Surely the location of the dispencer is strategic? (I play alot of rts games so I think about this kind of thing) For instance you dont want to put it next to other health packs or ammo packs, no do you want to put it right next to the CP, you want to try to combine this with obstructing a props movement while being in an easily accessible place for hunters (RTS nerd out over)
I suppose that placing the dispenser in order to provide optimal health and ammo is a strategic part of engie play, however it's not necessary. If you want to figure out the best places to put your dispenser, be my guest. I'm sure the rest of the BLU team will thank you. I simply find it unnecessary - it's faster in 100% of cases to kill a prop and get health or find a health pack. Also, most maps have enough metal that finding ammo isn't much of a problem but on the other one - I'm looking at you, CCHotel - a dispenser can be kind of nice.
That being said, I'm still of the opinion that using a building to either completely block access or trap a prop in an area is griefing. If you want to block one door of a two door house, good job. If you want to use your dispenser + yourself to completely block off access to an area or trap a prop inside you're no better in my mind than someone who wants to hide under the map or ghost people. Not that I necessarily think either of those is wrong but they're against the rules or something.
PH in general is not played as a team mode, most people just mindlessly go after kills and it makes it a really shallow mode. That said if you play engie as a support class rather than a hunter not only is it more fun, but it's a lot more interesting. It is the biggest problem with PH imo, people who just tryhard for kills.
Why should it be a team mode? Right now, it works like any other pub. Sure, there's a team but everyone either lone wolfs or works in small groups with friends. If I can get more points than the rest of my team put together on a pretty consistent basis why should I rely on them to be a team with me? As the skill level of ph in general goes up - instead of having 90%+ not really know what they're doing, 9% pretty decent - maybe played for a week or so, and 1% roll over everyone else - there will be more incentive to work as a team.
Besides, I get rewarded individually in the form of rank points, scoreboard points, and speed boosts. Why do I want to share those with other people?
When I play engie I usually pick a spot where props most often run to when being chased, set up my dispenser in the best spot to block or slow them down, and not really go for kills....just sort of funnel the props to my teammates and assist when I can. If there isn't much traffic I just start clearing the bottom floor usually with my melee.
Remember, the people that you're funnelling to will, in the majority of cases, not be able to hit a prop that knows what the space bar is.
Turning the engie into a hunting class by giving him some sort of jump is a bad idea imo. I would rather see a Short Circuit that slows props when hit, we have enough hunting classes, we need at least 1 good support class. And because engie wouldnt get many kills doing this it wouldn't upset the rankings or anything by changing one of the classes and there isn't a need to balance the Short Circuit because the metal cost is insane already.
Bushwacka jumping and slow effect on the Short Circuit.
No. NO. Nononononono.
Think. Besides hiding, what is the ONLY thing that RED has to protect themselves from BLU?
Their movement.
Why do you think people hate miniguns besides the high damage output? Why do you think airblast is disabled? They both hinder or completely deny the scout's movement. Imagine prop hunt if once a scout was found, they couldn't move. Who would play? 3 minutes of respawn after a shot bit hiding? Boring.