The Backburner makes things like they used to be, only you’re stronger, and if you play smart, you do better. It’s a “make everything better” weapon.

And the air blast seems like a shield from rockets that runs on ammo. I’m not sure how precise you need to be, but for an alert and competent pyro it seems very easy to deflct a rocket, so long as you see it.

Pyros (Pyroes? Plural plz?) seldom land surprise axe-blows on me, and if I’m on fire, I know he’s there. And when I see a pyro, I run, and then he has to catch me.

Again, I play on consoles, so everything I say is a distant observation, not opinions I formed after hours of fighting with and against the weapons.

On Goldrush, I can no longer try to stop the cart from moving while using rockets without inevitably killing myself. The shotgun just doesn’t cut it in this situation, because there will almost always be at least two people you have to fight.

Second, I think I’ve killed myself three or four times now from shooting scouts that managed to get infront of me in the heat of battle. We both die, but the soldier is so slow that he can’t really aford to be dying in such a stupid way.

The only exception to these events was when I had a medic on me, so I guess that soldiers are gonna hate the heavies on their team for taking away the medics they need to not kill themselves all the time.

So basically

Backburner: 25 more health, no fall off
Flamethrower: compression blast, fall off damage

I think that’s pretty equal, right?

People get to play well with Demoman, Soldier, Scout and etc, but it only needs 1 sec of distraction to a stupid Pyro noob to kill you, without any skill. They only need to press the shot button and follow you.

Another problem: it’s hard to distinguish wich Pyro you’re taking on, if its the 175hp or 225hp. That was pretty stupid from Valve. For 225hp, the Pyro should increase 30% in size too. He’s stronger than a Soldier now? Pathetic.

Yes, there are certain choke-points where enclosed spaces are unavailable. However, even in these cases….”

That was a well constructed post, and you make some good points.

Having played some more I’ve found my survivability in such situations has improved a lot. Partly through tactics and partly through using the shotty at point blank range (where it’s devastating, although random shot pattern and collimation can make it a bit of a lottery).

I’d wanna play against people more my skill level but I’m definately seeing it as less of a constraint now.

However I still think that should put back some degree of damage falloff on the flame, it’s a lightsaber at the moment! And that’s from someone who’s being playing pyro excessively over that last few days

PS: Has anyone tested if you jump as you fire at someone do you still get the damage reduction?

Yes, there are certain choke-points where enclosed spaces are unavailable. However, even in these cases, Valve has been very meticulous in providing multiple options, even between choke points. As you point out, you must take a tunnel to progress between A and B in Dustbowl 1–however, you have your choice of three different tunnels. Four if you count mid-right and far-right as different. These tunnels are high-risk for both sides, all classes. That doesn’t mean any particular class is at a disadvantage, it means that there is a high opportunity both for a easy kill and to be killed. There are plenty of times when I’ve turned defended this section and destroyed an unsuspecting attacker; there are also plenty of times when I’ve turned a corner and instantly found myself dead-to-rights.

To bring it back to the original complaint: yes, if you go soldier and equip rockets and go into these tunnels alone and turn a corner into an ambush, you are at a disadvantage. If this disturbs you that much, I advise you equip shotty while turning corners (yes its only effective at close range but that’s what you’re complaining about, right?). However, you’ll lose the opportunity to possibly catch someone unprepared at the far-end of the tunnel. It’s give-and-take. Personally, I play agressively and will take any opportunity to kill an opponent, even if I gib myself in the process, but that’s just me.

(Actually, the above is not a entirely fair statement–you aren’t “at a disadvantage” in close-quarters. Soldiers still deal massive damage up-close, its just that they have a much lower chance of surviving the encounter themselves. It hardly comparable to, say, catching a pyro at a distance or sneaking up close to a sniper or discovering a cloaked spy.)

eh? Who’s complaining about the shotgun? It has it’s use, which is to finish off the wounded. Making the observation that it’s not an effective substitute is not a complaint about the shotgun, the post was lamenting the self damage nerf (where am I asking for the shotty to be buffed?).

PS: It’s not really relevent to the debate but would you care to name the six classes that carry the shotgun?

When trying to engage in debate it’s best not to use sarcasm, the intent of which is usually to make fun of someone….

Anyway, you make valid point and that is that weapon choice is very important. Unfortunately it’s been my experience that the shotgun and melee weapon are pretty poor. The melee weapon is only useful at point blank range and the soldier is so slow you cant chase people down, so once you’re spotted you’re screwed.

The shotgun’s primary use appears to be to finish off retreating enemies. You might be able to do significant damage with it close range but, again, being so slow you just cannot keep an ememy in the killing range (unless they are clueless). Of course the situation would be different if they enabled instant weapon switch (please god no!!)

As I mentioned before the area between capture points on the first stage of dustbowl is murder right now, and there are no alternative routes. Besides the different routes are supposed to provide access to different area’s in the map, having ‘no go’ areas for soldiers doesnt seem too smart.

That said I feel I’m overstating the issue, it’s not really that bad. It’s taken an adjustement in playing style but it could be I still have a little further to go.

The jury’s still out.

As for the damage falloff, I think that was actually retarded. It was about as smart a move as if they’d taken away the soldier/demoman’s explosive damage fall off.

I heard rumors that Valve was going to give the solgier a shotgun and a melee weapon to help compensate for the rocket launcher’s shortcomings. I also heard that they were going to modify all their official maps to provide multiple paths between key map points to give players the option to avoid tight enclosed spaces, should they chose.

I’m afraid that now it seems that when playing a solgier in a enclosed space (like the air ducts in turbine) is now suicide with the damage reduction removed. Its not that I think I should be able to fight a pyro when he’s right up to me, its that I don’t like dying by my own rockets when I’m trying to fight off somebody who just turned the corner, usualy I’m not fighting a pyro.

-Everyone thinks that the pyro needed to be powered up, before this update.
-The air compresion blast was a stroke of genius.

-Most people think the 50hp boost should be 25.
-Most people think that the damage falloff should have been reduced, but not eliminated.

-A lot of people don’t like it that the solgier should have lost the 40% damage reduction, but there are quite a few people that disagree completly

I think all the new weapons, with the exception of the backburner, are much more balanced than the medic ones. Most medics after unlocking the Blutsauger and the Ubersaw never look back on the old weapons (only the Kritzkrieg being the least used), but with the pyro update you have a few more choices.

The flare gun is a fun little gun. It’s so satisfying to ignite a sniper on the other end of a map. You can also, if used right, ambush people with it adding a bit more to the element of surprise the pyro has. However, it’s near useless for taking down fleeing enemies already ignited or other pyros.

The thing great about a pyro is less is better. A pyro is made for ambushing people, to surprise them; have them fleeing away from the frontline to give your team extra time. But when you start to get dozens and dozens of pyros, the surprise is lost and everyone is much more aware of the pyros presence. A bit like spies – if you have a team of half a dozen spies, the enemy is going to become really paranoid and start spy checking a lot more. Sometimes, less is more.

I’ve always been able to take down Heavy and Medic combos, even before the update was released. Not saying I’m some sort of God-like pyro who can make people combust into flames just by giving them an evil stare, but you just need to practice on how to use the class. I was actually very surprised about how unpopular the pyro actually was – everyone was saying he was too weak, not good, needs tweaking etc. I thought that the pyro wasn’t bad at all.