Roles/weight classes are different, gunfight is more or less the same and it’s unbalanced.
I won’t say HP for example don’t make any difference in the game, they do, but that’s mostly the case with damage that ignores speed, maneuverability and hitbox, like gas, fire/DOT, some explosions or when you have to stay still like during capturing a cashout.
Otherwise with different speed -> jumps and even simple movement -> evasiveness, different recoil/accuracy, different hitboxes, different DPS, the character weight classes are just the different sides of the same in terms of gunfight/gunplay, everyone can kill everyone with the more or less the same chances.
Weight classes have some clear advantages and disadvantages and it’s not in heavy’s favor. They are mobility on the map (speed and small cells in the walls, abilities, like hooks, dashes) and ability to engage and disengage (speed, recon senses, invisibility, dashes, hook). Heavy is ultra slow in comparison, especially with shield up and now with the explosive attached carriables too.
So, basically heavy is at best as good at gunfights as other classes, but usually actually lacking, he sucks at speed and mobility, engaging and disengaging, his abilities rob him of ability to use weapons.
Even just by looking at heavy for the first time you’d think big guy = big guns = best firepower. Even his name reminds of “heavy artillery”. And his image of a big guy with big guns is legit, since his guns are big indeed. And Sledge is powerful even. Except…they suck, sans, of course, Sledgehammer.
M60 – no comments.
Lewis – shares the lowest DPS with AKM and worst recoil bar M60 which again belongs to heavy.
Flamethrower – damage is too low.
Shotgun – mediocre at best. Has poor firerate/damage balance.
Grenade launcher – a complete joke. Not even that interesting to goof around since you need 1.5 clip to destroy structures. Would be understandable if it was a good weapon, but it’s neither. Neither a good weapon, nor a good goofing material.
So, what made heavy distinct and worth picking? His explosions. But you keep nerfing them. RPG keeps getting nerfed. C4 too. Nuke is nerfed into the ground, literally. Nuke, the orange barrel with 2 C4’s can barely leave the ground. Even with 1 C4 it’s still atrocious. Even red nukes are pathetic now. And RPG felt a little undertuned even before the nerf, but now it’s not funny at all.
You’ve seemingly fixed the damage not registering on enemy when the explosion hits both you and enemy, but the self damage is still the problem. Usually, when a character’s ability is a double edged sword, the user gets some sort of advantage. Idk, let’s take Pudge from Dota just as an example. Not only he has tons of HP, but he also benefits from additional magic resistance, which allows him to use Rot offensively and take less damage from it that it deals to enemies. Not sure how it's right now, but this is how it used to be 8 years ago. I’m not saying we should apply roles and balance from Dota to this game, I’m just using this as an example to convey what I mean.
Anyway, not only heavy’s explosions don’t deal less or even as much damage to himself, it deals massively increased damage. I’m not sure if his larger HP pool would’ve been enough if it just dealt 140 dmg to himself, but 252 something?
There isn’t much reason to pick heavy anymore.
He is slow, he is a big, easy target, he doesn’t engage, he is easily caught between crossfire, his guns and gunplay suck, his explosions (and even shields) are nerfed and a very dangerous to himself. And even his environmental destruction (except for sledge’s effectiveness at it, but that weapon is in an ok spot [although its most natural setup where it’s paired with slam is hard countered by stun gun) can be replicated with breach charge or a detonated mine by other classes to a degree.
You’d think if he is slow and he doesn’t as much chase people around and bring fight to them as other classes do to him, other classes fighting him is their choice, except for random bumping into each other and fighting in a very tight spot and if he has the biggest guns, he’d be some powerhouse whom you’d think thrice before facing him alone or maybe even as duo. That he’d have deadly short-mid range weapons, but no.
It seems that right now the trade-off looks like this: better recoil and/or DPS, better hitbox, better speed and mobility -> more HP.
Tell me, do you really think that gunpower/effective DPS, should be on the same side of the trade-off as mobility, speed and maneuverability (speed+hitbox+abilities)?
I think there are a few layers before Heavy’s weapons get decent.
Firstly, his weapons aren’t even as good as other classes’ right now.
Secondly, they should be not just as good, but better than other classes’.