why are some cases so hot rn???

[jun]

After not trading for 3 years (or playing TF2 at all really), I came back to good ol' backpack.tf and found that my Quarantine Case and Gargoyle cases went up to 30+ ref in the last month alone. For someone who's been out of the loop for so long, what exactly is the reason for that, besides the fact that they don't drop any more. Why are those particular cases so HOT and highly demanded?

[hollowka]

they have effects that can't be obtained from other cases, like nebula from quarantine case.

they got desired unusuals that worth much, and worth trying to unbox(still a gamble)

[Slam]

They only appear to have gained a ton of value "very quickly" because they both have had outdated bp.tf prices for a while that were only recently updated.

 

The Quarantine Collection Case is high-value because of the fact that there's a lot of good things to get from it and an ever decreasing supply of the crates, since of course, they're retired. The weapon reskins, specifically their strange variants, still sell for quite a good amount, but mainly it's in two things: Corona Australis and Nebula. For example, Nebula Translators are still worth over 130 keys several years later with hundreds in existence. If you get a Unique Corona Australis, congrats, you just got more keys than you would have gotten from 75% of the 2nd and 3rd gen unusuals that exist. Strange? You just got more than most 1st gen unusuals and virtually all 2nd/3rd gens are worth. Unusual? You just got well over 350 keys no matter what effect it is, even the shittiest Invasion effects sell for well above that on Corona Australis's. That being said, the drop rate on said hat is so incredibly low that realistically it's not even worth unboxing the crates just for that if your goal is to make profit and not just to gamble. It's all the extras that make it possibly worth it to some people, the Nebula translators and the weapon reskins specifically.

 

The Gargoyle Cases are worth a good amount because, again, the supply is getting lower every day. I'm not entirely sure why it specifically is so high value though. The Catastrophic Companions that you can get from it might be the culprit with a similar story to the Corona Australius, except that it can't be unusual. Though, the unique and strange variants of the CC's are both worth twice as much as the Corona. You can still get 2016 effects from the case, but most people don't seem to care for the 2016 effects (Starstorms, Neutron, Tesla, though I personally love the starstorms.), Unless the wiki is wrong and you get 2015 effects from it, but the 2015 effects are universally considered mediocre/ugly and completely forgettable so that makes this case even less reasonable.

[HaloGAMER0329]

Valve didnt drop very many of those cases.

[Freak4ever2000™]

15 minutes ago, Mikers said:

They only appear to have gained a ton of value "very quickly" because they both have had outdated bp.tf prices for a while that were only recently updated.

 

The Quarantine Collection Case is high-value because of the fact that there's a lot of good things to get from it and an ever decreasing supply of the crates, since of course, they're retired. The weapon reskins, specifically their strange variants, still sell for quite a good amount, but mainly it's in two things: Corona Australis and Nebula. For example, Nebula Translators are still worth over 130 keys several years later with hundreds in existence. If you get a Unique Corona Australis, congrats, you just got more keys than you would have gotten from 75% of the 2nd and 3rd gen unusuals that exist. Strange? You just got more than most 1st gen unusuals and virtually all 2nd/3rd gens are worth. Unusual? You just got well over 350 keys no matter what effect it is, even the shittiest Invasion effects sell for well above that on Corona Australis's. That being said, the drop rate on said hat is so incredibly low that realistically it's not even worth unboxing the crates just for that if your goal is to make profit and not just to gamble. It's all the extras that make it possibly worth it to some people, the Nebula translators and the weapon reskins specifically.

 

The Gargoyle Cases are worth a good amount because, again, the supply is getting lower every day. I'm not entirely sure why it specifically is so high value though. The Catastrophic Companions that you can get from it might be the culprit with a similar story to the Corona Australius, except that it can't be unusual. Though, the unique and strange variants of the CC's are both worth twice as much as the Corona. You can still get 2016 effects from the case, but most people don't seem to care for the 2016 effects (Starstorms, Neutron, Tesla, though I personally love the starstorms.), Unless the wiki is wrong and you get 2015 effects from it, but the 2015 effects are universally considered mediocre/ugly and completely forgettable so that makes this case even less reasonable.

The gargoyle Case is so valueable because it has the prehitoric pullover in it. With all the halloween events either reintroducing old effects or introducing a new opportunity for a super rare all class hat on a cute mercenary all class hat that is still quite rare (shitty drop rate) many have high hopes to get something really damn good out of it, even tho its "only" mercenary grade. The little dino is also alot more popular then hats like the rotation sensation or similar.

[Scott Bakula]

Another thing not touched on: We had two limited-time effect events this holiday season. Whenever those events happen, people do buy up and open the older crates as well in the hopes of getting a new effect on an older hat (imagine getting a pyroland daydream balloonihoodie), and because the quantities are limited, the resulting unusuals would be rarer. And each time one of those events happen, the available pool is smaller and smaller.