Idea Why reverting Pyro is a better idea than you think.

I was originally going to post this on the What does CTF need? post by @BlueGuyARed . However I soon realized that this entire idea deserves it's own post.

First I'd like to admit that bias does exist in this post. I am technically a Pyro main so I'd love a revert for the class. With that said, I am aware of that bias so I am going to try to keep it a minimum and focus on what would be best for the game as a whole.

My first point stems from something @November said.

He mentions that CTF's meta has been the exact same for ages, and I completely agree. Thinking about it, when and where did this all start. That's right, the Pyro rework. When it's insta-kill was reworked into frenzy, the prime for CTF's long-lasting tank meta took it's start. This is evidence that Pyro's rework ultimately... failed. What it tried to do was balance out defensive play to make it fair for offensive players all the while keeping it as a defensive powerhouse. Pyro is currently unsuccessful when it comes to this. Without pyro's instakill, buffed heavies and soldiers are going to continue to dominate the meta unchecked. Sure, it balanced out defensive play, but let it go too much into the offensive's favor.

The return of insta-kill Pyro will offer the drastic change in CTF's meta that it desperately needs. Ninjas make quick work of most Pyros nowadays and as well as buffed heavies. People are reluctant to nerf heavy, soldier, and ninja even more. Buffing Pyro to it's old glory is an easy fix that requires no nerfing which many people are tired of. A lot of people agree that it's time to start buffing classes as for nerfing makes gameplay stale, onesided, and dry. Reverting Pyro and keeping, possibly buffing these offensive classes minorly will offer something that can freshen of CTF.

My second point delves into an explanation of how Pyro's rework as a whole has failed. To begin with, it's not even that good at killing a single soldier. Yes, just one soldier. Including other factors such as the flagroom design and PvP skill, it can vary. However if someone knows how to decently steak and knock the Pyro back (which basically anyone with a brain can do), it's effectiveness suffers. Nowadays I find that players will more or less just throw themselves at the flagroom in hopes of getting a steal. Not much teamwork is involved on the offensive side anymore. With insta-kill Pyro more strategy was taken into thought. Players were more likely to work together to take down the Pyro or distract them.

The third point is that insta-kill Pyro was effective in it's design for both experienced and new players. Old Pyro was easy to pick up and learn. It taught players the basics of defending without being good at PvP. It was good for experienced and competitive players as well because of what I mentioned above. It offered strategy and coordination when it came to capping, which experienced players are able to do. You could argue that it could stray new players from playing offense. I counter that argument by saying that on mcpvp, old Pyro existed, and there were a hell of a lot more cappers back then than there are now. I find that there must be something more rewarding about escaping or defeating old Pyro than the new one. Like I said, players basically throw themselves at the flag in hopes of a steal, and when a successful one happens, it's not all too rewarding.

My fourth and final is point is that Pyro does not need to be exactly reverted to what it used to be. It doesn't have to be as powerful as what it once was. Here is what I suggest exactly: Bring back the insta-kill mechanic completely. Reduce the bow's fire tick down to only 1 and a half hearts. That's 3 ticks of fire. As well as this, reduce Pyro's steak even further, to 3. Pyro had too much survivability in the old days. My focus here is on increasing teamwork for both offense and defense. By reducing it's old survivability it can make defense players more centered around assisting and protecting the Pyro.

As a whole, I find this to be a controversial idea. I am open to criticism and I want to hear what people think. Right now I believe that Pyro is root cause of CTF's meta. I find that current Pyro no longer fits the shoe it used to hold perfectly. Please ask questions and find ways to further improve this idea. I'm totally open to hearing other ways Pyro can be fixed without reverting it as well.

TL;DR (you should probably read the whole thing before you bother criticizing the idea), Pyro is the root cause of CTF's Meta issue and staleness. By reverting Pyro, it will: end the tanky, buffed, mobility meta, restore it's role as the core defensive powerhouse, promote strategic play for both offensive and defensive players, and further improve and fix any other problems that insta-kill Pyro might have once had.

This took about an hour to write, so thank you for reading!!

 

I firmly believe that a complete instakill is the way to go. So, like in the thread, I mentioned that minor buffs should come to any offensive classes as well because insta-kill Pyro was very powerful.

Also, my good friend @Orangeduck came up with the idea that for insta-kill Pyro, once the Pyro insta-kills someone all other players are extinguished from the fire.

 

New players can adapt to instakill, just as they would any other rework to any other class. I “grew up” with pyro instakill, but they changed that anyway. If we had the mindset that “people are used to this mechanic, why change it?” then nothing would ever get reworked or changed. It shouldnt matter that bringing insta-kill back will be unfamiliar to them. They’d just have to get use to it.

 

Exactly. To improve game, it isn't always about stepping forward and coming up with new ideas. Sometimes working back and readopting old mechanics and ideas might improve the game. It's just about accepting the fact that "okay, this didn't work so lets start backwards and work from there again."

The thing is, no one even bothered to take smaller steps when Pyro had it's instakill. The committee just went straight into reworking Pyro without smaller steps. A full fledged rework should have been the last step to take, if the smaller steps did not work.