Valve, you are the most conflicted company that has ever existed.
Time after time, your genius business strategies and game development departments revolutionize their respective fields. Time after time, you've demonstrated yourselves as a titan of a corporation, worthy of the respect of players everywhere.
It's with a heavy heart, and a deep love for Team Fortress, that I have to decided to lay down my bat and scattergun. Team Fortress isn't just a game, it's an experience; it is a community, a culture, something to be beheld as a spectacle of game design, a masterful manipulation of player psychology, and a product of love and passion. It has been refined and added to over the course of multiple years in a daring product model of free updates, during a time where no such thing had ever been executed successfully. This title has been loved by millions of people for it: of course, myself included.
However, Valve has effectively dropped this game and shoved it under the rug. After 17 years of service, and off the back of an engine that was never made for something of this scale and longevity, it can be somewhat understood. But this, simply, remains as an unplayable game. Team Fortress 2 has lost its appeal over recent years for Valve's neglect of the title, continual lack of effort into ensuring quality community updates, and the famed "radio silence" that Valve generally operates on.
Cheaters flood servers, several tens of thousands of idle bots remain online at all times to farm profitable random item drops, and community servers are often run for profit and play on the same few popular map pools. Simply put, Team Fortress is in a rut, and as an avid fan, it kills me to see it.

I cannot, with an honest heart, recommend Team Fortress 2. Until this title deserves the housekeeping it needs - and deserves - to stay alive, I will not be playing any longer.

Valve; the entire Team Fortress community invites you to clean things up a little. Even just making the game playable again on quick matchmaking would inspire thousands to return, as complicated of a problem as it would seem. Until that day, Team Fortress will only ever be as valuable as the legacy it has left behind.

Update: I remain skeptical on the state of things since the recent bot ban wave... though I won't make Valve's pockets any deeper through Team Fortress until long-term proof is shown of improvement, I'm happy to say that I can enjoy playing Team Fortress 2 again at this time. :]

Valve, you are the most conflicted company that has ever existed. Time after time, your genius business strategies and game development departments revolutionize their respective fields. Time after time, you've demonstrated yourselves as a titan of a corporation, worthy of the respect of players everywhere. It's with a heavy heart, and a deep love for Team Fortress, that I have to decided to lay down my bat and scattergun. Team Fortress isn't just a game, it's an experience; it is a community, a culture, something to be beheld as a spectacle of game design, a masterful manipulation of player psychology, and a product of love and passion. It has been refined and added to over the course of multiple years in a daring product model of free updates, during a time where no such thing had ever been executed successfully. This title has been loved by millions of people for it: of course, myself included. However, Valve has effectively dropped this game and shoved it under the rug. After 17 years of service, and off the back of an engine that was never made for something of this scale and longevity, it can be somewhat understood. But this, simply, remains as an unplayable game. Team Fortress 2 has lost its appeal over recent years for Valve's neglect of the title, continual lack of effort into ensuring quality community updates, and the famed "radio silence" that Valve generally operates on. Cheaters flood servers, several tens of thousands of idle bots remain online at all times to farm profitable random item drops, and community servers are often run for profit and play on the same few popular map pools. Simply put, Team Fortress is in a rut, and as an avid fan, it kills me to see it. I cannot, with an honest heart, recommend Team Fortress 2. Until this title deserves the housekeeping it needs - and deserves - to stay alive, I will not be playing any longer. Valve; the entire Team Fortress community invites you to clean things up a little. Even just making the game playable again on quick matchmaking would inspire thousands to return, as complicated of a problem as it would seem. Until that day, Team Fortress will only ever be as valuable as the legacy it has left behind. Update: I remain skeptical on the state of things since the recent bot ban wave... though I won't make Valve's pockets any deeper through Team Fortress until long-term proof is shown of improvement, I'm happy to say that I can enjoy playing Team Fortress 2 again at this time. :]