like the speech bubble idea.