Obviously you have to work within your fiscal limits, but personally, this is the one game (or series) where I don't use Steam. I know people make it work fine, but I find it easier to play this without Steam and it's extra layer of complication when playing with mods/addons. Steam is great, don't get me wrong, but to me (and it's just a personal preference), paying a little more to play all the mods/addons for Arma2 is worth the extra couple of dollars to not have to deal with Steam.