I was thinking. People claim the reason the flamethrower is so weak is because it is so easy to use. Ignoring the facts that the particle effect causes its own aiming difficulties, that the minigun is not really more difficut to aim with than the flamethrower, that getting into the range where the weapon is effective at all is part of its difficulty of use, and that the ease of getting maximum damage is not important if the maximum damage is terribad, I think two things can be done that make the flamethrower more "challenging" to use in exchange for buffing its capabilities.
1. Reduce the size of the particle hitboxes but increase the spread of them so that the shape of the damage cone stays relatively the same.
2. Make it so that the duration of the afterburn is not a fixed 10 seconds, but that every particle that hits an enemy adds 1 to the duration, starting at 0 (obviously) and increasing to a maximum of 10.
3. In exchange for this, buff the damage of the flame, the damage of the afterburn, and the disorienting capabilities of the afterburn.
Bad players will do less damage. Good players will do more damage. Everyone is happy.
Thoughts?