The lack of the third episode of Half-Life which is what made Valve so popular in the first place.
You have a bitter taste in your month because a company hasn’t come out with a new game? Isn’t that rather a sign that you like the company and the products they make? What is the deal with people thinking they are entitled to another Half-Life? Episodic or not, they aren’t. We may all want to know how the story ends, but we don’t get to make the timeline.
The disgusting butchering of Team Fortress 2 which destoryed the balance and community.
I’ll admit the whole micro transaction thing is very very strange, but it did not butcher the community. There are still servers up every day with low pings and plenty of players. How exactly do you measure a “butchered” community?
The failure to support Alien Swarm which could have gotten a larger population interested in steam.
Where to start on this one? You are upset and complaining that Valve released a free game and didn’t support it? Really? This is a big thing your entire post is missing out on. Supporting these games long after they’ve been released costs money and is not something the average development team does. Any additional content they released for TF2 or Half-Life or anything else could have easily been a paid download. TF2 has been out now for three and a half years! The fact that Valve even lets the servers run is pretty incredible, let alone developing new content for it.
The whole Left 4 Dead 2 thing was seen as a betrayal of those who bought the first (I didn't bother however).
This is the one part that I kinda sorta agree with you on. L4D2 was a pretty big surprise. I didn’t feel like enough had been done with the first one and number 2 was released 1 year to the day after the first one.
But, again, how can this leave a bitter taste in your mouth compared to the business practice of other major game companies? Map packs for 20 bucks? “Elite units of the (direction)” for 6 dollars? New train types for 2 dollars!?
(obligatory return post to OP sentance0) Every game Valve has come out with has been fun and Portal 2will be no different.