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TF2 Trading: Good Story Pt. 3

Posted on by Mei Satsuki

Last time I shared with you the second part of a very nice story. Here is the third part for you guys to enjoy as Team Fortress 2 fans and active TF2 trading players.

TF2 Trading: Continuation

This is the third part of the (true) story of LoopsCode in Reddit:

Fast forward a few more months, the team sort of disbanded because we all had real life responsibilities to attend to (although no worries, we all shoot the shit on our Slack channel on a daily basis). I was talking to Messiah how I was graduating soon in June 2016, and whether he has any tips for me for job search.

Little did I know, Messiah, who I absolutely admire because he is also the main dev of a Steam based website, works in a company in Silicon Valley. I was absolutely flabbergasted. Recall, I’ve known him for around a year and a half by now, and this is the first time I knew about this. He keeps it very low key, a hint to his character. He asked me if I was interested in his company, which is conveniently located in the center of Silicon Valley.

Am I interested? Am I?? My life long dream has been to work in Silicon Valley. I think interested was an understatement. I was more like – fuck yes I am!

I honestly tried to apply for internships in this area all five years of my college career, with no luck each time. Being able to begin my career in the Valley would actually fulfill a long-time dream of mine.

Messiah put in a good word for me to the CEO of the company knowing what I did with the UGC Roster Verifier tool (and our fun technical discussions on coding and tech in Slack/Mumble), and I scheduled my first call with them.

One call led to another technical call. Then a third culture call. Then finally, I was invited to their office in the Valley for a full day of on-site interviews. I flew over from the East coast; everything was paid for. Was I nervous? Goddamn I was. At this point, I was rejected by a few companies already, and morale was at a new low.

TF2 Trading, TF2 Items, TF2, Team Fortress 2

Whoa, what happens next? Stay put for the next part as we continue on with his story! It’s as if winning a lottery of great TF2 Items.

TF2 Trading: Good Story Pt. 2

Posted on by Mei Satsuki

Last time I shared with you the first part of a very nice story. Here is the second part for you guys to enjoy as Team Fortress 2 fans and active TF2 trading players.

TF2 Trading: Continuation

This is the second part of the (true) story of LoopsCode in Reddit

As you all know, some teams would bring in unregistered ringers (often times higher skill divisions than what the current team is), imposters with the same name and display picture (played by a higher level player), or sometimes, the team leader just doesn’t know it’s against the rules. Prior to a match, there isn’t much time to actually check one-by-one whether the player on the team is really who they say they are, or whether they’re in the official roster. My team leader, let’s call him Messiah, knew that I was a software developer. He is also one. He expressed to me his frustration, and it clicked to me that maybe I should try to take a stab at solving this problem.

A few weeks later, the UGC Roster Verification tool (now offline) was born. Initially, only the players in the team used it. After awhile, I started sharing it on /r/tf2, /r/truetf2, the UGC forums, TF2Center forums, and more, and it kinda blew up. I recall over 1000 unique players used it, and for a kid like me, that was pretty insane. Hearing people’s thoughts on the tool prompted me to learn to gather user feedback, test for bugs, and ultimately implement new features to it. This was a great feeling, and it really trained me to become a better software and product developer.

 TF2 Trading, TF2 Items, TF2, Team Fortres 2

Wow, this is really getting pretty interesting, right? Were you guys able to use this UGC Roster Verification tool? Did this program also helped in terms of TF2 Items? Let us know if you did!

TF2 Market: Change of Scenery

Posted on by Mei Satsuki

It’s all bad news about Team Fortress 2 recently and these days have been no better either. No, let us not blame Blizzard with Overwatch. If there’s one we can point a finger to is to Valve and how they mishandled Team Fortress 2 in many different ways. With the overflowing news of all things bad for TF2, let us divert our attention to a good story that might never have happened if not for Team Fortress 2. Surely, this cannot be seen in the TF2 Market, so read on.

TF2 Market: Good Story

This is a post by LoopsCode in TF2 Reddit. I am merely sharing it to you guys!

This is a story on how TF2 got me a job in Silicon Valley, the place of my dreams to begin my career as a fresh new computer engineering grad.

This story started two years ago, when I was invited to sub as a Soldier in a UGC Silver Highlander team from a friend, his name Borat, I met in TF2Center. We played a few games while we chatted in Mumble, and in the first few games, we clicked pretty well. A few days later, this friend asked if I was interested in joining their team full-time as their main soldier for the upcoming season. I first hesitated, but eventually agreed because I thought the dudes were all very swell.

Fast forward a few months, we were deep into the weekly games. Our team didn’t have the best DM, or the best players, or even the best strats, but gosh darn, we had team work and good vibes. The group of guys were just great people that encouraged each other when things went south, and in general, made the sometimes-toxic UGC environment tolerable, and even fun!

Speaking of toxicity, this is how the story really started.

 TF2 Market, Trade TF2, TF2, Team Fortress 2

To be continued…

LOL. Look forward for the continuation everyone! Don’t trade TF2 yet!

Eve Plex: Trading Help

Posted on 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.

eve

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 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.

TF2 Trading, TF2 Items, TF2, Team Fortress 2, Overwatch

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.

TF2 Trading: Veteran Voiced Out

Posted on by Mei Satsuki

Team Fortress released recently a big update that included the competitive mode and the quick play matchmaking mode. I have only read the patch notes since, well, I don’t play Team Fortress 2 that much anymore because Overwatch. Going back, after I read the update, I thought to myself, “Wow pretty cool! Valve is putting an effort to compete in the FPS market again.” But then it hit me, “This sounds a lot like Overwatch.” Maybe it was just me. Until I found a video that reaffirmed my assumption after reading the patch notes. This is going to be bad for TF2 trading.

TF2 Trading: Muselk Talks

Muselk has been playing Team Fortress 2 since forever so it is very reliable in terms of his opinion. I also think of him as a non-biased first person shooter player as well. You will surely agree when you watch his other videos and most definitely this video:

I loved the “Overwatch is doing great with it, let’s do it as well” comment. For one, I really thought of the idea when I read the update notes and Muselk seconding the thought, what a relief for me. Valve doesn’t have to do that. They were first in the market anyways, they could’ve done that a long time ago and maybe got the success of that idea before Overwatch. Who knows, that would be another “TF2 did it first” argument and Valve could’ve gotten the credit and not Blizzard. What’ surprising was the ranked rating. You did great in a game with three gold medals and won and still ranked down? Maybe this was a bug but with the anxiety of the remaining handful (LOL) of Team Fortress 2 players, it’s almost unforgiveable. Valve is a veteran in the industry as well, they should know better.

TF2 Trading, TF2 Items, TF2, Team Fortress 2, update

The last thing to cry about is that Valve is as if they are just giving TF2 players disappointment after disappointment as if they don’t care anymore. I really anticipated that Overwatch will bring the best out of Valve but it was otherwise. TF2 items surely will not sell again.

TF2 Market: Team Composition

Posted on by Mei Satsuki

Now that there is a competitive mode in Team Fortress 2, the game’s play or meta changes. Team Fortress 2 was more of a casual game but now that competitive mode is one of the game’s mode, players should be more aware on how to cope with other players thus the importance of team composition. There were games that our team had no medic in them and caused the loss because noon was healing damaged teammate and it was frustrating. I was so frustrated that a cheap guy like me looked into the TF2 market and thought of buying something to relieve the stress. What more in a more serious mode in competitive mode. That’s why I am here to share with you guys on how to setup an optimal team by having a great team composition.

TF2 Market: According to Wiki

So I looked up for some write-ups on the proper team composition on competitive Team Fortress 2, because honestly I haven’t set foot in the mode in fear of getting frustrated again. Good thing TF2 Wiki provided some info on team composition:

The standard competitive lineup is made up of the following team composition:

  • 1 Medic
  • 1 Demoman
  • 1 Pocket, usually a Soldier
  • 1 Roamer, also usually a Soldier
  • 2 Utilities, usually both Scouts

The Medic and Demoman almost never change classes within a game. Depending on the map, either or both utilities might spend more time as other classes, especially on asymmetrical maps like Gravel Pit or Badwater. Soldiers most commonly remain Soldiers throughout the entire game, though the pocket sometimes switches to a Heavy, and other switches are not unheard of.

The combination of the Medic and at least one of his partners (generally a Soldier and a Demoman) is referred to as “The Combo”. The Combo will usually receive the Medic’s Übercharge, and represents a team’s location in a map. The Roamer and Situational classes will move around and look to gain picks, back-cap, or force the enemy medic to deploy an Übercharge to save himself.

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Trade TF2 for another game isn’t a good idea now since the addition of fresh content / new modes.

We will go further on this topic on my next article. Do you think this is the right team composition in the game? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

 

The Rimworld Steam Keys Debacle

Posted on 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.

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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.

TF2: Medic, Demoman and Medic

Posted on 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

TF2 Trading, TF2 Items, TF2, Team Fortress 2, update 

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!