State of the TF2 Market - March 2012 edition

We get a lot of general questions from traders as to what's going on with the TF2 marketplace.  While we try not to comment on day-to-day movements there are some trends we can speak to that are taking place.

Earbuds appear to have topped out at 26 keys roughly and have now retreated back to 22 keys as of today.  Bills has made a similar backtrack from highs of 10-12 keys, now down to 8-10 keys (unpainted 8, white/black 10).  Other higher priced items are also showing similar downward movements although most not as steep as bills/buds.  Standard clean hats continue to flatten in the 1.33 to 1.66 refined range.

Keys fluctuate depending on the influx of new keys being bought but they have remained easily traded in the 2.44 - 2.55 refined metal range.  Some will trade for 2.33, some for 2.66 (or equal value) but more will be 2/5 refined or that general area.

Strange Festive weapons have seen a jump in prices.  There is no clear reason why but the high tier items began to sell higher and higher once buds topped and fell in price.  From a purely supply standpoint it makes sense since these items are no longer available and can be considered a 'step-up' from already higher-priced regular strange items.

For pricing there are a few industrious souls out there asking some exceptionally high prices for the higher tiers but we see that there is a steady market for these items at the price ranges listed.  Their tiers as of now appear to be from best to worst: Medi Gun, Scattergun, Bat, Rocket Launcher, Minigun, Sniper Rifle, Stickybomb, Wrench, Knife, Flamethrower (sorry pyro).  Where they end up nobody knows.

Vintage items appear to have bottomed, particularly the higher-tier hats and weapons.  V. Tossle Cap is the clear winner with V. Procedure Mask not far behind.  Interestingly, a year ago the Troublemaker's was not the top tier it is considered now.  That was reserved for the V. Procedure Mask and just below that the V. Whiskers.  V. Ze Goggles were also up there.  How things change in only a year.

Valve continues to release community items piecemeal every week on Thursdays.  This will be taken for granted and likely to be changed by Valve just to keep you all on your toes.  So far the items have been of decent quality.  The Fast Learner is a popular item, perhaps the best so far at holding its value.  The Teufort Tooth Kicker doesn't appear craftable yet, as only dirty versions appear to be available (let us know if you have one).

Let us know your thoughts also.

Valve launches Steam Collections

PC Gamer has the scoop on Steam Collections that allow gamers to group community added content and follow it in one place.  Skyrim and Team Fortress 2 are the only two games that have this functionality so far.  The idea is that there is so much community developed content that this will be a way for the gaming public to filter the vast amounts available.  Check out the story here.

New update, new item, you know the routine...

Team Fortress 2

• Added The Cozy Camper
• Added a new TF2 sub-forum: Competitive Team Play and League discussion^[1]
• Fixed Solider buffs and rage meters not always being reset
• Updated The Black Rose so it can be gift wrapped
• Updated The Phlogistinator:
  • Fixed a bug where Mmmph-crit flames could cause Mmmph to build fast enough to allow it to be infinitely chained
  • Direct damage reduced by 10%. Afterburn damage is unchanged
  • Crit buff time lowered from 12 seconds to 10 seconds
• Updated arena_nucleus
  • Fixed z-fighting bug on lower platform
• Community Requests
  • Added player_carryobject and player_dropobject game events

Non-TF2 related: More Free Games

A few good deals for all you pc gamers out there using old-school desktops or laptops and ultrabooks for gaming.

The first is for free versions of GTA, GTA2 and Wild Metal.  Dealnews has all the details here.

The second is for a free weekend of Star Wars: The Old Republic starting tomorrow, March 15th.  Once again, Dealnews has all the info here.

Valve: no Steam Console planned

Rumors had been going around signaling that Valve might have enter the console gaming fray with some sort of Steam console product.  That has been all slapped down now at least for the foreseeable future here.  I never undersood this rumor since Valve has spent so much time making Steam into a cross-platform software "app".  What would they get into the hardware business for?  There is a lot of money to be made selling games via Steam and starting a completely new business by manufacturing hardware (at a loss most likely) didn't make sense.

What I can see is Valve teaming up with a Sony Playstation, Microsoft Xbox, or Nintendo Wii, the latter two most likely as Valve and Microsoft share the east side of Seattle as their home.  Nintendo has a presence in Redmond also but nothing like Microsoft's.  Time will tell

Another update, another new item

Team Fortress 2

• Added The Nine-Pipe Problem
• Added hud_fastswitch to the Advanced Options dialog
• Fixed a commentary string that referenced the Soldier instead of the Heavy
• Fixed a client crash that could occur when a server used SetCustomModel to change the player model
• Fixed a crash that could occur while trying to get The Argyle Sap achievement
• General improvements to client stability
• Updated the Spirit of Giving so it can have a custom name applied to it
• Updated the map arena_well
  • Updated the skybox
  • Made some miscellaneous material improvements

Undocumented changes

• Added the Eliminating The Impossible set.
  • Added the Private Eye to the Eliminating The Impossible set.

F2P saved TF2 and makes Valve lotsa dough

By now most of you have your opinions on free-to-play "F2P" players in TF2.  Like some other gaming platforms, Steam has been morphing into a free-to-play & pay-for-content system.  The game's development was intended this way.  Like it or not the F2P system was very intentional and because it worked, actually saved TF2 so that we still enjoy it today.

Gamasutra has a great article here that explains Valve's strategy as well as this head-turning statistic: TF2 makes 12 times more revenue per month as F2P than it did when the game was sold outright.  Yes, twelve times more.  Another interesting thing is that they do indeed gauge community support and interest in items and gameplay by monitoring forums.  You rarely see news with real data that normally would never be published.  Give it a read.

TFportal.net

Sometimes we like to link to sites around the internets that we think are interesting.  TFPortal.net is one of them.  This site is based in Germany and appears to be up to the German standards of efficient design and showing some innovation.  They have ETF2L info (the European TF2 League), forums and lots of general TF2 gaming information.  Interestingly they also have a trading system (direct link here), similar to the look and feel of tf2tp.com and tf2outpost.com.  Check them out.  We do have many friends from Germany who visit us here, and let this also serve as a shout-out to them.