lootbear

[lootbear]

Will CS:GO ever die? Will CSGO skins ever lose their value?

Many years ago, when LootBear was just a cub being taught to fish by his mother; The first installment of the soon-to-be world renowned game series ‘Counter-Strike’ was released (way back in 1999!).

From it’s early days as a simple mod to the already popular game Half-Life, Counter-Strike was a hit. People loved it and it was soon developed into its very own stand-alone game.

But we aren’t here for a history lesson. We are here to understand how and why the game has remained so popular after 21 long years. Of course, the game that we play now looks and plays a bit differently to its 21 year old predecessor but the essence of the game is very much the same - Terrorists try to plant the bomb and Counter-Terrorists try to defuse the bomb.

The gaming industry is a very fast paced environment, new games are being released almost every day and many great games simply burn up and fade into nothingness very quickly. So what has kept this 21 year old dinosaur of a concept alive for so long? How many more years are we going to rush B? How many more cases are we going to open?

We believe that the game has lasted so long, and will continue to last because of 3 very simple but very powerful things:

It’s simple, yet infinitely deep - It’s a very simple game to understand at a basic level, much like Football. It’s not hard to grasp the basic concept, no difficult techniques need to be learned in order to play a ‘Proper’ game of CS:GO. But the skill ceiling is incredibly high. It’s in the seemingly small things that the depth of this game really becomes apparent. Learning insane smokes to cover your team, learning the angles to hold that give you the largest chance to win, perfecting your aim to pop heads like ScreaM and the execution of complex team strategies to win the game. It is this depth coupled with its core simplicity that makes CS:GO so fun to play and why a seemingly stale game (same maps, same guns over and over for years) has withstood the test of time and will continue to do so.

The professional scene - In the previous point, I compared the game’s simplicity to football and it follows suit here too. Counter Strike is quite simply just a fantastic, exciting game to watch at a pro level. The opportunity for any player to go huge and make a game winning play is thrilling. Many other games don’t allow for this. The entertainment value from the game and the number of eyes each major tournament attracts means that the game will also continue to attract money from sponsors. As long as the professional scene remains popular and exciting, more and more money will be pumped into the industry which in turn helps to keep it alive.

 The skins industry - No game before it had ever seen the level of success CS:GO did with its in-game microtransactions. Valve’s addition of a simple case unboxing system has spawned a monster of an industry estimated to be worth over $1billion USD a few years ago. It’s value now is much higher. With skins comes collectors and the dopamine rush from unboxing something awesome (or the debt from unboxing continuous trash, Gaben why have you forsaken me?). These collectors coupled with the average kid that just wants to flex to his friends with a cool knife sparked the beginning of a snowball that would lead us to a moment where it is possible to build an entire business around these virtual items. People are truly passionate about skins and it is this passion that paved the way for platforms like us to be created. As long as this passion for skins exists, the game will not only survive, but it will thrive.

So what’s next?

In 2 months, CS:GO will have been released for 8 years. Not many games go on to have a life span of 8 years. Look at Call Of Duty for example - They have to repackage, rebrand and re-release the same game every year in order to stay relevant (stop making kids buy the same game for $50 every year, Activision!). But how does the future look for our beloved game?

This is a graph showing the evolution of the player base over the years since CS:GO’s birth in 2012. Over the past few years I have heard people around me say ‘CSGO is dead!’ or ‘It’s dying’ and until I saw this graph - I could have believed it!

It’s easy to mistake a personal loss of interest in a game as an actual issue. But for every player who has burned out from playing dust_2 six thousand times, a few other new players are experiencing getting wall-banged for the first time. 

The game is STILL growing, not only that but it’s growing FAST. Competitors come and go (cough, Valorant, cough) but CS:GO always remained. Propped up on its pedestal balancing on the 3 core pillars of simplicity, watchability and skins; CS:GO will continue to be a legendary game for years to come.

[lootbear]

Top 5 Highest Earning Esports Teams Of All Time!

Over the past 10 years the esports industry has quickly risen in popularity, titles and of course - Prize money. I remember going to a large CSGO event in England 10 years ago with the prize pool being around £500 and the very fact that there was money on the table at all was enough to attract a crowd from all over the country. 

Nowadays, the prize pools are sky high with some tournaments easily clearing the $1,000,000 mark. With all of this money up for grabs it begs the question - Who has earned the most? Which team has taken home the most bacon over the many years that our favourite competitive industry has been growing? Let’s find out.

In this blog post we are going to be looking at the top 5 most highly earning eSports teams - Ever.

Let’s get into it.

Number 5 - Team Newbee - $13.967.192.62

Primarily a Dota 2 team, Newbee makes it to number 5 on our list with over 90% of their total earnings coming from their domination over the Dota 2 tournament scene. Of that total amount, over $1.3million found its way into the pocket of their player Kaka - their highest earning player from China.

Number 4 - Team Fnatic - $14.156.872.37

Fnatic is without a doubt one of the largest names in eSports so it comes as no surprise that they achieve a top 5 position in this list. An incredibly diverse roster bringing in around an equal 30% of their prize money from both CSGO and Dota 2, they really do know how to play AND win tournaments in any genre of game. Of the fourteen and something million dollars, JW tops the list as their biggest individual earner at the huge some of $744.802.35. Thats enough money to buy nearly 30,000 people a subscription to LootBear Pro. If only he were so generous.

Number 3 - Evil Geniuses - $22.845.565.11

With a difference of over $8,000,000 between number 4 and our first top 3 team, Evil Geniuses, it’s no wonder they have such an insanely huge fanbase. As with number 5, this team is primarily a Dota 2 team owing around 85% of their total bank balance to the popular MOBA. 

The incredible gap between prize money across these teams is not the only huge gap. Evil Geniuses top player SumaiL has pocketed over $3.5 million dollars all to himself. That’s over 3 times as much cash as the number one player from Fnatic. Insane.

Number 2 - Team OG - $33.410.175.00

If you thought the jump between 3 and 4 was big, what do you think about this one? With over $10,000,00 separating Team OG from the team in third position they are very safely in the top 2 eSports teams in terms of monetary gain in the world.

Now, many of you will probably recognise Team OG for their incredible career in the arena of Dota 2. BUT do not be fooled. That is not their only source of income.

Team OG has earned a staggering $6,323 and 12 cents from Super Smash Bro’s tournaments as well! Equalling 0.02% of their total earnings. Ca-ray-zay!

Team OG’s top earning play N0tail from Denmark has racked in over $6.6 million in prize money which by my calculations might just about afford you a coffee and an outdated Gossip magazine in Denmark. 

Number 1 - Team Liquid - $33.761.635.16

Without a doubt one of the most highly recognised names in all of eSports - Team Liquid takes the top spot. But only by a lead of around $350,000.

Team Liquids’ top earning player - MinD_ContRoL has taken home around $4.4 million of this to spend on hoo-... lovely things for his family and friends.

The craziest thing about these top 2 competitors is the incredible difference in the number of events they owe their total earnings to

Team Liquid - $33,761,635,16 from 1606 tournaments

Team OG - $33.410.175.00 from ONLY 68 tournaments.

Team Liquid has competed in well over 1500 more tournaments than Team OG and is only barely beating them in total earnings. 

To put this in perspective, Team OG’s average earning per tournament (Total prize money divided by the number of events) equals out at $491,326.

If Team OG had been involved in the same number of tournaments as Team Liquid whilst maintaining this average earning amount, they would have earned a total of $7,643,957 455,19. 

THAT IS OVER SEVEN BILLION DOLLARS.

Conclusion

The gaming and esports industry has overtaken the movie industry in value over the past few years and so numbers like these should come as no shock. Especially when you consider the salary of some of the top movie stars in Hollywood. 

If anything, we can expect to see these numbers grow exponentially in the years to come. Professional gamers are quickly becoming the heroes of our younger generation, much like famous Footballers or athletes were to us when we were younger. 

I am proud of where our industry is going and I feel blessed to be able to be a part of this industry with the rest of our team here at LootBear. We strive to create a platform that allows everyone out there to experience their game to the fullest - With no skin out of reach for anyone. Thank you for taking the time to read our blog post and if you haven’t already… 

Make sure to treat yourself to 8 days of LootBear Prime on us, totally free, by signing up to our free trial.

Have a great day!

With love,

Team LootBear

[lootbear]

The History Of The Skins Industry

Not so long, the skin industry was blooming and games such as CS:GO and Dota 2 gained more and more popularity because people wanted to gamble or trade-up their skins for fun or simply for having something unique. Below you can find more information about what happened to the skin industry and how is it looking today.

History of Skins

The entire skin industry was propelled by CS:GO and “​The Arms Deal Update​” back in late 2013.This marked an era and sites were starting to appear on a daily basis. The thing is, everyone worked around Steam API and this simply was not a long term solution for any of these sites.

Alongside trading and ​gambling sites​, we have also seen people trying to create unique inventories for themselves. I remember that there was one guy that wanted the entire “blue”inventory for himself. He pushed things even further as he grabbed an AK-47 Case Hardened(blue gem) for several thousand dollars. On top of that, he also bought himself a Karambit Case Hardened(blue gem) for over 30,000$.

Third party companies that worked with skin gambling were making insane amount of money and on top of that, it was also against the CS:GO Terms of service so Valve simply had to do something about this. Continue reading and find out what happened to the CS:GO skin gambling and trading industry.

As you can see from the numbers above, this is the type of money managers do not make, and Valve simply had to do something about this. Continue reading and find out what happened to the CS:GO skin gambling and trading industry.

The First Skin Business - Trading & Gambling

In this section of the article, we will talk about two essential parts of skin industry, trading and gambling. Below, you will be able to find two sites that started the avalanche called the skin industry. You will also be able to learn what happened to these sites.

Let’s start things off with the trading industry. There are actually two sites that we can talk about.Even though one of them was mostly used for gambling, you could still trade skins via Steam trade offers without any fees or charges.

CSGOLounge

Back in 2014, this site was bread and butter for everyone who wanted to either gamble or trade-up their existing skins. We all used CSGOLounge and the entire scene loved it. Even though they were offering very poor betting odds/percentages, we simply had to take it as we did not have an alternative.

There were no special bets for matches offered and coverage was quite insane. You could even find tier 3 tournaments, but the odds/percentages shuffled there like insane because not a lot of money was coming into these bets hence why you were able to turn things upside down with a $50 bet.

Alongside CSGO betting, you could also trade your skins. Even though this marketplace was not used that much, I still believe that it set the pillars for other sites such as OPSkins and BitSkins.

As mentioned above, CSGOLounge’s marketplace was available for everyone and it was free of charge. However, it was filled with scammers and this is the main reason why a lot of people avoided using this platform as a trading place for themselves.

OPSkins

Let’s face it, no one here wants to sell their skins for Steam wallet funds because this type of currency is useless for us. Even though there are some people that do not mind having Steam wallet funds available, I simply believe that the majority of us wanted real money for our skins.

This is where OPSkins come into play. They took the entire trading scene by storm. Even though you could not directly trade skins(player-to-player), you could simply sell the skins you wanted and buy new ones for yourself, as simple as that.

Furthermore, OPSkins always had great deals. For example, a lot of people wanted to get rid of their skins really fast hence why they would put them on insane discounts which varied from 33%-50%. From my perspective, these are insane numbers, especially because you can get the skins you want for a cheaper price once compared to the Steam market.

However, OPSkins decided to push things a bit too far and they paid the price for it. Valve banned a lot of their bots and they were simply forced out of business.

Skin Gambling - Rise & Fall

Let’s talk stats. The skin gambling industry, while in its peak was worth well over $5 billion. These are insane numbers if you ask me and you can probably figure out that Valve simply had to do something about it.

There were also quite a lot of scandals involving “PhantomL0rd” and “TmarTn”. Both guys did not disclose that they are a shareholder or even an owner of skin gambling sites they won money on. You can probably imagine that they rigged almost all of their games just to make them win and influence their viewers to come and join this site and easily win money.

Valve hand was forced as lawsuits started to pile up. To be honest, the skin gambling and trading industry was a bubble that was ready to blow up. After announcing cease and desist letters to the most popular skin gambling sites on the market, Valve was able to stop skin gambling in its tracks.

However, site owners once again found a way to work around the Steam API system and we have seen more and more gambling sites on the market. Once again Valve had to do something. This time around, Valve worked hard to fix their Steam API and they were finally able to put a stop on the skin gambling industry.

After introducing 14 days hold period for recently traded skins, Valve killed off the remaining sites that were still somehow able to provide skin gambling via Steam.

What Are the Most Popular Skins?

There is no denying that there are quite a few CSGO skins that are really unique and one of a kind. However, in 2016 there were quite a few skins that were considered rare. Alongside them being rare, they would have a heavy price tag on themselves as well.

The Most Popular CSGO Skin Ever?

AWP Dragon Lore is a dream of every AWPer and competitive CSGO player. Covered in gold, Dragon Lore is without a doubt the best looking skin out there. On top of that, getting this skin in a decent condition will cost you a lot of money.

If you decide to buy a factory new Dragon Lore right now, it would cost you roughly around $2500. However, there is an alternative to this. You can use Lootbear to rent AWP Dragon Lore for only a couple of dollars per month. 

Nice Looking Knives

Let’s face it, we all dream of having an excellent knife which will leave everyone stunned once you inspect it. With Lootbear, you will not have to spend a lot of money in order to accomplish that. So what are some of the best knives in CSGO right now?

Talon Knife - Doppler, Fade, Tiger Tooth

This bad boy is definitely an upgrade once compared to Karambit. Almost everyone fell in love with Talon knives once they were released and this is why they are so expensive. For instance, Talon Knife Doppler will cost you from $600 to $1000, depending on the float and phase.

Alongside Doppler, Talon Knife Fade and Tiger Tooth are also excellent picks. You will leave your teammates in delirium once you start spinning your knife and you do not have to tell them that you got it for less than $10 a month.

Butterfly Knife - Marble Fade, Tiger Tooth, Fade

In my personal opinion, Butterfly has the best inspect animation out of every other knife in CSGO. You being able to spin it like a pro around your hand is definitely a good feeling.

There are quite a few Butterfly skins that look insane. On top of my list is definitely Marble Fade one. Mixture of the colors fits perfectly, but the price is hefty as well. Starting from $850 all the way up to $1500 is a lot of money.

On the other hand, Butterfly Tiger Tooth and Fade are two cheaper options for you. You can get them roughly for the same price of $600. These two skins as well will look very good once you start spinning them around your wrist.

Benefits of Having CSGO Skins?

Some will say that there are no benefits of having skins in your inventory. However, I would disagree. If you acquire a very good looking skin, your gameplay will definitely improve.

Your movement will improve and you will have a lot more confidence to take fights that you would not usually take. 

Furthermore, if you like to brag, CSGO skins are the best way to do it. There are people with insane inventories that simply enjoy collecting those skins. Who knows, maybe you will find your happiness in being a CSGO skin collector.

All in all, having CSGO skins in your inventory will surely benefit you. Your aim will improve, you will move like a madman around the map, and overall, your CSGO experience will be much better. This is why I would advise you get a couple of skins and try it out yourself.

Rent CSGO Skins - LootBear

However, Valve was not able to seize operations for legit sites. One of them being us.

On top of that, LootBear also allows you to earn money by renting your skins to other players. Keep in mind that this process is safe, secure and you do not have to worry about your skins being stolen or sold to someone else. LootBear has got you covered.

There are three plans that you can subscribe to. The cheapest one will cost you $14.99 per month and it will allow you to rent skins that are valued at $150 max. You will also be able to rent 2 simultaneous skins. For instance, you can grab both gloves and a decent knife for $14.99 a month. 

To summarize, LootBear will provide you with something unique for a low price. If you want to grab the most exclusive skins on the market, you can get them for $24.99 per month and you can have an insane inventory without having to invest thousands of dollars.

This blog post has been written by the awesome guys over at TopGamersGuide - Check them out for more content centering around the world of gaming. 

[lootbear]

Bit Skins shutting down - HUGE update to LootBear - 0% transaction fee!

As shocking as it may seem, Bit Skins (Currently the number one most actively used in-game skin marketplace) is ramping down its operations and coming to a stop within the next few weeks.

This sudden news has undoubtedly ignited fear within the community of active traders, buyers and sellers of virtual items as this is the second time they have had to scramble to find a new marketplace to call home (The first time being the fall of OPSkins following its scandal with Valve and its 7 day trade ban). But how did this happen in the first place? 

The CEO of Bit Skins announced the news via a reddit thread less than a week ago where he  outlined the reason for the ‘abrupt’ decision. The process of shutting down the marketplace giant comes as a result of fraudulent purchases taking place on the Steam marketplace, with the users turning to Bit Skins as a way to cash out on their scam.

Some of Bit Skins’ bots were temporarily disabled before being reinstated with the warning from Valve that this could not happen again. Since they have no way to ensure the legitimacy of where skins come from, the team behind the platform have decided to pull the plug - Facing the legal wrath of Valve is enough to make anyone rethink their operation.

So what happens now?

Users have been given a 14 day window to withdraw their items and must either keep them or find another means of selling them on. But with the major player in the skin industry falling once again, where should they go?

Enter - LootBear

We here at LootBear created our platform due to our passion to deliver incredible value to gamers that love in-game items and skins. This is the entire philosophy behind our rental model - We want everyone to be able to play with whatever skin they love without it breaking the bank. 

Upon conception of Lootbear, we quickly became aware of the most important factor that would decide the stability, trustability and longevity of our platform - Security. Users want to know that their skins will be returned safely and that they will be rented to legitimate players. We wanted to be certain that both the skins and the money entering and leaving our platform were safe and came from legitimate authorized sources.

Because of this reason, our security and user onboarding system is incredibly sophisticated. We do everything in our power to ensure the legitimacy of every single user that joins our platform. Checking national ID’s and credit card records against a verified picture of every user that joins allows us to limit our risk substantially. This technology is unrivaled amongst our peers operating within the same industry. 

The rental model is our primary service but we do also operate as a buy and sell marketplace. Our fee for sales made on our platform has always been a competitive 5% and we have experienced a significant amount of traffic and satisfied users using this side of our platform.

In lieu of the news of Bit Skins and the huge demand for a trustworthy and established alternative for the millions of gamers left in the lurk; the decision has been made to lower our transaction fee to zero. That’s right, selling your skins on LootBear is now absolutely free - And that’s a great price (a reference for the 9 year old bros out there).

Just to confirm - Going forward there will be absolutely no fees incurred to any users buying or selling skins on our platform. Our skin rental service and subscription model LootBear Prime will continue to operate as usual alongside this as it always has done. 

The community needs to have a safe place to buy and sell their skins. And they deserve that platform to have invested HEAVILY in their security. They deserve that platform to be known and to have proven themselves through thousands of transactions. They deserve that platform to not have popped up out of nowhere to profit on the new found demand. LootBear ticks all these boxes.

We will be doing everything within our power to facilitate the incoming demand to ensure that everything moves forward as smoothly as possible. 

We look forward to providing the new and old users of our platform with an ever improving service.

[lootbear]

This guy is earning $1000′s with CS:GO skins - Interview!

For some of you out there it might be difficult to believe that its possible to earn good money with LootBear or with CS:GO skins in general. The age old saying ‘If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is’ rings loudly in your brain and tells you ‘It can’t be true’ or ‘They have an advantage over me somehow’. The purpose of this blog post is to show you that it IS possible to earn great money from CSGO skins. Couple the power of profitable CSGO trading with the LootBear platform and you have yourself a very powerful passive revenue machine.

Our interview today is with a Mr.Fatmetal (@Fatmetalcs on Twitter - Follow him for giveaways and updates). I was first introduced to him by a mutual friend who also happens to be a very successful CSGO trader and we are honored to have him be a part of our community, as well as being a valued supplier for our platform.

So lets get started - How did you first get into CSGO skin trading?

‘I first started with CSGO trading when I bought a FT Gut Knife Night as a broke teenager from my pocket money. Back then there were a lot less options and sites for trading - so I just did small knife trades for the most part and slowly built up from there’

Awesome, so its a story of humble beginnings! Are you able to make a full-time income from your CSGO trading and LootBear?

‘Yes, I'm a student and I'm currently studying Business Informatics, I never had a “conventional job" to support my university life.’

So you’re able to sustain your life with a hobby - that’s pretty awesome.

What do you do outside of trading, you said you don’t have a job so are you a student?

‘I am currently studying Business Informatics, I never had a "real job"’

It doesn’t really look like you’ve needed to! 

So you’ve obviously invested a lot of time into learning the economics of the skins industry, but what about in game... Are you a noob? What rank are you?

‘I am currently Supreme Master First Class. It tends to swing between LEM and Global Elite. I am getting way too competitive though recently, so I play less than usual.’

Oh nice! I’ve been stuck in the same cycle between LEM - Global Elite myself. And that’s probably a good call - Taking a step back from the game instead of getting angry with it from being overly competitive. I wish more people had the same mindset haha.

Lets talk a little bit about LootBear. How did you first hear about us?

‘I Heard about LootBear pretty early on but didn't fully believe in the concept back then. A year later I saw a Twitter advertisement searching for suppliers which got my attention. I asked some of my friends and nobody had anything bad to say about it so I decided to give it a go.’

Great, I’m glad your friends had good things to say about our platform! How has LootBear helped you develop and further your CSGO skins ‘side hustle’?

‘LootBear offers a different approach to skins for me and is a nice way to diversify my investment. I normally buy/sell/trade rare items(Blue Gems, Kato 14/Crown Skins, Souvenirs) On LootBear I can sell and rent popular skins to people that aren't high tier collectors, like my usual clientele, to get a nice daily passive income.’

Sounds like you’ve worked out a great balance between your high level trading and serving the demand of the average user.

How much (in $) have you invested in LootBear so far?

‘I currently have items worth a little over $10000 invested in LootBear right now.’

That’s awesome. Theres a lot of users out there playing with your skins right now then haha!

What is your goal with LootBear? Where do you see this business going for you?

 My goal is to create a nice passive income with my disposable money with a crazy ROI - in times where conventional investments aren't worth it anymore.’

That sounds like a very respectable goal. And what you said about conventional investments is so true. It’s very rare to get such a good return on investment - We are proud of the opportunity that we can offer our suppliers.

And finally, do you have any advice to give to the people out there looking to get started with CSGO trading?

‘There is no easy answer to this question since the trading world is a vast wonderland with dozens (probably even hundreds) of different economical niches to live in. Educate yourself on some of the niches and decide which you like most. Then study the market and make friends. Don't try to copy other people too much, there is a niche for everyone, it is just waiting to be found.’

Sounds like some solid advice for people. Copying others is a great way to over-saturate a corner of the market which means less profitability for everyone. Finding and putting your own unique spins on things is a great strategy. 

Thank you so much for your time, your answers and your continued support of our platform.

We hope you can find some value in this interview and if you enjoyed it let us know on our Twitter account @applootbear so we can find more influential people in the industry to speak to!

If you are looking to get started with earning passive income online and share a passion for CSGO skins then you should definitely follow Fatmetal’s example and become a supplier on LootBear - We offer a great ROI and ensure the safety of your investment.

Have a great day and thank you for reading. 

[lootbear]

How to avoid being SCAMMED on Steam.

Ask anyone in the online world today and if they haven’t fallen victim to a scam then they surely know someone who has. Unfortunately we live in a world full of dishonest people who are prepared to go to whatever lengths necessary to take what does not belong to them.

The internet has proven to be the perfect place for this cancer to grow and multiply - Access to millions of people, anonymity and countless creative ways to steal your information or belongings. The internet is not a safe place - And I’m not just talking about Nigerian princes trying to unload millions of dollars on your Auntie.

Couple the above combination with the naivety of the young, impressionable and hopeful audience surrounding video games and you have a recipe to make a tonne of money - If you’re a scumbag scammer that is. Due to the incredible number of people out there actively trying to trick and steal from you, it should be a priority of each of us to understand how these predators (not the Dateline NBC type) catch their prey and how to avoid it.

Being a business operating in the world of virtual skins we are no stranger to these people. And over the course of operating we have experienced our fair share of unsavory behavior. We are here today to share our knowledge with you in hopes of helping you avoid the heart-sinking feeling of falling victim to scams. In this blog post we are going to go over the following - 

The types of scams that are in operation right now.

How to safeguard your Steam account against scams.

How to safely use websites such as our own.

What is phishing, and how to avoid falling victim to it

What to do if you do become a victim.

Types of Scams

There are a multitude of ways that you can find yourself the victim of a scam in the world of Steam. Here are a few - 

Impersonation - Probably the most basic of scams, this is where someone will pose as a figure of trust or status within the community. This could be a famous influencer or even just someone you know. They will often try to send you to a phishing website, or convince you to trade them something. The best way to avoid this is by always double checking the identity of the person you are speaking to against their Steam page (their level, friends, comments on Steam wall). When in doubt it’s safe to say that MojoOnPC or Sparkles PROBABLY isn’t writing manually on your wall to invite you to ‘THIS AWESOME NEW SITE’. Be smart.

API Key’s - An API key basically allows a 3rd party website or person access to your Steam account remotely. You can go to this link - https://steamcommunity.com/dev/apikey to check if you have any open API’s. If the page shows that there are some and you do not remember giving access to the platform or person, it’s probably best to revoke access by clicking the button. This access is usually obtained via untrustworthy websites.

Phishing -  Phishing is a phrase used to define the action of ‘fishing’ for someone’s personal information (email address, names, login information, credit card details etc). This is usually achieved by creating a fake website posing as a well known or trustworthy one. The creator will try their best to make the website look as close to the original as possible, even down to the URL. The best way to avoid this is to always double check the URL (Example - app.Lootbear.com is legit, applootbear.com is NOT) and be aware that if the website is offering you something that sounds too good to be true, it probably is. 

Malware - There is also a possibility that your PC itself has been compromised and may have malicious software installed with the goal of stealing your information. It is vitally important that you run quality anti-virus software on your PC to avoid this happening and be sure to run regular virus scans. 

Here is a video that goes into detail regarding some of the scamming techniques laid out above -

There are many ways that you can protect yourself from scams online and the trustworthy websites out there will always do their best to help safeguard your account. Here at Lootbear we are very careful when it comes to unsavory behavior and we give comprehensive instructions to all users that attempt to trade with us. 

What to do if you your steam account has been hacked or compromised

If you believe your account may already have been compromised after following the above steps then please visit this link https://store.steampowered.com/twofactor/manage and click on "De-authorize all other devices". This will log you out of all devices, except the one you clicked on the button with. You should then also change your steam and email passwords, as there is a high probability that these have been compromised as well.

How to use LootBear safely

First of all, please always read any popup messages that LootBear sends you. We do our best to inform you of the necessary actions required to maintain your safety while using our platform.

After you do this, Lootbear will give you the creation date of the bot you are about to trade with in a window that looks like this:

Please copy the creation date into the test field to show that you understand. Then, be sure to check the creation date of the bot you are about to trade with. If it matches the one given to you before the trade you should be able to accept the trade safely.

If it does not, please decline the trade, then go to the link provided earlier to check if there's an API key for your account and change your password on steam and email.

Please do not hesitate to contact support for additional information, or if you feel your steam account has been compromised.

Ultimately the safety of your Steam account is in your own hands and this information is yours to do with as you wish. We do our best to ensure the safety of our user base but the final responsibility lies with you. We hope that this information has helped you understand the risks and measures you can take to lessen them. 

[lootbear]

Which items should I buy in Dota 2?

MOBA’s are definitely up there as one of the hardest game types to master even at a basic level. And Dota is no exception to this rule. The first time I played Dota 2 is comparable to the first time I went online playing Command and Conquer - Everything I thought I knew about the game was wrong, I had no idea what I was doing and I got completely wrecked by the other team. Not fun.

There’s no denying the steep learning curve associated with Dota and the bitter truth is that your first few games are going to be hell. And guess what? Just when you think you know what you’re doing, someone on the opposing team will pick an obscure hero you have never seen before and will destroy you because you have absolutely no idea how to play against him/her.

Alongside the insanely vast hero and ability pool you need to learn, there are the in-game items. Luckily for new players there are in-game guides for each hero that suggest items you should buy and they usually have a short explanation on why too - Awesome. The problem with this however, is that you shouldn’t always buy the ‘cookie-cutter’ set of items and in fact, buying the wrong items or even buying your items in the wrong order is usually the cause of a lost game. 

In this blog we are going to go over the basic principles that you should consider when planning which items you should buy. Let’s get into it!

EVERY item is situational!

I can’t state this enough. There is no reason at all for you to go into a game and buy the exact same items, in the exact same order on a hero Every. Single. Time. Your item build should be determined by your enemies. Everything in Dota (even down to the drafting) is about countering your opponent. Doing this effectively will lead you to a win and stop you being at a disadvantage. Building 3 damage items before buying a BKB on a carry going against a disable-heavy comp is not a good idea. Rushing an Aghanim’s Scepter instead of buying a cheaper more useful ‘utility’ item on a support hero is usually not a good idea.

When you go into your next game and pick your hero, in the warm-up time sit and think for a minute about both yours and your opponents team compositions. 

If you’re playing a support hero or offlaner -

Do they have a lot of spell damage that could be reduced by buying a pipe?

What do you need to buy in order to survive long enough in the team fights to fulfil your role?

What does your team NEED from you in order to succeed? 

If you’re playing a carry hero - 

How many disables / CC effects does the enemy team have?

At what stage in the game do you expect to be having to team-fight and will you need a BKB?

Is there an item you can buy that would counter their carries? (Silver edge vs strong passives as an example).

Is your hero fast and efficient at farming? If not, you should probably buy an item that helps you farm as soon as possible (Bladefury, Mjolnir etc).

Even after the draft is done, it is important to remember that the items you and your team purchase and WHEN you buy them can have a huge impact on your win percentage. This isn’t CS:GO. You can not randomly clutch a 1vs5 and save your team’s chance of winning. Winning on Dota 2 is 100% a team effort.

Early game items and sustainability

The number one crime I see at low level Dota is a players unwillingness to buy early game items and extra sustainability items in the beginning of the game. Everyone wants to rush the big items but doing this puts you at a disadvantage unless an incredible early lead is obtained.

The mindset seems to be ‘Buying extra tangos will delay my big item purchase’ or, ‘Wraith bands aren’t as good as getting my <insert item here> sooner’. And in a weird, 1 dimensional world that does make sense. Kinda.

These early game items and the repurchasing of sustain allow you to maintain pressure in the lane. This is very important. You may spend an extra 90 gold on tangos, but how many more last hits are you able to get because you aren’t on the edge of death all the time? And a wraith band might set you back On your path to that 15 minute Daedalus (GL), but the extra stats and damage you gain from it will help you secure those last hits AND maintain good pressure on your opponent - Denying them farm.

Conclusion

This is an incredibly basic guide that is more aimed at simply making you think a bit more about your in-game purchases. The gold/item economy in Dota is fairly deep, complex and requires some thought and experience to truly get to grips with. 

Ultimately, maintaining a ‘What do I need to buy?’ vs. a ‘I am going to buy this’ attitude at the beginning of every game will go a long way to securing your wins and your rise to the top! I hope you have found this article useful. 

Got any thoughts on this? Let us know over on our Twitter account @applootbear.

Have a great day!

[lootbear]

Top 3 ways to increase your MMR in Dota 2 - Beginners Guide

Hello there Dota 2 player! Welcome to the LootBear blog. Today we have written a guide that you can use to launch your MMR to new heights. It might even be strong enough to break you free from that MMR hell you feel like you’re experiencing right now. 

If you take our advice and follow these 3 easy steps, you’ll be well on your way to reaching the tip, top heights of MMR heaven. But first we must learn, Grasshopper. Step 1, coming up...

Step 1 - Don’t be a Jack of all trades.

If you’ve heard the phrase then you know its bad to be a jack of all trades in life, and the the rule follows suit in Dota 2 as well. 

When trying to rank up or get a better understanding of the game in general, its usually best to tackle that consistently from the same angle. By picking a main role (carry / support etc) and learning a small pool of heroes within that role can go a long way where MMR is concerned. 

It is far better that you spend the time truly mastering one aspect of the game then it is for you to branch out and try to become sort of... useless Swiss Army Knife of a Dota 2 player. 

Once you have had some success with a certain hero or role (A good win ratio), you can start to expand upon your pool and add similarly skilled / roled heroes. 

2. Be responsive to your teams needs

Being a proactive and reactive player will be one of the most important things you do in Dota 2. Although split into 3 lanes, DOTA is a very team-based game and it is important that you support your team mates in other lanes when they need it. 

Keeping a watchful eye on the minimap is a key part of being a good teammate on Dota 2. You need to watch for when your team are looking for a kill, and similarly when your team are in need of your assistance. 

Denying your enemy early kills by supporting your team mates is very important - Even if it takes you away from farming another lane. By doing this you decrease the risk of their heroes becoming too farmed and snowballing ahead of you. 

3. Learn what makes up a good team composition

The first thing you need to do if you are looking to improve the drafting phase of your game is purchase Dota Plus. Trust me, its fantastic and is going to give you a great insight into what picks are going to work in your current situation and match up. 

The second thing you’re going to do is make sure that you fully understand the role that you are playing and how the game is going to be played.

In general you will want to be familiar with the ‘1-to-5 System’ in Dota, which is used to prioritise the farm / importance of a hero to the teams overall victory. Here is a break down (graciously borrowed from liquiddota.com):

Position 1 - 

A hero in the 1 position means that they have the highest priority for levels and gold on your team. This is your ‘hard carry’. Heroes that fall into this category are the most item and level dependent on your team. They deal a ton of damage later in the game, and generally build towards damage and survivability.

Position 2 - 

The 2 position means that they have the second most need for gold and levels. The reasons can vary, but in general they should be farming any lane that isn’t occupied by your 1. The 2 generally builds toward initiation and survivability items, though some heroes benefit from damage items as well

Position 3 The third most farm dependent on your team, generally builds toward team fight/support items such as Pipe/Drum or initiation items. 3 is generally item independent for most damage.

Position 4 As secondary support on the team, the 4 will build towards the cheaper team fight items like Drum/Mek. The 4 helps on pure support items such as wards, smoke, dust when the 5 cannot afford it.

Position 5 The 5 mainly uses money on pure support items such as wards, smoke, dust, and sometimes regen and teleports for the 1-2 heroes. It is not uncommon to see a 5 hero purchase nothing more than a boots and a wand for themselves the entire game.

Now that you have a better understanding of what each of the roles is supposed to bring to the team, you might be a little more hesitent to steal the last hits from your carry, or a little more willing to keep the map well warded to support your team.

Each role in Dota is important to the others and without a grasp of the importance the roles play it would be very hard to improve.

We hope that this guide was useful to you. Good luck in your next game and let us know if you have any more helpful tips for beginners!

With love, 

The LootBear Team

[lootbear]

Top 5 ways to rank up in CS:GO

‘Global Elite’ - The pinnacle of matchmaking achievement. A goal for many CS:GO players but for every person that achieves it, there are more that get lost forever in LEM limbo and even more than that who end up stuck at the lower ranks.

If you feel ‘stuck’ at any rank then your goal is most probably to rank up. In this guide we are going to share some of best ACTIONABLE tips you can take to instantly better your game.

‘You can’t INSTANTLY improve your game Mr.Stupid-blog-writer-man, it takes hours and hours of practice’. 

First of all, did you just assume my gender? I mean, you’re right but its still not OK to do that these days. Also you’re the one reading MY blog post, now who’s stupid, hmm?!... Anyway now that I’m done insulting you for no reason we can move on from the minefield of a conversation of gender... Yes you can. You can literally change just a few things that will have an instantaneous effect on your game. Lets get into it.

1. Keep your ego in check, be willing to learn.

I can honestly say that an inflated ego or a false sense of entitlement is the cause of skill plateau in 99.9% of people. It’s far too easy to blame external factors that are out of your control for the loss of your game but by doing this you neglect EVERY FACTOR THAT IS WITHIN YOUR CONTROL. Stop making excuses for why you lose to your opponents and focus instead on how you can beat them. Every player that beats you is an opportunity to learn. 

Example - An AWPer on A-Long on Dust_2 is killing you when you try to rush even when ‘HE SHOULD DEFINITELY BE BLIND!!’. Adapt. Try jiggle peaking him instead. Adapt. Try faking the rush and going short instead. Adapt. And if what he is doing ends up being hard to counter - Take what he is doing and adopt it into your own play style when its your turn to defend. 

When you accept that a player is better than you without hurting your precious ego it stops becoming a frustrating dead end and becomes an opportunity to learn. 

2. Work on your communication

So often I hear my friends blame their teammates for losing a game. And whilst you can’t control the skill level of your allies, you can control how you decide to communicate with them. Raging at people, calling them noobs or whatever else you might want to do is a sure fire way to destroy team morale and most likely push them into a downward spiral of no longer caring about the game. 

Adopt helpful, friendly communication with your teammates and see an instant improvement to both the team play and your enjoyment of the game.

Now, in the event that you meet someone that hasn’t read this blog, isn’t taking this advice and is being a toxic idiot then the best thing to do is simply mute them. Do not lower yourself to their level. Remain positive and continue to communicate with the other members of your team. 

3kliksphilip has a great video on this and whilst a little old, the points he covers are still relevant -

3. Give accurate call outs.

This point goes hand in hand with our previous tip but deserves its own point on the list due to its importance. Stop giving bad calls with inaccurate information. 

A few days ago we tweeted out this - 

(you should definitely follow us on Twitter @applootbear if you haven’t already by the way)

There is NOTHING worse in this game (except maybe CS:GO’s update schedule #burn) than rotating to another bomb site based on a call of ‘THEY’RE ALL B’ when in actuality there is only 1 player in tunnels and he isn’t even rushing. Calls like this cause your teammates to lose their competitive positioning (on either team) and can lead to losing rounds faster than throwing a cat over your head can lead to a ban on Twitch. Oh wait, that isn’t very fast at all is it? Okay never mind - its fast. Promise.

Start being more accurate. Call the number of players you hear / see, wait that extra second to decide if they are actually rushing you after all or if they are simply going Lowers to Mid. 

The same goes for being on T side. Giving accurate information on how many players go where, the weaponry etc can go along way to securing you the round. 

4. Learn helpful nades / flashes / smokes for ALL maps.

I feel that, especially at the lower ranks, utility is either underused or misused far too often. CS:GO is a strategic game focused around the common theme of gaining or denying space. There is no better way to deny access to a bombsite than with the use of a properly placed smoke or a well timed molotov.

Learning how to deny your enemy the space they require or to provide space for your teammates can go a LONG way towards securing a win. The longer you can hold off a terrorist team from being able to take action upon a bombsite, the more pressure you put them under. And the same in reverse - The more angles you can deny the CT team access to, the easier the job of taking space becomes. 

No-one (apart from maybe Nadeking) enjoys practicing nades endlessly on empty servers, so what is the best way to learn all of these important throws? 

S L O W L Y. Slowly is the answer. Focus on one map at a time, or even 1 bombsite at a time. Try learning a few key smokes and flashes for bomb site A on Mirage on a private server then queue specifically for Mirage in your next game and put them into practice. Solidify your learning by implementing them in real situations and you will find that you remember things more consistently. Sure, learning a crazy-bounce-off-4-walls pop-flash for someone camping behind an obscure position seems cool but 1 - How often will you actually use that? And 2 - Will you remember it anyway? 

Here is a great guide from the king of nades him self... Nadeking, obviously... To get you started - 

5. Configure your sensitivity properly

Everybody is different. Some people like high sensitivity, some people like low sensitivity. You need to find what works best for you. Do not be stupid enough to google things like ‘ScreaM’s CSGO Sensitivty’ thinking that by copying him you will somehow suddenly get paid to make cringe mouse advertisements too. It doesn’t work like that. 

Personally, I have always preferred a slow sensitivity as I tend to aim with my whole arm vs. just using the wrist as some players do. How did I settle on my sensitivity? By following this guide I found on YouTube - 

It can take a while to get to the final result but trust me when I say that its worth it. Invest this time into getting your sensitivity PERFECT in CS:GO and you will notice an instant increase in your consistency.

Also, please be aware that you should try to maintain a consistent sensitivity across all FPS games that you play. There are many calculators online that can convert your CS:GO sensitivity into any other game you play. This keeps your muscle memory in check and stops you from missing those heads. 

I hope that you have found this guide useful. The most important (and incredibly cliche) thing to remember is that CS:GO is, after all, just a game. If the frustration of losing games is causing you too much emotional torment then perhaps you should reconsider your hobbies. Maybe take up fishing. Chill out a bit, come back to the game when you can control your emotions and focus on your self improvement. 

Thank you for reading and have a great day!

[lootbear]

CS:GO & Dota 2 Skin Comparison

Skins, skins, skins. And even more skins. Oh, whats that? You want more skins? Well lucky for you popular game developers can’t seem to stop pumping them out.

At the top of the ladder in regards to skin markets are the two esports giants - CS:GO and Dota 2. Both of these games have thriving and ever-growing skin economies with the value of some pixels rivaling that of many cars or even houses in some cases.

In this blog we will go over some interesting stats comparing the two markets in an effort to conclude and compare some facts - 

The most expensive CS:GO Skin ever sold

The most expensive Dota 2 Skin ever sold

How many CS:GO skins are there?

How many Dota 2 skins are there?

How much is the in-game item economy worth in total?

So lets get into it.

What is the most expensive CS:GO skin ever?

It should not come as a surprise that the most expensive CS:GO skin ever sold is of course, a Dragon Lore. But there are a lot of factors that come into play when dictating the final value of an iconic ‘D’lore’. Similar to other skins, the wear and float value definitely have an impact on the value but the variation of stickers (and their placements) also come in to play.

In 2018 a Cobblestone Souvenir package was opened containing a Dragon Lore with the combination of  ‘PGL’, ‘G2 Esports’, ‘Cloud9′ (the team that won the major) stickers and a signature from ‘Skadoodle’ (MVP of the winning team) -  which went on to be sold for a ridiculous $61,000. 

What is the most expensive Dota 2 skin ever?

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to those of you familiar with the Dota 2 skins scene that the most expensive skin ever sold was a courier (AKA, an in-game item delivery man). 

It’s a record that was set way back in 2013 (if anyone knows of any more recent and more expensive skins please let us know as we can’t find any!).

The ‘Ethereal Flame Pink War Dog’ courier was sold for a whopping $38,000. But what could possibly warrant this kind of price tag? A Redditor explains - 

"The War Dog is the most sought after courier type, ethereal flame is the most sought after effect, and the shade of pink is very sought after. This combination makes it extremely rare, and one of a kind."

How many CS:GO skins are there?

At the time of writing this blog post there are currently 1680 different skins on CS:GO. This is inclusive of different Phases on Doppler / Gamma Doppler skins. For those of you interested in knowing how many different skins there are for each weapon, I got you - 

AK-47 - 30 AUG - 24 AWP - 26 Bayonet - 35 Bloodhound Gloves - 4 Bowie Knife - 26 Butterfly Knife - 25 CZ75-Auto - 22 Desert Eagle - 26 Driver Gloves - 8 Duel Berettas - 22 FAMAS - 20 Falchion Knife - 25 Five-Seven - 26 Flip Knife - 35 G3SG1 - 23 Galil AR - 24 Glock - 27 Gut Knife - 35 Hand Wraps - 8 Huntsman Knife - 25 Hydra Gloves - 4 Karambit - 35 M249 - 11 M4A1-S - 24 M4A4 - 28 M9 Bayonet - 35 MAC-10 - 26 MAG-7 - 21 MP5-SD - 5 MP7 - 24 MP9 - 23 Moto Gloves - 8 Navaja Knife - 26 Negev - 14 Nova - 26 P2000 - 19 P250 - 33 P90 - 26 PP-Bizon - 25 R8 Revolver - 10 SCAR-20 - 18 SG 553 - 21 SSG 08 - 17 Sawed-Off - 25 Shadow Daggers - 25 Souvenir Tec-9 - 1 Specialist Gloves - 8 Sport Gloves - 8 Stiletto Knife - 26 Talon Knife - 27 Tec-9 - 28 UMP-45 - 25 USP-S - 23 Ursus Knife - 26 XM1014 - 23

How many Dota 2 skins are there?

Oh boy... When I first looked at the list of weapons and skins for CS:GO, knowing I had to count them for this blog I thought to myself ‘well, this is going to be boring.’ And guess what, It was. I wouldn’t lie to you.

Now, when I got to this section... Knowing that there are over 100 different heroes on Dota 2, each with their own skin sets, individual items and arcana’s, different terrain packs, voice packs, wards, couriers, towers skins, gems, pins, cases and so on for ETERNITY. I knew I had my work cut out for me...

... So much work in fact that I simply didn’t do it (Sorry vicious LootBear bears, please don’t eat me). It’s safe to say that the number of individual purchasable in-game items for Dota 2 exceeds that of CS:GO by a LONG shot.

For any of you that wish to count for yourself and let us know, you can find a full comprehensive list of all Dota 2 items here - 

https://dota2.gamepedia.com/Cosmetic_Item

How much is the in-game item economy worth in total?

I want to preface this final section of the blog post with the confession that exact stats on this is impossible to obtain. The information gathered is purely speculation from passionate members of the in-game skin community as a whole.

It has been estimated that the CS:GO skin economy is valued at around 500 million dollars alone. Bare in mind that this estimation is now a year or so old and was estimated based on stats and figures given by popular marketplaces at the time. 

Take into consideration the size of Dota 2 in comparison to CS:GO, the addition of smaller games that have open skin markets (Rust etc), and the number we are looking at is EASILY over one billion USD (that’s $1,000,000,000). If you include games with closed-off marketplaces such as Apex Legends and Fortnite then that number sky-rockets even higher.

We currently live in a world where virtual items in games can be valued higher than your car or in some cases even more than your house. An entire market and economy has spawned around items with no value other than a gamer’s desire to own it. This economy has in turn led to businesses being created (such as LootBear) that provide jobs and security for people all over the globe.

Love them or hate them, skins and in-game items are here to stay and we at LootBear can’t wait to see what the future has in store.

We hope you found this article interesting. If you think we miscounted the CS:GO skins, or if you are brave enough to take on the task of counting the total number of Dota 2 skins in existence, please let us know!

Until next time, 

The LootBear team 

<3

[lootbear]

LootBear - July Updates

Hello LootBear user!

In the past, when changes have been made to the platform, we haven’t always communicated those changes in the best way and we understand that this can be very frustrating for you (our user base). Especially when those changes directly affect your use of the platform.

We are a small company that has grown very fast and is continuing to do so. With this comes learning curves and this is one of them. We strive to offer the best product and service that we can, which is why going forward we will be sure

to communicate any updates or changes clearly and concisely via regular update posts such as this.

Thank you for your ongoing interest and support in our platform. The very creation of a service such as ours was ambitious from the beginning but with your support and feedback we are able to learn, adapt and overcome all challenges set in our path.

With love,

The LootBear team.

Please see below a list of updates made between the period 04/07/2019 - 28/07/2019:

Features

Added an extra security check to further prevent the risk of users falling victim to scams.

Added extra information to items in supplier inventories that are not currently configured to ‘rentable’ - outlining the items estimated revenue if it were enabled for rental.

Added a final reminder of potential profits for a supplier before an item is reclaimed.

Added email verification to make sure users have valid and protected email accounts to allow our support team to better communication with them. This also helps us combat scams / fraudulent activity.

An update was made to allow users that tried to subscribe to a mid or high tier prime subscription, but did not have enough funds, to change their credit card or join a lower tier subscription more easily from a single place.

We added a "Revenue" tab to the transaction history pop up that shows revenue earned from sold/ rented out skins as well as dates.

We added a platform hierarchy to allow users to find skin types and specific wears more easily.

We added breadcrumb links to pages to allow for better platform navigation.

Fixes

Empty tabs on Item Page.

Fixed an issue where some suppliers had made partial revenue on specific days and reimbursed all of them to have the correct revenue.Removed double credit card authorization when activating your new subscription.Fixed an issue where some users got an “Oops” error message when trying to replace their trade url address. Fixed an issue where some users could not withdraw their items due to missing trade history records.

Fixed wrong label on item in supplier page for some items.

We made changes to improve the performance of the search bar on the platform

[lootbear]

What are the chances of unboxing a knife on CS:GO?

Micro-transactions… Love them or hate them, have been a huge part of the gaming industry for many years now and it doesn’t look like they are going anywhere any time soon.

These in-game transactions come in many forms. Some game developers opt to give you an advantage if you are willing to pay for it, whereas others offer purely cosmetic changes in exchange for your dollars.

 Luckily, in the CS:GO world at least, it remains the latter although this hasn’t stopped Valve raking in millions of dollars

Hopeful gamers all over the world continuously sink their hard earned cash into buying keys and cases in hopes of unboxing that ultra rare Karambit Sapphire… And they are sorely disappointed when instead they are greeted with 5 P250 | Sand Dunes and a bad case of ‘Mom, can I borrow $50? I can’t afford food for the rest of the month’

The Odds

Despite knowing the odds are DEFINITELY NOT in our favor, we still do it. I too have fallen victim to the classic ‘Okay, this next one is DEFINITELY a knife’ feeling. But we aren’t here to question the ‘why’ of the situation today, or to feel sorry for ourselves. We are here to investigate once and for all what our odds actually are so that if we continue to indulge ourselves in this gambling, at least we know our chances. 

Luckily we don’t need to spend thousands of dollars buying keys in order to work out the percentages ourselves (though many people have done this previously). This information has been given to us:

In 2018, due to a law in China, CS:GO were forced into making the exact odds public knowledge and they are as follows:

Blue — 79.92%

Purple — 15.98%

Pink —3.2%

Red — 0.64%

Yellow — 0.26%

With the cost of CS:GO case keys currently sitting at $2.34 (If you buy them from the game itself) and the odds of a knife being roughly 1 in 400 (0.25 x 400 = 100. #Quickmaths), this means that you would need to spend, on average, $936 on keys to ‘guarantee’ a knife drop.

This is even more depressing when you think about the percentage of knives that are more valuable than this. Your odds of getting your money's worth is incredibly slim.

In Conclusion

There is no denying that the dopamine release from partaking in a small risks like this is fun. But the facts are clear in that you are SIGNIFICANTLY more likely to lose money when opening CS:GO cases than profiting.

There is some good news though. There are millions of CS:GO players around the world who frequently open a case or two every so often. And guess what — If 400 people open 1 case each, statistically speaking, there should be AT LEAST 1 lucky Russian kid opening a knife.

So what’s my advice? Do the smart thing — Let other people risk their money and save yourself hundreds of dollars by renting your favourite knife from us instead. I might be slightly biased in this conclusion but I mean, come on… $934 vs. $24.99, It’s a bit of a no brainer.

We hope you enjoyed this blog post. Have you opened any super rare knives? Let us know in the comments.