Hello, all, and welcome back to Joe and STO!

It’s been a while since I last updated my Mudd’s Market recommendations post, and I think it’s high time I got around to fixing that.

I’ll try to keep this version of the post updated as new releases come out, but I can’t guarantee anything. Also, Mudd’s Choice Packs/Bundles won’t be included as their own thing anymore as they’re not always available. If I’ve done a preview post and/or Value Series post on a Choice Pack/BUNDLE, I’ll post links so you can see what the ships & items in them were at least going for at the time so you can do some present day math on everything. Some of those posts (but not all) also feature either brief descriptions of the ships & items or link to a post which has that information.

The rest below is a mix of copy-and-paste information from the previous version of this post along with newer updates.

I will note one more change: I won’t be recommending at the 80%+ discount range. It’s only happened a couple of times and never again since. The normal maximum discount is 75%, which puts older items at their Event Buyout prices and puts ships cheaper than their Lobi or Event Buyout costs would have been.

Today, I want to try to shed some light on Mudd’s Market, the reason for its existence (personal opinion[s]), and what to look for when you’re perusing the store.

WHAT IS MUDD’S MARKET?

For the uninitiated, Mudd’s Market is a section of the C-Store where old items that (mostly) aren’t available elsewhere go to be sold directly for Zen.

There’s no randomness to acquiring items from here (unlike the Phoenix Prize Box, which gives random quality Prize Tokens).

There’s no grind-to-get-it-free, either. (Unless you count converting Dilithium into Zen, but at 500-to-1 with a huge backlog, that’s not happening quickly.)

Anything bought here (except the non-ship items in the Choice Packs/MEGA Bundles) is an account-wide unlock via the Mudd’s Market section of the C-Store (they won’t show up in the Event Reclaim section of the Events UI).

In other words, a price is put up, you pay the Zen (bought and/or converted from Dilithium), and you have an account unlock of the thing(s) you missed from a previous Event!

Normal prices for the items start high…for example, 4,000 Zen for a single Bridge Officer (normal C-store pricing is 500 Zen) or 17,000 Zen for the Fek’Ihri S’torr Warship (Winter Event 2018-2019 ship). Let’s put that into dollars (not counting extra Zen Charge Bonuses)…that’s $40 for a single BOFF or $160 for a single ship!

BUT…but…they disclaim in their own listings the following sentence:

“Only a sucker would buy this at full price…”

So if you want an item from Mudd’s Market, you are best to wait for a sale (unless you’re really, really, REALLY desperate and can’t wait for a sale).

WHAT’S A GOOD SALE TO LOOK FOR?

I feel I should go ahead and say something right here: The idea of “good value” or “good sale” is almost entirely dependent on the person who’s looking to buy something from Mudd’s Market.

Are items in here a good value if they’re below standard C-Store/event buyout pricing? Based solely on that number, then yes. It would generally be cheaper to buy those things than if you were to buy them out previously, so go crazy (as long as you have the money and/or Zen for it already).

Are items in here a good value if they’re at standard Z-Store/Event Buyout pricing? Maybe, maybe not. What items have you been looking for? What are your account’s needs?

Are items in here a good value if they’re selling at “normal” pricing? I feel that’s less subjective and more objective at “no.” However, if you have the spare Zen/cash and really, really want something ASAP, Cryptic and the community can’t stop you. You have free will, you know. 😉

With the question of value out of the way, let’s get into the more of the meat of the post, eh?

WHY DOES IT EVEN EXIST?

This is going to be more personal opinions than facts, but I see two reasons:

  1. As more Lockbox/”loot box” legislation gets passed or discussed around the world and more companies go to a system where you pay directly after some exclusivity period for that Lockbox’s prize(s), Cryptic is using this as an experiment to do away with or change Lockbox/Phoenix Box methods of obtaining items/ships. You may pay more, but you’ll get it guaranteed.
  2. Cryptic can’t directly monetize Phoenix Prize Boxes because you can earn them via in-game methods (queue completions, Admiralty rewards, etc., all give Dilithium, which can be used on the Boxes). Putting event items/ships in Mudd’s Market in the C-Store gives them a potential direct revenue stream. Sure, you can grind out the Zen for a Gordie LaForge Bridge Officer…but how long will you have to wait for it to get back to 800 Zen?

WHEN WOULD BE A GOOD TIME TO GET ITEMS FROM MUDD’S MARKET?

When Mudd’s Market first launched, all items were 75% off. Incidentally, this put almost every item down to what its normal C-Store/Event Buyout price would have been. So ideally, any amount over 75% is a true discount and should be considered.

When does that happen? Your guess is as good as mine. Until the start of January 2020, sales were going up more often than not, but the items on sale were seemingly random and weren’t always the same discount. Since then, discounts usually happen when:

  1. The entire C-Store goes on sale (don’t be a sucker at this discount amount; 20% off 29,500 wouldn’t put the Mudd’s Choice Pack of the time below $200).
  2. Mudd’s Market goes on sale itself, where we’ve seen discounts as low as 60% and as high as 85%.

So the question of “when” really comes down to “what discount” instead.

  • No discount (the super high prices discounts are based on): I’d personally say “no,” but it’s your game and interests. You do you!
  • Less than 75% off? If it’s worth it to you, go for it. The closer to 75%, the better, though. That’s generally the “roughly equal with the Z-Store/event buyouts” price on most items.
  • 75% off? It’s on par with or close enough to the Z-Store/Event Buyouts (give or take a few hundred Zen), so you’re not losing anything, really.
  • 80%+? That’s an actual discount, just don’t blow your own budget buying stuff just because it’s on sale.
    • NOTE: This has happened only once or twice (maybe three times) total, so I’m no longer recommending waiting for this discount except in the extremes where I feel even 75% off isn’t worth it. This note mostly stays as a historical reference, though.

WHAT WOULD YOU RECOMMEND?

Of what’s in there store, here’s what I’d recommend and at what discount I’d start seriously considering buying them.

SHIPS

  1. Risian corvette [T6]
    1. Discount Level: 60% if you need to keep up with the meta, 75% if not.
    2. Reasons: The Soliton Wave Impeller Experimental Weapon is among the best right now; one of the fastest ships in the game; Fleet version is a full Pilot ship (complete with Pilot Maneuvers innate abilities) but there may be a bug preventing access to it. (As of 12/23/2021, I’m unsure if this has been fully resolved.)
  2. Fek’Ihri S’torr Warship [T6]
    1. Discount Level: 75%+
    2. Reasons: Looks great in motion, like an old-fashioned hotrod but in space; console is a nice pull toward your ship if you need to get enemies close to you.
  3. Fek’Ihri Fe’rang Dreadnought Carrier [T6]
    1. Discount Level: 75%+
    2. Reason: Honestly, this is almost purely cosmetic. To me, it about could pass for an alien version of the I.S.S. Charon from Star Trek: Discovery Season 1 (from above the Mycelial Sun structure). Plus, it has some decent hangar pets that, at least at one time, were among the best in the game. Some patches to the pets and/or their interactions with abilities may have hurt that, but they’re still good hangar pets.
  4. Elachi Qulash Frigate [T6]
    1. Discount Level: 60% if you like Elachi stuff, 75% if not.
    2. Reasons: It’s not a high-end use ship near as I’m aware, but it comes with 8 Elachi space weapons in any mix you want (fairly hard to get hold of Beams in particular, if I’m remembering correctly) and 3 Ultimate Tech Upgrades that are restricted to Beams, Cannons, or Torpedoes. I’d argue the upgrades alone are worth the 4,750 Zen price when it’s 75% off, seeing as Ultimate Tech Upgrades throughout the year run 1,000-2,000 Zen each. The ship would just be a nice bonus. It’s also one of the few Frigates in the game, acting like a Cruiser with Raider bonuses. Also, if you like unique visuals on your weapons, the Elachi Crescent Cannons (and their like) fire with a green bowed-out energy wave-looking shape. Aagain, if you like Elachi stuff, I think you’ll like these weapons. They’re not a meta choice, but they’re fun to use.
      1. NOTE: The Elachi Disruptor space weapons and the 3 Ultimate Tech Upgrades are one-time claims. Once you get them and use them, you can’t reclaim more. The ship, of course, is account-wide unlocked.
  5. All other ships
    1. Discount Level: 75%
    2. Reasons: None of the included ships are “meta.” The Benthan cruiser has an interesting design but is ultimately outdated; the Vizier completes the C-Store availability of Sovereign-class ship variants all being accessible from the C-Store at some point (Fleet versions nothwithstanding); unfortunately, I never see the Vulcan T’Pau Scout Ship being used, nor do I notice the trait or console being used anywhere.

BUNDLES…I’ll come back to this, I promise!

SPACE ITEMS

NOTE: All past Event items here come with 1 Ultimate Tech Upgrade each, which I tend to value at 2,000 Zen. Currently, all items in this section have an off-sale price of 8,000 Zen.

  1. Corrosive Plasma Weapon Pack
    1. Discount Level: 60%+
    2. Reason: These are account-wide, reclaimable Plasma space weapons, and they’re still good enough at the high end to consider grabbing this pack. The weapons you get will be Bound to Character or Bound to Account, but you can keep reclaiming them until you have what you need. You don’t get to pick the modifiers out of the box, unfortunately, but you can Re-Engineer them. Plus, if you’re always stuck with the “Deal Plasma Damage (Space)” Endeavor and don’t have the Plasma Storm Module console, just claim a few packs of these as Beam Arrays, grab some Plasma-boosting consoles, and do a Patrol. Done!
  2. Voth Power Subcore (+ Ultimate Tech upgrade)
    1. Discount Level: 75%+
    2. Reason: A decent AoE for lower-level toons, especially if you find they’re having issues clearing out more difficult mobs. It also contributes to survivability by increasing shield hitpoints and resistance.
  3. Reiterative Structural Capacitor (+ Ultimate Tech Upgrade)
    1. Discount Level: 75%+
    2. Reason: If you can’t get the Lukari Hokuun Science Vessel or a Dynamic Power Redistributor Module, this is an account-unlocked poor man’s version. It also passive helps Hull Capacity and Hull Restoration. I’d say it’s another good console for a newer toon or one still building up its end-game setup.
  4. Blinded by the Light Pack (Beacon of Kahless + Ultimate Tech Upgrade)
    1. Discount Level: 80%+
    2. Reason: A nice Beacon or Distress Call-style item when you need reinforcements, and it only has a 2-minute cooldown when using similar items (like the Nimbus Distress Call) ahead of it. However, justifying nearly a T6 Z-Store Starship’s worth of price on it is difficult. It also has a blinding visual effect meant to disable all foes within 12km for 8 seconds, but it has the unfortunate effect of needing you to look away from the screen or elsewhere around the map on use to keep from essentially blinding yourself for a few seconds.
  5. Black Ops Mine Launcher (Black Ops Mine Launcher + Ultimate Tech Upgrade)
    1. Discount Level: 85%+
    2. Reasons: A unique type of mine that serves a dual purpose, but it’s not a meta choice. I’d buy these only if they were at a discount compared to buying out the Event from which they came, but even at that it’s a steep ask. Why did I not do a 3-way tie with the final two options? It’s a new item, so I wanted to call it out directly.
  6. Prior’s World Satellite of DOOM (Prior’s World Elite Defense Satellite + Ultimate Tech Upgrade)
    1. Discount Level: 60% if you have a DEW build and can’t get better consoles; 75% otherwise.
    2. Reason: The Prior’s World satellite has a decent Directed Energy Weapon (“DEW”) boost along with a power cost reduction to energy weapons. Best I’m aware of, DEW builds want to try to mitigate power losses as much as possible. In the absence of better consoles, grab this when there’s about a 60% discount. If you just want to ultimately complete a Mudd’s collection or just pick up an older Event item to fill in a hole in the collection, wait for 75%.
  7. Crystal Power Pack (Antiproton Matter Conversion DHC and Beam Array + Ultimate Tech Upgrade)
    1. Discount Level: 85%+
    2. Reasons: Okay, okay! I said I wouldn’t do any recommendations at greater than 75%, but…ouch. The Crystal Power Pack only gives one special Antiproton Beam Array and one special DHC themed to an old Event, and you can only have one of each (or perhaps one among them) equipped at a time. The Prior’s World Satellite is a nice beginner’s addition to your build if you got it for free in its Event. I can’t really justify any price over 1,000 Zen for either of these.

GROUND ITEMS

NOTE: Personally, I wouldn’t pay over 2,000 Zen for a single thing listed except the TOS Holo BOFFs. Bearing that in mind, here are my rankings for importance and/or coolness.

  1. Crystal Barrier of Death Pack (Crystal Prism Universal Kit Module + Ultimate Tech Upgrade)
    1. Discount Percent: 75%+
    2. Reason: One of the best Kit Modules in the game, especially for Endeavors where you have to take out a certain number of an enemy type. Set 5 of these up and you have an AoE set of attacks that kind of act as threat generation, getting some of the heat off you.
  2. Evil Lorca’s Armor (Terran Guerrilla Combat Armor + Ultimate Tech Upgrade)
    1. Discount Percent: 75%+
    2. Reason: A reclaimable armor that, once you give one to a Bridge Officer, you can claim another until you have your BOFF team *and* yourself protected in better-than-normal Armor. Not an end-game item but a decent “heirloom” piece (meaning it can be used at lower levels and scales up with you to a certain point). Its special power makes you invulnerable for a period but after that will damage you per second until you eventually take the damage you should have taken.
  3. Miniaturized Elachi Walker (+ Ultimate Tech Upgrade)
    1. Discount Percent: 60%
    2. Reason: A nice, long-lasting ground pet that can cause quite a bit of damage, at least to Normal-difficulty NPCs. Not a meta device by any stretch, but it lasts long enough that it’s like having an extra BOFF or Fabrication with you. If it survives long enough to get past its 2-minute cooldown, you can summon a new one immediately after your current one is destroyed. At a casual level or if your idea of fun is “Summon All the Things!”, you’ll love this device.
  4. Red Angel Suit (+ Ultimate Tech Upgrade)
    1. Discount Percent: 60% if you like the Red Angel visual unlock or want a Discovery/Burnham look and playstyle, 75% otherwise.
    2. Reason: The Red Angel Suit provides an automatic resuscitation (“res”) on death with a 2-minute recharge. Combined with the Na’Kul Personal Shield, you’ll probably have a hard time dying in missions (not that it usually matters as player death doesn’t end a mission, but some players want to get through missions without a full-on death). You can transform into a Red Angel, providing you a few decent moves and an infinite-but-time-constrained Shield heal and Hypospray. However, it’s not an EV Suit like it is on the show (I recall this being a technical limitation, not a game balance choice), and when you transform you give up your normal weapons and abilities in favor of the Red Angel’s. It’s a wonderfully thematic ground armor and grants the character the Red Angel costume pieces (so you can essentially look like a Red Angel in non-EV Suit maps while still using your higher-end ground armor), but it’s not going to get close to breaking DPS records.
  5. Procured Holo Enterprise Crew (TOS Holographic Bridge Crew)
    1. Discount Percent: 60%+
    2. Reason: At 60% off, this comes in at only 500 Zen more than buying 7 separate BOFFs. Previously only available at conventions, many older players have a free set and like having holographic recreations of characters fighting alongside them. Uhura has Technician and Leadership, helping boost your damage and hull regeneration a little bit until you can get to or afford Romulan SROs, Jem’Hadar Vanguards, a Kentari from the Fleet Colony, any BOFF that can have the Pirate trait, etc. Spock has Astrophysicist, which may be of help to Science builds.
  6. Dino with Freakin’ Laser Beams Attached to Its Head (Bio-Engineered Furiadon Combat Pet + Ultimate Tech Upgrade)
    1. Discount Percent: 75%+
    2. Reason: A decent combat pet, especially early in the game. It can melee with a bite move or do ranged attacks with the Antiproton Beams attached to it. Also, at the right price, who wouldn’t want a dinosaur fighting alongside them?
  7. It’s About Time Pack (Shard of Possibilities, Ophidian Cane, Breen BOFF, Reman BOFF) (NOTE: These are account unlocks, unlike their availability during the now-defunct Featured Episode re-run events.)
    1. Discount Percent: 75%+
    2. Reasons
      1. Shard of Possibilities: Consider this an extra Security Escort. It helps in instances where you’re outnumbered or just need to finish off a boss more quickly.
      2. Breen BOFF: Aside from having a Breen-only or Cold Damage-specific build in mind, to me the biggest redeeming quality is that it can turn into a training manual for Attack Pattern: Delta III. Tanks tended to need it for the Attack Pattern: Delta Prime starship trait. I believe this is now outdated.
      3. Reman BOFF and Ophidian Cane: The Reman BOFF can be decent on the ground, especially if you can use it early on as a replacement for one of your default crew. Otherwise, nothing here is spectacular and just adds a smidgen of value to what’s basically “Shard of Possibilities + 2 BOFFs + 1 ground item from Time’s Arrow in ‘The Next Generation’.”
  8. (TIE) KIDD Drone (+ Ultimate Tech Upgrade) and DOT-7 Drone Fabrication (+ Ultimate Tech Upgrade)
    1. Discount Percent: 75%+
    2. Reason:
      1. KIDD Drone: KIDD is a nice passive extra pet for leveling or for non-serious play. It provides a bit of Phaser damage and can break apart into 3 other pets: Tactical-focused, Engineering-focused, and Science-focused. Though I don’t follow the ground meta as much as I need, I’ve not heard of this being used much. I do see this on a number of characters in Q’s Winter Wonderland, so it’s not that it isn’t popular. I guess the bigger question is, “Would you want a mechanical Wilson following you around constantly?”
      2. DOT-7 Drone: It’s big and doesn’t contribute much toward your damage output. It helps debuff targets (hinder movement and briefly take a ranged weapon off-line), but I don’t think it’s enough to warrant a spot even for Fabrication-based builds. It’s another nice, targetable pet for those who want enemy NPCs to have lots of potential targets aside from you and your BOFFs, though!…I guess?
  9. (TIE) remaining Holo-BOFFS (Procured EMH BOFF, Procured Leeta Holo BOFF, Procured Geordi La Forge Holo BOFF)
    1. Discount Percent: 75%+
    2. Reason:
      1. EMH and Leeta: Available to both Federation and KDF players, these BOFFs are at least better than standard BOFFs for leveling. Neither has space traits, but Leeta does help Kit Performance on the ground and is a decent BOFF on her own on the ground. With the EMH BOFF, Federation players get the Doctor from Star Trek: Voyager while KDF players get an Orion-based NPC model with the same stats as the Doctor. While 80% still puts these higher than standard Z-Store BOFFs, that they were convention exclusives and unlock for all characters help to justify the slightly higher price.
      2. Geordie: The biggest reason to get Geordie is to have Geordie on your Away Team, basically. He has Veteran to help your ground damage and Leadership to help your hull regeneration. He’s only available to Federation characters, ranking him lower than the EMH and Leeta.
  10. Kelvin Timeline Admiral Uniform
    1. Discount Percent: 85%+
    2. Reason: OKAY, OKAY! There are two items for which I’d not pay even at 75% off. Perhaps it’s my own bias showing, but no costume is worth over or near 1,000 Zen. However, I also am not one to dress up myself and BOFFs to specific eras or characters often. It was previously given away in 2016, so my main account has it because free is free.

BUNDLES…FOR REAL THIS TIME!

This section is completely re-written because, well, we have more than one Choice Pack and they’re not always available. Sometimes only one gets relisted on its own, other times multiples come back.

So here’s my general advice, along with links to all the Value Series (and if available, preview posts) I’ve done so far:

GENERAL ADVICE: Do not buy these at any lower than a 50% discount. At 14,750, if you only get ships, this puts each Choice Pack at $140 for 3 ships, a unit price of $46.67 per ship. Obviously, the lower you can go, the better, especially with Zen Charge Bonuses (like Christmas this year, you can get 14,750 for $120, making each ship $40 each). Some Bundles have more ships per choice, others are one at a time. For example, the “Into Darkness and Beyond” pack can have as many as 6 ships you can grab for $140 (when listed and at half price with no extra Zen Charge Bonus), putting your per-ship cost at $23.33 each.

PREVIOUS BLOG POSTS:

  1. Mudd’s “Stealing Time” Value Post
  2. Mudd’s “Faith of the Heart” Value Post
  3. Mudd’s “Choice Pack of Dread” (lumped in with last year’s “Muddsday” 75% off sale, which hasn’t happened yet as of 12/23/2021, if it will happen)
    1. NOTE: There’s not much on these ships. I was extremely busy last year and didn’t get a chance to do a proper valuation post on its own.
  4. Mudd’s “Outta This Wormhole” (DS9-themed) Posts:
    1. Preview Post
    2. Value Post
  5. Mudd’s “Into Darkness and Beyond” (Kelvin Timeline-themed) Posts:
    1. Preview Post
    2. Value Post
  6. “Mudd is in Command” (Command-spec ships) Posts:
    1. Preview Post
    2. Value Post
  7. Mudd’s “Secret Intel” (Intel-spec ships with torpedo-supporting traits) Posts:
    1. Preview Post
    2. Value Post

MY MIND IS NOW CLEAR AS MUDD!

I hope that helps anyone who’s looking at grabbing anything from the Market! If you need a generic breakdown, here’s how I’d look at things from this post:

  • Recommended 80%+ (which won’t happen much, if ever): Avoid unless you really like the kind of thing being offered.
  • Recommended 75%+ (much more frequent): So-so at least, you could get by without the item/ship but you won’t be hurting for buying it.
  • Recommended 60%+ (a bit uncommon but not elusive): Grab it as soon as you can, just don’t go full price. It’s probably a meta choice or close enough that you won’t go wrong grabbing it.

The only exception is the Choice Packs. Usually, 50% off is a good deal, with any discount percent higher than that being a nice bonus. Almost never buy these at full price or even at 20% off the full price; unless you’re desperate, only grab these Packs/Bundles at 50% off or higher.

That’s it for me for now! I may try writing more, but if not, you can about be sure that Value Series posts will continue for at least the Mudd Choice Packs and maybe the Legendary Bundles, but my available time will dictate what I can or can’t do.

Take care and Happy Holidays to everyone!

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