The guys over at Communityfortress.com had the possibility of asking several questions to Robin Walker. Doing so, they focused on competitive play in TF2 and the overall future of the game.

To put things short:

• Valve was very impressed by the resonance of the WAR update. On the one side, they were struck by the number of submissions for the propaganda contest, on the other side they didn't predict, that the results of the war would be that close.war

• Even before the remaining engineer update, Valve wants to roll out another yet unknown update for TF2. Valve made it their goal to not release too much information beforehand, they are waiting for the feedback from the community.

• Speaking about DLC, Robin Walker clarified that the maps and items are being bought from the creators and then integrated into the game.

• The L4D2 matchmaking system is being prepared to being included into the whole steam platform - that means TF2, too. The L4D team is working on a platform for the news system.
• To reduce the number of idlers, Valve is going to tweak the drop rates for items. Logically, it is likely to be increased.
• Valve is in possession of a 12 man TF2 team. Some of them are also active in other FPS games.
• Those of you, who want to have one of those custom made TF2-community items, should try to develop something useful for the TF2 community. Moreover, Valve seems to work on some training tools for newbies. TFPortal source: We submitted a suggestion to release class specified training maps. This was one year ago, and even then, Robin Walker confirmed, that it was a work in progress.
• Valve reads 20 suggestions a day, which deserve to find their way into the game.  Sadly, there wasn't nearly enough time to really integrate them.
• Those of you who have ideas how to improve the leagues or improve TF2 in general, is hereby encouraged to email their suggestions to Robin Walker directly. You can also use the steam forum, as the Valve team reads them in a daily fashion in search for valuable ideas.

Any further information on the interview can be found on the website of our colleagues at CommunityFortress.com.