Loot Boxes one year on. Rolling the dice again

Last year I mentioned my annual dip into the murky world of loot boxes in computer games. Read it here if you missed it https://twtrb.blogspot.com/2020/12/loot-boxes-in-computer-games-my-world.html 

Actually I should probably of read that again before pressing the "buy" button this year because a bit of reflection may have been worthwhile. 

Last year as I mentioned I got 30k Gold, 72 days of Premium and 4 mil in silver. This year I got 28k Gold, 48 days premium,  and 2.9 mil in silver - all down. I should add the price remained the same. The total "value" of all that is about £100, so still more than the sticker price of £85 for the bundle. 

Last year they included some already released low tier Premium tanks in the boxes, and if you got one you already had, you got the gold price as compensation. If you were a new player this was quite good, as it gave you some interesting tanks to play. If like me you probably have them, and anyway don't play low tiers that much, it was a nice boost to gold. This year they've been looking at their spreadsheets and realised that if they released "new" low tier tanks in the boxes not existing ones then the old guard like me would not get the gold compensation........ I can still sell them, but only for silver NOT the more valuable Gold. Kerching............

Now on to the Tier 8 Premiums. Last year I was hoping to get the GSOR tank destroyer, and I did. A year on, how has this worked out? I got three Premiums. The coveted GSOR, an ISU152K Soviet tank destroyer, and an Italian heavy tank the C45. I've played 166 games in the GSOR, 20 in the ISU and 4 in the C45. I do enjoy the GSOR but it's limitations - mostly a reload time between clips about as long as the Christmas holidays mean it is a novelty rather than a first choice, and the others are Ok but of no real interest to me at the moment as I am not really going much on the Italian and Sov lines.

This year there are three new Tier 8 Premiums, and two being recycled. Also for the first time this year the drop rate - ie the chance of actually getting one, was published, and it is 2.4%, so if the dice roll as expected you should (hopefully) get 2 in the 75 boxes. The interesting one for me is the British heavy tank Caliban, plus there is a Swedish and US heavy, and the two recycled models are a Czech Heavy and a Chinese Medium. I suspect my ideal drop would have been the Caliban then the Czech, and I got the Caliban, Chinese and Swede. Nice to beat the odds I suppose.  

So pretty much like last year I think the conclusion is: don't buy loot boxes if you are doing so to get a specific tank - no matter how special you think it is. If you play regularly and would have spent that sort of £££ anyway over the year on premium accounts, fill your boots. 

Loot Boxes in computer games. My World of Tanks experience

In case you don't know , many computer games have "loot boxes". These are items purchased for real money that contain something useful or desirable in the game. They're gambling, pure and simple, and as there is no way to prevent children buying them, they are about as dodgy as they can be. Only Belgium in the EU has had the balls to actually say so and ban them (well done Belgium).

All that stern finger wagging aside I have to admit once a year I do succumb and during the Christmas event in World of Tanks I treat myself to a bundle of these. I regularly play WoT and used to pay a monthly subscription for a "premium" account plus a little extra for in game "goodies". However the structure of the loot boxes (sorry "Christmas boxes") in WoT is that they're guaranteed to include some "Gold" (in game currency) and Premium account time. The last two years I have checked the accumulation of these and have happily discovered that the "value" of a big bundle of these loot boxes in Gold and Premium account time has easily exceeded the amount I would have spent on my monthly premium subscription, so I can justify my gambling as a money saving exercise. Probably.

The other hook of WoT Loot boxes is they can include at random a new Premium tanks. Premium tanks give increased credit returns in games, and cam also be used to train crews for "normal" vehicles. If you play WoT regularly you tend to pick a couple up.  The Christmas ones are not usually available by other means and yes, it means if you want one, you have to buy boxes with no guarantee of getting the one you want. Like I said, gambling pure and simple. Normally for me this isn't a problem - as I explained I don't buy the boxes for this reason, so anything I get is a bonus. Normally....

This year there was a British Premium tank destroyer as one of the three exclusive vehicles. This is the GSOR1008* - a tank that didn't exist except on paper (lots of that in WoT) . And I desired it. Looking at the initial reviews this looks like a very Gucci piece of kit and  will make a good addition to my collection. Problem is, what if I don't get one, or get one of the other two exclusives - you cant swap or trade them. If I got to the end of my bundle and no GSOR, would I buy more and roll the dice, or just say "it was  not to be"?

So I bought my big bundle of boxes, and for the first time felt a little anxious - Did I feel lucky? and I started to open them.

75 boxes cost £85.55 (gulp). You get a 33% discount if you bulk buy (of course).  A full year of Premium time costs £68.72 but I do tend to top up a little through the year as I sometimes buy things with gold so I usually spend maybe a tenner a month (ish).

Box no 3 kicked in the special animation that suggested I had one of the exclusive Premium tanks - excitement mounted but sadly this was the ISU152K - close but no cigar. 

Box no 27 - same animation but this time a GSOR!!! phew.

Onwards and 8 later I got the Bison - the last of the exclusive tanks - so a full house and feeling quite pleased with myself, and still 30 to go.

In the end in addition to the three exclusives, I got:

30k Gold - equivalent of £84.44 to buy, 72 days of premium account (somewhat disappointing) and about 4 million in silver - the lesser in game currency. I'm going to spend some of the Gold to extend my premium account to next Christmas. 

So not too bad.  

However I still think this system is gambling and really should be banned or restricted. I'm sure quite a few parents are going to wake up to a big bill 'cos little Johnny has been pressing the "buy" button on a game account his dad has linked a payment method to.  

*GSOR (I think) is General Staff Ordnance Requirement 

Getting involved

I was prattling on last post about my Covenanter so I thought I would share some happy news. I bought it a set of cammo.

I should explain that in WoT this is a fairly major step, not quite meeting the parents but certainly admitting to your mates you have a steady girlfriend territory. The reason is that it involves real ££ money. WoT is in theory free to play, but you can buy some stuff to make your tank a bit better. You can use in game currency earned in battle, or pay ££. I decided to risk the "Wallet Warrior" jibes and spent 55p getting three different cammo schemes for my Covenanter, Winter, Desert, and this fetching two tone green Summer scheme shown. All in all it has very little in game effect - I get spotted 5% less than before, but spending that 55p has signalled that I don't intend to dispose of the Covenanter when I'm done with it, so its a commitment :-)  

Intermission (3) The other drain on my free time, a wargamers thoughts on World of Tanks..............

I play a bit of World of Tanks (WoT).

Well quite a bit to be honest. I'm not very good at games which require fast mouse and keyboard skills, but luckily WoT is usually more about positioning and tactics. I won't go into details about the game itself, there is enough of that around on the net if you dont already know and are interested, other than to say its a first person shooter except instead of a soldier, you get a tank, and you end up playing in 15 a side battles to either kill all your opponents or capture their base - all fairly basic stuff.

Anyway, here is my current "mount", the A13 Mk III Cruiser Mk V Covenanter, here pictured in my garage

In "real life" this was a bit of a dog. It was a rushed development that only saw service as a training vehicle, mainly due to its tendency to overheat at the slightest provocation. As the main theatre of operations at the time was the Western Desert, this was not a good trait.  It also lacked armour and the 2Pdr was already starting to be shown as incapable of threatening the current generation of German tanks such as the PzIII.

The WoT version is rather different, and serves as a good example of why WoT and the "real world" should never be confused :-). In WoT, the Covenanter is something of a pocket sized killing machine. The more observant will have spotted the gun on my Covenanter is not a 2Pdr. WoT allows you to develope your tanks by researching and adding new equipment. This is the research "tree" for the A13 MkIII

As you can see, one option is to mount a 40mm Bofors instead of the 2Pdr. I'm not sure if this was actually possible, and in the real world why would you, but in WoT this gives you a rather nasty ability to put a clip of 4 rounds onto a target in about 2 seconds. Penetration is much less than with the 2 Pdr, and after the first shot accuracy goes out the window, but if you are in close, and shooting at the thinner sides of targets. that doesn't matter too much.  That's the key, and the ability to switch to a better but more expensive APCR round if you run into something a bit too big. That, and the Covenanters reasonable speed and maneuverability allow a patient player to do rather well supporting the team by scouting and killing off light tanks and tank destroyers from the flanks, then using the time honoured tactic of running away if something big arrives.

There is one thing that WoT has helped me understand about real world tanks, and that is the importance of gun depression and getting hull down. As a wargamer I read many times how NATO tanks had an advantage in finding reverse slope positions, and how Soviet tanks were at a disadvantage due to their poor gun depression. I never really understood this, probably because as a wargamer I see flat open ground as, well, flat. In reality there are always bumps and dips in the countryside too small to be represented on maps or games tables, and our hills are well defined - our table goes from flat to 40 degree hill and back again with nothing in between. WoT has showed me just how important that advantage is, so for instance a Centurion can find a firing position where only the gun mantlet is visible to an enemy, where a T55 would have to expose the whole of the hull.

See, computer games do teach you stuff :-)

 Scouting forward

and the sad pathetic wreck when it goes wrong, but I should add I killed a KV1 and an M5 Stuart, plus damaged two more KV1S before they caught me, so a fair exchange :-)

Intermission (2) Pleasant break before Oblivion

The adventures of the 305th Pioneer Battalion are progressing, although I have just got through the formation and their training, plus their occupation duties in some very nice parts of France. Frankly they're on holiday, with only the stand to after the attack on St Nazaire interrupting what is so far a lovely war, but they are aware they will soon be going East. It was an interesting side light to see how the Battalion has started to transit from Static to Active status. Initially they lost a few Officers and NCOs to units allocated to the first assault on Russia, including their CO. There was genuine shock felt when they heard he had been KIA, along with a couple of other transferees. Then when they were starting to train for Russia they received an influx of fitter and more experienced troops and some of the more sedentary officers have been shifted sideways to other Static units. It's an interesting contrast to the British approach, where they tended to keep the Battalions together. Its a bit strange to think of contrasting this phase with what is to come, and that fact they mostly have about 9 months to live. The other thing that has struck me is the change in tone and style in this book compared with the other Jason D Mark book I have, Island of Fire. In comparison, because the subject is just a single unit, Into Oblivion is a more personal book, concentrating on individuals much more.

I also have to explain the other reason for my lack of progress painting etc. My darling wife has made a very reasonable request that her office \ craft room be redecorated. This has however involved moving the current contents out while we paint and re-carpet. The contents of the room are now distributed through the other rooms on the first floor of the Kommissar House, but this means the door to the loft, aka my man-cave, is blocked by a pair of stacked filing boxes about head high. Sadly there is no other way in, so thumbs are twiddling. Hopefully this will be resolved soon, in fact I'm waiting for the carpet layer to arrive as I type, and once the carpet is down I can get everything back in there and normal service may resume. meanwhile I'm reading Into Oblivion and playing a bit too much World of Tanks