The Strategy of Losing in GAC
I often read that falling down the ladder to win more afterwards is a valid strategy in GAC. Let’s crunch some (rough) numbers. I only take into account crystals and not gear/zetas/slicing because I don’t care THAT much to put the extra effort into it.
To keep it simple, let’s compare 2 players over the course of 2 GACs.
Player A plays “normally”. She is at the highest div she could and 50/50 her way around gac. In 4 events she 0-3, 1-2, 2-1 and 3-0. Considering end of event rewards, that’s 100+250+500+750 = 1600 crystals for each gac, so 3200 crystals. Let’s say 3100 if she’s only able to win one event out of 8 and only do 1-2 and 2-1 the second gac.
Player B lose on purpose during first GAC to fall down the ladder, in order to be able to get 1st place in every event next GAC. 1st GAC: 4 last place so 100x4 = 400 crystals, second GAC: 4 first place so 750x4=3000 crystals, for a total of 3400 crystals. They both 50-50, so crystals received for winning/losing are the same.
Well played player B, you got an extra 300 Crystals.
However,
It changes if you need to go down a division to be able to pull it off. Depending on where you are, you can lose 5, 10 or 20 crystals daily if you go down a division. As Player B will stay 35 days every 2 gac in a lower division, she will lose 35x5= 175 or 35x10=350 or 35x20= 700 crystals during the course of 2 GAC.
So can this strategy works? On paper, yes. A few things though:
1) It will work all the time if you're able to pull it off in “your” division (barring what is described in 5) ), because you won’t lose daily rewards You’ll gain 300 crystals every 2 GAC.
2) If you need to go lower than 1 division, it will never work.
3) If you need to go down 1 division, it won’t work in Kyber nor in Aurodium. You gain 300 crystals but you’ll lose at minimum 350 crystals from daily rewards.
4) If you need to go down 1 division and are below Aurodium, you’ll gain 300-175= 125 crystals every 2 GAC.
5) It won’t work if other players use this strategy and you meet them during your “going up” campaign, preventing you to get those 1st places. It should be especially true with the 'stay within your division' strategy because of players following this strat packing at the bottom of divisions.
6) You need to lose crystals before you'll gain crystals. Counting the crystals for defeats, that's a lot of crystals that are delayed to the second GAC. It means you'll be late in the "improve your roster" race, which could hurt you in gac.
Conclusion: There is a case for this strategy to work in 2 situations: I) if you have a little wiggle room in your division. You know you can’t go higher, because you tried. The risk is not being able to go back up because the players below you are better than you thought, and eventually going down a division. II) below Aurodium. It’s risky because it won’t work if you meet other players who do it and you’ll only gain about 125 crystals every 2 gacs, so about 63 crystals per 5 weeeks. Not sure the gain outweighs the risk.
TL;DR: there is a risk involved so I don’t think it’s worth it, but under specific circumstances, the Strategy of Losing could work for a gain of about 60 crystals to 150 crystals a month.
To keep it simple, let’s compare 2 players over the course of 2 GACs.
Player A plays “normally”. She is at the highest div she could and 50/50 her way around gac. In 4 events she 0-3, 1-2, 2-1 and 3-0. Considering end of event rewards, that’s 100+250+500+750 = 1600 crystals for each gac, so 3200 crystals. Let’s say 3100 if she’s only able to win one event out of 8 and only do 1-2 and 2-1 the second gac.
Player B lose on purpose during first GAC to fall down the ladder, in order to be able to get 1st place in every event next GAC. 1st GAC: 4 last place so 100x4 = 400 crystals, second GAC: 4 first place so 750x4=3000 crystals, for a total of 3400 crystals. They both 50-50, so crystals received for winning/losing are the same.
Well played player B, you got an extra 300 Crystals.
However,
It changes if you need to go down a division to be able to pull it off. Depending on where you are, you can lose 5, 10 or 20 crystals daily if you go down a division. As Player B will stay 35 days every 2 gac in a lower division, she will lose 35x5= 175 or 35x10=350 or 35x20= 700 crystals during the course of 2 GAC.
So can this strategy works? On paper, yes. A few things though:
1) It will work all the time if you're able to pull it off in “your” division (barring what is described in 5) ), because you won’t lose daily rewards You’ll gain 300 crystals every 2 GAC.
2) If you need to go lower than 1 division, it will never work.
3) If you need to go down 1 division, it won’t work in Kyber nor in Aurodium. You gain 300 crystals but you’ll lose at minimum 350 crystals from daily rewards.
4) If you need to go down 1 division and are below Aurodium, you’ll gain 300-175= 125 crystals every 2 GAC.
5) It won’t work if other players use this strategy and you meet them during your “going up” campaign, preventing you to get those 1st places. It should be especially true with the 'stay within your division' strategy because of players following this strat packing at the bottom of divisions.
6) You need to lose crystals before you'll gain crystals. Counting the crystals for defeats, that's a lot of crystals that are delayed to the second GAC. It means you'll be late in the "improve your roster" race, which could hurt you in gac.
Conclusion: There is a case for this strategy to work in 2 situations: I) if you have a little wiggle room in your division. You know you can’t go higher, because you tried. The risk is not being able to go back up because the players below you are better than you thought, and eventually going down a division. II) below Aurodium. It’s risky because it won’t work if you meet other players who do it and you’ll only gain about 125 crystals every 2 gacs, so about 63 crystals per 5 weeeks. Not sure the gain outweighs the risk.
TL;DR: there is a risk involved so I don’t think it’s worth it, but under specific circumstances, the Strategy of Losing could work for a gain of about 60 crystals to 150 crystals a month.
