Maximum Value: A Guide to In-Game Purchases

Introduction
Since the first edition of the beginner's guide wasn't downvoted to oblivion (even with a few of the promotions I
listed being expired), I figured you guys deserved another! (Much rejoice) I'm going to get serious this time and
confirm everything before I write it because the last guide had 2 promotions listed which are no longer available.
As Bellona would say, "No more mistakes!"
Now, the great thing about this game is that it's absolutely free. Not only is the in-game pricing system very
favorable to beginners, you are not forced to spend a single dime on the game unless you want a fast way to get
in on some of the special events and super cool skins. You even get pretty solid rewards just for logging in daily,
as I mentioned in the first guide. With that being said, there is nothing wrong with spending money on this
video game since sending a few dollars to HiRez Studios (or any other site used to make Smite transactions)
through in-game purchases is a great way to help support the game and reward HiRez for their hard work.
The point of this guide is to help you maximize the value of your dollar (or whatever currency you use). I
searched a few different sites and found some interesting discounts. But let's start with what Hirez Studios
offers directly from their site so we have a baseline for value.

Ultimate God Pack

I have heard the advice many times:
save yourself the trouble and get the
Ultimate God Pack! At $29.99, it's
tough to argue with that rationale. A
lot of people feel this is an easy
purchase and well worth the cost. To
not have to grind favor or worry about
which god you are going to unlock
next can help you jump into the action
and focus on pure entertainment.
This also comes with the added bonus
of always having the latest released
(read: overpowered) god in the game
as soon as it is released. As a note, it costs 11,000 favor to purchase the newest god during its first month of
release whereas most other gods are only 5,500 favor. So if you do not purchase the God Pack and want to play
the newest god, it will cost you a bit extra favor.

Gems
Next up, we have the various
options for gems. As you can see
below, there are 6 different
amounts you can purchase.
Unfortunately, this is not a
standard case of "as you buy more,
you get better value." Let's break
it all down in a table and compare
the values.
By diving the number of gems by the total cost, we can see how many gems we get per dollar with each of the
options. I've rounded each of the costs up by 1 cent to make the numbers more manageable.
Total Gems

8000

3500

2500

1500

800

400

Total Cost

$100

$50

$35

$25

$15

$8

Gems/$

80

70

71.42

60

53.3

50

Generally, as you purchase the more expensive packages, you get more gems per dollar; however, there is a
strange disconnect between the 3500 Gems and 2500 Gems purchases. You actually get more gems per dollar
with the 2500 option. I have heard a few different explanations/guesses as to why HiRez Studios set it up this
way, but whatever the reason is, the value is as you see above.
So now that we have that as our baseline, let's see if there are any better options for making these purchases.
Here is a quick screenshot from HiRez's support site showing which authorized resellers you can safely purchase
gems from, announced 05/07/2014:

So let's take a look at each of these options and see if we can find some real value.
Amazon: Hirez Studios has an account on Amazon which is selling the gem codes for the standard price. This
may be worth it if Amazon is doing any kind of special promotion for purchases or if you're paranoid about
online purchases and prefer to only give your credit card information to Amazon (since Amazon has more
resources dedicated to information security, your payment information may be less susceptible to compromise).
DurmaPLAY: I was unable to properly translate this page or change the currency to U.S. dollars in order to do a
comparison. The price of each gem package is listed only as a number, so I can't even give a rough estimate of
the conversion rates based on the currency symbol. If anyone has any luck with this or can give us an analysis,
please do share.
G2A: This site appeared to be the best overall value for U.S. purchases, although it may default to a random
currency when you first visit the site. Simply change it through the drop-down menu in the very top-right of the
screen (to the right of where you select your country/language). Once you have the right currency, scroll about
halfway down the page to the "Available from 1 Marketplace Seller" section for the best price. Here is a
breakdown of the gem packages (and even the God pack!) they offer at this time, as well as how much you save
compared to Hirez Studios' site:
G2A
Total Gems

8000

3500

1500

800

400

God Pack

US Dollar

$83.34

$43.33

$20.55

$12.77

$6.89

$24.44

Savings

$16.65 (16%)

$6.66 (13%)

$4.45 (17%)

$2.22 (14%)

$1.10 (13%)

$5.55 (18%)

New Gems/$

96

80.7

73

62.6

58

N/A

Game Satis: Same as DurmaPLAY, I was unable to translate this site.

Game Sultan: Unable to translate.
MTC Game: Unable to translate.
Markee Dragon Game Codes: The prices on this site are identical to HiRez Studios' prices, so there isn't much to
be gained by going here. However, at this time there is a FREE PROMOTION for a chance to win 8,000 gems.
The promotion ends June 30, 2015. No purchase is necessary and you do not need to provide any financial
information. It requires you to create a new account and add the free entry to your shopping cart. Hit checkout
and keep your fingers crossed until the end of June. If you get nothing out of this guide, at least you can get a
free chance to win 8,000 gems!
Game UK: This site only lists its products in the British Pound, and I'm not familiar with what the standard prices
are on HiRez Studios' site for the folks located in the UK, so it's tough for me to say if there is any discount for
using this site. The price for the 8,000 gems on this site was 69.99, which current conversion rate puts it at
about $108, so it's a little more than the price we're being charged in US dollars. If I recall correctly, Blizzard did
the same thing with World of Warcraft. UK just has to pay more for games, it seems. [VVS] Sorry, UK!

ByNoGame: I'm unsure if everyone can purchase from this site, but it lists the prices in what appears to be
Turkish Lira (I'm seriously ignorant of this stuff so please correct me if I'm wrong). After doing a little conversion,
it looks like it offers very good value to those who have access to it.
ByNoGame
Total Gems

8000

3500

1500

800

400

Turkish Lira

220.00

110.00

60.00

33.40

16.70

US Dollar

82.71

41.35

22.56

12.56

6.28

So far, the best prices I've seen on Smite that I can properly access is www.G2A.com -- this is not an
endorsement or promotion, just an observation.

Gem Promotions
The final topic is for the folks who are patient enough to really wait for the good deals. I was not around to take
advantage of any of the previous deals HiRez had on gem purchases, but I did notice there have been a few very
interesting promotions, and I wouldn't be surprised if we saw them again. The first is from July 2014 where gem
purchases also included account boosters (increased xp, favor, and worshipers), from 1-day boosters for the 400
gem purchase all the way up to a 60 Day Booster for the 8,000 gem purchase.
The second is from December 2014 where bonus gems were provided with gem packages. The bigger the gem
purchase, the bigger the bonus. For example, if you purchased the 8,000 gem package, it included an additional
3,000 gems just as a Christmas bonus! 11,000 gems for $99.99 is pretty sweet. I'm hoping we see that this
December, but that's a long way away and I've got plenty of skins to get before then!

Conclusion
I hope this one really helps those of you who are thinking about spending some money on the game. There is
great benefit to HiRez no matter who you shop through, and saving a few dollars here and there can help you
get more gems in the long run. Until next time...