People on TF2 lack inter-class etiquette

**ComradeJim270** · 11-04-07, 03:00 PM

Most people on TF2, in any server, seem to have at least a rudimentary understanding of how the different classes play off of each other. Engineers recognize that Pyros are helpful when it comes to warding off spies. Medics understand that rocket-jumping injures Soldiers and they need to heal then. Heavies understand that they need others to take out Snipers who have them pinned down... you get it. However, rudimentary understanding only gets you so far. I sometimes find myself looking at a teammates actions and wondering 'does this person even understand the differences between my current class and his'?

As a Heavy, a Medic, and a Soldier (my most commonly played) I have seen numerous things that just bug the hell out of me (but thankfully don't happen too often on the TTP server!)... what do you guys think of:

1. Scouts that decide they need to use the teleporter more than the Heavy lumbering towards it in an effort to get back to the front lines and their teammates in a timely manner.

2. People who play classes that spawn with plenty of ammo, but don't look and see if there are shotgun-wielding Heavies waiting for the ammo pickups to spawn before rushing in and grabbing them. Hey! You have 3 dozen rockets and fire them slowly... I have 200 bullets and spew them out like splinters out of a wood-chipper. I'm NOT much use to the team if I'm stuck with my shotty! If you have a moment, take a look and see if I might need that ammo more.

I understand this is an easy mistake to make, and one EVERYONE makes, most likely, but if someone seems to have a compulsion to have full ammo at all times, I start to get annoyed!

3. Soldiers and Demomen who are a little too helpful at the beginning of a match, and start rocket jumping all around the setup area expecting a lone Medic to heal them all up before the match begins... resulting in a team that starts with several wounded people. :P

4. Medics who decide that buffing that already-healthy Heavy or healing a Soldier who is only hurt because he's rocket-jumping straight in the air is more important then healing the nearly-dead teammate standing nearby and calling for their help. Most annoying when you play a Heavy, because this leaves you either waddling around in search of health pickups, or dead... and when you die you have to lope all the way back to the front lines. C'mon, ever heard of triage? I thought that was part of med school!

5. Snipers who will shoot everyone on the enemy team except the opposing Sniper who has you pinned down and will blow your head off if you move an inch closer. Yes, it's great that you're getting kills and stopping the enemy from getting to our control point, but if I can't get across and help capture their control point, we're just going to end up in Sudden Death anyway!

6. Engineers who won't take a moment to build teleporters or dispensers, forcing me, as a Heavy, to spend an uncomfortable amount of time away from the front lines because I have run out of ammo (see 2).

Don't see much of these on the TTP server, but sometimes it happens, and just makes me wonder if the guilty parties are even aware of the issue. What about you guys? What sorts of inter-class interactions strike you as foolish or annoying... or have gotten other people annoyed at you (I'm sure we've all been on both sides)?

**a weakling spaz** · 11-05-07, 03:17 AM

I've yelled at snipers several times to get off their asses and kill the other sniper(s).

I think you can chalk most of these situations up to newbies. As people spend more time with the game, and with every class, they pick up on the little things..

**QuickLightning** · 11-05-07, 12:41 PM

Get on their asses (on the mic... figuratively speaking) if you need them to do something. Especially when it's their JOB (ie. Spy taking care of unguarded sentries, engineer building teleporters). Most regs will do so if you just ask.

**Warchild40k** · 11-05-07, 12:47 PM

*raises hand*

Im one of the nooblets...Got the game when it came out, and love it.. but i still dont have a grasp of the interactions of the kits. Im still thinking BF style kit and game play and not TF2 style. I never played TF , ever so i have nothing to relate to in TF2.

**QuickLightning** · 11-05-07, 12:52 PM

Originally Posted by Warchild40k

*raises hand*

Im one of the nooblets...Got the game when it came out, and love it.. but i still dont have a grasp of the interactions of the kits. Im still thinking BF style kit and game play and not TF2 style. I never played TF , ever so i have nothing to relate to in TF2.

Just ask questions! You can't be any worse than KidWiththeFace!'s question "Which is better, a sentry gun or a dispenser?"

I'm never gonna let you live that one down, kid.

**a weakling spaz** · 11-05-07, 01:00 PM

ROFL, that was classic. I won't let him forget either. :10

**Mcstrange** · 11-05-07, 01:01 PM

lol, everyones asked the noober question or three in their day

**Redeye7** · 11-05-07, 01:03 PM

Yeah always fill people in if you see something they might need to know.

Just the other day I found out you could halt your Uber charge by drawing your bonesaw or needle gun, and re activate it by switching back to the medic gun.

I didn't know that until someone told me this weekend.

**Veovis** · 11-05-07, 01:10 PM

Originally Posted by Redeye7

Yeah always fill people in if you see something they might need to know.

Just the other day I found out you could halt your Uber charge by drawing your bonesaw or needle gun, and re activate it by switching back to the medic gun.

I didn't know that until someone told me this weekend.

News to me too. So does it stop at whatever percentage it's at? And then when you pull out med gun again, is uber immediately back on? Or it will come on again as soon as you heal somebody?

**Veovis** · 11-05-07, 01:24 PM

Originally Posted by ComradeJim270

2. People who play classes that spawn with plenty of ammo, but don't look and see if there are shotgun-wielding Heavies waiting for the ammo pickups to spawn before rushing in and grabbing them. Hey! You have 3 dozen rockets and fire them slowly... I have 200 bullets and spew them out like splinters out of a wood-chipper. I'm NOT much use to the team if I'm stuck with my shotty! If you have a moment, take a look and see if I might need that ammo more.

I understand this is an easy mistake to make, and one EVERYONE makes, most likely, but if someone seems to have a compulsion to have full ammo at all times, I start to get annoyed!

A similar thing is if a medic is healing you, don't run over a health pack at the same time. Your health will be full in a minute and HE may need the health pack (later, if not now) since he can't med himself.

Originally Posted by ComradeJim270

3. Soldiers and Demomen who are a little too helpful at the beginning of a match, and start rocket jumping all around the setup area expecting a lone Medic to heal them all up before the match begins... resulting in a team that starts with several wounded people. :P

If it's an offensive round everybody can still re-heal at the cabinet, but with rounds where you setup far from spawn, this won't work obviously. It can be very tough as a medic when everybody tries to do this and you can't heal them all at once. On the opposite side of the coin, I have been dutifully rocket jumping with a dedicated medic on me, and 15 seconds before the match starts (I am now far from spawn and ready to defend), he switches over to heal other people without telling me, while I'm in the middle of firing a rocket, and I have to start the round weak. As a soldier, I don't START self-inflicting unless I see a medic near me, and once he latches onto me I assume he'll stay. As a medic, if I am healing one guy and see two other idiots nearby who are also hurting themselves without a medic, I will announce to the guy I'm healing that I'm going to stop, OR once he realizes I've stopped, I'll give him one last mini-heal back to 100%.

Originally Posted by ComradeJim270

4. Medics who decide that buffing that already-healthy Heavy or healing a Soldier who is only hurt because he's rocket-jumping straight in the air is more important then healing the nearly-dead teammate standing nearby and calling for their help. Most annoying when you play a Heavy, because this leaves you either waddling around in search of health pickups, or dead... and when you die you have to lope all the way back to the front lines. C'mon, ever heard of triage? I thought that was part of med school!

This is indeed annoying, but like the one above, sometimes it just comes down to one medic can only do so much, and if the choice is between healing a heavy with full health, and a scout with 10% health, the scout may think the medic should stop healing the heavy and help him out. The other variable is who is currently taking fire. If the heavy is taking a lot of fire the medic should not stop healing him for the scout until the heavy is safe for a minute, until then the scout can stand back. And as much as it sucks for some people, the undeniable truth (for me at least) is that playing on a server of regs you know who the better players are, and if you can't heal everyone at once, somebody is going to get the short end of the stick... and I tend to try to keep the more skilled players under the med gun as much as possible, though I don't by any means knowingly let noobs die if I can help it. I really really wish there was a radar that told you where medic signs were coming from. Sure, there's the little 2D indicator that tells you which way to turn, but if the call is from out of my FOV (which is ridiculously small at 90 degrees), I wish I could know exactly where and how far it is without turning to look.