Gave this game a try again after 4 years owning it - lost me forever now

I scrolled through my Steam library, wondered how HLL was doing these days, and decided to reinstall it.

The first server I joined showed 78/100 players and a ping of 12. Perfect.

Turns out the ping shown in the server browser apparently has nothing to do with the ping you get in-game. It was an Australian server, and my ping shot up to around 300 ms. Okay, my mistake. Check the details more carefully next time.

So I tried the top servers with 90/100 players.

Queue full. No chance.

Already a bit frustrated, I joined the only server I could get into quickly — around 75 players and, importantly, not Australian. It was a French server. “Alright, I can live with that,” I thought.

Two minutes later I got kicked because I don’t speak French.

Like, what? I would understand that in the evening when servers are packed, but at lunchtime?

I gave up after that. There’s just no easy way to hop onto a server and play a quick round. It’s probably even worse in the evenings, right?

Its 2025 and there is no option to group up and play a match with your friend. Its horrible.