Live pack opening, 30+ packs

[daves]

Seems like the Gold packs are worth it, but I am finding the standard packs are not. Better off buying players individually rather than getting packs.

[Matt Arnold]

Originally Posted by daves

Seems like the Gold packs are worth it, but I am finding the standard packs are not. Better off buying players individually rather than getting packs.

It's the tough call. If you buy all the cards at the auction house, you're not going to save up enough money to get that Kershaw or Johnson or Trout card. But that being said, you can buy an awful lot of packs and not end up with anything usable either. I guess the question you have to ask yourself is, do you feel lucky?

[daves]

Originally Posted by Matt Arnold

It's the tough call. If you buy all the cards at the auction house, you're not going to save up enough money to get that Kershaw or Johnson or Trout card. But that being said, you can buy an awful lot of packs and not end up with anything usable either. I guess the question you have to ask yourself is, do you feel lucky?

No. I don't. I opened over 20 packs and don't feel lucky. But I guess packs are the one true way to get the Superstars.

[genuvar]

This really needs a disclaimer.. results not typical.

In my own 25 I pulled 4 golds, 6 silvers, and a bunch of bronze and trash. 2 of the golds were duplicates which made it even worse. A lot of this seems to be luck and sometimes I feel like I've been designated as unlucky. Looks like I just need to work the auction hall to get my good cards.

[NYY #23]

Originally Posted by genuvar

This really needs a disclaimer.. results not typical.

In my own 25 I pulled 4 golds, 6 silvers, and a bunch of bronze and trash. 2 of the golds were duplicates which made it even worse. A lot of this seems to be luck and sometimes I feel like I've been designated as unlucky. Looks like I just need to work the auction hall to get my good cards.

Isn't the disclaimer the pack odds that are displayed? Your results are pretty close to what's expected if my quick math is right. You got one more gold and one less diamond. That's a little unlucky, but not too bad.

[genuvar]

I get it.. I just want to be one of the lucky few that pulls diamonds and perfects.

[mikezone13]

Play Luis Aparicio, one of the best, if not the best low 60s cards IMO.

[scott1964]

Fidrych was disappointment for my team. Brett Gardner was a surprise.

[Dogberry99]

Originally Posted by daves

Seems like the Gold packs are worth it, but I am finding the standard packs are not. Better off buying players individually rather than getting packs.

I've been giving this a lot of thought, especially with threads like this and others that get into point earning strategies.

I am of the mind that how you spend points should be directed mostly by how you earn those points. Specifically, if you are going to be relying on achievements or real $$$ for the bulk of your points, then targeting specific players in the AH is the more efficient strategy. Points will not be earned fast enough or reliably enough via these methods (maybe with the exception of the big whalers, but that's a different topic) to consistently churn enough packs to reliably upgrade their team.

If you're wanting to churn packs at a decent rate, you need to be competent enough in the market to get above average point yields off those newly opened players you're selling.

Which brings me to the question of which pack is better for the churners? The standard packs have a lower cost of entry, but the guaranteed gold in a 5k Gold pack means that you're starting with a higher guaranteed points floor (ie a gold sells for 1/5 the cost of the pack, which is a much larger percentage than a bronze found in a standard pack). Add in the fact that Golds have a much larger point spread in the auction house than bronzes, and the fact that all other non-guaranteed card draws have the same probability in both packs... I seriously wonder if Gold Packs are the better long term investment for the Auction Gurus.


EDIT: Then again, what do I really know... Not a lot, most likely :-D

[Izz]

Thanks, George_Bell, that was very enjoyable!

In fact, it has pushed me over the edge to get into this mode once beta is finished. I'll be in it for the collecting.

Also, great job on the card designs, dev team! Love 'em!

[Germaniac]

Originally Posted by daves

Seems like the Gold packs are worth it, but I am finding the standard packs are not. Better off buying players individually rather than getting packs.

I don't think so. I think it simply is a question of probability.

Gold Packs include stars, standard pack include them as well, but at a much lower rate of course.

As we saw, the standard packs included Snell, Altuve and Yelich while he didn't get a player with a higher rating than Keuchel's 84 with his two gold packs.

The probability to pull stars with the Gold packs is much bigger, but with some luck you could get the same results or better with standard packs.

Don't forget: You get five standard packs for the cost of one Gold pack, so you get to pull 30 cards instead of six ... okay, your 30 standard cards could be garbage, but you also could pull Snell, Altuve and Yelich out of three standard packs

So this is something everyone of use has to decide for himself, buying in the Auction House is too expensive to get you a strong team, you only can use it to improve at a certain position.

And there is no chance to get the superstars - I saw someone offering Mike Trout for 50,000,000 PP ... okay, there was no bid yet

[The Melancholic]

Gold packs seem like the worst way to spend money to me. You're essentially spending 4k PP to get a random gold player, when I'd guess in the current market only the top ~25% of golds are going for more than that. Either just spend that money on the player you want on the market or spend it on standard packs which give you the same chance to pull diamonds and perfects; which is where the real money is made.

[George_Bell]

My thoughts on the whole system.

I'm thinking that when building your team, your base, buying packs are the way to go. This team had no real base, no real player. My team had A gold closer, a good CF and a solid SS. That was it. Obviously, it's much better now.

In general, now that my team has a base of talent, it probably makes more sense to only target players in the auction. I'm not really an auction guy, but that's just personal preference.

I also won't be buying single packs ever. I just get too easily disappointed. I need to buy in bulk get something to stop my disappointment. Would be great for a discount in points when buying in bulk.

My main worry is long term for the mode. Once i build my team, once i have the players that are good and that i like....what's the point? Lets say after two months i have 25 players i really like, all rated pretty good. I'm never gonna lose those players. I'm not gonna see too much reason to replace guys. Why am i gonna keep spending time on this once the chase is over? And i do firmly believe, that the chase is gonna be over for most, without spending money, in a shorter, rather then longer amount of time.

IMO, the only way to counter this with the current setup is the odds. Less golds, less diamonds, less silvers. Or, you change the system and have players age and eventually retire.

[Matt Arnold]

To me, things will ebb and flow.

Early on, I do think either buying packs, or buying underpriced cards from suction are the way to go. I don't have it directly open, but say the current auction prices hold. Early on with a team, snapping up those cArpenter for 1.5k or Donaldson for 4.5k are fairly solid values, so you use hose in combination with packs.

Once you have a reasonably established team, then I think the auction house will rule. Like my team, I was happy, but wanted an upgrade at SS, so I was bidding a lot for A-Rod, and settled on Larkin, but he cost almost 10k. I tried buying packs, but even 10+ packs of cards you might get nothing usable.

But after that, if your team is "finished", the only ways to get better will be to spend the crazy amounts in the auction house for the perfect cards, at that point maybe opening mass card packs becomes an option. Open 10 regular packs, and now you have a decent chance at pulling a diamond, or some gold's, and maybe you sell them. You might literally get nothing, but if you can't spend 40k in one shot, it's your best chance to find that star that you need.

Which is really the beauty of the mode. Things change. Sometimes the perfect player is on the auction house waiting, but I can't wait forever if they're not there. I'm never buying a Trout or Ruth at auction, so if I want one, the only way is to open card packs. And for all I know, I may still get a pack with someone who just fits my roster that I didn't even know about.

And as well, everyone else might have a completely different way to build a team. This didn't even touch on the strategy if you happen to get lucky with an early pack, what to do with a top player.

[pstrickert]

Since we're approaching the end of the season (and beta testing), I thought I'd use the 4000 PPs in my account to buy some packs. Four packages, 24 cards. What did I get? One silver ("71"), four bronze, and 19 iron. O_o

[km352]

Originally Posted by George_Bell

My main worry is long term for the mode. Once i build my team, once i have the players that are good and that i like....what's the point? Lets say after two months i have 25 players i really like, all rated pretty good. I'm never gonna lose those players. I'm not gonna see too much reason to replace guys. Why am i gonna keep spending time on this once the chase is over? And i do firmly believe, that the chase is gonna be over for most, without spending money, in a shorter, rather then longer amount of time.

IMO, the only way to counter this with the current setup is the odds. Less golds, less diamonds, less silvers. Or, you change the system and have players age and eventually retire.

I have a feeling your "main worry" will be an issue. Even with the adjusted odds we've seen this "year", it's not going to take too long before the opportunities for improvement are too rare to make it more than a "I'll check on my team once a day" endeavor. It's unfortunate (and, tbh, very surprising) that the system wasn't built with player aging.

[acclaim99]

Originally Posted by km352

I have a feeling your "main worry" will be an issue. Even with the adjusted odds we've seen this "year", it's not going to take too long before the opportunities for improvement are too rare to make it more than a "I'll check on my team once a day" endeavor. It's unfortunate (and, tbh, very surprising) that the system wasn't built with player aging.

During the MLB season it'll be a little better, with live series players moving up and down... you may get the player you like, for example, Manny Machado if he goes to NY.... then during the season, bats .175 with 1 hr, and 3 rbis, and 29 caught stealings, and then his overall goes from 89 to 65 and then you have to look for a replacement 3B...

...for example...

I just did 35 packs as well, my previous 15ish packets I scraped up and bought a season or two ago, netted me 4 diamonds, and at least 6 golds...

These 35 got me 1 diamond and like 2 gold.... so it seems to me like the pack odds got fixed.

[km352]

Yeah, it'll be interesting to see how the "live" cards are handled. How much flexibility will there be? e.g. If a "diamond" plays at a "bronze" level for the month of April, how much will his ratings be adjusted? And are his diamond-level abilities stored as a kind of "base level"? Would it be much easier for him to regain his diamond-level status than it would be for a bronze to become a diamond?

[acclaim99]

Originally Posted by km352

Yeah, it'll be interesting to see how the "live" cards are handled. How much flexibility will there be? e.g. If a "diamond" plays at a "bronze" level for the month of April, how much will his ratings be adjusted? And are his diamond-level abilities stored as a kind of "base level"? Would it be much easier for him to regain his diamond-level status than it would be for a bronze to become a diamond?

I imagine it will take way longer than a month for a player to get down graded from diamond to gold.

I can only use The Show as an example, which uses past seasons to factor into his rating. But, if he has a 3 month stretch where he is just awful, then yeah, his live series card should see a decrease. The Show uses their past season to give them some benefit on decreases. When a diamond was decreased, after a month or two, with stats in par with their previous seasons, the player regained diamond status.

So yeah, IMO if a diamond goes gold, then improves, they should be raised back probably quicker than a bronze having a good month or two with no prior experience.

Example is Aaron Judge's rookie year. He had no previous seasons obv, and his card stayed brone->silver for much of the season, until the last month when he finally dipped into gold->diamond. His card did increase during the year, but he didn't have the background to automatically make him a diamond. In The Show 18, he started as a diamond, I think tho. Might be in part of that he was the cover athlete for '18.

[zrog2000]

Originally Posted by km352

Yeah, it'll be interesting to see how the "live" cards are handled. How much flexibility will there be? e.g. If a "diamond" plays at a "bronze" level for the month of April, how much will his ratings be adjusted? And are his diamond-level abilities stored as a kind of "base level"? Would it be much easier for him to regain his diamond-level status than it would be for a bronze to become a diamond?

Is this actually a thing? From what I understand the cards do not change whatsoever until a new version of the game is released.