Thanks Valve, for removing the ability to work around your horrible ideas on viewmodel restrictions. I have to say, it's very difficult to play normally on some classes without viewmodel_fov 0 or without yttrium's viewmodel animations, minmodels or not. I really wish they wouldn't focus so hard on removing the things the community actually enjoys. I get that they want consistency but honestly this level of zealotry to remove any customization is just so damned annnoying to your consumers. And this is from the company that said they would, and I'm paraphrasing, not try to deter "illegal" methods of using their game by simply squashing the competition, but by outdoing the competition. How about you step up to the plate Valve? If you feel viewmodel customization is "too confusing for new players' (pardon the meme) you make it either less perplexing or just include some tooltips or something as a guide for the advanced options if you really feel it's too hard for everyone. Some tutorials and reward-based incentives would be in order if you feel certain bits of game knowledge are too esoteric (This also applies to general gameplay, as of writing there are only 4 class tutorials, and they are all very bare bones). Something to reward the desire to make the game better for the user rather. Furthermore, if you're concerned about the game looking ugly to the general spectating public, make the game not require such visual downgrades to run effectively and then there will be no issue.

Sigsegv has made a video on FT mojo and also sent suggestions to Valve on how to go about fixing it. I think they'll fix it in the next big update when they end the Heavy vs. Pyro thing. Beyond bug fixes what do you want to see jediflamaster?

What I have suggested is entirely possible, in fact, I would say my suggestions are more feasible than most. The chargeable airblast function is already a weapon attribute in the game's code. The rest is not too difficult and I think the TF2 team could definitely make it happen.

While I agree how the player airblast functions currently is rather dumb in a game with movement emphasized as one of the fundamentals, I'm concerned that removing the ability to airblast players entirely would kill the Pyro. As it stands, the airblast is the only way that the Pyro can be useful in a skirmish. Pyro does not do the damage necessary to be useful and to remove airblast yet increase Pyro's speed would basically make him a bad Scout clone. Instead of removing the one thing that makes Pyro useful in a combat situation I think we should tone down the annoying ones and give him something else or make something he already has better. Pyro has to have a niche and it can't be one that somebody else can fill better.

Which suggestions are these? Are the ones you are referring to in the thread? Anyway I like the airblast mechanic, at least for projectiles. I think most will agree they hate the player airblast portion more and as I have said earlier the stun after being airblasted should be removed. Additionally, I think that Valve will need to reduce the knockback on the airblast and instead allow something like this, allowing the airblast to be charged. I think that if they made airblast range more obvious, removed the stun on airblast, reduced the power of the standard airblast, made it chargeable, and created self-knockback on airblast it would do 3 things.

1. It might lessen some of the rage against being airblasted and allow for more counterplay
   
2. It would give Pyro more mobility that isn't braindead-easy like the Powerjack or pointlessly dumb like the Detonator or Scorch Shot
   
3. It would make airblast a more nuanced mechanic.

Of course this charging would need to require more ammo for a charged blast and would need to be tested to come out right, but I think it could do something good for Pyro.

I'm not certain that Pyro specifically has to be a support. It's true that the Pyro is currently really only good for those things you mentioned, but Pyro could be more of an offensive class if he were to be reworked to the degree that some have been suggesting. If they wanted to rework Pyro into a support, I would agree, it would be out of place, but as it stands Pyro really isn't too good at support or offense. I think that it's important that we decide what we want Pyro to be rather than just a heap of abilities, useful in about 30% or less of all scenarios.

I have several ideas for Pyro but first let me start with a question. I notice some of you have concerns with the mini-crit multiplier on successful reflects, why do you feel it should be removed?. I would like to hear some debate on this but as for myself, I figure that the mini-crit status is acceptable. Of course I am biased towards the matter, but I would enjoy more discourse on the subject. I feel that the clear reliance on your opponent for reflectable ammunition is worthy of mini-crits, and I shall exclude non-6s class projectile weapons (Huntsman, Rescue Ranger, Sentry rockets, etc.) since they show little relevance to the standard projectiles reflected. In any situation where both players have a modicum of skill and knowledge of counterplay to the other class, during a fight or even during a standard volly of explosives, both classes have options for combat, but the Soldier or Demo will have more options as they possess more potential mobility, particularly in an aerial strike.

At long range, rockets and grenades will be obvious and the Pyro can either sidestep them or reflect them depending on the Pyro's needs. In that situation the Pyro does not gain any advantage since the Soldier or Demo can also sidestep the reflected projectile, and in fact a reflect would be unwise since the Demo and Soldier have a larger ammo reservoir and a reflected roller may in fact damage the Pyro for about 5 times more than normal due to a glitch with reflected grenades (30-40 for a regular roller and 160 for a reflected roller). At medium range, the advantage goes to the Pyro for ability to handle the others attacks if both opponents are on level ground, however, both the Demo and Soldier have the ability to jump with their own explosives. While such an action is ill-advised for Demo without a buff, Soldier can jump for very little damage, especially if the Gunboats are equipped. Therefore since the airblast box, the range for the airblast's ability to reflect projectiles, is only half as large in height as it is in length and width (X:216 Hammer Units Z:216 Hammer Units Y:128 Hammer Units) the Soldier automatically is reducing part of the ability of his opponent. Additionally, while tracking a ground based Soldier is very simple, adequate momentum and strafing allows for amazing agility for the Soldier while airborne. I would say that the Soldier possess the upper hand in such an engagement, as he can not only increase his effectiveness by becoming airborne but also retains the ability to escape if he begins to fail in his fight with the Pyro whereas the Pyro possesses no such ability. That is not to say that a Soldier is certain to win these fights, on the contrary, skilled Pyros can most always do near lethal, if not lethal damage, to a Soldier in these encounters but battles of attrition do not play into the Pyro's favor as he has less health to spare than the Soldier. As for the Demo, the Stickybomb launcher is the weapon of choice for medium range battle with a Pyro since the Pyro can not control the location of the detonation no matter how quickly he reacts. The Demoman can always detonate the stickies in the air close to the Pyro regardless of whether they have been reflected or not. At close range the battle is quite often uncertain, since the Pyro must have quicker reflexes or better prediction than his Soldier counterpart to return more of the projectiles than he recieves. Since most proficient Soldiers are capable of holding their fire, both of them must either decide to move to point blank range or disengage from full combat and only attempt chip damage on each other. At point blank, rockets intent on doing splash damage may be hard to reflect if aimed well by the Soldier, since it is impossible to move in to a position to dodge the splash or move to reflect them within the travel time of the rocket.I would say it is unwise for either class to engage in these battles alone since two direct rockets can kill either party regardless if they are mini-crit or not, but I give a slight advantage to Soldier due to his larger health pool but as he cannot escape as easily if he is point blank, I say only a slight advantage . For Demoman, I give advantage to Pyro since Demo is certainly weak to close range attacks and a Demo shouldn't intentionally fight at close range alone.

Ultimately, I feel that the mini-crits are necessary to balance the fight against either class even in a 1v1, but because since most fights of these kinds do not occur outside all-class MGE it is likely that much more important factors than a mini-crit on a reflect, are the location of allies and which class has a buff and which does not. As it stands, the Pyro does not do enough damage in these situations to warrant a removal of the mini-crits and I find that the danger of a mini-crit reflect helps to make these engagements more interesting. Pardon this lengthy response but I wanted to set up descripions of the average combat situations against a Pyro as a Demo or Soldier. Valve should instead focus on removal of the .5 second stun on airblast and other glaring issues, and in comparison these concerns about the mini-crit feature seems to be a non-issue.