Playing as the Heavy in Team Fortress 2 may make you a lethal powerhouse of a man, but behind every Giant Man is a smaller man with a Medi Gun.
That man is the Medic, an essential piece of the Team Fortress 2 puzzle.
Unlike the Heavy, the Medic doesn’t say much. His job is to follow the Heavy and his other fellow warriors into battle, making sure bursts of flame, machine-gun fire and rockets - and other assorted explosives - don’t cause any of them to fall and respawn.
A good Medic is selfless, like his real-life counterpart on the field of battle. No one switches to Medic because they want glory. They switch because they want to be the best team-player they can possibly be.
In the beginning of a match, you saddle up with the Heavy: your closest thing to a brother-at-arms in this corporation-eat-corporation world. You keep him healed as though his death would mean your own as you run out of the gate. And in a sense, it will be. If the Heavy is down, you’re next.
You need to diversify your options though. See a Soldier on fire? Run over to him. Douse him with healing . Make sure he’s good to go.
See a Scout humiliated with Jarate? Heal him up as well.
These are the types of things you need to consider while playing doctor. You’re not here to rain death, destruction or anything in between upon the opposing team; you’re here for one purpose only.
You’re here to heal.
You head back to the Heavy, who has revved up his minigun, like a chainsaw ready to cut through his enemies, your enemies, our enemies. The opening team opens fire on him, the smart one’s may open fire on you, but you’re too quick for that. You use the Heavy’s fleshy exterior to block the incoming explosions, bullets and fireballs.
You’re here to heal, dammit, and that’s what you’re going to do.
The Heavy starts making some progress and down goes the first fallen enemy. What class he is doesn’t matter. What matters is that he’s dead, set to respawn in another 15 seconds or so. Buying you some time to wrack up your ÜberCharge meter.
You Kill-Assisted there. But that’s what you’re supposed to do. A good Medic doesn’t get kills, unless in the most dire of circumstances. And you’re a good Medic - so that’s exactly what you do.
Another one down from your Heavy comrade. Another one bites the dust. Your ÜberCharge meter is doing quite well. Luckily, you’re largely uninjured and passively regenerating health from the power of just holding your near-mythical Medi Gun; it’s way more than just a modified fire hose nozzle wrapped in duct tape.
Your Heavy comrade? Well he’s doing just fine.
Soon though, as you round a corner - distracted by other targets - a Pyro comes flying through an unchecked passageway, dousing both you and your Heavy comrade in flames.
You sound like the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz. In reality, that’s not far from the truth.
Your Heavy Comrade screams out something else inaudible, and runs for the hills. He doesn’t want to die to this Pyro. So much for teamwork.
You turn around and rather than turn tail and run, you face this fiery menace. He’s nothing like the Pyros back in Germany. You equip your syringe, backpedaling - shooting dozens and dozens of needles into his fleshy fire suit as he rushes toward 
you, his cone of flame just out of your reach.
In just ten seconds, with no help from either team, you make quick work of the lumbering idiot.
“Zat vas doktor-assisted homicide!”
Not wanting to get involved, a second Medic goes toward you and heals what damage you had from the flames that licked your lab-coat.
You’re better than him of course. You’re the primary Medic on this team. He’s just back-up. But sometimes, the cavalry needs to come in at the right time, and the here the timing was perfect.
Still, you’re polite. He might just be a pacifist or something. Or perhaps just a bad Medic.
After exchanging pleasantries with your fellow Doktor, your run forward out in the carnage ahead. You step over the corpse of your Heavy comrade, a half-eaten Sandvich in hand.
Is there no loyalty anymore.
You see a Soldier struggling taking down a well-entrenched enemy turret, with an enemy engineer on hand to repair it. Your ÜberCharge meter now full, you back up the Soldier, turning him into an invincible rocket breathing machine.
With your help, the Soldier shoots rocket after rocket into both Engineer and his turret, making quick work of both. With the primary point of contention down, the rest of your team, including the respawned Heavy, rouses and captures the point.
Upwards and onwards men, your rejoin the Heavy and move forward, forgiving his past blunders through a combination of patience and science.
Like the Healer in an old school RPG, you have pushed your team to limits that they would not have otherwise have achieved. Your kill count may not be the highest, your score might not be the highest, but in a sense, you’re the MVP. Without you, none of this would have been possible.
Remember that; Medic-ing is far from a thankless job. It’s a lifestyle, and one you need to perfect to drive your team to new highs.
Daniel Horowitz
@horowitzcentral
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