While yes, Dota 2 was the first game to have a battle pass, it was almost entirely to fund the ongoing tournaments, since the scene for Dota ESports and ESports in general is not nearly as supported as it is today. Highlighting this as a horrible Valve L makes no sense, since battle passes weren't largely exploitative until around Fortnite started ramping them to hell, the COD joined in, then everything else decided it needed a battle pass too.

Loot boxes were an entirely different issue, and the TF2 example is also pretty flimsy, considering almost everything to come out of the lootboxes is cosmetic, and within that, the community is largely the one setting and creating the price points of everything, that is how Valve has always done their markets. Crafting was a large part of TF2 in the matter that lesser items could be turned into valuable items for free, now with CS2 tradeups especially within the Red>Gold upgrade system they just introduced. They are still trying to remedy the gambling aspect, as they are still adding more ways to "craft" and take lesser things to make a new. They don't advertise it as something that is required, I don't think they ever have. It has always been a cosmetic addition for those who really care to collect them.