Just recently Valve unleashed their latest update to Team Fortress 2. Last time the focus was on the Medic class which while very valuable to the meta-game within Team Fortress 2, was underappreciated by players because of its simple nature and lack of combat options.

This time the focus is on the Pyro class. Until the release of this update, the Pyro had a number of fundamental flaws (both gameplay and bug related) that made the class more difficult to play than he really should be. The update however has made a valiant effort in correcting these issues.

The Pyro class itself got some signifcant changes. The damage fall-off for the flamethrower was removed (previously it went from a scale of 100% damage to 25% with the damage being higher the closer you were with the flamethrower). Now, a Pyro will do 100% damage no matter whereabouts you are caught within the flamethrower. This change makes sense and helps a Pyro finish off targets that should rightfully be dead because they were in his killzone in the first place.

The second main change to the class was an addition of a new ability to the stock flamethrower. This new ability comes in the form of an air-blast which uses 25 ammo each time. The air-blast can effectively reflect projectiles in another direction (with the Pyro having some control over that direction particularly with Soldier rockets). It also pushes players away. This helps give the Pyro some additional possible tactics (my favourite being pushing enemy players off control points).

The Pyro also got a collection of new weapons and achievements in this update as well. Valve has listened to player's feedback and the achievements are now much more plausible in terms of you performing their requirements in-game. There are still a few difficult ones in there (such as Lumberjack and Clearcutter, which require 3 and 6 axe kills in one life respectively) but for the most part they are achievable. The minimum amount of achievements was also reduced so you don't have to grind as hard before you are able to play with the new "toys". Valve just recently released an update that lowers the achievement requirements for the previous medic update also.

Onto the Pyro's new weapons. The first weapon you will unlock is the flare gun. This weapon replaces the shotgun (if the player chooses) and is quite an interesting weapon. It essentially fires a flare that does a small amount of damage to a target as well as setting them alight. It fires like a grenade launcher with alot more velocity (so therefore you have to compensate at range). Its an interesting weapon and is quite handy against snipers or engineers who tend to stay still alot but the reality of it is you will probably switch back to the more useful shotgun after the novelty wears off. Here's hoping Valve tweaks the flare gun so it presents some more uses to the player apart from harrassing targets at range.

The second weapon you will come across is known as the Backburner. This alternate version of the flamethrower gives the player 50 more health (which is quite valuable to any Pyro player who is always getting up close and personal to their targets). The Backburner also puts out critical hits if you burn a player from behind with it (hence the name). The downside of this weapon is that it lacks the new air-blast ability I mentioned above, and the area you must aim for to get critical hits isn't very large (you basically have to aim at the very middle of the back to get crits). Other than that this is a solid weapon.

The final weapon you will unlock is the Axtinguisher. This home-made axe covered in barbed wire performs critical hits against targets on fire. The downside is it does less damage against targets who aren't on fire. It lets you finish off those people who have been dominating you in-game in a nice fashion.

Overall this update has been quite solid for the Pyro class and while some people have labelled him as being overpowered I say its a false perception (as everyone is playing the class since the update just to get the unlocks). As the novelty of the new weapons wear off people will realise that the Pyro is now a balanced offensive class that can now hold his own against other classes in the situations that the Pyro should technically excel in (which is close-range combat).

Another important change to note that was a long time coming was the removal of the Soldier's 40% reduction of damage from his own rockets (unless he is rocket jumping). This really gets rid of some of the cheesy tactics with this class and I for one am happy to see this change.