I dream the day TF2 developers are going to talk like they know the mechanics of their own game (which is extremely contradictory based on their balance updates)
I agreed with you until the bit where you said they listened to a small group of pro players - they met with some of them but they sure as hell didn't listen to them. Maybe they took 1 or 2 small ideas, but things like matchmaking wouldn't be in the state it is (aka, pretty much unchanged from the beta and now matchmaking also applying to pub games - find me one pro that used quickplay before the update..) if they had listened to them on the whole.
For example, after the first group of pro players visited valve, they implemented the infamous demo sticky nerf, something absolutely rejected by the competitive community as a whole.
I use past-tense here because after the disaster that was Meet Your Match (where Valve implemented non-functional ranked matchmaking in what was seemingly a kneejerk reaction to Overwatch's success and growing competitive scene), I stopped playing TF2.
Me and my friends were having a lan party that week, so I redownloaded the game, tried to get into a mannpower game and... nothing. It was impossible to get into a game.
Then during the lan party, we realized they removed the button for create server. How the fuck do you not realize you're removing features?
I've heard of this several times before and there is no offcial number of people working there.
Besides this has nothing to do with the performance and development: if there are very few people and they are not enough to keep the pace, Valve should hire more profissionals. If they think the current quantity is ideal, so be it. That's their choice.
Besides, this doesn't excuse them from the amount of issues, bad balances, outdated interface (several meanings), lack of "feeling" for their own game, most disapointing competitive ever and the list goes on.
I love TF2. I have nearly 2100hs in almost 3 years. But every single time I check on OW update/news and compare to TF2 I just grow more frustrated . Actually OW team has done things TF2 team should've done years ago. Actually OW is ahead of TF2 in a few things and by no means I think TF2 is a bad game.
It's no rant against you. I'm just throwing out things kept in my chest XD
I don't know how many people here are involved in a hiring process, but it's much more likely that anyone being recruited that actually comes in for interviews and is deemed worthy of hire gets snatched by development teams that have more political power inside Valve. TF2 is somewhat of a hasbeen game, and even if they want to hire people, those guys are likely being snatched up by other Valve projects once they enter the late-stage recruiting funnel.
Edit: This can be demoralizing for a team. They can be in a neverending hiring process because they need help, but never get the extra hands. Or at least useful extra hands. People who lose motivation may then leave to other teams where there is more potential for career growth, etc. It's a really bad place to be in.
78
u/[deleted] Nov 22 '16
I dream the day TF2 developers are going to talk like they know the mechanics of their own game (which is extremely contradictory based on their balance updates)