Regarding Level 1/7 Max Heads

[100 Degrees Leather Jacket]

So apparently people don't like level 1 and level 7 Max Heads because, as I've heard, there's dupes of them. If you look at the Max in stats.tf (http://stats.tf/item/162/Max%27s_Severed_Head) you'll see that, for some reason, there are far more level 1 Max's than other levels. However, I am 99% sure that stats.tf does not count duplicated items. Could the massively duped Max's be nothing more than an urban myth? If someone knows the facts regarding this, I'd really like to know.

[Julia]

I believe all their histories were reset by Valve to make each their own original item.

[100 Degrees Leather Jacket]

I believe all their histories were reset by Valve to make each their own original item.

I am pretty sure that's not how Item ID's work. And that wouldn't explain the regular number of level 7's. A similar thing to the Max Heads appears to happen with the Horsemann's Headtaker, there's a lot more level 5's than any other level by a lot. (http://stats.tf/item/266/The_Horseless_Headless_Horsemann%27s_Headtaker)

[Le Purple Chakra]

I have always wondered about that. Anyone care to explain the myth?

[Distinctively Vincent]

I have always wondered about that. Anyone care to explain the myth?

 

There have been a couple of duping exploits in the past, and a level 1/7 Max Head had been involved in each. There was most definitely a short term impact on them while the dupers quicksold in their rush to turn them into paypal before Steam acted. The impact of those dupes today is negligible compared to the numbers of randomly leveled dupes spat out by steam support on a regular basis. So, essentially, they were duped, but not to the degree one would assume given the hostility against the levels. The trader's attitude towards the levels have long outlasted the impact of the dupes on the market.

 

As far as the large quantities of level 1 goes. That would indeed be unrelated to the duping. In the beginning, all Max Heads were randomly leveled. Same goes for the Lumbricus Lid. There were two events that resulted in a higher number of certain levels of each.

 

1. A random Valve-side glitch. Shortly into trading, there was a day where a random handful of traders briefly lost their promos. When they were returned, some were returned at a different level. Max Heads at level 1, Lumbricus Lids at level 10. If you look at the stats for the Lids, you'll see that there's a significantly larger number of level 10 than there are the other random levels. However, the proportion of level 1 Max Heads against random level far exceeds that of level 10 Lumbricus Lid against random level, and that leads into number 2.

 

2. This one's hearsay, but from what I heard: The Sam & Max pre-order codes continued to generate the promo items, and the date after the glitch I discussed in 1, all Max Heads generated from those codes were uniformly level 1. Apparently some people discovered the codes would still produce the promos and worked at breaking the code so that they could get promos from the unused pre-order keys that still existed in the system. I don't have proof of this one, but it would explain the immense number of level 1s relative to the rest of the levels and the sudden collapse of the Max Head from 6 buds to 2-3 buds earlier on in trading.

[AwesomeMcCoolName]

I am pretty sure that's not how Item ID's work. And that wouldn't explain the regular number of level 7's. A similar thing to the Max Heads appears to happen with the Horsemann's Headtaker, there's a lot more level 5's than any other level by a lot. (http://stats.tf/item/266/The_Horseless_Headless_Horsemann%27s_Headtaker)

Back when duping first came into full swing Valve actually would restore item IDs to make them no longer duped.