pyro

Soldier is OP. (World War Wednesday)

by ZombieSkittles on June 23, 2011

This entry is part 3 of 4 in the series TF2 - The Über Update

The third day of The Über Update has revealed something unexpected; two packs for the same class, and one new weapon for the Pyro. Additionally, they’ve claimed that “We only left out the Engineer”, worrying me that while there is obviously incoming Medic items tomorrow, there will not be any for the Engineer. I don’t like the sound of that, as the Engineer hasn’t gotten a set of items that come with a set bonus either. It seems like he is constantly missing out.

The General’s Formals.

This is definitely the more interesting set to me. The first item in the two piece set is a pair of boots called The Mantreads. They give the Soldier a 75% resistance to “push force taken from damage”, which I assume is specifically tailored to the push generated by the Scout’s Force-A-Nature, and possibly explosives. Additionally, any player you deal damage to by landing on them is tripled.
I see this as a good and bad thing. On one hand it’ll reduce the chance of being thrown into an environmental death or similar, and allow you to control yourself better. On the other hand, since the Mantread-equipped soldier won’t be launched far from where he’s hit, the enemy has a better chance of hitting him and killing him. Additionally, this sounds like it will be impossible to rocket jump. That and the lack of a less-passive secondary item are both pretty big negatives that will probably be enough to keep me sticking with the shotgun.

The Disciplinary Action is the first Soldier specific melee item since the Equalizer in his class update eighteen months ago. It’s abilities are very interesting and team oriented. While this item, which is appropriately modelled as a riding crop, does 25% less damage than stock melee weapons, it gives a speed boost to both the player and whatever teammate is struck with the weapon.
It sounds like a good idea, and I hope to get whipped by plenty of friendly soldiers in future games. Winky face.

Airborne Armaments.

There are many Soldier players who are nothing but amazing with their arsenal. This seems to be a set of weapons to cater to those. To start things off, The Liberty Launcher is a new rocket launcher that has only 3 rockets per clip, but fires those rockets 40% faster.
This rocket launcher makes me think of the Direct Hit, which had 80% faster speed. This new weapon is slower but still has splash damage, which will probably result in it being a popular choice.

Reserve Shooter.pngTo accompany this launcher is The Reserve Shooter, a shotgun built specifically to work with a Rocket Launcher. Half the clip size is lost in exchange for a slightly faster weapon switch. The best thing is that for the first three seconds after switching weapons to The Reserve Shooter, any targets shot that are in the air will take mini-critical damage.
The obvious scenarios where this is perfect is against enemies thrown up into the air by rockets, or the scout double (and I guess now triple jumping) to dodge. It’s going to be interesting encountering Soldiers who use this effectively.

Finally, the second melee weapon the soldier gets in this update is The Market Gardener. It’s a shovel that deals out no random critical hits, instead dealing out guaranteed critical hits when rocket jumping.
It’s obvious when this weapon would be effective, but I’m expecting Soldiers to take advantage of the The Rocket Jumper.

DETONATOR.

250px-Detonator

The Pyro gets one whole weapon in the form of the Detonator. It’s been in the beta for awhile but is finally getting a proper release. It’s a Flare Gun variation that allows the player to remotely detonate and explode the flare in mid flight. When the flare explodes it will light up any enemies in range.
The best part which excites Pyro players, is that it can be used to flare jump. If a Pyro jumps, and shoots and detonates a flare below him, he’ll get extra height. This means he will now be able to reach places he was previously unable to. It is a great day for players like myself who main Pyro.

I cannot wait for tomorrow.

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TF2 Game Update for April 29th, 2010

by ZombieSkittles on April 29, 2010

It’s a big one this time around. The first factors to catch the eye are the addition of a community map (CP_Freight) and a new item.

200px-Backpack_crit-a-cola The new item is a secondary for the Scout, replacing his Lugermorph/Pistol/Bonk!, called Crit-a-Cola. This lunchbox item gives the player guaranteed mini-crits for a small period of time, and as a negative makes him take guaranteed minicrits. I’d keep talking about it, but that’s what I want to focus on.

Along with these two additions and a few tweaks, there were quite a few balancing changes and bug fixes for the classes and their weapons.

Scout
The scout ended up not just receiving his new item, but also getting his Bonk! Atomic Punch and Sandman altered. The Bonk! now has it’s slowdown effect removed (would make the Scout move really slow for a few seconds after the Bonk! dodge effect went away) in favour of a charging metre which goes up in time, like the Jarate and Chargin’ Targe. The Sandman also received a small buff, in which an enemy stunned by the ball has his ability to run reduced a little. This is obviously so the scout can catch him quickly.
While welcome the Sandman’s change, I’m a little wary of the Bonk! Atomic Punch’s change. This seems to remove all the negatives associated with the item, as the Scout can use it then carry on his way without worrying about someone catching up to him. There also happens to be an achievement which requires the player to kill a Scout who is caught in the “post-dodge” slowdown effect called “Retire The Runner”1. I can’t help but wonder if this change effectively kills this achievement (at least until Valve fix it).

Pyro
As an avid pyro player this particularly update interests me. On the negatives side of things, the Flamethrowers now do 20% less damage than previously, and the after burn damage they rely on so much has been reduced too. On the other side, the airblast received a number of boosts. Airblast now shoots quicker and takes only 20 ammo (allowing for 10 blasts total, in comparison to the previous 8). Any deaths caused by an airblast (air blasting off a cliff, into a train, etc) count as a kill credit for the Pyro, and any projectiles reflected with the blast will minicrit.
This seems like Valve are trying to do one of three things. This will make Backburner Pyros use their weapon a bit more strategically (actually ambushing their enemies for the guaranteed crits), otherwise they may not be able to make their kill. It will also make people use airblast a lot more thus creating new strategy against Demomen and Soldiers, and will make people use the Axtinguisher more. With the Axtinguisher guaranteeing a critical hit on burning players, and flame not doing so much damage, there is more incentive now in switching weapons.

Demoman
Now I don’t play Demoman much, and even when I do I don’t play as a Demoknight, so I’m not sure whether this change to the Chargin’ Targe is a buff or a nerf. Looking at it, it seems to be altered so that players using the Eyelander skillfully will get more power. The Targe is altered so when damage is dealt from the charge, it takes into account any heads claimed with the Eyelander2 and adds +10 damage per head.
It seems like a good idea, but I’m not sure how it’ll work in practice.

Heavy
Heavy got a rather all round positive update as well; the minigun and Natasha both spin up and slow down quicker, and the player can move faster while shooting too. This will make it harder for those who tend to try to surprise the Heavy player and kill them before they can react. Also, Heavys gain a whole point for sharing their Sandvich item with teammates, obviously an attempt to get Heavys to stop being selfish with their food.

Sniper
The last class to get what seems to be all buffs was the Sniper. The changes centre around the Huntsman unlockable, and mainly on it’s relationship with the Pyro. A Huntsman Sniper can now have his arrow lit by a Pyro without it having to be aimed, and if the arrow is lowered, the flame isn’t lost. The player can also ready his arrow while jumping now, but it can still only be shot once feet are on the ground again.
The flaming arrow changes are quite welcome in my books; originally you had to light it then use it straight away, as after keeping the arrow primed too long would cause it to shoot off randomly. This way, you can make more accurate and deadly shots, and take your time the whole way through.

There were a few bug fixes here and there too, notable ones being:

    • The amount count in the HUD now flashes red when you’re low on ammo.
    • Extinguishing a burning teammate now earns a full bonus point (was half a point).
    • Killing yourself with your own sentry no longer increments the sentry’s kill counter.
    • Fixed crit-boosted players not getting critical hits if their weapon has custom no-crit behavior.

There’s quite a few other changes in the update, all of which can be viewed here. What do you think of the various nerfs and buffs the classes received? Are you happy or annoyed?

  1. Today, in the 119th update, Valve have fixed it to work with someone under the Crit-a-Cola effect instead.
  2. for the unaware, the Eyelander is a sword which decapitates it’s victims

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TF2’s First “Community Update”

by ZombieSkittles on March 19, 2010

Today, Team Fortress 2 released it’s first update fuelled by the Contribute! site they set up a few months ago. In that update was a new melee weapon for the Pyro and Demoman, and a new secondary for the Heavy, and of course a variety of new hats.

Seeing the attributes the new weapons have, it’s clear they’re very situational, and to me more of a novelty than anything. The Homewrecker (Pyro melee weapon) for example, is able to destroy buildings relatively quickly, but has a 25% damage decrease against other players. As a primarily pyro player, I don’t run into a lot of cases where I’m able to get that close to a building to deal out melee hits, and if I can then I’m obviously being ubercharged. If I’m that close to a building though, it’s far easier to just destroy it with flames.

The update serves it’s purpose though, and shows that despite some pessimism, the quality of ideas being contributed by the community is actually pretty good. And as an added thought, Valve said that prior to the Engineer update, there would be one more non-bugfix update. Is this that update, and does that mean the Engineer update is next? I hate having to guess.

What do you think of the new items? If you haven’t seen them yet, Ubercharged.net has made a nice post today detailing all the items, with pictures!

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TF2 Game Update for February 23rd, 2010

by ZombieSkittles on February 24, 2010

The past couple of updates have been almost worthless one line updates, and there hasn’t been much point in reporting them at all. Today a new update came out that actually has one or two interesting elements; the best one for me being that they “fixed the Pyro not being able to deflect enemy flares”. As an avid pyro player, this is awesome for me. I always just figured that we weren’t meant to be able to reflect flares. Now that I know we can, games are going to be a lot more interesting when it’s pyro vs pyro.

Other changes were a bit more vague with the update simply saying “updated CTF_2Fort” and “updated CTF_Doublecross”. I’d really like to know just what they did to CTF_2Fort?

You can review all the changes here. What do you think was updated on the maps?

Update: A follow up update for the game was released today, and is too short to merit a whole new post. You can view these change(s) by clicking this particular link.

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Airblast; the demoman

by ZombieSkittles on February 2, 2010

Today, while playing a game on CTF_Turbine, one of the Demomen on my team was whinging about how the Pyro’s airblast ability is an unnecessary buff that just ruined the game, and it should be removed. He even went on to actually say that the airblast made Pyros  “completely immune” to any attack from a Demoman.

Most of us laughed in his face. However, some people agreed with him. So I felt the need to make this post, pointing out how the demoman could avoid the apparently invincible pyro.

Red_DemomanDon’t be a Targelander demoman. Since the war update, every demoman who has gotten a hold of the Eyelander and Chargin’ Targe has felt the need to equip them, and then use only them. The amount of demoman who run around waving just the Eyelander may have the advantage for now, but as time goes on and people learn how to handle themselves properly against it, it’s going to prove a hindrance rather than a helpful combo. Trying to run up to the clever pyro decapitate him with the melee weapon proves futile when he can just light you on fire and airblast you away until you die.
That being said, the Chargin’ Targe is designed to be handy against fire, with a 50% fire damage resistance.

You still have your grenade launcher. This is an extension of the previous point. With people obsessing over the Targe/Eyelander combo, not enough love is given to the grenade launcher. If the Pyro is blowing you away so you can’t do a close combat death, shoot him from a distance. He can deflect the grenades, sure, but he can only airblast a maximum of 8 times, and that’s if he doesn’t use any primary flamethrower fire. You have more grenades than he has airblast, plus you have the ability to shoot them as fast as he can airblast, and in whatever direction you wish. Throw some over him then push him back with others so he runs into the earlier ones. Simple, easy.

Consider your sticky launcher. The sticky bombs have always been handy, but with the introduction of the Chargin’ Targe, many people don’t have it equipped anymore. However, I still use it over the Targe because it allows for the tactical exploding of my enemies. If I’m face to face with a pyro, I’ll sometimes use the sticky launcher because it allows me to power up and shoot up over him, which brings us to what I said the point before. The only difference is I can detonate them when he’s close to them, rather than having to quickly push him to them.

All else fails, run away. Nothing is really keeping you fighting the Pyro. If his airblast is still frustrating you, run away. Throw some sticky bombs behind you so he won’t instantly chase you, and let someone other teammate handle him.

I know that I haven’t covered nearly half the different ways a Demoman can go against a Pyro, and if you’re reading this, please comment with your own tactics and strategies for this particular problem.

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Blast of fresh air

by ZombieSkittles on January 20, 2010

pyrotime1 I’m an avid pyro player; always have been, most likely will always be (at least until I finish all the achievements). I remember when I first started playing, and unlocked my first item for the game, which was coincidently The Backburner.  I took one look at it and decided that I wanted to use it forever. It gave me guaranteed critical hits when I flame an enemy from behind, and all I have to give away is the ability to blast compressed air! Easy trade.
However, after playing some more, I’ve swapped back. I’ve grown as a player and learned that while the Backburner is a useful item, the air blast ability is not something to be tossed idly aside. I’m aware though, that many people continue to play with the backburner for the same reason I did; because they didn’t understand the power of the air blast properly. It seems the flamethrower’s alt attack is something that is often glazed over while the player is too busy lighting everything around him or her on fire, so I thought I’d share the uses of the air blast for those who aren’t quite aware of them.

  1. It puts ignited teammates out. The game is all about getting the different classes to work together as a team, and the pyro certainly isn’t left out of the equation. To counter other pyros, the air blast allows the player to extinguish a player who was lit on fire, stopping them from taking the continuous flame damage they’d otherwise sustain, and allow them to participate longer.
    Of course, just as many pyro players don’t know about this, neither do many other players, and they’ll run the opposite way of a friendly pyro, and make a desperate and pointless attempt to get to a medkit instead.
  2. It reflects projectiles. The pyro can be lethal to soldiers and a pain for demoman with the air blast ability. It allows a player to reflect rockets away and back at the enemy soldier, as well as a demoman’s grenades. As an added perk when they’re reflected, they become your team’s projectiles instead, and any kills made with them are attributed to you. Imagine that soldier’s frustration when his easy critical rocket kill is turned around and he finds himself gibbed and respawning.
    Also, you can air blast sticky bombs, moving them away from the demoman’s intended location. Frustrating him and clearing the way for your teammates.
  3. It pushes enemies away. Not only does the flamethrower’s alternate attack blow away projectiles, it also pushes away actual enemies, leading to lots of tactical advantages. For example, if you run into a scout who’s trying to rush a point, you can push him back, and if you’re on a bridge, you could really piss him off and throw him off the bridge with it. If an enemy is trying to kill you with his melee weapon, the time you buy from pushing him away could be crucial to your survival too.
    Another use which will really help your team is when an enemy medic ubercharges one of their teammates and tries pushing past your team. The medic has to keep a connection with the teammate to be effective, so what better way to ruin their plans than to split them up by getting between them and pushing the medic back. Most of the time their teammate will be too concerned with running forward and killing to even notice, leaving them defenceless.

That’s what the air blast is capable of. Of course, the air blast ability is useful in a lot more situations than what was listed above, but these were just examples so you can get in your head the power contained in this often overlooked ability.

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