I have never left a review on Steam before but I know that when I do, it will be on my first ever game on steam, Team Fortress 2.

This is going to be a long review. TLDR: I love this game from the community to the gameplay itself and I'm sad what it has become

My 14 years old self found this game through the passing of Rick May on April 2020. It was a post on instagram that honoured his amazing voice acting as one of the nine beloved mercenaries, Soldier. My then self immediately went on youtube because I want to know more about this game because the instagram's post showcase an amazing footage of Soldier gameplay and a drawing of him. I realised something when I was met with the result. That being, I was familiar with these characters, I've seen them around in countless gmod videos (I used to watch Vanoss/FNAF a lot) and I was surprised even more when I recognised the game's sound effects in various youtuber's videos.

I then downloaded the game on the same day, did the tutorial and then the offline games and as I hover over the queue button, I quit the game.

Not because I hate it while playing the offline games but because I was scared of being made fun of. This game was 13 years old at that point, surely everyone is a skilled veteran who wouldnt want someone as new as me on their team? I didnt open the game until October 2020, my first Scream Fortress event. I muster up the courage and queue for casual.

It was chaotic , my macbook (yes, Macbook Air) could barely run it and I probably had at least 10 fps in each games. Lagging like crazy and getting instant headshot but it doesnt matter because it was FUN despite the lag, the deaths, the miss shots, everything doesnt matter because I never play a game where everything feels overwhelming. I play then I play the game again and again and next thing I know, nobody cares on how bad I am with -K/d. I then picked Pyro as my main. I thought I was the greatest player for spamming the scorch shot across the map and stun locked people.

But unlike what the game's community's common playstyle, I was a try hard. I wanted to be the best of the best so I hop on youtube and watch a lot, and I mean a lot of tutorials. Some of them were hours long from beginners to professionals because I really want to git gud at the game. I picked up Scout because Pyro felt easy and Im horrible at aiming. I played on Hightowers because 2Fort felt too small. I grind and grind even when I'm supposed to be in my language/religion classes but it was quarantine so who cares? I also didnt have to open my cam and mic.

I was upset to find the last major update was in 20-♥♥♥♥♥♥♥-17. It was also for my main class too! And it hit me on the head why my mercenary badge says "Even though you were late to the party, you were still the life of it." . I wish I was there to experience what it was like to have a major update but despite it, I felt content with the content within the game. If I have to write an essay on the movements only, I will because it's just that good but funny enough, I am a very ♥♥♥♥ player. Im sure that someone with 100 hours can beat me, someone with 1000 hours in 1v1.

As fun as the game is, it was the community that kept me from moving on to another game.

I won a giftaway for a hat, the Honcho's Headgear to which I still wear to this day for my Soldier. One time, I got into a match and a Heavy dropped his aussie minigun and the two of us sweep the server. I wish i took a screenshot but instead I went on reddit to post a meme and complained in the caption on how us F2Ps cant talk, cant kick bots or add anyone because I really want to thank the guy for dropping his aussie. That Reddit post gathered a lot of attentions and I have a lot of people messaging me to gift me items AND STEAM GIFT CARDS. My teen self CRIED. I never thought people would see the stolen meme let alone helping me to upgrade from an F2P to a premium account. I met few cool people that added me to which I play with time to time. I tried to not be toxic but sometimes the game really gets to my head but still it felt like a friendly banter, I apologize if I have ever call you anything horrible. I try to make up by giving new players hats sometimes because I know hats are not just for dress up but a status too. HATS!

Honestly, I have no idea how I managed to have so much fun in the game when 2020 was one of the worst time to start playing the game. To me, it speaks volume on how the game's worst condition managed to gather new player and have said player to have fun. Valve perfected the 12 v 12 Hero Mercenary-based shooter and all of this gold mine just to be neglected, forgotten, left to rot, abandoned, filled with fleas.

I havent play the game due to exam season but also because of burnouts from the amount of time I got kicked from the game by bots or left due to bots-only server. It's a great shame on Valve's behalf to just ignore the community. Hell, I would argue that the TF2 community is the MOST dedicated community out there because how do you still keep with the game despite what it has become? For me, it's the people but the people are slowly turn to bunch of jackass AIs who spam in chats. Which only pisses me off because F2Ps still cant talk nor vote but these pieces of ♥♥♥♥♥ can?

Fix your ♥♥♥♥ Valve. #FixTF2 #SaveTF2

I want to write more about how much this game means to me but I highly doubt anyone cares. I also doubt anyone would read this wall of text. I also have no idea how the text format works but I hope it works.

It's a darn shame that while I was indeed correct that TF2 is my first game to left a review on, I just did not expect it to be a negative one.

Remove bots and add good anticheat. Fix the game. Allow players to call medic without needing to pay money.

this company is genuinely rich enough and has the reach to fix this game at least 10 times over. People are not even asking for new content anymore, we just want the bot problem fixed at the very least. It is even more of a slap in the face that Valve CHOSE to acknowledge the community back in the #SaveTF2 rally only to do nothing anyway??

TF2's cultural impact is immense and there are still literally millions of people around the world who would be overjoyed to the point of tears to see this game thrive again. Valve holds one of the most beloved IPs in all of gaming and choose to let it fester and rot disgracefully...even from a business standpoint it's just idiotic. The game still has so much potential and means so much to so many people