How to succeed with Pyros....

[DrJones]

W+M1 pyro's are easy to stop when you're a soldier. Just two rockets and that's that.

[Pitchblack]

Easy to stop as a Demo, too. Two pipes to the face and they're gibbed.

[Ayeaka]

And burn damage itself isn't that much of an issue, now. In addition to medics, dispensers, and health packs, we now have jarate and airblast.

This doesn't stop pyros on your own team from stupidly leaving their friends to burn, however.

(Although, a note to anyone medicing me, when I am pyro. No, putting you out in the middle of a fight wiht another pyro is NOT a good idea. He's just going to ignite you again. And during that time, -I- will probably die. If it's a situation where you can escape if I do, YES, I'll stop to put you out. If not, sorry, but, no.)

[Pitchblack]

[Ayeaka]

[iller]

2 things I notice 99% of the time about AirBlast and Teammates...
-Usually the ones with more than half-health, never thank you for putting them out.
-The ones Below half-health, never stop running. (IE: so you CAN'T put them out.)

[Makaze]

This is making a bun wonder if this is a kick pyros in the ribs/when their down/bash fest

[pablofiasco]

bah, to much overthinking,
here is a sure fire folowchart describing how to win with pyro:

[Nocturnefoxx]

[Stormcaller3801]

Best I can tell from observation there's two basic methodologies to playing a Pyro.

The first involves the Flamethrower. This is the more assault-y sort of play where you're anticipating facing down lots of Soldiers and Demomen head-on. Airbursts are your friend, as you can quickly redirect incoming projectiles back at their source. Fire figures prominently into this as well, because you're going to use it twofold: first, to kill people, but second, to help provide you with cover from Snipers and similar opponents. Death of targets in and of itself is not nearly so important as causing chaos and generally breaking the enemy assault- setting people on fire has a wonderful habit of sending them running for water or Medipacks, or just fleeing in the general direction of wherever they think they might've seen a Medic sometime last week. The biggest problems here are Heavies and Snipers- the former are best divested of any Medics that might be healing them (which helps with the chaos-causing as well) and left for friendly Snipers to deal with; the latter you want to try to avoid by using a curtain of fire and zig-zagging to try and limit headshots. If you can knock the opposition on their heels, you're doing your job very well.

The second involves the Backburner. This is probably a style more favorable to people who play Spies. Your goal is not direct confrontation- instead your goal is to bypass the front lines either by virtue of side routes or simply finding a spot to disappear into until they pass you by. Then you jump out and start burning people that don't know you're there. This will be Snipers, Medics, Engineers, other Pyros and possibly Spies who don't see you while they change disguises or decloak in 'safety.' Depending on the situation and opponent you may be constantly switching from the Backburner to the Axtinguisher or Fire Axe. Your biggest headache is going to be Sentries, simply because you are relatively squishy and depend on the critical hits from a rear attack. Without that your best bet is going to be trying to edge a corner and burn the Sentry down, but Engineers are just as likely to require you to cross large open areas to take down their guns. Or work together to create overlapping fields of fire. If everything between the front line and the spawn point is charcoal, you're doing your job very well.

There's a third option that's a bit out of the ordinary- it depends on playing like something other than a Pyro. Using the Flaregun or Shotgun, you take on your opponents at range, usually from places they don't expect. You might either do this safely from your own backfield (in which case you're probably using your primary weapon for periodic spychecks and little else) or from behind/above the enemy (which will either soften up the enemy for your teammates or scatter them enough to let you cut them down individually with the Axtinguisher). This can be a useful variation on standard play, particularly if you've been using one of the above styles and the opposition is wising up to your tricks.

The W+M1 style of play seems to be a less nuanced version of the first option, one that relies entirely upon use of fire while ignoring useful things like reflecting/deflecting crit rockets or clearing out stickies. It works, but only because it fulfills the basic idea of causing chaos- primarily because you're confusing in and of yourself. Against a coordinated team or experienced player you will likely find yourself blown up, knocked back, shot to heck, or otherwise neutralized. Meanwhile any aid you offer to your own team is mostly coincidental- which depending on your teammates may not be a downside. If you have 16 players who are all running solo, it doesn't hurt. If you have an organized offensive, you might cause as much harm as good simply by not adding your own strength to theirs.

But then again, I'm a complete newb and this is mostly just random observation and thought. So I could be entirely wrong.