They currently have
- "improved" graphics (up to debate)
- changed the UI
- added smoke physics which are cool sure
- removed tickrate
There must be some additional MAJOR improvements coming down the line, because I don't see how you can justify putting a 2 next to the name when the core gameplay is practically unchanged. Even Overwatch 2 added more content than this
They added 1 new feature, haven't changed any balancing, haven't improved the anticheat, haven't improved the matchmaking, and the list goes on. What changes have they made that are "necessary"? For a game that makes Valve millions of dollars each year, and considering how it's clearly evident that very few people in the around 360 employees they have are working on updates for TF2 and Dota 2, I would have expected a lot more to come out of this
From 2002 to 2012, Valve released HL2, HL2 episode 1, HL2 episode 2, counter strike source, portal, portal 2, left 4 dead, left 4 dead 2, dota 2, and CSGO. From 2013 to 2023 they've released two games that were completely dead on arrival (artifact and dota underlords) and a cool Half-Life spinoff (that only people with niche multihundred dollar technology could play). I'm simply disappointed with Valve