TF2 Duo Queue 143

Soldier | Heavy, Borneo (PL), 19-3-2023

Even though I've played quite a bit of TF2 (coming up on 7000 hours according to my Steam stats), there's still a number of weapons I've (almost) never used. Usually either because they're underpowered (Righteous Bison, Huo-Long Heater, most stock melee weapons), or because they don't fit my playstyle (Thermal Thruster, Wrangler). But sometimes for another reason, as was the case with the Cow Mangler 5000.
When this weapon was first added to the game, it was horribly unoptimized, I mean from a graphical game engine standpoint. The projectile it fired apparently had more polygons than the whole Pyro model!!! Back then (2011) I had a pretty crappy PC, so that means that whenever I tried to use the weapon (or whenever someone used it near me!), my framerates would drop. Which as I'm sure you can imagine, was incredibly infuriating.
Later I upgraded my computer (and Valve also optimized the weapon better), but by then I had all forgotten about the CM. Until the other day, when I suddenly realized that maybe I should give it another go. This is one of my first matches finally giving the Cow Mangler a proper try after twelve years, lol. (I went and got myself a Strange one, they're like 18 cents on the Marketplace.)