Should i install Origin or not ? pros and cons.
There are only two games i want from there.
I was thinking is it safe to use, meaning does it store card numbers or not, and most of all does it spy on you ?

As far as I've heard it will search your entire hard drive for pirated games and whatnot, and does spy on you.



But that's just what I've heard.

Debunked ages ago. Moment for link.

Edit: The two most relevant links I found with a quick Google search are in and [url=http://www.joystiq.com/2011/08/26/ea-revises-origin-eula-data-collection-is-still-in-collection/]Joystiq. I really hate when articles are not updated with newer info, especially accusatory ones.

It *might* have been spyware once upon a time. It isn't now.

It doesn't store information any more than Steam does - when you fill out your card info, tell it not to store the info for next time, and you're set - but I seem to recall that's at the browser level, not the Origin level.

If you can't get the games you want on another platform, sure, install Origin. It's no worse than UPlay, and only a bit more visible than Steam (imo).

EDIT: words so hard v_v

It is mostly like Steam.

So far my experience hasn't been all peachy though. I started downloading the huge Battlefield 3 game I think I got from Humble Origin Bundle. Towards the end, the download kept aborting itself every 10-20 minutes or so, and I had to resume it several dozen times. Luckily at least resume worked so I didn't have to restart the download from the scratch, but I would have hoped for auto-resume.

I have no idea what the problem was, were Origin servers overloaded at that point (I happened to download it when they offered BF3 for free, so maybe there were a few trrillion others downloading it at the same time)?

Anyways, eventually I got it downloaded and installed, and ran it in order to try the single-player campaign. But instead of starting the game, Origin launched some stupid web page that insisted me of logging in, and it also wanted to install some web plugin into my browser for that game.

At that point I said phuck it, too much work and hassle to run one freaking game which was already installed on my PC. I guess I won't be playing BF3. I thought these clients were supposed to make the whole gaming experience more streamlined and hassle-free, but with BF3 they didn't deliver.

One plus thought, the Origin client seems to work ok also from corporate network (through proxies and strict firewalls I presume), something that the Steam client doesn't for me. Just tested it, Origin is happily downloading Red Alert 3 Uprising (very fast, already 15% of 6GB downloaded as I wrote this sentence :)), while the Steam client complains it can't find Steam servers and only works in offline mode.

Yeah that's a Battlefield 3 thing not an Origin thing. They added it in a patch, IIRC.

Yeah, there's some indications, notably the update process which looks identical, that its been programed by the same 3rd party devs as Steam - that, of course, doesn't mean that it's defiantly not got any extra evil bits that Steam doesn't but it somehow makes me more comfortable with it - feels like Steam's dirty, corporate whore sister or something!
(well, you know, more so)

Quite possibly so, but since both Origin and BF3 are from EA... To me it is a similar case as if e.g. some Valve's game suddenly started requiring logging in through your web browser and installing browser plug-ins, when you run it through Steam.

I was surprised by how non-invasive it is. It's mostly like Steam only without so many community features. And EA aknowledges that Poles use our shitty PLN currency so they don't charge us in Euro which is a nice thing to (no regional pricing even is even better of course :)).
Anyway, Origin isn't as bad as I thought it is :) If you don't mind client based shops - there is nothing to be afraid of.

I got it so I could play Bookworm and my only complaint is that it takes a long time to start a game. Whence the game is running it's easy enough to turn Origin off to save bandwidth which is good for me but having to wait several minutes for all the online checks and logins can be very annoying.

I've heard in some ways it actually exceeds Steam, like a refund policy and better download speeds.

EA might've thought to try and advance their client, even renamed it to Origin, but after a fresh start they just stopped developing it and integrating new features. Their sales are mostly shit and client isn't really lightweight.

I'm having quite good Steam dl speed almost all the time. Around 10MB/s. Might differ depending on a region and server location.

the refund policy is definitely a big plus over steam

Can I ask is Origin accepting of Mods, because I like to install some graphics mods for Dragon Age: Origins.

Also Origin has the Ultimate Edition of DA:O. Does all the extra content gets immedieatly installed? or I have to still access the Bioware website just to install it?

I can't answer - I played only vanilla versions of my Origin games... I don't think it works any different than Steam, but that's just my assumption.