Castaway.tf

Started: Sniper vs Spy
Favorite: Mecha update

Started: Mann vs. Machine update
Favorite: Tough pick, but I would probably go with Love & War. Mostly for nostalgia purposes but also there aren't many updates between then and when the game started going downhill so I have slim pickings to choose from. It was a very memorable update for me, Mecha was also great but I had only just started playing by then so it's not as big in my mind as Love & War was despite adding more interesting things.

Start: Uber update
Favorite: Very Scary Halloween Special aka Scream Fortress III (babby's first Halloween)
Honorable mention: Pyromania (added Baby Face's Blaster)

Update, Sniper vs Spy I guess.
Favorite: It's been so long really so I don't fully remember nor think of any special favorite. Took a massive break between 2011 to 2014
then 2014 to early 2016 and got to experience a tiny part of Meet Your Match before I took another break and played again right before jungle inferno before dropping the game
yet again until 2020 or so, when I noticed the botting shit and how all the unlocks sucked ass, so I quit again.

If I had to pick something memorable rather than a favorite, it would be the war update. Servers filled to the brim with only soldiers and demos. The engineer update was also enjoyable,
if only for the massive hype it caused.

I cannot confirm if I played TF2 any earlier than that because I cannot reach my oldest steam account anylonger and I have barely any memories or details about it,
but the human mind is a fickle thing and likes to invent memories so I'm just gonna go by the data I do have, such as that medal.

started: sniper vs spy - may 23, 2009
proof:
badge: https://steamcommunity.com/id/mindfulpr ... 0008959735 cheater's lament hat (you could only earn this once): https://steamcommunity.com/id/mindfulpr ... 0_2_324993 achievements (actual proof i actually played a lot in 2009, 2010, 2011): https://steamcommunity.com/id/mindfulpr ... hievements note: some achievements don't have dates listed (and are blank) since i earned them during 2009-2011. apparently when you earn achievements during those years, the dates didn't get saved (because steampipe wasn't thing back then, or steam was so old back then and it still had the dark green UI) apparently i also noticed the same thing as i have with other people i know who started playing tf2 during the late 2000s.

i started playing tf2 from 2009 to 2014 (managed to play during the community server era), then quit around 2015 because of the gun mettle update nerfing the dead ringer (quickplay was still around back then), then came back in 2020 to see the horror called casual mode. i had to go to community servers to stop playing casual mode like creators.tf, uncletopia, havfun, etc just so i could at least play the game. i still don't get why the fuck there is drama with quickplay vs casual. casual is just worse.

favorite update: uber update, since it had the release enforcer and the old dead ringer and spycicle.
worst update apart from meet your match: end of the line update since valve didn't add in the new map and did some fuckups on their end

Started: (late) Meet your Match
Favorite: Scream Fortress 2017 (my first one)

...bleak

Slightly before gun mettle update, and my favorite is gun mettle because it added the best map in the game cp_powerhouse as we all know

"The morning of the day I rage quit, I been thinkin'. It's good to be in something from the ground floor. I came too late for that, I know. But lately, I'm getting the feeling that I came in at the end. The best is over."
I first started playing just before Gun Mettle dropped. The earliest memory I have of playing TF2 is playing Pyro on ctf_well and being confused by a spy-cicle statue. Of course, given that I started so late compared to some of the other regulars on here, I can't say that I have a 'favorite update' that I've personally experienced, since all the ones that came out after I started playing were shit. If I had been around long enough to experience them, then I guess my favorite update probably would have been either the Engineer update or the Sniper vs. Spy update.

I started playing on the Xbox 360 through The Orange Box sometime in 2011. That's the closest you can get to starting on 2007 TF2 without actually playing in that year. I found out it was on PC probably a few weeks later, and more importantly it was free by that point. So I started on PC during the Uber Update.

Favorite update that I got to experience was love & war. Expiration date carried it a bit for me, that's still a really well made SFM movie, but the tide turner and air strike are nothing to overlook. Too bad they ruined the tide turner a year and a half later.

Was late to literally fucking everything but man, i would give so much to have been at the Uber update

Started: PS3 version in 08.

Favorite update: Overall, probably the Uber update. We got tons of weapons, including the Tomislav one of my favorites in the game.

Honorable mention to the classless update(added King of the hill) and Scream Fortress V(added the bird heads)

Suspicious Carl wrote: Wed Feb 11, 2026 8:25 pm Was late to literally fucking everything but man, i would give so much to have been at the Uber update

It's funny because I keep wishing I was there at Sniper V. Spy or especially the War Update (i will die on the hill that gunboats make more sense on demoman). I still think I was late even though I wasn't. Probably overall good that I got in when I did, because I didn't have to pay for it a second time.

Suspicious Carl wrote: Wed Feb 11, 2026 8:25 pm Was late to literally fucking everything but man, i would give so much to have been at the Uber update

Ditto. I started playing in 2019 . I missed out on just about everything that made TF2 great, so I'm extra thankful to Castaway for making it possible for me to get the true TF2 experience first-hand, which I never thought I would be able to experience. Found Castaway in February 2025 and haven't looked back since.

I don't remember the first update that I experienced, but I know that I started playing in early January of 2013. I had just got my first desktop (Pavilion P6-2143W) for Christmas and an old friend of mine told me that I should download Steam. So I did, then I proceeded to download as many free games as Steam had to offer, which actually wasn't all that many back then. None of them stuck with me except for TF2 and I have played almost nothing but TF2 for 13 years.

I guess the first "major" update I would have experienced was Robotic Boogaloo, which wasn't very memorable given that it was Robotic Boogaloo. From there it would be over a year until I experienced the next major update Love & War, which did not disappoint and is probably my favorite. Before that I remember the insane hype for End of the Line, which was major disappointment. I think there was some MvM slop added in-between all that, but I'd rather just play scratch-off tickets.

Started: 2014, Love and War (technically 2013 on the Xbox 360 version )
at the age of 11, just thought it was a pretty cool update at the time & only understood TF2 updates when Gun Mettle came out, then I was super hyped for anything TF2 related. I get nostalgic hearing the OST for expiration date & the mutated milk is a favourite reskin of mine

Favourite: 2014, Scream Fortress
october became my favourite time of the year because of scream fortress VII; seeing my favourite map at the time, doomsday, get turned into a twisted & gloomy fairground with a zealous magician cackling in the background was just so different. then I experienced all the stuff from that year, bumper cars, necro-smasher, free cosmetics etc. as well as stuff from previous years like spells, bosses, mann manor etc. and I just thought to myself "this game fucking rules"

I really wish I could've experienced all of TF2's updates, but I literally couldn't because in 2007 I was 4 years old

started:(aprox)
I have no favorite update as I haven't experienced any of them

my merc badge says "August 13, 2015" but I didn't truly get into the game (past like 10 hours) until 2022 or 2021 I can't remember

Started at Scream Fortress IX

No favorite update

I came up during Pyromania. I don't really remember much outside of sd_doomsday being everywhere. it's funny because even 2012 is pretty late to the party as far as updates go. I missed most of them too. I would have loved to have been there for WAR, or da uber update.

I will agree with the majority and say that from what i've played Love and War was the best one, but looking back i have to place a big asterisk on it.

In the moment i do remember having an absolute blast with the update, it was great being there on day 1 and the community was in a state of ecstasy. It's funny to think about now, but even back in 2014 you had cries about TF2 being dead. 2013 was the first year since launch when no new weapons were being added and the pace and scale of updates was very notable to people who were playing for a while. So Love and War comes out in mid 2014, we get a (fantastic) new animated short, we get a bunch of new weapons, including some of my favorites in the entire game so the psychological impact of L&W was a big "TF2 IS BACK" moment for the playerbase. We thought that after a notable slump Valve was going to focus on TF2 seriously again. So everyone was happily doing conga lines and imagining a bright future for the game. Funny, because this was basically the last hurrah of the game more than a return to form. Every single update afterwards was either a mixed bag at best or fucking horrific and game-ruining at worst.

But when you think about it, even L&W is a mixed bag itself. It's the first time Valve went on a mass nerf rampage.
Stickies were nerfed for no reason.
Heavy was nerfed for no reason.
Sniper lost the ability to jumpscope for NO FUCKING REASON.
Combo pyro was gimped completely by axtinguisher getting nerfed, again for no reason whatsoever.
This was a sign of things to come, from now on Valve would be more interested in ruining the existing balance than actually adding to it.

So yeah, L&W is both the last great update, but also a harbinger of the end of the line for the game if you were paying attention. A transition from the golden into the dark ages, carrying symptoms from both eras.
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

Yeah now that i think about it fuck all that. This was the actual best update:

Started: I think around the uber update or a bit after that? I deleted my mercenary badge or whatever it is that tracks the date you first joined like an idiot a couple of years ago, so I can't 100% confirm.

Favorite: Likely the Pyromania update. The weapons that released with it were peak alongside the cosmetics. Doomsday is a fun map and the Meet the Pyro was satisfying after all the hype and speculating surrounding it.

Gabber wrote: Tue Feb 17, 2026 12:28 pm ...

You should have seen the Engineer update.
So many people were crafting like no tomorrow and emptied their inventories which did include the class weapons
so you had people who were stuck with stock because they bulldozed their inventories.
And soooo many kids were e-begging for scraps in voice and chat like dogs.
It actually got annoying.

Everytime a golden wrench was "found" (not to talk about people cheating the system because they discovered when to craft to almost guarantee finding a wrench), thousands of little kids and teenagers cried out in pain. Lol.

People who did not get a golden wrench cried tears enough to flood the sahara desert.
Anyone who had a golden wrench either got targetted immediately and bullied out of servers, or you had kids flocking around them staring in awe.
Some people even tried to start a movement over it crying at Valve, but it fizzled out.

All over pixels. Kek.

I guess technically this update lmao https://wiki.teamfortress.com/wiki/July ... tch_(Xbox)

Played on xbox from 2009-2012 and was the designated squeaker pyro. I knew that the pc version existed but our family computer couldn't even run roblox so I had to be content with tf2 in its most vanilla state. And it satiated me until pyromania rolled around and I begged my folks for a laptop so I could get in on the update in time. Though my favorite update has to be MVM, love coop horde shooters and following the ARG watching all the mystery unfold in real time on /v/ is something I'll always remember.

Gabber wrote: Tue Feb 17, 2026 12:28 pm ...
But when you think about it, even L&W is a mixed bag itself. It's the first time Valve went on a mass nerf rampage.
Stickies were nerfed for no reason.
Heavy was nerfed for no reason.
Sniper lost the ability to jumpscope for NO FUCKING REASON.
Combo pyro was gimped completely by axtinguisher getting nerfed, again for no reason whatsoever.
This was a sign of things to come, from now on Valve would be more interested in ruining the existing balance than actually adding to it.

So yeah, L&W is both the last great update, but also a harbinger of the end of the line for the game if you were paying attention. A transition from the golden into the dark ages, carrying symptoms from both eras.
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
...

It's indeed true that Love & War was the update that gave the big writing on the wall that the weapons were going to be nerfed to hell.
However I would argue that while Love & War was the canary in the coal mine, the Summer 2013 Update was the warning flag that weapons were going to get nerfed.
Back in Summer 2013 (July 2013), the item set bonuses were removed, and their respective weapons inherited sometimes questionable stat changes.
I'd also say the warning flag for the warning flag regarding weapon nerfs was actually during the Pyromania Update (2012). Why? Because they nerfed the Equalizer and split it into two weapons, which Valve brought over from the Team Fortress 2 Beta.

There was this little thing called the Team Fortress 2 Open Beta (which I was able to participate in), which had experimental weapons like the present Escape Plan and the Spycicle (in the form of the fire retardant suit). At that time, the air felt like we were gearing up towards competitive play (at least, that's what I thought back then). The competitive mindset thinking was already there back in 2010 to 2012 - heck that was around the time I started playing some pugs. Unfortunately, that competitive mindset exploded and culminated into Gun Mettle, Tough Break, and finally Meet your Match that killed the game for good.

It's a sad story, really. The devs listened to comp players, but gradually listened more to them (and Valve always fucking it up in spectacular ways to the detriment of both casual and competitive players).

Looking back, the devs were really desperate for more players to play TF2, when all they could have done was 1. release the game as free to play (which they did) and 2. improve the learning curve (which they half-assed with the training mode)

Started:

Favorite:
Scream Fortress 2014.
Though it wasn't as hype as Love and War, it did represent The End of the Line as far as update quality went.

2014 around Love and War

Favourite: none

I played a bit in spring 2013 on a relative's account (offline practice lol), then made my own account a few weeks before Love and War.

Favourite update: ehh, Love and War I guess? It was the first update I actually experienced, other contender would be Scream Fortress 2014