For those who don't have Medieval II or kingdoms yet.

[Bucefalo]

why? I can't find a CD, and I alrady got it from there. it works just fine, and no viruses.

Well honestly it is because i dislike Steam, but maybe other people don´t mind it. My comment was more for those who have no idea what Steam is, to think twice before quickly buying it cheaper online, because steam also have many shortcomings and you may later regret it. A few examples are: you need to download your game each time you reinstall (for me that is 1 day downloading), you need internet connection to play (the offline mode is not what it says), you will have more problems installing mods and other tweaks on your game, you can´t choose which patch of the game you want to play, you will be having pop ups of ads of other games each time you want to play etc. The only real advantage is the steam chat which allows you to talk with your friends while you play the game, which if you ask me it is not worth it as there are countless other programs to just do that. There are even some people who did not buy ETW at all, just because it needs Steam to play. My policy in these cases is that steam is a minor evil, so if it is needed to play the game i will use it, but if it is not, then hell no i will stay away from it as long as i can. Just my two cents.

[Skoran]

I like steam :).

I bought quite some games at really cheap prices, I am always online so the internet connection is not a problem.
Installing mods is a bit tricky, but so far I always found a decent solution.

But I understand some people dislike it.

[obscura_max]

Well honestly it is because i dislike Steam, but maybe other people don´t mind it. My comment was more for those who have no idea what Steam is, to think twice before quickly buying it cheaper online, because steam also have many shortcomings and you may later regret it. A few examples are: you need to download your game each time you reinstall (for me that is 1 day downloading), you need internet connection to play (the offline mode is not what it says), you will have more problems installing mods and other tweaks on your game, you can´t choose which patch of the game you want to play, you will be having pop ups of ads of other games each time you want to play etc. The only real advantage is the steam chat which allows you to talk with your friends while you play the game, which if you ask me it is not worth it as there are countless other programs to just do that. There are even some people who did not buy ETW at all, just because it needs Steam to play. My policy in these cases is that steam is a minor evil, so if it is needed to play the game i will use it, but if it is not, then hell no i will stay away from it as long as i can. Just my two cents.

Just to correct a few inaccuracies in your post and share my experiences with Steam -

I find Steam to be pretty convenient. No wasted shelf space on cds you rarely use and you'll always be able to reinstall as long as you have an internet connection. It can suck a bit if you have slow internet, but for many people it is preferred. You also don't need an internet connection to play. If you have a game installed and want to play single player you can start steam in offline mode and play. I've found that installing mods for steams games is just as easy as any other game, you just need to know the directory, which can actually make it even easier as all of your games are in the same place (as compared to people who just follow typical installation procedures). You can also set games to be automatically updated or not, so yes, you actually can choose which version you'd like to play, and as long of you have shortcuts you don't even have to open the steam window and see the advertisements. . I've never even used the steam chat feature, so I can't comment on that, but it is another perk.

@ OP: Thanks for tippig me off on the sale. :P

[Ludens]

I haven't used Steam myself, but I know one of the other moderators had major problems with it after downloading E:TW. For one thing, despite switching the automatic update function off, Steam would re-enable it every time there was a new patch... One wonders why they put the switch there. Then again, this may be a problem with E:TW; I get the impression this does not happen with other Steam games.

Welcome to the .Org and to EB, BTW.

[obscura_max]

I haven't used Steam myself, but I know one of the other moderators had major problems with it after downloading E:TW. For one thing, despite switching the automatic update function off, Steam would re-enable it every time there was a new patch... One wonders why they put the switch there. Then again, this may be a problem with E:TW; I get the impression this does not happen with other Steam games.

Welcome to the .Org and to EB, BTW.

I haven't tried E:TW yet, but the update function has worked fine for me when I've used it in the past. It's possible that the updates were re-enabled whenever he updated Steam (not sure if you meant this or an E:TW patch in your post), or likely many other reasons. I definitely understand people not liking Steam though. I hated it when it first came out but the service has come a long way imo.

Thanks for the welcome, I've been playing EB off and on for over a year now and love it.

[WinsingtonIII]

I have had some problems with steam, but some of its features are nice.

[miotas]

Well honestly it is because i dislike Steam, but maybe other people don´t mind it.

If you personally don't like it, that's fine, too each their own, but:

A few examples are: you need to download your game each time you reinstall (for me that is 1 day downloading)

That was a problem that I had with steam, since the download limit on my connection is somewhat low, but I've since realised that you can make backups of your games so you don't need to download them each time.

you need internet connection to play (the offline mode is not what it says)

The offline mode is actually exactly what it says. I've even started steam with my internet connection off, and online mode still on, just to see what would happen, and steam gave me the option of automatically switching to offline mode.

you will have more problems installing mods and other tweaks on your game

Magna mundi mod for EU3 works fine for me through steam, and I have made various small changes to the game myself which have all worked as they should have. There is no difference in the installation of the game, it's only in a different place. The only problem I could potentially see is if the mod won't work on the latest version:

you can´t choose which patch of the game you want to play

and as obscura_max said, just turning off automatic updates will remedy this.

you will be having pop ups of ads of other games each time you want to play etc.

This is true, but not as bad as you make it sound, it's only once when you start up steam, it's not like you have ads popping up whilst you are ingame.

The only real advantage is the steam chat which allows you to talk with your friends while you play the game, which if you ask me it is not worth it as there are countless other programs to just do that.

Again, this is true, something like msn is probably better than steam chat, but steam lets you chat whilst you are still playing, you don't need to minimise the game.

I haven't used Steam myself, but I know one of the other moderators had major problems with it after downloading E:TW. For one thing, despite switching the automatic update function off, Steam would re-enable it every time there was a new patch... One wonders why they put the switch there. Then again, this may be a problem with E:TW; I get the impression this does not happen with other Steam games.

Welcome to the .Org and to EB, BTW.

This actually sounds like an issue with that person's setup specifically. I haven't really played ETW since about a month after it was released(I really should uninstall it) and I have had automatic updates off since then with it never once trying to "switch" itself back on.