I read this and thought two things:
1. Good to think about when you have the luxury.
2. I hardly ever have the luxury.
But good point, Snidely, about the dispensers and how it affects uber charging rates. And good points about the healing ramps. I never considered it before.
Reality check. Most of the time I am just freakin’ trying to not get deaded. I couldn’t care less about no stinkin’ healing ramps. I more worried about the snipers and pipes being lobbed my way. I hear cries for “Medic!” And I’m not thinking, “Yo! Please wait in the back for 15 seconds and then I’ll heal you – but STAY AWAY from those dispensers.” Crazy. Obviously, Snides is not suggesting this.
I think that Snidely’s point is simple enough to implement. If a player is at a dispenser, let the dispenser do the work. But during a match, I don’t want to ask players to avoid dispensers, or to step away from them. Dispensers are like life rafts in the battle. I want players to seek dispensers out. Also, the dispensers relieve me of a lot of healing tasks.
And what if the dispenser is only level 1? That can take a long time, especially for a heavy or a soldier – in which case, maybe it’s best to speed things up by continuing to heal the player while he is at the dispenser – especially if the particular player is key to team success.
I usually capture injured players retreating from the front. If they approach a dispenser, I’ll escort them a ways and disconnect when they are out of danger and healed to 50% or more. I let the dispenser do the rest. My main goal is to stay alive and heal as many players involved in the action as I can. Obviously the players out front get more heals as long as I can reach them without venturing into too dangerous territory.
This changes a bit while making pushes (either RED or BLU). I am willing to follow players making the push – whether I have uber or not. In fact I encourage it when I am on a team of docile players.
Call me a flawed medic but I don’t use ubers as soon as I get them. I sometimes hear complaints about this behavior from a team member, but rarely from players who actually play medic. In the ebb and flow of the game, there are critical times when an uber is really needed and productive. Like ubering a pyro to airblast an incoming uber. Or holding an uber for the last two minutes on RED. Sometimes I have to wait while I plan on how best to use an uber. When I want a demoman, I’ll wait until I get a freakin’ demoman – and not a demoknight, thank you very much. And of course ubers work best when most of the team is alive and nearby – and available to push. If a team has three medics, then go ahead and blow through your ubers ASAP. I love ubering spies and snipers in such cases. It’s pure joy. But if you are the only medic (and this happens a lot), then you have to be choosy and wait.
So, if you are a medic in the laboratory and the only thing that matters is the frequency of uber achievement, then by all means, carefully consult your ramp data, take a sip of your cafe latte and thoughtfully select your healing opportunities accordingly. But given the other goals that a medic is trying to achieve during the dangerous chaos of battle, overthinking healing ramps and fine tuning your choice of healing targets and circumstances probably won’t best serve your team.
And Snidely, I'll heal you anytime, dispenser or no.
