The patcher downloads too, I feel it downloads the same files as steam’s
Ikr, but i would preffer that the patching would be done by Steam instead of the patch, it is faster since Steam mirror all games in different areas for faster download speeds, they could eliminate the patcher or minimalize it like this:
- Steam do the updates (including the update folder).
- You run the game.
- A module do a check in a info file to see if all the files in the update folder had been applied.
- if one or more of them hadn’t, the module will do a call for a EXE patcher to apply what is missing.
Path of Exile have something similar, but seem better that the above example, since Steam do all the applying and you just have to run the game.