Team Fortress 2, the popular war-themed hat simulator, recently received a major update - the "Meet Your Match" update, which introduced a competitive system to the game, along with balances and reworks towards weapons and base game functions. While there have been several notable pieces of criticism and outcry regarding some of the major changes, one change stands out in particular.



The Righteous Bison, a steampunk-themed handgun for the Soldier class, received a major rework, with changes to damage output, projectile speed, and base functions.



Valve, we want these changes removed immediately.



Here are some of the following reasons why the changes to the weapon made it perhaps one of the worst weapons in the game:



1. Multiple Penetration

The Righteous Bison is different from its default Shotgun counterpart in that it can fire up to four laserbeam projectiles per clip. The projectiles were different from others in that they could pass through enemies, and thus potentially damage multiple targets. What made the weapon so special back in the day - gimmicky, even - was that if enemies were moving, the projectiles would deal additional damage to the target. This made damage dealt by the weapon vary wildly, making it a hit-or-miss and quite frankly hilarious tool of destruction, depending on the enemies' responses.



However, the Meet Your Match changes removed this feature under the guise of it being a bug, despite there being a now-infamous in-game tip specifically citing this as a feature.



Without this ability, the Righteous Bison is now far less useful in a pinch, even with the additional damage.



Furthermore, the weapon was given increased base damage "as compensation", suggesting that the people who changed the weapon were fully aware that the feature they removed was not a bug at all.



2. Slower Projectile Speed

Originally, the Righteous Bison's projectiles traveled at a relatively similar, if not equal, speed to the stock Rocket Launcher's rockets. With the new update, however, Righteous Bison projectiles have received a 30% reduction in speed, making them the slowest projectiles in the game. This means they can be easily dodged beyond close range. This is especially annoying considering that the update gave increased speed to two classes (Spies and Medics).



3. Damage Output

The changes to damage have made damage output completely unreliable, arguably moreso than the multiple penetration "bug" that was removed. For "compensation", additional damage was added to the base weapon; however, this is immediately offset by the damage falloff over distances, essentially making the weapon completely useless outside of close range.



As for close range combat, too, the hitbox on the projectile is too small to register on enemies at times, making even the most basic use of the weapon difficult.



4. Reduced Penetration Damage

Worst of all, arguably, is the reduced damage dealt after the projectile penetrates players. While the developers seem to think that point #1 is a bug, the ability to penetrate targets is not, and never has been. This is one of the core features of the weapon - being able to take out large clusters of enemies that stick together. With this ability effectively cut down, the Righteous Bison is effectively handicapped, being left as an unreliable, easily-avoidable weapon that cannot even fulfill its basic purpose.



-----------------



The above issues leave one of the underdog items of the game nearly useless, even when boosted by a Kritzkrieg. Another very important point that should be made is that the Righteous Bison's projectiles will sometimes not fire in certain spots on maps, generally stairs, inclines, or payload regions. This bug can be seen here and here.



CONCLUSION

The tf2 community is very attached to this game, and in particular, the weapons it has brought to us. The Righteous Bison is no exception - with an entire subreddit dedicated to it, to boot!



Many things appear to have gone awry with this update in the eyes of the community, but no issue has brought the community together more in grief and fury than the changes to the Righteous Bison.



There is certainly more that could be done with the weapon in the future to make it more viable - say, a rage meter that provides additional damage (crits? minicrits?) when activated - but for the time being, the best course of action would be to revert the Righteous Bison back to its pre-Meet Your Match stats.



Thank you for taking the time to read this. Please consider signing and showing your support for the Righteous Bison! Let's make Valve prove that they do listen to their community :)