Demoman is VERY hard to play as, anyone agree?

First off THIS IS NOT BASHING DEMOMAN. He is amazing in the right hands, and if you don't believe me watch, Octon and Helter (or Hellblazer) play, and you'll see what I'm talking about.

Anyway's, the Demoman is very hard to play as, since his nades aren't typical nades. They're hard to master, because you have to know how to lob them, or where to lob them and such.

His sticky's are even harder. I've seen people toss them on the floor, and some unsuspecting person walks by and boom. I've tried this myself, but it's hard to put the sticky in a hidden place, and still be able to hit the opponent.

And with One VS One, you have to anticipate the movement of the opponent and then place you're nades/stickys accordingly. Then you have to detonate them in time.

But I really want to play good as the Demoman! He's really cool, and if anyone has tips they would be appreciated!

It has become harder for the demo with the update on the nades stoping them from detonating on hit after a bounce.
The demo has to be smart and anticipate where the player will be going, so for an average all rounder, this is hard. But for a fully loaded demo (octan and helter for example) this comes with ease

I would say easy to play hard to master.

I am working on My Level 3 Demoman Mastery.

I've learned to lure people into stickies if they get too close. I've always been fairly decent with the nade lobs though.

I have an easier time with him than the Soldier. You don't even have to be that good at anticipating where the enemy will be. Resist the temptation to blow up your stickies every 3 seconds and let a few accumulate. If your enemy isn't rushing you or retreating, he's likely to be in range of an explosion after you've laid down 3 or 4.

Demoman is a very fun class to play, as he has no real 'point and click' weapons he just requires a different strategy to the other classes.

Obviously with the default grenade launcher everyone aims to hit them before the first bounce and exact on their opponent instant explodey goodness, however do not forget about the grenades that missed. On more than one occasion I've had a crit grenade miss only to have it hit the medic healing them or somebody following them.

Also stickies are IMO one of the most fun weapons in the game, nothing like blowing up a heavy that thinks hes invincible just because he has a medic suckered onto him. and they are brilliant at destroying sentry guns even if they are quite a distance away, they have a large blast radius.

But really, I don't think Demomen are Hard  to play, just different.

Demoman ... hard?   Not sure I would say that ...   He's a hell of a lot more involved than the 'point and shoot' soldier.   In order to play a soldier .. you need to be thinking one step ahead of your enemy so that you can predict where he is going to be when your rocket impacts.    In order to play demoman well, you need to be thinking two or three steps ahead ... the arc of your own projectiles, where your enemy is heading ... and where your enemy is going to head when he sees your stickies.    He also lacks an effective direct fire weapon (unless you get really good at aiming that nade launcher).

Demoman takes practice, but that practice pays off tenfold into a class  that is fun to play, and if played right, hits HARDER than the soldier.

One peice I would advise is to avoid static sticky traps, keep tossing and then detonating stickies ... use them to discourage enemies to mad rush you, and then use your nades to pound them where they stand.   Nade when moving forward, sticky when backtracking, and don't be afraid to switch if one isn't working ... because the other generally will.

It's no secret that the two most fear-inspiring players on our servers primarily play demoman. Helter and Octon.

Personally, I would say Demoman is the most difficult and least played class of mine.  On another note - he's also the other class i die to the most (mostly helter).  I have a hard time with the projectile and easier time w/ a direct line of sight.

I find it indifferent, fun but it does the jobs of other classes the hard way.

cypher speaks the truth. The main difficulty is knowing the correct job for the task. Laying 8 stickies and waiting is just hamstringing your effectiveness. Unless you are camping defense. Shoot and detonate constantly and you will see your efficiency go up. Knowing when to use which gun is extremely important as well. Knowing when to bottle is also important.