Fix the Flamethrower class

[JustRyan]

How come if i shoot at the ground for a small second i kill myself but if i do that to an enemy IN THE FACE or anywhere on the body. He doesnt die as quick? WHY?!?!

[Hartford688]

I guess the mechanical theory would be that you got some blowback and your tank exploded.

In game terms, balance. The flamethrower is high risk, high reward in close quarters. It is tremendous because you can hit an area, don't (in some ways) need to be so accurate, cause panic, bounce shots around corners.

So there need to be some downsides to make it a bit tricker to use all these wonderful benefits. Slow, can't lie down, tend tend to go boom when hit. And to offset willy-nilly spraying, nuking yourself if you are careless.

It is a tricky class, but can also be deadly.

Distressing when you flame somebody but the survive long enough to shoot you though, I agree.

[Jukebox]

Because flames bounce off surfaces (and players). By aiming at the floor and firing the flames are immediately hitting you. Following the same logic, it's also why as a flame thrower you should be wary of nearby teammates. Most are not ware of.how it works and if they cross right in front of you while firing, you'll end up killing yourself.

[FoxHound]

The flamethrower has just pitiful range. You can barely get people who are across the room. Nice concept, but they were too careful with it.

[Jukebox]

Flamethrower has a great range.

I think the animation is misleading to a lot of people. All the flames you see on screen do not do the same amount of damage.

[Stinger]

Originally posted by FoxHound:

The flamethrower has just pitiful range. You can barely get people who are across the room.

No. In many circumstances, you can.
The flamethrower takes a second to reach its full range, which is easily enough to cross a street (i've used it on Sicily C point on defense, in the window on the far-far-right, to great effect), and thus is often enough to clear rooms.
Every individual flame particle is actually directly attached to a full "rope"; I've burnt myself by spinning too fast and thus tightening this "rope" around my chest. As a result, movement at the base of the stream (ie the flamer's nozzle) very quickly transfers to the tip (where the enemies are).

Based on this knowledge, I typically wait a half-second outside the door, letting the flamer's stream extend to most of its length. Once I'm satisfied, I march in, aiming a little high so the flame won't bounce on me. Because of the rope-like behavior I described, only one or two particles will bounce on the doorway before the rest of the stream hits the other side of the room I'm breaching. After that, I simply breath in and enjoy the fresh scent of roast kraut.

...ooor get shot in the face, since admittedly, this is hardly the most concealed method of using it. It has proven very effective for me, though.

Also, don't be afraid to fire for very, very long bursts. You get around a full minute of constant trigger-time on one fuel tank, even if it's leaking, so use it.

[Hartford688]

Helpful post, I will try your advice!

[JorKon]

I like the flamer a lot, and I can see its balanced, it just can get so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ inconsistent with how it is viewed between the server and player. For me a lot, only way I can use the flamer well is by flanking and pre-firing it, but it irritates me when a player in a direct confrontation (on my side of playing), is able to peek a quick second when they're being blasted and I see flames bouncing off them. I think this is just ping issues on the server, but it feels like I've been cheated just because the flamethrower doesn't throw damage fast enough (about 50dmg per tick of damage). I also do hate that it only takes a quarter of a second of self-damage just to kill you when it takes about 5x more than that to kill someone else.

[JustRyan]

Originally posted by JorKon:

I like the flamer a lot, and I can see its balanced, it just can get so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ inconsistent with how it is viewed between the server and player. For me a lot, only way I can use the flamer well is by flanking and pre-firing it, but it irritates me when a player in a direct confrontation (on my side of playing), is able to peek a quick second when they're being blasted and I see flames bouncing off them. I think this is just ping issues on the server, but it feels like I've been cheated just because the flamethrower doesn't throw damage fast enough (about 50dmg per tick of damage). I also do hate that it only takes a quarter of a second of self-damage just to kill you when it takes about 5x more than that to kill someone else.

My point exactly.
I walked around a corner and blast one guy went onto the next guy but the 1st guy then managed to kill me?!?! Even know the flames covered the guy, i heard him scream but still...i died from the guy...