I've been a tf2 player technically since the MVM update, though that account has been long since lost and forgotten. I love TF2, beyond being a game, I made many life long friends due to the game. I met many, many thousands of people with thousands of games played between each of them, talking to those people, forming connections and bonds that have stood the tests of time. It's because of a game like TF2 that I, when suffering from chronic severe pain that debilitated my ability to walk, that I could still find new people to talk to and bond with. TF2 to me means so much. Over years and years of spending time in this game, making memories that I'll take to my grave, I unfortunately cannot recommend it.

Today, TF2 is functionally unplayable unless you are lucky enough to find a mostly-bot-free server and then perform the treadmill work that Valve refuses to do themselves: Remove a functionally infinite pool of bots from the game you are actively in. TF2 is less game and more menu and timer simulator for players who don't want to let bots overrun the lobby. There's often little time to actually play when bots are actively joining in the slots where players belong. These bots advertise "immunity" to their auto-headshot aim cheats for a fee, while its owners blatantly harass, attack, and defame anyone with a platform who dares try to stop them.

Today, if you want to play TF2, you have to play in community servers, where the average skill level of players is significantly higher than your average pub.

Today, if you dare try to make the game fun again, to make a video game playable, the bot hosts will doxx you. They will harass you. They will make up fake evidence using powerful AI tools to make you say heinous things.

Today, if you're a free to play player, you can't even ask for a medic to top you up, even if you are in a community server (unless the server has plugins to get around that "feature" of TF2).

Today, a part of gaming history is left bleeding in a ditch, no sequel, no support, no love from its father from on-high, and it's not the only one. Dota, Counter-Strike, and many other IP's and games suffer while Valve again moves onto whatever the shiny new project they want to work on is. Right now, it's Deadlock, but why bother playing it when it'll inevitably be one of another of Valve's old playthings - relegated to the dustbin when it no longer entertains.

I can't in good conscience suggest anyone play TF2 right now. I wish I could say differently. Regardless of the new movement to save TF2 or the fact it will almost certainly do nothing, I wanted to write this re-review for a long time. I've wanted to put to words my feelings on the game that saved me from suffering in silence. A game that helped me realize not all fps games were CoD, that they could be games I could enjoy too. That helped me find a community of people I loved, raise one of my own even. I love Team Fortress. But something has to change.

To Valve's employees, who certainly will not read this, or if they do, will not care: I will never spend a dime in TF2 again. I'll never suggest this game to anyone again. Nor can i ever, ever suggest any Valve multiplayer title ever again. At least with Half-Life or Portal, those experiences are single player, and as long as they're stable and fun, i can suggest that. But for it's multiplayer titles, the titles to which Valve clearly aspires to make, but does not care to maintain. The ones in which they would rather offload their "treadmill work" to their consumers, would rather make and forget. I will not be playing Deadlock; even if it were to be of my personal tastes in games, I could not in good conscience play another Valve game, learn to love it, only to watch it decay before my eyes. It's clear to me this company is only concerned with milking whatever peanuts you can gather from the community at this point, so I have a message to anyone at the company that cares enough to listen: either change how you handle your products or end of life them. Stop providing servers and updates and just leave the game in the hands of community server owners. Let it die with some dignity. Or don't, continue to try and milk every nickle and dime from this game you can until the community can be milked no more, show us how you've become no different from Microsoft in the ways that matter.

EDIT: At time of writing this update, which is the Summer 2024 update, I still refuse to suggest this game. It still has glaring issues and the future of support is not guaranteed or defined.

I've been a tf2 player technically since the MVM update, though that account has been long since lost and forgotten. I love TF2, beyond being a game, I made many life long friends due to the game. I met many, many thousands of people with thousands of games played between each of them, talking to those people, forming connections and bonds that have stood the tests of time. It's because of a game like TF2 that I, when suffering from chronic severe pain that debilitated my ability to walk, that I could still find new people to talk to and bond with. TF2 to me means so much. Over years and years of spending time in this game, making memories that I'll take to my grave, I unfortunately cannot recommend it. Today, TF2 is functionally unplayable unless you are lucky enough to find a mostly-bot-free server and then perform the treadmill work that Valve refuses to do themselves: Remove a functionally infinite pool of bots from the game you are actively in. TF2 is less game and more menu and timer simulator for players who don't want to let bots overrun the lobby. There's often little time to actually play when bots are actively joining in the slots where players belong. These bots advertise "immunity" to their auto-headshot aim cheats for a fee, while its owners blatantly harass, attack, and defame anyone with a platform who dares try to stop them. Today, if you want to play TF2, you have to play in community servers, where the average skill level of players is significantly higher than your average pub. Today, if you dare try to make the game fun again, to make a video game playable, the bot hosts will doxx you. They will harass you. They will make up fake evidence using powerful AI tools to make you say heinous things. Today, if you're a free to play player, you can't even ask for a medic to top you up, even if you are in a community server (unless the server has plugins to get around that "feature" of TF2). Today, a part of gaming history is left bleeding in a ditch, no sequel, no support, no love from its father from on-high, and it's not the only one. Dota, Counter-Strike, and many other IP's and games suffer while Valve again moves onto whatever the shiny new project they want to work on is. Right now, it's Deadlock, but why bother playing it when it'll inevitably be one of another of Valve's old playthings - relegated to the dustbin when it no longer entertains. I can't in good conscience suggest anyone play TF2 right now. I wish I could say differently. Regardless of the new movement to save TF2 or the fact it will almost certainly do nothing, I wanted to write this re-review for a long time. I've wanted to put to words my feelings on the game that saved me from suffering in silence. A game that helped me realize not all fps games were CoD, that they could be games I could enjoy too. That helped me find a community of people I loved, raise one of my own even. I love Team Fortress. But something has to change. To Valve's employees, who certainly will not read this, or if they do, will not care: I will never spend a dime in TF2 again. I'll never suggest this game to anyone again. Nor can i ever, ever suggest any Valve multiplayer title ever again. At least with Half-Life or Portal, those experiences are single player, and as long as they're stable and fun, i can suggest that. But for it's multiplayer titles, the titles to which Valve clearly aspires to make, but does not care to maintain. The ones in which they would rather offload their "treadmill work" to their consumers, would rather make and forget. I will not be playing Deadlock; even if it were to be of my personal tastes in games, I could not in good conscience play another Valve game, learn to love it, only to watch it decay before my eyes. It's clear to me this company is only concerned with milking whatever peanuts you can gather from the community at this point, so I have a message to anyone at the company that cares enough to listen: either change how you handle your products or end of life them. Stop providing servers and updates and just leave the game in the hands of community server owners. Let it die with some dignity. Or don't, continue to try and milk every nickle and dime from this game you can until the community can be milked no more, show us how you've become no different from Microsoft in the ways that matter. EDIT: At time of writing this update, which is the Summer 2024 update, I still refuse to suggest this game. It still has glaring issues and the future of support is not guaranteed or defined.