Steam changes - Steam bundles will be cheaper if you own some of the games

[Sundance Kid V2]

Linky

There's a big shake-up coming to how Steam's bundle purchases work, giving them dynamic pricing. In official documentation given to developers and received by PCGN, Valve have outlined a redesign of Steam bundles so that they automatically give buyers that already own some of the products within a discount. This scales based on the number of products, and is already available on some bundles in the wild, though remains officially unannounced. This also has the knock-on effect of making sure that bundles are properly discounted when their components are on timed sales.

Good stuff!!

[Darkz0r]

Great stuff, finally!!

[General Lee]

I approve of this, but the recent increase in trade and community market restrictions are pissing me off. Now they are introducing holds on items being sold on the market if you don't jump through all the hoops they had set up just for trading.

In some ways, Valve are moving in the right direction WRT their customers, such as this and refunds, but they are going to far trying to "protect" customers' accounts.

[Meteor_of_War]

Steam trade holds are a non issue, IMO. People need to just start using the Steam Guard mobile authenticator and this wont be a problem. They should be using it anyways for better security.

I know there are some situations where they can't though, like having a Windows phone. But most people have no excuse. It kills me how many people on my friends list give me the trade hold prompt. Makes it very frustrating to make a trade.

As to the thread topic, good stuff.

[Dwarden]

GOG as competition helps with better service in STEAM

btw. I really wish STEAM Guard had SMS service next to the 'mobile auth app'

[bittermann]

This seems like a really good idea. Hope it works out as good as it sounds.

[theshadowcult]

Originally Posted by Dwarden

GOG as completion helps with better service in STEAM

What do you mean by that?

[Dwarden]

Originally Posted by theshadowcult

What do you mean by that?

competition means there is innovation ...

if one service does something better or really well, the other one must react

[ThirdEye]

completion means it's time to throw the tissue in the toilet.

[General Lee]

Originally Posted by Meteor_of_War

Steam trade holds are a non issue, IMO. People need to just start using the Steam Guard mobile authenticator and this wont be a problem. They should be using it anyways for better security.

I know there are some situations where they can't though, like having a Windows phone. But most people have no excuse. It kills me how many people on my friends list give me the trade hold prompt. Makes it very frustrating to make a trade.

As to the thread topic, good stuff.

Trade holds are one thing, but now they are doing the same thing to the market, only instead of a three days, your transactions may be put on hold for up to 15 days. I can understand the need for security, but with all the restrictions they have come up with, they make it pretty much impossible, or at least impractical, to trade or use the Community Market if you don't use the Authenticator App. If you use a Windows phone, you are SOL.

Basically, someone who has to wait 15 days will try to sell something when it's actually worth something, but by the time the transaction is completed, the item is only worth pennies. Steam Guard was a good idea, and I can see the use in short-term holds, but there are still many things that can cause a fully legit user with both Steam Guard enabled and the Authenticator App to have their account assets frozen. Even wiping cookies from your browser can cause this. It's getting ridiculous.

As for this newest idea of making bundles cheaper if you own some of the games in the bundle, I think it's almost as brilliant as refunds. We should have had refunds long ago, as well this, but late is better than never. I've heard that there were some issues with refunds, such as people buying an indie game and completing it before the two-hour mark, and then refunding it, but I don't see any foreseeable problems with this new approach to bundles.

[theshadowcult]

Originally Posted by Dwarden

competition means there is innovation ...

if one service does something better or really well, the other one must react

Originally Posted by ThirdEye

completion means it's time to throw the tissue in the toilet.

Oh, you meant to say competition. That makes way more sense

[Brainstew]

I thought it already worked like this? Shows what I know.