So I decided to make this thread because there are a lot of imbalances
in the server regarding weapons. Now I highly doubt anything will be done
after posting this, but I'm going to try anyways.

So as most of you know there is a certain meta for most classes. What I
mean by this is that there's one specific loadout that will always be the
best and equiping something else will mostly hinder you from dealing
the same amount of damage than with the meta loadout. So let's evaluate which
loadouts are meta for which class.


Scout:
Force-a-Nature, Pretty Boy's Pocket Pistol, Atomizer

PBPP can be replaced by the Winger. Ok, so this loadout is currently meta
because it has the highest damage potential compared to any other loadout.
The reason for this are goombas, they deal high amount of damage to hale
especially when they're minicrit-boosted, which can be accomplished by
switching to your pistol before landing on the hale. No other scattergun
has the potential to reach the damage goombas are able to pull off. Why
risk getting close to hale to deal meatshots when you have the capability
to goomba them for more damage and have a personal airblast?


Soldier:
Surpisingly he doesn't have a meta loadout, but that doesn't mean there
aren't weapons that are downright useless for this class.


Pyro:
Phlogistinator, Flare Gun, Powerjack

Powerjack can be replaced with Backscratcher if you have a pocket Medic.
I think most people can relate to me that the Phlog is incredibly
annoying to deal with. There's no reason to use any other flamethrower.

Higher damage? Check
More mobility? Check
Invurnable during rages? Check
Controlled crits? Check

Airblast is a situational thing that is barely useful and will anger
people more than it will help them.


Demoman:
Bootlegger, Shield, Eyelander

The Shield can be replaced by the Stickybomb Launcher if you're feeling
confident. With the recent buff to the Booties, there's absolutly no
reason to use the Grenade Launchers anymore. 10% faster movement speed
instead of 120/162 damage per pill? Yes please. And using any other
melee weapon besides the Eyelander is just gimping yourself.

Then there's also the way how Grenade launchers work with Shields.
You have an extra 10% damage vurnerability when you have the Grenade
Launcher out. Why use it? Hale can kill you in one hit when you have 210 hp.


Heavy:
He doesn't really have a meta per se. Although he is very limited to
what he can choose that will be effective.


Engineer:
Again, he doesn't necessarly have a meta, but that is because he hasn't
many options to choose from.


Medic:
Syringe Gun, Medigun, Übersaw

Equiping the Crossbow allows you to be more agressive, but isn't nearly
as effective as what the Syringe Gun can offer you. It isn't even that hard
to get über with that thing.


Sniper:
Stock, SMG, Kukri

There is no reason to use anything besides Stock Rifle. It marks the hale
and doesn't have a stupid gimmick like the other primaries. The Cozy
Camper can be equiped instead of the SMG. Kukri is just overall the
best and won't put you at any sort of disadvantage.


Spy:
Stock, Knife, Invis Watch

Gun Mettle update messed up Spy so much that he's now even more annoying
to fight against than he already is. The main reason for this is that he
receives a 3 second speed boost upon cloaking. He can use this to catch
up with the hale and backstab him with ease. Other options are possible
for your revolver, but I'll come to that later.


So now that we got that out of the way, let's talk about the other weapons.






Scout:
Primary:

Stock:
No reason to use this. You're putting yourself at huge risk to deal damage
and it's barely worth the effort compared to goombas.

Force-a-Nature:
Best weapon, personal airblast, more damage on meatshots, easier
to goomba with, more use out of crits. No need to use anything else.

Soda Popper:
Atleast it has some goomba potential, but still not as useful.

Short Stop:
Probably the best option out there IF you don't have the Force-a-Nature
because it has the potential to compete with goomba damage if paired with
Crit-a-Cola, but still isn't nearly as effective.

Baby Face's Blaster:
Banned. But perhaps we can get it back by giving it the attribute that
depletes the boost over time. So if you keep doing damage, you'll keep
your boost, but you lose it if you don't do anything.

Backscatter:
Completly inferior to the stock Scattergun. Perhaps giving it the attribute
of "crits whenever it should minicrit" would make it somewhat viable.


Secondary:

Pistol:
Decent in my opinion, but doesn't really hold up with the Winger and PBPP.

Pretty Boy's Pocket Pistol:
Probably still the best secondary out there.

Winger:
A suitable replacement for PBPP.

Bonk! Atomic Punch:
Can stay banned.

Crit-a-Cola:
It's good in my opinion. Great in combination with Force-a-Nature
and Short Stop, but again, not as effective as goombas.

Mad Milk:
It's good.

Flying Guillotine:
Completly inferior to every other secondary weapon.


Melee:

Bat:
Useless, because utility > damage.

Sandman:
An annoying weapon to fight against, but atleast it's worth equiping.

Candy Cane:
Literally a straight upgrade, but still useless to equip.

Boston Basher:
Again a straight upgrade, but not worth equiping.

Wrapped Assassin:
Not worth equiping. Why have bleed ornaments when you get stun baseballs?

Fan o' War:
Why would you risk hitting the hale with it for such a little reward?

Sun-on-a-Stick:
Even with the buff, it's not worth equiping.

Atomizer:
Still the best melee weapon out there.






Soldier:
Primary:

Stock:
Good all-around.

Direct Hit:
Good I guess.

Black Box:
Again good, although I would suggest on giving it less hp from health
kits instead of the current less healing from Medics.

Rocket Jumper:
Banned.

Liberty Launcher:
I would have suggested to buff it if the Gun Mettle update didn't do
anything to this weapon. Now it's good.

Cow Mangler:
Should atleast get buffed, there isn't a reason to use it. Even though
it has unlimited ammo.

Beggar's Bazooka:
Good weapon, although its spamability is really high if you pair it
with the Concheror or Buff Banner.

Air Strike:
It got buffed in the Gun Mettle update, but its purpose in ff2 is still
useless. New ff2 built allows getting extra rockets upon dealing damage.
But if you're planning on adding that, I suggest on giving it a more
noticable downside.


Secondary:

Shotgun:
Completly useless on this class. I'd suggest on buffing it a bit so that
it's actually a viable option for every class that is able to equip it.
The incendiary bullets it currently has, is mostly useless and annoys Pyros
who can use the extra bit of damage called afterburn. + it's annoying for
a hale like Zer0.

Reserve Shooter:
Somewhat useful, but it's completly outshined by the other possibilities.
Atleast it's more useful on Pyro, but still not the best option.

Buff Banner:
This banner is outshined by the Amplifier, taunt crits and the other banners.
Can't this banner get a few passive attributes that allow the Soldier to be
more aggressive besides only having the extra ammo?

Gunboats:
Fine as it is now.

Concheror:
Fine as it is, although I find the extra ammo on it a bit useless. It's better
to add a few passive attributes that allow Soldier to survive longer.

Battalion's Backup:
Annoying to fight against, but atleast it got nerfed, so that's something.
Although I would suggest on adding something else to it so that it is
necessary to release the horn right after you blew it. That way the Soldier
needs to time his activation better and can't go around while holding the
horn and release it whenever the hale pops up.

Mantreads:
Utterly useless because you still take full rocketjump damage and the attribute
of more push force is broken on this weapon.

Righteous Bison:
Utterly useless because its damage is pitiful and barely has any use in a
gamemode like FF2.

B.A.S.E. Jumper:
No need to equip it because you have the reg parachute, which keeps your
momentum. Can't we give it a few passive effects?

Panic Attack:
I tried this weapon, but it isn't useful in this gamemode, especially on
Soldier. I can see it somewhat work on Engineer, but I still have my doubts
about that.


Melee:

Shovel:
In PvP it's useless and so it is here.

Escape Plan:
One of the two useful melee weapons out there for Soldier. Fine as it
is now though.

Equalizer:
Outshined by the rest of the options. Besides, going on a rampage as a
low-health melee Soldier is just plain idiotic.

Pain Train:
Upside doesn't matter in this gamemode, so it's even worse than the Shovel.

Half-Zatoichi:
I see no use in this weapon besides equiping it with the Backup.
On Demoman it's useless, why use a sword that gives you 20 health on each
hit, when you can equip a sword that gives you 15 additive health and
more movement speed per hit?

Market Gardener:
Same as the Shovel, useless...

Disciplinary Action:
Fine as it is now.






Pyro:
Primary:

Stock:
Not really that good, but then again, even in PvP it's bad. Completly
outshined by the other options.

Backburner:
A somewhat decent weapon, but completly outshined by the Phlog. It makes
much more sense to give the movement speed to this flamethrower.

Degreaser:
You can do some decent damage with it, but it isn't exactly all that great.
Unless you want to go gommba Pyro.

Phlog:
Oh boy... where do I start with this weapon? Who's idea was it even to
give it more movement speed and a damage increase on top of that? Ok, so
first of all, it takes 225 damage to fill the mphhh-meter. It's somewhat
challenging if you look at the Phlog in PvP , but this is just over the top.

+30% damage bonus and +20% damage bonus on top of that with the reg perks.
It makes it deal 40% more damage than usual accounting the already existing
damage penalty. It fills the mphh-meter so fast because of this.

With the extra damage bonus, crits are absolutly devastating with this weapon.
Which results in Phlog Pyros being a favourite for Medics to über. Although
I have no real reason to hate pocketed Pyros, but it's a bit absurd that Phlog
Pyros are favoured over a Heavy in most situations.

The extra 10% movement speed is just plain OP on this weapon. It allows the Pyro
to juke more than he already can and is thus capable of filling his mphhh easier.
It also allows Pyros to keep up with the Hale, which makes it a nuissance.

And the activation taunt for the crits. It's in most cases a free-get-out-of-jail
card, because it ignores every kind of damage. Did you get raged? No problem.
Just taunt and you'll probably live the stun so you can go on a rampage with your
crits.

As it is right now, this weapon is highly unbalanced and downright unfun to
fight against. Either bring back its original 25 additive health and remove
everything else or slam "blocks healing while in use" on it.

The "no airblast" penalty isn't that big of a downside since in FF2 it's a
highly situational mechanic. It's more of a nuissance than an actual aid.


Secondary:

Shotgun:
A decent weapon, but completly outshined by the utiliy of the Flare Gun.

Reserve Shooter:
Decent weapon, but yet again... utility Flare Gun > damage Reserve Shooter.

Flare Gun/Detonator:
Fine I guess.

Scorch Shot:
Even though buffed in the Gun Mettle update, still useless in FF2.

Mannmelter:
Truly useless unless you have a hale that uses any kind of fire.

Panic Attack:
Not worth equiping.


Melee:

Fire Axe:
Like in PvP, no reason to use it whatsoever.

Axtuingisher:
Fine in my opinion, you can let it work in its current shape. Although there's
no reason to try to use it with the Phlog lying around.

Sharpened Volcano Fragment:
Even with the buff, not exactly all that usefull with all those weapons that can
override your afterburn. *cough* shotgun *cough*

Homewrecker:
No point in using it, because its upsides are useless in FF2.

Powerjack:
Good overall, although a bit OP in conjuction with the Phlog. You get a whoppin'
25% increase in movement speed, no joke that is.

Back Scratcher:
Good if you want to have pocket Medic following you around.

Third Degree:
Same as stock, totally useless.







Demoman:

Primary:
All of his Grenade Launchers are well balanced. But they do suck in regards of damage.
Minicrit damage when equiping shields is not worth it, especially with the one-hit kill
hales can do to you when you have your Grenade Launcher out.

Either give it the Buff Banner condition to it or give it back the crits. The crits
weren't exactly the problem most people had with Demoknight, it was because of the
Eyelander and its speed.

Ali Baba's Wee Booties/Bootlegger:
Absolutly OP with the Eyelander, you can run faster than a Scout with this combination.
I'd rather see the Bootlegger being more orientated towards stickyjumping and the
Booties for puro Demoknight, excluding the movement speed bonus.


Secondary:

Stickybomb Launcher:
Spam-o-Launcher in other words. It's bugged and throws off so many players.
The faster detonation time carries over to the next sticky and you can detonate a
sticky TWICE in some situations. It needed a buff, but let it have its original
concept instead of making it the Quickiebomb Launcher but 10 times better.

Scottish Resistance:
I can think of a few situations where this weapon absolutly takes the crown.
But I have no idea if changing it so that it becomes useful in more situations is
the best thing to do.

Quickiebomb Launcher:
Spam-o-Launcher -1000... basically a worse version of stock in this server.

Chargin' Targe:
Still isn't all that useful with its buff of 5% extra movement speed.

Splendid Screen:
Probably the best Shield due the knockback it can cause upon a bash.

Tide Turner:
It's somewhat useful, but the Splendid Screen outshines it in most situations.


Melee:

Everything besides the Eyelander is useless. Why? I would gladly choose a weapon
that deals 234 damage and lets you run 7% faster for each hit you get for a measly
-25 additive health that is easily covered up by 4 or 2 hits depending on your primary.

Every other sword is useless, because all of their bonusses come from Shields and
they get destroyed as soon as the hale hits the Demo.

Claidheamh Mor? Useless, 0.5 extra charge isn't even great in FF2.
Persian Persuader? Useless, it can't compete with the Eyelander.
Half-zatoichi? Useless, reason for it is mentioned with Soldier.
Skullcutter? Useless (I even think the extra switch speed is reverted)
Bottle? Useless, no extra effects.

I tried giving every other Demo melee weapon a chance. But they don't match the
sheer rivalry of the Eyelander.







Heavy:
Primary:

Stock:
Good in almost every situation.

Natascha:
Banned. But perhaps we could alter the attributes a bit so that it has a very small
chance to slow down the hale instead of the 100%.

Brass Beast:
Only good if you want to play as a stationary Heavy, which rarely pays off in most
situations. The hale can easily escape you when you're trying to spin up. Not entirely
useless, but it's highly situational.

Tomislav:
One of the better options out there with the recent buff of the Gun Mettle update.
This weapon doesn't need to be changed in my opinion.

Huo Long Heater:
Still a downgrade compared to Stock. If the hale reaches you where the flames deal
damage, chances are really high you're going to die anyway.


Secondary:

Shotgun:
It's a good option because of the vampire option it has. But I still want to see
it buffed in general for all the other classes.

Family Bussiness:
Not really that useful. Isn't it possible to focus this weapon around a Fatscout
playstyle? That way the Heavy has an alternate playstyle that isn't gimmicky instead
of just point 'n shoot the whole time.

Panic Attack:
Again, not really that useful.

Sandvich:
Decent in my opinion.

Buffalo Steak Sandvich:
The concept is great of this weapon, but it's rather useless with all the melee
weapons out there.

Dalokohs Bar:
Not that useful, can't we give it an extra 50 additive health to it?
Then upon consumption Heavy is capable of tanking three hits instead of two.


Melee:

Fists:
Entirely useless.

Killing Gloves of Boxing:
Changed to the GRU upon equiping, although I see no reason why to do that. I'd rather
see this weapon changed and actually be equipable.

Gloves of Running Urgently:
The best melee option out there for Heavy.

Fists of Steel:
Banned. You can let it work by reverting the attribute of "x% damage vulnerability"
so that you're able to tank hits while you have it out. But at the cost of being less
effective in combat while you have it out.

Warrior's Spirit:
It isn't really worth equiping over the GRU. I'd love to see this weapon changed so
that it goes great with the Buffalo Steak Sandvich. That way melee Heavy is actually
a decent option to go for.

Eviction Notice:
Fun to use now, I don't think it needs any change.

Apoco Fists:
Eh, I dunno, useless I guess.







Engineer:
Primary:

Every primary has its uses, besides the Panic Attack.
Although the Frontier Justice is a bit outclassed by the Pistol.


Secondary:

No remarks here.


Melee:

Stock:
Good, but it's mostly outclassed by the Jag now and the Southern Hospitality when there
are no hales that use fire around.

Gunslinger:
Not really all that useful anymore with its recent nerf (yes I'm calling it a nerf).
Repairing is mostly gimmicky, especially on FF2.
Faster building time when hitting it is mostly not worth the effort and the risks.
It's mostly outshined by the Jag now. I did even a test and if you redeploy a lvl 1
Sentry with the Jag, it's as fast as redeploying a mini-sentry with the Gunslinger.

Southern Hospitality:
Mostly a straight upgrade.

Jag:
The new go-to wrench. The less damage doesn't matter much, especially on FF2 and the
less repair rate barely has any effect in this gamemode.

Eureka Effect:
Banned. But I love to see this weapon if it was able to only teleport to a tele exit
instead of both tele exit and spawn.



Medic:
Primary:

Only two options... Syringe Gun and Crossbow.
I'd love to see the other two Syringe Guns to be usable with some alternate changes.


Secondary:

There's only one Medigun that you can use and it makes Medic kinda boring in my opinion.
Isn't there a way to make the other Mediguns, besides Vaccinator, useable with alternate
attributes so that you atleast have some variety?


Melee:

Bonesaw:
Pretty much useless...
I'm going to say it here, every melee weapon has one specific downside that isn't visible
and that downside is: "Isn't the Übersaw."

Übersaw:
The mandatory melee weapon, not using it is gimping yourself. Even with the nerf to it
it's still the most useful one out there. I'd say revert its changes and slap a more
noticable downside on it instead of the 25% slower firing speed.

Amputator:
Only useful for certain hales that can deal chip damage and for farming Medic points.

Solemn Vow:
Pretty much an useless upside because you can view the hale's health at any time.

Vita Saw:
Literally a straight downgrade.


If none of these are gonne be changed, can you atleast lower the starting über percentage?
And also perhaps allowing strange Syringe Gun and Mediguns.






Sniper:
Primary:

Stock:
The only useful rifle out there. Full damage and marking hales? Who doesn't want that?

Huntsman:
Only useful on some maps, but the problem of this weapon is that it runs out of ammo so fast.

Machina:
I don't see the reason to use this weapon. Dealing 500 damage on at full charge in exchange
for revealing your position isn't really worth it.

Sydney Sleeper:
This weapon would be useful if you coudl actually see the hale's rage percentage or that it
actually reduces the hale percentage on a full charge.

Hitman's Heatmaker:
Its downside is what kills this weapon because bodyshots are pretty much mandatory in this
gamemode. If it was removed, I could see this weapon work.

Bazaar Bargain:
I'd love to see this weapon to be usable. Perhaps giving it an extra head on every hit and you
lose one whenever you miss?


Secondary:

SMG:
A good weapon that can be used to stop hales in flight due its knockback.

Jarate:
Not really worth equiping because removing 8% rage is barely anything to begin with.

Razorback:
Banned. But I'd rather want to see it having the Shield mechanic, blocks on hit.

Cleaner's Carbine:
Straight downgrade, perhaps turn it into a burst fire SMG?

Darwin's Danger Shield:
Banned. Could be changed into a weapon that gives yiou more ammo and a bit more speed.

Cozy Camper:
It's now worth equiping with its recent buff in Gun Mettle.


Melee:

Kukri:
Best option out there for having no upsides or downsides.

Tribalman's Shiv:
The bleed isn't worth the hitting the hale with this weapon. Perhaps lower the bleed
duration but add the "On miss, hit yourself idiot" on it so that it can be used to get
to higher spots.

Bushwacka:
Straight downgrade, the 20% extra damage vulnerabaility while active really hurts a lot.

Shahanshah:
In FF2, the chance of being at lower health as Sniper is very slim. So it isn't really
worth equiping.





Spy:
Primary:

Stock:
It's fine.

Ambassador:
A downgrade in most situations because aiming for the head is really hard to do for most hales.

Enforcer:
Works best if you know some scripting. Or you could just spam B and m1 to get a permanent
damage bonus.

Diamondback:
Not that useful because getting only one crit per backstab is stupid.

L'Étranger:
The nerf to it works, but upon hitting m2, you get the speed boost and damage reduction, so it
doesn't really fix the problem.


Melee:

Knife:
It's fine.

Kunai:
Would be more useful if the Dead Ringer would work again.

Your Eternal Reward:
A little bit underpowered, perhaps give it silent decloak?

Spy-Cicle:
A straight upgrade in this gamemode.

Big Earner:
Useless. Would be better if it gave you full cloak and a speed boost upon a backstab.


Watches:

Stock:
Overpowered right now because of the three second speed boost it gives you when you cloak.

Dead Ringer:
Useless right now because hale kills you if you have it out, even with full health.




So, that was everything. I know it contains some bias and I know a few people can use some of these weapons effectively. But we really tried our best to test most of these weapons with sometimes a different loadout and this is the conclusion we came up with. I really hope this will get some things done.

Also, the skins the update brought with it don't have the additional perks to it.
PS, this text was pre-made, so I didn't have the chance to give it more structure.

is it available on amazon kindle?

I highly doubt people would be interested to read a book about the
state of weapons in a certain FF2 server

Well you clearly put lots of effort in this text, still I have to disagree a bit because I dont see the problematic with the metas, yes the Phlog prob needs a nerf, since I discovered how easy you get dmg with it I stopped playing engi because it doesnt pay off anymore in comparison
But the rest is fine I guess, FF2 is a specific gamemode that needs a specific loadout, and since the weapons tend to be quite different its not a surprise that you mostly have one very good loadout that outshines the others.
Engineer can decide between Wrangler (get better positons for nests) and the pistol (50dmg per hit, my favourite).
Heavys can be played stationary with a dispenser or amp (Brass Beast) or pocketed and moving (stock / Tomislav).
The Solly has plenty opportunities to choose from, also the spy.
Demoman can be played the "traditional" way with explosives or with Shield, Booties and Eyelander/the golf bat/persuader.

So there are the Pyro, the Scout and the Sniper where I have to admit there are not many options to choose from when you want to tryhard...I think thats okay

So the logic here is to abandon every other weapon in the game? Because we like to have exactly the same gameplay every round?

I dont know but if you dislike it so much why dont you try another weapon that gives you a challenge?
Just because some weapons dont guarantee you 1k DMG per round like some others do, it doesnt mean they are totally useless...

Edit : And ofc it also doesnt mean that they are not fun to play.

Because the other weapons do not give a challenge or a different approach to the gameplay. They are useless, effectively making yourself useless. I never said I disliked the current weapons.

So we need to let our team down in order to have fun? I don't mind it that some weapons give an extra challenge, but being far less effective is also making your team to be less effective.

Well how do you imagine having 4 Weps each 3 Slots for each class which are as effective as the others but completely different in gameplay?
I do get your point and I dont say its wrong, I just think there are bigger problems on the server right now plus fixing the mentioned issues would take insane amounts of time...me personally wouldnt know where to start at all, maybe you have an idea?

The weapons don't necessarly have to offer different kinds of playstyle, I'd rather want to see that each weapon is somewhat equal. So that you don't handicap yourself because you chose a different weapon thaat is far less effective than an other weapon.

Can I say that a lack of diversity for certain classes is also an issue on the server? Or am I the only one that thinks that way? Although I do agree that this is far less important than other stuff.

Why do you only look at me for weapon balances when there's an entire community out there that is more or less prepared to suggest some things for certain weapons?
I can suggest some changes that I used back on my server if you want.