about $30 is perfect for me, so if any of you guys are willing to do the 4 pack, that'd be awesome.

Yeah, I said something about that on Twitter, but I didn't think to put it on a thread (for fear of some guy called Weclock saying how much Steam sucks). Dunno, seems like a better deal when I get it in retail. The only thing special about the preorder on Steam is the bat, right? You can still use it if someone on the same server has one, right?

you also get early access to the demo, I don't think you can use the special bat if someone has it on the server.
I just think that the $30 some odd bucks is a good price.

Shacknews says if one person has the bat in the server, anyone can use it. And judging by the popularity of L4D2 preorders, it'll be easy to find a person who has it. Besides, I don't care for the bat too much, I'd much prefer the frying pan.

well, I still think 30 some odd bucks isn't bad for an expansion

Probably, but I've already like, preordered it elsewhere, not on Steam. If it's REALLY worth it, then maybe I'll cancel it, but right now there isn't much incentive other than saving a few bucks.

I might be tempted, but I have no desire to pre-order until after the demo goes live. In fact, I prefer to preorder games in the last few hours before release (if a discount is involved) or not at all -- when one isn't involved. Especially now that Valve have taken to fucking us over with release dates.
It's also why I'm preordering* Borderlands from GamersGate and not via Steam.
* And by preordering, I mean setting an order to pending =)

I was champing at the bit for the first one. But I can't honestly say that I got anything like value for money out of it. The replay value wasn't as high for me as many claimed. Especially given the complete lack of content for it. Something pretty hard to overlook in a full price title.
This one seems to offer only one more campaign. Which means 5 hours instead of 4. Unless they do one of their spectacularly cheap sales on it then I don't see me getting it.
Had it been DLC for the first game, that would have been another matter entirely. But splitting the community and thinking that this is enough content to justify the price tag is just dumb.

I'll be waiting a year until the price drops and when the community for L4D2 has grown to a large stable point, if that ever happens.

Wish I could help you out, but I already pre-ordered as soon as it went up.

Oh sure, steam is OMGWTFSOEVILDISABLEDACCOUNTSOMGTHEYSUCK, but when a nice deal for a nice game comes up...

they still are evil, and I really would rather not spend even $30 but I don't think I'll see it for cheaper than that.

Well Keep in mind that this is a Valve game and a mostly multiplayer only game, so Steam is required for it. It's not like he can go get a retail copy that doesn't use steam. I personally only use Steam for Valve games and really cheap games that I won't be too worried about losing. Then again if my Steam account ever gets disabled for some reason that I didn't cause, I wouldn't feel bad at all about Torrenting every single player game I had on there.

I don't know, playing original L4D recently has gotten me to the point where I don't want to play it. Too many little kids, too many "hardcore" gamers that get pissed if you don't do everything to their plans and then votekick you or ragequit.
The thought of more of the same in L4D2 is not appealing.

I bought L4D1 about six months after it came out. They had a weekend deal for $25.
And by that time, there was still no user made content, so it's not like I missed out on anything.