Ruukil

May 20th, 2010

* Flamethrower changes
o Increased base damage 10%
o Afterburn duration increased (from 6 to 10)

* Flares that hit a burning player at mid-to-long range will crit

* Reduced Backburner damage bonus from 20% to 15%


April 28th, 2010


* Flamethrower direct damage reduced 20%.

* Burn duration reduced (10 -> 6 seconds).

* Airblast re-fire delay reduced by 25%.

* Airblast ammo usage reduced by 20%.

* All reflected rockets/grenades/arrows now mini-crit.

* Airblasting enemies into environmental deaths now awards the death credit to the Pyro.

Above are the recent updates to the Pyro in TF2. I've been trying to formulate a solid opinion of these updates and as this second update is released I'm beginning to see what was wrong with the first update and what Valve is doing to set it right.

Valve attempted first to update the Pyro to add Mini-crits(+35% Damage) to the reflect. This made reflected rockets something to be feared. What valve attempted to do then was balance the Pyro back out by decreasing direct damage. The statement released was that this was to decrease W+M1 Pyro use. This may have done that, but unfortunately the buff was a bit too much.

Valve realized this and has not changed the Pyro, giving it a 10% boost of damage in the latest update. I'm not entirely sure, but I believe that this also buffs the Backburner. It now does greater damage than what it previously did. This is starting to make the Backburner a very deadly weapon for the smart flanking Pyro. Old school Pyro's and Backburner masters are probably enjoying their damage boost.

What valve did next is to strengthen the Flare gun by giving it a full crit on burning enemies at mid+ range. The flare used to mini-crit on burning enemies at all ranges, but now it rewards the accurate Pyro.

Finally the Afterburn duration was increased to 10 seconds from the previous six. Watch out if you've gotten used to not burning to death, those 10 seconds will last forever.

Overall I think Valve is getting back on track and I see in the future some real mechanics changes to make the gap between the Backburner and Flamethrower. I think This latest update has put the Pyro's damage a little closer to where it should be wile not quite being done yet.

Valve is still tweaking the Pyro right now and users need to try to say what they think wile valve works toward their ideal Pyro.

Finally, my opinion on how the Pyro needs to be.

Flamethrower:

*Afterburn
I feel that the Pyro should have different Afterburn timers for the distance they are when they light the enemy. At the greatest range I feel the Afterburn should only last at most 5 seconds. When a pyro is able to get at point blank range I think Afterburn should kick up to at most about 12 seconds. This would really make people think about the Pyro and how deadly it can be.

*Direct Damage and Range
I think that the damage falloff should be more dramatic. At the same time I think that at point blank range the Pyro should be very deadly. At range I feel that the pyro should either do much less damage or be unable to light enemies on fire unless burning them for some time.

To put that in context, how easy is it to light a cigarette when it sits further from a lighter. The closer you place the end to the fire the quicker it catches, but it can still catch when it's not so close.

For the Backburner I think that to create a gap between the two weapons something could be done about damage falloff to make it more attractive. I don't know what exactly to do, but I have a feeling that is where the Pyro can be worked at to attain the balance needed.

The pyro still has work to be done, but it's on the way. We can thank valve for their hard work and effort to balance and improve the class. I'll make sure to comment on the next update.

Ruukil