Hello, all, and welcome back to Joe and STO! It’s been a while, and I apologize. Life has gotten hectic, and it hasn’t left a lot of time to do much related to the blog (it’s a pet project, which tends to mean it’s the first to get cut. 😦 ).
With a new Mudd’s Choice Pack releasing tomorrow (at the time I’m typing this), I wanted to try and at least put out a quick valuation blog on the contents and some sample ship selections to try to help you get the most value out of this Choice Pack.
THE SHIPS
Let’s look at the 4 ship choices you have.
FOREWARNING: Crossfield and Sarcophagus
So…there were no Crossfield-class Science Spearheads on the Exchange.
There also were no Sarcophagus Dreadnought Carriers (I copy-and-pasted the word “Sarcophagus” as I was sure I’d misspell it. :p )
But there were (past tense because I don’t know what it’s like now) some Choice Boxes for a Discovery Starship, which lets you choose between a Crossfield-class Science Spearhead or a Sarcophagus Dreadnought Carrier.
For these ships section, I’ll still separate out the ships, but the spreadsheet data will be the same.
Crossfield-Class Science Spearhead
(WARNING: This is not the Refit. This is the original Crossfield released in 2018.)
As you can see, depending on how we count out the price of the ship in terms of Keys, the cheapest “Promotion!” boxes, or the higher-valued “Promotion! – Delta Alliance Duty Officer Pack” items and with a mixture of different discounts (buying at certain discount prices, then reselling after supply has dried up after the discount’s over), we get a range as low as $60 (selling only “Promotion! – Delta Alliance Duty Officer Pack”s) to as high as $100. The most common cash price for a Crossfield is about $80 (which covers anything ranging from above 7,300 Zen to right at 8,300 Zen to acquire all necessary Keys or Promo Packs).
Sarcophagus Dreadnought Carrier
Told you I’d just copy-and-paste! But in case you skipped the Crossfield section:
- Best case: $60
- Most likely case: $80
- Worst case: $100
Dhailkhina Strike Wing Warbird
I had to go with a UI-based screenshot, else you’d never see the “Dia Vectau” ships from the Bombing Run console.
Again, the best case looks to be around $60 using Delta Alliance “Promotion!” packs bought at a 30% discount and re-sold later. The worst case is buying Master Keys without a discount, currently taking $120 worth of Zen. The most likely case seems to be $80-$90, with a few $100 requirements.
Wouldn’t you know it!? The exact same low-end pricing the Discovery ships got! Super easy section here.
- Low: $60
- Most Common: $80
- Worst Case: $100
THE OTHER ITEMS
Let’s say 1 or 2 of these ships aren’t your thing. What else can you get?
(NOTE: Z-Store pricing is used for as many items as possible.)
(NOTE 2: Pictures are taken from previous Mudd Choice Pack announcements and are property of Cryptic Studios)
(WARNING: No items from this section are sellable on the Exchange or tradeable with other players. They’ll all be Bound to Account. In the case of Lobi, you can buy ships and some uniforms/pets and sell those on the Exchange. Check their binding rules in their individual tooltips. In the case of Master Keys, items you open will follow their traditional binding rules. For Ultimate Tech Upgrades, you can sell the item(s) you’re upgrading so long as they’re not already Bound in some way.)
Master Keys (x50)
Seeing as a 30% sale rarely happens on Keys, I’ll leave it out.
You’re looking mostly at $50 worth of Keys, but at full price it’d take $60 of Zen charge to buy those same 50 Keys.
Experimental Ship Upgrade Token (x9)
For 9 Experimental Ship Upgrades (“T6-X Tokens”), you’re looking at a range of $40-$60, depending on the discount amount. However, consider that, to some degree, getting T6-X Tokens is cheaper via the Phoenix Prize Pack (since they made some changes to it a few months ago) and that they’re available during the 2-week Galactic Red Alert Event as a completion prize, and you could also argue their real value is effectively $0.
However, I’m going with the most likely way to get so many tokens in a short period of time, which means the Z-Store as that’s always available (glitches notwithstanding).
Lobi Crystals (x300)
This one’s a bit trickier to track! Promo boxes always give 10 Lobi (unless you get a ship, in which case you’ve won, go use it or sell it!), so for the Average Joe it takes 30 Promo Boxes to get 300 Lobi. That’s easy math!
BUT…but…Lock Boxes give a minimum 4 Lobi but can award much more, though the community-spread average is 5 Lobi per Lock Box over a long-enough run of Lock Box openings.
Because of that, I’ve separated the Key-based pricing on only getting the minimum number of Lobi (4 per box) and betting on the long-run Average (5 per box).
Promo boxes can get pretty close, but ultimately Keys are the cheapest way, assuming you get the 5-per-box average. That’ll take $50 worth of Zen to buy enough Keys. In the worst case, it’s $90. The most common range seems to be $60-$70.
Ultimate Tech Upgrade (x10)
Here’s the controversial point. You see…you normally need a roughly $20 purchase to get 1 Ultimate Tech Upgrade.
* Key Ring Bundle: 2,250, but these usually are on sale at least at 15% off, so a bit north of 1,900 Zen, taking $20 to buy.
* Most Mudd non-Bundle items: 2,000 Zen on 75% discount, which is right on $20 worth of Zen.
However, one could argue that Galactic Red Alerts run often enough that the effective price is $10 each (as the one-week version of the Event has a $10 Buyout).
So no spreadsheet math needed here!
- Best Case: $100
- Worst Case: $200
Again, you could argue that, since they’re available for free fairly often through the year, they’re effectively $0. So here is where I’d leave judgment up to you: if you feel they’re worth $0, count this as fluff, but if you feel worth = purchasing price, consider $100-$200.
WILL THE SHIPS MAKE THE CHOICE PACK AND/OR MEGA BUNDLE?
If you’re like me and you’re mostly in these for the ships, here’s the breakdown of the various choices along with their best-case and worst-case scenarios.
Only one trio ranks under $320 under the worst case: Crossfield, Sarcophagus, and Jem’Hadar Recon Ship.
All best-case scenarios will run $180 to obtain one copy of each ship you could choose.
But there’s one teeny tiny complication…Legendary Ships.
Legendary ships have all the consoles, traits, special equipment, and skins of all then-previous versions of the ships.
Welllll…two of these ships already have Legendary versions available.
- Legendary Temporal Operative Science Vessel (“Legendary Glenn”)
- Legendary Jem’Hadar Vanguard Pilot Attack Ship (“Legendary Bug Ship”)
This means that if you own either or both Legendary ships for the Crossfield and Jem’Hadar Recon Ship, you’re effectively wasting a ship choice by getting those UNLESS you want one or both ships in particular for their ship setup (specific weapon layout, specific BOFF setup, specific Console numbers, and/or specific Hull, Shield, and Turn Rate stats).
For example, let’s say you’re a Directed Energy Weapon/Science hybrid (“DEWSci”). The Legendary Glenn has 4 forward weapons and 2 aft weapons (“4/2”), while the original Crossfield-class Science Spearhead is a 4/3, fitting an extra weapon in the aft slot. If you have the Legendary Glenn but feel that extra weapon slot from the original Crossfield is worth it, pick the Crossfield as one of your 3 choices (or spend $300 [on sale], grab the MEGA Bundle, and don’t worry about choices. 😉 ).
SOOO…let’s say you’d only get the ships that aren’t Legendary or otherwise available outside of Lockboxes yet. Those are the Sarcophagus Dreadnought Carrier and the Dhailkhina Strike Wing Warbird.
That’s really close to the value of the Choice Pack at 50% discount. Do you think you can justify $20 on 10x Ultimate Tech Upgrades, even if you “value” them at $0 each (which would average them to $2 each looking at things this way)?
FINAL VERDICT ON COST VS CONTENTS
So what does all this tell us? For $140 (remember, $100 gets you 11,000 Zen, so amounts that otherwise would be $110 up to $190 are at least $10 less to buy).
- If you went with just ships for your Choice Pack, you’re good. We’re looking at a range of $180 – $320 of value on a $140 (+ tax) purchase.
- If you already have the Legendary Glenn and Legendary Bug Ship, any other choice will eclipse the $140 barrier except maybe the 10x Ultimate Tech Upgrades, depending on how you ultimately value those.
- Interestingly enough, if we count Ultimate Tech Upgrades at $0, any other non-ship non-Ultimate Tech Upgrade option except choosing T6-X tokens for all 3 of your options will be worth at least $140.
- For the MEGA Bundle, using best-case pricing, discounts, etc., you get $380 worth of value from getting everything once over (again, not counting Ultimate Tech Upgrades, but if we had to value them, you’re looking at $480-$580 of total value).
In other words, depending on how you count Ultimate Tech Upgrades, you almost always get $140 minimum value out of this Choice Pack (again, except for choosing T6-X tokens as all 3 of your options).
IS IT WORTH IT?
That’s…really up to you.
Did you just want a Crossfield but didn’t want to pay nearly $200 for the 10th Anniversary Bundle? Here ya go! (though this isn’t much cheaper, admittedly.)
Are you planning a Picard-era Romulan and need the Dhailkhina? If you assume the worst case on Key reselling, you might as well put up $20 more and not only get it account-wide but also grab a few other upgrades or a pile of Lobi.
Do you like Discovery-era Klingon designs? The Sarcophagus is extremely hard to come by. Paying a fixed price (and having it account-wide unlocked) may be worth spending a bit more than what it would have taken for just one copy of the ship on one character.
Does nothing appeal to you? Then don’t buy it. Easiest $140 I can save you!
Personally, I’m jumping on this, but it’s all for personal reasons.
- Sarcophagus: I had one years ago, but I sold it to help afford the Miracle Worker D7 Carrier. I’ve loved the D7, but I’d always wished I could grab a Sarcophagus again.
- Dhailkhina: I’m making a Picard-era themed Temporal Recruit once that event reruns. This is among the last ships I need to have everything that’s in Picard and is also currently available in STO. (The last ship is the Deimos Pilot Destroyer. It may have been part of the Synth attack on Mars, but it was a Federation-emblemed ship.)
- I’m not eure what to do with the 3rd choice. I’m thinking the 300 Lobi (as, paired with a couple of promo packs, is enough for 2 Lobi consoles on sale), but I’ve thought about the original Crossfield due to it being a 4/3 layout versus the Glenn’s 4/2.
BE KIND
Remember, everyone, that all players have a reason to play or not play a certain way, to buy or not buy certain items. Let people enjoy their things. Consistent negativity will just drive people away.
Be constructive in any criticism you deliver to anyone or any business, but remember to be kind to the players. After all, it’s just a game, a game I feel most readers enjoy for one reason or another. 🙂
Until next time, which I don’t know when that’ll be (maybe to post up combat and visual overview videos of these ships), take care and continue enjoying Star Trek Online!
Joe and STO 