I fail to see how Jarate is useful to a sniper.
Valve hasn't indicated how many you get, perhaps only one, and moreover, they haven't stated if it does any damage upon impact (or if it just increases subsequent damage taken by 35%).
In any case, this means that, as a sniper, I need to run up to an enemy (within throwing distance) splash this on them, and then what? Bow them from 5 feet away when there are probably a lot of other enemies around shooting around me? Think about it guys, the Sniper has received no new close-range weapons in this update. No SMG replacement with offensive capabilities, no kukri replacement with offensive capabilities.
Valve attempted to make the Sniper more "close combat", yet failed to provide it any close combat weapons aside from, arguably, the bow. Basically, they've made us a defensive/support class in their attempt to make us more offensive.
Seriously, this is immensely disappointing to me.
The image you bring to mind is of a lone sniper blindly rushing to the front lines to hurl jars of urine that do no actual damage on impact at his enemies and then die a horrible horrible death. The correct image is of a sniper with team mates, and likely one who is using ambush tactics (grate on 2fort anyone? The battlements as enemies rush by beneath him?).
The problem is that you're taking one aspect out of the whole being of the sniper and then trying to make the idea stand on its own. I have news for you: it won't. No unlock will. No
weapon will. I don't know if anyone's realized this but the reason TF2 works is that all the weapons
suck. They are terrible and impractical, and the only reason that works so well in this game is that the enemy's in the same boat as you. If you try to take
any single weapon in the game and see how good it is, you will be disappointed. The rocket launcher fires missiles that are too slow; the Pyro's flamethrower does not have enough range; the medic's needlegun doesn't do enough damage; the minigun cannot move fast enough; Sentry Guns have too slow a response time. There's tons of examples.
The fact is that in order to succeed in TF2 you need to adopt strategies in order to compensate for your shortcomings. Now what you've done is proposed a scenario; come up with a strategy, and then have proven that your strategy does not work with Jarate. What you've done wrong is then go on to say that the weapon is not working correctly and needs to be fixed or altered.
This is akin to a spy trying a full frontal attack on the enemy base, dieing, and then complaining that the spy class needs more health. :blink: When the strategy doesn't work it does not mean that the weapon needs to be fixed, it means that the strategy needs to be altered. Jarate is not a combat weapon, but it
does fulfill Valve's promise.
I can see your argument on the sniper close combat, but you seem to directly assume that being closer to the enemy implies being on offense, and, indeed, even assume that it was combat that Valve meant when they said that they wanted to move the sniper closer to his enemies.
They said they wanted the sniper to get closer to his enemies, as usually frustration amounts when players are killed without never having the chance to prevent their deaths. This does not mean that the sniper needs to become a Pyro, or a soldier, or any other quite obviously mid to close quarters combat classes.
Now look at this:
You still need to be close to use Jarate;
it's possible to avoid getting wet from Jarate as the Sniper is in your face and is quite killable, and not on the other end of the map.
Valve is meeting its goals, you just can't see it yet. They wanted to get the Sniper closer, but that doesn't necessarily translate to
offensive. Jarate is a support weapon but it's still one that requires close proximity to the target, and that's exactly what Valve wanted.
__________EDIT__________
Why would a sniper, whose sole purpose is to provide cover fire, usually from behind, want to get "closer with his team"?
Valve already addressed this: cause it's freaking infuriating to the victims of the sniper; they are killed and never had a chance to do anything different to prevent their death. In normal combat when you lose you can see the mistakes you made, the correct actions the enemy took, and learn how to do things differently to play better next time.
This doesn't happen with Snipers. Most times you are given little or no warning they are there, and even with advanced warning often die simply because you were not fast enough. How is a heavy supposed to be better prepared to take down a sniper on the other side of the map?
He can't. He can only rush out and hope for the best. The result is that snipers don't have opponents or enemies; they have victims, which is
not fun for other classes.
I appreciate your sentiment...but why would I need, or care, to be a "friendlier class"? What does that even entail anyways? Snipers help there team by 1. shooting people, 2. Holding choke points, and 3. shooting more people. Snipers are supposed to be solo generally, providing cover from a distance.
You're missing the point. You ask why do this, when these new weapons
are the reason to do that. Valve is not giving you the ability to be a friendlier class; they are, first and foremost, giving you the incentive to be one. Then, and only then, they are giving you the capability to be so.
Moreover, people who play with me know that I am an almost paranoid spy-checker. After playing sniper for nearly 400 hours, I know to expect spies. If I do see a spy, I pull out the kukri and kill them (hopefully). What I don't do is pull out a jar of piss, splash it on them, deactivate their disguise, and then hit them. What's the point of that? If I get close enough to splash jarate on them, why the hell wouldn't I just hit them? Moreover, its not like I'm limited with my kukri swings, so I can just hit anyone that I expect might be a spy. With Jarate, I have to potentially waste a "weapon" with a very long cool-down on someone who may or may not be a spy. At the very least, its inefficient and impractical, at the most, its just plain stupid.
But then, if it has an AOE effect (which it very might well seeing as how it has a long cool down time and such a weapon is not efficient when you have to debuff players one at a time), then you need only splash the nearest group of players to find the spy. Not only that, but you don't consider the fact that many spies
run away when found. If you splash them, then they lose the ability to run away and redisguise; they are forced to stay cloaked or to run around
your base undisguised, which will lead to them being quickly found.
Or I could use my SMG, or the weapon that could've replaced the SMG if Valve had designed such a weapon. And with my SMG, at least I have a greater chance of hitting the enemy, and actually damaging them myself.
How odd. You're complaining that there is no SMG unlock weapon to help you deal with spies when the smg unlock
prevents back stabs. All your examples seem to have you fighting one on one with a spy, which doesn't always happen. Quite often spies are successful in backstabbing snipers, so why exactly are you complaining about a weapon that is specifically tailored to help you deal with Spies?
