Valve tweaking Team Fortress 2's pyro, possibly soldier

by Justin McElroy { Jan 16th 2008 at 11:45AM }

Though all the pretty colors and No One Lives Forever-esque art direction is enough to keep commoners like us entertained by Team Fortress 2, it's what's going on under the hood that's really important to the hardcore legion of fans. In an email to one member of that community, Valve's Robin Walker reveals a few changes incoming for the pyro and soldiers classes, part of the "large scale modification to the core of the game" Walker talked about earlier this month.

For the pyros, they're going to be receiving points for every enemy they ignite, making mass burnings not just fun, but profitable. Walker's a little more vague about soldiers, saying the team wants them to be "a little more
careful firing their rockets at point blank targets." As TF2 newbs we have no idea what she means, but we imagine some of you commenters will have a few ideas.

[Via CVG]

Tags: orange-box, orangebox, team-fortress-2, teamfortress2, valve

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Jonah Falcon @ Jan 16th 2008 11:50AM

Very cool. Pyro is great for smoking out spies.

Jerk Face @ Jan 16th 2008 12:17PM

And for burninating my countryside.

jsn @ Jan 16th 2008 12:36PM

if they want to really fix what's wrong with the game they need to remove the randomness of crits and either put them on a damage meter or remove them all together. How they thought it was a good idea to take a game that is entirely skill based and throw in a completely random game changer like crits is beyond me.

Jerk Face @ Jan 16th 2008 1:47PM

I think they added it for, you know, fun. It's not supposed to be a competitive grind fest like CS.

Poisoned Al @ Jan 16th 2008 2:23PM

Cris break deadlocks. Yes it's random, but being cut down by the same turret time and time again is not fun.

Jimiisama @ Jan 16th 2008 4:18PM

I've tested crit rates of Soldier Rockets with various kill-death-ratios and never got a very high crit rate. It's probably 5% at best, and it doesn't happen as often as you think. People tend to remember when they die to crits because it looks more dramatic, and they assume that most of the time when they die it is because of a crit. Most likely, 5% of your deaths are probably crits.

ridestowe @ Jan 16th 2008 11:58AM

this is great news. i love playing pyro already and i'm glad to see these soldier changes too. my guess is that they're increasing the self-damage caused from firing rockets at close-range. another good thing, because imo the soldier needed a little bit of a nerf.

Jerk Face @ Jan 16th 2008 12:10PM

Nerfing soldiers FTW!

JakubK666 @ Jan 16th 2008 12:00PM

It means Soldiers firing rockets point-blank into your face. It's really annoying as Soldier takes less damage from his own rockets than other players and in worst case kill himself, refusing to give you a point.

Triger-happy Soldiers are a nightmare for and close-combat classes!

wickedpheonix @ Jan 16th 2008 12:03PM

Excuse me, this is like the 354th article I've read on this since November or something, so when is the actual going to be released?

I mean, it would be nice to play the update instead of reading about it, wouldn't it? You know?

And in the meantime - stop spending time doing interviews and get back to work on Episode 3!

Dan Bugglin @ Jan 16th 2008 12:26PM

You must be thinking of something else, as retooling of some of the character classes was only brought up this week with changes to the medic (followed by other classes).

Sagar Patel @ Jan 16th 2008 12:04PM

the soldier firing at point blank:
as you, the enemy of a soldier, are staring down the heated barrel of a rocket launcher - body parts laying all over, blood still dropping from a concentrated explosion - you wonder, "why the uckFay didn't he blow?!"

at point blank, a lot of soldiers seem to have damage immunity from their own rockets. though that is not the case 100% of the time, it's a distance issue for sure, but a weird one at that.

NATO_Duke @ Jan 16th 2008 12:32PM

Amp up the splash damage! Its as typical issue with rockets and grenade launchers in games.

A Pissed-off English Gamer @ Jan 16th 2008 12:46PM

It's because the soldier is designed to be able to take little damage from a rocket-jump. Fixing this without breaking the rocket jump will not be easy.

Jonah Falcon @ Jan 16th 2008 1:02PM

Actually, it is easy:

Hitting non-enemy = no splash damage
Hitting enemy = splash damage

anonymous @ Jan 16th 2008 12:04PM

Robin Walker is a guy, by the way

magicchicken @ Jan 16th 2008 2:12PM

Robin Walker is a dude, dude. Pretty funny that the writer assumed robin = chick

BlackTye @ Jan 16th 2008 12:07PM

Do you guys know what kind of score inflation this is gonna cause for Pyros....?

Not that I care, but if somebody is good at a playing Pyro, they are certain to come in first every time.

::Sandperson Yell::

Stupidiot @ Jan 16th 2008 12:08PM

Yeah, but right now it's soldiers who are always at the top of the leaderboards, so I think it's a bout time they let pyros have their turn :p

James @ Jan 16th 2008 12:19PM

Just as Wario said, Pyro's aren't usually on the top spot.
Spy, medic, heavy and soldier seem to be the top guys.

Poor snipers never break above the half way mark.

Jerk Face @ Jan 16th 2008 12:21PM

I was playing with this girl "Aimmy" the other day who was owning so hard with a sniper and was WELL above everyone else's kill count. Everyone was actually joking about how bad she was raping everone!

LaughingTarget @ Jan 16th 2008 12:44PM

I run Pyro as my primary guy (engineer second, medic third) and I typically sit on top of the leader boards with at least a 35 to 40 point spread. Pyros played right are devestating.

Mr.ESC @ Jan 16th 2008 12:50PM

Snipers (other than PC custom games) are never in the top for the reason that it takes to ages to kill anyone, mostly because if the enemy knows there is a sniper they are more likely to switch to a spy or take the underwater route.

You have to wait for someone to pass by yet if you want to achieve a killing spree the Sniper is the best option because the only thing that can kill you are spies or someone behind you. Is slow but is worth it.

I have seen the demoman being chosen over the Engineer in capture games because you can kill pretty much anything with the mines.

loof @ Jan 16th 2008 1:28PM

They don't have to award one point for each person on fire. It'll probably be something more along the lines of 1/3 of a point each time someone catchs on fire.

Blazur @ Jan 16th 2008 2:20PM

I rarely see soldiers at the top of the score board. I play as a spy/demo mostly, and some of my buddies are awesome snipers and medics...and WE are the ones on the top of the scoreboard nearly every game.

Pyros do seem to get shafted in regards to points, and this is a welcomed improvement. While it doesn't fix the buggy flamethrower hit registration, it does lift the egos of pyro players and encourage them to play as intended.

Stupidiot @ Jan 16th 2008 12:07PM

Hmm, this makes me wonder whether this will make rocket jumping as a soldier a little bit more dangerous. I already avoid doing it just 'cause I take such heavy damage. Ah well, whatever it takes to stop them firing rockets at you point-blank range (especially annoying as a pyro or scout).

Organic_Shadow @ Jan 16th 2008 12:07PM

Hopefully all of these modifications, additional achievements, and overall tweaks to the "core" will cause me to come back and play again. How many times must I go into a CTF server for it to be all medics and heavy? 100%. How many times do I go into a capture point server for it to be all spies and engie? 100%.

They need to give players better incentives to be other classes, as well as add some drawbacks to being the popular classes. Too bad the basis of a 'defend the point' type of game mode dictates that defense is key, so why not be what's good at defense- an engie. So maybe more game modes that give other classes a chance in the spotlight? I dunno how, just sayin.

Stupidiot @ Jan 16th 2008 12:12PM

Seriously? Whenever I'm on 2Fort, I find there are never any medics or heavies, which really pisses me off, 'cause I end up having to fill in for them :|
Instead, half of the people in the game stand up on the balcony sniping each other, which does absolutely nothing to aid the team.

LaughingTarget @ Jan 16th 2008 12:46PM

You have to learn to adjust your own class selection based on the flow of the battle. The opposition rarely sticks with the snipe at each other strategy when I get in on those games. When I see a ton of snipers, I just jump in as a spy and thin the ranks then the sniping game quickly deteriorates.

xGeneral DEATHx @ Jan 16th 2008 1:05PM

Add me as well, if you like...sadly, most of my friends haven't been converted into acolytes of TF2 as I have:

XBL 'tag:
xGeneral DEATHx

xGeneral DEATHx @ Jan 16th 2008 1:07PM

Reply system: WTF.

zero @ Jan 16th 2008 1:39PM

I feel your pain there, but in a different way. I love playing with a team of Engineers and Snipers when the objective is to capture the enemy intelligence... Yeah, 3 engineers and 3 snipers is a good mix for attacking a base...

syco @ Jan 16th 2008 2:33PM

If you think snipers aren't helpful, you have bad snipers.

Yes, snipers have to be paranoid about enemy snipers, but once they are clear they can make everything in their line of sight (ex. the bridge in 2Fort) completely uninhabitable for the other team.

But there is nothing worse than a bad sniper. Except maybe a bad spy.

GrimChaos @ Jan 16th 2008 12:11PM

they should fix demomen... you should be able to blow up the sticky bombs... it's annoying when they block off an area and camp.

Jerk Face @ Jan 16th 2008 12:15PM

Demomen are hard enough to play as it is. No need to nerf them. If someone practices enough to nail those arcs and bounces just right, they deserve to be rocking ass. I love the class, but it is definitely one that requires strategy and skill.

FOXHOUND @ Jan 16th 2008 12:18PM

Well... they really don't have much else to do offensive/defensively; especially without a handgun. IMO, they're the most challenging class to play - save for being a spy with a bunch of pyros running around, LOL.

Not to ignite a flame war or anything(pun intended), but is the pyro male or female? x_x For those that played the game, I ask that because of the pyro has a clothes hung in their locker that resemble Jacqueline L.B. Kennedy or Dr. Girlfriend's ensemble, LOL.

Jerk Face @ Jan 16th 2008 12:20PM

Definitely female, I think. Her voice sounds pretty female-ish as well. You know, for like a big trucker chick.

Jerk Face @ Jan 16th 2008 12:20PM

.. with a flame thrower and an axe.

James @ Jan 16th 2008 12:25PM

Maybe I'm just good at judging the arcs - but I'm a very capable Demoman player. I've clocked double the amount of time as him than my 2nd most played. I don't find him hard to use either, maybe upclose combat gets a bit difficult.

It's just so ace planting stickies around the intel in 2Fort then hitting the right mouse button as soon as the announcer woman says "the enemy has captured our..." "the enemy has dropped our intel".

Add me. "Shelderslow".

Jerk Face @ Jan 16th 2008 12:31PM

@ James

Ha ha.. I so concur with everything you just said. Demoman = SOMETIMES better than an Engineer for defending the base!

Add me too, mine's xxxjerkfacexxx

jsn @ Jan 16th 2008 12:41PM

Demomen should not be able to plant stickies and just run anywhere on the map or camp in spawn waiting for a chance to blow them(dustbowl). They should blow after you get so far away from them or something along those lines.

LaughingTarget @ Jan 16th 2008 12:48PM

You can shoot stickies and roll them out of the way, you know.

TheMoonman @ Jan 17th 2008 1:28AM

jsn

Running around with stickies on the control point, or anywhere at all, is something of a double-edged sword.

Keep in mind that the stickies disappear once he dies. By running around with his grenade launcher, he's putting himself to the risk of getting killed too.

Jerk Face @ Jan 16th 2008 12:19PM

I actually think this is a really good thing for Pyro players. It's often hard to get high kill counts with the Pyro because their weapon by nature takes time to kill their opponents, but requires near melee range to use. So you have to get up in the faces of your enemies and just run after them to kill them. Giving a point for aiding your team by lighting them up (which often follows with you sacrificing yourself) is definitely an incentive for playing the class.

ThornedVenom @ Jan 16th 2008 12:21PM

I really need to get Portal and Team Forteress 2.

Jerk Face @ Jan 16th 2008 12:22PM

Yes! You do!

Wow, I've commented too much on this post. It's official.

James @ Jan 16th 2008 12:26PM

It is possibly the best game ever.

Wonder what Famitsu gave it LOL.

Mr.ESC @ Jan 16th 2008 12:33PM

Yes you do and if you buy the XB360 version I can help you help me help you to get the "With friends like these..." achievement.

Is the only achievement I need well that and Turret Sentry, I almost accumulate the 10 kills but every time I want to get the 10th one a spy saps my sentry.