Good day, Joe and STOers! STO celebrates its 13th anniversary (and my 11th!), and with it comes another Anniversary Bundle.
For 2020 and 2021, this was a Legendary Starships bundle, which came with multiple ships and all of their previous gear, traits, and skins. All of them had at least slightly different setups compared to their previous versions. These were great values for anyone who missed out on those ships’ previous incarnations (at the time of release).
Last year, the 12th Anniversary Bundle gave us 4 new Terran ships and an account-wide unlocked Lock Box ship: the Mirror Engle Strike Wing Escort (best known for its Superior Area Denial hangar pet trait, allowing hangar pets to do Beam: Fire at Will or Cannon: Scatter Volley when you use that ability).
This year, we’re following the same pattern as the 12th Anniversary…but with a bit of controversey that ended up adding value to the Bundle.
THE BUNDLE CONTENTS…that were originally planned.
On February 11th, we got to see the contents of the Bundle.
Now, you’re probably looking at that new-style Prometheus/Hestia in the top-left or the now-T6 Aquarius on the bottom-right and going, “Cool! Terran Multi-Vector Assault Mode, and a lesser-known Raider getting T6 treatment for the first time ever!”
Or you could be focusing on the bottom-center ship.
You see, since last year’s Bundle came with a highly-desired Lock Box ship as an account-wide unlock, people were anticipating the Styx, Acheron, or Mirror Warship (the latter of which is a meta monster for at least its trait).
And what did we get?
A Mirror Crossfield Science Destroyer.
…okay, it wasn’t confirmed, but considering last year’s “Lock Box ship + new Terran skin” addition, everyone expected similar, so we assumed it was the Mirror Crossfield.
Reactions were…not pleasant, to say the least. You can likely just go to that thread I linked and see the reactions (including mine, and you know I tend to spread positivity!). Why? Because the Mirror Crossfield was effectively already released in the C-Store…as the Legendary Glenn Temporal Operative Science Vessel, which while not technically the same, effectively was in all the ways that mattered, including having the Mirror Crossfield’s skin, its Experimental Weapon (which does next to nothing for DPS, so use it for the theme in Normal content), its Console (which may have seen some use in the past for being a Phaser buffer that boosted damage on Critical Hits), and its trait (which doesn’t get a ton of use anymore, if it ever did, though if you’re starting out into the meta, I’d say it’s not a bad trait to have available until you can get more into what the meta traits are.)
So, we get to Tuesday, and we get a new tweet, and a new addition to the Bundle.
Yeah, you’re noticing that ship on the far right, eh? Based on the hull geometry, that can be none other than the Styx Terran Dreadnought Cruiser, the ship on which the Acheron‘s design is based.
And there was much rejoicing! For you see, the Styx is a versatile platform. It has high enough Command spec seating to be a Torpedo boat, it’s a good platform for Energy Weapon builds (possibly due to the Intel seat and the Command-spec damage buff it can activate after using so many Bridge Officer abilities), and it’s likely one of the better Tank ships in the game (meaning it can tend to take enemy NPC attention off others onto itself and not have much trouble staying alive).
And this comes at no additional cost!
So anyway, we’re here with a now SIX-ship bundle…plus other goodies.
Wow, the community can be so dramatic WHAT’S THE VALUE IN HERE!?
Hold up! Hold up! I figured you’d want to know why this is a 6-ship bundle rather than 5-ship.
But fine! Let’s break down the Bundle.
13th Anniversary Bundle Contents
- 6 account-wide starships
* 4 new Terran-themed ships (with Starfleet-themed skins): Eagle (Aquarius); Hydra (Prometheus/Hestia); Sirius (“Galaxy-X” Dreadnought); and Monitor (Nebula).
* 2 previously Lock Box/Promo ships: Mirror Crossfield Science Destroyer (Promo); Styx Terran Dreadnought Cruiser (Lock Box) - Many “filler”/extra items.
* Bundle-Exclusive Skins for 3 of the new Terran ships and the Crossfield.
–> The Terran Eagle doesn’t have an exclusive skin as it’s a new model anyway.
–> These skins tend to be Terran versions of previous ship versions’ models, e.g.: the Terran Hydra gets a Terran Prometheus skin.
* A T6 Ship Coupon Box, unbound
–> This means this could either be a ship or ~300-500 million EC toward a desired Lock Box/Lobi/Promo ship (depending on market conditions at the time of sale).
* 6x Experimental Ship Upgrade Tokens (“T6-X tokens”), unbound
–> This means you could either upgrade all 6 ships or sell them for ~34 million EC each/~204 million EC total.
* 6x Active Ship Slots (given to the character who buys the Bundle).
* 13x Ultimate Tech Upgrades (Bound to Account)
* 13x Master Keys (Bound to Character box; box opens into Bound to Account keys).
* Bundle-exclusive Terran EV Suit, infinitely reclaimable.
–> Based on the EV Suit seen in the opening cinematic of “Firewall.”
* Bundle-exclusive Terran Dr. Beverly Crusher, reclaimable.
* Bundle-exclusive Warp Bubble Ruptures Kit Module.
* Bundle-exclusive Title: “Storm Chaser*
VALUE…GET TO THE VALUE!!!!
Sheessh, alright! Grumpy pants readers…
Real Costs
Let’s look at the full price, 25% off price, and 35% off price in terms of real cash (this will be the only time real cash is discussed. Translate what the Zen prices mean as we go.). Keep in mind, if you have leftover Zen and/or are expecting to get Zen from the Dilithium Exchange, your actual cash paid will be different.
The Zen charts for no Zen Charge Bonus (taken from the old Arc Zen Purchase page):
- No Zen Charge Bonus
- Full Price: 17,500 Zen takes $170 to buy ($100 + $50 + $20 = 10,000 + 1,000 normal bonus + 5,000 + 300 normal bonus + 2,000 = 18,300 Zen)
- “25% off” Intro Price: 13,125 Zen takes $140 to buy ($100 + $20 + $10 = 10,000 + 1,000 normal bonus + 2,000 + 1,000 = 14,000)
- “35% off Bundles” Price: 11,375 Zen takes $110 to buy ($100 + $10 = 10,000 + 1,000 normal bonus + 1,000 = 12,000 Zen)
- PRICE RANGE: $110 – $170
Now let’s look what happens at a standard 20% Zen Charge Bonus (I’m only covering Zen Charge Bonus. If you want the 20% discount numbers, just take the numbers above and multiply by 0.80.).
- 20% Zen Charge Bonus
- Full Price: 17,500 Zen takes $140 to buy ($100 + $20 + $20 = 10,000 + 3,000 total bonus + 2,000 + 400 extra bonus + 2,000 + 400 extra bonus = 17,800 Zen).
- “25% off” Intro Price (current until Thursday, February 23rd, early afternoon): 13,125 takes $110 to buy ($100 + $10 = 10,000 + 3,000 total bonus + 1,000 + 200 extra bonus = 14,200 Zen)
- “35% off Bundles” Price: 11,375 Zen takes $100 to buy ($100 = 10,000 + 3,000 total bonus = 13,000 Zen).
- PRICE RANGE: $100 – $140
Zen Valuations
So the valuation’s quite easy on this one, I feel. (As a shortcut, 1 Zen = $.01; 100 Zen = $1; 500 Zen = $5; and 1,000 Zen = $10 [these are all the same rate, but those are usually easy amounts to divide out and add into later]).
- For the new ships, I just used their Z-Store price of 3,000 Zen and showed what they’d cost at discounts of 20% – 35%.
- For the Mirror Crossfield and Styx, I took their value, found how many Keys or Promo Boxes I’d need to buy one, and used the lowest possible price using the best Key or Promo Box value.
- For the Styx, there was 1 on the Exchange, so I got to use its ~1.2 billion EC value.
- For the Mirror Crossfield, I didn’t notice any on the Exchange, so I assumed a ~1.5 billion EC value.
- In both cases, the best scenario was using Delta Expedition Duty Officer “Promotion!” boxes as they had the highest value and easily beat Keys in EC-per-Zen value.
- For the other items, I explained myself in the spreadsheet. I didn’t list the asterisked items in order; I added notes as clarification felt like it was more necessary.
Okay, now, here’s the meat-and-potatoes of this series…the calculations!
So purely objectively, if we count all the ships and all the items that can have some Zen value, we’re looking at a ~$165-$175 bundle coming in with ~$270 in value given the absolute best case separate sales that could happen. (Though I kept the Crossfield and Styx prices constant as general player-driven market prices don’t tend to fluctuate too much.)
If you only count ships, you’re getting around $190-$200 worth of ships for that $165-$175.
Regardless, the extras are always extras: they’re nice value-added things that help you think about buying, but they’re not near the majority value of the bundle.
Now, I’m sure I’ll have this question: “But what about the Styx and Mirror Crossfield? What if we don’t have the ideal situation of Delta Expedition DOFF Promo packs to sell?”
Here’s a bonus for you all…my calculations on the Styx using Keys, lowest-valued “Promotion!” boxes, and Delta-specific Promo boxes. Just take the numbers I have above and substitute what you feel is the realistic value for either/both ships. 🙂
But I don’t like the [insert ship(s)/item(s) here]. What do the numbers look like then?
Well, you can always manually subtract out the value of the things you don’t like to see how far ahead you come out. (I’m not comfortable with sharing files themselves, so I politely ask you just take the numbers I have, grab a calculator, and start subtracting the thing(s) you wouldn’t want.)
For example, let’s say you don’t like the Monitor and the Mirror Crossfield and don’t count the extras as they’re “fluff” (okay, a T6 Coupon isn’t exactly fluff, but we’ll say it is for this purpose). Here’s how your calculations may look:
So if your valuations are based on a Z-Store 35% discount and you only counted the ships, you’d be a fool to pay full price or even the current 25% off price because you’re effectively losing value. At full price, you’d be paying 17,500 Zen for only 11,450 worth of value; at the introductory price of 13,175, you still come up 1,725 Zen short of perceived value (you’re effectively overpaying $20 for things you don’t want).
However, let’s assume this whole Bundle goes to 35% off with a Bundle sale in a few months. That changes things a bit! Then, you’d be paying 11,375 Zen to get 11,450 Zen’s worth of value. Granted, it’s not a large savings, but you’re now in your window of being able to buy at/near your desired price and get all the value you figured you’d get. Who knows? You may try the Monitor and love it! The Bundle becomes a better deal, then.
Oh…but I forgot the ~6,700 Zen worth of value in the Items section. Technically then, you’d effectively break even at full price (17,500 paid vs. 18,183 in estimated value), but you don’t want to break even, you want a steal! So if you value those items the way I have them above, you’d be fine to pay at 25% off (13,125 paid vs. 18,183 in value) and even better if you can wait for a 35% discount on the Bundle.
So What’s Your Recommendation?
Well…objectively, you have the value quite easily. That’s all I can really say for sure.
If I had to answer personally, it’d probably look like this:
To me, the Mirror Crossfield has no value for one specific reason: I have the skin, equipment, and trait for it from the Legendary Glenn Science Vessel.
While I have a Styx, it’s only on a single character, and I’ve loved that ship every time I’ve used it. So the Styx still counts.
As for the other ships, I don’t believe 35% sales come around on regular Z-Store ships, so I’m valuing them personally at the 2,250 each they could be. So 13,400 in my pic and add back 1,200 Zen (as the 35% estimate is 300 Zen too low per ship), and I get a value of 15,600 Zen on a 13,125 purchase before counting the extras.
I can sell the T6 Coupon (I have most of what I’d want from previous releases), I need the Starship Slots on one of my characters (Picard-era theme, and we’ve had a lot of canonized ships lately!), I can sell the T6-X tokens, and I like the EV Suit look. Everything else is pure “fluff”, even the Master Keys as I don’t tend to buy Keys for use anymore. This puts me at 20,033 in value (adding back 1,200 on the Z-Store ships’ estimates likely being too low) for 13,125 Zen. That’s not a bad deal, I think!
But your valuation may be totally different. Just the Styx? Under ideal circumstances, that’s a low value, but you may view the value in Keys since they’re readily available and very liquid (meaning they can be sold for EC quickly and easily), so you may view the Styx itself as basically worth the pack at 35% off (11,375 Zen for the Bundle vs. 11,750 Zen just for a Styx).
Also I can point you to another valuation source so you have a 2nd opinion. AstroAlligator broke down the contents like so:
But ultimately, it’s up to you to decide, and that’s the entire point of this series. I present you the information that I and perhaps others have compiled, while you take it and work with it to make the best decision for you.
General Schedule of Posts or Lack Thereof
So you may have seen I did a Ko-Fi fundraiser to fund the 13th Anniversary Bundle on the trade that I do ship reviews for at least the 4 new ships (I later extended this to all 6 account-unlocked ships…yes, including the Mirror Crossfield!).
With some very generous help, it hit its goal! I’ll do a separate post mentioning people involved, but I was overwhelmed by the response it got in its 11th Hour. I’m grateful and blessed to have generous readers. 🙂
That series will take priority over anything else that may get posted here for the next 2-3 weeks.
What I plan to do over the next few weeks:
- The Seneca series takes a break. I’m done with the F2P and “2-hangar 5/3 setup comparison” posts, and that was the vast majority of what I wanted to do with it. If I find time next month, I’ll do some solo ISNs with more meta-defining items and traits and do more comparisons to the F2P models and between the Hiawatha and the Suilban Silik.
- The “Grand Experiment” will be updated once or twice before the end of the 13th Anniversary Bundle ship reviews, but it’ll be loooowwwww quality, like “copy-and-paste from general notes done in a Word Processor” kind of low.
- I’m hopeful to have at least 1 review of one of the new Terran ships out by Tuesday-Wednesday of next week, then one review every 2-3 days after. The highest donator chose the Eagle, but it’s having issues with Torpedo cooldowns. I was told the issue was more in mixing the new console with Ferrofluid Assembly, so that should be fine, but if it’s the console itself for some reason, I’ll likely delay that one until it’s fixed. We’ll see!
Until then, continue enjoying Star Trek Online!
Joe and STO 