The main problem is just that the steam forums are cancerous.
That said, I don't think they're entirely wrong for expecting the update to at least be bug-free after the update launches. Sure, the servers being down for a couple hours can be excused since the servers also need to be updated at some point, but you would hope that they would at least be able to test the update before they launch it. Things like not being able to redeem War Paints and the respawnroom visualizers in cp_mercenarypark not blocking players are obvious bugs that should have been caught during testing. After a few rounds of buggy updates, I think the TF2 community is getting rightfully tired.
But there's two sides to every argument, and this isn't to say that the TFteam is lazy or purposely neglectful. They only have about 15 people on board, and only 5 of those are actual programmers (I think; don't quote me on this). Just think about the many, many different things that they had to do- create the SFM, create the map (including all of its new custom assets), create the new weapons, adjust existing weapons, consider how these additions and changes would impact the game in order to improve game balance, review community-created content, rework the matchmaking system (they're still working on those changes), and as the release date entered October, consider what they're gonna do for Halloween. And then there's all the work to actually program all these changes into the game. There's a ton of work to be done for only 15 people. One might think that even 15 people should be able to do a pretty adequate job of creating and testing a new update, given over a year to work on it since the last major update (holiday updates barely count). But again, there's two sides to every story, and one thing many people overlook is that until you're actually working on a team like that, you don't always know what it feels like. Then again, I don't need to be a pilot to know that airplanes don't belong in trees.
I'm kind of divided on this. On one hand, I understand the community's frustration with repeatedly buggy updates that are par at best and a total bellyflop at worst. On the other hand, the TFteam has a lot of stress on their shoulders. I think that Valve- not just the TFteam, but the actual heads of the company- need to look at expanding the TFteam to add more members so we can get better updates at a faster pace. Jungle Inferno was the perfect proof that TF2 still has lots of potential, but it needs more effort behind its development. The new Pyro weapons are super fun to use, the new Valve map looks pretty good and plays great, and the community maps added are proof that the community is still alive and thriving, and content creators aren't going to give up on this game anytime soon. But the bugs included in the update, the long wait time for the update, and the things that were glaringly missing from the update (matchmaking improvements) show that the TFteam is struggling to keep pushing regular, working updates. I hope that Valve gets the message and realizes they need to give TF2 and the TFteam some much-needed love.
