Best strategies on getting the mount you wanted when buying mount licenses?

[Lost Dimension.9014]

Long ago, I purchase two 5x licenses for Istani. Now it is on sale again, I only wanted the one mount out of the 5 left, the selected license costing 840 is a no brainer but I can gamble using a single random license costing 280 and see if I can get lucky to save gems or at least spent the same amount of gems (3x280) but also get two more mounts.

Decided to gamble because the odds are good, 3 out of 5 chances right? Didn't get lucky and got the mount I wanted on the 5th try spending 1400 instead of 840 or even 1260 D:I know, my fault for falling into the trap but oh well.... Good thing is that I am staying away from the Black Lion Chests lol.

Now this raises the question, I know it depends on how many mounts you wanted and RNG being RNG, but what is the best tactic in getting the mount you wanted from the mount adoption licenses using as few gems as possible?1) Let say I wanted 5 mounts, what is the best option? Purchase two 5x licenses?2) How many mounts "wanted" do you think buying the whole 15x license would be worth it?3) In what situation would spending on a single random license would be ideal?

Thanks!

[Forgotten Legend.9281]

i keep it real simple....

1- a collection (generally, except for the real early ones) run 5100 gems for all 15 random-contracts , with the standard multi-discount.-- remember... there is a standard discount for purchases of 5 or 15 (25 if it's a booster, key, or pretty much anything other than a 15-mount license)2- specific contracts want 1200 gems (4x=4800)3- i do the math... do i want more than 4? yes = buy all of them. no= ALL random-contracts at once4- i can adjust based on LISTED sale prices. but it's the same: do the specific-contracts cost more than all of the random-contracts? yes = buy ALL the random-contracts

full disclosure: the RNG ABSOLUTELY HATES ME!

[Lost Dimension.9014]

@"Forgotten Legend.9281" said:i keep it real simple....

1- a collection (generally, except for the real early ones) run 5100 gems for all 15 random-contracts , with the standard multi-discount.-- remember... there is a standard discount for purchases of 5 or 15 (25 if it's a booster, key, or pretty much anything other than a 15-mount license)2- specific contracts want 1200 gems (4x=4800)3- i do the math... do i want more than 4? yes = buy all of them. no= ALL random-contracts at once4- i can adjust based on LISTED sale prices. but it's the same: do the specific-contracts cost more than all of the random-contracts? yes = buy ALL the random-contracts

full disclosure: the RNG ABSOLUTELY HATES ME!

Thanks for the simple answer! One more question, there are mounts you do not want and there are mounts you really want, and there are mounts you sort of want but at the same do not want, would you count this as a "want" or is it better to include these as not wanted? I think this is the reason why I ended up gambling lol.

[Danikat.8537]

There is no strategy to using the random licences, it's entirely random. So I agree with @"Forgotten Legend.9281" that the best way to approach it is to consider how many of them you want to buy and then work out whether it's cheaper to get select licences or random ones - and for random ones always assume you will have to buy the full set. (Of course go ahead and buy 5 licences at a time, and if you get lucky that's great. But "I bet the 2 I want will be in my first 5!" is a great way to waste a lot of money when you inevitably end up buying 15 licences to get them.)

@"Lost Dimension.9014" said:Thanks for the simple answer! One more question, there are mounts you do not want and there are mounts you really want, and there are mounts you sort of want but at the same do not want, would you count this as a "want" or is it better to include these as not wanted? I think this is the reason why I ended up gambling lol.

For me the question is "If a select licence was the only way to get this mount, would I buy it?" Obviously ones I don't want are a no, but it also eliminates the ones I maybe-sort of want. An alternative is to imagine Anet was offering a 'pay what you think it's worth' scheme for mounts - what would you pay for each one? Add up the prices and if it's less than it costs to get them then you don't want it enough to buy it.

With mounts I prefer to be strict with myself because I like the idea of customising and dying mounts so I can easily convince myself that all the skins are ones I could probably find a use for, but in reality that means sticking it on a character I rarely play so I can tell myself I'm using it or occasionally using it on a temporary character who might use it once, so it's not actually worth buying them.

The alternative of course is to just buy random licences in whatever amounts you can afford, and then use whichever skins you happen to get, but that relies on being ok with any of them.

[Mungo Zen.9364]

There are only a handful of skins that I would really use so I tend to go with the approach of ‘is this skin going to replace one I am already using?’

If a new skin will replace an old skin then full price select license it is. Otherwise I may wait until it goes on sale as they usually go 30-40% off within a year or so.

I don’t think I would ever buy a full 15 pack as most packs have 5-7 skins I would never use. There are far to many Raptor/springer/skimmer skins that are just same base model with different dye areas.

[Danikat.8537]

@Mungo Zen.9364 said:There are only a handful of skins that I would really use so I tend to go with the approach of ‘is this skin going to replace one I am already using?’

If a new skin will replace an old skin then full price select license it is. Otherwise I may wait until it goes on sale as they usually go 30-40% off within a year or so.

I don’t think I would ever buy a full 15 pack as most packs have 5-7 skins I would never use. There are far to many Raptor/springer/skimmer skins that are just same base model with different dye areas.

I suspect buying full packs isn't worth it for most people, because there will be too many mounts they wouldn't want. But if it is the cheapest way to get all the ones you do want then you may as well do that and get some 'bonus' skins rather than spending more on select licences.

I bought the entire Istani Isles pack not long after it first came out, and some of the skins I really wanted were the ones which look like the base mounts. Since PoF was released I'd been wanting 'basic' mount skins with 4 dye slots so I could more fully customise them for each character, but for a long time all we got was themed packs and then the original RNG-only mount adoption licence, which for me failed the above test in that I'd be spending more on skins I didn't want than ones I did.

If I'd known how many more skins would come out later maybe I'd have reconsidered (or waited to compare them to later packs) but even now there's 9 in that pack I definitely want and do use (including some of the plain ones - the Striped Jarin is still my favourite 'basic' raptor) and only one I don't really like (the Ceylon Cut jackal) so it's still better to have gotten the full set than buy select licences.

[Lost Dimension.9014]

@Danikat.8537 said:There is no strategy to using the random licences, it's entirely random. So I agree with @"Forgotten Legend.9281" that the best way to approach it is to consider how many of them you want to buy and then work out whether it's cheaper to get select licences or random ones - and for random ones always assume you will have to buy the full set. (Of course go ahead and buy 5 licences at a time, and if you get lucky that's great. But "I bet the 2 I want will be in my first 5!" is a great way to waste a lot of money when you inevitably end up buying 15 licences to get them.)Even if there is no strategy in fighting RNG, what you said is a smart way of handling this. Thank you for the idea, assuming you going to pay the full set anyways is indeed a pretty good mindset.

@Danikat.8537 said:For me the question is "If a select licence was the only way to get this mount, would I buy it?" Obviously ones I don't want are a no, but it also eliminates the ones I maybe-sort of want. An alternative is to imagine Anet was offering a 'pay what you think it's worth' scheme for mounts - what would you pay for each one? Add up the prices and if it's less than it costs to get them then you don't want it enough to buy it.Yeah, I also asked myself this question but eliminating the sort of want mounts is definitely holding me back from using the select license. Another good point you made, how much I would pay for each one? I think I got a better understanding now, I guess it goes something like this, 1200 on the mount I really wanted, 600 on mounts maybe I want, and 0 on mounts I do not want and then calculate the total and compare the full set price. Thank you for the idea!

[Forgotten Legend.9281]

sorry it took so long to respond... these health issues essentially render my entire day into "random" status. i get tired sometimes after only an hour, and i never know how much sleep i'll need. it's driving me nuts. please forgive my incoherence in this post compared to the other one. hopefully i'm not too late, but i feel like i'm basically rehashing the whole thread, and that you've been given real good advice and made up your mind already. :-)

to try and answer your Q> @Lost Dimension.9014 said:

@"Forgotten Legend.9281" said:i keep it real simple....

1- a collection (generally, except for the real early ones) run 5100 gems for all 15 random-contracts , with the standard multi-discount.-- remember... there is a standard discount for purchases of 5 or 15 (25 if it's a booster, key, or pretty much anything other than a 15-mount license)2- specific contracts want 1200 gems (4x=4800)3- i do the math... do i want more than 4? yes = buy all of them. no= ALL random-contracts at once4- i can adjust based on LISTED sale prices. but it's the same: do the specific-contracts cost more than all of the random-contracts? yes = buy ALL the random-contracts

full disclosure: the RNG ABSOLUTELY HATES ME!

Thanks for the simple answer! One more question, there are mounts you do not want and there are mounts you really want, and there are mounts you sort of want but at the same do not want, would you count this as a "want" or is it better to include these as not wanted? I think this is the reason why I ended up gambling lol.

before i get started, i must tell you that @"Danikat.8537" gave some really good advice: tl;dr: it boils down to adding up the cost of the ones you "want" , and deciding what value to place on each skin you like. assume the RNG hates you and won't give you the skin you want without buying the whole set.

a REALLY important factor is timing: do you absolutely want them NOW? or are you willing to wait months until they go on anniversary or holiday sale for a much cheaper price? @"Mungo Zen.9364" offered this very good advice

personally...1) i look at the ones i really like. and for me, to like them, i generally ask: "How different is it from the base models /skins?"
~ For example, the Blue Skimmer this time is really different, but i also like it, so it's a hard YES.~ The dog-looking Jackel is a hard yes for me.~ But I also look at whether they add to a "set" i like and am working on. for example: a Lithisol skin will get my attention because i like the "set", even though each individual skin comes out randomly in a a different mount license. This set has the Star version of the Skyscale, another hard YES for me since it's a collection i'm working on.2) then i tend to add up the total number of skins i like. (Now, keep in mind that i have 70 characters, so i can be considered different than the average GW2 player in that regard)3) Then i look at total gems. for me, 800 gems = 10$US, 4000gems =50$US, etc, all the time. so for me, what i DON'T want is irrelevant. the only thing that matters is: does the total cost of the individual skins = less money than buying the whole set at 5100 gems. (keep in mind i DON'T convert gold into gems, as i don't gold farm).~ now, for THIS set, i wanted at least 5 mounts. 5 select licenses run 6000 gems. 6000 is more than 5100. so the choice was easy for me: Might as well get them all, because it's cheaper, even though i''ll get skins i don't care about. (again, it could be different if i was a super rich gold farmer with tens of thousands of gold in the bank)4) EDIT: so then, i have to look at hard YES mounts plus any others i MIGHT want. it depends on how close to the total i already am.~ if i'm at 4 hard YES select licenses, and maybe want 2 more. that will put me over the 5100 gems for the whole set..~ if i'm at hard YES for 2 selects licenses, with a maybe for 3... that puts me over the 5100 gem limit.~ i think you can see how i math out the maybes, considering them as select licenses until the total goes over the whole set limit.

by the way, 65$US is the cheapest purchase for real money that one can make in order to buy the whole set. 2800g for 35$US + 1600g for 20$US = 5200g for 65$US, which pays for 5100g

the individual licenses run 1200gems (regular price) which means 20$US for 1 with 400gems extra, 30$US for 2, 50$US for 3 with 400gems extra, 60$US for 4. 75$US for 5 (20$US x2 + 35$US) (due to the packages offered for gems in the store)

for ME, it's a real money issue... of course... gold to gem conversion is always an option if you're a gold farmer and saved up thousands of gold, which changes things based on the conversion rate, on how easy and fast is it for you to farm up large amounts of gold, and allows for more "pickiness" as far as factoring "rejections"