digibutter.nerr

[rawrskey]

My opinions on the new Pyro.

The Pyro has always been cannon fodder, forced to hide around corners and ambush people, he has always had little to no range, and out in the open he is almost completely useless. Each of the new improvements on the Pyro have DEFINITE advantages... but also definite weaknesses.

Standard flamethrower Special Fire (puff of air): While you can deflect rockets back at enemies if they're going for a body shot, any intelligent soldier knows to aim for the feet with rockets. If a rocket is coming at you from an angle, puffing it will just send it down at your feet. Sure, it'll be farther away, but an explosion is an explosion. As for level 3 turrets... the rockets can be deflected a thousand times, but the fact remains that the miniguns are still there, so there's no reason for engineers to complain.

Flare Gun: This gives the pyro burning range, but it also has a terrible weakness... it's not a hard-hitting weapon at all. It's basic damage is utterly TERRIBLE, and it relies almost entirely on burning opponents. This is far worse against other Pyros. Not only that, but long-range it's nothing more than an annoyance, as the person that got hit will just run away and find a dispenser or a medic and laugh it off. And what makes it all even worse is that it can't be fired underwater, so if your foe decides to hop in, you're stuck with your axe. And if you have the new fire axe equipped... just give up, it's hopeless.

Fire Axe: This relies entirely on you lighting your opponent up... and honestly, how many times out of ten will an opponent who has been caught on fire stand still or walk towards you? They'll obviously try to create some distance, and you're not going to be able to throw this axe. I've always seen the axe as a desperation weapon, for when you're out of ammo on everything else, or otherwise just don't have time to aim.

the New Flamethrower: By far the most overpowered weapon we have yet. It gives the pyro extra health, and does more damage, at the sacrifice of that useless little puff of air. At the same time, however, it gives the Pyro that edge he has always needed in order to stand a chance in larger battles, and so it automatically bumps up the flamethrower from "underpowered" to "almost overpowered."

Shotgun: Old weapon, but it deserves my comments. Though it gives the appearance of a weapon with the range of six feet, you can hit people from a hundred feet away with it. It's not enough to do much damage, but it'll certainly scare snipers away, and that's the goal of the flare gun. When up against scouts, the shotgun is much easier to hit them than a flare gun, because the spread makes it far easier to hit them. There is no silly arcing, either, it's just a straightforward shot that does significant damage, and allows for underwater battles, and also aids the pyro in distance battles far better than a flare gun.

My opinion? The Pyro's main flamethrower gun is perhaps too powerful, but the Flare gun is really too weak. The new Fire Axe is almost entirely pointless, more-so than the original axe. The Pyro isn't an overpowered class, and can't outgun an intelligent soldier just because of his useless puff of air.

My recommended setup for Pyro?
New Flamethrower
Shotgun
Old Axe

[Paper_Waluigi]

If I ever get a PC good enough to run it or the consoles get the new weapons, I'll just get the Backburner and use the original shotgun/axe. The only thing I ever use the shotgun for is damaging enemies who are already on fire, especially if they happen to be Soldiers. Lighting people up from a distance could be helpful, but the shotgun on its own is really important.