1 medic, 3 teammates.Who to heal first?

Too many times I have seen a heavy go into battle with a pyro and a medic, but the medic is healing the pyro, who has to get close to do any real damage. The medic gets burned, and the big slow heavy is left all alone to face 2 Lv. 3 SG's and a slew of opposition. You can back off from the SG's, but the othet team does move around a little. Here's my opinion on who should be healed first. It will vary a little for what your goal is. 

When attacking non- fortified position (no SG's):
Heavy (either stay around a corner or crouch directly behind him), Soldier, Demoman, Pyro, Engie, Sniper, Scout and Spy ONLY if he is badly injured and far from home, and alone. WAIT for the spy to ask to be healed. It is annoying when you have a mission and some Medic comes along and overcharges you. It takes a while for the particle effect to go away, and it stays even if you cloak.

When attacking a fortified position:

Demoman (he can take out a SG farm with one attack when ubered) Heavy, Soldier, Pyro

I left out the Sniper, Scout and Spy because they shouldnt even be there when attacking. Snipers should be @ distance, not on the front lines. Scouts should be avoiding the bullet festival and spys should DEFINITELY not be there. If they are and need healed, they are of the least importance and can move faster anyway.

You're making this really complicated.

1. If they're near you and need a heal, heal them.
2. The stronger the risk they have for dying, the more you should prioritize them.
3. If they are smart, they will use cover effectively and allow you a chance to heal them. If they don't, they're probably suicidal and not worth healing anyway.

You're not just making it too complicated, you're also wrong. Scouts are usually to be found right in the middle of the battle, gunning for the enemy medic, and it's very important to top them up before they head into the fight. And snipers should totally be on the front lines - remember that a sniper who's even slightly buffed can survive a snap headshot from the enemy sniper, so even a flick of the medibeam can save his life.

Livebait's got it - heal everyone, all the time. If they're gonna die, heal them first. If everyone's at full health or near, and there's a soldier, demoman or scout, overheal them first, because they're waiting to jump or sprint away.

You're not going to have time to think in battle - ok this is my battle plan lets heal the scouts, heal the medics. You just do it - and the way to do it is to keep on practicing, and eventually common sense will take over when you're playing and you'll subtly realize "oh yes I need to buff the other medics first". 

Heal all of them

if you have a soldier on 100 or so health getting shot at focus on him till he's not under pressure, look around a bit and top off any freshly respawned classes you may see so they can hold the enemy off a bit longer. focus on keeping the people you don't intend to uber as healthy as possible since they won't have 10 seconds to go from near dead to overhealed

U know, i probably did make it overcomplicated. But I also said it was my opinion (an opinion is neither right nor wrong) and I am thankful for input. I have recently been playing medic more (still only as needed) and yeah, I just heal whoever needs it most. Medic is one of my least favorite classes but it seems the team always needs one.

Quote:

It's great that you've taken up the medigun - there aren't enough of us medics around!


I'm not sure that's quite true. If there's a way to measure how good an approach is (which there is in TF2 - it's called your score, or the benefit you bring to the team) then a strategy can be judged better or worse. How closely your opinion of the best strategy matches the actual best strategy determines to what extent your opinion is right or wrong!

I also said it was my opinion (an opinion is neither right nor wrong)

Going to be a little anal here, but this is one of my pet peeves. Saying something wrong, then saying "Well, it's just my opinion so it can't be wrong" to attempt to give yourself immunity from criticism doesn't work. Observe.

In my opinion, 2 + 2 should equal 5.

Doesn't matter that I think that. Either my statement is wrong and/or I have some faulty basis for that statement. Either way, there's no way in hell 2 + 2 should equal 5 unless you're not grounded in reality.

O, now u just want to argue. I thanked everyone for their input and admitted they were right, I do heal whoever needs it most. Any educated man will tell you an opinion cannot be right or wrong. Look it up. And if you believe it SHOULD equal 5, then you cant be wrong, even if it does noe equal 5. If you believe it DOES equal 5, then you are wrong. 

Anyway, I thank the rest of you again, I have visited more class specific tips and strategies for the medic and hope I can help you on the battlefield. See  you there!