Does the Heavy need the Medic?

From my playing experience so far, it seems that, without a medic, a heavy can rarely stay alive long, especially when attacking a point, or going into enemy territory.  (i know the heavy is a defense class, but all the other defense classes are at least decent at attacking)

You need to play Heavy like a Pryo.  And don't be afraid to run away for health.  You have to know your limits as a class and live by them.

the class is very dependant to his teammates as a heavy you are a high priority target because you are the only one who exceeds the soldiers and demoman's damage capabilities. a heavy can mow down a single opponent in less than 3 seconds therefore you become more valuable when you pair up with a medic. on the other hand other people should use the heavy as a shield and revolve around the big guy and use him as a decoy or suppressive fire. honestly there are different ways of playing heavy. there is the ambush heavy, the mow-down heavy, the defensive heavy, decoy heavy. if you are creative enough with the class and you have a great medic buddy it will greatly increase the chance of you surviving heavy firefights. but as for backstabs just hope that they miss.

the heavy is the only class that can survive a crit rocket and crit sticky(sometimes) head on

No class NEEDS the medic, but it helps a lot. I notice on pubs that most idiots try to kill the heavy, which helps build an uber. The other idiots who try to play heavy think they are invincible and run straight into sentry fire and like 10 enemies. I can see how the heavy can die a lot, but they can also completely change the outcome if you play with them right.

Sorry about the empty post. Still getting familiar with posting.

Anyways, i realized what i was specifically asking.

The minigun seems like a two-edged sword, but the edge facing the player is much more dangerous than its benefits.  (realized that I butchered the saying and the usage)

I know that your placement when you spin up is key, to catch players out of cover, but the heavy is so slow, that I can rarely get into place to be effective.  And I usually get caught in the cool down time by some scout or soldier or demoman. 
Should I just use the minigun less?
I really want to like the heavy, but he just doesn't seem that good right now.

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QFT

Seriously though, when a heavy walks in the room, al of a sudden all the fire goes on him, so yes I would say that the heavy would need a medic most of the time.

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QFUT

They don't ~always~ need a medic, but the alternative to having a medic is bailing out of combat whenever you take a bit of damage. Since heavies are so goddamn slow, running around gathering health is not a very good use of time. Ditto with running back from spawn. It's not to say you can't be effective without a medic, but you do a lot more fucking around and wasting time if you don't have a medic.

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While being mobile, as in attempting to go to a base or capture point have your shotgun out.  The Heavy's shotgun is under-rated.  It can kill most classes in three good shots.  It is quite good.

Learn to rely on all your weapons.

Like I said, whenever your not spinning Sasha attempting to get kills have your shotty out.  You have to put just a little bit of time into the Heavy to really learn his limits.  Once you do you will know to when to rev up and when not to.  When to have the shotgun out, and when to have Sasha out.

When I play Heavy sometimes I'm top of the board, sometimes not.  But, I always have a positive KPD(kill per death) ratio, and I'm always a huge distraction to the other team.  That's another key role as Heavy;  To be a giant distraction and thorn in the side of the enemy.  When you pop out all fire is aimed at you.  That is good and bad.  The good is that it frees up every single one your teammates to do all the killing for you.  The whole time your minigun is throttled away severely weakening ANYONE it hits, making it much easier for your team to kill them.  The bad is that you are the center of attraction, but that can be offset by keeping a close eye on your health.  A Heavy who is out of the fight for 30 seconds to grab health is better than a full minute or more from respawning and waddling back to the front lines.