[citation][nom]torque79[/nom]I havent played tf2 in a while... there's an in-game economy where you buy stuff with real money? why would you do that? do people paying more get more powerful? obviously I havent played TF2 in a while, but this is a slippery slope of badness, encouraging developers to make horribly boring intial character skins etc so you have to pay for what should be in the game already.[/citation]
I think it is implemented quite well. You do not need to buy anything, you still will find most of items that are "performance changers", but you can take a shortcut, but more importantly, most of the items there are things like hats.
However, even with the items that do change the class capabilities, they are not over powered and more a class tweak to fit your stile. The base class is as good as the modified class. It is like instead of just solder class, you now have solder 1, solder 2 and so on. Brings more variety without being imbalance.
Plus, I personally want to thank Valve team for continues improvement of the game, and thank them with my money. So it is great that I can "donate" them money, and get something in return, even if this is some silly hat.