So, this morning, Valve finally dished out the dirt on the Pyro update for it’s awesome first-person shooter, Team Fortress 2. According to Valve, the pack will include 35 achievements, all of which have now been announced. Some of the more notable achievements are “Dance Dance Immolation," (Kill 5 enemies that are taunting) “BarbeQueQ,” (Cause an opponent you are Dominating to leave the server), and “OMGWTFBBQ," (Kill an enemy with a taunt.)

Along with the achievements, the pack will come with 2 of the most popular custom maps created by the community: CP_Fastlane, a fast-paced capture map done in the style of Badlands, and CTF_Turbine, a fun, 2fort-esque CTF map. Even better than both of these, though, is the announcement of the new Pyro weapons. Details, and an even bigger announcement from Valve, after the jump.

As many have noticed, Valve announced last week that there would be a “significant change to the Pyro class for everyone, regardless if any weapons have been unlocked”. This change is that the Pyro’s base flamethrower can now release a burst of compressed air in front of the Pyro, which can push players, moveable objects, and can even reflect explosive projectiles like pipebombs and rockets. The burst can be used to separate Medics from their heal targets, and can even effectively cut off an Ubercharge by separating the Medic from it’s target. As of right now, no real balancing has been announced, but I believe Valve will probably make it impossible to flame while you’re using the burst, add a recharge, or any number of other balancers to this awesome buff.

The new Pyro weapons will be unlocked after completing 1/3, 2/3, and all of the Pyro achievements. The weapons are:

The Flare Gun will be the first gun players get their hands on. The gun works somewhat like the Napalm Launcher in Team Fortress Classic, in that it will launch fireballs that will catch targets on fire at a longer range. However, the weapon is fairly inaccurate. Also, it’s presumed that the weapon’s shells do not deal damage themselves, however, it’s not confirmed right now.

The second, and most speculated, of the new weapons is the Backburner. This versatile little baby gives up the compressed air burst ability in order to give the Pyro 50 extra health, not to mention to assure a critical hit when fired at the back. This weapon is designed for the sneaky Pyro who likes to get up behind it’s target before setting them afire.

And, of course, the third weapon is the Axtinguisher. Other than a few aesthetic changes, it’s the same story with this one: It deals half damage against your ordinary, run-of-the-mill enemies. However, against a burning enemy, this ax deals a critical hit every time.

So, what do these upgrades mean to the Pyro class? Hopefully, the new weapons and ability should increase the Pyro’s usefulness in play. For one, the Flare Gun will help take out pesky snipers and engineers that like to stay at a distance instead of getting right into the fray. The Backburner should help buff the class as a whole, since it should deal quite a bit more damage if used properly than the normal flamethrower. The Axtinguisher will help emphasize weapon switching and ammo conservation, two things that are good tactics for a Pyro player to learn. Finally, the air push ability will increase the Pyro’s “fun factor”. I mean, really. What’s funnier than annihilating a Soldier with his own Crit Rocket?

The update hits Steam some time today.

UPDATE: The patch went live today as of 2:15 PDT. Patch notes are as follows:

“

• Added 2 community maps: cp_fastlane and ctf_turbine

Pyro

• Added alt-fire compression blast to the basic flamethrower
• Added The Axtinguisher, The Backburner, and The Flare Gun
• Hadouken taunt now kills people it hits
• Tuned the flamethrower hit detection to improve detection versus retreating opponents
• Removed Flamethrower’s damage falloff (was falling off to 25% by the end)

cp_well

• Added a route from the forward central foyer up to the battlements
• Redistributed health and ammunition throughout the bases

ctf_well

• Added a route from the forward central foyer up to the battlements
• Removed central building, reduced overall map length
• Redistributed health and ammunition throughout the bases

Other Notes

• Removed Soldier’s 40% damage reduction from his own rockets. Does not affect rocket jumps
• In-game avatar images will now have a badge around them if the player is your friend
• Fixed bug that allowed players to move around in a reference pose
• Added custom death icons for unlockable weapons
• The player join team message now specifies whether the player used the auto team option
• Payload maps now support four control points per stage
• Achievement dialog will stay open when you’re moving in & out of the game and the main menu
• Added full Russian localization, with both fonts & speech
• Returned the "Report a Bug" option to the main menu

So, what does this all mean? First off, both Well maps got their ammo and health crates mixed around, which helps since the map used to have a weird assortment of locations for the items. Secondly, CTF_Well has been made to resemble the original Well map by removing the Train Station building and scooting both bases closer.

However, the biggest non-Pyro change is the fact that the Soldier got a 40% nerf to it’s rocket launcher. When it comes to critical shots from the launcher, this is a breath of fresh air, due to the fact that a crit rocket would usually result in instant death. However, this also effects standard shots. Wether or not this will affect the Soldier’s usefulness is yet to be seen. One thing is for sure though: Soldier players are gonna be pissed.

[Valve]