We will break down each segment of the lootboxes’ rewards, so the high-tier vehicles, lower-tier vehicles, 3D styles, and attachments.
High Tier Premium Tanks
Last year it featured:
- 2 Tier 9 Premiums
- 3 Tier 8 Premiums
This year we have:
- 2 Tier 10 Reward Vehicles
- 3 Tier 9 Premiums
- 1 Tier 8 Premium
This is a significant difference compared to the last year, and in my opinion, a downgrade when it comes to the value. Let me explain.
In the current state, the tier 8 premiums are more powerful than the tech tree counterparts; the tier 9s, on the other hand, are quite a bit weaker than the tech tree tanks. Also, this is true for these tanks included in this year’s lootboxes. In my opinion, it’s a lot harder to have great games in weak premiums even when they earn more credits than the tier below, so until the tier 9s are at least on par with the tech tree tanks, for me, tier 8s are still a more effective way to be profitable.
Project Louis might be a fun tank to play, but it won’t make as much credits as a tier 8 heavy. TBT and Jgdpz E90 are underwhelming on paper. Stridsyxa, despite general opinion, I think it might be a very good tank; it has a better gun, almost the same mobility, and a lot better armor than a very solid Lansen C.
Apart from the lack of tier 8 premiums, we also have 2 tier 10 reward tanks. The majority of the players are not interested in reward vehicles, no matter how unique they might be, and they don’t offfer any impact to the economy of the players account, but they are technically as expensive as premium tanks, additional credit earning capabilites. So this guarantee of a vehicle after 50 boxes has been nerfed from a guaranteed premium vehicle to just a guaranteed vehicle.
Conclusion: If you’re mainly buying lootboxes for the good credit makers, this might be a good year to skip.
3D Styles
While this is a subjective thing, I think the 3D styles are also nowhere near the level of quality of previous years, looking at the level of detail and creativity of the styles. If you don’t believe me, just take a look at the BZ-75 “Coastguard” style.
I’m having a really hard time actually spotting which parts are 3D, it looks more like a BZ-75 with a fancy camo….
The rest of the styles are alright, but compared to something like the “Amphibious” M53/55 or the “The Rod” Grill 15 from last year, they don’t come even close.
Either the developer lost the inspiration, or they didn’t want to put in the effort to make something as cool as before.
The only good thing is that you can get last year’s styles from this year’s lootboxes, which were epic, it all depends on your luck tho.
Conclusion: Most of the tanks that received the 3D styles already have 1 or 2 styles; it seems like a waste. The quality of them seems to have taken a hit.
3D Attachments
This is a segment that I think has retained the quality and value, while you cannot use the attachments on all tanks, they are really awesome in my opinion.
Especially the biker set, you could make some great creations with these attachments. Quality of life WG has made is the fact that you won’t get duplicate attachments until you collect them all. I do think the drop chance might still be a bit too low with only 6%.
Conclusion: if you are into 3D attachments, this year’s boxes offer great sets, and you won’t receive duplicates until you get them all.
Lower tier tanks
Very happy to see none of the lower tier tanks from the lootboxes seem to be broken. We really don’t need more LEFEs and other cancer tanks killing the quality of the lower-tier games, so props to the WG for keeping it normal.
Gold and Premium Time
This is an interesting topic now, since the compensation rates are a lot higher for the whole high-tier lineup of tanks.
Players buying around 20 boxes are probably going to get disappointed with the value they get, or lack of it. There is almost no chance of getting duplicate high-tier vehicles, so the gold gains are going to be worse than if you were to straight-up buy gold.
For players buying up to 100 boxes, I would say the situation with received gold and premium time stays the same as in earlier years. Around 26k gold and 40 days of premium for 75 boxes on average.
Whales that buy over 200 boxes might receive more gold at the end. The reason is the tier 10 tanks and the more valuable tier 9 tanks, which, when received as duplicates, will be compensated at the greater gold rate than was the case last year. But at the end of the day, it all depends on how lucky you are and how fast you are going to collect all the vehicles in order to get duplicates.
For reference, I think I’ve never gotten a high-tier premium in the past 5 years, but last year I got a DZT-159 and Contradicious from just 5 boxes, so luck plays a huge role.
A lot of people say the lootboxes are gambling, and I would agree to a point. That point is around 200 boxes, where there is almost a guarantee you will receive more gold and premium time compared to just straight-up buying it. If you are willing to spend this much money on World of Tanks throughout the year to get gold and premium time, lootboxes are undoubtedly the most effective way, and you also might get some nice rewards along the way.
Conclusion: gold value, I think, has been unchanged for the lower amount of boxes, while the value increased for the higher amount of boxes due to the insane gold compensations of the tier 10s, which is great news.
Overall conclusion
While the lootbox tanks are not as exciting or overpowered as those that could be found in earlier years, the value you are getting has increased in case you are willing to throw a large amount of money at the game. The fact that the premiums are more or less balanced helps to make the game a little bit healthier and enjoyable to play.
So, are they worth buying? Only if you are going to buy a high amount of them, let’s say around 75 or more, less than that, you are risking not getting your money’s worth.
Personally, I will buy some, probably just around 14. I could use some gold, premium time, and if I get some legendary attachments or high-tier premiums, I’ll be even happier. Since I was very lucky last year, I won’t be mad if I don’t get anything great this year. While the game has its problems, it’s been a part of my life for over 13 years, and why not support the WG at least a little bit for keeping this game alive for this long?
Thanks for checking out the post, and good luck with your openings 🙂
