NS2 has its issues but I can't think of any other game this fun.

You need time to learn how to play. It's very important to start with the tutorials. After that, go play on rookie-only servers to learn more about the game mechanics and maps. By the way, maps are large and have rooms with names and vents and hiding spots. Try to learn those names and spots too.

Since strategy plays a big role, you still need to learn the common used strategies, but that won't happen on rookie-only servers. Join normal servers and pay a lot of attention.
As you can probably see, it will take some time to get it all, but once you do, you won't find anything better.

Unless you live in North America or Europe, it might be hard to find populated servers with low latency. It's still possible to play even with 180 ping, but you can feel the latency a bit.

If you're ready to spend a lot of time in this game, then you definitely should buy it.

NS2 has its issues but I can't think of any other game this fun. You need time to learn how to play. It's very important to start with the tutorials. After that, go play on rookie-only servers to learn more about the game mechanics and maps. By the way, maps are large and have rooms with names and vents and hiding spots. Try to learn those names and spots too. Since strategy plays a big role, you still need to learn the common used strategies, but that won't happen on rookie-only servers. Join normal servers and pay a lot of attention. As you can probably see, it will take some time to get it all, but once you do, you won't find anything better. Unless you live in North America or Europe, it might be hard to find populated servers with low latency. It's still possible to play even with 180 ping, but you can feel the latency a bit. If you're ready to spend a lot of time in this game, then you definitely should buy it.