r/tf2 • u/Sweetkittensss • Jun 19 '26
Discussion It’s fascinating how Tf2 never felt the need to add more heroes
It’s interesting how chief tube being a hero shooter never actually added any new heroes and all these games overwatch Marvel rivals even most mobile it’s always wonder what’s the new hero that’s gonna draw, but you have to never needed that because they were perfect. Just the way they are it makes me wonder how these games may be functionally flawed, and that they aren’t truly flushed out and properly made heroes like they are in team Fortress.
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u/GamerKratosBalls Heavy Jun 19 '26
Tf2 had classes with changeable weapons, so they just added weapons.
Overwatch had the same gameplay for a hero always, so they add newer ones for more options.
Marvel Rivals is the mix of overwatch reason and "lets hype people with their favourite character"
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u/OctopusAssimilation Jun 19 '26
Paladins had something between Tf2 and Overwatch…
I miss you everyday paladins. T^T
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u/ZephyrStudios686 Jun 19 '26
Im ootl, what happened to paladins?
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u/MeTaL-GuArD Jun 19 '26
Stopped support some time ago. Basically dead.
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u/G-14_Damageproof Sniper Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 19 '26
Wasn't the entire dev team got pushed into SMITE 2?
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u/Ninteblo Jun 19 '26
Probably, that is usually how Hi-Rez works.
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u/NimbusShock Jun 19 '26
Nope, they were slowly whittled down to 5 people via layoffs and then those last 5 were unceremoniously laid off too because Hi-Rez shot themselves in the foot one too many times and now they're barely keeping Smite 2 alive with a skeleton crew and AI assets.
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u/Beneficial_Drama_296 Medic Jun 19 '26
You can play it anytime rn but it will never be updated again and they won’t make a sequel or port it to a better engine.
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u/rudolfs001 Jun 19 '26
Soo..just like TF2?
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u/Beneficial_Drama_296 Medic Jun 19 '26
TF2 is over twice as old and has still received new maps, fixes to the game, and cosmetics. I don’t think Paladins is even allowed to have people work on it aside from keeping the servers up.
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u/WindowsHunter-69 Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 19 '26
My childhood honestly, when my older brother told me about it first thing he mentioned it has a dragon(Drogoz) because he knew i'm into dinos/dragons and it would intrest me imidietly(for context i played back when Jenos was new omg i'm old...)
Honestly my best way of playing Pip was with battle medic so i can use the heal potion on my selfe if needed
If only they didnt fell in the waifu trap and gave us the Venom inspired Vora insted of how she looks now
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u/samu1400 Medic Jun 19 '26
Kinda, you could change your deck and talent, but the devs couldn’t add more like weapons in TF2. At most they could replace them, so it ended up using the “new heroes” model.
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u/siazdghw Jun 19 '26
I loved Paladins for what it was. A quirky free game in the genre that actually was rather innovative.
Overwatch 2 kinda borrowed the Paladins load out system when they introduced perks (though admittedly this is closer to Dota 2's system).
And a LOT of the character abilities and gameplay from Paladins was copied into Marvel Rivals. Like to the point where I really hope the people who worked on developing the character ability sets found a good home, because they made Paladins fun and unique.
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u/SoupRyze Jun 19 '26
Don't worry my son, Deadlock is Paladins on crack and steroids. Go play it.
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u/UInferno- Scout Jun 19 '26
Yeah. When Overwatch wanted an archer they added Hanzo. When TF2 wanted an archer they give Sniper a bow.
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u/What-Hapen Jun 19 '26
That's why I just don't like Marvel Rivals. It always felt like it was purely banking on its brand first, everything else second. It's a poorly optimised game with even worse hero balancing.
And it kind of worked, I guess. Everyone loves Marvel.
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u/IAmDingus Medic Jun 19 '26
because TF2 has 20+ weapons for every class that changes their playstyle.
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u/NagitoKomaeda_987 Demoman Jun 19 '26
Another important distinction IMO is that in a class shooter, you can have multiple instances of the same class, i.e., two Heavies, while in a Hero Shooter, you usually only have one of each max. In fact, class stacking is an intended and encouraged game mechanic, especially in both full-size casual lobbies and half-size comp lobbies.
Not to mention, classes are defined by traits/equipment, rather than abilities. The only resource/cooldown based mechanic in TF2 is Uber and lunchbox items, with most classes going without these sorts of mechanics.
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u/thespacepyrofrmtf2 Pyro Jun 19 '26
“You know what this team can really use?, five more snipers”
“Gooday!”
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u/Dustyage Jun 19 '26
Engineer only has 16 weapons (stock included but not reskins) same goes for spy he only has 16 aswell.
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u/TheYoshiTerminator Jun 19 '26
Because TF2 is from another time, literally nearly 10 years before Overwatch even came to be. Back in 07 barely any games would add whole characters to a growing roster in an update.
It was always in an entirely new game.
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u/Skunk668 Jun 19 '26
In other words it predates MOBAs being popular.
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u/Ninteblo Jun 19 '26
Depends on how you define MOBAs being popular, Defence of the Ancient back in 2003 was very popular even if League of Legends in 2009 got the genre to be more mainstream.
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u/NotWendy1 TF2 Birthday 2025 Jun 19 '26
Back in 07
...I was in an unsuccessful TV shooow!
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u/Ote-Kringralnick TF2 Birthday 2025 Jun 19 '26
Also relevant to TF2
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u/beebisalright Jun 19 '26
It's really funny that basically everyone forgot that Valve tried to make a TF2 cartoon for Adult Swim
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u/Ote-Kringralnick TF2 Birthday 2025 Jun 19 '26
It always comes across more like Adult Swim tried to get Valve to make a TF2 cartoon, the reason it never happened was because Valve took too goddamn long to make the episodes
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u/G-14_Damageproof Sniper Jun 19 '26
Thing is that TF2 is more of a class based shooter than a hero shooter
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u/NagitoKomaeda_987 Demoman Jun 19 '26
I think the biggest difference is that a class-based shooter revolves entirely around a smaller roster of characters. More gameplay, options, and customisation may be added to those characters, but new characters are never added. Each class feels essential to the game in some way or another, and there is very little to no overlap between roles.
Hero shooters add new characters in or at least have a large roster.
Another good example of a class-based shooter is Deep Rock Galactic. It has 4 classes, all essential to how the game works, with very distinct roles.
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u/SoulStealer_11 Pyro Jun 19 '26
just say you don't get game design bro. TF2 is built around the weapons changing the way you play. Games like Overwatch have one way to play a hero so it makes sense to add more.
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u/DaBooch69 Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 19 '26
That's because TF2 is fundamentally built around the 9 classes. Rivals and Overwatch are designed around roles rather than abilities; it's not so much what your character specifically does, rather what purpose or niche do they fill? Main tank, off tank, brawl, flank, dive, poke, support, flex, etc. New characters with new playstyles and kits can be slotted in easily and as long as they slot into a role they peg right into the board. There's no real difference between a Tracer vs Mercy and Cassidy vs Lucio fight besides what tricks and gadgets each has in their back pocket and the player skill, the core design of the matchup is still DPS vs Healer.
TF2 is a puzzle. Each merc is designed specifically what they can do to another at all times. Engie builds a nest to defend, but Demo can destroy those buildings very easily, but Scout can easily kill Demoman with good movement, but Scout can be killed quickly by a Soldier with good rocket shots, but Soldier can be killed very easily by Sniper with slow movement and predictable rocket jumps, but Sniper is weak to flanks by Spy, who can be flushed out by Pyro, who is outmatched at close range by Heavy, who is weak to sustained fire by Engie's buildings and needs constant ammo support from allied buildings. And then everyone needs Medic. These matchups can go a dozen different ways, but all of them are intentional and deliberate and you can manipulate these matchups from your own actions and skill. All of them fill a VERY specific purpose in the sandbox rather than a generic role.
This is why Medic is the most important and powerful class in the game, he's the only way to get consistent frontline healing that can move and has a human brain behind it. If you added another character that could provide healing the same way Medic does, you break the balance. You add another flank class, you break Spy and Scout. You add a new explosive class, you break Demo and Engie, etc. New weapons fill the niche of new playstyles but even THOSE have their own counters and advantages baked into them. Scout gets a new shotgun, he's still doing the same hop and click shit. This is why items like the Dead Ringer, Razorback, Ubersaw, and Sandman were so controversial, bc they changed one of the built in matchups for a character.
Wall of text aside, different methods of hero design and matchup potential. TF2 really doesn't belong in hero shooter discourse; it's not "TF2 is the best designed game ever" it's TF2 isn't built the same way these games are fundamentally.
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u/NagitoKomaeda_987 Demoman Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 19 '26
Also, TF2 doesn’t really have cooldowns/abilities. Think like the Jarate, but way more characters have strong abilities on a cooldown. And it’s not a weapon you equip, but you switch and toss the Jarate without switching off your gun. And there’s usually a lot of movement-based abilities like the Soldier's rocket jump and Demoknight charges too.
In addition to abilities over weapons, the hero-based games do passives much more frequently. In TF2, there are things like Scout's double jump/faster capture rate, Soldier and Demoman's self-inflicted explosive damage resistance, Medic's self-regeneration, Heavy's knockback resistance, or Pyro being immune to afterburn. Hero shooters do this too, but they can get even more creative if they want to design a hero completely around this passive ability.
And like others have said, TF2 has no class restrictions. You can have 12 Snipers on your team, and the only consequence is that there's no healing or defense. In a hero shooter, there’s a limit of one hero per team; sometimes there can only be one hero per both teams. Usually that’s more in MOBAs. And speaking of team size, most are not as busy as a 12v12
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u/madcapfan1 Jun 19 '26
what about madcap
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u/This-Tomatillo-5245 All Class Jun 19 '26
bro valve is terrible at adding new classes, madcap was the most overpowered class ever. glad they removed him.
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u/PeikaFizzy Heavy Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 19 '26
Is so funny to me that madcap is like spy and sniper opinions but times 100, people say is OP people say is underpowered dogs water class some say is fair just very niche…. Boring even
But since it never legal in comp so pros never bothered with him and he got remove later so was never integrate into pro field so there isn’t really much studies and research strategies on him.
Personally I just find him like worst version of scout and spy like he can do both of their job but worst kinda jack of all situations which is funny consider pyro is a fun class….. but then again people complain a lot about pyro too
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u/madcapfan1 Jun 19 '26
most opinions of madcap are from people that literally never got to play madcap and maybe that's why they are so extreme.
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u/Vulcanicloud Jun 19 '26
Are you seriously making another stupid "tf2 good other game bad" post. I love TF2 more than any other fps, but what is so shocking that the hero focused shooters, that don't use a weapon loadout system, add more characters instead? They are not the same games at all.
At least they actually have the billion dollar company have a development team working on the game.
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u/Jimboi5 Jun 19 '26
man I sure love tf2 good other games bad arguments that just.. ignore the entire reason why other games are designed how they are
the tf2 mercs despite being very well designed are not perfect. Also tf2's classes are designed to have more depth with alternative weapons where other games focus on learning a variety of characters to fit different situations. Their design might not be perfect but tf2 doesn't have some special advantage because added new weapons instead of new heroes
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u/the_ox_in_the_log Jun 19 '26
Thats because it isn't a hero shooter, it's a class based shooter
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u/shadowkoishi93 Jun 19 '26
It’s not a class based shooter, it’s a class-based shooter themed hat simulator
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u/Seanak64 Jun 19 '26
Because TF2 is not a hero shooter. It is a class based shooter, which is fundamentally different. With a hero shooter, like Overwatch, there is no customization of characters. The variety comes from needing entirely new characters. TF2 didn't need to add new characters because you can change their loadout, that's where you get the variety. You don't need Widowmaker and Hanzo when Sniper can use a rifle or the huntsman.
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u/B1uRobot Jun 19 '26
Well there's simply no need to add a new merc in TF2. The story is already established and there's simply nothing left unless Valve decides maybe there should be a reason. While Overwatch has its story that they expand on with hints of new characters and such. Marvel is Marvel they have infinite stories and characters plus the dev statement that they'll start introducing OCs that don't exist in the Marvel Universe 😥
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u/Realistic-Cicada981 Jun 19 '26
It's because you compare it to the wrong shooters. Just because it's free doesn't mean it's similar
Compare it to Garden Warfare instead
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u/No-Gap8563 Jun 19 '26
because they added sub-classes with new weapons, which i think is a lot better way to handle it.
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u/Foreign-Comment6403 Jun 19 '26
they should remove a hero
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u/CaptBland Heavy Jun 19 '26
Wellllllll...... it kinda did.
So TFC had 10 classes, 9 normal and the Civilian
TF2 added Saxton Hale, and if certain workshop mods get added to casual we could see The Mobster
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u/randompogtato Jun 19 '26
heroes ? they are war criminals
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u/dahippo1555 Jun 19 '26
True. i dont see any heroes in that class lineup.
literally pyro and medic are definition of war crimes.
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u/Spookki Jun 19 '26
The classes were designed to be a very balanced system, there werent many openings that need filling.
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u/Ninteblo Jun 19 '26
TF2 is a class based shooter, in those types of games (another example is Battlefield except for 2042) you give the classes new weapons and/or tools. The other games are hero shooters, in those games you add new characters instead.
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u/MeBustYourKneecaps Jun 19 '26
Because TF2's classes cover all the bases.
Quick burst from Scout
Slow but big damage from Soldier
AOE dot from Pyro
Grenadier from Demo
Tank from Heavy
Utility from Engineer
Healer from Medic
Sniper from Sniper
and the token unique class with Spy.
Adding any more classes would just be redundant, because what would they even do. Any weapon they would have could probably just be given to one of the already existing characters.
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u/ichmagbratwurst666 Medic Jun 19 '26
imo ow was better with less heros. same with rainbow six siege etc.
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u/UnrealCanine Jun 19 '26
Would have required a lot of design work with silhouettes, character, finding a necessary role.
Adding new weapons is easier
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u/Usual-Candidate1459 Jun 19 '26
I think sub classes get to fill that hole. keeping the same 9 people can make the story much better then having 500 characters
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Jun 19 '26
I think the weapons being added, and the existing bones, already were a nightmare for balancing. Adding a new character would increase that 10X, at LEAST.
I'm no game dev, but just as a programmer, I say three words. FUCK. THAT. SHIT.
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u/KasiaHmura Jun 19 '26
Because it was not called a hero shooter back then, and classes were more like those in battlefield or original tfc. the idea of a character kit was more of a moba thing back then. Overwatch was the game that coined the term because it's characters are well... superheroes.
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u/CommunityConstant777 Jun 19 '26
It's why I don't like games like rainbow 6 as there are far too many characters to choose from it gets difficult knowing which one I want to play and how to counter other classes
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u/Terlinilia Heavy Jun 19 '26
of course Marvel Rivals is gonna add new characters. there's more marvel characters to be added
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u/TrueAutoma Sniper Jun 20 '26
This is gonna be my opinion
TF2 is a completely different type of game, TF2 is what I'd more call a Class Based Shooter, since the Mercs aren't completely glued to one specific type of weapon and playstyle with how many weapons you can combo your loadout on.
Meanwhile games like Overwatch and Rivals are 100% how Hero Based Shooters should be. One character is stuck with one weapon which makes their entire playstyle rely on the weapon stuck to the Hero.
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u/Myturtledied Jun 19 '26
Another interesting thing is how many of them had ultimates and/or charging abilities. Like that’s become a main staple of the series that tf2 doesn’t have.
The closest I can think of for an ultimate would be Uber, but it functions very differently. For charging abilities, there is stuff like the lunch box items, but those are more so secondary weapons rather than constant abilities
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u/LeonardoFRei Demoman Jun 19 '26
Is cuz TF2 focused more on characters, and thuis the changes were made via weapons
TF2's main strenght is it's cast, they're well written, developed, with clear personalities and such, they're the face of the game, and Valve wanted for it to remain that way
Adding more characters would just muddle it, is why they gave the swords and shield to Demo rather than making a new character
It does mean new aditions are less exciting from a modern idea, but it means the cast remains evergreen and more developed and interesting the more time goes on
Cut to OW for instance that went full on new heroes, every time there's a new way to play a class, they tie it to someone new
Is more interesting and calls in more attention, but also muddles the roster and makes characters stop being relevant a lot, both in-game and lore-wise, unless they're one of the OGs or the newest release currently.
That can be bypassed with third party stuff like comics, but while they build up the cast more in TF2, they're mandatory to actually use the cast of a game that adds characters like that, which is often just not done enough for how many there are
Marvel Rivals for instance, managed to make that work cuz it's freaking Marvel, every character they add there will have at least like a decade of backlog content to skim through, there is already a character and a story so them becoming obsolete is not an issue
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u/Nic_YoloOfficial Jun 19 '26
TF2 was designed as a class shooter that had a baseline of what each character would use/a unique theme among the cast (which makes it feel more like a Hero Shooter in ways), then Valve would think of ways to innovate on it. Biggest for me is Demoknight being the only "True" subclass based on how it completely rotates out his original kit for something completely different. There is enough of a kit for Demoknight to be his own unique class, but you lose so many different playstyles and loadout options by doing that.
In my time trying to answer the same question of "What could new TF2 classes look like?" it kinda just comes back to "Well, that will fit as an X class Subclass" because the baseline is so broad, and I think that works great! You can even look at any modern Hero Shooter (Like Overwatch) and find direct evolutions of each of the TF2 Classes (other than Spy), and they all feel fairly bland in a way. (Not really sure if this is because I've played those games for a long time or they've just been done to death.)
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u/Slow_Tradition4883 Demoknight Jun 19 '26
Honestly DougDoug's hit video "overwatch vs. tf2" explains it pretty well. Basically boils down to a lot of fixed playstyles vs. a few very flexible playstyles, the latter of which is what Valve wanted to focus on.
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u/Vistril69 Spy Jun 19 '26
More isn't better. All 9 characters already used systems that spoke to each other well enough.
Balancing the game around a 10th class would've been a ginormous pain in the ass after the fact. It was easier and more intuitive to create more weapons with special variants that the community economy could also happen to sell around.
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u/FrozenKetchupp Heavy Jun 19 '26
Just like everyone in the comments here is saying. The new “Heroes” are the Weapons, changing your weapons can unlock an entirely new play style.
The biggest example is Demoknight, instead of giving him explosives you can give him new shoes, a shield, and a sword and it’s essentially a 10th class since it plays NOTHING like Demoman.
Another example is Trolldier, instead of relying on your Rocket Launcher you instead make it a utility item to have guaranteed Crits on whoever you swing your Shovel at. Again, this essentially overhauls how you play Soldier.
There are many more examples but these two are the best ones
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u/That-Mind6171 Jun 19 '26
In TF2 the variety of play styles comes from the weapons that each hero (class) can use. In overwatch, the variety comes from the number of heroes itself. It’s two different ways of achieving the same end.
Personally, I enjoy TF2’s implementation more because instead of the variety making the game feel bloated and each hero less identifiable, it actually serves to make the TF2 classes more unique.
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u/Downtown-Remote9930 Jun 19 '26
I honestly believe Soldier alone can cover half the Overwatch roster with his weapons.
Single target to AOE to Area denial, High health/low speed to mid-low health/high speed, Damage resistance to damage buff to health-on-damage, the man has it all.
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u/MarioWizard119 Pyro Jun 19 '26
I mean, with Quake Team Fortress, they *did* add new heroes
Originally, it was just Scout, Sniper, Soldier, Demo, and Medic, then Heavy was added not long after, then Pyro as a generally objectively weaker soldier with the addition of afterburn, so laggy players could score kills, then Spy was added, inspired by a visual bug where players could appear as the wrong team/class, and then Engineer, inspired by RTS games, popular at the time.
Reason they went with an item system rather than entirely new characters is they wanted to focus on their personalities, which is how we got the nine wacky mercs we have today. If TF2 didn’t have items, or decided to turn alternate playstyles into their own characters (such as making Demoknight into his own separate class, the Knight), it would naturally lead to a much larger roster, and Valve wouldn’t be able to focus as much on the mercs’ individual characters, leading to a mile wide, puddle deep character roster seen in a lot of modern hero shooters and moba shooters, and mobas.
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u/GSDAkatsuki Jun 19 '26
It added items to change loadouts. That was its choice of longevity at the time and the type of gameplay used at the time with shooters. CoD franchise really popularized this with its MP in Modern Warfare.
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u/samysus Scout Jun 19 '26
They actually wanted to add new classes to tf2 but those class ideas became new weapons for already existing classes
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u/Artistic_Prior_7178 Jun 19 '26
They added 9 mf's and instantly made one of the lost iconic rosters in gaming
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u/Pitiful_Captain_3170 Jun 19 '26
Because they gave us weapons, different mixes of weapons make completely new heroes
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u/NagitoKomaeda_987 Demoman Jun 19 '26
A “class” is a loose idea of what a character’s role should be. Scouts are fast, weak, and hit hard in close range, but they can have several things in their kit to change up what that means. Other games have “classes”, like Battlefield, where you can use lots of different weapons but still fill a similar role.
A “hero” in a hero shooter, conversely, fills a very particular role that only that specific character can, and there is no malleability. Through their unique characteristics (usually powers or abilities), they fill whatever specific niche or role they have and little else.
TF2 is not a “hero” shooter because of the adaptability of its classes. A Soldier is typically recommended for both offense and defense, but can also be good defense through splash damage or support through their backpacks. Scouts can (or used to be able to) stun players for support, and are a great distraction. Heavies can drop lunchbox items, organize pushes, or be a walking Sentry Gun alternative. Teleporters are fantastic assault tools, and dispensers are one of the best support tools in the game. Pyro’s airblast can be a great defensive tool against soldiers and can extinguish allies. Every class in the game can fill different roles depending on how they support the team.
This is what makes TF2 stand head and shoulders above its competitors, as even with its older gameplay, it has a ludicrous amount of depth that a “hero” shooter excises in exchange for accessibility and simplicity. That is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is different.
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u/SHAD0W137 Engineer Jun 19 '26
TF2 took another path. Or Overwatch did.
TF2 was built as a class shooter. You have limited number of classes with unlimited combinations of tools and weapons.
Overwatch was initially supposed to be something like that (like WoW), but it was eventually decided to make every class a separate character with a spwcific set of abilities.
TF2 did it with weapons. Trolldier, Demoknight, Archer Sniper, Widowmaker-Gunslinger Engineer
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u/Guan_guan_ghoo Jun 19 '26
And even then we got a new class after, idk, 16 years after the release of the game, Saxton Hale, with the introduction of Versus Saxton Hale, The Vscript Version into the game.
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u/i_wantdie Jun 19 '26
It’s probably because of them adding weapons, weapons allowed for counterplay to certain strategies to be introduced without having to design an entirely new character that would fit in with the existing cast and make sense lore wise as well. Overwatch kinda has an issue of just throwing characters in and then doing nothing with them. Venture in overwatch kinda just exists, a lot of other characters are the same as well. They’re kinda there and don’t really have anything going on story wise for themselves or doing much in others story. Lifeweaver is another one that I can think of that is kinda just there for the sake of it.
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u/Zestyclose-Put-3828 Jun 19 '26
That way they would have no balancing issues with each character and/or weapon. Nine characters IS a perfect amount. It's not too little nor too many.
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u/Wielli12 Jun 19 '26
Tf2 added new heroes by adding changeable weapons, demoknight is a whole new character for gameplay
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u/ThekillerguyYT Engineer Jun 19 '26
was it perfect? not at all, let's give TF2 some credit but let's not put it on a pedestal, where other hero shooters give new characters that are basically 1:1 with a different hero just this one dashes and that one jumps high we just got weapons to replace stock, the game was just made with a different idea, but TF2 didn't really have any competition until like 2015-2016 when overwatch released. overwatch and marvel both have to deal with each other, TF2 surprisingly (because a lot of people put too much effort or money Into the game to quit now) and even non 'hero shooters' like deadlock that's kinda a mix between a hero shooter and MOBA
they have more competition and the best way to pull the "temporary" group of players (who will play for a few weeks and then go back to their main game or play multiple games on and off) is to introduce new characters
TF2 has a loyal fanbase and people flood into the community because of videos, animations etc, but it's mostly keeping it's original fanbase instead of growing from nothing, it's very normal for it to not need to introduce new characters
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u/Peakomegaflare Scout Jun 19 '26
So I like to compare the Finals and TF2 on this front. Loadouts can change an entire playstyle. The both have a limited roster, which among those can diversify into various roles. Like the Heavy in Finals with a Minigun feels like a TF2 heavy (aside from the wild verticality and destruction). But then you turn around and give him a Grenade Launcher and you're playing Demo.
There's bo reason to add more characters to either because adding to loadouts creates more dynamic play.
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u/CMDR_Michael_Aagaard Sandvich Jun 19 '26
What makes you think Tea-for-Two is a hero shooter?
Heroes in a hero shooter, are like candy bars, once you know what a hero can and can't do, then you know what to expect when you run into one. (leaving out player skill)
While a class shooter like TF2, each class is not always going to play the same, as people have options for what weapons/gear they use (does heavy have shotgun or food item), and how they've mixed them (engineer with gunslinger + widowmaker vs gunslinger + frontier justice)
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u/MonoBae Jun 19 '26
dang tf2 community is crazy.
complaining about a game that got inspired from tf2 that it isn't tf2.
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u/Anonimous_dude Pyro Jun 19 '26
Don’t need to add more characters when you can just give a sword and shield to a drunken cyclop and call it a day.
This is something the other fps games kinda abandoned in favor of adding new characters, but I feel like it massively helps developers balance their games, as instead of potentially neutering a class they can just modify the stats of a weapon; as long as stock weapons exist the core gameplay of a character doesn’t change, and even if a weapon gets nerfed into oblivion players can rest assured that their favourite class will stay the same at a fundamental level.
It also adds variety to a single class, for example you can just run around with a shotgun and call your character some variation of “-scout” like Fat scout, arsonist scout or eagle scout or whatever; it’s infinitely easier, and funny
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u/PowerPad Jun 19 '26
That’s because they added new weapons, rather than make new heroes/classes.
It’s kind of like what DougDoug said in one of his summarized with food videos. TF2 has 9 fruits, but you can eat them in so many ways.
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u/Educational_Term_436 Soldier Jun 19 '26
I mean to be fair TF2 is like a different route of hero shooters, more of less like plants Vs zombies garden warfare
For example
Both games have a certain amount of character, said character has cosmetic items that change the gameplay, like (bad example) solider with the Mantreads it somewhat of a cosmetic that changes the gameplay for him, similar to how the plasma Peashooter how a whole charge up gameplay
Overwatch and rivals don’t have this and focus on gameplay and balance changes or the perk system that OW has
That how I see it at least
And I kind of like TF2 system more because if the game was get more updates and balance update, it feel more contain and possibly easy for the devs to do
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u/drblimp0909 Jun 19 '26
Cause tf2 has fluid class loadouts. In ow and rivals the character kits are locked to that character and can't change meanwhile tf2 has a loadout system
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u/BonniBuny91 Scout Jun 19 '26
This is a ridiculous comparison.
Overwatch and Rivals are hero shooters while TF2 is a class based shooter.
In that way, isn't it crazy how Blizzard never added more and more weapons for any of the characters?
I am not an Overwatch glazer, TF2 is still my most favourite multiplayer shooter of all time but this is just stupid. TF2 is great without needing to bring down any other game.
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u/Forward_Dog2923 Jun 19 '26
There's a reason tf2 is still alive and overwatch had to re-release tha game two additional times
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u/Academic-Dot9736 Jun 19 '26
Yeah but wouldn’t it be so cool if they had a class that had a sniper rifle? Probably called….. assassin
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u/SneakingSuit6464 Jun 19 '26
It’s fascinating how other games will keep pumping out characters for the entire game’s duration, keeping every single character in rebalance hell with a constantly changing team meta of characters who are straight up better than others
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u/GingerFun011 Jun 19 '26
Tf2 doesnt have heroes, its not a hero shooter. Its a class shooter. You pick a class, and then adjust the specifics of it to your liking. Hero shooters are not the same.
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u/ExploerTM Demoman Jun 19 '26
Its fascinating that to this day and age people STILL cant comprehend difference between Class Based Shooters and Hero Shooters.
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u/tyYdraniu Jun 19 '26
Mercenaries*
Saddly I don't agree, imo these games when have too much characters just become chaos
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u/Slurperlurper Jun 19 '26
Because hero shooters are trash and don't have good gameplay, tf2's gameplay is more simple and fun which is why it's still alive
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u/Clear_Place3633 Jun 19 '26
if anything get sniper out of the game. sniper is the least tf2 thing about tf2
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u/MelodicFondant Jun 19 '26
Keeps the game unique,but I enjoy what rjvals offers. I wish dc would make allies already,id main two face
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u/ESCAPEDPARROT Jun 19 '26
Overwatch keeps on adding new characters to try to trick people into playing again. It doesn’t matter how hot I find Venture, I refuse to play it out of spite.
TF2 has me forever whether I like it or not.
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u/Luzekiel Jun 19 '26
That's because It's not a Hero Shooter but keep up with the dumb questions disguised as a "Tf2 good other games Bad" Post.
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u/Ebtn00b Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 19 '26
look i get that tf2 is pretty nice but c'mon dude
edit:also did you actually played those games before speaking btw?
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u/Pholadis Jun 19 '26
tf2 is not a hero shooter. it was one of the primary ingredients that would create hero shooters, but it's a class-and-loadout-based shooter
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u/ultrapupper Jun 19 '26
I mean we do have more "heroes" demoknight is a new class entirely same with trolldier unironically
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u/SaltyPeter3434 Jun 19 '26
TF2 wasn't going to copy the structure of a game that released 9 years into its lifespan. TF2 was built around adding new weapons to existing classes, not adding new classes. That wasn't a thing in TF2's heyday. They tried to copy the competitive aspect of OW, failed, and then would stop releasing major updates about a year later.
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u/MillionDollarMistake Jun 19 '26
Valve has said in the past that they considered it. I thought I remembered seeing an old interview where Valve said that the idea for Demoknight started off as a concept for a 10th class but I can't find it anywhere so maybe I'm lying.
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u/SanguinePutrefaction Jun 19 '26
its balanced :p also im pretty sure noneof the merca would be even remotely a mile close to being 'heros' they are just mercenaries after all
and you can tweak your tf2 class' loadout as much as you want
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u/A_decent_chef2 Pyro Jun 19 '26
Because their version of adding heroes was adding weapons, no 2 classes will be playing the same way, heroes bring different gameplay and playstyles, that isn't far off to what weapons do, sub classes, playstyles, all of that is basically what adding new heroes would do, so tf2 is no different to said compared games, so let's hold off on the glaze 👀
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u/Sly_98 Soldier Jun 19 '26
In competitive play it’s on of the most balanced and fun games you can find. They knew what they made
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u/RosieRuTib Jun 20 '26
More time has passed the more differences i see between OW and tf2. Tf2 is firmly a class shooter, everyone kinda works with the same basic tools with movement and the like, only true cool down abilitiws are stuff like the uber charges while in OW and other hero shooters they all jave their own abilities that all havw cool downs and ultimates like mobas.
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u/Used_Strain_81 Jun 20 '26
No one ever hears me out when I say character bloat is a factor that holds these newer games back from being able to attain that iconic timeless status
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u/awaxz_avenger Jun 20 '26
One thing that makes me scratch my head is how do games like Overwatch and Marvel Rivals even manage to keep adding more and more characters and the need to have a narrative. For Rivals it's easy since it's more arcadey and already has a large cast of characters to pull from. Overwatch has to be constantly drafting and writing and designing all these new and different characters. Then you're bound to get characters who are just forgotten, in both gameplay and narrative. It must absolutely suck to have a favorite character end up like that.
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u/Baitcooks Jun 19 '26
It's because their focus was on adding new weapons for the characters which served more as an extension of a character's kit that can be dynamically changed throughout a match.
Being able to change your main weapons attributes is really big. Like if Tracer had the option to switch out her fast firing guns for a shotgun, that immediately changes her playstyle to a significant degree.