To rip packs or not to rip packs
 

That is the question.


I've been mainly using in-game PP to upgrade players. I've spent a few $$ here and there to rip packs too because, well, it's fun, but in general I feel like I've been able to improve the team faster by spending PP in the Auction House. My teams have been pretty competitive in iron and silver - Bees and Giants doing okay in gold at the moment.



Yesterday, I decided, what the heck, and I ripped two packs using earned PP and got a nice diamond Jose Ramirez 96 which is a nice upgrade for my middling Thieves. Then I ripped four packs for my Giants, got a Feller 92 and another high gold which I turned around and sold for a nice profit.


So, as my teams are promoted into Gold and beyond, I have a feeling I'm going to start hitting the wall in terms of competing for a playoff spot, and it's going to take a LONG time to acquire PP to upgrade to higher level players. My Giants are a Negro League theme team which makes it even harder. I don't want to dump much more real $$ into the game at this point


I was thinking about just ripping packs the rest of the way in hopes of hitting a few high level cards. But maybe I just got lucky yesterday.


Thoughts? Rip packs or just let the PP roll in over time?

I do both, I try and save up but on occasion I will rip a few packs in place of some minor upgrade. I refer to my free to play team of course. For a pay team you just whip out the wallet if you see something on the AH you want.

Whipping out the wallet, ah yes, that's my problem - LOL!


I was going to wait and save up PP to acquire Buck Leonard for my Negro League theme team, saw him in the AH, and couldn't resist temptation...



Definitely going to do at least one FTP team next year...

Sounds like you just got incredibly lucky. I've never got a Diamond player from a pack, and never even a Gold player besides from the 5,000 PP pack.

Ripping the Challenge Mode packs is all the pack ripping I need to know it's not worth it. Wednesday is one of the days I do it.. can't wait to open up those 5 Irons and a Bronze.

I didn't really "know" about the auction house at first, and spent lots of my initial PP on packs. Now I'm buying perfectly good Diamond pitchers for around 5,000 PP. To think of all the PP I wasted...

In 19 I pulled a perfect and and a diamond in the same pack yesterday. It's 100% hit and miss but when you hit, it is NICE....

I'm generally of the same mind with you Argonaut. I've had streaks were I've gotten garbage from packs, which is why I've primarily used the AH. But man, think of what you could finance with a 100 card. It's like playing the lottery, I suppose...

As a trading card game player, I can tell you that ripping packs is -EV on the long run. It's like gambling in a casino, you might win early on but you will eventually lose them back if you keep on playing because maths. That's the main reason why players buy singles instead of cracking packs. You can check ebay or whatever and you will see a lot of single cards being sold. Check mtggoldfish and you see they list the deck cards by cards with their single price.

Hitting a wall is to be expected but opening packs is not the answer. You will certainly get more mileage from your PP by buying players from the auction house.

I rip packs now and then mostly for the amusement of opening the packs. If I get good cards out of the packs, well then so much the better.

I also earn the Challenge mode packs and in addition I have a packs-only team that opens packs on a set schedule. So between all of that and the occasional splurging on packs, I get my thrills!

You bought a couple cheap lottery tickets and already won. So now you are considering going back and continuing to buy lottery tickets. The odds are clearly stated and mathematically it would be improbably to improve your team by continuing to play the lottery.

Hypothetical: you're a strong perfect team, and it would take 50k to upgrade a spot on your team, but you refuse to spend a penny more on the game. Would you rip a few packs or save up for 6-8 weeks till you might be able to afford something in the auction house?

You are going to rip the packs, not pull anything, and still have to save for 6 months.

Out of curiosity, where do all those historical 100s in the AH come from?

Is someone printing them in their basement? I pulled a 100 Clemens with my money team and at the time he was going for a pretty penny. More than I would have paid.

That's not really a good question to ask me as I am an extreme F2Per who has zero issue with saving for months or even years -- I am willing to tank 52 weeks and play a full 40 rating lineup for that long if it's legal and there are rewards to be had to play like that. Sam Hinkie is my spirit GM.

But from a more neutral standpoint, I think it depends on your mindset, your level of patience and how EV-oriented you are:

1. "I am impatience and I want immediate boost". Bank on the packs. OR better, crack your wallet.
2. "I think this is the the ceiling of my team. Anything above that is a gift". Bank on the packs.
3. "There are only 40+ weeks before OOTP21 and I could care less about this one after that. I think I have more chance to get more upgrades with packs than 6-8 weeks saving of each". Bank on the packs.
4. "I just want the safest, risk-free way to improve". Saves, and maybe roam the market daily to see if you can find whatever cards you want selling for below market rate.
5. "I don't know when the tournaments will come, and I think saving it up could help me in expanding my card pool by then. I am quite positive I will enjoy tournaments". Saves, but don't feel bad to spend them if tournament is not implemented by September.
6. "I have no idea, but I am not impatient". Well, save up and wait.
7. "I like opening packs, it's the most fun part of the game". Don't let anything change your opinion, pack it up.

Mikecouil is presenting an extreme scenario, which could or could not have happened, but it could be. Anyway, packs are going to be opened no matter what. Different people prioritize and believe in different things. That's good for the game though. Like an actual market, you need different type of people to make it work. Suppliers and buyers are all needed.

If you want the top cards, and dont want to spend money, you have to rip packs and get lucky. It will take WAY too long to accrue the points you need to get the end game players.

Rip packs to stock the AH for me.

And how long will it take to get lucky enough to pull multiple end game players?

Depends on your luck. Some of us on discord have really good luck. Others, not so much.

The more cards you need, the more opportunities there are for the good luck to revert to the mean. If we're looking for 1 or 2, then sure, we can hope to get lucky. But if we're looking for a full roster of end game cards...

Yup, agreed.

I always start by buying some effective guys on the AH and mix in packs once upgrades start getting pricey relative to my budget.

Yea, you are better-off with the AH for real value (of course), but packs are fun.

For my Free-to-play team, to date, I think I have opened about 43 packs. My first pack, I pulled a perfect Chris Sale; after that, about 7 or so golds. No diamonds.

I was just promoted to diamond level after about 3 seasons in Gold. I have not opened-up a pack in a while, so as I sit in last place at 33 and 48 (not scoring runs, or PP at this point), I said OK, let me get a couple packs and see what happens. Well, it did not work out; the highest card was a silver.

So, I guess I am done with the packs for another long while. I will check in once and awhile, and see if I can slowly improve the team.