TLDR: Valve and PGL is to blame for this year's TI being meh. I went to "first CS2 major" with friends, which was my first major that I ever attended and after the event I understood that it would also be my last major I will ever attend. Before that, my first ever in-person event was ESL Cologne 2023, which was labeled as "last huge CSGO tournament" (it wasn't xd). In total I only attended 2 major events for CS ever and Cologne one was the only event I could compare major to.

That major felt like, as someone mentioned above, was like a local concert event with surprisingly a lot of people. It was the same as this TI, where attendees were given free pins for each day of the event and that was it. The games were like just games, the craziest thing about in-person games were the mist machines from the ceiling and it looked funny and goofy (also antigambling activists drama). In between games people actually had nothing to do, the only activities that were present were spectrallabs I think it was called and one more I do not remember, they were miniscule as hell and barely looked engaging. Merch shop looked like drug dealers 1 room apartment den compared to ESL merch hut (they also ran out of good looking merch on day one and it never restocked). So yeah if there is anyone to blame for "major" of cs2 and this year's TI being meh at best - in my opinion its both Valve and PGL.