Team Fortress 2: Updated

I've gotten back into TF2 lately. Not as much as I used to, but I found a nice CTF rotation server. Now, some time ago I posted a guide on how to play pyro. I went into great detail about how you play with other classes and the weapons available to the pyro. Well, the game has changed a little since I was last big into the game.

I still attest that the pyro is a women.

A big change was that they have gotten rid of ALL item set bonuses. I guess they did this to take care of "Pay to Win" allegations. So now the polycount pyro set isn't valuable at all and feel free to ignore the hat. There have also been new weapons added and some changes to others

1. Rainblower and Lolichop: With the release of the Meet the pyro video, these weapons were added. They are a simple reskin of the flamethrower and the fire ax. They are mildly amusing, but I don't like the rainblower. Its funny, but the rainbow effect gives you a really bad feed back on whether you are hitting people.
2. Phlogistinator, Degreaser and Backburner: These items got a damage hit. They all now do 10% less damage, bringing the Phlog and Degreaser below standard and Backburner has the same damage as the base. The Degreaser has been brought into a more balanced position, but I can't see any reason you would want Phlog any more; its just way too gimicky. I don't like the loss of damage on the Backburner, but it still has its valuable flanking use. 
3. Scorch Shot: The newest Flare gun. I don't personally like it. It does less damage than basic flares and gets no bonus damage on flaming targets. What it does do is knock back targets and leaves flare on the ground that will ignite people who touch it. This is an interesting idea, but I cannot justify losing the shear damage of crit flares.
4. Neon Annihilator: An interesting new melee weapon for the pyro. It gives guaranteed crits under water, but does less damage out of the water. BUT, in an interesting twist, this item also removes sappers. A strange mix up of the axtinguisher and the homewrecker. If you are on a map with a lot of water, this can be surprisingly effective choice.  

Now, this is nothing big in terms of pyro itemization. You have to be a bit choosier when it comes to your specialty Now there has been some VERY interesting changes to OTHER CLASSES. So let me discuss how it has gotten so much harder to be pyro in this game. 

1. The DemoKnight: The demoknight has gotten a lot scarier for the pyro. Now, the chargin' targe gives ignite INVULNERABILITY. This makes targe knights IMPOSSIBLE for you to deal with without the shotgun. You can't crit flare them, you can't axtinguish them. You can't deal with them. On top of this, there is a new, far more annoying grenade launcher. The loose cannon has a lot of different feature, but the most annoying is that it allows the user to shorten the flare, meaning the damn thing can blow up before you even get a chance to reflect them. Demo's, especially smart ones, are now a huge potential threath. 
2. Spy: The spy hasn't gotten much new. But the spy-cicle is specifically designed to counter act the pyro. If held when ignited, the spy will extinguish themselves and become invulnerable to fire damage for 2 seconds. Combined with the dead ringer, a properly decked out spy can actually effectively run from a pyro. There is a counter technique. Even though the spy can't be ignited, there will still be a sizzle sound as long as they are in the fire cone. So if you know the probable escape route, you might be able to keep track of the spy for 2 seconds. 

I have to say that the community, even with all the Free people, can still be very good; as long as you like derping. Serious players better get some like minded friends on a private server. 

Pyro Guide (2 of 3): Class Match-ups and Pairings

Wells, its time for the second part of this guide. This one will focus on how the Pyro interacts with other classes, in combat and teamwork. This is team fortress, very rarely should your actions be occurring in a vacuum. Always consider what your team needs when playing seriously. If instead you are derping around, feel free to ignore my advice.

I wish I could credit this image.

Pyro Guide (1 of 3): Basics & weapon break down

Though I know I don't have many readers, I am still going to explain this. I am still working on the battletoads videos, but I have encountered bandwidth issues, so no video uploading for this month.

I have spoken of the pyro of Team Fortress 2 several times, but this time I am going to actually be helpful. I am an excellent pyro who would like to see more people play the pyro well. What prompted me to write this was that VALVE HAS ALMOST PROMISED THEY ARE FINALLY RELEASING THE MEET THE PYRO VIDEO!!!!!!!!! (REJOICE!!). They haven't promised this in words, but a picture on the website all but guarantees that it is so.

The evidence

Pyromancer

Its time for some of that self indulgence I mentioned early.

I love playing as the pyro is Team Fortress. I have logged 75 hours as pyro since resetting my stats (that was a bad idea). I have EVERY SINGLE PYRO ACHIEVEMENT!!!! Yes, even Pyromancer, the one where you have to inflict 1 million points of fire damage. Its probably the hardest achievement to get because even if you cheat and use an achievement server it could still take you a few days(I did it legitimately over several months). I have every Pyros weapon, including the full polycount set, and I can safely say that I am an excellent pyro. Not the best, but I would enter that contest in a heart beat.

The pyro unfortunately doesn't get a lot of respect as a class. This is mostly due to the fact that beginner pyros can still kill and annoy skilled players occasionally. The pyro isn't like the spy, where newbies aren't going to get many kills, or like soldiers and demos, whose skilled players have a decidedly different play style than noobs. This causes people to treat all pyros has a cheap, no skill class which is not fair. The pyro requires lots of skill and a good one can actually reverse the flow of a battle.

Thankfully, pyros have one ability that requires skill to be useful with: the airblast. Using a puff of air, the pyro can reflect any non-bullet projectiles, extinguish flaming team mates, and push enemy players around. Even noobs can reflect long distance rockets, but it takes a lot more skill to surprise a soldier around a corner, light him on fire, and reflect his first rocket back into his face for a quick kill. I have, in my time, intentionally reflected every single reflectable projectile, most for a kill. I am most proud of the two times that I killed a demo with his own stickies. I am also very proud of this kill below.

Thats right, I reflected his arrow back into him, killed him and stuck him to the wall BY HIS FOOT!!!! LOL!!

*UPDATE*
From the TF2 Saxxy Awards comes a video showcasing a truly great pyro. I am not this good. All props go to the player.

COG: Animal Crossing: Wild World
Today was a good day. I caught a lot of rare bugs and fish today, including two Hammerhead sharks and three Goliath Beetles. Made lots of money. Also, today I found the golden slingshot in the sky and collected it. Nice day.

Key Binding

One of the games I have logged tons of hours on is Team Fortress 2. Normally not a huge fan of FPS, but this one is soooo nice. Online gaming is always a blast and the re-spawn system takes a lot of the stress out of the game. Logged at least 72 hours as a pyro (favorite class, more on that another day), but today I bound some key commands.

I don't play as an engineer all that often, but in a good solid match the thrill of building a forward sentry position is hard to beat. So today I bound the build commands for all the engineers buildings to the directional arrows [up teleporter exit; down tele entrance; left sentry; right dispenser]. Took me a little while to get the syntax right; online guides are infinitely helpful. I was just testing it, so I logged onto a server for a quick jaunt. I didn't have my mouse handy and had to use the track pad. Not the first time I've tried a real game with a track pad and I don't think I will every try it seriously. Still, I could tell that the time it took to build the structures was greatly shortened from using the PDA. I will see how it works with the mouse later this evening.

CURRENT OBSESSIVE GAME (COG): Animal Crossing: Wild World

Today was the flea market, so I didn't do much because you can't go into your own house for long during the flea market. Found the T-Rex skull in one of the fossils. Bought the forged painting insurance from Lyle; probably a scam, but I like to try everything. KK Slider comes this evening, wonder what song it will be?