Team Fortress 2 players have been struggling with the condition of the game for a long time now. While TF2 has seen fewer updates and a lack of significant content in recent times, the overwhelming number of bots populating servers has been the latest concern of the community.
The TF2 community took it upon themselves to push Valve to do something about the situation, launching a social media campaign to Save TF2. Fans were overjoyed when the game's official Twitter account acknowledged them and confirmed that changes would be made, but now that those changes have arrived, many have been left disappointed.
Team Fortress 2 recently launched an update that repaired a number of issues within the game. Many of these are bugs that have persisted for years without being fixed, like disguised Spies appearing to hold their normal Spy weapon instead of that of the class they're masquerading as. Several exploits have also been patched out, providing a fairer experience for players. Under normal circumstances, this would probably delight fans, but it doesn't mean much if the game remains largely unplayable due to bots.
Unfortunately, it doesn't look like Valve has done much to address the bot issue, at least so far. A few changes were made to the vote kick system, so that multiple vote kicks can be running at the same time. The ability to change one's name mid-match, which was being used to boot innocent players, has also been done away with. However, the servers themselves are reportedly still teeming with bots. The vote kick changes may make it easier to kick the bots, but if there's an excess of them in comparison to human players, it could theoretically make it easier to boot legitimate players, too.
At the moment, the community is holding onto hope that this is the first of multiple updates to the game. Players would of course like to see new content brought to the title to refresh its formula and give them something to work towards. However, the most important issue remains making the game playable at all. It's possible that Valve is currently working on ironing out known exploits and glitches prior to resolving the bot issue.
Of course, bots and cheaters remain a problem in the vast majority of online games, so there may not be a quick fix for this problem. Valve may need to remain vigilant about banning cheaters and bot users from its game in order to remain on top of the situation. It remains to be seen, though, if Valve is willing to commit that many resources to a 15-year-old title.
Team Fortress 2 is available now for PC.