User blog:Sirebel/Mazda Update (5.4.0)

I decided to write this blog partly out of my own personal interest but also because I felt there was a lot of discussion on the wiki about gold and the cost of winning new cars. I wanted to test a few theories and gather some facts.

I started the Gold, Gold and More Gold blog more than a year ago to track the gold being added to the game in each update. FM are clearly not being fair to new player and this blog proved that point. However, they have taken measures recently to correct some of the imbalance (with flashback events and LTS for existing cars). The blog also showed a clear change in game economics with cars no longer being winnable for free.

However, it is also clear that the amount of gold available in the game has changed and so this update, I tracked all the gold on a daily basis just to see how hard this update really was. At the start of the update I had a full garage and 100% career complete. I didn't need to update any cars for WTTT (beyond the new ones) and I'd updated the Veneno for WTTT recently so knew it didn't need any updates for the TLS at the end of this update.

Firstly there is the gold spend:
 * 717 to win all the cars
 * 1391 to further upgrade cars to complete new series
 * 450 to further upgrade new cars to fully upgraded

Total gold spend therefore:
 * 717 Total spend for new cars
 * 2108 Total spend for new cars and career
 * 2558 Total spend to fully upgrade all cars
 * 1825 Total cost of new cars if not won

Seems like a lot of gold added to the game but it's broadly in line with recent updates, if not a little cheaper. It's interesting to see how much cheaper it is to win the cars than it is to buy them and you get upgrades too. In fact, it's only marginally more expensive to upgrade these new cars for career completion that it would be to buy them at full price. It would double the cost of the update if you didn't win the new cars. I still feel very sorry for new players joining after updates (though flashbacks might make this a little easier going forward).

However, the point of this blog is to compare the costs against rewards. Firstly lets look at the basic rewards for special events and career:
 * 240 for special events (not including the veneno)
 * 249 for new series
 * 390 for daily bonus (assuming elite, 195 if not)
 * 245 for daily 5 ads (20 would make this 980)

Total gold rewards are effectively:
 * 875 for winning new cars
 * 1,124 for career completion

So the net gold for winning new cars and completing career are:
 * 158 for winning new cars (i.e. gold positive)
 * -984 for completing new series

So you could have spent 158 more on your cars to win them and still been gold neutral in this update. Whilst I suspect most players spent more than this on the Furai, it was still a good update for maintaining a full garage or progressing towards a full garage. On top of that there was an additional 85 free gold from the flashbacks and if you didn't have those cars then they were all winnable without spending any more gold. Far from being a hard release this was actually an easy one for winning cars.

Now lets look at some non-standard rewards and you'll see why WTTT can be quite important and being in a team has benefits.

Non-standard rewards
 * 700 from WTTT Group B each week2
 * 232 from team events
 * 280 from leveling up
 * 85 from flashbacks

I make WTTT Group B every week because, since making 100% career, I have been upgrading the top WTTT cars. This is now paying dividends because I'm getting cars that have already been upgraded and WTTT is now giving me 100 gold reward each week for less outlay. Not everyone can be in group B every week but if you can't then you could always watch more ads to get the same level of gold.

The team rewards may vary but it's worth noting that if you put in a couple of hours with a good team you can easily make top 100 in the endurance events. This also drives up your fame and whilst I only levelled up five times, because of the level I'm on, you should get roughly the same gold as me for the same distance driven. Alternatively, you could spend the time farming but then you don't get the team reward on top of your level up but it would be more efficient.

If we include the flashbacks and non-standard rewards in the cost of completing the new series then this now becomes gold positive (423 gold) to maintain your series completion position. This is quite a lot of gold left over. In fact, the additional gold required to fully upgrade all the new cars is only 450 so you would only be 27 gold down if you did that. That's a couple of hours farming which I didn't bother doing because I was lucky and got the "And They never Stopped" bonus which made me gold positive for the entire update with all cars fully upgraded.

The last thing to mention is the Veneno. I've not included it above because if you don't have it then this update will cost you more gold, it's still the cheapest way to get the car (and with free upgrades). It's been in WTTT once and will almost certainly be there again. You could choose to get it instead of fully upgrading all the new cars and then you'd still be gold positive.

If you do have the Veneno you have three options:
 * Ignore the TLS - you miss out on discounted upgrades but it doesn't impact career completion
 * Upgrade to complete TLS - you spend more gold but get some discouted upgrades
 * Complete TLS without upgrades - you recover some gold spent in the past

However you look at it, if you plan your update and look at where the gold is coming from then you can have a much easier and less stressful time enjoying the game and not worrying about gold so much. You can calculate the gold rewards from daily bonuses and ads in advance, we publish the cost of upgrades as quickly as we can get the data and you can guestimate some of the event costs (we did quite well in this release as a wiki).

The following is a transcript starting at the update on the Monday (evening for me), assuming you'd already collected any ads and WTTT rewards for the day. It assumes you started with 1000 gold in the bank and plotted out your gold spend and rewards to maximise the use of your gold. Day 27 gets a bit scary but as you can see it all turns out quite rosy in the end.

Week 1 Week 1 Summary - Busy week, won the jag and ended up only 95 gold down. Would also have won the Aston if didn't already own it
 * Day 1 - The update starts in the evening so I've already collected my WTTT reward and daily adverts in the previous update. I start the first flashback immediately (endurance guantlet) and gain 5 gold for my efforts. Gold balance 1005
 * Day 2 - This would have been the most expensive day except for a few rewards, spent 440 upgrading the Jaguar for TLS, got 10 from first 25% completion, 5 from second day of endurnace guantlet, 17 from team event, 12 daily bonus and 5 ads. I also levelled up for 56 gold. This kept my losses down to 335 gold. Gold balance 670
 * Day 3 - A quieter day, no gold spent, 15 gold from 50% TLS, 5 from flashback and 5 ads. Gold balance 695
 * Day 4 - No gold spent, 30 from 75% TLS, 5 from flashback, 14 daily bonus and 5 ads. Gold balance 749
 * Day 5 - No gold spent, 55 from 100% TLS (jag garaged), 5 from endurance guantlet flashback, 5 from starting Asterion's Charge and 5 ads. Gold balance 819
 * Day 6 - No gold spent, 9 from 25% Jaguar series, 5 from flashback, 14 daily bonus and 5 ads. Gold balance 852
 * Day 7 - No gold spent, 15 from 50% Jaguar series, 5 from flashback, 5 ads and 28 from team event. Gold balance 905

Week 2 Week 2 Summary - Still busy and spent a lot of gold. Would have won Asterion if didn't already own it
 * Day 8 - Spent 685 upgrading the jag for series completion, 21 from 75% jag series, 5 from flashback, 100 from WTTT B, 5 ads. Gold neutral briefly before applying upgrades. Gold balance 351
 * Day 9 - No gold spent, 32 from 100% jag series, 5 from flashback, 18 daily bonus and 5 ads, gold balance 411.
 * Day 10 - Spent 305 fully upgrading jag for top speed event. 8 from 25% Concept vs Production series, 5 from flashback, 2 from team, 5 ads. Gold balance 126
 * Day 11 - No gold spent, 13 from 50% series, 5 from Asterion flashback, 5 from starting speedrush TV flashback, 56 from level up, 20 daily bonus and 5 ads, Gold balance 230
 * Day 12 - No gold spent, 18 from 75% series, 5 from flashback and 5 ads, Gold balance 258
 * Day 13 - No gold spent, 5 from Furai Rising, 5 from 25% japanese production club, 5 from flashback, 20 daily bonus and 5 ads. Gold balance 298
 * Day 14 - Spent 170 upgrading Mazda Furai, 5 from Furai Rising, 8 from 50% japanese production club, 5 from flashback and 5 ads. Gold balance 151

Week 3 Week 3 Summary - Quiet, Won the Mazda Furai. Strange no team events. Would have won the McLaren if didn't already own it.
 * Day 15 - Spent 125 upgrading Mazda Furai further, 5 from Furai Rising, 11 from 75% japanese production club, 5 from flashback, 100 from WTTT B, 60 daily bonus and 5 ads. Gold balance 212
 * Day 16 - No gold spent, 10 from Furai Rising, 5 ads. Gold balance 227
 * Day 17 - No gold spent, 10 from Furai Rising, 6 daily bonus, 5 ads. Gold balance 248
 * Day 18 - No gold spent, 15 from Furai Rising, 5 ads. Gold balance 268
 * Day 19 - No gold spent, 20 from Furai Rising, 6 daily bonus, 5 ads. Gold balance 299
 * Day 20 - No gold spent, 30 from Furai Rising, 5 ads. Gold balance 334
 * Day 21 - Rest day, 6 from daily bonus, 5 ads. Gold balance 345

Week 4 Week 4 Summary - Expensive and two days with nothing to do. Just survived
 * Day 22 - Spent 425 upgrading Mazda Furai for career, 100 from WTTT B and 5 ads. Gold balance 25
 * Day 23 - No gold spent, 27 from 100% Concept vs Production, 26 from team, 8 daily bonus and 5 ads. Gold balance 91
 * Day 24 - Rest day, 5 ads. Gold balance 96
 * Day 25 - Spent 145 fully upgrading Mazda Furai, 8 daily bonus, 56 for level up and 5 ads. Gold balance 20
 * Day 26 - Rest day, 42 from team and 5 ads. Gold balance 67
 * Day 27 - Spent 81 upgrading RX-7 for TLS, 2 for 25% TLS, 8 daily bonus and 5 ads. Gold balance 1 (Eek!!!!!)
 * Day 28 - No gold spent, 3 from 50% TLS and 5 ads. Gold balance 9

Week 5 Week 5 Summary - Won the RX-7 and a surprise gold reward from team top speed event
 * Day 29 - Spent 106 fully upgrading RX-7, 5 from 75% TLS, 100 from WTTT B, 3 from team, 10 daily bonus and 5 ads. Gold balance 26
 * Day 30 - No gold spent, 10 from 100% TLS and 5 ads. Gold balance 41
 * Day 31 - No gold spent, 17 from 100% Japanese Production Club, 10 daily bonus and 5 ads. Gold balance 73
 * Day 32 - No gold spent, 2 from 25% RX-7 Exclusive, 27 from team and 5 ads. Gold balance 107
 * Day 33 - No gold spent, 3 from 50% RX-7 Exclusive, 12 daily bonus and 5 ads. Gold balance 127
 * Day 34 - Spent 26 gold upgrading RX-3 for TLS, 1 for 25% TLS, 5 for 75% RX-7 Exclusive and 5 ads. Gold balance 112
 * Day 35 - No gold spent, 1 from 50% TLS, 10 from 100% RX-7 Exclusive, 14 daily bonus and 5 ads. Gold balance 142

Week 6 Week 6 Summary - Won the RX-3 and back to full garage and 100% complete, otherwise a quiet week.
 * Day 36 - Spent 50 gold fully upgrading RX-3, 3 from 75% TLS, 100 from WTT B, 38 from team, 56 from level up and 5 ads. Gold Balance 284
 * Day 37 - No gold spent, 5 from 100% TLS, 14 daily bonus and 5 ads. Gold balance 308
 * Day 38 - No gold spent, 5 from 25% Classic Mazda Series and 5 ads, Gold balance 318
 * Day 39 - No gold spent, 9 from 50% Classic Mazda Series, x from team and 5 ads, Gold balance 361
 * Day 40 - No gold spent, 12 from 75% Classic Mazda Series, 18 from daily bonus and 5 ads, Gold balance 396
 * Day 41 - No gold spent, 19 from 100% Classic Mazda Series and 5 ads, Gold balance 420
 * Day 42 - No gold spent, 5 from 25% Veneno TLS, 56 from level up, 20 daily bonus and 5 ads, Gold balance 506

Week 7 Week 7 Summray - Very quiet ending, full garage, 100% complete, all new cars fully upgraded
 * Day 43 - No gold spent, 15 from 50% Veneno TLS, 100 from WTTT B and 5 ads. Gold Balance 626
 * Day 44 - No gold spent, 30 from 75% Veneno TLS, 20 daily bonus and 5 ads. Gold Balance 681
 * Day 45 - No gold spent, 60 from 100% Veneno TLS and 5 ads, Gold Balance 746
 * Day 46 - No gold spent, 28 from team, 60 daily bonus and 5 ads. Gold Balance 839
 * Day 47 - No gold spent, Rest day and 5 ads. Gold Balance 844
 * Day 48 - No gold spent, Rest day, 6 daily bonus and 5 ads. Gold Balance 855
 * Day 49 - No gold spent, 2 from team and 5 ads. Gold Balance 862

Week 8
 * Day 50 - No gold spent, 100 from WTTT B, 6 daily bonus and 5 ads, Gold Balance 973

Final net gold spend is 27 gold for fully upgrading all the new cars. As it happens, I also got the "And they never stopped" reward which I didn't include here so I was actually 23 gold up.