Why The Solemn Vow Must Remain Banned

Hey guys,

I have never made a video like this before, but lately something has been happening in TF2 that has gotten me extremely worried about my future enjoyment as a medic main. The last time I got this worried about something TF2 related was when the medic speed buff was released. If you haven't heard, in the most recent iteration of the global whitelist, a few more weapons have gotten unbanned. Whilst the most controversial unbans are the soda popper and the quick fix, and I do agree that those weapons should also remain on the black list, it's the fact that the solemn vow has been considered for unbanning that has me concerned the most.

Now before I go into why the solemn vow should remain banned, I want you to ask yourself this: "why is the darwin's danger shield banned?" The most common answer, and the answer that makes the most sense is that it is what I believe is called a "stalemate weapon". For those that don't know what that is, a stalemate weapon is a weapon which you are forced to run if your opponent is running it, otherwise you will be at a direct disadvantage.

However, let's put ourselves in a hypothetical situation where the danger shield in it's current state isn't banned. 100% of snipers would run it, without a doubt, but should for whatever reason a sniper not run it, they are putting themselves, the player, at a disadvantage. Now, let's put ourselves in the same situation, but now we have the solemn vow unbanned. Any medic that does not run the solemn vow will not only put themselves at a disadvantage, but they will put their entire team at a disadvantage, as the medic will not be able to call out any enemy health for his teammates and will not be able to see the enemy medic's uber percentage. Let me repeat this once more: should they be allowed as weapons, a sniper with a darwin's danger shield only puts himself at an advantage against another sniper, whilst a medic with the solemn vow puts his entire team at an advantage, should the other medic not run the solemn vow. The way I see it, I would legitimately rather have the danger shield unbanned than the solemn vow (though preferably neither).

So what's gonna happen when the solemn vow is actually unbanned for the season? Well, teams are going to force their medics to get off ubersaw and run solemn vow whether they like it or not. And any medics that refuse to do so will get flamed hard by their teams, if not cut immedeatly. Teams are going to have the capability to play safer than ever before, because now they can be 100% sure of whether they can take a fight or not. The metagame in which players try to keep track of their enemies' health will be discarded almost completely, because why try to roughly count how much health an enemy has when your medic has an unlock that can tell that to you accurately for no downside?

The worst part is that these points that I've mentioned aren't even part of why I'm just so concerned about the solemn vow's unbanning. The scariest part to me is that the solemn vow is going to take a lot of fun out of the 6's medic playstyle. As if medic wasn't boring enough of a class to watch, we now have a weapon that actively instructs the medic when to get back. Compare this to the ubersaw, a weapon that actually inspires excitement and encourages high risk high reward plays to the most boring class in the game. This is the part that really hits me hard at home. I love getting frags as medic, even though it's not my job as a class. Infact, that's why I love it even more. It's moments where I juke a bombing soldier, get that round-changing ubersaw kill and baffle both my team and the enemy team that make this class so exciting for me to play.

The solemn vow's allowance in 6v6 actively threatens this aspect of medic. It's a weapon that not only gives the team using it an incredibly unfair advantage, but makes playing medic even less fun. I can promise everyone watching this that I will continue to run the ubersaw until I put this game down, only because I want to have as much fun as possible when playing my favorite class, but what's gonna happen to me and the other medics on the same boat as I am when our teams realize that by enjoying ourselves the same way we have been these past years, us medics are putting our teams at crucial disadvantages? Will they cut us for a more boring medic and an even safer playstyle? My bets are on the very probable side.

This is why I'm making this video. I already hate writing text rants, but I really needed to drive this point home by making it crystal clear. Whoever is incharge of the whitelist, please, please do not allow the solemn vow in the new 6v6 whitelist. I am begging you. I want to keep on playing this class and trooping on as a medic, despite the classes unpopularity as things stand. But allowing the solemn vow will without a doubt ruin this fun that I oh-so lovingly celebrate with this beautiful support class.