I'm having problems getting this blog started so I'll start rambling a little. 
My first experience with Team Fortress 2 was through orange box on 360.  I bought orange box upon release.  
TF2 was kind of ok but, It seemed to me I was constantly stuck on a team that had no idea what the hell was going on. 
Being I was a new player this kind of compounded the not so great experience I was having with it but, I Did have a good deal of fun in the loosing.
I Had not had a computer that would run Half Life 2 with any kind of grace. Mostly because I had been using laptops for a majority of my computer using needs since 2003. 
I bought a new desktop around 2006 which I missed the first dual core intels by a few weeks But, around 2007 I bought a PC version of orange box for this computer. 
It ran ok on there.  I gave it a shot. I never got too heavy into it because, It didn't run too well on that PC and the servers I was on either was kind of shitty for various reasons. (I tried a bunch of them.) 
 
So, 
around 2007 I got a new laptop ... It ran TF2 pretty damn good. I thought I'd give it another go.  I still wasn't that great at it. I had some good fun the little I played of it then. 
I still don't enjoy PC gaming for the most part. People scream at me for this but, I don't enjoy using a desktop. Using a mouse to me these days feels kind of weird. I've used a laptop everyday since 2003 so this is understandable. I once again dropped TF2 because of this and, I still couldn't find a server with a good balance or was the right fit for me I guess. 
 
The beginning of the year I bought a new laptop cause above mentioned laptop decided to shit itself and die. I realized during a steam sale a while ago that I had not tried to play any games on here Yet. I had installed steam and, I bought the Indy bundle to play some VVVVVV. I didn't plan on playing much else.  Flash forward to this past steam sale. 
I bought the penny arcade bundle and, the magicka bundle. 
I have yet to play either of those But, I had caught wind of or, was reminded of the tested/GB TF2 server.  I fired up TF2 on here for the first time to check it out. This laptop runs the game like a god damn dream. I also was pleasantly surprised by the skill level's in the room and, the general good shit going on in the room. I'm not sure if I am good or bad at the game honestly? I guess sometimes I do good and, sometimes I do bad. I am still a bit of a new player. 
over the week I've been hitting up the GB/Tested server,  all has been going well for the most part. The server gets packed when the tested guys come around. First time I seen will in game I tagged him in the face with the flare gun that I had just earned the round before and, It was a one in a million shot that I laughed my ass off about... didn't notice it was will till well after the kill. Those ain't bragging rights at all, I don't think I am awesome or anything it was just fun and, that's the point. 
 
Yesterday, 
I got booted off the server, I am aware it's nothing personal and, people were prepping for TNT and such... or it may have been personal in a way that they more then likely seen my name on that list more times then they liked and thought "Fuck that guy! He's been here all week!" fuck if I know but, I am not mad about it none the less.  
Which led me to finally jump around to a few random servers. I went and looked up some server lists ... Tried those. I won't mention which ones but, one I tried had 2 full teams playing the worst game of TF2 I've ever been a part of. I think "This can't be the skill level of this room?!" I stick it out for a few more games and, sure enough Yep they are pretty fucking horrid.  I hop to another sever and it's a team of getting steam rolled a few times even with team balancing between matches. I skip to another one. the map is just a giant pool of poisoned water? the rooms full of guys slowly dying in said water? I don't see the point and, move on ...  later that night the GB/tested server was clearing out so I played a bit. then called it a night  It's a bit funner over there. 
 
This is a super long winded fucked up thing, I am sure it's a hard read as I am a shitty writer. I am aware. But, all the above is my history with this game and then some. 
All the above is to say. Could some of you smarter more experienced TF2 players point me in the direction of some decent TF2 servers other than the GB/tested one.  Also, what was the servers will mentioned on TNT? I was busy and really didn't catch what he was saying. 

I'm having problems getting this blog started so I'll start rambling a little. 
My first experience with Team Fortress 2 was through orange box on 360.  I bought orange box upon release.  
TF2 was kind of ok but, It seemed to me I was constantly stuck on a team that had no idea what the hell was going on. 
Being I was a new player this kind of compounded the not so great experience I was having with it but, I Did have a good deal of fun in the loosing.
I Had not had a computer that would run Half Life 2 with any kind of grace. Mostly because I had been using laptops for a majority of my computer using needs since 2003. 
I bought a new desktop around 2006 which I missed the first dual core intels by a few weeks But, around 2007 I bought a PC version of orange box for this computer. 
It ran ok on there.  I gave it a shot. I never got too heavy into it because, It didn't run too well on that PC and the servers I was on either was kind of shitty for various reasons. (I tried a bunch of them.) 
 
So, 
around 2007 I got a new laptop ... It ran TF2 pretty damn good. I thought I'd give it another go.  I still wasn't that great at it. I had some good fun the little I played of it then. 
I still don't enjoy PC gaming for the most part. People scream at me for this but, I don't enjoy using a desktop. Using a mouse to me these days feels kind of weird. I've used a laptop everyday since 2003 so this is understandable. I once again dropped TF2 because of this and, I still couldn't find a server with a good balance or was the right fit for me I guess. 
 
The beginning of the year I bought a new laptop cause above mentioned laptop decided to shit itself and die. I realized during a steam sale a while ago that I had not tried to play any games on here Yet. I had installed steam and, I bought the Indy bundle to play some VVVVVV. I didn't plan on playing much else.  Flash forward to this past steam sale. 
I bought the penny arcade bundle and, the magicka bundle. 
I have yet to play either of those But, I had caught wind of or, was reminded of the tested/GB TF2 server.  I fired up TF2 on here for the first time to check it out. This laptop runs the game like a god damn dream. I also was pleasantly surprised by the skill level's in the room and, the general good shit going on in the room. I'm not sure if I am good or bad at the game honestly? I guess sometimes I do good and, sometimes I do bad. I am still a bit of a new player. 
over the week I've been hitting up the GB/Tested server,  all has been going well for the most part. The server gets packed when the tested guys come around. First time I seen will in game I tagged him in the face with the flare gun that I had just earned the round before and, It was a one in a million shot that I laughed my ass off about... didn't notice it was will till well after the kill. Those ain't bragging rights at all, I don't think I am awesome or anything it was just fun and, that's the point. 
 
Yesterday, 
I got booted off the server, I am aware it's nothing personal and, people were prepping for TNT and such... or it may have been personal in a way that they more then likely seen my name on that list more times then they liked and thought "Fuck that guy! He's been here all week!" fuck if I know but, I am not mad about it none the less.  
Which led me to finally jump around to a few random servers. I went and looked up some server lists ... Tried those. I won't mention which ones but, one I tried had 2 full teams playing the worst game of TF2 I've ever been a part of. I think "This can't be the skill level of this room?!" I stick it out for a few more games and, sure enough Yep they are pretty fucking horrid.  I hop to another sever and it's a team of getting steam rolled a few times even with team balancing between matches. I skip to another one. the map is just a giant pool of poisoned water? the rooms full of guys slowly dying in said water? I don't see the point and, move on ...  later that night the GB/tested server was clearing out so I played a bit. then called it a night  It's a bit funner over there. 
 
This is a super long winded fucked up thing, I am sure it's a hard read as I am a shitty writer. I am aware. But, all the above is my history with this game and then some. 
All the above is to say. Could some of you smarter more experienced TF2 players point me in the direction of some decent TF2 servers other than the GB/tested one.  Also, what was the servers will mentioned on TNT? I was busy and really didn't catch what he was saying. 

F2P Players...We've arrived.

Play competitive tf2 if you want to play a higher level. Public servers always suck

This was a rousing success.

Generally speaking: The official Valve servers are going to have a much lower skill level, because those are the ones that people get put into when they use the 'matchmaking' feature. If you want a higher skill level, join some of the non-Valve servers. Most of these servers (just like the GB/Tested server, for instance) will have regulars populating them a majority of the time, so if you like the people there and have a good time, you can frequent the server and maybe make some friends. Generally, I know what map I want to play before I get to the server browser, so I sort by map and join a 24/7 server (a server that runs that map or 1-2 similar maps all the time, as opposed to using all the maps in its rotation) if available. If I'm not liking the way the teams stack up, I'll leave, sort by map again, and join a different one.

@linus_south said:

@ajamafalous: Sound advice, I have been doing something along those lines minus the map thing. I honestly like map variety, I get burn out on maps really fast. I have a photographic memory so, I learn the layout really quickly. I don't know how people feel about me on there yet but, If anyone see's this that's played with me and wants to add me I am down for that.

In that case, there are also plenty of servers that run a 24/7 game type, so if, for instance, you're in the mood for payload but you still want a map variety, there are plenty of servers that have that kind of rotation.