Of course, if that happens you're playing against terrible players, or you got lucky.
YOU DARE IMPUNE MY MEDSKILLS?
Yes, I dare impugn your medskills.
The most important skills for a medic are situational awareness and knowing when to cut your losses and GTFO. Fighting the enemies is basically for when you're fucked anyway, or there is no one to heal. As a medic, you're too important to risk dying.
How the fuckhell do you people who main medic keep up with this shit.
You mean all the medic calls? 1) Keep yourself alive at all costs (I suck at this), 2) prioritize, Heavies/Soldiers under fire, people on fire starting with low health classes like Scout (if the cunts will stop running circles around me so I can actually start healing them), 3) Ignore the spam. It's not like I can run across the fucking map to heal a burning Scout that''s already deep in red before he dies.
If you are healing a heavy, yes, typically you should stay on him and let him draw aggro. But if you see a target get too close to your guy, do not hesitate to pull your saw and perform an unexpected medical procedure on him! They are either trying to flank your buddy or are coming to kill you, so by failing to deal with him you are letting yourself and your buddy down. If the second it will take to perform a premortem autopsy on the guy running around nearby is the second between life and death for your patient, he's already drawing way too much fire and your healing him won't change anything.
They are either trying to flank your buddy or are coming to kill you, so by failing to deal with him you are letting yourself and your buddy down.
It's almost always going to be the latter, and while anyone coming to kill you definitely needs to be handled, your priority should be to shout at your buddy (be they heavy or soldier) and the rest of your team in voice chat to get them to deal with the problem. Yes, if you're in serious danger, the Blutsauger might help to keep you alive, but you can't really expect to beat anyone 1v1 - it's your buddy's job to protect you. Your best bet when you get in trouble is generally going to be to keep your buddy alive so that they can keep you alive.
Mind you, a good medic needs to know when to abandon his buddy.
They are either trying to flank your buddy or are coming to kill you, so by failing to deal with him you are letting yourself and your buddy down.
It's almost always going to be the latter, and while anyone coming to kill you definitely needs to be handled, your priority should be to shout at your buddy (be they heavy or soldier) and the rest of your team in voice chat to get them to deal with the problem. Yes, if you're in serious danger, the Blutsauger might help to keep you alive, but you can't really expect to beat anyone 1v1 - it's your buddy's job to protect you. Your best bet when you get in trouble is generally going to be to keep your buddy alive so that they can keep you alive.
Mind you, a good medic needs to know when to abandon his buddy.
Agreed 100 percent. At times, its much easier to use a voice chat if you have to shout out a warning, if not, dancing around the guy you are healing, using him as a buffer against the flanking attack, always works for me, while keeping a lookout for possible nooks and corners to hide yourself from direct fire. A fleet medic is a medic who survives, and for me, "battle medic' has always meant effective healing at the front lines and the willingness to follow the front push into a main battlefield, while staying alive.
Its a skill that must be kept constantly sharp i realize.
Agreed 100 percent. At times, its much easier to use a voice chat if you have to shout out a warning, if not, dancing around the guy you are healing, using him as a buffer against the flanking attack, always works for me, while keeping a lookout for possible nooks and corners to hide yourself from direct fire. A fleet medic is a medic who survives, and for me, "battle medic' has always meant effective healing at the front lines and the willingness to follow the front push into a main battlefield, while staying alive.
Its a skill that must be kept constantly sharp i realize.
I tried playing the sole medic on a team of 10 in a pub game today, and it's a frightening experience even though you do a lot of good as a medic. I was getting around the second most points per round and I had the highest score when I left (mostly because I stayed on the server a while and the map had no time limit), but being typical pub players my team couldn't be bothered protecting me at all, nor making sure I'd be the one to get the health packs. Plus, when I got an uber up and asked to see who would get it, no would would ever respond, so I ended up losing a couple of my ubers as a result. I died repeatedly to scouts because my team would simply let them run past and kill me.
Does the typical TF2 player not realise that the medic is the most important member of their team?
The main lesson I learnt from that is that you really need to have someone you know and trust with you to protect you, to be your "pocket" (TF2 lingo for your protector and primary healing target), because you can't really expect pub players to fill that role properly. Granted, I still think it's better to go medic than to have a team with no medic at all, but it isn't going to be easy if you have to do it.
I tried playing the sole medic on a team of 10 in a pub game today, and it's a frightening experience even though you do a lot of good as a medic. I was getting around the second most points per round and I had the highest score when I left (mostly because I stayed on the server a while and the map had no time limit), but being typical pub players my team couldn't be bothered protecting me at all, nor making sure I'd be the one to get the health packs. Plus, when I got an uber up and asked to see who would get it, no would would ever respond, so I ended up losing a couple of my ubers as a result. I died repeatedly to scouts because my team would simply let them run past and kill me.
Does the typical TF2 player not realise that the medic is the most important member of their team?
The main lesson I learnt from that is that you really need to have someone you know and trust with you to protect you, to be your "pocket" (TF2 lingo for your protector and primary healing target), because you can't really expect pub players to fill that role properly. Granted, I still think it's better to go medic than to have a team with no medic at all, but it isn't going to be easy if you have to do it.
Oh man, ill love to have you watching my back in any game then, i have the exact same problems as you. Either im desperately looking and waiting for people to push forwards with my uber, and getting killed by a good scout or sniper before i deploy it, or im suddenly overwhelmed when the bloody front attack force runs backward simply because of an enemy heavy with another medic...dont they know they were a more than a match with their own medic around?
Of course ive had great momment. Heavies who know what they are doing and actively protect me is so enjoyable to play with. Same with an attack team, or a soldier soldier duo not afraid to take great risk, trusting me to keep them healthy until it becomes too risky to do so. Those were great times.
There are two things I consistently see people failing at when they're playing medic. First, staying out of enemy fire, by taking advantage of the medgun range and staying around corners - and you're much faster than the heavy, even if you lose your connection, you can catch up real fast. You should have a bit of distance between you and your heal target, so one rocket aimed at your patient doesn't take you out with splash. Second, forgetting they don't have to face the patient(usually heavies) all the time, and spinning around, checking behind them. Situational awareness is the difference between being a good medic, and a dead medic.
Having thought about it a little, the real issue is that the average TF2 player has this drilled into their head: as well they should. However, no-one ever bothered to drill in the obvious counterpart to this - protect your own medic. It's a pretty simple leap of logic, too, one would think...
I dunno, I think doctors can protect themselves if they keep their heads up and know how to position themselves and when to deploy Ãœbercharges. I joined my regular Turbine server today and played Medic fro the start. By the time I switched to another class, I had about 10 kills, 80 assists, and less than 30 deaths, and of course a decent number of invulns. My loadout being Amputator, Crusader's Crossbow (which is fucking awesome btw. Craft it ASAP if you are often playing medic, also combined with the Amputator it gives you a higher healing rate for yourself) and regular Medigun.
However, no-one ever bothered to drill in the obvious counterpart to this - protect your own medic. It's a pretty simple leap of logic, too, one would think...
That's the only thing that pisses me off when I play medic, "Heavy, spy behind you!" nothing... "Sniper on your 3 o'clock" nothing... "I have charge! go!" and they stay put, but the worst, THE WORST is when they take the freaking med packs when they have almost full health and I'm in the red.
I'll often abandon people if they're sitting around and I have a charge. They have no excuse, even without me saying; they see it on their HUD when I'm healing them.
I dunno, I think doctors can protect themselves if they keep their heads up and know how to position themselves and when to deploy Übercharges.
It depends what you're up against. Snipers, Sentries and Heavies? Easy. Just stay out of their line of fire, they don't move around too much. Pyros? They're definitely scary, but as a medic you run faster than they do, so all you have to do is get the hell out if they get too close, even if it means abandoning your teammates. Spies? Not so bad if you pay attention and look around, and tell your teammates about anyone suspicious, or if you hear a decloaking noise. Demomen? It depends on how good they are, and what they're wielding. If it's a Demoknight, you just need to make sure you see them coming. If you do, you've got a big advantage - when they charge, it's in a straight line, and that's the perfect target for either of the two needle guns, which do some great DPS when they're actually hitting them. Plus, as long as you dodge their charge properly, you've got the movement speed advantage - unless your team fucked up, and they have an Eyelander with 3 or 4 heads. If so, you've just got to hope the Blutsauger does enough damage to finish them off before they catch you.
However, there's very little you can do to protect yourself from Scouts, Soldiers, and skilled Demomen; that's your team's job. All of those three classes can get all up in your face very, very quickly; scouts due to their movement speed and double-jump, and Soldiers and Demos because they have the ability to do rocket / sticky jumps. Soldier rockets are much worse when they're coming from above you, and with a scout near you you're not going to live long, and you're not going to get away either. That's what your team really needs to protect you from.
I joined my regular Turbine server today and played Medic fro the start. By the time I switched to another class, I had about 10 kills, 80 assists, and less than 30 deaths, and of course a decent number of invulns. My loadout being Amputator, Crusader's Crossbow (which is fucking awesome btw. Craft it ASAP if you are often playing medic, also combined with the Amputator it gives you a higher healing rate for yourself) and regular Medigun.
I generally use the Blutsauger; it's the only weapon that stands a chance of keeping you alive if you get into trouble. As for the melee slot, I don't think the Amputator is the best choice. The taunt is nice, but it doesn't charge your uber and renders you immobile for 4 seconds when you could've just run around and healed them all with the Medi Gun. I think the Übersaw, Vita-Saw and Solemn Vow are all better options, though I'm not sure which of them is the best choice overall.
When I play Medic, I usually try to stay in the back to begin with, unless I have a decent protector (Heavy or Soldier), or do overhealing for my colleagues. Thus even when the opponent is charging, I can give supporting fire and healing from a distance with the Crossbow. The Amputator can also help with a group charge doing the taunt boost (around a corner, of course), plus with the Crossbow the +1 life in a regular basis helps a lot to stay alive against, e.g. when a Pyro lights you up and is right afterward slaughtered by heavy weaponry. Often this forces you to run back and find a medipack so you don't get completely torched. The Medieval Medic Item set helps you survive through the afterburn and speeds up healing back the life lost after the fire goes out.
Comments
There is little more satisfying than going on a rampage with a medic and hearing the screams of your enemies as you drive them before you.
Nonetheless, Medic is pretty much the most important class in the game. If the scrim teams don't all run 1-2 medics, I'll be very surprised.
The most important skills for a medic are situational awareness and knowing when to cut your losses and GTFO. Fighting the enemies is basically for when you're fucked anyway, or there is no one to heal. As a medic, you're too important to risk dying.
Mind you, a good medic needs to know when to abandon his buddy.
Its a skill that must be kept constantly sharp i realize.
Does the typical TF2 player not realise that the medic is the most important member of their team?
The main lesson I learnt from that is that you really need to have someone you know and trust with you to protect you, to be your "pocket" (TF2 lingo for your protector and primary healing target), because you can't really expect pub players to fill that role properly. Granted, I still think it's better to go medic than to have a team with no medic at all, but it isn't going to be easy if you have to do it.
Of course ive had great momment. Heavies who know what they are doing and actively protect me is so enjoyable to play with. Same with an attack team, or a soldier soldier duo not afraid to take great risk, trusting me to keep them healthy until it becomes too risky to do so. Those were great times.
as well they should.
However, no-one ever bothered to drill in the obvious counterpart to this - protect your own medic. It's a pretty simple leap of logic, too, one would think...
Snipers, Sentries and Heavies? Easy. Just stay out of their line of fire, they don't move around too much.
Pyros? They're definitely scary, but as a medic you run faster than they do, so all you have to do is get the hell out if they get too close, even if it means abandoning your teammates.
Spies? Not so bad if you pay attention and look around, and tell your teammates about anyone suspicious, or if you hear a decloaking noise.
Demomen? It depends on how good they are, and what they're wielding.
If it's a Demoknight, you just need to make sure you see them coming. If you do, you've got a big advantage - when they charge, it's in a straight line, and that's the perfect target for either of the two needle guns, which do some great DPS when they're actually hitting them. Plus, as long as you dodge their charge properly, you've got the movement speed advantage - unless your team fucked up, and they have an Eyelander with 3 or 4 heads. If so, you've just got to hope the Blutsauger does enough damage to finish them off before they catch you.
However, there's very little you can do to protect yourself from Scouts, Soldiers, and skilled Demomen; that's your team's job. All of those three classes can get all up in your face very, very quickly; scouts due to their movement speed and double-jump, and Soldiers and Demos because they have the ability to do rocket / sticky jumps. Soldier rockets are much worse when they're coming from above you, and with a scout near you you're not going to live long, and you're not going to get away either. That's what your team really needs to protect you from. I generally use the Blutsauger; it's the only weapon that stands a chance of keeping you alive if you get into trouble. As for the melee slot, I don't think the Amputator is the best choice. The taunt is nice, but it doesn't charge your uber and renders you immobile for 4 seconds when you could've just run around and healed them all with the Medi Gun. I think the Übersaw, Vita-Saw and Solemn Vow are all better options, though I'm not sure which of them is the best choice overall.
Fortress' Edge, a.k.a. Parkour Fortress. It looks like it could turn out really cool, depending on what sort of objectives they have for the maps.