I was just thinking about various ways to counter the flamer. I came up with four: chem spray, keeping away, blowing up the flamer, and just flat out killing that damn ship.
It occurs to me that every one of those methods is proactive. Reactive counters to the flamer are pretty rare by comparison. I think maybe this is what gives newbies problems with it. It's all like, "Oh, I'm just now learning this fun new game, and now everything I love is burning."
While I personally view the flamethrower as a fascinating weapon that adds a unique facet to this game, considering the fact that you pretty much have to be on top of everything to counter it, I can see how newbies would view that weapon as interesting in the same way that ducks view hunting as a sport.
So what IS the answer? Is this something that would require us to educate newbies better? Would a new protip or two dedicated to countering flamers help?
Simply nerfing the gun would make it borderline useless IMO (for what little my opinion is worth).
What do?
