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Eve Plex: Trading Help

Posted on July 26, 2016 by Mei Satsuki

Moneymakers in Eve Online are as important as those players who focus in getting strong (for future wars). That’s what makes Eve Online great not unlike other MMORPG’s. Even if you don’t focus in fighting but you have monetary control over many, you still are considered valuable in the population. Actually, sometimes you are more feared by people because in any instant, you can build the most powerful ship in the game. Not to mention these moneymaking people don’t have to pay real money for their subscription. They can purchase Eve Plex every end of their game time.

Eve Plex: Post

With the topic, it is not surprising that people be asking in Reddit about how to trade efficiently. Actually, this post below is asking on how to trade because he has no idea on how to in Eve Online:

Hello everyone, i am an Elite: Dangerous player which mostly interested about trading. But after playing E: D for several months, it just became too simple and I looked for more complex trading games. I started playing Eve, found myself in a mining corporation and mined for months, then left game without trading (it is less funnier than it looks) .

Now i really would like to start trading, but all guides I’ve found is mostly outdated, links are broken etc. Therefore I have no idea where to start or what to do.

I have an Iteron Mark V and 60 million isks. If I sell my other ships I almost have 500 million isks. So no freighter for now.

What would you suggest? Shall i go Jita and than what?

Thanks for your help!

By the way sorry for reposting this on EveTrading subreddit but that subreddit seems pretty dead.

Just like the comments I read in the post, there are numerous ways to trade so there is no definite answer to this.

People actually are active in responding to these posts in Reddit which is very admiring. It is rare for people to respond quickly without trolling or being toxic. That goes to show Eve Online community really IS a community. The community is so nice that they might buy Eve Plex for you so they can play with you more.

TF2 Trading: Copying Overwatch

Posted on July 25, 2016 by Mei Satsuki

It is funny to see that the table has turned between Team Fortress 2 and Overwatch. In the previous months, people has nothing to say but Overwatch is just Team Fortress 2 with better graphics (which Blizzard admittedly taken concepts from different shooters including Team Fortress 2). Yeah, I am pretty sure those people haven’t tried Overwatch before commenting like that or watched Blizzard interviews and press cons. Now, TF2 is learning from the success of Overwatch. Valve are implementing game modes and other stuff in TF2 that they see are working for Overwatch. I guess, it is a give and take of ideas? TF2 trading ideas? Yeah, that sort, if you will.

TF2 Trading Ideas but Still Short

There is nothing wrong with the copying of this and copying of that between games. Moreover, if they are in the same game genre, there will be similarities and copying of ideas. It is not wrong, in my opinion, if you would copy another aspect of a competitor’s game so as long as you make it better. Take a look at World of Warcraft. People would say or said that they only copied Everquest, right? Blizzard’s biggest moneymaker was just from an existing idea but made better. Same goes for their other games i.e. Hearthstone to Magic: The Gathering, Starcraft to any other RTS existed before it and of course, Overwatch to objective type shooter.

Team Fortress 2 though, man, they fell short. Even on the copying of what is working for Overwatch, they failed. I have seen so much comments on how Valve continues to not disappoint on disappointing their players. Take this post in Reddit, there are so many people commenting on all the faults and the shortcomings in TF2 even if they tried updating in the game that of Overwatch. So yeah, sad but true and sometimes rage inducing, to be quite honest. And no, inb4 put out more TF2 items, that will not work as well for sure. So yeah, hopefully this changes soon. If not, we will really have to say goodbye to TF2.

The Rimworld Steam Keys Debacle

Posted on July 19, 2016 by Richard Griever

Rimworld is this neat little gem that only Steam account users will have the hotness for. It’s a pretty awesome Dwarf Fortress esque game with some hints of the unnatural sci-fi that one may know from the Firefly series. The developers of said game even have this great deal for Early Access Steam keys. Then douchebags had to muck it up.

The whole story here is that the devs of Rimworld, Ludeon Studios, decided to put out a promo so that they could earn more money. God knows these indie developers need all the help that they could get. They offered that, instead of buying Steam keys from Steam itself, that takes a 30-40% pay cut from the developers with every unit sold, people interested in Rimworld should opt to purchase from their site instead. Naturally, Steam sells them cheaper than Ludeon does so, to sweeten the pot, Ludeon would send free Steam keys to put into any Steam account for those that bought the non-Steam version of the game. Simply typing in their purchase email was enough to merit this free Steam key of Rimworld. It’s essentially getting two copies for the price of a slightly higher one.

So basically, more money for Ludeon Studios and shiny Steam keys for longtime supporters. Everybody wins. RimWorld is a massive undertaking, too. Ludeon deserves every penny they get.

Unfortunately, the Steam keys black market can be pretty brutal for the uninitiated. These fraudulent rapscallions descended upon the hapless developer in full force. In a blog post, Sylvester of Ludeon explained:

“If you bought before today, you can still get a key. However, I’ve been forced to stop offering Steam keys for those who buy today and in the future. We’ve been getting hammered by fraudsters who are obviously more experienced at this than I. Shutting it down for now is the only way to avoid thousands of dollars in chargeback fees and lost sales. It’s time to take a breather, because I can’t fight this ‘live.’”

With tons of chargebacks done with those free Steam CD keys, Ludeon lost more money than what would normally be normally sound for a developer of their level. Not to mention the Steam keys used in nefariously fraudulent actions are now being banned.

The plight facing RimWorld and Ludeon Studios’ shines a light on one of the biggest issues in PC game publishing right now: that developers may face crushing chargeback fees from stolen credit cards used to buy Steam keys. Fraudsters make money by selling these keys on via eBay-style PC game websites.

This is a tough one for Ludeon and I do hope it’s something they can recover from.

Story in an Eve Account

Posted on July 19, 2016 by Mei Satsuki

You would normally think that people play MMORPG because they want to escape real life. That real life is full of crap that they spend most of their time playing it. In an MMORPG like having an Eve Account, they can be whoever they want to be. They can be total opposite of what they are in real life because again, real life is crap. And with that, they separate real life with MMORPG. Though sometimes it is surprising on how real life becomes better when they lived long enough in the world of MMORPG and I have a great example for you guys.

Eve Account: A Story

So, here I am lurking in Reddit again, looking for interesting topics, I came across a great story by Stoopsy on how real life is significantly connected to the life in MMORPG:

I was just in a car crash about an hour ago with my best friend and we were both almost killed. All the airbags in my car went off thank god and saved our lives. The car who we hit who didn’t see us and we barely saw them rolled and flipped over onto another car across the street, my friend and I tore off the door of the rolled car and helped everyone get out. Everyone walked away with minor injuries thankfully. Two out of the three cars involved including mine were totaled. Some of the first people I told were some of my friends in eve and they were some of The first to respond as well.

Life is crazy and I just wanted to thank everyone I’ve met and haven’t met in eve for creating such a unique community of loving and caring people who still can shoot each other and blow each other up and laugh about it later. Some of my greatest memories have come from eve over the years and that’s because of the people who I have been playing alongside and against.

I love you all and just want to remind you to drive safe and pay attention towards the road and everything around you.

Fly safe and drive safe

Imagine someone who has no friends in real life but belong to an alliance in Eve and the same fate to Stoopsy, it would be a bigger impact to him. So, we can never say that life in MMORPG is different and separate from real life, because who knows, maybe your true friends in life are the ones who have Eve Accounts who you play with.

TF2: Medic, Demoman and Medic

Posted on July 18, 2016 by Mei Satsuki

Okay, we got distracted by some topics last week, let us go back to taking a look at the recent changes. Now, for Medic, Demoman and Engineer. Definitely, Valve trying to make TF2 Trading active again with these changes to make Team Fortress 2 fresh.

TF2 Trading: Changes

Medic

Base

All Mediguns allow the Medic to match the speed of their heal target

Previously only available on The Quick Fix

Quick Fix

berCharge rate reduced to +15% (from +25%)

Overdose

Increased movement speed bonus to +20% (from +10%)

Increased damage penalty to -15% (from -10%)

Dropped Mediguns

Stored UberCharge begins to decay over time after coming to rest

Demoman

Base All boots now require a shield to activate any move speed bonus listed on the item

The Iron Bomber Decreased the fuse time to 1.4 seconds (from 2.0)

The Quickiebomb Launcher Increased charge time reduction to -70% (from -50%) Increased damage bonus for (max) charged shots to +35% (from +25%) Increased clip size penalty to -50% (from -25%) Removed “Stickybombs fizzle 4 seconds after landing”

The Sticky Jumper Updated model/materials and sound

Engineer

Base Level 1 teleporters now cost 50 metal (previously 125)

Widowmaker Damage increased +10% when attacking the same target as your sentry

Eureka Effect

Reduced “50% less metal from Dispensers and Pickups” to 20%

Added “Teleporters cost 50% less metal”

The Short Circuit

Base projectile attack is -10 metal (hit or miss) and then add -5 metal for each projectile destroyed (sometimes a buff, sometimes a nerf)

The Pomson

Fixed an exploit with shooting through your own buildings

Increased close-range damage to 72 (from 62)

Reduced long-range damage to 32 (from 42)

Updated projectile impact sound

So, with these changes, Team Fortress 2 players will become more active again in playing the game. This also means that players will be having to change their usual playstyle to cope in these changes. TF2 Items will definitely sell again with the players coming back to play TF2. That’s something to assume, right? Hopefully!

Steam Keys Esports: State of Overwatch Pro Scene

Posted on July 15, 2016 by Richard Griever

The video above contains a few criticisms on the Overwatch pro scene. With Overwatch being hugely successful as of late and its momentum has showed no signs of stopping yet, as well as it getting better and better with each timely patch, folks wonder how it will fair as an e-sport.

It’s plenty obvious that the game, at its very core, is highly competitive and highly rewarding. It’s got great gameplay mechanics, superb characters in both playability and uniqueness, and it’s got some of the most interesting ideas ever to be introduced in a team-based FPS.

But that doesn’t mean jack-squat if it can’t hold up against the modern e-sports greats like Dota or CS:GO. The biggest fear folks have here is the watchability of it. In other words, if it can be a spectator sport or not. You’ll find all the arguments in the video above, so I’m just going to focus on my counter arguments instead. Or you could just go judge it for yourself even if you don’t have any Steam redeem code of it.

Steam Keys: Getting it Out of the Way

To cut it short, I completely disagree with the video about the current state of Overwatch pro gaming; Overwatch is a fine spectator sport. But, frankly, aside from the level of pro players right now really not being up to par with Envyus, it’s the cameraman that has the real responsibility for it. I’ve seen a ton of matches where the guy controlling the camera simply knew where, when, and who to focus on at key moments of a clash. That makes all the difference in the world and you can easily bypass the hundred other things happening on screen so long as the cameraman knows what to do and what to focus on, either by getting into the perspective of a player or going for a bird’s eye view.

I’ve also seen a lot of the opposite where the cameraman had apparently no freaking idea what to do. I see a Roadhog ult about to quad environmental kill from a pivotal situation and then, suddenly, camera tracks some Reaper coming back to the fight from the spawn room. Quality camerawork at its finest.

There really isn’t any other issue with its watchability other than that. The pro teams will, eventually, get good enough to take down Envyus and we’ll see a more balanced assortment of teams in the competitive meta without a single team dominating everybody. For now, it’s still pretty amazing and I suggest you all try and watch Overwatch pro games, Steam keys or not, and judge for yourself with an open mind.

Steam Account Drama: CS:GO YouTubers Gambling Scandal

Posted on July 15, 2016 by Richard Griever

There’s been a lot of drama about the illegal online gambling market related to CS:GO’s community and it certainly hasn’t slowed down. Two prominent CS:GO YouTubers, Trevor “TmarTn” and Tom “ProSyndicate” Cassell, are part of all this hubbub. Normally, it would be fine for Valve to just let go of this gambling crap except that these two YouTubers are at the center of it all by being the owners of said gambling sites and not saying anything about the matter at all in any of their vids. Talking about the sites isn’t necessarily punishable, but being at the head of it is clearly another story.

This revelation, of course, breaks all kinds of rules, both written and unspoken (it’s pretty illegal) though the YouTubers both claim that they never hid their involvement with CSGOlotto. However, there has been no mention in any of their videos or video descriptions stating that they are the owners of the site.

Valve’s been trying to get these sites shutdown for the longest time but has still been unsuccessful to this date. The real issue here is that, while it’s being claimed that these slot machine-esque gambling system of the sites via lootboxes is fine because the skin rewards are purely cosmetic in the game and have no real bearing in performance, but the skins can sell for thousands upon thousands of dollars. With that in mind, it’s now, essentially, become real gambling. The legal gambling age in the US is 21. What age is the biggest demographic for shooters in general? Kids. There’s the real problem.

What’s more, there are a number of websites, like CSGOlotto, set up with the sole intention of promoting gambling where you can use your gun skins as tokens and win bigger and better skins or lose out. Considering the amount of money at stake with these skins, you start to see why it could be a bit of a problem for two YouTubers with a hefty sum of CSGO videos on their channels to promote a website like this and not disclose that they own it.

The Steam Account Drama Continues

Since this CSGO gambling scandal broke, however, Martin has deleted almost everything related to the scandal from his Twitter and YouTube accounts, while Valve have added a huge anti-scam warning to CSGOlotto when you try to log into the site via Steam account. It certainly isn’t a good scandal to have in the game considering that the playerbase is getting splintered due to the advent of Overwatch. Hopefully, everything goes back to normal and stuff like this isn’t on anybody’s Steam account news feed anymore.

Eve Plex: Sharing Part 4

Posted on July 15, 2016 by Mei Satsuki

Here is the last part of a great sharing why Eve Online is one of the best games out in the market right now. If you didn’t know the part that came before this, please take a look in the list of my posts. Yeah, I would link you the other parts but this is already the last part of four parts. Anyways, hope you can relate with this guy talking about his experience and some things about some Eve Online Ships.

Eve Plex: Continuation

And it’s this level of interaction that makes this a very REAL world in a digital space. Despite all of the scientific accuracy in Elite Dangerous, you never escape the cockpit; the knowledge of being in a simulation. A false environment, no matter how believable from a distance, will never make up for the depth of and truth behind the social constructs in EVE Online.

I know this is a bit overlong for a lover letter, but I guess all I’m really trying to say is that I wish I had come here sooner, and I’ll probably be here awhile.

FINAL NOTE: Minmatar ships look like a three year old built them out of leftover Legos after his big brother used all the good pieces. (And now you will all focus on this statement instead of the story.)

POST FINAL NOTE: This is one of the first things I’ve ever posted on Reddit, and I really didn’t expect this many people to read a long ass post like this – but oh yeah, these are EVE players. Thanks guys 🙂

It was a refreshing read when you get to realize that all of the things he said is what made me stay in Eve Online as well. It’s as if he just told my experience or read my mind and wrote all of it. Yeah, I do wish too that I did play Eve Online sooner. With all those Eve Ships, the economy, the interaction with other people, etc. Eve Online is absolutely great.

TF2 Trading: Laugh Out Loud

Posted on July 15, 2016 by Mei Satsuki

Team Fortress 2 might be pushed back into the shadows by Overwatch but animations related or about Team Fortress 2 never fails to entertain. Former TF2 players might go back to playing the game on just how funny this is and in turn spark TF2 Trading as well.

TF2 Trading: Funny Video

Enjoy!

This is the transcript of the video just in case you didn’t understand some of them.

“But I mean, Team Fortress 2 is just way too rediculous four you to- ’cause, it’s all the same thing. It’s like… I dunno.

You get the Scout. And you put him in a wig. And then he looks at the sun a bunch. And then, there’s Femscout. You put her in a wig too. Then, the Spy’s the bad guy…

Uh…

Femscout’s gonna have to die at some point, ’cause….

Fuck that shit.

And then, Scout’s sad. And then he has a sword. And then he fights demons. And then, Femscout’s back, she didn’t really die, becasue it was the Spy.

And then… uh….

Scout has to fight femscout. And he kicks her into the sun. And then he realizes what he’s done. And then he’s real sad. Then he’s on a bed. Then he looks at a gun. Then he’s about to shoot himself, but he’s like:

‘Nah, this ‘aint cool.’

So then he goes…

… drives a bike…

Off into the Sunset. And then the sun turns into his mom’s head. And it turns to the camera and mouths the words:

‘Ya’ done did good, kid’

And that’s the end of the show.

That’s every drama tf2 video.”

I was literally laughing my heart out while watching this. There were parts that I didn’t understand but I think that’s where it hit the spot, when the video made you “wtf”. There were some TF2 Items in the video as well like the hats. Hope you enjoyed this video as much as I did and credits to the owner and uploader!

Steam Keys News: Valve’s Crackdown on Gambling

Posted on July 14, 2016 by Richard Griever

Valve has been one of the most powerful, if not the most, and has changed the very face of how we buy and play our video games. But as almighty as Valve is, it isn’t at all immune to certain systems that aim to abuse Valve and milk it indirectly of a lot of cash. Most notably, gambling websites focused on the extremely popular CS:GO have been a thorn in Valve’s side ever since the game came into existence by continuously breaking their end user agreement.

Back in 2011, Valve added the ability for Steam account users to trade in-game items for certain games. While it was an awesome system, it unfortunately opened the doors to abuse with certain sites using the OpenID API to convert in-game items to real world money. Valve never supported this and they don’t at all have anything to do with it. It’s simply an awful coincidence.

Valve also stated that Steam-based gambling sites like CS:GOlotto will be taken to court if there is no progress to be made in them willingly shutting down operations.

“Using the OpenID API and making the same web calls as Steam users to run a gambling business is not allowed by our API nor our user agreements. We are going to start sending notices to these sites requesting they cease operations through Steam, and further pursue the matter as necessary. Users should probably consider this information as they manage their in-game item inventory and trade activity,” posted Valve’s Erik Johnson.

It’s always been an issue for Valve in many games that have some trading support and has gone by through the years relatively unnoticed, but this recent CS:GO scandal involving some popular CS:GO YouTubers may be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.

Steam Keys: What’s the Big Deal?

Websites that deal with in-game item sales, sell Steam keys, Steam codes, or cheap Steam games, or merely gamble indirectly are already walking a very, very fine line in the first place. What more for websites that deal with direct gambling that go against not only a specific game’s EULA, but also against Valve’s and, not to mention, possibly criminal in the United States due to the possibility of minors engaging in said gambling? Like the earlier mention of the CS:GO scandal, these popular YouTubers may have inadvertently encouraged minors to go gamble. That’s a big no-no. Good on Valve for taking measures in taking these sites down. They are well within their rights to do so.

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