TFC was the game that ushered me into the world of online multiplayer FPS games. It came out shortly before I went to college and got my first taste of broadband. Before that all I'd had the opportunity to play was Duke 3D, Quake (and Quake Team Fortress), and Starcraft in LAN games.
I would often spend 5 - 6 hours per day playing TFC with my friends. We'd actually get a conference call going in the dorms so that we could communicate with each other. It gave us a distinct advantage over other players back in those days. Ahh... back in the days when I was actually good at FPS's
Oh man. The grenades made for a very spam happy game. But I loved the engineer's EMP grenade. Throw it into a group of heavies and watch them all explode.
As for the sniper rifle in TFC, at one point I used a 2-click script. Click once to begin charging your shot, click again to fire. Oddly enough, I found I did better by holding down the fire button and releasing to fire. The biggest thing that really helped the sniper in TFC (some say made him OP) was the fact that you could charge your shot while unzoomed. That way you could continue to keep an eye on the larger field of play and then zoom in for the full charged headshot when you spot a target.
As for the ammo dropping, I feel that was one feature of TFC that really lent to the teamwork aspect. There were many games that I never had to leave my defensive position as a sniper due to teammates dropping off ammo for me and engineers and medics resupplying my health and armor. (An engy could wack you with his wrench to rebuild your armor.)
Eventually I started playing more CS and DOD back when they were still in Beta and then pretty much stopped playing TFC when there was a bit of a split in the community over bunny hopping. (
http://www.gamesetwatch.com/2007/09/column_evolution_team_fortress.php)
</old gamer ramble>