2nd strongest class + 2nd (or 3rd fastest class, I forget which) = recipe for dominance

'nuff said.

I'm just waiting now for the new minigun that makes the heavy run faster. 

What's your point then?

Now that the update has been released for a little while, I think the update was necessary.

The added weapons are supposed to add choices to the way that people play the classes, and not make those classes better than they previously were.

The fact that the game does not always get the location of a player's back right can be very unhelpful with the backbutner. Take stabs, replace then with fire, and you get faceburns.

Having the opprotunity to get all crits from behind kills any class in under 2 seconds, even if the are being healed by a medic. If you really are using the flamethrower to ambush enemies instead of rushing them head on, why would you need those 50 extra points in the first place?

Pyros have limits like any other class does. Nobody charges into an enemy base with a sniper expecting to get anything done. People who play the pyro class need to rely on their skill and in game decision making rather than handouts from Valve.

I wouldn't say useless, but now both the BB and kritzkrieg qualify for the "WTF are you using that for?" award, because that's what teammates say when they find ubers and compression blasts much more beneficial to the team overall.

But at this point the only time I play pyro is when my team's on the defensive and I need to commence the quick-kill ambushes, so I'm still using the BB. If I go back to "general-purpose" pyro playing yeah... I'll probably ditch the BB.

On that note... I can't say I've had any trouble "hitting the spot" with the BB. What might throw some people off is that most classes aren't standing straight with their bodies perfectly forward; most of their backs angle to the left since they're holding weapons in the their right hands - particularly heavies. You need to account for that with the BB and go at it a bit from their left.

Though all-in-all... the BB "back" target is MUCH more narrow than the one spies are given. Facestabs, anyone? I've never face-critted anyone with the BB.

I atualy think a pyro with regular thrower is a better defensive class you cn blow off stickies and uber medics i have pushed back an uber team focused on a sg 6 or 7 times untill the uber wore off not to mention removing stickies before they can be set off protecting sg's can be the key to a win or loss in maps like Dustbowl not to mention spy checking.

I dont  feel pyros are overpowered or underpowered i think they are where they need to be as far as thier place in the team. they take more skill then i think most people that havent played one very long would know. Its not just  kamakazee flame runs as most people play them.

 

I have to disagree.

The BB is, as Ciao says, instant win in defensive ambushes, making it - in my opinion - better than the regular flamethrower. in defensive roles. U-Turning after jumping off the battlements or through the grate to ambush attackers is very effective.

The standard thrower, because of the compression blasts, makes it more viable for offensive purposes, for the same reasons you supplied. Stickies are fundamentally a defensive weapon and pyros are now viable against those. Blowing people back en masse is probably more helpful in giving your out-gunned assault team an advantage than is really gained by blowing back a few bad guys already being shot at by your team; medics being a possible exception to this.

That's why I laughed a bit about claims that the BB nerf will now stop rushing pyros. No it won't. +50 health is one shotgun blast, one rocket, one sniper shot, one pipebomb... if you're rushing then you've got those in spades. The compression blast, however, lets a pyro rush and blow all rockets and pipe bombs back at those shooting them. If anything is helping pyros rush, it's the conventional flamethrower - and nobody seems to be complaining about that!

Meh, I started playing with the compression blast over the BB even with the health boost awhile ago just because it gave an edge over other pyros.... BB vs BB its just a toss up. Compression vs BB is just win. You control the fight you win. Same vs Heavys. If i you didn't get the drop on a heavy with the BB then you were fucked. Atleast this way you can push them off a bridge or off a point.

Pfft you really going to say that the old needle gun is better in some instances? Or the old bone saw?  They are flat out upgrades and I have never gone back to the other shitty weapons.

I think that's what fundamentally irks me. The +50 health really was an "upgrade" component of the BB. Without that it just provides an alternative play style like all the other pyro unlockables. The medic definately got some unlockables that were bonafide upgrades.

Fact is, people liked the medic getting upgrades because they love their local medic that helps them out.
People bitched and moaned about pyros' upgrades because they hate being set on fire.
I imagine people will be bitching and moaning about the rest of the unlockables to come, because they'll all help the bad guys kill them.