Nope, this is not a new druid spell.
If given a choice of X dust OR X gold (X = same amount), what will you choose?
What your reason?
Is X dust = X gold?
2 Likes
I’ve come up with a little formula for how I feel about this:
“The amount of Gold to Dust desired is inversely proportional to the percentage of total cards currently owned from the desired set.”
In other words, at first I’d want lots of gold to buy packs to obtain more cards; then, as I competed the collection, reducing the number of missing cards to only a few rare ones, I’d want more dust, just to specifically craft the cards I’m missing.
5 Likes
While I agree with @QuakerPimp, as a general rule dust is more valuable and more difficult to obtain. Gold is easily obtainable (for values of “easy” that are dependent on your collection size and deck-building/piloting skill) via quests and daily matches.
40 gold is less than half a pack. 40 dust is a whole pack, and the disparity grows from there.
1 Like
Worth a view to understand the concept better?
Does after viewing change what you originally thought?
Is there any lesson learnt?
1 Like
Gold any day of the week.
Gold is more versatile. Can be used for packs, expansions or arenas. And if your goal is to get packs, wich is the best way to get cards, gold is by far the best.
Dust is only the best resource if you have all the cards allready.
1 Like
As Quaker says, it depends on set saturation.
When you are opening a pack from a set that you have zero cards from, then the lowest ROI you can get is 260 dust for 100 gold (2.6 to 1). So every pack you buy with 100 gold is giving you at least 260 dust in value (sometimes far more).
Then you hit a breaking point (somewhere around 25-30 packs in) where you have all the commons for a set. The ROI from a pack plummets at this point to a low end of 105 dust for 100 gold (1.05 to 1).
The next break point is after you’ve got all the rares (somewhere around 70 to 80 packs). The ROI drops here to a low end of 40 dust for 100 gold (0.4 to 1).
So initially, Gold is very valuable and gives you a fantastic ROI. But the more of a set you get, the worse gold gets until you are better off having dust to craft cards rather than using gold to buy packs.
Know the breaking points, folks. Don’t waste resources getting piles of packs when they’re only giving you a fraction of the value in return.
3 Likes
A sidetracked question:
What is your pack purchase strategy? (if applicable) e.g.
buy 50 pack - assess collection
buy additional X pack - assess collection (when do you stop buying packs)
or buy Y packs and stop
I obtain about 80 packs from a set, and then I stop. I know from experience that this will give me over 75% of all the collectible cards. I’ll have 100% of the commons, 100% of the rares, around 16 Epics, and usually 5-6 Legendaries. I’ll usually have a bit more than this though because Blizzard is always tossing in freebies.
I’ll also have enough dust (somewhere north of 2,000) to make targeted crafts of critical cards. However, I never craft on day 1. I always sit on my dust and watch the meta for at least 2 weeks. Lately, I’ve taken to waiting a month or even more. It makes no sense to craft stuff willy-nilly when you don’t know what is going to be useful and what isn’t. I rest on the knowledge that usually about 60% of the Epics and Legendaries in every set end up being junk that is pretty safe to ignore.
I’ve followed this process for all Hearthstone’s existence, and I have always had pretty much any card I wanted. I don’t have everything … but I’ve had everything I wanted & needed.
When it’s all said and done by the time a set rotates out of Standard, I have an average of 86% of all the collectible cards. That includes about 34 Epics and 12 Legendaries for every set.
really? ive never bought packs other than the classic packs. after opening maybe 225 or so of those i dont even have all the commons. r u telling me its much better for other sets? i know theyre smaller…
Let’s leave the discussion on the collection completeness aside for other thread, and concentrate on discussion of dust/gold value recognition and management.
I have started to analyze the optimal pack purchase since the last few expansion. My target comfort zone is currently at 100 packs. generally, the majority would agree that 80-100 should be the acceptable no. of packs one should get to get the best ROI value.
As some examples above had highlighted the concepts and need individual to assess their own situation.
Here, I also like posters to share views and experience to help newer players to optimise their spending returns.
1 Like
The whole thing becomes harder if you don’t spend real money. I’ve been saving gold since they announced the RoS expansion and I will only have enough for about 40 packs. If I played all the way until the next expansion, I’d have enough to have bought about 100 packs total…I think? And that’s only if I decide to create a separate account to play the Adventure, or if I spend my main account gold on wings.
I feel like a calculation that also needs to be considered is Hall of Fame. Should you save up your dust until it’s obvious that a certain Legendary is going to be HoF’d, then craft it? In the long run it is the best dust value. How long do you sit on dust? @TheRiddler waits for a month, but I feel like that’s a long time to wait if you’re trying to compete F2P.
I faced a similar dilemma myself where I question whether to dust/craft/save and at what moment…etc
In the video above, it explained some consideration quite nicely.
My general guide,
- If in doubt, do nothing
- Need - Is there an immediate need?
- Assess - can what I presently have replace the things I wanted (but at a lower power level, e.g. ooze vs harrison jones)
- Playability - how much it contributes to my play. e.g. Druids has previously many “OP” cards but the general play does not fit my playstyle, ths no need for those cards.
1 Like
From the get-go in every expansion so far I’ve had the cards to build at least one Tier-1 deck just with what I get from what drops in my 80+ packs. Quite often I can craft 2 or more. I’m also able to build many of the Tier-2 decks.
I consider being able to build a number of optimized T1 and T2 decks as meeting the definition of “competitive”. And again - that’s without crafting. By waiting a couple weeks to a month before crafting, I am usually at a point where I’m reasonably sure whether a card is worth the resources or not.
I’m skimpy though because I’m not going to be spending cash on piles of packs at that point. The ROI is weak, and dust is usually the only resource I’m willing to expend once pack ROI falls off. And I usually only have enough dust for careful, targeted crafts … so I’m a cautious cat with it.
1 Like
When you wait to see if a card is worth crafting, is that
- based on your own experience on ladder,
- based on what pro’s say,
- people discussing on forums,
- some combination of all the above?
I ask because I’m usually tempted to craft things right away, but like you and @Reaver, I may start trying to wait a while…
My general guide,
- If in doubt, do nothing
- Need - Is there an immediate need?
- Assess - can what I presently have replace the things I wanted (but at a lower power level, e.g. ooze vs harrison jones)
- Playability - how much it contributes to my play. e.g. Druids has previously many “OP” cards but the general play does not fit my playstyle, ths no need for those cards.
I will use some examples:
Zilliax is a card I don’t have. It is a card with obvious value and alot of playability that can be fitted to many decks. Such card is on my waiting list where,
- currently I am able to replace him with other cards that provides the same function but lower power level. I use stonehill defender as taunt and with a chance to get him as a discover, for lifesteal I look for other cards.
- there can be a card in future that perform similar role. e.g. Don hancho vs Bonemare
DK Guldan have effect that I cannot replace with other cards, and it enables a few playstyle which fits my liking, thus, a worth craft.
Some research and asking around also help to decide if some cards are a worthy craft. But, I find that following my guide is where I find the balance.
this post really put it into perspective for me…i have been saving since last expansion dropped not entering arena once or even buying packs…i have amassed 6.9k gold so far and have about 7k dust but I should have around 18k dust after the rotation and i get my hof golden dust back so i will probably buy about 40 packs and go from their
under 2000 i’m probably going dust. 1 card pack = 40 dust. So 100G = 40 dust but at around 2000 Gold thats 20 cards packs so i feel my chances of getting a legendary are relatively high. Then lets boost those numbers even further
5000 dust is about 3 legendaries (4800 dust). But in 50 packs i definitely feel like i could pull 3 legendaries if not then 2 for sure. Then with all the cards in those packs I can get a ton of dust.
One of the main purpose here is to highlight how situations can affect the “answer”, and have players rethink if they can better manage their resources.
In general, one will choose gold over dust as it allows alot of flexibility.
e.g. 10000g can buy 100pack - which on average will net you more dust than 10000 (since OP states X gold or X dust)
However, where if in case 100g, u can only buy 1 pack - which becomes a “gamble” of 40 or more dust* vs guaranteed 100 dust.
- I don’t ladder past 15 because it’s typically not worth my time, so my crafts are not generally oriented towards laddering.
- I don’t pay any attention to pros, streamers, or tournament players except perhaps third-hand inasmuch as those sources may influence deck lists.
- I also tend not to pay much attention to forum dwellers. We all have opinions, and some are worth looking at and others aren’t.
My primary sources for evaluating if a card is worth crafting or not is more along these lines…
- What are the top decks in the meta?
- What cards fit in MULTIPLE decks as opposed to just one?
- What cards am I personally interested in?
For example - I crafted Zilliax from Boomsday. He was showing up in multiple T1 and T2 decks both Mech and non-mech, and I thought it was a cool card. But I didn’t craft him on day 1. Another example is Oodansta from RR. He hasn’t shown up in T1 decks yet, but I think as time passes he will. He fits in Druid and Hunter decks easily, and he’s fun.
If I crafted everything I thought was going to be cool on day 1 then there’s no way I would know what was good and what wasn’t. By waiting a bit, I get a much better sense for card value and enjoyability. It’s worth waiting.
1 Like