What do we want from valve?
* An automatic 6v6 and highlander match-making system that allows us to queue up alone or with a party to be matched up with other players of equal skill
* Money for prize pools and sending top players to LANs
How will we get it?
* By creating a game mode that isn't 6v6 or highlander and which is more similar to pubs
* add a pick / ban system, no matter how little sense that makes
Why the fuck are we even bothering trying to appeal to Valve? They don't care for the competitive game that we love, and they have since moved on to other games long, long ago (CS:GO / DOTA 2). We're definitely never going to get any money for prize pools and LANs, and in order for us to get the match-making system that we want, we'd have to subvert the competitive format to such a degree that it is no longer a game that's worthwhile to play.
If Valve really wanted to actually make something happen they could have easily made match-making for highlander with no whitelist, which would be, as far as I can tell, a pretty simple setup compared to what they have in place for DOTA and CS:GO.
TF2 competitive isn't dying or getting stale, it's just chugging slowly along like it always have, with no support from Valve, sponsored and run by the community of players. Just keep playing the game you love, show your support and let people know how awesome it is, and we'll be playing and having fun for many years to come. Sadly, at this point valve seems to have completely lost touch with the competitive scene to a point where they appear to not even fully understand their own game and what makes it work, or what breaks it.
Stop expecting Valve to save TF2. They won't.