Medic Round table

**Veovis** · 02-05-10, 06:12 PM

Originally Posted by bard_42

There seems to be a big emphasis on the medic directing traffic.

My biggest pet peeve is a medic on the pub who doesn't use VOIP to make any calls, and then finally speaks up to complain that I'm letting scouts flank him too much. Well how about you open your mouth and tell me WHEN the scouts are there

When I med I am almost always watching my back (and everyone else's) for spies and scouts, and I will call out every single one.

**rock_lobster** · 02-06-10, 10:09 AM

Originally Posted by Arreo

I did especially like the line:

Great medics can analyze a situation and communicate where the combo should be. Or you can do what Ruwin and I do, which is lie to player to make them do things because you know its for the greater good of the team.

Lying to your team to get them to do what you know is best.

I liked that also. Nothing worse than having an idiot heavy who is more oblivious than a drunk guy at a party. :5

**Langrad** · 02-06-10, 12:12 PM

Medics make a HUGE difference in any game. Going along with bard we hit sudden death on granary and the enemy team had gotten a huge boost in terms of skilled snipers. They picked off 3-4 of our 12 players then everyone hit ubers at the same time and by the end of the fight it was 5 of us vs 6-8 of them. We held them at our 2nd for a while then the only other offensive class died. So it was me and our 3 medics vs their 2 heavies , 2 medics, and a spattering of pyros and whatnot. Through effective communication and above all noticing/calling out player movements we took our 4 of them on our 2nd with a krits (after they took it) then popped an uber so I could rocket jump to our final and land on top of a heavy who was 85% done with the cap and taunting. So it was me and 2 medics vs there 1 medic and soldier. They popped uber and came out trying to kill us. The medics healed each other and me and we all survived the full uber to finish them and win the round. Probably one of the most epic holds iv ever seen/done.

Each medic played a very important roll in holding the team and helping me survive to kill. There really is no person a team more important than a medic.

Pro Gamer Tip: (Ya im bringing it back from that thread a year ago) If you have an uber save your self if you think your going to die. Even if you have no target.

**rock_lobster** · 02-06-10, 12:46 PM

I would almost venture to say the medic is "captain" of the team.

**jabberwock** · 02-06-10, 04:48 PM

Originally Posted by rock_lobster

I would almost venture to say the medic is "captain" of the team.

Good luck being Langrad's captain...

<3 you Lan!

**Langrad** · 02-06-10, 04:59 PM

Oh you can captain for me anytime Jabber!

**rock_lobster** · 02-07-10, 02:03 AM

Originally Posted by jabberwock

Originally Posted by rock_lobster

I would almost venture to say the medic is "captain" of the team.

Good luck being Langrad's captain...

<3 you Lan!

:P

It just makes sense for that to be the case. Everyone has their job to do which generally requires total focus on enemy units. The medic's role allows him/her to survey the battlefield without having to have pinpoint accuracy with their crosshairs, thus giving him the greatest idea of what is going on and what needs to be done to counter the situation.

**jabberwock** · 02-07-10, 02:51 AM

Yeah, the medic can see the health of his team mates by putting his xhair over them, so he should be able to figure out when to advance or fall back, and constantly who needs the heals. Also, he should be riding the hell out of Tab to see when the enemy medic spawns, and figure out who has uber advantage. Not only that, but while he's wildly flinging his xhairs around in the middle of a fight when his team mates stupidly don't stay within heal range, tell him how hurt they are, or just make him turn his back to the enemy needlessly, he has every opportunity to prove his movement skills are the best on the team by being the enemy's #1 target. Dodging is key. To make it easier to dodge spam, he often needs to herd his team mates into positions that are safe for the med, but allow his healees to spam.

When he finally pops an uber, assuming he dodged well, and his team surprisingly protected him, he then decides who needs invulnerability, and when his team mates split up out of healing range as they most often do, the med decides who lives and dies. Keep in mind, the uber lasts ~10 seconds... Meaning in that immediate time, the medic needs to first hit that uber for whatever calculated reason, analyse who needs invulnerability at every moment of it, and try to keep everyone (jumping solly's/demos included) within healing range, and alive unless they're better off dying for the cause. As soon as possible, he needs to figure out whether his team should use the last of the uber to retreat/frag/get superior positioning/block a cap/get the opposing med to pop. If he hesitates, he may be surrounded by enemies, and lose 20 seconds of time respawning where he could charge up another uber, and hold defensive choke points. As much as I love to see everyone go for broke, it just doesn't work best the majority of the time excepting many last point pushes. The fragger's tendency is to focus on kills exclusively when ubered, so sometimes the medic needs to abandon him to his tunnel vision, when wisest, and save/run away with whoever values 'the odds' or even by himself. The med NEEDS to be a dick sometimes. It's a part of any management position.

I'll admit for sure, that a medic making the calls is the most effective, but a medic living up to the class' potential honestly has more to do than any other class before he even keys his mic.

**rock_lobster** · 02-07-10, 11:42 AM

I'm all about dying for the point, but as a medic I feel the objective would be more easily achieved, by the medic staying alive. I generally will go to battle with anyone as a medic, but if that person decides to go headstrong into 2 heavies and a soldier medic combo, then I'm healing him as much as I can, but staying a safe distance away to escape and meet up with several other respawning teammates. Not cowardly, IMO, just smart medic play that furthers the advantage for your team.

**Sketch** · 02-08-10, 08:48 AM

Originally Posted by jabberwock

I'll admit for sure, that a medic making the calls is the most effective, but a medic living up to the class' potential honestly has more to do than any other class before he even keys his mic.

^ This.

I make calls when I can and when it is appropriate, but it gets to the point where I sound like I have Tourette syndrome b/c I take in and analyze everything on the the battlefield. No one wants to hear that after a while, and it is more draining on my focus and gameplay as a Medic.

Surely splitting an Über to save two or three heavy classes during a push is more important than calling out an obvious airblasting Pyro or some pissant Scout trying to flank.