@spy, sniper: Initiation isn't cheap, it's part of the game's dynamics; they've been there for day 1 and everything accounted for it.
Random crits were there day 1, I don't get that argument. Pyros can initiate by airblasting through chokes to some effect.
@heavy: Heavy is supposed to be a roadblock; his low speed balances it (sans GRU). Pyro is moderately mobile, they can deny three of the main sources of damage in the game, they can keep people from running away from them, they can keep people from running /into/ them, and they can virtually instant kill seven out of nine classes - the only ones they can't being deniers themselves. None of this is broken.
Soldiers and demos can keep people from running away too in certain situations. Demos can trap people in corners, soldiers can spam rockets and juggle. Pyros can keep people against walls. They can also keep people from going into them because damn, rockets hurt close range and going through stickies is a bad idea. What's the big deal?
@demo: I know how to avoid stickytraps, thanks.
Like you can a pyro. A heavy around the corner can instakill most classes just like a pyro too.
You're saying that you killed a pyro on a CP with the shotgun (I assume; you said 2-shot); good job, you fought a terrible pyro. Any decent one would have either chosen not to engage, or crit you. They have that choice. You're forced to shotgun them. If you used rockets, wow, awesome, you can kill a pyro that can't to reflect rockets at long range. Good on you. Then you start talking about messing up aim, and you don't know what you're talking about, so I can't even respond.
Wait, so the pyro gives up the 1v1 you claim it will usually win during transitions? You're giving pyros too much credit to win in transition fights considering it's completely dependent on the map and rarely the case/matters. All it takes is one mistimed airblast and they're dead.
I'm being judgmental because nobody has proven in real games that pyro is broken. If you win open running pyro only or something, I'll retract everything. But I honestly haven't seen many invite/IM/high open run full time pyros. The best I've seen is just airblasting ubers. If you think that pyro is so broken, why not prove it first instead of talking about small situations that rarely affect a game? I'm done now, just show me some IM full time pyro and I'll ask forgiveness and admit I was retarded.