@Tsukento:
I disagree here.
Scout: He only receives a 25 health bonus (boosting his HP to 150), which is still devastatingly weak. A Pyro or Heavy can still very well deal with him.
lol, devastatingly weak, that's a funny one
Countless are the times Scout fights end with one dead and the other near death, +10 would already be a big help
Soldier: Soldier only receives a +20% resistance to Sentry gun attacks. Going with this set means you can only rely on your Blackbox as your way of shooting people from a distance, as you cannot use the Shotgun for the boosted effects. Plus the new banner relies on having you take damage in order for it to be used for your team. In all honesty, the Buff Banner is a better item for charging in to enemy territory.
The Buff Banner is harder to charge, with the Black Box and the Backup, you can charge your bar fairly easily (I've done so quite a few times, and I suck at Soldier), now, imagine not only making you stronger, but even giving you another boost against Sentries to top it off
Pyro: His set states a downside - he's 10% more vulnerable to bullets. While he moves faster, he's much more prone to getting mowed down by Scouts and Heavies, particularly when they have the Shortstop, Force-a-Nature or Natascha equipped.
This is one is arguable, I'd say its a great tradeoff that is useful in 90% of the cases, for Ambushing and for Chases
Sniper: While he cannot be killed by headshots, he's effectively screwed in close combat as he has to then rely on using a non-headshotting rifle and knife that increases his chances of dying by fire. Not only this, but he's also left himself open to getting backstabbed as the shield item does not actually prevent backstabbing. This means he can't combat Spies too well, either, as if one were to equip Jarate and the Tribalman's Shiv, they have a chance of making the Spy run away as being pissed on and bleeding out makes them stand out and take more damage.
True, he deals far better with Snipers, though
Spy: This is the second set that specifies a negative attribute - his cloaking/uncloaking visuals last a bit longer than usual, making him become an obvious Spy. While the sound may not be as obvious, a good Spy checker should be capable of dealing with this without a problem.
100% wrong, you clearly don't play as a Spy if you think this, the sound is almost null now, you really need to be far more concentrated to hear something, there's absolutely no disadvantage whatsoever with using the hat over not using it, even with the negative stats in consideration
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And I can't help but feel you missed the whole point of what I meant
Not…really. Anyone could have the weapons and still lose to someone without them. People seem to forget about the fact that a good player can make due with what he/she has. Yeah, anyone can also get lucky with the new weapons and become cheap, but one can also do just as well without the new weapons.
Two players with the same skill set and the same weapons, one has a hat, the other hasn't
The one with the hat plays better.
Its really not that hard, this is an unfair disadvantage that comes from something that was supposed to be cosmetic, nothing to argue here