derp

Logic and facts... lol... Well, here we go then.

At a certain point of the game, you earn enough skill that even using no ability at all grants you victory. And yes, as someone who has done 3 victories in a row after basically not even bothering to use Bloodhound's ultimate or tactical, I can confirm that claim. But up to this point, your skill is supported by your abilities, and Caustic is - yes, I will now dare to say the forbidden thing - the easiest to use with biggest effect.

The first statement that people like to use is his size. His gas however is blocking out the view, so how much does size really matter if you don't know his location? Plus, he takes 15% reduced damage. He has 15% higher effective health and shield. Even if you land a couple of shots, he can take more of a beating than you can with a normal character. And no caustic would be stupid enough to just leave his trap there without making use of his most useful trait: Danger vision. This vision alone grants you the ability to hit your target reliably with him having little chances of hitting back.

The second statement that is seemingly used a lot: He's useless in an open field. And yes, that claim is correct. But counter question: Why would a caustic primarily run around in an open field to begin with? Exactly, with a Caustic or Wattson in your group, your primary areas to sit in are buildings or tight tunnels. Any other location would be a waste of the legend's capabilities. And that's the whole point I'm trying to make. Don't pull up some hypothetical happenings that will rarely happen. Most caustics that I have seen, whether it may be in my own group or in other enemy teams have fortified buildings and - if the opportunity is given - camp there. And this is where most of my 'deaths' or 'wins' happened. And that's rarely a fault or upside of my skill, but purely the advantage that is given in a team.

One statement I don't understand: Gibraltar is more powerful than Caustic. How is that relevant? Gibraltar is a completely different role, don't compare apples with oranges. And even then, I've ruined some Gibby's inside their bombarded shields thanks to one magic trick: Slide into the shield and just shoot him. It's that simple. Does that make Bloodhound overpowered now? No, it does not. Neither does you being able to kill Caustic make him anymore fair or useless. And we're still talking about different skill levels here. A newbie is easily going to be frustrated. Just telling him to learn the game will just make him potentially leave. What do you gain from that? Or rather, what do you loose? Think about it.

Gas affects team mates. That's true. But no team mate is forced to stay inside the gas. And as far as I read up on the quality of life improvements, they want to change that so team mates can easily see which is friendly and which isn't, plus more transparency. And there you go, that problem has become an advantage. What then? The point of balancing is to see the amount of advantages compared to the disadvantages. And hypothetical or theoretical happenings are not facts. They're hypothesis. Meanwhile, I can claim my 'statements' as facts for actually experiencing the things I say, or seeing people experience them.

Casting time is not really much of a relevance here. Or actually it is. And I personally find it both unrealistic and too fast. Not too rarely it happens that I get a canister thrown at my face and then exploded near me. Yes, the time I stay in that gas is short, but even just 1 second is enough to turn the tide of a battle. It's one second that you have continuous damage, obscured vision and the enemy knows exactly where you are. With weapons that deal a huge DPS, it's basically a death already. Or maybe you're lucky and your opponent sucks, but is it really the ability being too weak then? Or simply the enemy being incompetent?

Again, skill is a huge factor here, and you can't fixate the balance of a character on high tier skill if it's available in low tier matches. That complains flood the forums is obvious in this regard, isn't it?