About choosing whether to play on Steam

Discussion in 'New Player Welcome' started by Craig234, Aug 25, 2018.

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  1. Craig234

    Craig234 Avatar

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    Can someone clarify the pros and cons of playing on or off Steam? I don't mean the basic pros and cons of Steam for any game, but the issues specific to the choice for this game.

    Steam would be convenient but it has a warning that's unclear. I'd like the convenience since most of my games are on Steam, but I'd like to know what I'm giving up if I do that.
     
  2. Bambino

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    As far as I know, the main issue is that you will not be able to sell your account if it is tied to Steam. Other than that, I use Steam for convenience. However, you could be saving system resources by not using Steam.

    Also, I do believe there was some talk about downloading updates with one of them. I don't have any issues updating either way.
     
  3. Craig234

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    Interesting, so selling your account is allowed? It's not something I've done, but I guess the option has some value.
     
  4. Anpu

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    The patching process is way faster and more efficient with the stand alone installer than steam. I stopped using steam a long while ago because of that.
     
  5. majoria70

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    I have never played on steam. I've been here since 2013 before we got Steam which was a couple of years later I believe. Unfortunately I linked to steam when seeing the option thinking I needed to. I was wrong. I haven't ever had thoughts to sell out. I am rallying for many things to happen during the active development still happening on this young game.

    Monthly downloads have improved so much I believe for both the stand alone and steam. Steam achievements is something some mention and it tracks time played and maybe more.

    My dowlnoads are always so fast but I did get a new computer about a year and a half ago too and I play on an SSD. Darkstarr says we are getting an in game achievement system soon probably episode 2 when ever that is.

    Anyway I think it is up to you to decide. I am personally sorry for I linked to steam because of the account can't be sold easily now part as mentioned but most players I hear seem to like it for their own reasons.

    Welcome to the game. I'm Majoria in game if I can ever help. At least send me a friend request for a teleport contact since that is the main fast travel we have atm. I accept all friends requests. Happy adventuring to you.
     
    Last edited: Aug 25, 2018
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  6. Steevodeevo

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    Steam is fine, patching fine, playing beta and/or release fine. Technically Steam is fine.

    Steam will auto update games and you can take it with you, so, get a new computer, blank system, install Steam, log in, all your games there ready for you to reinstall, all your saves, for games that have saves, reinstated.

    Basically people use Steam quite happily unless they are 'anti Steam/Valve' at which point their advice is always, its broken.
     
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  7. nonaware

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    linking to steam really dosnt add anything.

    the only reason I did long ago was my internet speed was horrible pre fiber upgrade to my area and update speeds were much better. so as of now I would not link again.
     
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  8. CrandalltheFoole

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    I have one SotA Steam account.
    I did not like how Steam reads your computer information and uses it for marketing.
    My system, though good on SotA, did not like having Steam running in the background, as it used computer resources.
    I do not like how Steam resends and rebuilds the entire game for even simple patches.
    I am happy that SotA has a way to use the Steam account, without having to open Steam.
     
  9. MrBlight

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    From a technical point ( ive no idea) isnt this a Ports end to fix?
    I ask cause of my literally hundreds of steam games, SoTa was only one who seemed to full patch every. Single. Time.
     
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  10. Scanphor

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    Steam patches are many times larger than those using the launcher
     
  11. kaeshiva

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    I've found that even with the sometimes-larger patch size, steam dramatically reduced the amount of time I needed to update the game between releases. Using the regular launcher would take me hours vs. steam taking me minutes. I don't really use any of the steam 'features' or screenshot commands or anything, but I like the steam link for the convenience and faster patches. Its worth noting that if you have multiple accounts, even if the other accounts aren't linked to steam you can still use the steam client to log into those accounts as you still have the option to type in username/pw. So if you for whatever reason didn't want to link an account, you could still benefit from the convenience by linking an alt account.
     
  12. Arradin

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    Steam track playing hours and achivements and whatnot, aswell as being a social platform for gaming. It has Little to no drawbacks, so i have Always used Steam.
     
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  13. majoria70

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    Well unless the selling of an account is important. I mean one does not think of selling their account if just starting out, but I will always regret linking to steam even though I'm not selling my account any time soon that I know of. I have never missed playing on Steam. I just think players should know of this but if they are not buying anything other than the basic account with no properties or other things then it probably won't matter that much.
     
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  14. Elwyn

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    Well that's true in general now, but Steam policy means you can never truly unlink the game. Even if you deleted it from your Steam account, it could be restored again later and thus yoinked from whoever it got sold to.

    The only reasons are to have a play time counter, and "faster" updates. The major updates get downloaded before the regular patcher sees them, but those who know how to use bit torrent can get them the night before anyhow. The other patches are generally bigger, because for some reason the Steam patcher always downloads entire assets files instead of patching individual assets in the files.

    When SotA was new, the patcher had problems, but now there's not really a good reason to use Steam instead, unless your ISP has a problem with bit torrent.
     
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  15. Craig234

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    Thanks for the replies. If I don't use Steam and play now, can I add Steam later if I want and not lose any progress? In that case it seems safer to not use Steam yet.
     
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  16. liz_the_wiz

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    You can always link your account to steam later, but you cant undo it
     
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  17. Floors

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    You get achievements from Steam.

    It all depends on whether you think you'll want to sell your account, if it will be worth anything and if anyone wants to buy it.
     
  18. Craig234

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    Right - but if I do link to steam later it'll save the progress from pre-Steam?
     
  19. Anpu

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    Steam and the stand alone installer use the same account. They aren’t different accounts (characters).
     
  20. Steevodeevo

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    It took 8 minutes on my moderate Broadband and PC to DL and install R57 on Steam.
     
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