Here goes. Let's see if my boycott e-terrorism is justified or not, shall we?
"What happened to our DLC, Valve?"
Chet Faliszek
Keeping on the online bonanza, writer Chet Faliszek said that Valve plans to get the DLC rolling much more quickly with Left 4 Dead than it has been able to for Team Fortress 2. Plans already in the works call for new campaigns, weapons, and boss infected (the game's zombie enemies). In addition, there were strong hints at a flamethrower coming not long after launch. The company plans to add new scenarios to the game's initial 4, as well as new bosses and weapons. "There were strong hints at a flamethrower coming not long after launch," 1UP reported after talking to Faliszek. The Valve writer also promised that the studio aims to make that DLC available more quickly than they have done with Team Fortress 2.
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3169669
Note: Read that one again.
Doug Lombardi
He goes on to point out the Valve credo of free content after a game's release, saying that "once [the customer is] in the park, they can ride any ride they want in the park. So, for us that's been the philosophy." He also pointed out that even though DLC takes time and resources to develop, free content helps promote a positive image of the company. "For us, we see it as an investment on our next product," he said. "Gamers won't hesitate when they see a game coming out from Valve."
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3166784
"Our philosophy there is, if you buy the product, we put more content out to keep the game interesting, we sell more products. Counter-Strike is number one and has been since '99 because we kept the game interesting, not because we tried to charge people more, and that's come back in sales of Counter-Strike."
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/valve-we-wont-charge-for-downloadable-content
Gabe Newell
"So we'll do the same thing with Left 4 Dead where we'll have the initial release and then we'll release more movies, more characters, more weapons, unlockables, achievements, because that's the way you continue to grow a community over time."
http://www.videogamer.com/news/valve_details_post_left_4_dead_launch_plans.html
"So with Team Fortress 2, our product that's furthest along in terms of doing that, we found that the best way to get new customers was to get excited existing customers. And the best way to do that was to release new maps, new weapons, add achievements. They're really interested in the characters and the story behind them. We still need to release these boxes, these point releases, but as we continue to release new campaigns, new characters, new weapons, and tell stories about these characters, that's the best way to grow the community. So we're taking the same approach that we've taken with Team Fortress 2, and doing that for Left 4 Dead."
http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/turtle-rock-project/902345p3.html
"We fully intend to do that with Left 4 Dead as well -- [make] movies about each of the characters and how they came together as a team; what happened with the world when everything became Infected; [and] release new characters, new weapons, new campaigns -- and just view it as an ongoing audience-development content stream."
http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3170080
"Valve's focus this year is Left 4 Dead."
http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=1&cId=3170080
Note: Oops, he must've forgot the 2, as Left 4 Dead 2 has been confirmed to be in development at the time Left 4 Dead was released.
Robin Walker
"You buy the product, you get the content. We make more money because more people buy it, not because we try and nickel-and-dime the same customers."
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/valve-we-wont-charge-for-downloadable-content
"What happened to the Left 4 Dead I bought, Valve?
Gabe Newell
"When we went into the safehouse, we put up a bunch of information about who had the most headshots, who rescued people the most, the game tracks all of this information about how each person is doing, and that becomes part of your profile."
Note: This information was not a part of one's profile until the Survival Pack, almost half a year later. The PC Left 4 Dead does not post all of this information after every level either, despite that it can. Instead, it's a highly simplistic list that saw no changes from what was likely intended for the 360. In fact, anybody who's seen them both can tell you that Left 4 Dead for the PC has practically nothing of significance to offer over the 360 copy. The PC version is more like a 360 port than a separate version.
"You have a variety of weapon choices that you can select. It's very important for a team to be balanced. One team member, for example, may handle long-range threats, but they can easily be overwhelmed. So it's important to have somebody else with a different short-range weapon. If everybody picks the same weapon, your team is going to be very unbalanced, so you really want your people to have a mix of weapons."
http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/turtle-rock-project/902345p3.html
The Hands-On Beta Preview
MANY of these changes would've made the game better or more interesting if they'd been kept.
As documented here about Left 4 Dead's beta:
http://left4dead411.com/left-4-dead-preview-index
Accuracy relative to movement seems to have mattered more.
At least one of the shotguns (the pump variety) used to be almost useless at far range, and more powerful up close. This would've been a nice change to both of them, to be honest, because the auto shotgun has been overly accurate at a distance since release.
Boomers dealt radius damage when exploded, and Boomer bile was blood.
Doors used to require being locked by the Survivors, instead of being magically locked all the time. Only some doors were lockable.
Smokers pulled faster, and the pull used to poison the victim's health into temporary health based on distance. That is, on a full pull -- where the victim pulled to the Smoker -- the Survivor's entire health became temporary. Smokers also had a secondary ability to make a cloud of smoke that obscured things inside of it. (I'm sure it's not just my opinion that both of these would've been so much more useful than the Smoker's current iteration of being an often useless one-trick pony that can only really hope to pull Survivors off of heights.)
Survivors used to be able to get blood and guts splattered all over the level and themselves.
Survivors used to be able to temporarily vote ban certain Survivors from using grenade weapons.
The AI Director worked better at doing what it was supposed to, rather than the boring random zombies peppered with an occasional Horde that it is today. It used to be possible to see no zombies at all for a while. The current way it works is tiresome and/or annoying.
The pipebomb dealt substantial direct damage, instead of diverting a horde.
The Tank's frustration bar used to be based on keeping visual on the Survivors, and not just attacking them. (This would've led to tanks that had to be in visual almost all of the time, instead of the poke out and toss rocks crap that usually happens at the end of Death Toll.)
There used to be a demerit system for doing things that could be regarded as griefing (like friendly fire, opening the safe room door for infected, etc.). There used to be a reputation system that went with the demerits and enabled the ability to get negative stats for griefing. The stats for it used to be displayed at the end of the level, and players used to be able to view your negative reputation when you first joined.
There was chameleon-like camouflage for Hunters, and they had a lunge that could knock Survivors back significantly if it hit.
There were two tanks at the same time during finales.
The rescue vehicles had miniguns on them. Note: WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO THIS?
Weapons could be given to teammates.
Witches attacked all the survivors (instead of the still buggy witch we have that attacks nothing at all, roughly half the time). Witches used to track by movement, as well.
