Amazon PCDD - Important Update New Community Manager Incoming!

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Hey CAGS,

I’ve got some news I’m both excited and sad to share with you at the same time. I’ll be leaving the Digital Video Games team in Mid-March to join the marketing team for Amazon.com’s Loyalty and Rewards program, Amazon Coins. My boss and I have talked extensively about how to maintain and continue our presence here and across the other communities we’ve created in the past couple of years. To that end I’d like to introduce you to Josh, who take over monitoring, updating, and responding to this thread. Josh will be ramping up over the next couple of weeks, he  will be posting shortly to introduce himself.

Now that the “what’s going on” part of the message is out of the way I want to tell you all how much I love CAG and the posters here. This was the first community I joined when I started this job (anyone still remember that first thread?) and all of you have had a huge hand in shaping how we think about and execute Community Development and Management here at Amazon, which has in turn shaped my career these last two and a half years.

I started to write out a section calling out the regular posters and realized the list would be both overly long and incomplete at the same time. Instead I’d like to thank you all again, you all have my deep and sincere gratitude. I’ll still be around and my gaming accounts aren’t going anywhere so feel free to hit me up anytime you want to chat. I’ll probably still hang out in the thread too :).

Thanks again everyone, let me or Josh know if you have any questions!

The Indie Store has launched!
Amazon.com is launching a storefront dedicated to supporting and promoting PC/Mac/Web-based Indie Games. Our Digital Video Games team is a small group of passionate gamers and we’re all really excited to help Indie developers reach more customers quickly by providing a quick and simple process for bringing their games to market. Additionally we’ll be supporting the Indie Store with a ton of promotions, both at and after launch. Many of these promotions are designed to give the developer the opportunity to maximize their revenue. For example, Amazon is forfeiting all royalties from bundle sales and passing them along directly to the developer, we’ve also created an “Indie Spotlight” program to help customers learn more about the games and developers they love. We view the Indie developers as some of the most creative in the industry and we want to help them continue to create new and innovative experience for customers.

Why we are doing this:

  • Allow customers to discover an entirely new category of games on Amazon.com
  • Help developers reach new customers quickly. Our onboarding process is straightforward and we want to sell every Indie game available
  • We want to leverage our strengths to support and help the developers who are driving forward innovation and creativity in the games industry
General Information

Hi CAGs,
I'll be posting deals we're running on Digital Games (PC/Mac, Free to Play, Sony/Microsoft Points/Subs).

I'm also here to answer questions you might have, get you closer to the developers by hosting Q&As, setting up podcasts, live streaming gameplay etc. If I don't respond to a question you have in thread please send me a PM. These ping my email address and make it more likely that I will see your question and respond more quickly.


Cheers,
Tony


FYI. EA Games sold by Amazon will not activate on Steam.
F.A.Q.S.:

1. Does the game I'm buying from Amazon Activate on Steam/Origin/Uplay? What DRM does the game use?

There are two places to identify DRM on a digital video game detail page:

At the top of the page, below the title:

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In the "Product Description" section:

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2. Note on Electronic Arts Games - For the most part, EA games sold on Amazon do not activate on Steam. Most activate on Origin.

3. Note on DRM with limited activations:

Our Policy



4. Sometimes I'll do giveaways.

5. I work with developers and publishers to get fun (or at least what I think is fun) content to share with you all. Here are some examples:

a. Check out the Pax Gameplay videos here: Xcom: Enemy Unknown I played Xcom with Jake, the Creative Director for the game, a few months before the game came out Also, on this page, check out the Q&A, also a community driven event.

b. Check out the interview on this page: Borderlands 2 we did this interview at E3 with Randy Pitchford this year.

c. We've partnered with the ++GoodGames Podcast to feature many of the games we carry. They talk to the developers about the game development process, how the games are conceptualized and managed, all kinds of fun stuff. I'm working on putting together full link list and will update when I have it.

What else do we sell?

Xbox Live Points and Subscriptions:

1600 Microsoft Live Points
4000 Microsoft Live Points
12 Month XBOX Live Subscription
3 Month XBOX Live Subscription]
12 Month + 1 XBOX Live Subscription

PSN+ Subscriptions and PSN Points:

$20 PSN Points
$50 PSN Points
12 Month PSN+ Subscription
3 Month PSN+ Subscription

We also have a Free-2-Play store supported by our GameConnect technology. Gameconnect allows you to link your Amazon.com account with free-2-play and MMO accounts so that you can buy things like in game currency, premium game time/subscriptions, in game items, etc. on Amazon.com using your Amazon.com payment options and have this content delivered directly into your game.

5. Price Matching notes: Generally we do not match international retailers (GMG, Gamersgate, etc) or physical retailers (Best Buy, Newegg.com, etc.)
To check out the Free-2-Play games we offer you can visit our storefront here: Free-2-Play Store

 
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Nice thread to wake up to - glad to hear positive things about the Bureau.  I hadn't planned on getting it, but after the generally positive reviews, may need to.  Particularly as I have a coupon I wouldn't otherwise use.

My only hesitation is that Bureau will go in the backlog.... Decisions, decisions...

 
I am sure I am quite late to the party here, but why would anyone prefer to play GTA with a controller instead of a keyboard and mouse?

Why would you intentionally handicap yourself?
If viable, I prefer to play anything with a controller, for the reason of "comfort." My gaming setup is in my bedroom, and I have my computer hooked up to my TV. I game from my bed with one of those arm chair pillows propping me up...I have a little tray for my kb/m to make using a kb/m viable, but playing with a controller is a lot more comfortable

 
Nice thread to wake up to - glad to hear positive things about the Bureau. I hadn't planned on getting it, but after the generally positive reviews, may need to. Particularly as I have a coupon I wouldn't otherwise use.

My only hesitation is that Bureau will go in the backlog.... Decisions, decisions...
If I do buy it, I don't think The Bureau will wind-up in the backlog for me. I really want something (hopefully) worthwhile to play. Seems like it's probably about the right length for me, anyways - i.e. somewhere b/t 6-10 hours.

I'm about ready to chuck Deadly Premonition into the backlog. I'm getting quite tired of the game wanting to crash every 30 minutes to an hour, due to what looks to be a memory leak bug - and the framerate begins to slowly but surely dig from a consistent 60 frames per second to....well, eventually 20 frames and then crashing.

Worst of all - saves are checkpoints...and if you don't find in the game-world (this is easier) or reach a checkpoint before when you're in a main mission before it crashes, expect to lose some game-time.

As much as I like the game, I do NOT want to play Deadly Premonition in short bursts - it is *that* good w/ its storytelling and strange/interesting characters and w/ trying to always keep you wanting to play more...

...but the technical problems are just driving me nuts w/ this thing and I'm about ready to chuck it into the backlog.

 
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If I do buy it, I don't think The Bureau will wind-up in the backlog for me. I really want something (hopefully) worthwhile to play. Seems like it's probably about the right length for me, anyways - i.e. somewhere b/t 6-10 hours.

I'm about ready to chuck Deadly Premonition into the backlog. I'm getting quite tired of the game wanting to crash every 30 minutes to an hour, due to what looks to be a memory leak bug - and the framerate begins to slowly but surely dig from a consistent 60 frames per second to....well, eventually 20 frames and then crashing.

Worst of all - saves are checkpoints...and if you don't find in the game-world (this is easier) or reach a checkpoint before when you're in a main mission before it crashes, expect to lose some game-time.

As much as I like the game, I do NOT want to play Deadly Premonition in short bursts - it is *that* good w/ its storytelling and strange/interesting characters and w/ trying to always keep you wanting to play more...

...but the technical problems are just driving me nuts w/ this thing and I'm about ready to chuck it into the backlog.
Yeah, once I get it, it's in my backlog until there's a patch that fixes its problems, whether that be official or a community patch. For now, it's too broken to bother with.

 
I don't know what it was w/ Confrontation, but after the first few hours playing solo - I was bored; and never came back. Something just felt missing to me and some stuff felt rough around the edges. It wasn't the combat - I actually liked that. I think it was the rest of the game that made me throw up a "Meh." All of the Lore/Info stuff being delegated to the main menu is just...silly - especially when one of the highlights of GoT: RPG was going through all of that Lore stuff in-game; and since that game's story & characters were really good.
I think that's basically the point of Aarklash. They took those combat mechanics (although some would argue they are repetitive - I like them) and put them into a more interesting game. It's 72% metacritic vs 51% for confrontation.

 
Well I think part of the low metacritic score for Confrontation was also the crappy archaic draconian 3rd party Act Control DRM with activation limits that was tacked on in spite of the game being Steamworks no matter where you bought it from, but then it was published by Focus who are living in another century and still love that kind of DRM.

 
I am sure I am quite late to the party here, but why would anyone prefer to play GTA with a controller instead of a keyboard and mouse?

Why would you intentionally handicap yourself?
Because using a keyboard and mouse for most of a GTA game is a handicap? A controller is vastly superior for all driving and tends to work about as well for general on-foot stuff and melee combat stuff. You can also get by with a controller for light gun usage. Any serious gun usage and it's best to quickly switch to mouse and keyboard.

 
Sigh...trying to decide if I should just go ahead with SimCity since with the patch looming (hasn't been released yet, right?).
I've been waffling on it myself but the fact that there's an expansion that costs just as much as the base effectively doubling the price sort of kills the deal for me. Also it's been a year almost so I feel like they can do a little better than $15.

I'll probably pass. I don't know, if they make it $5 or $10 with the expansion, or hell $10 at Newegg with a $10 rebate then I'll bite but since I waited this long $15 for the base and $15 for the expansion and still having several dlc that's not included on top of that is not tempting me so much.

 
Sigh...trying to decide if I should just go ahead with SimCity since with the patch looming (hasn't been released yet, right?).

I've been waffling on it myself but the fact that there's an expansion that costs just as much as the base effectively doubling the price sort of kills the deal for me. Also it's been a year almost so I feel like they can do a little better than $15.

I'll probably pass. I don't know, if they make it $5 or $10 with the expansion, or hell $10 at Newegg with a $10 rebate then I'll bite but since I waited this long $15 for the base and $15 for the expansion and still having several dlc that's not included on top of that is not tempting me so much.
I grabbed it. Looking sweet as hell in my backlog...

 
Is there any chance of LA Noire Complete Edition for $7.50 on the Editor's Choice list before the coupons expire?

 
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I am sure I am quite late to the party here, but why would anyone prefer to play GTA with a controller instead of a keyboard and mouse?

Why would you intentionally handicap yourself?
Not everyone shares your thoughts or feelings. You bigot.

GTAs are designed for controller/console apart from precision shooting they play better with a controller.



It's under-rated in the reviews IMO. it's good as long as you know what you're getting into.

It's not X-COM, though it is pretty satisfying getting to shoot sectoids in the face as an X-COM fan.

It's not one of those squad shooters where you control your guy assisted by the AI.

People complain about the AI sucking but the point of the game is you're meant to micro manage your team mates. Perhaps even more so then you are meant to take part in the fight yourself. You're not meant to sit there shooting at the enemy hoping your team will do the same.

As an XCOM fan, that mostly dislikes shooters, and likes games in which I get to micro manage things - I think it's pretty neat - certainly for the sale prices it sees. it gets bonus points for being unlike any game I've ever played before - I like games that play uniquely.
That's probably the thing I like most about it... it's different. It plays a bit different and the setting is just cool.

Nah, they don't start crap and get better. Your soldiers are skilled at killing things but complete morons tactically. But that's X-COM too. If the enemy flanks your soldiers in X-COM, you have to move them out the way or they're going to die. The only thing the AI will do for you in X-COM is a reaction shot. And equally the only thing your troops will do here is return fire whilst moaning about how shot up they are getting. It's up to you to relocate them to sensible cover, heal them, and direct their use of special moves.
Well said. Jibes with my experience. I'm grateful for the all-on-me button when getting flanked.

I know, I'm asking a lot of questions here....

Hmmmm - so I guess my next questions are...

Are there multiple difficulty modes?

And if yes - what difficulty did you play on and how easy/hard was it?
Rookie

Squaddie

Veteran (default)

Commander

I'm playing on squaddie since the game has a hard rep (I want some challenge but I'd rather experience the game to completion). Squaddie and Rookie let you change out agents at resupply points mid-mission. You can change your difficulty mid-game.

I have a friend who beat it on Squaddie and Commander. Commander was a royale pita.

If viable, I prefer to play anything with a controller, for the reason of "comfort." My gaming setup is in my bedroom, and I have my computer hooked up to my TV. I game from my bed with one of those arm chair pillows propping me up...I have a little tray for my kb/m to make using a kb/m viable, but playing with a controller is a lot more comfortable
Sorta this. I spend enough time over a KB/M I like to kick back with a controller when viable, but I'll use KB/M when appropriate (e.g. The Bureau). It can affect which game I play since sometimes I really don't want to use the KB/M.

 
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I grabbed it. Looking sweet as hell in my backlog...
I don't know, for some reason stuff in my backlog on Origin gets even less notice by me than Steam or even Desura backlogged games, both of which I browse regularly and go 'Yep, really ought to play that some time'.

With Origin I don't really ever go there unless I actually want to play something that I don't have on Steam and by play I pretty much mean the stars have to be aligned on a blue moon on a Tuesday on February 29th.

 
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Okay I have run through both GTA III and Vice City a bit and Ginput works very well on both of those games. However it seems no matter what I do I can't get Ginput for San Andreas to work at all. Has anyone gotten Ginput to work for San Andreas yet? How did you do it. I've tried a few different asi launchers and downgrading the version both to 1.0 and 1.01. I've read all the readme files and done everything written. Nothing works. Help please?
That's because SA doesn't have an asi loader, you need to download it.

 
Sorry this is maybe stupid question but will GTA Trilogy work on Mac?
Yes, GTA III, VC, & SA... it was part of my reason for rebuying on steam (you get PC & Mac version). The steam version of the Mac ports is the best (better than the Mac App Store ports, and something else, I forget.)

 
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Thanks a lot guys :) 

So when I buy it from Amazon I will get 3 keys(GTAIII,VC,SA) that are good for both systems?I don't need to choose which platform I want?

Really sorry but it's first time when I am buying something for mac.

 
Thanks a lot guys :)

So when I buy it from Amazon I will get 3 keys(GTAIII,VC,SA) that are good for both systems?I don't need to choose which platform I want?

Really sorry but it's first time when I am buying something for mac.
IDK, you probably get one key. When you redeem your key on steam you'll get both the PC and Mac versions (GTA and Civ IV are odd in that the Mac versions are actually separate library entries... i.e. you'll have two entries for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas)

 
What the hell is wrong with the EC list. So apparently Tomb Raider is on the list, but it doesn't show up here for me

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=amb_link_397955742_2?tag=cheapassgam08-20&ie=UTF8&docId=1000728511&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-5&pf_rd_r=1663XKTQ5ZYVCYY7DGY3&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1711272062&pf_rd_i=979455011

There are supposed to be 123 items there, but I only see 94? WTF?! The 5th page is empty and there are only 9 items on the 4th.

What else am I missing?

 
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Thanks a lot guys :)

So when I buy it from Amazon I will get 3 keys(GTAIII,VC,SA) that are good for both systems?I don't need to choose which platform I want?

Really sorry but it's first time when I am buying something for mac.
Yes.

GTA Trilogy on Amazon has a separate key each for each GTA3, VC, and then SA.

That's 3 separate keys in total.

Once activated, You'll have 2 separate entries for each game on Steam - one for Mac, one for Windows.

It wont tell you which one is what - but you'll know, b/c it wont let you DL the a Mac version if you run Windows.

Then you'll know the other one is for Windows. :D

 
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I don't know, for some reason stuff in my backlog on Origin gets even less notice by me than Steam or even Desura backlogged games, both of which I browse regularly and go 'Yep, really ought to play that some time'.

With Origin I don't really ever go there unless I actually want to play something that I don't have on Steam and by play I pretty much mean the stars have to be aligned on a blue moon on a Tuesday on February 29th.
I kind of had the same problem, and I also have Desura and Uplay. I put Origin on Beta update channel so I'm invested in opening it from time to time to see if there's any updates. Strange incentive system, admittedly.

 
What the hell is wrong with the EC list. So apparently Tomb Raider is on the list, but it doesn't show up here for me

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=amb_link_397955742_2?tag=cheapassgam08-20&ie=UTF8&docId=1000728511&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-5&pf_rd_r=1663XKTQ5ZYVCYY7DGY3&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1711272062&pf_rd_i=979455011

There are supposed to be 123 items there, but I only see 94? WTF?! The 5th page is empty and there are only 9 items on the 4th.

What else am I missing?
I could tell you, but I can't handle your rage right now.

 
What the hell is wrong with the EC list. So apparently Tomb Raider is on the list, but it doesn't show up here for me

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=amb_link_397955742_2?tag=cheapassgam08-20&ie=UTF8&docId=1000728511&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-5&pf_rd_r=1663XKTQ5ZYVCYY7DGY3&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1711272062&pf_rd_i=979455011

There are supposed to be 123 items there, but I only see 94? WTF?! The 5th page is empty and there are only 9 items on the 4th.

What else am I missing?
It's been like that the whole sale, there's never really been any explanation as to why. It's pretty well known that Amazon's entire system for selling digital games is really poor (no cart, doesn't take some forms of credit, bad coupon tracking, frequent mistakes, etc), so I guess we all just assume this is something similar and ignore it at this point. Basically the only way to know for sure if you have a credit and if it works on a specific purchase is to try to buy it and see what happens.

 
I am sure I am quite late to the party here, but why would anyone prefer to play GTA with a controller instead of a keyboard and mouse?

Why would you intentionally handicap yourself?
Thanks for being the least helpful person here.

 
So whats the verdict on simcity? Is it worth it or should I save my money?
That's a tough one. I really love the series and I liked SimCity 2013 at first... until I realized how limiting the small cities can be. The online stuff was a pain, but they've worked through that by now. And you can treat a Region as your "city in parts" and play it that way... but things don't always work the way they are supposed to (had it just been one large city).

It looks really nice and it does give you that SimCity fix. It's just inferior in many ways to the games that came before it.

I've given up on the game and just play SimCity 4 when I want to Sim. The biggest thing keeping me from coming back to 2013 (now that offline is happening) is the sheer amount of DLC. I'm waiting for a massive sale.

So...

+ Looks nice

+ Lots of things have been patched in and fixed

+ Supposedly opening up for mods

- Lots of DLC

- Small city size

 
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Vouchers have a psychological impact as though they are real money. This thread is full of people saying they are going to "waste" their vouchers by not using them. Which is ridiculous to think that you need to buy a $10 game you didn't really want just so you don't "waste" a coupon. I don't think that being given a list of sale games to choose from (because you're in the EC club) encourages the same spending.
I think you're slightly missing my point: I agree that the vouchers have that psychological impact and that an EC "closed club" might be better for customers who don't realize that.

But the problem with this method is that it's not as lucrative to the publishers (because this means less exposure and sales for EC games) and they are therefore less likely to offer similar level discounts.

Planning ahead and letting people about at least some of the EC prices and games could have addressed the concerns of "coupon hoarding" customers, without the issue I mentioned above.

I am sure I am quite late to the party here, but why would anyone prefer to play GTA with a controller instead of a keyboard and mouse?

Why would you intentionally handicap yourself?
This is because games like GTA were designed for controller from the get-go, and it's the keyboard+mouse combo that is actually handicapping you.

This is especially true for GTA IV onwards where auto-aiming was enabled when shooting enemies (so delicate accuracy which the gamepad lacks is not required). Handling a car with the keyboard on the other hand is simply god awful because of the missing analog precision associated with both the thumbstick and triggers which the core game pretty much relies on.

And don't even get me started on chopper control... I only very recently finished playing TBOGT on the PC (after playing the original and TLAD on the console), and mid game I simply had to stop and set up my console gamepad just so I can make the frustrating experience more bearable.

 
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My most played game of last year. It's incredibly addictive.
It does look fun, I honestly never bought it based on principle alone. Taking a franchise, stripping it of much of it's core gameplay, then forcing people to play online...nah. I was strong and resisted buying it. The patch coming and the $20 price could be enough for me to jump though.

I don't know, for some reason stuff in my backlog on Origin gets even less notice by me than Steam or even Desura backlogged games, both of which I browse regularly and go 'Yep, really ought to play that some time'.

With Origin I don't really ever go there unless I actually want to play something that I don't have on Steam and by play I pretty much mean the stars have to be aligned on a blue moon on a Tuesday on February 29th.
Same here, I rarely play my Origin stuff. I really like to have my games organized better and while I know I can technically make it so Steam launches them it's just one more "service" I have to use and have achievements and collections for. I own a PC to have A SINGULAR PC, not what's effectively 3+ "consoles" on it.

I grabbed it. Looking sweet as hell in my backlog...
My backlog is large at the moment, lol. I mean my FULL backlog is MASSIVE but even my "I'm going to play them and give them a full shot...really I am!" backlog is getting big with the addition of a lot of the good XBL sales. Right I'm trying to justify holding off on the nextgen consoles by keeping myself busy with PC/current gen stuff.

 
Looks like they've run out of GTA IV keys as bundles with it are now unavailable. Maybe if Tony can get more keys he can get a deal on GTA IV Complete as well?

 
I enjoyed Sim City for a couple of weeks before getting tired of it. The small city size itself didn't bother me because I remember filling out the map in past games to have ultimately been hollow victories. Instead I made three small cities with a different specialization that all traded with each other. It would have been great if highway chokepoints weren't so terrible at the time.

As for worth, I would say it should have launched at $30 or $40. It's normal price now should be $20, and it's sale price should be $10. So the current price is fine if you really want to play it, but it's not really a deal as much as it is what it should cost anyway. My opinion.

 
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Looks like they've run out of GTA IV keys as bundles with it are now unavailable. Maybe if Tony can get more keys he can get a deal on GTA IV Complete as well?

Have you seen this?

Pre-coupon

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009SPZ11Q/ - BioShock Infinite - $9.99

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D2CZS9Q/ - Need For Speed Rivals - $18.18
Thanks for the info .. updated spreadsheet.

What the hell is wrong with the EC list. So apparently Tomb Raider is on the list, but it doesn't show up here for me

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=amb_link_397955742_2?tag=cheapassgam08-20&ie=UTF8&docId=1000728511&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-5&pf_rd_r=1663XKTQ5ZYVCYY7DGY3&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1711272062&pf_rd_i=979455011

There are supposed to be 123 items there, but I only see 94? WTF?! The 5th page is empty and there are only 9 items on the 4th.

What else am I missing?
The OP or ashes's sig or Sepioth's sig...
Neither the OP, nor ashes's sig is updated. I'll try Sepioth's.
The EC pages on Amazon have been like that from the start. Not sure why they are messed up. Maybe the reason for games like Tomb Raider (and all the recently announced Square games) not being on it is because the game was just added to the EC list so the EC pages have probably not been updated.

I try to keep my list updated as much as I can. I update using whatever info I can gather from the posts here (and reddit). I usually update it daily when I get home from work (Around 5pm EST)

 
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