Super Packs: worth it?

[Whataguy]

Got obsessed with ATOs and did a super pack experiment: 10 Heroes & Villains packs for 100million.  I had to cobble the influence from several alts, largely by turning reward merits into enhancement converters and thence into influence (I have a main but he is not swimming in billions of inf -- my toons mostly pay their own way).  This is a relatively low sample size, but the results feel consistent with my overall experience with super packs.

From a cost perspective, you'd obviously like to get at least 10 million influence worth of value from a super pack.  Based on current AH prices, that means getting one ATO in a super pack is a breakeven.

Apart from the minor stuff (the inspirations, one-use powers, and the odd converter), here's what 10 packs got me:

12 ATOs (4 came in 1 pack each, the other 8 came in 4 packs with 2 apiece), worth about 120million

75 merits, worth about 15 million

3 boosters, worth about 5 million

3 catalysts, worth about 5 million

About 12 rare salvage items' worth of invention doodads, worth about 6 million

So basically 100 million got me back 150 million worth of stuff.  Assuming of course that I can find uses for all the stuff or have the patience to sell it at prices as above.  I had two "junk" packs with nothing really meaty in them.

And of course, there's the opportunity cost -- what OTHER stuff I could have bought with 100 million.

In the end I kept all the ATOs, distributed amongst my alts and converted as necessary here and there to obtain ATOs in archetypes I'm running.

When I think of all the raw merits I spent on my main to buy ATOs directly from the merit vendor at 100 merits a pop, I cringe.  I overpaid by a factor of 5:2.  Live and learn!

Now I'm off to go earn another 500 merits or so and do it again!

[The_Warpact]

This has been discussed in various forms in the Market section.

I myself started a thread about ATO sale.

 

 

[Oubliette_Red]

The thing about marketeering ATOs is to look at what's selling and what's available in the market. ATOs selling at 7-9mil are not going to get you a good return on your investment.

Attuned ATOs generally get you a bigger bang for your buck, but not all of those are in demand either.

Often I would get catalysts and converters along with the ATOs and other random awards, I don't have a plethora of 50s so if need be I would convert an ATO to one my Controller or Corruptor could slot, use a catalyst it to upgrade it to a superior and then convert it (if need be) to a more in-demand piece, selling at 25-35mil. I didn't spend a lot of time on this, maybe 30 minutes a week. I'm sure some folks spent more time doing something similar.

 

I haven't marketeers for a while, so no ides what the market currently looks like, but that has been my past experience.

 

[Yomo Kimyata]

In addition to @The_Warpact's thread, @Bopper has a thread on the probabilities:  

 

 

My short cut analysis:  You get, on average, 1.2 ATOs per pack, and a bunch of other stuff; I generally break about even on the ATO sales and the rest of the "other stuff" is profit.

[MTeague]

Awhile ago, I would buy a bunch of Superpacks, harvest 1/3 of the ATO's, play converter roulette with the other ATO's, and then put those 2/3's up for sale when I had them converted to "Pricey" ATO's.  That worked good for me.  Eventually the ATO's I used to put for sale stopped being as profitable, and I wasn't as desperate for infuence anymore.  So now I buy fewer superpacks, but I basically keep everything from them.  If I can't use some of  the ATO's now, they can rest for awhile in my mail, and sooner or later I'll have an Alt who needs to withdraw some ATO's and/or some Converters from Petty Cash. 

[Andreah]

Superpacks have a decent return on investment, but there's a LOT OF CLICKING if you do it "at scale".

 

Edit:

 

It pays to think in advance about how you're going to do what in what order on which alts, if you buy, say, 100 or 1000 superpacks and plan to open and sell their contents. You start to think about what settings and macros might help, and where to put windows to minimize mouse travel distance.

Edited March 31, 2021 by Andreah

[Vanden]

I did the Super Pack game for a while and I did make inf on it, but it's not the greatest return. You kinda have to find opening booster packs to be fun.

[tidge]

I buy super-packs only when I have a character that needs some ATO, and then that is primarily to satisfy my curiosity about what else comes with them. I'll play converter Roulette to get the ones I want, or ones that will sell. I do this until I have about 2/3 of the ATO I want and then I'll buy the remaining pieces. The extra goodies either stay in email or get sold, depending on my mood.

[MTeague]

28 minutes ago, Vanden said:

I did the Super Pack game for a while and I did make inf on it, but it's not the greatest return. You kinda have to find opening booster packs to be fun.

 

*looks at several boxes full of Magic:The Gathering cards from the mid-90's*

*whistles, trying to walk away and look innocent* 

[Dazl]

I will buy them with the intention of selling the ATO's and keeping all the other little goodies. If I can break even, or make a little profit then all the better. You could manage to make profit from them when you buy them in bulk, but that's a lot of work. There are better and easier ways to make influence.