Team Fortress 2

[Rubberband]

Getting away from the smack-talk for a few seconds:

http://www.teamfortress.com/

In any game there's often a bunch of hidden complexity behind some of the simplest looking features, and TF2 is no exception. One example is that of the Medic's medigun. From a player perspective, it appears simple enough: point it at a team mate, press the button, and it'll heal them. After playing with a bit, most players notice that they have to stay near their target and maintain line-of-sight to their target. After playing with it a lot, some players notice that there's some variability in the rate at which they heal their targets. I thought it might be interesting for Medics to explain what's going on here, and why.

The rate of healing actually ramps up based on the amount of time since the heal target was last injured. If it's been greater than 10 seconds since the target was hurt, the heal rate is increased. The amount of increase ramps linearly up to 3 times the base heal rate at 15 seconds since the target was hurt. So if you're healing a target who's been hurt less than 10 seconds ago, you'll only be getting the base heal rate of 24 health a second. If the target was hurt 12.5 seconds ago, you'll be healing at 48 health a second. If the target hasn't been hurt for over 15 seconds, you'll be getting the maximum heal rate of 72 health a second.

Like many additions of hidden complexity, this was a solution to a problem we observed in playtesting. Early on, the medigun only had a single base healing rate of 24 health per second. One behavior we saw players exhibit was that of retreating away from the front line to get healed by a Medic, before returning to combat. Over time, we saw players stop doing this, when they realized that the time it took to be healed back there wasn't worth it. They could have kept fighting at the front line, died, and respawned in much the same amount of time. We wanted to encourage that retreat-for-healing behavior, so we needed to reduce the time it took. We didn't want to affect the healing rate 'in combat' though, so we added this ramp. By using the time since the target was last hurt as a measure of how much combat the target is in, we could essentially tune two different healing speeds independently. The base amount is the rate of healing 'in combat', and the fully ramped amount is the healing rate for resting 'out of combat'.

[glasnt]

Originally Posted by Rubberband

Getting away from the smack-talk for a few seconds:

http://www.teamfortress.com/

The rate of healing actually ramps up based on the amount of time since the heal target was last injured.

So, explain to me again why when in setup or not in battle a solider must start rocketjumping or shooting against a wall to injure themselves? I always thought this was an attempt to make themselves heal faster, but i never saw it work. And there is evidence suggesting that

Also, it seems that you can heal someone in the same time whether you heal them for a set time or if you wait 10 seconds then heal them doubletime :P

[evilasdeath]

Originally Posted by glasnt

So, explain to me again why when in setup or not in battle a solider must start rocketjumping or shooting against a wall to injure themselves? I always thought this was an attempt to make themselves heal faster, but i never saw it work. And there is evidence suggesting that

Also, it seems that you can heal someone in the same time whether you heal them for a set time or if you wait 10 seconds then heal them doubletime :P

The rocket jumping puts another variable into play. A medics uber charge charges faster when you are healing hurt targets compared to just keeping up a overheal. Although this is kinda redundent given the start times give plenty of time to charge up a uber.

Also rocket jumping is just plain and simple fun

[Dozer-zz]

i just bought game today - hope to do some shootin soon

[rubba-chikin]

Originally Posted by SmEaGoLLuM!

Medics die fast especially if they turn and run away from you lmao. Of course usually they are healing another target but when alone and if they are good and pull out the syringe gun they can still survive since they move a bit faster.

I am quite reasonable at medic and I find more often than not I end up killing the pyros running around. Especially with the Blutsaugher or whatever the hell its called.

Run backwards needlestream = leech health for me, quickly take down pyro.

Its funny how many just continue to run into the stream of needles without even deviating course trying to burn you more. If you are taking 100% of the needles you die very quickly.

Originally Posted by glasnt

So, explain to me again why when in setup or not in battle a solider must start rocketjumping or shooting against a wall to injure themselves? I always thought this was an attempt to make themselves heal faster, but i never saw it work. And there is evidence suggesting that

Also, it seems that you can heal someone in the same time whether you heal them for a set time or if you wait 10 seconds then heal them doubletime :P

The uber gain is accelerated in setup time, a while ago this was not the case and the only way to get uber before the round started was to latch onto a soldier/demo who damaged themselves to make you gain faster.

Its either people that don't realise it has changed, or trying to help a medic build an uber mid game quicker or they just like blowing themselves around.

For the super quick heals its you getting a crit, because you aren't using a damaging weapon to amplify you get an amplified heal.

[yucatan]

nah he's got the mechanic right, your medgun doesn't crit, it heals people who've been damaged but unhealed for longer faster, up to triple rate after about 15 seconds waiting if i remember correctly.

[SmEaGoLLuM!]

Originally Posted by 4wardtristan

smeagollum! i would happily 1v1 on on any server since you claim that sollys "used to be nemisis but now easy as cake"

i can guarantee that on 2fort you wouldnt make it half-way across the bridge before hitting 0 HP

You missed the part where I said you don't just force the issue aka rush the soldier head on. Of course in those cases the soldier would win. Who fights on the bridge? It is dead mans land. Around any corner (yes there are quite a few in fort in your eg) or in any close quarter combat which is where most battles occur and where you'd be scouring as a pyro. Point was every time you fight a soldier you are within close range as you see him, hopefully getting the first strike with an ambush, if not simultaneously. None of this I come across the bridge while you shoot rockets at me lmao. With more hp and mass crit from behind and/or axetinguisher, even if you do kill me you will die from the over time dmg. Most noob pyros just rush people head on of course which goes back to my point about separating the better pyros.

[ibis]

Just noticed something while watching Meet the Sniper again. He has one of those hats where you fold one side up right? The whole point of that is to get the brim out of your way when you're shooting. His is folded up on the left, but he shoots right-handed.

[SmEaGoLLuM!]

Originally Posted by glasnt

So, explain to me again why when in setup or not in battle a solider must start rocketjumping or shooting against a wall to injure themselves? I always thought this was an attempt to make themselves heal faster, but i never saw it work. And there is evidence suggesting that

Also, it seems that you can heal someone in the same time whether you heal them for a set time or if you wait 10 seconds then heal them doubletime :P

Either they are bored and mucking around and rocket jumping everywhere etc which is usually the case, or they really are what you say - helping the medic ubercharge faster although it is not needed if the medic stars charging anyone from right at the beginning.

There are many perks with the medic it seems such as slower ubercharge if more than one medic is charging up a same target etc. If you always heal the injured as a medic though, you are doing your job and can't go wrong.

[Cdr Zero]

Originally Posted by ibis

Just noticed something while watching Meet the Sniper again. He has one of those hats where you fold one side up right? The whole point of that is to get the brim out of your way when you're shooting. His is folded up on the left, but he shoots right-handed.

Something always bothered me about the sniper, but I could never put my finger on what it was...

[zef.]

Originally Posted by ibis

Just noticed something while watching Meet the Sniper again. He has one of those hats where you fold one side up right? The whole point of that is to get the brim out of your way when you're shooting. His is folded up on the left, but he shoots right-handed.

Errr...

Go google: Australian slouch hat

[sgtraven]

Originally Posted by Cdr Zero

Something always bothered me about the sniper, but I could never put my finger on what it was...

could it be the pissing in the jars or the fact that their passing off Aussies as mummy's boys

[Ospi]

wait, what? Sniper is meant to be Australian? His accent in that vid is almost blatantly British.

[Cdr Zero]

Originally Posted by sgtraven

could it be the pissing in the jars or the fact that their passing off Aussies as mummy's boys

I piss in jars all the time mate

[zef.]

Originally Posted by Ospi

wait, what? Sniper is meant to be Australian? His accent in that vid is almost blatantly British.

If in reference to my comment, no not necesarily. I was just pointing out that our Slouch hats are worn with the left side brim pinned.

Example of and obvious reason why here: http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-.../7-div-aif.htm