Spiral Knights - Is Steam worth it?

Is Steam worth it?

23 replies [Last post]

Tue, 10/23/2012 - 13:38

Thenewteddy

So, today, I had my guildmates ask me to join Steam so I can voice chat. I decided I'll do this.

Prior to that I was told I was a bad person by a forum member here because I told him I did not have to voice chat. And I don't. If my friends want me to, I will, if some random wants me to, that's too bad.

Regardless, just when I decided I would, there was an outage. That was hours ago. Many of the complaint threads say this happens often.

So I'm wondering, is Steam worth it? Is it reliable enough to play? Does it add to lags for people who already have a laggy computer and connection?

Tue, 10/23/2012 - 13:44

Bluebrawlerneo

your choice

you get a spiral sallet in tf2 (all classes) (first steps achievement required) if you are on steam and if you invite a friend you get a mini mist tank and if you invite 4 more friends you get a special costume item, and it's easier to purchase stuff with the steam version

Tue, 10/23/2012 - 13:49

Thenewteddy

I heardtell you can voice

I heardtell you can voice chat with 3rd party programs, but nobody seems to know any of them.

Tue, 10/23/2012 - 13:52

Bohhty

I would recommend against

I would recommend against integrating your account into steam. It's not that bad, but I have found that it's only made it worse, albiet only very slightly. I've yet to use the voice chat at all and anyone who tells you that you are bad because you do not is full of [scrap].

In-game voice chats worse than Skype worse than Ventrilo/Mumble/Teamspeak

If they are at all serious they would use skype or some other VOIP program

Some of the minor inconveniences that I have experienced:
The Steam overlay doesn't work unless I change the key that calls it (haven't tried)
My files are now even more obscure and hidden (spiral spy)
Problems with steam so now instead of wondering if the server down or if it's my internet, I now have to ALSO factor in that it might be steam
steam is the devil
Another program that must be running to run Spiral knights
Buying things through steam is ok, except when you want to buy an expansion. Then it gets [frakking] weird. (like the armor pack)

My computer is very fast and so is my internet connection, but I can only imagine that another open program during play will make it slower.

Tue, 10/23/2012 - 13:53

Daili

Steam...

>Told your a bad person because you have a right to voice chat or not.
Nice friends.

Anyway, steam is basically an online, game selling, community for everyone. You'll probably have to reinstall Spiral Knights as well, but you have an option to sign in with your steam account or Spiral Knights account once it's installed, patched, and booted up. There shouldn't be any noticeable lag, unless you're in a Haven that contains about a thousand clients or etc. You can also play other games and trade as well, such as TF2, Portal 2, DOTA 2, and future games. Steam might be worth it, especially since they also sell some stuff for Spiral Knights that can't be obtained by normal Spiral Knights means, such as the Shogun helmet.

Tue, 10/23/2012 - 13:54

Thenewteddy

So a 3rd party program can't

So a 3rd party program can't make you chat in game, it can only make you chat out-of-game-but-at-the-same-time-so-its-kind-of-like-in-game-chatting-except-totally-not-in-any-way-whatsoever ?

Also, twas not a friend, but a user of this forum.

Tue, 10/23/2012 - 13:54

Draycos

IIRC, going into options and disabling the Stean overlay for SK relieves most of the problems. Don't quote me on this, not until someone else can confirm it.

Tue, 10/23/2012 - 13:54

Darkbrady

@Bohhty: The overlay works

@Bohhty:
The overlay works fine, and Steam takes up no internet usage to have open, so makes zero difference to your game connection unless you're downloading on Steam or playing another online game

@OP:
Seriously, there's countless threads asking about this, just search it up and get dozens of responses arguing both sides of the discussion.

Tue, 10/23/2012 - 13:56

Retequizzle

Long story short: Steam

Long story short:

Steam outages aren't as often as you might think. This is second time that I know of where it's been out for more than a few minutes, and typically when it does go down, it's due to routine maintenance on Steam's side. Today is one of those days where there seems to be a wrench in the machine - again, on Steam/Valve's side of things - so you shouldn't take it to heart too much, if only because it's not an accurate representation of uptime vs. downtime.

Aside from that, I can't really say I see any particular reason NOT to integrate it into your Steam account. Then again, if you didn't already have a Steam account prior to playing Spiral Knights, then there's not much of a reason to upgrade then aside from voice chat.

On that note, two notable programs that I'm familiar with is Mumble and Ventrilo. I'm not going to link you to them, so Google them on your own time, do some research and decide whether or not you and your friends want to use either of them.

Tue, 10/23/2012 - 14:02

Bohhty

It mine as well be the same

It mine as well be the same as the built in voice chats. Especially steams.

@Darkbrady
Not internet usage *facepalm* memory usage, which it does. xD

You don't need voice communication to do anything in spiral knights successfully. I can attest to this.

Tue, 10/23/2012 - 14:06

#10

Thenewteddy

Darkbrady: I have not seen

Darkbrady: I have not seen any threads asking this, and when people post in old threads, they get accused of neco or whatever.

Also, my internet connection is faster than my computer. So bandwidth is not a problem.

Also rete's comment brings up a new issue. Without steam, routine shutdowns only occur though SK, with it, the number of those double.

Tue, 10/23/2012 - 14:08

#11

Bohhty

There is no good reason to

There is no good reason to switch to steam.

Tue, 10/23/2012 - 14:09

#12

Darkbrady

Oh, just that? My

Oh, just that? My bad...mind you, even less to worry about then. Right now I have chrome windows, skype and spotify each taking more memory than an idle steam, none of which compare to a running MMO~

Tue, 10/23/2012 - 14:11

#13

Bohhty

It depends on the system. I

It depends on the system. I run Spiral Knights on a macbook air and it doesn't cause lag, but it over heats and closing things I'm not using helps it not over heat.

Tue, 10/23/2012 - 14:13

#14

Darkbrady

Keep in mind that Steam was

Keep in mind that Steam was designed to be computer friendly to leave on idle since it's all about running games via that software. If it caused too much lag, no one'd play games through it. Mind you, it's a fair enough reason to not convert if you don't use Steam anyways, but little reason to avoid it completely if you do use Steam.

Tue, 10/23/2012 - 14:17

#15

Bohhty

Right, which is why OP should

Right, which is why OP should not convert to steam.

Tue, 10/23/2012 - 14:17

#16

Thenewteddy

I attempted to open a game of

I attempted to open a game of Monkey Island via Steam (to prove how long it would take) and even with updating and logging in (and forgetting my pword) it only took 5 mins.

I usually run Gamebooster with SK. I can play it without, but the lag difference is of note when knights are around.

Tue, 10/23/2012 - 14:19

#17

Zenpai

If you have a computer that's

If you have a computer that's any good (over 2GB RAM), then running Steam in the background will most likely NOT introduce any lag, and the overlay maybe only eats up one frame per second at the MOST. If you want to disable it, then do so. There is some steam-exclusive content and you can trade SK stuff via Steam trade, which can be good if you find good deals. I haven't found a problem with having a Steam account, and most downtime is a wrench in Steam's server, as was said earlier.

Most people who tout steam really blow the downsides out of proportion. If you have a capable computer and internet connection, then you'll not notice any difference.

Tue, 10/23/2012 - 14:20

#18

Bohhty

If you do not use steam for

If you do not use steam for anything else before this, do not switch.
Steams voice chat is NOT a good reason to switch.

Use another free service like Skype. or get a payed service like Ventrilo/Mumble/Teamspeak
Otherwise, don't voice chat. It isn't needed for ANYTHING in spiral knights.

Tue, 10/23/2012 - 14:21

#19

Rika-Eternal

Personal Opinion

I think the real question is whether or not you are interested in using Steam for any games besides sk. It probably isn't worth it to make an account just for one game, especially when it can cause minor complications to the log in and updating processes (as we're seeing now). However, I think that Steam is a great service for any gamer. I like having my games all in one place, having a unified friends list, and having all my playing times/stats easy to view. They also have great sales. I probably own 50+ games that I've either gotten for free or paid less than a dollar for. And I haven't had any problems with the voice chat through Steam. I think that the inconsistent quality has less to do with the service and more to do with people trying to use the mics that are built into their computers instead of getting decent headsets. It also really annoys me to have to go outside of the game to run chat services like skype, especially to chat with people who aren't my friends irl.

Tue, 10/23/2012 - 14:22

#20

Zenpai

"Use another free service

"Use another free service like Skype."

Skype is an absolute resource HOG in comparison to Steam. If you want good quality voice chat, then you should either be looking at Teamspeak or Ventrilo.

Tue, 10/23/2012 - 14:23

#21

Thenewteddy

I use steam for a lot of

I use steam for a lot of singeplayer games I bought after losing the original CDs.

The single biggest reason to use Steam and voice chat right now is "My friends do and want me to".
I joined the game because of my friends, and continue to play because of my friends. So this is a big reason.

Tue, 10/23/2012 - 14:36

#22

Batabii

Absolutely. Without steam you

Absolutely. Without steam you can't use voice chat. Plus there's tons of games and promos, and despite what some people say, it doesn't take a whole lot of memory. Sure it has outages, but no more than spiral knights does.

IDK why some people complain about the voice chat. Since steam upgraded to SILK codec it seems just fine to me. This is a game, not a movie, there's no reason you should be obsessed with perfection. It's just as good as a normal phone call.

Tue, 10/23/2012 - 15:09

#23

Retequizzle

So the general consensus so

So the general consensus so far:

If you have Steam already and feel like having your stuff compiled into a single directory - and since you're already familiar with Steam's interface anyway - there's not much of a reason not to switch/convert. There's also not a reason TO switch though, and the Steam downtimes are usually very infrequent as I've stated before. At the end of the day, there's no true benefit to one over the other, outside of Steam streamlining the process with which you buy CE in-game.

To put it in perspective, I have a Steam-based account "Retequizzle" and a lesser known non-Steam account "Raiding-Party" which is 3* that I don't use unless I'm bored. I see very little difference in load times, playability, etc.

Also, whoever keeps touting Skype as the go-to third-party voice program has clearly never tried to use it for more than a single run. Skype's a resource hog during calls, moreso during conference calls. It's one of the many reasons I stopped using it during my brief stint playing League of Legends. If third party voice programs are what you're looking for, seriously, look into Ventrilo, Mumble or TeamSpeak. They're all low-latency, memory-efficient programs that beat Skype out every single time.

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Is Steam worth it?