Buying from Steam or TaleWorlds?

[mrcultureshock]

Hello,

I've been thinking about buying Warband for a while now, and I'm ready to pull the trigger.  I'll be playing mostly singleplayer and some multiplayer and I'll be installing a lot of mods. 

Should I buy the game from Steam or directly from TaleWorlds?  Which place makes the game easier to update and install mods?

Thanks in advance!

Nick

 

[Crossbow Joe]

Steam is seen to have many disadvantages. but steam is slightly harder to install mods but it really is the same in that field its just in a different place. Steam allows you to have achievements, talk to friends in game and records hours played. It also downloads the patches as they come out but only what it needs, making steam use less downloads than off taleworlds when you have to download the whole patch from 1.0-1.1xx each time. But instantly downloading patches can be a disadvantage too.

 

[ComingWinter]

I would download from Taleworlds. The achievements are only superficial and you can easily talk to friends by alt-tab'ing out. I know more than several people who have had frustrations from Steam and I find that by downloading from TW, I have much more control. For instance, awhile ago it was super hard to upgrade versions, I'd have to do a complete reinstall of the newer version to keep it from crashing as soon as I started the game. Also, you can rollback versions as you need to, good if you have different mods running different versions.

 

[Sheriff-murder]

Actually, there isn't a single drawback for buying at steam for the simple reason that you can use it do download the Taleworld's version.

 

[ComingWinter]

Why just download straight from the website? Going through steam seems going the long way.

 

[Sheriff-murder]

Once, for 5 minutes.

Then you get to pick your fancy whenever you like.

 

[mrcultureshock]

So buying from Steam allows you to activate Warband downloaded from TaleWorld?  I think I'll go this route as it provides the convenience of steam and the easy of installing mods of the TaleWorlds version.

 

[KingLuke]

Step 1: Buy from steam.
Step 2: Do this:

Spoiler

1. Right-click on Warband in the Steam games list, and select view CD-Key. Write this down or save it.

2. Uninstall Warband from Steam.

3. Download Warband from the Taleworlds website.

4. Use the CD-Key to register the game.

 

[Sheriff-murder]

Uninstalling from steam isn't necessary if you want both though.

 

[mrcultureshock]

Thanks guys for the replies!

 

[DanAngleland]

Steam is seen to have many disadvantages. but steam is slightly harder to install mods but it really is the same in that field its just in a different place. Steam allows you to have achievements, talk to friends in game and records hours played. It also downloads the patches as they come out but only what it needs, making steam use less downloads than off taleworlds when you have to download the whole patch from 1.0-1.1xx each time. But instantly downloading patches can be a disadvantage too.

You can download incremental patches from the TW website, such as 1.130-1.132. I don't think Steam will save you any time. Plus of course the patches are available from Taleworlds hours before they are on Steam. Not using Steam gets you patches sooner and gives you more control over patching as far as I'm concerned, particularly if you aren't Steam-savvy and get stuck trying to roll back to an older patch.

Personally I bought a boxed copy from Amazon, getting a physical manual (although apparently not all boxed copies come with one) and getting the game at a good price. I think it was around £16 or £18 for my copy of Warband, bought at release, whereas checking Steam just now it is priced at £24.99.

Even with a boxed copy it will install under Steam as I recall, but as other posters have detailed it is quite simple to uninstall from Steam and reinstall from the TW website.

 

[DrakeD]

If your in Europe, buy from Taleworlds. Steam wants 30 euro, while Taleworlds wants 30 dollars. Thats what I did.

 

[Aqtai]

I bought it from Steam because there was a special offer on. With hindsight I would buy it from Taleworlds. Steam works fine while I'm at home. The problem is I go away a lot and take my laptop with me. I can't connect to steam from my mobile broadband dongle and I can't connect at all if I am abroad. I can usually play offline for 3 or 4 days, but eventually I get a message saying that I must connect to Steam in order to play.

 

[Sheriff-murder]

But in that case, you could use the key for the taleworlds version.

 

[kosiam]

I bought it from Steam because there was a special offer on. With hindsight I would buy it from Taleworlds. Steam works fine while I'm at home. The problem is I go away a lot and take my laptop with me. I can't connect to steam from my mobile broadband dongle and I can't connect at all if I am abroad. I can usually play offline for 3 or 4 days, but eventually I get a message saying that I must connect to Steam in order to play.

Back when L4D first came out you could play it by signing out of steam and telling it to start in offline mode. Somewhere after the new faded from the game it changed and now when I (rarely) try to play L4D it will not let me go offline mode any longer. I also used to be able to tell it to not update the game automatically since I wanted to just play for a few minutes at lunch or whatever. But now, you can not play unless it updates, and some take a very long time. It is as if Steam has determined that they control my computer and gaming. <bleep> them. Never again will I buy from Steam.

 

[Sheriff-murder]

I am having none of those problems myself, I can play any game I want (except for games that specifically require internet, like MMOS, of course) offline whenever I want, unless it's in the middle of an update.
Just make sure you have internet connection when you launch offline mode for the first time after a steam update, so it can get the files necessary.

Anyway, this is quite unrelated to the topic.