Anyone else a little annoyed with Valve for removing the health bonus from the Backburner flamethrower in the recent July 29th update? Pyro's used to have 225 health when using the Backburner which was pretty good because it allowed us to be more offensive. But now we're back to the usual 175 which is a bummer because we don't survive long enough to get close to enemies. Atleast with the increased health we could take a few hits and still live long enough to cause some havoc. Now we go back to like it was before where we die after only a few hits.

Damn you Valve!

I think they shouldnt have COMPLETELY dropped the health bonus, maybe half of it, or 3/4ths of it, but yeah I was shocked when I found this out.

What's with? Pyro is useless to me now.

Good. The Pyros were out of control.

I think this is perfectly fair, and will separate the newbie pyros (the ones that relied on the health boost to ensure that they don't die when they charge head - on using the backburner, a weapon that Valve has explicitly called an ambush weapon). Now it is truly an ambush weapon, and the crits from the back is a definite advantage. I think all the pyros are just pissed they no longer are a charging tank.

"What's with? Pyro is useless to me now.
"

The games ruined until they get a better update system.

Playing a team game with 80% of people in the server farming pyros is shithouse.

And the achievements are ridiculous for unlocking new stuff. Its not an MMO, and i am not going to grind.

Then go play Call of Duty.

Problem with pyro was that it had the second most health and yet was one of the fastest classes.  Completely unbalanced.  Before the patch, I remember seeing every game with at least 3 pyros on the team

I just played TF2 til 7am. Pyro is better than ever. The game is more fun now.

The problem with the Backburner now is its become rather crap compared to the default flamethrower which has the added bonus of the "leaf blower" ability. The critical hits from behind thing is useless at the moment because hit detection for it is bugged. Assuming Valve fix it and make the hit detection similar to the Spy backstab where you need to be behind but not directly behind then i can still see use for the Backburner.

I have to admit that i was pissed they removed the health bonus but thinking about it i'd like Valve to either do as i said above and fix the hit detection or make the Backburner have a longer "burning" period when you catch players on fire. That would atleast make it a more deadly yet fair gun. Because even with the critical hits many players are complaining its unfair since its an automatic critical which drops heavies in seconds.

Spies can backstab from the side and top. Backburner affects only the direct back. That's not a bug, it's the way they are.

I would have preferred if they kept it but It doesn't matter too much.