Chp 578. Burnnn baby burn!

We are all fascinated with fire. There is something about fire that makes it so intriguing and mysterious. Of course anything extreme is not good either, and an obsessive impulse towards fire may be a cause of pyromania, where one may deliberately start fires to induce euphoria (I have watched enough Criminal Minds episodes to know this :P )

But the fact of the matter is, fire is always interesting. And that is why my favorite character in "Team Fortress 2" is Pyro.

Now for the uninitiated, Team Fortress 2, or TF2, is an FPS (first person shooter) online multiplayer game, where you can play only if you have good internet speed :P

There are nine classes of characters in TF2 you can select from, each one unique and with his own special attributes. One of them is the Pyro. Unlike other classes, his primary weapon is pretty useless at long range combat, but devastating when it comes to short range attack. His flame thrower not only burns up the opponents in flames, but even if they managed to escape or kill the Pyro, the "after burn" effect can still take them out if they don't reach a medi-pack  or get healed in time.

Now, as any true gamer, I spend a lot of my time in various gaming forums too, and from what I have read so far, turns out, a lot of people hate the Pyro. The main reason why people hate the Pyro so much is because of "W+M1". In TF2 (or most FPS games), WM1 means pressing the "W" key on your keyboard (which means running forward) and pressing the Mouse 1 (left click) button together. When people WM1 using a Pyro, it means they're charging towards an enemy, burning up whoever happens to fall in their path. And yes, people hate this technique because it does not require much skills to perform this and yet does so much damage.

I'm definitely not a Pro at TF2, I have just around 300 hours of game time, whereas most of the players I end up playing with at different servers all have 500 to 1000+ hours of game time. So yeah, I'm still pretty much a n00b. But I have spent most of that 300 hours playing as Pyro, and to be honest, yes, when I first started playing as Pyro, I was just WM1'ing everywhere. But the more you play, the more you evolve.

Now I have moved from being an F2P (free to play) player to a premium one. I have invested a lot of my hard earned money on different weapons and cosmetics at the Steam community store. According to my credit card statement, I have spent $145 on microtransactions on Steam as of today (this includes the Steam Store, TF2 Mann Co. Store and Steam Community Market). And out of that $145, I have spent around $115 on TF2 alone! That's... around 7.5k in INR. Ouch!

Here are some of the stuff I've bought so far, check out my four Pyro configs! :)

[click on all pics to enlarge]

&nbs[;

As you can see from above, the bulk of my spending went to buying special cosmetics, taunts and "strange" weapons. I've decided to buy "Strange Professional Killstreak" attributed weapons for my favorite weapons of each class, and some of them don't really come cheap. For example, the Claidheamh Mor sword and Half-Zatoichi samurai of my demoman both cost around $10 each, I got the direct-shot for my soldier for $12, and so on.

Maybe I'll post screenshots of my other classes in another post. Because these days, I've started playing regularly as other classes as well in order to master them, but when I do play as Pyro, I switch between my primary + secondary + melee  weapons a lot. My usual kill signature in a one-on-one combat changed from WM1 to WM1+M2+Q+M1+Q+M1+M2. I've spent more time with my secondary weapons like the scorch shot and shotgun, and I "flare jump" using the detonator whenever it is necessary. I now have more kills from airblasting back a rocket or sticky bomb, and I love harassing snipers with my flares from a distance :D

And just as you improve your Pyro skills and learn other classes, you also get to know that it is actually pretty easy stopping a WM1 Pyro. And yes, there are times when you still need to WM1, especially when you're lying in wait of the enemy and ambushing them from behind with a 100% crits using the Backburner or Axetinguisher. Also, Pyro is the best person to spy-check and kill disguised enemy spies, especially when you're defending that final section of the Control Point or Payload with heavy sentries around you. I also use Pyro to protect sentries not just from a spy's sapper, but also from incoming projectiles by airblasting them away.

The possibilities are endless. Maybe that is why I proudly use Pyro as my customized office coffee mug here at work :D

Cheers everyone, and keep it burrrrnnning!

And please do add me on Steam if you want to play TF2 with me. My steam id is Mizohican. Cheers once again. Ending this post with a few Pyro videos, enjoy :)