How I feel about the current State of TF2's economy.

[cube]

No clue if this is the correct spot but it is discussion about the TF2 Economy. I've been playing TF2 I believe since it became F2P. I remember how fresh the game felt and how the whole big thing was getting your first hat as that was basically what everyone sought after. Then I began to want to get an unusual, like everyone else out there. When I was trading, keys were 4.22 refined and buds were I believe 32 keys, crazy huh? It's not like I'm any market expert as my run in the tf2 market ended after getting 200 keys pure NMS and then unfortunately gambling most of that away.

 

I decided to check up on the community and market as it brings back nostalgia and such, and when I last left tf2 keys were at about 20 ref. Funny story is I remember someone posting on tf2outpost a key and asking for 20 ref saying they would eventually hit it and everyone thought he was crazy, well he was not. It's been 3 years since I stopped trading and keys are at I believe 35.11 ref now. That is actually insane, and buds are at 1.65 keys! Although when I stopped trading they crashed down. I just really want to know, what happened? How did we let the market get this bad? What happened to being able to save up weapons and buying a key/decent hat with refined metal and not having to spend so much time. 35 ref is a lot of weapons. Trading up is nearly impossible and the economy is very bad right now from a profitable standpoint, which is why the economy is "considered" dead and there isn't as much trading going on as there was in 2013.

 

It just pains me to see this happen, I remember the excitement of going on severs and showing off your unusual you just got off a trade after spending so much time trying to get it. There was no reason to spend a lot of money on the game to invest, and even then, investing was profitable and fun! The entire game just felt so great and so alive. After coming back I've seen that most of the servers I used to go on and communities have completely died out, and a lot of the trading has died out as well, leaving you with what appears to be a bit of an "empty" game. While there is still activity, I still think the economy is a bit out of hand. I just wish there was a way to magically snap your fingers and revert the game back to the way it was. I do not believe 1 key should = nearly 35 hats. Unfortunately I believe that it may be too late and that keys will just continue to inflate, it really is a shame to watch one of my favorite games turn into this.

How about any of you though, do you feel like the market has gone a bit out of hand? I think it may be at that point where we need to reflect on the old market and see if maybe, just maybe, keys will drop down once again.

 

I just want to leave this threat open for any opinions or discussion, I think this is an interesting topic as I'm sure many of us miss how things used to be and then there are people that do not miss it as all. It just seems like the entire key situation is out of hand and everyone is standing by allowing the price to inflate.

[Kimika-chan]

Bots have pretty much taken over the low tier trading market. 

Keys are going up because nobody wants refined because it has little to no use.

Refined metal also keeps getting generated. There's an endless supply.

 

I feel that the unusual trading market scene is still existent but not as much as it used to be.People probably still show off hats on trading server but quite frankly I never seem to get good offers on trade servers anyways because nobody really wants your hat. They just want profit. Usually someone will come on along and buy your hat eventually and they will add you from trading sites.

 

I think the TF2 community is still alive. Definitely not as strong as it used to be but still alive and decently strong.

 

 

 

 

[INF SnooppDogge I trade.tf]

I hate to see people say "omg trading is dead* the fact remains that any currency that has an infinite source ie refined will always inflate in value until you decirculate it out of the market. And for trading up means it is very possible. I was banned on bptf and still traded up from 5 keys of random shit items to about 60 keys in unusuals "taking me about 1 month" for newer traders I would say it's the bots that hurt the most, but if there's a will there's a way

[Scott Bakula]

4 hours ago, cube said:

It just seems like the entire key situation is out of hand and everyone is standing by allowing the price to inflate.

Keys are not inflating, as they are still worth the same dollar amount as they were years ago. It's metal that's deflating in value. There is nothing that can be done on the player's end that can stop this. Even convincing people to delete 1,000,000 refined from their inventories will not make a dent in metal's overabundance. The only way for the value of metal to go up is for Valve to introduce an effective metal sink, which they have little to no incentive to do.

[Adolf Storms]

This seems like another one of those 'back-in-the-day' posts :S

 

Let me premise my statement with some background... I have been around for too long as well. 4th account cuz the last 3 were lost to hackers. I believe this account is 3 years old. Prior to this account I traded very little in comparison. In the last 3 years however I have been a head admin, mod, server owner and junior admin on several trade servers and community servers so I believe I am fairly in-the-loop. Anyways.... YES trading has changed. YES keys are 36 refined. As these subjects have kinda been done to death I'll skip the common stuff and get right to the state-of-the-economy part   ... Trading is vibrant but in a much wider aspect than ever before. You can't compare yesteryear to the present. As with any healthy economy TF2 economy has evolved and expanded into a wider variety of trade platforms (ie. bots/non-steam trade sites) .  Instead of having to wait a day or days for your offer to get accepted from your trade offer you placed off a classified ad there are insta-bots. Instant trading. Bot trading. Which actually has helped keep the supply and demand at a more constant level than before. Some of my friends were pioneers in the bot-revolution and in fact I quite openly opposed bots when they came on the scene. I quite openly butted heads with those friends over bot-trading. But, pricing doesn't vary as much from Monday to Saturday now anyways which is good lol So all-in-all I believe trade is healthy. A lot of fresh players to replace the old ones that left. Very good daily player base numbers. Game is being supported still after all this time and updates continue to drop and patches are made which keep the gamers playing. Gamers playing keeps demand for items. Excellent. 

 

Now... the reason a lot of players who say that 'trading is dead / dying' say that ... They can't go from scrap to unusual in a day. or a week. or maybe even a month. or 6 months. These statements have nothing to do with the health of trading, but rather their ability to get rich on the backs of those who aren't as smart or savvy. But that's a whole other subject  There hasn't ever been an item I wanted that I couldn't grab from a bot, scm, or hop onto a trade server and get in the last 2 years. It certainly is more convenient. Is there still profits to be made? Sure. Depends on your dedication. Is the reason you play TF2 solely to trade? Not for me. Just love the game. Is trading a nice sub-game? Yes. Is it healthy still? Yes. Will it be for years to come? .. Well that depends all on Valve and their support, but if things continue as they are TF2 has a lot more life in her for years to come.

[Vrakos Anthrakir]

well someone already mentioned the metal deflating thing, but as for buds, they're just not useful for anything other than their cosmetic value, and there are a lot of buds...

 

this thread topic comes up VERY often though...

[cube]

Interesting that this topic comes up a lot, and I see your points @everyone I made this to mainly hear the opinion of those who have been more involved than I have in the past couple of years. I never thought about the refined metal being the main issue but I see your points.

 

Glad I could get responses out of those who are a little more "educated" on the topic, it's been a topic I've wanted to talk about and seeing different viewpoints interests me.