Poll: New Team Fortress 2 Class - Rifleman

[Hat of Controversy]

EDIT:: I powered him down a bit. Health is now 125, speed is 95%, each clip for his rifle now holds 4 bullets instead of 6, and his bayonet is now slightly slower than ALL the other melee weapons and does equal damage.

I absolutely LOVE Team Fortress 2. Its perhaps the only fully Online Multiplayer Game I can ever really commit to, and its mostly because of its awesome personality and distinct, lovable style.

But, as with any game, its not perfect. Though, admittedly, most of its problems are small enough where you can just brush them off and go back to enjoying the game. Though, there's always been one big thing about the game that's always bothered me: the Pyro.

I never really cared for the Pyro. He's too easy to play as, and literally ANYTHING he can do, another character can do better. The Heavy, Scout, and Spy are better at ambushing, the Spy is better at causing panic (though as a Spy you shouldn't be trying to do that anyways), Demoman, Heavy, Soldier, and Engineer are better at establishing a frontline and forwarding their teams defense, the Medic is better for extinguishing teammates on fire, and so on. The only thing the Pyro really does better than anyone else is Spy-Check, and even that is something that nearly any other class can do as well.

And so, I created a replacement! I initially drew this just thinking that it would be a really neat character, but I wouldn't mind it replacing the Pyro. But I'm probably alone on that thought.

Anyways, here be his imaginary specs:

Health: 125
Speed: 95%
Role: Offense
Weapons: Rifle, Shotgun, Bayonet (attached to Rifle-Activated with Right-Click) or a Cricket Bat (just because its awesome)

Weapons
Rifle -
It would basically be like a no-scoped sniper rifle. It would be a bit stronger than a no-scoped sniper rifle of course, and each clip could hold more than one bullet (maybe 4 bullets for each clip) and it would have about the same rate of fire.

Overall it would be an easier, more forward, but less productive/effective alternative to the Sniper's play style. Mostly effective at medium to medium-long range. Not capable of being as effective at the insanely long ranges of the sniper rifle.

Shotgun -
Basically just a standard secondary, mostly for close-range combat, and for deterring the opposition while retreating.

Bayonet -
The Bayonet would actually be attached to his primary (the Rifle), and would be activated by Right-Clicking. But, in order to keep people from abusing its easy use, it would have a slower rate of fire than the other melee weapons.

If that's too dumb of an idea then maybe just a Cricket Bat would make for a decent melee weapon for him or something.

Character Info
Real Name: Rodey V. Bullegard III
Nationality: English/British mix
Job: Pilot

Overall
His playstyle/role would basically combine the best aspects that each of the Sniper's primary weapons offer - The singular, precision/elimination role of the Sniper Rifle, and the mobile, forward frontline defense/support aspect of the Huntsman (except you have to actually have decent aim to use the Rifle well enough).

I don't know, I just thought it was kind of neat. I'd love a mobile, precision based class. Like the Scout! Except... not quite as shotgunny, or something...

 

[Quiet Stranger]

No, just no, actually seems like a mix of the soldier and sniper

 

[zHellas]

Maybe, if he acted like he was from World War I(and references some experiences multiple times) and when teammates frequently comments on that being impossible, he just yells out, "SHUT UP! You're ruining my fantasy!"

 

[Kollega]

There's no point in this. Do you know why? Pyro has flamethrower, it's a bit more original - and originality is bread and butter of Team Fortress 2. That class is even more generic than "dude with a flamethrower".

Also, why post is written normally, and poll acts like poor literacy is kewl, huh?

 

[Srkkl]

Don't play the game but thats a pretty awesome drawing though.

 

[TylerC]

No, just no, actually seems like a mix of the soldier and sniper

QFT. Why mess with an already perfect formula?

 

[manythings]

No, just no, actually seems like a mix of the soldier and sniper

Took the words right out of my mouth... or data cache or something I suppose?

 

[Sterence]

Team Fortress 2 doesn't need another class, it's fine how it is and anything more would ruin the balance between classes. The classes they already have might be a bit overpowered but something that has a weapon like that would mess everything up.

 

[zHellas]

Maybe instead of rifleman, it's Pilot? Like he carries around an SMG/Machine Pistol, a regular pistol, and a wrench?

 

[technoted]

No, just no, actually seems like a mix of the soldier and sniper

spot on.

 

[Quiet Stranger]

Maybe instead of rifleman, it's Pilot? Like he carries around an SMG/Machine Pistol, a regular pistol, and a wrench?

but what the heck would be his specialty? A pilot that can;t fly, bloody useless class if you ask me

 

[NEVRINx54]

very good representation-marketing...

 

[Jinx_Dragon]

No... while your concept art is good I don't think the idea fits very well into the current game past that. Now if I could just get the damn idea I keep having out of my head about TF2 there might be a place for it in there. I call the concept: Meet the CEO!

The idea is each class has a overpowered version of themselves but there is limitations to balance it out. First there is a whole bunch of new game settings, such as assassination or capture the enemy base where only the CEO can do the capturing, to make the CEO useful as more then just a overpowered pawn. This means that the CEO will only be seen in some maps, and not all of them so they are not over used either. The way it works is simple: Randomly, a single person on each side (or just one side in some maps) is selected to be the CEO and depending on the class already chosen is how the computer decides what CEO they play.

Then they have to complete the objective, depending on what it is, while keeping themselves alive as it would be a normal 'instant fail' of the CEO is lost. Or if the map allows a new CEO to be chosen, well who wants to lose the fact they have a overpowered character to something stupid as dying and having to wait for another, random, chance to become one again!

In that idea, well your guy could be a possible candidate for the sniper position and would be made a little more powerful as it would have a lot more health to balance the fact that killing the CEO is a easier way to win these map types and to make the CEO such a threat the whole team will suicide rush the bloody player the moment they see them. The rest of this idea has a shit load of information, ranging from possible over-powered weapon types and even special abilities the CEO would have such as a aura affect (to encourage team mates to protect his/her arse) and a time based over kill bonus that triggers every minute or so (to encourage the damn CEO to keep himself alive)...

Damn it, now I want to re-live that idea but I have the realistic mentality: Valve would never bother reading it, let alone implement it. So why bother?

PS: The spies knife damage would have to be reduced to kill a overpowered heavy so the CEO isn't back stabbed to death more then any other death.

 

[Souplex]

That actually sounds like something I'd enjoy. The only class I liked in the game was Imagineer, and it's use was limited.

 

[Bek359]

This class seems good upon first glance, but it might be difficult to fully balance him with the rest of the classes. It also seems like he's too generic, and doesn't have anything that's really his own. Too close to the Sniper in my opinion. Also, the Pyro is extremely good at close-quarters combat, to the point that he/she can feasibly take out four unprepared opponents in close quarters before dying. Spy isn't really great at causing panic, just paranoia, which itself isn't really good for the Spy. Having an entire offensive front scrambling for water is a great thing to bring to the battlefield, and the airblast allows for skilled players to cause all sorts of trouble, by reflecting rockets, moving stickybombs, and blasting people off of ledges to their deaths, or at least somewhere where they aren't hurting you. The Pyro is also by far the best at checking for spies. Heavy has to spin down his minigun in order to shoot, Scout and Engie require several shotgun blasts in order to kill a spy, Soldier is hampered by the fact that he only has four rockets at a time, Demoman has to either get a direct grenade hit or set several stickybombs per check, which is ridiculously inefficient, Sniper has Jarate, but it can only be used once every once in a while, and Medic's syringe gun is only useful for momentarily detecting cloaked spies. Pyro's usefulness for spy-checking is that if the spy is caught in the flame, which doesn't need to be reloaded and can be deployed instantly, he suffers persistent damage and is revealed to all as a target, even if he cloaks. No other class can check for spies nearly as efficiently. Pyro is easy to play as, I'll give you that. But it's very difficult to play as effectively, to its fullest potential, and so I disagree with you in saying that the Pyro doesn't contribute anything to the game. Good character art on your part, though.

Sorry for the wall of text.

 

[Pinstar]

Who else would people bad at aiming in FPSes (like me) play? (besides the engie)

 

[rabidmidget]

TF2 is almost perfectly balanced for a game with so many different classes, each one having its own distinct purpose, adding one would either throw off the balance/ wouldn't fit in well

However I do like your concept art

 

[JWW]

It seems like Valve has got what it needs, and adding another class would ruin a great balance, but it's a nice idea. You might want to lower his power level to at least 8999, though.