If you paid attention, you’d know that the reason behind the bans was because of the monetized gambling practices around them. A version of loot boxes where you can’t directly pay for them would cause no issues. I specifically said “a free version” to avoid having to clarify this to someone. You even quoted me saying it, dude… You have the gall to laugh at me when you’re not even paying attention.
Also hilariously wrong. Idk if the forums were as emphatic as a bunch of content creators’ YT/Twitch fanbases were at the time, but I was a (very small) part of it. I know for a fact it happened, I was there for it for months as creators and fans alike suggested it as a way to save the game and sustainably monetize it (you know, the reason for why OW is able to be F2P now).
For most of OW1 endorsements having existed, they were only useful for custom game lobbies that had a minimum endorsement level requirement set (which wasn’t very many of them, and it was never higher than level 2 or 3). Implementing loot box rewards for endorsement level was a very late addition to OW1, and it got scrapped alongside loot boxes. They could’ve at least replaced that reward with Coins, as I mentioned.
Read the other parts of my message, e.g., the part about GQO giving up on hoping his direct feedback gets heard and OWL pros having similar experiences.
Oh also the 2nd part of that quote…
… answers your question.
Go to the recent TF2 collab thread and you’ll see the links we posted about (1) Blizzard expressing wanting to collab with Valve on TF2 since IIRC March, and (2) Medic’s VA teasing it on Twitter.
Edit: ok nice I found the TF2 collab thread: Possible TF2 Crossover Incoming?