How Many Battles In A Premium Ship Before It Pays For Itself?

[The_Finnster]

So I think it was   @Negativvv  who mentioned in a comment thread recently that he won't be getting any more Premiums until he felt he had got his money's worth on the ships he already had and the guesstimate was around 200 battles. If you're a wallet warrior like me who gluttoned out on the old 'summer sale' model (WG, pls bring back proper doubloon sale and tech tree), you're probably sitting on a heap of Premiums - but have they earned their keep?

 

So then it got me thinking: how many battles would it actually take to get your real life money's worth?  And how do you measure the financial payback on your ship?

 

Since Free Xp can be converted from elite xp with doubloons and doubloons have a monetary value, would that be the simplest way?

 

ie. Would it be possible to work out from my average experience per ship how many battles would be required to 'break even' based on the average amount of Free XP it would generate (no flags)?

 

For instance, my average cruiser xp is around 1,500 per match and that's probably the same with my Payfast. How many games would I have to play with the Payfast to 'break even'

 

Math types out there, can you come up with the numbery stuff that figures this out?

 

 

 

 

[Allied_Winter]

2 minutes ago, The_Finnster said:

And how do you measure the financial payback on your ship?

I'd say that's something very personal and thus highly subjective: To me, the fun I have with e.g. the Belfast payed off after the first few battles. I usually simply take the price for a movie ticket and the time I spent at the movies and compare it with that. And since the Belfast continues to be fun, she gets cheaper and cheaper... Of course only in relation to the movies. It still cost me ... what was it 35€?

 

Apart from that ... don't know, since a Premiumship doesn't print real money, I doubt there's an actual payback involved. I mean, sure you can earn dubloons in Ranked, but you could also rank up in a silver ship.

[ColonelPete]

XP wise that would be easy, but you should not forget the captains XP and the additional credits.

And since the extra credits are not known, that will be hard.

 

I would just take the guess of 200 games. When you have done that many games in a premium, you can be sure you profited.

[The_Finnster]

3 hours ago, Allied_Winter said:

I'd say that's something very personal and thus highly subjective: To me, the fun I have with e.g. the Belfast payed off after the first few battles. I usually simply take the price for a movie ticket and the time I spent at the movies and compare it with that. And since the Belfast continues to be fun, she gets cheaper and cheaper... Of course only in relation to the movies. It still cost me ... what was it 35€?

 

Apart from that ... don't know, since a Premiumship doesn't print real money, I doubt there's an actual payback involved. I mean, sure you can earn dubloons in Ranked, but you could also rank up in a silver ship.

 

On the fun scale, yeah, instant payback - even if you're just mining salt. I'm just curious as a thought experiment.

 

3 hours ago, ColonelPete said:

Xp wise that would be easy, but you should not forget the captains and the additional credits.

And since the extra credits are not known, that will be hard.

 

I would just take the guess of 200 games. When you have done that many games in a premium, you can be sure you profited.

Yep, that's why I thought if you just limited it to Free Xp generated based on one's own average xp per ship excluding all other factors. 

[Hugh_Ruka]

You are paying real money for entertainment. Logically there's no way a premium ship will pay for itself since it is NOT generating you any real money.

 

Since you pay for entertainment, the answer is very subjective.

[The_Finnster]

2 minutes ago, Hugh_Ruka said:

Logically there's no way a premium ship will pay for itself since it is NOT generating you any real money.

Yes, I know that. But there is an equivalence in terms of Free Xp and this is effectively a currency in-game.

 

Clearly, taking my kids to The Incredibles 2 movie yesterday cost more than my Belfast and we all had fun. Likewise, paying for  Premium ships is the same: fun.

[That_Other_Nid]

I buy ships because they have abilities the line lacks or because they are more historical than the silver tree ships. Leningrad and Kutuzov -  and to a degree Anshan which was a surrogate for a decent Gnevy prior to the Pan Asian line. 

I buy ships because they are storied and I have crush on them. Yubari and Katori.

I buy ships because they are OP and stupidly good fun. Ohotnik.

I got them in a box at christmas. De Grass and Gulio Ceseare.

[Valkyrie514]

After paying in both time and money (a week and £74) to grind the Musashi, I kind of feel like it has already payed for its self since just having it in the port is a joy, and it is really fun to play. Most other premiums I usually like to get 1 hour per £ spent,  then consider it a worthwhile purchase. I have a long way to go on a lot of my premiums currently.

[Loke56]

As said earlier, I think it is very subjective.

I personally look at the games worth as a whole. A game costs what 40 euros today. (sorry I dont use euros so i dont know the worth)? So i just say the game is worth that amount to play for an entire year. If I spend it on premium time or a ship doesnt matter as long as im within the budget. 

[El2aZeR]

Honestly this is easily calculated as doubloons, which can be bought for money, can be converted to credits at a normal rate of 1 to 1500.

Lets say you buy a 50€ premium ship. For the same amount of money you can buy 14.500 doubloons which are equal to 21.750.000 credits.

If you then earn 200k credits on average with said premium ship you're gonna need ~109 battles before you start turning profit.

 

PSA: Don't convert your doubloons to credits. It's a ridiculous waste of money.

[philjd]

Wow, if it's supposed to be 200 games per premium ship, then I will be playing my premium ships for the next 2 year at this rate (closest to that for me is Atlanta, which I've had since way way back, and 199 battles in her, next being Harekaze with 123.. in fact.. if I add them all up.. I have 7053 battles to catch up on...so at my current rate of play.. 2 years worth... but at least it would be 'grind free'.

 

Edit - I Like @El2aZeR's calculation, only have to play only premium ships constantly for 1 year to break even :)

[El2aZeR]

2 minutes ago, philjd said:

I Like @El2aZeR's calculation, only have to play only premium ships constantly for 1 year to break even :)

 

Honestly 200k is on the low side in my experience. If you earn 500k on average you'll only need to play 5 battles.

[__Helmut_Kohl__]

1 hour ago, The_Finnster said:

So I think it was   @Negativvv  who mentioned in a comment thread recently that he won't be getting any more Premiums until he felt he had got his money's worth on the ships he already had and the guesstimate was around 200 battles. If you're a wallet warrior like me who gluttoned out on the old 'summer sale' model (WG, pls bring back proper doubloon sale and tech tree), you're probably sitting on a heap of Premiums - but have they earned their keep?

 

So then it got me thinking: how many battles would it actually take to get your real life money's worth?  And how do you measure the financial payback on your ship?

 

Since Free Xp can be converted from elite xp with doubloons and doubloons have a monetary value, would that be the simplest way?

 

ie. Would it be possible to work out from my average experience per ship how many battles would be required to 'break even' based on the average amount of Free XP it would generate (no flags)?

 

For instance, my average cruiser xp is around 1,500 per match and that's probably the same with my Payfast. How many games would I have to play with the Payfast to 'break even'

 

Math types out there, can you come up with the numbery stuff that figures this out?

 

I doubt that this is the way to approach things in life.

In my free time, I spend my disposable income on things that I enjoy.

 

Did I buy a lot a stuff (especially in Warships) that I do not need ? Definitely.

Do I regret it ? No, because I was having fun.

 

Just make sure that the income you are spending is indeed disposable.

[Hades_warrior]

1 hour ago, ColonelPete said:

I would just take the guess of 200 games. When you have done that many games in a premium, you can be sure you profited.

So im far for about 75-80 battles until that number. But even then I wont felt that Missouri was good investment for me.

[Gnirf]

52 minutes ago, The_Finnster said:

So I think it was   @Negativvv  who mentioned in a comment thread recently that he won't be getting any more Premiums until he felt he had got his money's worth on the ships he already had and the guesstimate was around 200 battles. If you're a wallet warrior like me who gluttoned out on the old 'summer sale' model (WG, pls bring back proper doubloon sale and tech tree), you're probably sitting on a heap of Premiums - but have they earned their keep?

 

So then it got me thinking: how many battles would it actually take to get your real life money's worth?  And how do you measure the financial payback on your ship?

 

Since Free Xp can be converted from elite xp with doubloons and doubloons have a monetary value, would that be the simplest way?

 

ie. Would it be possible to work out from my average experience per ship how many battles would be required to 'break even' based on the average amount of Free XP it would generate (no flags)?

 

For instance, my average cruiser xp is around 1,500 per match and that's probably the same with my Payfast. How many games would I have to play with the Payfast to 'break even'

 

Math types out there, can you come up with the numbery stuff that figures this out?

 

 

 

 

Sort of Like this 5% FreeXP x 1500 cruiser XP = 75 On Belfast 50% More (camo) =37,5 FreeXP. 1000 Games gives you 37500 FreeXP - then you see that it takes forever and not worth it in pure FreeXP terms.

It is only the FreeXP that you generate beyond a silver ship that is interesting. Be aware that some ships like Anshan has extra FreeXP rate. But also that higher tier ships like Tirpitz have through a mission a camo that also gives extra FreeXP thus you might get benefits for free that you do not know about.

To have a Perma Camo on a T10 also gives double FreeXP as the Camo gives 100 % XP. 

 

It is the training thing that costs, making Pretrained captains in a ship that performs, In the Giulio Cesare I have produced at least 4 captains on 10 p soon for a future RM line.

The difference in playing experience, historic value , enjoy watching it in port, the collector value, the ability to generate eliteXP if you have a 19 p captain.

 

I would say it is not economic to think pay back on pure FreeXP terms, it is when you reach that point that you start get elite XP and training captains that the value in objective terms provided that you buy captains etc, you can naturally train captains on silver ships too but then it is tierwise 50-100% longer in time, camos and extra flags disregarded. So generating things per hour goes slower in silver ships, and you could not produce elite XP except if you have 19 p on that particular ship , but if you have several premium you can use same captain on several ships, which on 100%-200% first win bonus days will be important, and they can be used for any nation.

 

F.e. I have a Chapayev captain, if I like I can get the first win bonus from Kutuzov, Molotov, Kronstadt, Murmansk, Krazny Krym, Oleg , Diana, Auroram Varyag. Absurdly much and most of them I never play , it is more efficient to play Kutuzov only on normal 50% days, but when it is 200% like in early July....., Yamato on Musashi, Kii, Mutsu , Ishizuchi , Mikasa.

 

So the value of elite XP/FreeXP sort of increases with the number of ships that you have if they can share one captain.

 

As the value of these sideeffects are different for the players it makes it difficult to calculate.

Personally as I have so many premiums now, I have sort of reached the number that I do not need more for XP generating , I do not have time to play them so now it is back to pure gameplay/collecting value. 

 

You must feel the urge to play.  

 

Sorry for the long post - but if you only value a ship because of its FreeXp generating abilities, it is in the Perma camo , you get better value by buying a perma camo on a silver ship you like to play and perform well in.

[AgarwaenME]

21 minutes ago, El2aZeR said:

Honestly this is easily calculated as doubloons, which can be bought for money, can be converted to credits at a normal rate of 1 to 1500.

Lets say you buy a 50€ premium ship. For the same amount of money you can buy 14.500 doubloons which are equal to 21.750.000 credits.

If you then earn 200k credits on average with said premium ship you're gonna need ~109 battles before you start turning profit.

 

PSA: Don't convert your doubloons to credits. It's a ridiculous waste of money.

 

To be a little more accurate, that would be 200k MORE per battle than you could get in a different non-premium ship.

[VC381]

1 hour ago, Allied_Winter said:

I'd say that's something very personal and thus highly subjective: To me, the fun I have with e.g. the Belfast payed off after the first few battles. I usually simply take the price for a movie ticket and the time I spent at the movies and compare it with that. And since the Belfast continues to be fun, she gets cheaper and cheaper... Of course only in relation to the movies. It still cost me ... what was it 35€?

 

This is basically what I do as well. I buy premium ships more because I care about playing a specific ship than the economic values, so I consider those a bonus and just calculate cost per time used/enjoyed compared to other entertainment.

 

Normally I consider £1 per game a minimum, with £1 per hour (approx. 3 games) ideal. So depending on initial price and whether they were on sale that can be as little as a dozen games. Minimum for T8 is 30-40 games. For me all my premiums, except one or two I got really recently, have been "worth it" quite quickly although I admit many have not been used to ideal levels. I still like having them around though, love my variety!

[AgarwaenME]

To add to this, not playing ships where you can use the xp to progress tech trees has an implied cost added to it, but as has playing a prem where you already have a 19pt cap and thus aggregate elite xp to use in a captain for a new line added value.

 

But as a major reduction in any such value, is the (admittedly rather few I bet) people who are at a place where credits are above any value where you ever will be struggling to buy what you want anyways.

[The_Finnster]

2 hours ago, That_Other_Nid said:

I buy ships because they are OP and stupidly good fun. Ohotnik.

This is a stupidly crazy fun ship.

[tenacious_torps]

This is easy. If you're not absolutely certain you will have a lot more fun in a premium than you would have otherwise, prem time is the better investment, since it will increase your profits across the board. Which is not, for example, depending on changes in the meta or rules of the game, so not only is your investment yielding better results, it will also do so a lot more reliable.

 

If that wasn't convincing, ask yourselves this: do you trust WG's stewardship of the game enough, to be even sure the game's life span is even long enough for breaking even with your premium ship? I have my doubts, considering how prone to complete clusterfornications they are.

[Hugh_Ruka]

2 hours ago, El2aZeR said:

 

Honestly 200k is on the low side in my experience. If you earn 500k on average you'll only need to play 5 battles.

Profit, not income ... If you make 500k PROFIT on anything other than Missouri, you have to count in the signals and camo costs :-)

 

The usual battle cost for a T7 premium with 3 consumables is about 120-140k iirc ...

[Unknown_Lifeform]

Whether it was worth it or not comes down to my attitude to that ship in the months/years after I bought it. If I play it on a regular basis just for fun because its one of my favourite ships at that tier it was definitely worth it. If one of my division mates picks that tier and I sometimes think "hey, I haven't played this in a while and its kinda different" then that's probably enough to justify the purchase for me, even if it doesn't represent firm value for money. Some ships just languish in port forgotten and never played because they aren't my thing and there are other ships I like more at that tier. For example I played the Tirpitz twice and never touched it since since I rarely play BB, even more rarely at tier 8 and if I ever decided to I'd probably pick the north carolina.

 

Things can change though. I used to only play the Lo Yang once in a while but then I re--discovered the short range torps and got a 19 point pan asian captain I can farm elite commander xp with so now I play it regularly.

[Gnirf]

27 minutes ago, tenacious_torps said:

This is easy. If you're not absolutely certain you will have a lot more fun in a premium than you would have otherwise, prem time is the better investment, since it will increase your profits across the board. Which is not, for example, depending on changes in the meta or rules of the game, so not only is your investment yielding better results, it will also do so a lot more reliable.

 

If that wasn't convincing, ask yourselves this: do you trust WG's stewardship of the game enough, to be even sure the game's life span is even long enough for breaking even with your premium ship? I have my doubts, considering how prone to complete clusterfornications they are.

True, and if you invest more in Premium ships, flags , premium time they add together.

 

Take a ship that generates 1000 XP Base. Premium means 500 XP more. If you have Premium ship/camo that brings 50%it is calculated on Base+premium so if you have both it is 750 XP instead of 500.

 

Sp the XP becames so to speak cheaper. Flags etc add up also, some are calculated on base (but prmium time will effect indirectly). That is why one could see screenshots with absurd XP and/or FreeXP/commander XP. If you are short on time high on cash you can advance very fast, if you are poor Premium time is the most effective, totally agree, preferably bought on long time as it is vastly cheaper per day.

 

Observe that WG has given away a lot of Premium ships, in some times pretty timeconsuming but doable missions, however it must be admitted that few of these can be considered the best, but they might be tolerable at least.

 

For the normal player that has premium time, which you will have once you reach at least T7, not only for the service costs but for credits to buy the expensive high tier silver ships, some Premiums ships are nevertheless recommended, that should align well with your techtrees and captains.

[Negativvv]

Well my own take on value is a ship that I'll enjoy playing for a decent quantity of games.

 

Like I've played Warspite and Tirpitz to death so those two are money well spent. Likewise I've taken Sims, Atago and Harekaze to Rank 1. Played quite a bit of Lo Yang too.

 

Other stuff like Kaga, Okhotnik and things like Kii I've had sat around for a long time and barely used.

 

I've got a lot of ships that'll give a lot more entertainment without having to buy anymore for awhile. Currently I have Kii, Alabama, Enterprise, Kidd and Roma ticked as Primary ships so I remember to take them out. When I'm bored I'll probably rotate them.

 

Not even WG's fault but there came a point where I bought more than I'd reasonably play so I'm catching up now.

 

I only put out the 200 battles figure as even if you divide a T8 full price Prem by that then it works out at about 20p per game you've played in it! But value for money is a personal thing as I'm sure there are extreme cases who will pay £50 for a Port Ornament or someone else who will only feel satisfied after playing 1k games in a Texas 

[Gnirf]

1 minute ago, Negativvv said:

Well my own take on value is a ship that I'll enjoy playing for a decent quantity of games.

 

Like I've played Warspite and Tirpitz to death so those two are money well spent. Likewise I've taken Sims, Atago and Harekaze to Rank 1. Played quite a bit of Lo Yang too.

 

Other stuff like Kaga, Okhotnik and things like Kii I've had sat around for a long time and barely used.

 

I've got a lot of ships that'll give a lot more entertainment without having to buy anymore for awhile. Currently I have Kii, Alabama, Enterprise, Kidd and Roma ticked as Primary ships so I remember to take them out. When I'm bored I'll probably rotate them.

 

Not even WG's fault but there came a point where I bought more than I'd reasonably play so I'm catching up now.

 

I only put out the 200 battles figure as even if you divide a T8 full price Prem by that then it works out at about 20p per game you've played in it! But value for money is a personal thing as I'm sure there are extreme cases who will pay £50 for a Port Ornament or someone else who will only feel satisfied after playing 1k games in a Texas 

Well I have a few that can not be considered any value, I also count on a value near your estimate , I live with another currency, but I think roughly 10 SEK/1 EUR/GBP /hour played for the WOWs as a whole.