toblix

Steam Summer Getaway Sale

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I didn't play much Source, but only because we all stopped playing DoD period. From what a friend tells me, it's largely the netcode that ruined Source, but all I have on that is his words.

 

DoD was my first true competitive multiplayer love, though. Wasn't until years later when I found it again in TF2. And now Dota 2. U:

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Wow, this card thing is EVIL! I finally got all the card through trading and got the badge, which gave a background, an emoticon of a postcard and... another card from the series. It looks like you can go at it again and again to get a "better" badge.

 

I don't know is this was the badge or "leveling" up, but I can also add more friends and add extra customization to my profile.

 

it's kinda cute and evil and terrifying at the same time. :|

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I was always pretty sour, but didn't want to spoil other people's fun. Still, this incarnation of the trading cards is a little more unpleasant, so I feel okay speaking up about it. They're replacing the Summer Sale metagame of previous summers, which was usually based around rewards for playing a lot of games, with one based around buying a lot of games. You can still earn cards in a roundabout way by playing the games you have (and buying the rest off the marketplace and crafting badges), but it's still an important change for me. This'll probably be the first Steam sale in years that doesn't get me a badge for participating, simply because I don't think I'll be spending the sixty-plus dollars for all the cards to drop.

I do agree that previous sales' meta-games gave the impression of being about games and the playing of games (convenienced by the sale's low prices), whereas one is far more overtly about experimenting with a virtual economy. A cynical manouevre? That's something I cannot tell.

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I have a ton of ideas, since designing games in my head is a thing I do. Character movement could be more human like, being able to clamber up walls appropriately high walls and crates and etc. Having the physics objects specifically play into the game, doors that can be opened and closed and even locked, filing cabinets shoved in the way as barricade could be more effective and far less frustrating. Even things like cars in a car park, being able to open doors for cover in an emergency, or even putting a car into neutral and shoving it as mobile cover.

 

Weapons ballistics could be a hell of a lot more realistic, with bullet drop and etc. Destructible environments and bullet penetration at all places appropriate, along with ricochets, would give a lot more thought to weapon selection and a lot more punch to machine guns. Teamwork could be encouraged in CS maps with things like hostages being worth a lot more money for the CT's when brought back, and even deducting money from the T's even if they win for being brought back. Speaking of which, with technical limitations of 1999 out of the way maps could be bigger, support more variation, and more players. A farmhouse complex surrounded by a big field, and then a forest as an example. No cover from bullets but from sight while sneaking through the wheat would be interesting, just as an example.

 

New play modes, better sound design could have gunfire echoing down the right corridors appropriately, telling you where action is. With modern lighting good night maps could actually be a thing. What if there was a mode where you could respawn somehow? A kill the VIP mode, where the CT's have to extract a VIP through a map? That was a really cool mod for Half Life who's name I can't remember. There's a lot that could be done, but I guess people at Valve are interested in other things. As "Concerned" put it, probably frequent raves. Unfortunately Google has failed me in finding the specific comic, but you should really just read the entire thing: http://www.screencuisine.net/hlcomic/index.php?date=2005-05-01

 

they are some good ideas for an FPS game and some are in CS:GO but some of them are not for CS eg. bigger maps and more players = not counterstrike, it would just be a different game with more players and bigger maps, being able to clamber up obstacles is a great idea for an FPS game but it will be exploited in CS, they have tried physics objects in CS:source (mainly in custom maps) and they were either exploited or unpredictable (and there are doors that open), it already has bullet penetration, and destructible environments are obviously a cool idea but probably not for CS, CS is a game about precision and repetition the rounds last about one and a half minutes and everything is predictable, I'm not even a hardcore CS fan but the game you are talking about wouldn't be a CS sequel it would be a different game, like how swat 4 isn't a CS sequel but it is similar game

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I've gotten 4 cards just from voting, which means I should get more than the required quantity to craft the badge before the sale is over. One of them was a foil card, which I could sell to fill my wallet with enough money to buy 3 or 4 of the common sale trading cards, plus any multiples can be traded with friends to complete the set.

 

So, I feel like it's a massive exaggeration to say that this is "about" spending money on games or "requires" spending $60+ during the sale to get cards. Sure, it shifts the focus of the sale's surrounding celebration from playing games to playing with Steam (which is a clear difference), but it's undoubtedly always been Valve's focus to highlight new features of Steam alongside their sales, whether that's through their recommendation system, gifting games, buying multipacks, etc. I think it's a little idealistic to paint previous Steam sales as messengers of "playing games are great, let's reward you to play them".

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they are some good ideas for an FPS game and some are in CS:GO but some of them are not for CS eg. bigger maps and more players = not counterstrike, it would just be a different game with more players and bigger maps, being able to clamber up obstacles is a great idea for an FPS game but it will be exploited in CS, they have tried physics objects in CS:source (mainly in custom maps) and they were either exploited or unpredictable (and there are doors that open), it already has bullet penetration, and destructible environments are obviously a cool idea but probably not for CS, CS is a game about precision and repetition the rounds last about one and a half minutes and everything is predictable, I'm not even a hardcore CS fan but the game you are talking about wouldn't be a CS sequel it would be a different game, like how swat 4 isn't a CS sequel but it is similar game

 

See this is the problem, right here. "It has to be totally different, yet exactly the same." I've played on plenty of 32+ player servers, still a lot of fun. If you just keep thinking that way, there really won't ever be a sequel. But if you keep thinking that way, what's wrong with just playing the game you already have, if that's what you want?

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I have a ton of ideas, since designing games in my head is a thing I do. Character movement could be more human like, being able to clamber up walls appropriately high walls and crates and etc. Having the physics objects specifically play into the game, doors that can be opened and closed and even locked, filing cabinets shoved in the way as barricade could be more effective and far less frustrating. Even things like cars in a car park, being able to open doors for cover in an emergency, or even putting a car into neutral and shoving it as mobile cover.

 

Weapons ballistics could be a hell of a lot more realistic, with bullet drop and etc. Destructible environments and bullet penetration at all places appropriate, along with ricochets, would give a lot more thought to weapon selection and a lot more punch to machine guns. Teamwork could be encouraged in CS maps with things like hostages being worth a lot more money for the CT's when brought back, and even deducting money from the T's even if they win for being brought back. Speaking of which, with technical limitations of 1999 out of the way maps could be bigger, support more variation, and more players. A farmhouse complex surrounded by a big field, and then a forest as an example. No cover from bullets but from sight while sneaking through the wheat would be interesting, just as an example.

 

New play modes, better sound design could have gunfire echoing down the right corridors appropriately, telling you where action is. With modern lighting good night maps could actually be a thing. What if there was a mode where you could respawn somehow? A kill the VIP mode, where the CT's have to extract a VIP through a map? That was a really cool mod for Half Life who's name I can't remember. There's a lot that could be done, but I guess people at Valve are interested in other things. As "Concerned" put it, probably frequent raves. Unfortunately Google has failed me in finding the specific comic, but you should really just read the entire thing: http://www.screencuisine.net/hlcomic/index.php?date=2005-05-01

 

Sounds like an old* Ghost Recon/Rainbow Six game. I approve.

 

*Old as in the more "realistic" almost sim-like direction the old games had

 

Btw I believe this is the comic you were looking for? http://www.screencuisine.net/hlcomic/index.php?date=2005-08-17

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If they were just trying to make a fun shooting game that's one thing, but with CS:GO they've definitely taken a strong stance for making it a competitive eSport, just like with Dota.  With that in mind they can't really change a lot of stuff that would make the game hard to balance.  They also would have a hard time making big maps as it would be really hard to make them balanced between sides (already a lot of maps don't get competitive play because they are skewed in favor of one team) and there's also the fact that pro teams have 5 players so a 5v5 game on a huge match wouldn't be very good.

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See this is the problem, right here. "It has to be totally different, yet exactly the same." I've played on plenty of 32+ player servers, still a lot of fun. If you just keep thinking that way, there really won't ever be a sequel. But if you keep thinking that way, what's wrong with just playing the game you already have, if that's what you want?

make a new game that isn't called counter strike = problem solved, your problem is wanting an established game to be different game, if you want to play a different game play a different game or a modified version of the game, counter strike is its own unique thing, there are about a million other FPS games to choose from so play them if you don't like counter strike, it's like saying "how about they make a new battlefield game with no vehicles and a really small map that is 5V5 and you don't respawn" how about no, that is counter strike not battlefield

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I just bought Portal 2 and Left 4 Dead 2.

I understand Left 4 Dead 2 on PC includes all the content from the first game?

Either way, i've already played both.

I have not played Portal 2 before.

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It was on Community's Choice sale earlier today. I don't think it has been on Daily Deals yet.

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It was in one of the community's choice votes, i don't know if it got picked.

Edit: Replied at the same time, pffft.

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With all these levels for badges I feel like games should have more drops.   At least enough to be able to craft one badge. 

 

I think the concept is to play two games, trade all of your cards for the second game to get cards for the first game (that you presumably like more) and get that badge.

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I think the concept is to play two games, trade all of your cards for the second game to get cards for the first game (that you presumably like more) and get that badge.

Yeah but there's multiple levels to badges (up to 5 I think but may be mistaken) so getting the level two badge is going to require three games in addition to the one you're trying to get the badge in and a whole lot of trading, or forking out money on the marketplace.

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Yeah but it's weird. That's my number one issue with the system as they have it implemented. The random booster pack drops are nice, but I've been informed that people with higher steam level are more likely to get those booster packs, which just means people who have all the badges keep getting all the badges.

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Sweet, Dust is on sale today. I wonder if it'll get cheaper at some point as a flash deal.

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Torchlight 2 was the community choice sale last night for $5 and I considered buying it with my trading card money, but decided to wait it out.

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I'm currently trying to figure out if a game gets better promotional placement, or is more popular, depending on whether or not it has that Cards flag.

Obviously that's Valve's intention, and I wish I knew they'd put blue stickers on all the games this time last week :(

 

Anyway, the number of games with cards, per page, on the Under $5 tab, is thus:

 

Page 1 -- 6 games with Cards
Page 2 -- 5 games with Cards
Page 3 -- 1 game with Cards
Page 4 -- Zero
Page 5 -- Zero
 
Under $10:
 
Page 1 -- 11 games with Cards
Page 2 -- 4 games with Cards
Page 3 -- 2 games with Cards
Page 4 -- 3 games with Cards
Page 5 -- Zero

 

This either means: Popular games are more likely for their developers to implement cards.

Or games with cards are more likely to be higher up on the list.

 

 

...right?

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I imagine that Valve is working specifically with developers that have had good luck with Steam Sale sales in the past, so I'd guess the first more than the second. I would guess that games with cards are simply more likely to be idled in rather than played looking at my friends list.

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Yeah, or games doing brisk business still have staff to pay to develop cards. 

 

I miss the raffle ticket one where games had holiday achievements and what not. I definitely bought a few $3 and under games just to get an achievement to finish a day's meta. 

 

Also, it seems like the crowd only votes for the deepest discount. 40% off Gunpoint vs 75% of Natural Selection 2.

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So less than 20 minutes after I read the article about the psychology and exploitation of the summer sale game, I read that Amazon, Gamestop, and a few other retailers are sold out of Xbox One Day Ones. Then in full real time cognizance of how absurd it is, began to panic a little. 

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As much as I want a day one console, they haven't given me enough information to choose one or the other yet.

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