Team Legit

The last three weeks have been a rollercoaster for me. I’ve graduated from high school, and applied for a job at a nearby Internet tech support call center, and got hired. I’ve just gotten out of the two weeks of training, plus I got paid yesterday. Yay money!

The job is totally awesome, and surprisingly laid back. It could be because San Marcos is a college town, containing Texas State University and all of its students. The pay isn’t bad, either, starting at $8/hour. Considering I’ll be working 36 hours a week and I get paid twice a week, that’s a $576 check before the taxes kick in. Then it’ll probably be 450-something. Still, not too shabby.

I’ve heard many, MANY stories of some of the hellish, strange or just downright funny calls some tech support representatives get, and I’m sure to get my share of those calls working there. Any in particular that stand out, I’ll post here (with all sensitive information removed of course, and names changed to protect the innocent and the stupid).

Anyway, enough about my life, a new TF2 update just came out. As Rockman mentioned below, Valve released their newest “Meet the Team” video last Tuesday, Meet the Sniper. Before the video, I always saw the sniper as a distant nuisance whom I easily took care of with either a knife in the back or a flamethrower. Now I see him as a complete and utter badass… that I still easily take care of with either a knife in the back or a flamethrower.

Also, the Pyro achievement pack is coming out, going the same way the Medic did when his pack came out. The pack features 36 achievements and three unlockable weapons. The best part is you don’t have to unlock ALL of the achievements to get all of the weapons, like you did with the medic, allowing you to pick and choose the easy ones to get while still getting all of the long-term ones (like 1000 kills, 1 million fire damage, etc). The Pyro also got a little bit of a gameplay update. The alternate fire on his normal flamethrower now shoots a jet of compressed air, which can be used to push enemies away or deflect projecticles like rockets and grenades. It’s also extremely useful for clearing away sticky bomb carpets laid down by enemy Demomen. Anyway, for curious eyes, the new weapons are below:

The Flare Gun

This weapon replaces the Pyro’s shotgun. It fires a gravity-influenced projectile which can light enemies on fire if you hit them with it. It’s good if you want to ignite people beyond the short range of your flamethrower, Engineers and Snipers especially. You unlock this weapon after unlocking 10 of the Pyro achievements.

The Backburner

This weapon replaces the Pyro’s flamethrower. While it removes the compressed air blast ability of the flamethrower, it guarantees super-high damage when you attack an enemy from behind. Whenever you have this weapon in your loadout, it also boosts the Pyro’s maximum health from 175 to 225. You unlock this weapon after unlocking 16 of the Pyro achievements.

The Axtinguisher

Finally, there’s the Axtinguisher. This replaces the Pyro’s fire axe. When used normally, the Axtinguisher is much weaker than the normal axe, inflicting only about half of the damage it normally would. However, if you use it on a burning enemy, it’ll guarantee a critical hit, doing MASSIVE damage. It’s perfect for huge health reservoirs like Soldiers and Heavies if you need to cut them down quickly. If you can, try to use this weapon in conjunction with the Backburner to make your job quick and easy. You’ll unlock this weapon after unlocking 22 of the Pyro achievements.

Overall, some pretty cool stuff. Just a note, there was a huge rush of Pyros trying to get the achievements, just like there were with the Medics. So, if you’re going to play TF2, expect to see a lot of Pyros running around. When in doubt, get a friend to help you in a private server.

Also, the Pyro’s Hadouken taunt kills people now. WHAT.