Counter-Strike: Source Market - Weapon Pricing

-smash-

-smash-

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Oh, boy. This news has stirred up the hive that is the Counter-Strike community. A sort of stock market algorithm has been put in place as the new weapons pricing system for Counter-Strike: Source.[br]Basically, every Monday, starting October 11, the prices of all weapons will dynamically change based on the number of people who purchased the selected weapon the previous week. Say a majority of players buy the M4A1 a numerous number of times. Next week, the price of the M4A1 will be raised by a certain percentage based on the statistics of purchases versus players. Here's Valve's interpretation:
Gather player purchase data. Each week, the total number of weapons purchased world-wide since the previous week's change is counted. The purchase data is gathered directly from game servers. Every 24 hours, game servers upload a file to Steam listing the quantities of all items purchased over the course of the previous day.[br]Slice up the Money Pie. The new price for each weapon is based on the total amount of money spent on that weapon. The percentage of money spent on each weapon during the week is used to determine the percentage by which its price moves the next week. So if 10% of all dollars world-wide are spent on the Maverick M4A1 Carbine, then its price will increase by 10%.
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So there you have it... Valve has set up a projected weapons price page which can be found here.[br]<font size=4>Update:</font> This new pricing system will be toggable. So if you choose to run a server that will keep the same pricing the weapons are at now (default), then they will stay that way forever, so long as you have this CVAR setting:[br]"mp_dynamicpricing" "0"[br]Obviously, to enable the algorithm for your server, you would set said CVAR to "1".
 
Tis seems very interesting. I'm not going to bitch untill I try it. Although, it seems like it could be very cool.

(here comes the "VALVE U SUK" posts)
 
That sounds awesome! nice work valve, very innovative :D
 
This is great. Now we won't see all those bastards sticking to one weapon... on Monday. :(

Ah well! I'll just play on Monday then.
 
I think this is a cool idea. Really cant wait and see how it works.
 
My poor poor deagle
why oh why must your price soar
I cannot afford you first round anymore
my poor poor deagle
 
Now I won't be buying my AK unless I'm on one of those 16k servers. Probably mix it up with TMP, M3 and MP5.
I like the idea though. People will try different weapons instead of only using their best weapon.
nutcrackr said:
My poor poor deagle
why oh why must your price soar
I cannot afford you first round anymore
my poor poor deagle
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haha nice
Probably the same thoughts my friend will be thinking.
 
Lots of people apparently bitching about it on the steam forum. Oh wait don't they do it for every update? Salty rivers run in that place.
 
CookieCuttah said:
Lots of people apparently bitching about it on the steam forum. Oh wait don't they do it for every update? Salty rivers run in that place.
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Yeah, I seriously want to get smash's account from him and ban some people there, too much stupid and not enough removing. Smash you guys are just too nice over there, you and Zips just need to start removing most of them. ;)
 
DiSTuRbEd said:
Yeah, I seriously want to get smash's account from him and ban some people there, too much stupid and not enough removing. Smash you guys are just too nice over there, you and Zips just need to start removing most of them. ;)
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It's a ****in nightmare... Let me tell you...
 
Wow. This is going to be a royal smackdown against money-based clan strategies.

[edit] Oh..... SHIT. The AWP is going DOWN in price.
 
nutcrackr said:
My poor poor deagle
why oh why must your price soar
I cannot afford you first round anymore
my poor poor deagle
Click to expand...


Valve said:
note about pistols. The purchasable items are split into two seperate groups: pistols, and everything else. This is an artificial segmentation of the economy designed to preserve Counter-Strike's "pistol round" -- the early period during which players can not yet afford the game's more powerful weapons. (If the pistols were included in the larger pool of prices, they would often become too expensive to afford during the beginning of a match.) Pistols are also given to players for "free" at the start of each round, which would artificially affect the economy.
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lolz
 
bigburpco said:
You mean... you can't? :(

:LOL:
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Technically I could, but it wouldn't be moral - And Valve has this thing with paying customers... They have this whole "they're our bread and butter" thing... :p
 
Smash, open a suggestion up to VALVe to hire you guys to just sit on your computers and watch over the forums, a nice $10-15/hr job I could see. :p

Oh and thanks for removing Ryu, little bastard he was.

EDIT: Oh shit all the "elite" CS:S players are coming out of the wood work, ironically most of them all get banned, LOLOL
 
Seem really unnecessary. Just balance the freaking guns.
 
-smash- said:
Many complained about weapon balance. This fixes that issue in a big way.
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True. But on the other hand, lots of people complain about "hackers" because they are unskilled at counter-strike :) . I hope the new additions provide a cool new twist, but we shall see. I personally prefer the AK/deagle because they are accurate (AK is near 100% accurate first shot). If you can aim properly, you want a gun that shoots with near 100% accuracy on the first shot. But maybe that's their point and they want to give noobs a chance, who knows.
 
Oh yeah, another thing: Monday when? As in, GMT+/- how much? And what time does it start?
 
bigburpco said:
This is great. Now we won't see all those bastards sticking to one weapon... on Monday. :(

Ah well! I'll just play on Monday then.
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Er, no, this update isn't just for Mondays, it means that every monday the prices will be updated and remain that way for the rest of the week, until next Monday when they are updated again. :)

This is by far the coolest thing Valve has ever done to Source. It's going to put so much more life back into the game for me and many others, I can't even comprehend it. We're going to see more of the guns people never use, it's going to be awesome.

This is genius, Valve, you rock.
 
This is stupid. It kills competitive gaming because no one will buy the cheaper guns. An M4 at 6,000 dollars is still orders of magnitude better than a FAMAS at 2,000. It's a simple fact. The less used guns are less used because they are bad, not because they are expensive. Only newbies and people who want to **** around will use the other guns. The rest of us will still use the M4, AK47 and AWP, because they are the most effective. This change will just slow the game down, skew the game towards the Ts even more (CTs already have a tough time outfitting themselves fully compared to Ts) and just muck everything up more than it needs to be.

The reason the M4 and AK47 are used the most are because they are the best guns in the game. Price has little to do with it. This entire update reeks of unnecessary change and idiocy. The pricing scheme assumes all guns are equal, but they aren't. A TMP is garbage, no matter what it's price is. The AK47 and M4 will always remain the most bought rifles, regardless of reasonable pricing. SMGs are garbage, and always will be. They are too inaccurate to use long distance and deal too little damage up close (takes 3 hits to the head w/ helmet at least, or 6-8 in the chest). They are only good vs unarmored foes, but so are the rifles. SMGs offer no advantage whatsoever over rifles.

Frankly, CSS did not need this update at all. The guns were balanced. The pricing scheme worked. Now, you can't even buy a deagle on a save round, because it's high price precludes it's use. The whole point of a save round is saving your money for the next round. A deagle at 900 bucks is just too expensive to do that. And the pistol prices won't mean a thing, simply because those pistols are garbage. CTs already start with the best or second best (depending on your viewpoint) pistol in the game. No one buys the glock because it's bad, not because it's too expensive. Making it free won't make the glock more used.

I've supported source since it went public beta in 2004. I like it a lot and I've played in leagues since they supported it. However, a change like this is just unnecessary and extremely flawed. It is extremely detrimental to the competitive arena. Public servers are already newbie-friendly; 25% of pub servers have the AWP disabled or restricted, and 20% of all server have 16k start money. For the vast majority of pubbers, this change will have little to no effect. It's the competitive players who hurt from this change. The lesser guns will remain less used, regardless of price. I can't see myself using a FAMAS at 1,800 while the M4 is at 4,500. The M4 is just that good. Nor can I see myself using the galil at 1,800 while the AK is at 3,000. Again, the AK is better in every way, even at that price differential. Most competitive people would agree. The whole economy of save rounds goes out of whack as well. It will be much harder than it already is to win a save round. Deagles are too expensive to buy on a save round at 900 bucks. Stuck with USPs or glocks vs automatic weapons? No thanks. It also gives a HUGE momentum bonus to those winning rounds. The effective guns, like AWP, M4, and AK47 will cost more money, meaning less money to go around for nades, flashes, smokes, and armor. Buying the less effective guns is akin to gambling. They are simply not consistent enough to use in a match. I can say with near certainity that losing the first 4 rounds in a match (pistol, two saves, gun round) will be a death knell for the half. The losing team will be way too money-****ed to do anything for another round at least, maybe even two if prices go high enough. Competitive CS:S will turn into a joke. Instead of having 8 or 9 gun rounds (both sides have full equipment), we'll see maybe 3 or 4 gun rounds with many more save rounds.

Unless there is a cvar restricting this new pricing model, I really don't see the competitive Source scene surviving. It's already struggling hard today. CEVO-A only has about 100 teams active and CAL-O has 300 active teams by the second week. Trust me, that's not a very large amount. Additionally, Source has far fewer LANs than 1.6. Competitive Source needs help not deterance. Changes like these will only fuel the exodus away from source. I, myself, definitely won't compete with an update like this affecting my team.
 
Some notes -

-only 3 items have gone up in price, and they have only gone up a few $100. BIG ****ING DEAL.

-Most of the time I'm playing, I'm winning, so I have $16,000. So then, what the **** do I care about prices? $300 is nothing.

-People keep saying this is making the game easier for 'noobs'. If you say that, format your computer. How is making better guns harder to get for shittier players better for them? If you're not that good at the game, you'll have less money, thus you'll get the cheaper ("crappier") guns. The people that do good get the better guns.

-This won't change much. People are thinking guns will now be $10,000... No, they won't.
 
0mar said:
This is stupid. It kills competitive gaming because no one will buy the cheaper guns. An M4 at 6,000 dollars is still orders of magnitude better than a FAMAS at 2,000. It's a simple fact. The less used guns are less used because they are bad, not because they are expensive. Only newbies and people who want to **** around will use the other guns. The rest of us will still use the M4, AK47 and AWP, because they are the most effective. This change will just slow the game down, skew the game towards the Ts even more (CTs already have a tough time outfitting themselves fully compared to Ts) and just muck everything up more than it needs to be.
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You make a lot of good points. I'll be willing to buy an AK or M4 even if they cost as much as an AWP over a MP5 or similar gun. 1 shot kill is a lot better than spraying and will save my neck so I can fight the next guy with a lot of bullets still in my clip. A lot of guns don't have that advantage. Plus being good at short and long range with power.

I'm not calling the update bad though. I like the idea, it just might not be as effective as they hope.

Although I have to disagree with the TMP. It rocks (up close and around corners)...as long as you are moving. I can't hit anything with it if I'm standing still but if I run and aim I get HS with just a few bullets just as easy as with the AK and 1 well placed bullet. And I'm harder to hit since I'm moving.But there are some truely terrible guns for a lot of situations and that is why the AK and M4 are the most popular.
 
if there are people who dont like this rule, just play on a sever that gives you $16,000 a round
 
Revisedsoul said:
if there are people who dont like this rule, just play on a sever that gives you $16,000 a round
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And that fixes the "issue" (assuming you see an issue) how? The people that dont like it probably dont want both teams to be able to afford an awp EVERY round.

personally I am against this. The reason I am is every map and indeed every round is geared towards certain gameplay strategies. If 90% of people are playing predomintly on one map then the guns geared for that map will go up and throw out balancing on other maps. 90% is an exageration but if most people are sticking to rifle oriented maps then that one type of gun will go up where the close range guns will all drop.

Secondly not all games or indeed servers play the same. I dont see why gameplay on one server by a completly different class of people should be effecting the gameplay of another group of people.

Lastly how is changing the price of guns dynamically really "balancing" them at all? In the long run it could just result in certain guns being made less affordable as their price creeps up and they will just rise and drop every other week. I mean, yeah the desert eagle may be a good gun but I dont think it needs a price rise because alot of people like to use it as a secondary. Considering you cant have two machine guns, only a primary and a pistol I really wouldnt be suprised to see certain sub machine guns costing less than a desert eagle with time seeing as an eagle will still be a go-to-weapon and certain sub machine guns will continue to not be used. That does depend on how much they allow for price fluctuations though.

My oppinion, and I will certainly live with the new system, I'd rather they just balanced it if thats whats needed. I think its fine as it is. But yeah, wont stop me playing.
 
I like the idea and personally I don't see the changes being that drastic. At this stage the changes aren't that great and they've probably been collecting data for a while. AK and M4 are hardly any more expensive. The only weapon that has been drastically changed in price is the deagle, which will effect 1st round in every match and lots of other cases. But we all know the deagle is a damn good weapon, that's why just about everybody uses it.
 
This is great. It's also slightly worrying to see how many here don't understand the consequences of supply and demand.
 
Omar has some good points. Doesn't really affect me though, I'm so l33t I'm always $16k maxed. My bank actually called today, it seems that I have too much money.
 
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