Regarding the spy update (when it comes around)

[Ballzac]

If you open the item equip menu as a Spy, you notice that there is only knife and pistol, for all the other classes all 3 of the guns are there I believe. Does this mean there is no new sapper item? Post your thoughts!

 

[Captain Kraken]

Can't say for sure. I do believe an alternative to the sapper, or a different version of it would be nice. But we just gotta wait until it comes around :x

 

[? Frisky Dingo ?]

Im actually hoping that the sapper will either work twice as fast during sapping or be much harder to knock off...would be cool if you could place more than one sapper on one building and the engi would have to knock all of them off....still, im sure no matter what they bring out they will say that the spy is OP as usual and that he didnt need a boost.

 

[westside]

no matter which way they go for the spy it sure will be interesting!

I bet it takes months and months of testing before they are happy with it

 

[PoooPants]

I over heard an idea that Mccoy heard somewhere.. not sure where, but the idea was that the sapper instead of destroying the sentry would convert it to your team if the sapper was on there for a duration.. could be interesting but overpowered if engies could then heal the converted sentry.

 

[Cicatriz]

I over heard an idea that Mccoy heard somewhere.. not sure where, but the idea was that the sapper instead of destroying the sentry would convert it to your team if the sapper was on there for a duration.. could be interesting but overpowered if engies could then heal the converted sentry.

Too overpowered. If you sapped and killed an engy behind enemy lines then you have a level 3 blowing away a whole team.

Tiddy has a very good idea as far as an alternative to what the sapper should be. So ask him to explain.

But in the end I think what Valve is going to do is make the cloaking device into a "pass through anything" device. Very much like the scouts drink.

 

[SScagnetti]

I have no idea in which direction Valve will take the spy, but I am sure it is going to be a LONG way off. The spy is the hardest class to tweak with in my opinion. It directly involves you fooling the other team. You sometime literally have to get into their minds and act as predictable as whatever class you are disguised as should.

That said, I can't wait for when it comes out.

 

[Retribution]

alternative to sapper: You can sap GUNS!!! gun doesn't work until you've spent 5 seconds with another gun equipped!
Another One: FACE SAPPER. "Spy sappin' my face" will run rampant! Only way to get it off is to have someone shoot you. (Could be on either team)

 

[Doomcat]

Ive brought this up before, possibly it will either be a upgrade to one of the spys abilitys, or more likely the spy will get 4 weapons!!!! 2 knives and 2 guns that would be awesome, especially if they're tailored for moveing in for a stab

 

[DoctorNedSchnedt]

who knows maybe spy will get a uranium sapper and dual pistols fact is we will never know

 

[=[Ga]= AutoDMC]

I was talking with Chris Da Wolf last night about just this issue. Spy and Engie are the two classes I have a hard time coming up with balanced unlocks for.

The Engie becomes a slow Scout without his sentries; the whole bonus of Engineer is that you can shoot something from two angles, or shoot something that you are not looking at, and that you can supply your team on the front lines. Most maps are designed in such a way that having no Engies to refresh your ammo and health (even with Medics), and do you really want to lose the teleporters? You remember how sad it was back when you couldn't level 'em up and nobody ever built them?

The Engie-Spy mechanic is already pretty darned tight. Sure, a sapper is easier to remove than it is to sneak up to and place, but you can sap four different pieces of equipment, and I have to triage. And knocking off the sapper doesn't repair the building, you can just come back and try again.

Every idea I hear for Spy or Engie always comes from one-side-players. "I want a remote control sapper where I can sap from my friendly battlements!" "I want a sentry that can see cloaked spies!" "I want sappers with permanent glue!" "I want a wrench that shoots bullets!"

It's hard to come up with balanced unlocks for those guys

I would like a hacker sapper that just disables buildings for double time, takes double the effort to strike off.

I would like the Engie to be able to place armor on buildings (think overheal), but I think sappers should only work on the base "health."

I'd like the Engie to get an automatic pistol or rifle. The pistol is cool, but my finger is about ready to pop off striking M1 at a million miles per hour. It fits; I can imagine the Engie building a superior gun. Or maybe TFC's railgun.

I like the idea of cloaks phasing through people, but it should still shimmer.

I like the idea of a silenced gun for the spy. No loud report, but it does 1/2 damage unless you shoot in the back. I'd even allow this to be shot while cloaked.

I can't imagine an alt for the butterfly knife... although I liked the idea of a garotte, that does 50 HP damage a second, and after you kill that guy, you get his costume and name. I think that would be too much harder with less benefit.

Anyway, adding cool unlocks have been easy so far. But Engie/Spy is quite well balanced, and already pretty useful to the team as-is.