And The Fandom Rejoiced / Valve Corporation

aka: Valve Software

• OK, Valve, Half-Life was pretty awesome, but it's been years without word about the sequel... what's that, it's being released in 2003? AWESOME! Wait, what's this beta footage? Ugh! That looks awful! DO NOT WANT. And what's this?? The game has been delayed?! It'll never get made! Valve sucks! But what's this? In 2004, Half-Life 2 was actually released. Jaws drop, hearts skip beats, and everyone immediately pretends they never doubted the mighty, mighty Valve.
• When Valve initially announced that the Heavy of Team Fortress 2 was getting an upgrade that allowed him to rejuvenate health, the initial reaction was anger over the Heavy becoming too unbalanced. Then they released the Sandvich trailer. It promptly became the best update ever.
  • And Lo, it is here.
  • Three words: Meet. The. Medic. At last, it's finally due to be released! And other classes are getting updates in the process!
  • And now it's free to play!
  • Finally, after HOW MANY YEARS IN DEVELOPMENT, we get the long awaited short, MEET THE PYRO!
  • Mann Vs. Machine. Words fail to describe the epicness, so have the video instead.
  • The Mecha Update is not only introducing a robotic version of the Engineer, it's also giving the Engineer, the Medic, and the Demoman new weapons. The first two almost never get new weapons, while the latter usually just gets swords and shields instead of actual explosives.
  • Robotic Boogaloo brought robotic versions of many hats and miscellaneous items to TF2, including some of the discontinued hats. What makes this more incredible was that it was the first TF2 update that was entirely community-made. All of a sudden, Steam Workshop seems like much less of a gimmick than anyone realizes.
  • Valve listening to the fandom's pleas and nerfing Merasmus's health in the 2013 Halloween Update.
  • Then the Two Cities update happened. A mobile projectile shield for the Medic, as well as the almighty Reanimator. Yes, you can now be brought back to life on the field and not have to trudge back down to the battle lines after respawning during Mann vs Machine. He can get syringes laced with Mad Milk for his syringe gun, as well.^note Mad Milk heals anyone when they damage a unit. On harder Mann vs Machine difficulties, having Mad Milk is absolutely essential, as it drastically increases survivability while not sacrificing damage output. Also, if you need to completely respec your character for Mann vs Machine, you can now obtain full refund tokens that let you do just that. Valve somehow made Mann vs Machine even more incredible.
  • The 2013 Smissmass Update. Valve gave every player a literal stocking full of random weapons along with a Name Tag, Description Tag, Tour of Duty ticket and Backpack Expander. Cue every F2P rejoicing. And even better, the forums and discussions EXPLODED when the long-pleaded for "3rd Misc Slot" arrived. (Although it's just really equipping a 3rd miscellaneous item, at the cost of a hat.)
  • Hey, what's this, End Of The Line? Seems like a cool video! Wait, Valve's making an update for it? Bah...more cosmetics and hats, and no weapons except tweaks and crappy reskins, we had no weapons last year-HANG ON A MINUTE, there will be maps, a new game mode and possibly weapons, and stuff added from the Workshop? YES! YES! YES! YES!
  • Even better, the End of the Line team confirmed that they were the first new weapons in YEARS,◊ along with a new map◊.
    • This one turned out to have been subverted horribly... Valve threw out literally everything the EotL team created that wasn't a cosmetic item.
  • After ages of ranting about late comics, Valve not doing anything, Valve's severe lack of communication and horrific glitches, including severe rubberbanding and invisible players, this blog post. Suddenly, the complaining stopped and massive amounts of space-related workshop items were made, while everyone else rejoiced over the prospect of a new map.
  • And after yet more screaming tantrums from the more idiotic fans and "Valve is dead" cryers, Valve confirmed that they were indeed working on new weapons.
    • Five words: The Love and War Update. Valve not only released a stunning 15 Minute short with the first Miss Pauling model, but they also released the first new weapons in a year! The fandom exploded with the force of fifty million nukes.
  • Finally, after almost eight years, Valve announces that Team Fortress 2 will get a competitive matchmaking format. More specifically, they invited several members of the competitive TF2 community to their HQ to explain how it would go down in person. To say that the competitive community, long-jaded after very little support from Valve, exploded with anticipation would be an understatement.
  • Oh, look, a little update. Oh well, doesn't affect us much, let's just go to Dustbowl◊ or 2fort◊... wait, are those UFOs? Is the alien invasion coming after all?
  • Valve's not making a big Halloween update for 2015? Oh, what a bummer... wait, it's going to consist of the best Halloween-themed maps, taunts, cosmetics and unusual effects from the workshop? And none of the new cosmetics will be restricted?
    • And not only that, they put in a major patch that made the fandom have faith in the devs again. The first one added a button on Merasmissions that let you search for servers rather than scouring through dozens of servers for one map, while the second one actually removed the ability to damage other players in a temporary truce when the boss spawned on Eyeaduct and Ghost Fort. Now, Merasmus and Monoculus, two bosses that required complete teamwork to actually kill, could finally be defeated.
  • In a recent update, Valve slashed the map load times for PC, Mac and Linux players, as well as any random crashes relating to load time. Goodbye to pointless waiting between server changes, everybody!
  • The April 25 patch saw Valve fixing a ton of bugs, and adding an new Quickplay category for Alternative modes, such as Player Destruction, Special Delivery, Medieval Mode and Territorial Control! That's right-Hydro. Is. Back!
  • Then, 5 days later, Valve finally got rid of the infamous LMAO Box hack, who's users had done nothing but annoy and frustrate others for years.
  • After 9 and more years of radio silence, They heard our cries, and a few days later, finally cracked down on the Sniper-bot plaguing the servers.
  • And now, THERE'S FINALLY A MAJOR UPDATE COMING SOON!
• Valve has a way of pleasing the crowd, especially fans of Portal 2:
  • Firstly when they announced the PS3 version, then when they said that J. K. Simmons would be the voice of Cave Johnson, and again when they changed their mind on Chell's outfit for Portal 2. She'd be wearing this◊ as opposed to what they were originally planning her new look to be.
  • More yet when Valve finally released a trailer where we actually see Chell. And more, when they announced and released free DLC for it, and later on with a full SDK for PC players. The Modders Rejoiced.
  • Portal 2 soundtrack in volumes 1 (released on May 25, 2011), 2 (on July 1, 2011), and 3 (on Sept. 30, 2011).
  • Even more rejoicing involved when Valve stated they're going to release more Portal 2 comics and videos.
• Valve's weekly mutations for Left 4 Dead 2. The first one, Realism VS, was incredibly popular to the point that based on a poll Valve took (almost 60% of people wanted Realism VS back!), they actually listened and announced they were going to make Realism VS a permanent add on to the game. Cue in much rejoicing.
  • Valve announcing that the game would receive Steam Workshop support, making it easy map-makers and modders to upload their content where others could easy download and install.
• Valve announces they are porting Steam to Linux! That is the intersection of two fandoms rejoicing like crazy.
• The Three Spirits update is one of the biggest updates in Dota 2's history, including a well-received redesign of Storm Spirit, two new heroes, coaching, a map for lane picking in hero selection... and Diretide! Good luck finding a fan who isn't satisfied.
• And now, Rekindling Soul update. It comes with new features, a well received remodel for Shadow Fiend and his arcana. And the 6.82 balance patch! Which has many popular changes, such as...
  • The map has been changed to heavily reduce the advantage that the Dire side had, including the Roshan advantage.
  • Fountain camping is less possible now, with the fountain area being at a higher elevation, along with the fountain having increased vision, attack range and truesight.
  • A new rune that gives gold and experience, and will always spawn. Starving supports now has an easier life.
  • A brand new item, Crimson Guard, that's built from Vanguard. Vanguard can now finally receive some love.
  • Not only can Chen use Holy Persuasion on Mud Golems, but with an aghanim's scepter, he can also persuade ancient creeps! Dragons can now be added to Chen's flock.
  • Phantom Lancer has been reworked to be a teamfighter instead of a split pusher with new spells such as Phantom Rush and Doppelganger at the loss of Doppelwalk.
  • Bloodseeker has also been reworked, and become much more interesting with a brand new spell called Blood Rite. He loses Bloodbath, but the mechanic of it has been moved into Blood Rage. Time remains to see if he is much more viable however.
  • Do you miss Treant Protector's old ability, Eyes of the Forest? Guess what, it's back as an aghanim's scepter upgrade!
  • Seems like Pugna's heart has grown bigger, for now he can heal his allies with Life Drain and even restore their mana at the cost of his own life.
  • Town Portal Scrolls has been reduced in cost.
  • Damage type changes, making the game far less overly complicated and easier to understand. In addition, the spells now tell you if they pierce spell immunity or not.
  • Most importantly... Dark Seer's Vacuum cooldown has been rescaled from 28.0 to 28!
• Ladies and gentlemen... SOURCE. 2!
  • New engine fixes certain issues, such as the freezing that occurs when the game attempts to load multiple heroes at once.
  • New ways to test out cosmetic items before purchase.
  • Spectating games made easier and more informative.
  • New ways for new players to learn and train.
  • And lastly, but not least... Custom Games.
• Valve have announced in November 2019 a Half-Life VR game, starring Alyx. It's not Half-Life 3, but it shows that the series hasn't been forgotten!
  • And then Half-Life: Alyx launched, and while the game itself was hailed as setting a new standard for VR games, the fandom exploded with joy over The Stinger. While it's only fairly brief, it's nothing short of a Sequel Hook for what most fans had been hoping for for more than a decade: HALF-LIFE 3 CONFIRMED

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