I pretty much have to agree with giller. The only exception on the uber as I simply don't operate well as an ubered soldier. Otherwise I still have no problem as a soldier racking up a decent ktd and pushing the objectives of the map. Frankly I still believe this class is one of the top "game winners" in terms of acomplishing objectives. True the class is taking more and more skill to play as opposed to when it started and was the best idea for a beginner class. Only thing I'm really unhappy about is the slow speed of walking. Bumping this up would be a big plus for me. I like to get in close to the enemy so he can't avoid my rockets and this causes much more damage than those annoying blokes who think its effective to rocket snipe from 2fort battlements or comparable distances.
Sure it works, but up close in mid range is the soldiers battlefield.

You're feisty today! I was just making a joke.

Rawr!

Please never change who you are...not for me. I love you just the way you are. You will always be my AxelRed. *sniffle*

Really? Have you looked at the pyro? Fast, huge damage at medium/short range, can take down sentries easily, can redirect half the weapons in the game, can single-handedly counter ubers with one mouse button, can set enemies on fire, can put out fire, and can redirect sentry fire. And a blind player who has never played before can simply hold M1 and W and probably get at least one kill before dying.

Soldiers used to make mincemeat of pyros, but now a good pyro will taunt over the soldier's charred corpse after he has redirected the soldier's extremely slow rockets. Of course, that doesn't happen to me that often, but if a pyro hits you once as a soldier, you have to retreat to find health.

My main beef is that every update usually hurts the soldier and Valve makes a point of coming out and saying, "Hey, we just lowered rocket splash damage again" or "For reasons nobody can understand, we've increased soldier self-splash damage to what enemies take. To balance that, soldiers can now rocket jump and only take 45 damage sometimes. The other times will make them take the usual 85" or "We've increased rocket falloff again so coupled with our decreased splash, don't expect to hit anyone or anything for more than 35 damage at long ranges." Did anyone actually think the soldier was broken enough that a fucking rocket will now only do 33 damage when it lands 2 feet away from someone who is 60 feet away and a paltry 45 with a direct hit at that range? What's it made out of? Sharp confetti? A light bulb that burns out when it hits? A red/orange tennis ball? Does half of the warhead of the rocket fall off every 20 feet, because the damage shouldn't decrease over distances if the explosion is determined by the warhead on the missile.

Like Giller, I usually play soldier solo and typically do a good job, I think, but it takes a good soldier to counter other classes effectively, and despite being listed as an "offense" class, playing solo effectively relies on several circumstances that the soldier can rarely control. Namely, stupid enemies who are fairly far away from you.

Simply average players of most classes can either take a soldier down or counter him enough that he has to retreat.

The fact is that the soldier is not particularly exceptional at anything. If you're good with it, you can fake it enough that you look good, but there are classes that can always do whatever you're trying to do better. He used to be able to kill surprised heavies at a medium/close range, but now he's flipping a coin.

Of course every single class update has made that class more powerful. Maybe the soldier will at least be equal to what he was before, but that's not as much of an update as a reversion.

once again, i remind soldier players demo's have been nerfed pretty much every time soldiers have been too, and they don't have guns or as much health and they're not that much faster, if you're going to grieve, make it a table for two :/

Demos aren't that much faster?

Between base speed and sticky jumping, they aren't slow by any means...not like the Soldier.

One thing I do feel strongly about is the self damage for Soldiers and Demos...that should be reduced.

I have played soldier...a little bit.

Solo soldiering is great.
You just have to think about your suroundings and the area around your target/s. Know when to fall back and know how to split up attacking team members and pick them off. Always fire where your target is going to be not where he is. If you can't get a direct shot use the splash to it fullest and try to juggle the little guys as it throws thier aim off and allows you to finish them off.

Dont forget you have a fucking shotgun.
I really hate seeing soldiers that die mid reload. If you fired you last round and failed to kill your target you need to switch to shotty. If you are not using it as a soldier your doing yourself a diservice. Many times I have fired a rocket at a pyro just to get him to use some canned air (damage zero) as I pumped shotty rounds into his gasmask. Make sure you don't fire dirctly at him. Aim the rocket to the left right or feet so his deflection blows up near him not you.

My thoughts on spaming from range.
It has its uses. It keeps people running for cover. If they are running for cover that means they are not firing at you which in turn lets you move forward safely. Think of it as covering fire for both yourself and your teammates. Even the U.S. Military uses this tactic. I like to imagine it as hearding cattle with projectile explosives.

A soldier with a good medic is a wonderful combo.
By good medic I mean a medic that knows when to turn off the med gun and add to the attack. That fucker has weapons too and it just might make the difference between you both living or dieing if he or she adds to the damage at the right moment and then switches back to the medi gun. There is a big difference between try to keep a medic alive and dragging some useless medic along on your attack with you.

Possibilties or wishes:
1. A napalm round like the pyro had in TFC.
2. Guided rockets like HL 1 (still takes skill to fly them and makes you vunerable)
3. Tommy gun. Similar to snipers. A better cone of fire than the shotty.
4. Bayonet or K-Bar...I would love to see a soldier backstabing a spy.
5. First aid kit for self and others. Similar to TFC medic kit where you had to be touching the guy you where healing.
6. Combat boots that would let you kick as the melee attack and would do push back like the pyros do to ubers. I would love to kick bitches all over the map. Especially kick a pesty sniper right off the sniper deck to his death.
7. Morphine injections that would make you take away say 25% of incoming damage for a short time.
8. MRLS. Multiple Rocket Lanching System. With a medic can you see all 4 crit rockets coming at you.
Think "Contra" S-Gun in a spread or alt fire that will just launch all 4 rockets (or remainder loaded) in rapid succession on the same trajectory.

As for now:
The dificulty that comes with playing the soldier is its reward. I hope when they do update the class it dosent make it overpowered as that would take away from the fun of trying to kill creatively.

I'd like to see who thinks the soldier is a weak class when I get back in town!

Valve can nerf the soldier to one rocket and I'd still own with it.

As for the pyro yes they are OP on 30 man pub servers but in small 5 v 5 or 6v6 matches they're not the best choices to make.

Other than that I'm quite happy with everything as is. If they add something new I'll adapt to it and own like always.

And there you have my worthless contribution to this topic.