fewer soldiers around?

[NYC 3L1T3]

The big reason is because pyros were recently updated. When the heavy update, there'll be to no one's surprise, a rise in heavies. And for those not going for the achievements, spies and snipers who view them as free kills.

On top of that, nerf to reserve ammo from 36 to 16 and the full self-damage when not rocket jumping is a major turn-off. And the functional buffs to pyros such as no damage drop-off (nerfed slightly to a little damage drop off), no flame bending (I don't think the flames bend backward anymore when running forward), flames going through buildings, and flame hitbox registration fixes.

 

[Vainiac]

glad to see I'm not the only one who noticed this. I second booster's thoughts too. I played alot of pyro before the update, but now not so much because theres always 3 or 4 pyros already on the map. On the upside though, I've gotten pretty good at juggling people with the rocket. I need to get better with the demo's nades though, 1 on 1 a pyro owns me when Im demo

 

[Beta]

thats a given. demo needs careful aim to shoot straight.

 

[AWPerator]

I'm a pyro, so I'm getting a kick out of these replies....


First class I learned to play was soldier. Solid, straightfoward, no gimmicks about him. I discovered the joys of demoman and pyro shortly thereafter, and have barely looked back since. I have greatly enjoyed this pyro update, and look forward to the Demo's update as well!

QFT.

Although, I am more of a Pyro/Scout man myself, and can't wait to see what they do with him

 

[Beta]

give the scout... baseball nades.

 

[ln(e)]

Demomen have had to deal with the full damage of a pointblank hit for a while now. At melee range either your shots count or your opponent lives (whether or not you do). Dunno why it's such a big deal for soldiers. They still have the benefit of damage on impact, so usually the enemy shouldn't be able to come close enough for self-damage to be an issue.

It's different, but the good soldiers I've seen/played with consider it rather a non-issue these days.

 

[Swirlydave]

lol yea i look at the players usualy 1 or 2 medics,sniper,spy lots of pyros n heavys and then no solidiers i miss bein hit by stray critical rockets

 

[Josey Wales]

Personally, I only play soldier now after discovering the class and how to play it when the pyro updates came out. IMO, the best anti pyro class and all-around class. I still play demo when our team is in a bind, but gosh do I like crit rockets .

 

[Tattis]

I still play soldier from time to time. He's never been my favorite class, so I'm probably not playing him any less than I did before. I think I tend to gravitate more towards classes that are less dependent on good aim. With a soldier, it's not just aiming for the enemy, but leading your shots (which, admittedly, I have gotten better at).

That said, there are still certain maps where I find myself playing soldier more due to the fact that they are still one of the better classes at taking out sentries from a distance.

 

[bigwilly]

Soldier used to be a decent class for new guys because they could survive. Now, pyro is since the buff. Very easy these days to just rush someone, especially with a medic, and their helpless b/c the pyro is so fast they can't escape. Backburner keeps them from using full speed as well. Just run over people now. Soldiers, like poor heavies, are now addicted to medics like crack, and good luck finding a medic healing all those pyros. Kritzcrieg, only occasionally useful before, is now officially worthless. Soldiers can still take out a sentry at a distance, but, so can a sniper, who can do it more efficiently. And soldier's rockets cause 50% less damage at a distance as well - flare gun is better here. Mid-range? Demo/heavy have that covered. Vulnerable classes are smart and quick enough to run away/escape. Even pyro is often better, with massive damage, extra burn, backstab flames, chasing speed, and no reload. Close-combat? Soldier is screwd now more than ever, even jumping with every shot - direct hits still give full splash damage. Soldier has a lot of defects - slow speed, slow reload, slow dodgeable rockets, low ammo, reduced damage with distance, full splash damage to self, buffed pyros...why play soldier? There are better classes to play - all of em - especially so on public servers. If you go soldier, find a medic (like poor heavies) or stick close to spawn. If you can't find a medic, best go something else.

 

[Tattis]

Soldiers can still take out a sentry at a distance, but, so can a sniper, who can do it more efficiently. And soldier's rockets cause 50% less damage at a distance as well - flare gun is better here.

I'd sort of disagree here. I'll admit I had a pyro giving me some trouble the other night when I was protecting the intel with a sentry, but it was pretty much a stalemate. He was too far out of range for me to kill him, but he couldn't shoot the flares fast enough to be anything more than a minor annoyance. I could repair all the damage he did or run back to grab more health before he could shoot another. Neither of those would've been an option against a soldier. Even with reloading, he could get those missiles off fast enough to destroy the sentry or me.

Really, I pretty much just see the flare gun as that: a minor annoyance. (Although the flare gun + axtinguisher combo is pretty fun.) It doesn't do any big damage on impact and you can get the flames off fairly easily providing there's some source of health around. For range, I'd take a soldier over pyro any day.

 

[FiRESAUCE]

All i can say is i was dominating about twice as bad as usual when toyfort had lowgrav on..

Soldier + Low grav = DEATH FROM ABOVE !

 

[The Shape]

Can't say I agree. I see just as many soldiers still.

 

[Robotnik]

Eh? Soldier will probably remain in my top 3 classes played and I honestly disagree that he's any weaker or underused after the nerf.

Pyro's, what about them? A good Soldier still makes any Pyro look stupid. If a Pyro jumps a Soldier from around a corner then he deservers the kill, that was intended by Valve. At other range you can just juggle him in place while backpedalling to avoid the flaming death. I'm up to the point where I can do 4 juggles on a BB Pyro in a row. If someone in this thread cannot do even 1 juggle then your problem, next time try harder.

And this nerf is so easy to avoid. If a guy gets into your face and you don't want to receive high damage from rockets then rocket jump when the guy gets close. Not to escape, but to damage him while doing small damage to yourself. It basicly counts as a rocket jump, but if the guy is close then not only he will receive high damage, but it also juggles him away.

People say: Soldier nerf sucks!

Heavy says: CRY SOME MORE!

 

[b3durnk]

I get juggled around by soldiers all the time. You guys kill me constantly, unless I get you by surprise (as a pyro.)

I don't play soldier enough to notice any of these changes, generally just play it every now and then because I feel like doing something different.

 

[Caval1er]

I was playing soldier earlier in Turbine. If your team doesn't have control of mid, a soldier or two can defend the intel hallway REALLY well. I'm also starting to get better with juggling so my opinion is starting to change. I really don't think they are THAT underpowered any more.

 

[joshhunt]

I have noticed fewer soldiers I have also noticed that valve spells it Solcier in the top performance screen

I saw this aswell, but it turns out its just the 'o's. They all look like 'c's, take a look at 'Scout'

 

[Mr. Dogma]

I'm pretty sure it's a resolution problem. I had that problem for a while until I changed my resolution. Fixed itself.

 

[QB]

Still my most played class

I still play soldier more than any other class.

I will say though, that full splash damage was a pretty rough nerf. With all the latency issues I have, I will often do more damage to myself with one of my rockets than I will to an enemy I score a "direct hit" on. If you roll with 20 ping and 0 loss, you don't really have much to complain about.

 

[Ren]

I'll just say i play 80% soldier and 20% sniper pretty much. I love soldier and find it very easy to survive for long periods of time on defense and on offense. I havnt found a pyro yet that can stand up to me.. well maybe a lucky burn while im already in a fight or something.. but thats different.

The pyro class is very valuable to a team for sure; and not to brag but 90% of the time i find that im almost impossible to get past on defense when i play soldier. On a side note i've tried to play pyro and im REALLY horrible, so hats off to you guys who actually play the class well.