You are completely right. The Sandman is I think a balanced and above all required tool in the game as there was so little you could do to counter an ubercharge. Speaking as a long-time Heavy Player (and as such typically a magnet for medics with a primed uber) I fully understand and endorse the need for such a counter.

However the blog post is not really about whether the Sandman is balanced or not but about how the experience of being stunned is a frustrating break of flow to alot of players. The solution given will not affect the balance of the Stun or it’s ultimate effects. It will however make it less frustrating to less skilled players.

I’m 99% demoman and I’m deadly effective against hardware with a good medic in tow. But nothing stops an ubercharge more impressively than getting “bonked” by a scout. Before, the only way you could slow up an uberdemo was with a Pyro’s blast (even then, I can do some serious damage). But I actually give a grudging chuckle of respect when I turn the corner all sparkly and glowy like and get whacked up-side the cabessa with a ball. I can still do some damage, but certainly not enough.

Therefore, I make the case that by doing a minor, action-based, nerf on ubered demos like me does the game a service. After all, everyone bitched that demos were over-powered, right?

That being said, I do quite like how it prevents you from shooting. This is particularly effective against the Scout’s nemesis, the Heavy. It makes the minigun to stop spinning, which forces the player to start spinning up again, or try to run away from the much faster Scout who’s probably bashing him with the bat.

I agree with how you are trying to address the ‘helplessness/disconnect’ of the players hit by the Sandman stun, but I think you have overlooked one of the other major frustrations.

Right now there is no chargeup for the Sandman considering its effect is so powerful. There’s always a lot of talk about ‘anticipation’ being important in games, and I think it’s just as true here. The player using the stun doesn’t have much of a chance to relish his dastardly plan: the ball simply zaps someone (it’s that fast) and then it’s all about capitalising as soon as possible. It’s not like the uber where you get to the last 10% and start fantasising about how much carnage you’re going to be reaping in a few seconds’ time.

But more importantly the player being targeted has no anticipation at all. There is no warning. There is no lead-in animation and no real chance of escape if the move is executed in mid-range where it’s fast enough to be unavoidable and stuns long enough to make it an easy finish.

The move needs to be ‘readable’ (something Valve have focused on and championed with TF2 so far). All other moves in TF2 are readable. The thing with this one is it can either be used in ranged or in melee combat, and the idle weapon animation makes no distinction. So every time you see someone holding a Sandman above their head you are forced into a state of confusion: “Are they about to run at me with their bat or are they about to shoot me?”

So I think there are 2 major issues that need to be addressed:
- The loss of control (“Waiting to Die”), and
- Readability/anticipation

All the other CC powers you tended to have a resist or defence against so as they became more common at higher levels you had appropriate counters.

Assuming you could live with the increased endurance drain they had associated with them.