New way to win the half-millionth hit prize!

As a good samaritan wrote to inform us, that an unscrupulous person may (although we don't want to believe it) use a program like FireBug to live edit the site code and thus win the prize through cheating.  Our editors are shocked and horrified at the accusation.  Nonetheless, we defer to people who actually know how to cheat to tell us how its done.

So, a change of plans.  We will do choose a winner for the prize the old-fashioned way: an online random number generator (such as this one).  Once the hit # 500,000 is registered, we will have a new post.  You will follow the instructions there and we will choose the closest one to our random number.  Then we will "crown" the winner.

Sorry for the about-face but we want someone to win the prize fairly!

Thank you TF2 Community! Over 440,000 hits in 1 month!

We would just like to thank everyone for visiting our little spreadsheet and putting your faith in us to bring you up-to-date and accurate information on the TF2 trading world.  You have been hitting on us like Ron Jeremy at a Swedish Bikini Team meeting!

Update: the prize has been chosen and acquired.  You will want to win this prize.  That is all.  Be well.

Steam trading verdict is in

What do you think of Steam trading?   It's a great idea	306 (90%)
It's a passing fad	25 (7%)
WTH is Steam trading?	6 (1%)

Votes so far: 337
Poll closed

Pilotka and Stahlhelm now craftable

New update just released.

From TF2 wikipedia:

Patch notes

Team Fortress 2

• Updated the Pilotka so it can be crafted, traded, and gift-wrapped
• Updated the Stahlhelm so it can be crafted, traded, and gift-wrapped
• Updated the physics for the Sticky Jumper projectiles so they behave like regular sticky bombs

Undocumented changes

• Added Mann Co. Supply Crate Series #29.
• Strange Razorbacks now have a "Spies Shocked" attribute.
• Strange Eyelanders now have a "Heads Taken" attribute.
• Added Sun-on-a-Stick, Sharpened Volcano Fragment, Three-Rune Blade, and Maul to the drop system.

Exclusive and killer!

PC Gamer is offering a free hat code with the purchase of their new issue come Sept. 29th.  UK issues will have the code, while it is unclear if US/North America will have it.

Steam Forum discussion here.

New item percentages

In updating the TF2items hat and item percentages, you may notice that most of the items percentages have dropped by approximately half.  For example, Bills hat which was in around 20% of the backpacks is now at around 11%.  What gives, you say?  Well, as we've said before TF2items (and thus, we all are) is dependent on Valve for whatever data they give out.  The percentage drop is likely due to the influx of new players, and it would seem that the number of current players has nearly doubled since all percentages of items has been effectively cut in half.  This is reinforced by the Ghastlier Gibus percentages - cut in half also signifying that more than half of the active player base was not playing Halloween of 2010.

Of note, you will recall we ran a poll asking which stats you would prefer: percentage of items or estimated # of items.  We have gone through our channels and Valve will not give us the actual # of active TF2 players.  Sooooo...we are "stuck" with the better statistic which is percentage of items.  I know many of you really liked estimated #, however it is a severely flawed number and even moreso now that TF2items data from Valve keeps getting more limited.  If the number of players is ever released we will re-calculate an estimated # of items.

That said, if you think there are any other metrics that effect value and price that we should show in our little spreadsheet: let us know.  That is all.  Be well.

Portal is free (for today at least)

Steam has Portal for free, get it if you haven't played it yet.

Link

Trading patience is a virtue

Sometimes we get feedback regarding prices and how long it takes to unload an item.  Sometimes players claim that since it takes a long time to sell something then our prices must be wrong.  Wrong!  We are very capable of making mistakes.  However, in TF2 trading land there are a lot of choices and beyond the always hot Team Captains and Bills some items we don't want tend to sit a long time in our backpacks waiting for a home.

Take for example Genuine Volcano Fragment.  This was a hot property when Rift first came out and all the controversy about it being tradeable before the game's release.  Now, it takes a loooong time to sell one.  Does that mean it's value has gone down?  To some extent yes, but that's not the only answer.  It can take several days to a week to sell one at "full" price (currently between 2 and 3 refined).  The reason is simple: because there are more (genuine) items available spreading demand out.  So if you have one you need to spread the word out that it's for sale.  That means trading servers during peak times (Thurs-Sun), reddit tf2 forums, Steam TF2 trading forums, Source Op item trading forums, and tf2tp.com.  Start a new thread, keep it simple and post a link to your profile so people can easily add you.

When you've exhausted all avenues to sell an item then lower your price.