yeah the idea of any balance changes in the current game (post-the recent pyro nerf) revolving around classes that aren't scout is pretty precious

I mostly agreed with your analysis but I disagree with this. I think the main reasons scout more dominant than ever before are:
1. the demo nerf
2. the medic movement speed buff
3. scout dm simply improving across the board
4. soldiers becoming more proficient at overall more advanced rjs and therefore needing to be tanked less often (in conjunction with the rise of double gunboats)

therefore, if xbow were banned, medics would have 2 options
1) play much slower and tank a pocket + demo a lot more
2) make their soldiers/demo even more expendable and keep the beam on scouts to more easily cleanup players on mid

I posit that, if team A is doing strat 1 and team B is doing strat 2, and they're about even skill, team B will win more of the time in a post-crossbow world. with the aforementioned reasons for pocket scout becoming more extreme in its usage, I just think a really good pocket scout with the beam on him will run around and pick off players while the other med slowly heals heavy classes back up.

I once thought the crossbow was too ez mode and therefore should be nerfed or banned (and it was nerfed, but is obviously still nuts)

then item servers went down a few times, and I realized how much worse the game is without it (mid fights in particular)

do you think it's considered appropriate in the average workplace to make jokes that could even be accidentally construed as racist or sexist regardless of intent? esports as a whole is far more lenient than almost any other walk of life because of the demographics involved. it's irrelevant how you feel about it, esports is a massive safe space for young, middle class white males to express themselves in ways that they wouldn't be able to get away with in the average 9 to 5 job. whether you think being more careful with potentially offensive speech is good, because it fosters a more inclusive environment, or bad because overpolicing speech is a slippery slope, that's the way the world is in 2018, and it's just ironic to hear people decry OW as a "safe space" as if being a cs or a dota 2 pro gamer is in any way the average experience of someone entering the workforce

OWL might come off as a safe space in the world of esports, but the reality is esports is a massive safe space for retrograde ideas and jokes compared to the real world

try to talk like xQc at any actual job where a single woman, person of color, or LGBT person works or is a customer and see how long you last

does that mean I enjoy when corporations like Blizzard police speech the way they do? no, because I'm an actual leftist and therefore don't like it when massive power is concentrated in the hands of any corporation, whether it be an "sjw" company targeting speech or a business forcing its employees to watch anti-union propaganda or work overtime with no pay or whatever. it sucks that 2-3 companies have all the say in esports, whatever their beliefs may be

(p.s. blizzard as an entity doesn't really care about respect or decency, they just don't want advertisers to pull out, same as every other big business)

https://i1.wp.com/www.drawcentral.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Draw-Catdog.jpg?resize=1170%2C985

It's only on chi 1, right?

my biggest pet peeves are the scout mains who do all of the above while also having 150 ping and being unhittable half the time

see: that nano guy

on the one hand, I find it hilarious that star is a successful ow streamer who still has massive hurt feelings about people from a different game memeing about him like 6 years ago

on the other hand, it's equally hilarious that everyone in this thread is basically validating his shitty opinions by caring so much about this dude

y'all deserve each other

EdIt: and I deserve u for posting this hehe

rofl whos the poor sap who got stuck as mightyena

"We underestimated...high-skill players"

sounds about right

yeah but u dont make any money from invite unless youre good whereas you can make money from im even if u arent good (source: I made money in IM twice)

are you guys really so young that when u hear "cortana" u think windows 10 and not halo

r i p

catface irl: https://i.redd.it/10cehjwj9yl01.jpg

ah yes, the "substitute role"