ProSkeezA lot of you guys are saying that valve balanced these weapons for 12v12 play but weapons like the soda popper, atomizer, and reserve shooter are still broken beyond belief even in a shitfest like 16v16. That balanced for pub argument just doesn't stand up.
i remember reading something before on how valve's weapon balancing methodology is solely based on pub usage stats (feel free to correct me on this)
it would explain why in the last patch they buffed both the quickiebomb and the sydney sleeper, both weapons that were very good but not used much in pubs (at least from my experience) and were going to buff the reserve shooter until b4nny told them not to
this disconnect between the game developers and actual players is slightly frightening. What they don't seem to realize is that some weapons like sydney sleeper/reserve shooter are used less in pubs simply because there's such a bad stigma that surrounds the weapon. I guarantee you using either unlock will usually result in you getting flamed in a pub. Not to mention that balancing via pub usage stats is a horrible idea to begin with given how good the average pub player is at this game...
Also soda popper/atomizer aren't as great in pubs because people can't aim well enough to really abuse soda popper and minis/natascha/sentries exist for the atomizer