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Read the new book all about Team Fortress 2 trading and the TF2 Spreadsheet.

Friday, December 9, 2011

New update, get crafting!

Team Fortress 2

Undocumented changes

Source Engine Changes (TF2, DoD:S, HL2:DM)

  • Added video options UI for Windows Vista / Windows 7 DirectX extensions. Disabling the extensions will increase memory usage, but can improve compatibility with video drivers.

    Wednesday, December 7, 2011

    Store price vs. TF2 trading price

    TF2 trader Shadow brings up a good point, store prices vs. TF2 trading prices:

    Shadow said...
    "Dude there's a mistake there infernal impaler (clean) should be 7-8 refined and the dirty one 4-6 just like the aspector they are the same price on the store."

    Sometimes when an item first enters the marketplace it is close to its store price (or if its a promo from a game, its game price).  However, this is NOT always the case.  Moreover, two items from the same promo or the same price at the store can have completely different demand on them. 

    Case in point as Shadow brings up the Infernal Impaler and the Apparitions Aspect.  For whatever reason people seem to place more DEMAND on the Aspect.  Therefore a higher price can be asked for it.  It's not complicated but a lot of traders have trouble with this and sometimes its hard to rationalize.

    Saturday, December 3, 2011

    Your eternal blog post

    The new crates having been out a couple days and the marquee item is clearly the new strange Your Eternal Reward.  Not particularly surprising, as the "unique" or regular, dropped version is consistently one of those items people actually pay a scrap for (along with the Original, Huntsman, and whatever is new).  Also, Your Eternal Reward has been one of the best selling items in the store.  Maybe some of you spy gurus can shed some light on this for us.  Just de-cloak and jot down a few words.

    More later.

    Thursday, December 1, 2011

    Update to the update...new crates!

    Team Fortress 2

    • Added the Itsy Bitsy Spyer
    • Added a "Buy Now" feature that allows item purchases on the web
    • WebAPI changes:
      • Moved IEconAssets/GetAssetPrices to ISteamEconomy/GetAssetPrices
      • Added new web API ISteamEconomy/GetAssetClassInfo for getting descriptions of items

    Undocumented Changes

    New update: Itsy bitsy spyer?


    Product Update - Valve
     
    Updates to Team Fortress 2 have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:
    • Added the Itsy Bitsy Spyer
    • Added a "Buy Now" feature that allows item purchases on the web
    • WebAPI changes:
      • Moved IEconAssets/GetAssetPrices to ISteamEconomy/GetAssetPrices
      • Added new web API ISteamEconomy/GetAssetClassInfo for getting descriptions of items

    Tuesday, November 29, 2011

    I'm kind of a big deal in Redmond - New update!

    Source Engine Changes (TF2, DoD:S, HL2:DM)

    • Dramatically improved the dynamic model loading system's memory usage, performance, and stability
    • Reduced memory usage on systems running Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7
    • Improved alt-tab handling under Windows Vista and Windows 7 

    Admin: this will be welcome news to most windows users (99% of TF2 community).

    PSA: don't give me your uncraftables

    Just a word of warning to all those traders out in TF2 land: mouse-over all items in your trade window.  Many trades in our experience have people putting up "uncraftable" (ie. dirty) items on unsuspecting victims.  It's very common and easy to stop.  You just have to pay attention.  That is all.  Carry on.

    Saturday, November 26, 2011

    Risers and fallers

    The stock market has daily risers and fallers. It's an actual metric that is used to gauge the overall up or down direction of the market.  In TF2, it's not exactly the same but there are certainly items that rise and fall.  Newer items tend to start out strong and fall with time.  However that isn't always the case, as we see currently with Essential Accessories which are a continually popular item and have risen in price recently.

    Other items of note are the Salvaged Crate #30 items.  There is a real sense of scarcity to the more popular of these strange items (Machina, Kritzkrieg) that even carries over to the Gunslinger.  Mackerel and Caber have a little bump, but there are still plenty of sellers at their respectively lower prices.  Crate #30 continues to be kept in short supply.

    Keys are slowly becoming more available this weekend.  Many traders who bought at 2 refined and 2 reclaimed will not be thrilled to know that the high prices they paid will likely soon bring the price back to equilibrium.  Keys are starting (slowly) to sell again for 2.44 and 2.33 refined...although this is not the official price yet as the influx of keys could be temporary.

    Newer genuine items from the Saints Row promo are now tradeable and sell as a set (mostly) for around Bills Hat in price.  This is considered a lower price for a set of new genuines so the game must have sold well or was considered cheap by buyers.  Football Manager items have a strong price range around buds for the set.   Trine 2 and Assassin's Creed items are not yet tradeable.  The heavy hat for Trine 2 is a love/hate item apparently.  Assasin's Creed items look to be popular, although they are only for the spy which will be interesting to see if they trade for high value.

    The Halloween items have quieted considerably as it would be expected.  The prices for them will likely fall (if not already) and we will adjust as we see how they sell.  They are not a typical item being they are usable only 3 days about per month and on Halloween events.  Buy them on the cheap only is our suggestion.  ("scrap -" means a scrap maximum per item).