Steam is the RTW2 deal-breaker - here is why

[Greve Af Göteborg]

We've been through hundreds of these threads (most of them going on for a vast amount of pages before getting buried)
Steam will stay, they offer too many benefits for CA and the consumer base to warrant a change.

I know that you'll probably come with some arguments against me, but I'm not going to respond to any of them because I don't want to get tangled into another pointless multi-paged thread about why and why not steam is "ethically wrong".

[DeliCiousTZM]

Maybe you guys are stuck in 2007,Steam 2013 is a great thing. There would be a big problem tho if Rome II weren't steam enabled. Patching,mod workshop and download clients to name a few.

I do have to call you out tho KP. I mean if you don't have steam installed and haven't experienced Empire/Napoleon/Shogun2 i feel like your opinion is extremely biased and based more upon paranoia from the past rather than recent experience.

[King Philip II]

Maybe you guys are stuck in 2007,Steam 2013 is a great thing. There would be a big problem tho if Rome II weren't steam enabled. Patching,mod workshop and download clients to name a few.

I do have to call you out tho KP. I mean if you don't have steam installed and haven't experienced Empire/Napoleon/Shogun2 i feel like your opinion is extremely biased and based more upon paranoia from the past rather than recent experience.

I have actually explained this, but it was in another thread. I bought two TW games (Alex and NTW) on Steam in another country. Do not have access to email address, so no access to products I have paid for with hard-earned $. My Sid Meiers Railroads is also lost in the "Steam", this I'm really annoyed about actually

[wozzar]

I have actually explained this, but it was in another thread. I bought two TW games (Alex and NTW) on Steam in another country. Do not have access to email address, so no access to products I have paid for with hard-earned $. My Sid Meiers Railroads is also lost in the "Steam", this I'm really annoyed about actually

Have you tried to file a compliant with a consumer protection agency or the DOJ if you are in the US.

[ISG01]

I have actually explained this, but it was in another thread. I bought two TW games (Alex and NTW) on Steam in another country. Do not have access to email address, so no access to products I have paid for with hard-earned $. My Sid Meiers Railroads is also lost in the "Steam", this I'm really annoyed about actually

I am sorry, but losing access to an email address is your own fault really :-) . If the account is dormant, and you can prove its yours, sending an email to Steam Support might get you the account back though.

[CheesyFreak]

I have actually explained this, but it was in another thread. I bought two TW games (Alex and NTW) on Steam in another country. Do not have access to email address, so no access to products I have paid for with hard-earned $. My Sid Meiers Railroads is also lost in the "Steam", this I'm really annoyed about actually

its not steam's vault you lost your email, go to customer support and maybe they can help you.

[Birk]

I have actually explained this, but it was in another thread. I bought two TW games (Alex and NTW) on Steam in another country. Do not have access to email address, so no access to products I have paid for with hard-earned $. My Sid Meiers Railroads is also lost in the "Steam", this I'm really annoyed about actually

Thats your own fault, if i lose the CDkey to my games i won't be able to play those game neither... And you don't need access to you're email to log on Steam.

[Tim_Ward]

If you don't intend to purchase Rome 2, why do you continue to post in this forum?

[eXistenZ]

If you don't intend to purchase Rome 2, why do you continue to post in this forum?

exactly,im really sick of seeing this topics. Someone is not gonna buy a game. Good for him, couldnt care less.

[wozzar]

exactly,im really sick of seeing this topics. Someone is not gonna buy a game. Good for him, couldnt care less.

Don't read it then it is quite simple. Everyone has a right to voice a opinion. You maybe sick of these threads but like i said don't read them if you have a problem with others expressing there opinions.

[Tim_Ward]

Don't read it then it is quite simple. Everyone has a right to voice a opinion. You maybe sick of these threads but like i said don't read them if you have a problem with others expressing there opinions.

It's not really an opinion, but rather a statement by the OP about his own personal preferences: "I don't like to give companies an after-sales backdoor into my wallet, I don't want a storefront on my desktop, I do not support unethical companies like Valve (they sell email addresses to 3rd party direct marketing brokers), I don't want to have to be connected to the net". Well, fair enough, those are all his preferences and it's his choice whether or not he wants to buy Rome 2. But why on earth he thinks anyone else should care is beyond me.

[eXistenZ]

It's not really an opinion, but rather a statement by the OP about his own personal preferences: "I don't like to give companies an after-sales backdoor into my wallet, I don't want a storefront on my desktop, I do not support unethical companies like Valve (they sell email addresses to 3rd party direct marketing brokers), I don't want to have to be connected to the net". Well, fair enough, those are all his preferences and it's his choice whether or not he wants to buy Rome 2. But why on earth he thinks anyone else should care is beyond me.

exactly. if i started a thread for every thing i didnt buy, ill be banned for being a spammer.

Also its hard to not read it when every usefull topic is surrounded by this garbage

[Tim_Ward]

Of course it's my own fault. I can't even remember the username and I have tried to contact Steam in the UK. No cigar, since I can't prove that the email was mine. In fact, they didin't even want to look into it.

I broke my Rome 1 CDs and also couldn't access the product I paid good money for. Also my fault. If they'd have Steam back then, breaking the disc wouldn't have mattered. Works both ways. Sometimes you do something stupid and have to repurchase something, it's not really the fault of the medium you used to buy whatever it was.

[Captain Arrrgh!]

-I've never experienced issues with data mining to third parties and unwanted adds appearing in my inbox.
-It's faster, with less problems, and frequently cheaper getting a game off Steam rather than having to drive down to EB and deal with lines and annoying, rude pimply faced dweebs trying to upsell you with 'scratched cd' insurance.
-You scratch a CD or loose it, Steam will still install a game you not played in awhile. I've uninstalled Empire several times and reinstalled it without having to use my CD.
-Access to great indy games that we'd otherwise never see (Organ Trail, FTW!!!)
-A LOT better than other scumbag setups like Origin and Rockstar Social Club.

There are cons, however.
- Frequently there's issues with trying to run games off Steam if they're already under the ownership of the aformentioned scumbag setups, such as Origin. Getting SC:Conviction to run was like pulling teeth, and with any Funcom games you still have to log in to their own systems as well. I couldn't even get GTA IV to work, even though I paid for it, with zero help from either Steam or Rockstar, so eventually had to download a crack for my legally purchased game.
-For all the benifits that Steam provides I wish devs, including YOU, CA, would stop feeding us that BS line about curbing piracy. It does nothing to stop piracy, which is, in fact on the rise. It helps fatten your wallet, CA, and that of your overlord, SEGA. So stop with the BS.

[Kenios]

So what does the OP propose? That we go back to the days of Medieval 2? Searching for the discs if I want to play, not knowing when the next patch is coming out? Do I have to download 1.1, install it, then get 1.2? Or is everything bundled in 1.3? I sure wouldn't want to go back to those days. Recently I thought to play Medieval 2 again. I open up my casing and it was infested by ants. The CD is no longer usable. Without naming an alternative to Steam, and showing that such an alternative offers comparable advantages to both Creative Assembly and customers, complaining about Steam is pointless.

[King Philip II]

So what does the OP propose? That we go back to the days of Medieval 2? Searching for the discs if I want to play, not knowing when the next patch is coming out? Do I have to download 1.1, install it, then get 1.2? Or is everything bundled in 1.3? I sure wouldn't want to go back to those days. Recently I thought to play Medieval 2 again. I open up my casing and it was infested by ants. The CD is no longer usable. Without naming an alternative to Steam, and showing that such an alternative offers comparable advantages to both Creative Assembly and customers, complaining about Steam is pointless.

A reasonable proposal would be to give us the option to buy RTW2 without Steam support (and make the Modding Tools available without the need to use Steam Workshop).

[The Teutonic]

A reasonable proposal would be to give us the option to buy RTW2 without Steam support (and make the Modding Tools available without the need to use Steam Workshop).

How would you go about updating the game then? Downloading DLC?

I don't see the big fuss in people not wanting steam, everything is there and its supported. You have great deals, special Total War offers and a great user-friendly interface.

[LaLaLand]

Steam is the TWR2 deal-breaker for me. In the recent Poll here ONE THIRD of the responders voted for non-Steam.

Here are my reasons for voting for non-Steam:

1) I don't like to give companies an after-sales backdoor into my wallet
2) I don't want a storefront on my desktop
3) I do not support unethical companies like Valve (they sell email addresses to 3rd party direct marketing brokers)
4) I don't want to have to be connected to the net
5) I don't trust their security (http://arstechnica.com/security/2012...alicious-code/)
6) I don't want anything running in the "background" potentially collecting my usage information with the intend to sell it to internet marketing brokers
7) I really don't want to give the founder a single penny, same reason I don't watch Tom Cruise movies.

It must be a considerable business risk for CA to have such a close partnership with $team. What if they have to close down shop due to, for example, a law suit? Valve Sued by German consumer group

/KP

Sucks to be you.

Also, for all your incoherent rants around this site, including personally offending a developer, I don't believe for a second that you are not going to buy R2 at release.

[Stavroforos]

I like Steam, and I don't mind being part of the 21st Century.

[Anna_Gein]

you mean they are going to sell a non steam version on one of the most piracy heavy countries in the world? We only have console stores here, software? get directly from publisher.

and drm doesnt work, not even steam is 100% secure, doesnt mean that while it doesnt work that it wont be enforced. And dont say witcher.

while one doesnt preclude the existence of the other, it adds unnecessary costs to the whole process, and dont say we can do without drm, thats not going to happen as well.

If I cannot say Witcher then I am going to say Paradox and Crusader Kings 2.

CA don't need to sell a retail version in your country if it is that much improbable. But a game sold at Steam does not necessary need Steam to run. since my life surely doesn't interested you I going to offer you the short story : I bought CK2 and all its DLC except the Aztec stuff during a steam sale for around 32 euros if I am not mistaken. If anything my version of the CK2 should be more "steam" than my version retail version of Shogun 2, so to speak. Yet I can run CK2 without using Steam while I need to use Steam in order to play S2.

All paragrapher to say that a game sold on Steam doesn't have to require the use of Steam to play once the game have been installed on your computer. In fact one single installation is enough since you can then copy the files on an external hard disk. I only have to connect on Steam from times to times in order to download patch.

When I tried to do the same with S2 I received a message telling me I attempted to launch a pirated version. WTF ?

Despite what some people in this thread would like you to think, there isn't so much difference between a "steam version" and a "non-steam version". The intrusive publicity in the main menu of your game are not part of its .exe.

I like Steam, and I don't mind being part of the 21st Century.

You need to use or appreciate the use of Steam in order to be part of the 21st Century ? What an archaic mindset. The Myth of Progress doesn't belong to the 20th Century. And so even less to the 21st Century.

The other question that comes to mind is how he thinks he's in a position to judge a company's behavior as "unethical" when he's clearly giving up any moral high ground by pirating.

Since the conditions of use of Steam are completely illegal in a lot of countries we would be better to leave morality outside of this discussion and simply respect TWC ToS.