With some stretch goals unlocked, I’ve updated the value chart for the breakdown:
As you can see, the Captain tier now gives you the best bang for your buck, with the unlocking of the +5 booster bonus. However, you may want to bump to Knight – the value is the same, so you are not losing anything by putting down an extra $15, but you are gaining one heck of a booster bump to your rares by getting one of the Primal Packs (all 15 cards are Rare or Legendary – think of Legendary as super Rares). In other words, coughing up 30% more will net you 66% more rares.
Currently the Champion tier continues to lag behind in the value department. I wish that it inclued the Spectral Lotus Garden perk to make it more worthwhile. And ode to the original Black Lotus in Magic: The Gathering, it is indeed an interesting card, and getting a new one every day just means that the value of the King tier will grow and eventually catch and surpass the other tiers. It would have made more sense to include it for Champions, given the enormous weight (and price breakpoint) of the King tier.
Anyway.
All that talk about the Champ being undervalued changes if the game hits the dreaded, subscription-enabling 540k reward tier. And every indication is that it will reach that point – the Kicktraq statistics indicate this thing has a lot of steam left in it, with the day 8 backer and dollar numbers not looking any significantly different than those on day 1.
So if that tier is hit, as you can see from red underline I added above, the Champion tier suddenly finds itself evening out. This is because of the inclusion of the 3 months of subscription, which should net you (depending on the start date of the sub, but most likely) 13 booster backs. Of course, these packs are not worth as much as buying a pack singly, but the end result is a nice even spread of value. Basically, the more money you put in, the better your value at every succeeding tier.
At that point, the only real value breakdown “loser” is the Knight level – but since that’s the first shot you get at a guaranteed Primal Pack, I’m not sure its really all that much of a loser!
Of course, when they reveal the next set of stretch goals, some of this could change. I’ll keep an eye on it going forward.
I’m still pissed about the subs and the lack of given equipment for the tiers….
Harbinger Zero 
Pingback: Breaking Down the HEX Kickstarter Tiers | Harbinger Zero
I said it before, I’ll bet the subscription will be an option to the predominantly F2P (B2P?) game. Some people just like having that set outlay each month.
I think you are right. After sleeping on it and reading the response in their forums, most of the concerns revolve around the in game economy, and basically, everyone acknowledges the concerns and hopes that Crypto will take steps if things get out of hand.
If I had more money and infinite time, this game would intrigue me very much. At the very least, your posts about it have been a far better advertisement than Crypto could have hoped for.
Hello Harbinger! I actually just visited the Crypto offices last night (and plan to do so every Wednesday), and asked them a ton of questions about the game.
I totally feel (felt) the same way — looking at the sheer amount of stuff you get from $250 pledges-onward, I was beginning to worry that Hex was going to become a “pay to win” type of game.
After talking to Will Brinkman and Cory Jones, a lot of my concerns were squashed.
I’ve been detailing everything I learn about the game in my blog. To start off, Will assured me that subscriptions are entirely optional, and not integral to “winning”.
For $4, you get a pack a week, and access to a goldfish mode to test out draws.
Let me know if you have any other questions or concerns. I’ll do my best to answer them as I can!
I’ve spoken with home base as well, though via email since Cali is a bit far to jaunt over to in the evenings. (-:
I felt better after they were clear in the update yesterday that the intention was to provide a perk in return for regular support, and that they were against farming the VIP access and had tools in place to detect and deal with that.
Do I really believe they will catch everyone who will abuse this system? No. But so long as their attitude is what they have stated, I feel much better about it.
Completely agree with you here. They’ve definitely been saying all the right things, and it alleviates a lot of the concerns I’ve had with the game.
Are you rock-solid with your $35 pledge, or are you still at least a little open to any of the higher pledge tiers?
I’m still a bit miffed at the inexplicable decision to force players to move up multiple tiers in their pledges to unlock equipment for their exclusive cards, so probably not.
Unless one of the Early Bird King slots opens up, and then I would probably jump on it just for the incredible value of the tier alongside not having to worry about the equipment issue.
Well at the very least, you could trade for the KS-exclusive cards!
Indeed! I plan to do that, but that also means there is no need for me to pledge any higher. But who knows, we’re a long way from the finish line, and the siren call may be too much for me to resist.