𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫: ♂
𝐀� 𝐞: 𝟐𝟏
𝐁𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐝𝐚𝐲: 𝟐𝟖 𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐲 ♌️
𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧� 𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐋𝐚𝐧� 𝐮𝐚� 𝐞: 𝐄𝐧� 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡
𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲: 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐡
𝐇𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐧: 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧� 

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- 𝐉𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐨𝐧 𝟑𝐫𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫, 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟑
- 𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝟏𝟎𝟓 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐞
- 𝟗,𝟎𝟎𝟎+ 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐓𝐅𝟐
- 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐑𝐞𝐩 [steamrep.com]
- 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐋𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐫 [steamladder.com]

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- 𝐈 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭 𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐦 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐬, 𝐮𝐧𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐬.
- 𝐈 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐝𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝/𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝟏𝟎.
- 𝐃𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐬. 𝐓𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐞, 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤 𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐩.𝐭𝐟 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧� 𝐬. [backpack.tf]
- 𝐃𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐞�  𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤.
- 𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐦 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤.
- 𝐋𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐥𝐲, 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐚 � 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 � 𝐮𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭.

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𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐓𝐮𝐛𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐥
𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝: 𝐦𝐜𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐥 (𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐲 "𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐒𝐡𝐩𝐞𝐞𝐃𝐚𝐒𝐰𝐞� � 𝐲#𝟓𝟎𝟎𝟎")

This has been lingering in my mind for a while now, and since we've just ushered into the new year, I think this is the appropriate time for me to come out and say it:

Beginning 2025, I will be quitting Team Fortress 2 indefinitely.

For a game that's stuck with me for basically half my life now, one that in a way defines who I am as a person, it actually feels surreal saying this. I've always been under the belief that I was never going to stop playing until it was physically impossible to do so. While that still maybe holds some form of truth, I can't keep engaging with a certain thing if my heart's not into it.

I get those expressions about how the good times never last and what have you, and this isn't to say that I'm raising that white flag yet, but as someone who's seen how this game has evolved for 11+ years now, It's next to impossible trying to keep a positive outlook on this game.

I know the playerbase is still going strong (some might even argue it's the most "passionate" it's ever been) but that's merely an outlier when you compare that to the abhorrent state TF2 has been in thanks to Valve's continued desertion over the years.

Am I happy that bots are gone? Over the moon. But this really had no business needing to happen in the first place, let alone for 5 friggin' years. And to really think that this happened off the back of one of the most nightmarish times in the game's lifespan. After the ♥♥♥♥-up that was Meet your Match, with Valve doubling down on their decisions and then needing to damage control their way through everything while not upholding their promises or listening to the people, this very obviously meant that their intentions with this game going forward were set in stone, and as a result, that's where we are today.

I hate to sound gloom-ridden but when you continue to play this game knowing full well that there's hardly a future left, nothing innovative in the works or at the very least, hardly any meaningful fixes to this game, I tend to grow weary. I didn't start feeling this way until maybe 2019 or 2020. I still played the game a whole hell of a lot back then but I just bottled those emotions up and lived with it since I didn't know better at the time. I reminisce about the times where I'm playing and always waiting for something exciting to come like years prior, but all of that's kind of gone out the window, so what's left?

Basically what I'm saying is that I just miss this game, and I have a hard time letting it go. It's a dire situation, but not one that I'm gonna let fester any longer.

Like I've mentioned before, this isn't to say I'm abandoning the game by any means. I will still keep up with what TF2 is up to, because really and truly, it will always be my favourite game of all time. But until there is any significant change on Valve's part, I don't see myself playing it as often as I used to, unless it's either during the usual content updates we get every year (Summer, Scream Fortress, Smissmas), if anything "big" happens that entices me to come back and give it another shot, or God forbid if Valve ever finally manages to fix or change the current matchmaking system to resemble that of the old days of Quickplay, because that's honestly the #1 thing about this game that I miss the most, and especially where my biggest frustrations lie.

This video by Zesty Jesus talks about that in immense detail, and also greatly highlights how Valve's very meticulous decision-making which stemmed from Meet your Match ultimately led them to completely neglect us, forcing we as the playerbase to pick up the scraps. And guess what? We're still feeling the repercussions now, and we'll continue to do so as the years go by, so long as nothing happens. I strongly recommend watching the entire thing because it's so well put together.

Valve, you have my word in that I trust you can do better. It's your move now. Make it right.