Disclaimer: I bought this package

It's actually not a bad Gold-per-€ value compared to other deals, both current and historic. You're basically getting more Gold and a rare tank for the same price as the Ultimate Treat bundle, or you can look at it as paying the same price as the plain 14,500 Gold bundle with a rare tank as a bonus.

I've been tracking these offers for months now and what I'm starting to find cheeky about them is that (if you can't live without the tanks) you're being forced to pay inflated prices on the low-cost or controversial 'gems' because WG either don't want to flood the game with too many of them so pile in more things to raise the cost, or they want to make as much money as possible on tanks they know people will want to buy due to reputation or plain rarity, or both of those things – if the game is flooded, well at least they made a killing at the same time.

There's no question that the packages are priced well according to the value of their contents (ie. if you break down the contents you're not being over-charged), but it's a dubious tactic to basically add in things people don't want (eg. Gold) to charge as much as you can because you know it's actually the relatively worthless tank (in terms of Gold) that people want.

In short, it seems that the rarer or more controversial the tank the more you have to pay for it. Regardless of what the tank is actually worth in Gold which, in the case of this bundle and others like the Pz II J, is usually very little.

I like having the chance to get rare, fun tanks. Hell, I don't even mind paying above the normal price for them! But I'm starting to wonder what the original intent of these 'gem' packages was – is it really for collectors to get a chance to buy these? Yes, that can't be denied. Are WG abusing the "I must have this tank" motivation of collectors to squeeze out even more money? It seems so.

If it wasn't about the money then these offers wouldn't be inflated with Gold and other extras. I would go as far as saying that if the value of the tank is less than a quarter that of the bundled extras then you really have to question what you're actually paying for – the tank, or the Gold?

WG has a business to run, but they also have a community to foster. I fear that this is yet another thing that's starting to become less about doing something for the players (even if that was the original intent) and more about doing something for the end-of-year report.

I dread to think what the E25 'gem' bundle will cost…