One of the trends I've seen was making the game more competitive from tf2ubers saying removing random crits, having a casual 6s or tweaking the rules/weapons that match competitive(not official competitive but the community one ). Thinking that will make people come to play the game and Valve to make more content saving the game. Failing to realize what happened to Overwatch which killed it. Or Tf2 gets the case of melee, making the same characters/ loadouts the standard and making the rest useless. Failing to realize that game is designed for fun (being different that the other shooters) and not to be taken too seriously.
I'm sorry for responding to this months later (I'm reading through the thread after forgetting about it for 7 months) but I disagree
I think Tf2's casual is definitely great. It's hard to find a community where most servers aren't populated by sweats. The problem is a lot of people use the "it's casual" excuse to play like a jackass. You get kicked from servers for getting pissed when there's four bottom-scoring snipers and your team is getting rolled. I can't really play casual anymore because the players are so impossibly selfish. It's like they forgot its TEAM Fortress 2. Sometimes being on a Team means you have to be a Team player. And sometimes being a Team player means sacrificing a tiny amount of fun so that you team has a chance.
In response to this I frequently hear "Well it's just casual, it's about having fun!. Let me have fun!". Great pal. I'm glad you're having fun. But if you can't have fun unless you're playing a class nobody needs and you're terrible at, you don't like Tf2. If you don't like the boring parts of gaming and only want a constant IV of dopamine, you don't deserve them. Imagine how boring gaming would be if it was all high moments. So grow some fucking balls and take one for the Team. Switch to Medic or Soldier or something even a retard could do. Hitscan isn't your thing buddy.
I don't think theres a problem with Tf2 being primarily Casual. But there needs to be some alternative for people who, you know, give a fuck about winning. It doesn't make you a "sweat" or a "tryhard" to get pissed when you're losing because a few shitty teammates. Team composition is incredibly important in a game like Tf2, and when people don't understand (or don't care) about doing it properly it makes the game unplayable. Tf2 is unique in it's casual environment, but it's a double edged sword, because it's also unique in the sheer number of people who use that casual environment to excuse being a cunt.
Tf2 needs some kind of viable competitive funnel if it A) wants any chance at surviving the next half-decade B) wants to have a community that isn't notoriously awful to play with. Ironically, I would rather play Tf2 with anybody but another Tf2 player. Some kind of 6's Casual option (Like FUNKe suggested, with a tickbox to make it accessible) and/or a competitive/casual overhaul that makes casual more like competitive and competitive more accessible should be the next major update. Basically Redo everything from Meet your Match, do it right with comp community input. Trickle down balancing works in every game. Tf2 isn't so special that its immune from a universal governing law of FPS style gaming.
My suggestions for making Casual play more like Competitive (to bridge the gap, so competitive doesn't seem so daunting) is to disable random elements like random crits and random spread, and to re-balance broken/retarded weapons. I would also advocate imposing a class limit of 3 per, but I am aware that would be unpopular, but IMO Community servers should be home to super goofy shit like everybody going one class, which would improve community server usage for people seeking that experience, and Casual should be more like CS:GO with similar balancing to Comp but still some goofiness. Up from Casual would be Casual 6's, which is 6v6 but with things like AllTalk and sprays still enabled, and no consequences for losing like Competitive, which would be the learning grounds for people who want to dip their toes into comp. Class limits of 2 seems appropriate here. Finally for Comp I would suggest fully competitive balancing.
Some minor (or major, depending on how you look at it) changes I would also like to see are fully expanded and remastered tutorials. I want to see tutorials for every class done right, and on three levels. Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced. Beginner could establish the basics of a class, Intermediate could explore more complex stuff like movement tricks and engine quirks, and combo moves, and Advanced tutorials could have stuff like advanced movement techniques, high level tactics, tips, etc. I also think there should be practice "scenarios" available for each class, where you can practice certain class specific skills and scenarios, like escaping a bad situation as a spy or keeping your crosshair on an enemy as a scout while moving and jumping a bunch, or jump challenges for soldier/demo. I think completion of these challenges should reward you with a few basic weapons, like completing the jump courses unlocks the gunboats, or maybe a headshot challenge rewarding you with jarate? That I haven't really considered much.
I think the Mann Co. store needs to be redone/revamped. I actually really don't mind microtransactions when they aren't shoved in your face. The Mann Co. store is a great way for Valve to make money on the game. I would like to see the Starter Packs changed from 14 dollars a pop to maybe 99 cents. The worth of every unlockable weapon in the game rounds out at less than a dollar fifty, so charging a dollar for 25 weapons is still a net profit. The lower pricing will make it a much more popular option for new players, and if they end up buying them for every class Valve just made 9 dollars off some kid who would have otherwise used Marketplace.tf or just not bought anything at all.
Finally I wanna see them experiment with advertising. This isn't likely, but this is my personal fantasy wishlist, I can dream. I would love to see them sponsor YouTubers like RAID or throw an Ad on Adult Swim or wherever like they did back in the day. Get the community to make new animations for the YouTube channel. Everything there goes viral. People love Tf2, even non players. The least viewed meet the Team video has like 20 million views. Come on guys.
Thanks for reading my rant. I mostly posted all of this uncondensed drivel here because I'm curious how you guys feel about my suggestions. Wanna hear your thoughts.
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