World of Tanks roundup: more gift shop packages and events

This is my very own M3 Lee. I got four kills with it after posing for this picture.

Before I get the numbers out, let me give you a quick reminder of how Hunt Us Down works. You'll have until 05:30 GMT on January 26 to find and destroy enemy tanks with the HUD1 clan tag. They'll be taking part in battles on all tiers and bagging one will credit your with an impressive 500 gold. Wargaming always have to remind players of a particular detail and I'll do the same: taking out a tank that's on your own team won't net you any gold, but may well contribute to a ban. Do you know why? Because friendly fire makes you a doofus.

Meanwhile, the tech tree focus for UK tanks (but on US servers!) means that the following vehicles are half their usual in-game cost until 03:00 PST (11:00 GMT) on January 25:

• Vickers Medium Mk. III (Tier 3)
• Matilda (Tier 4)
• Churchill I (Tier 5)
• Churchill VII (Tier 6)
• Black Prince (Tier 7)

And here's those gift packages in detail:

• The Credit Bundle ($11.59) is no longer just a pile of in-game
  currency, but now includes gold too. It's 500,000 in-game credits complimented by 1,000 gold. In-game currency is usually exchanged at a rate of one gold for 400 credits, so you can view this as a purchase of an extra 1,250 gold, making the whole thing like buying 2,250 gold at 194 gold per dollar.
• The Gold Bundle
  ($15.99) gives you a seven day
  Premium Account (usually worth 1,250 gold) seven Large Repair Kits (worth 50 gold each) and 2,000
  gold. In total, that's 3,600 gold or 225 gold per dollar.
• The German Bundle
  ($28.49) includes the Dicker Max, a very accurate premium Tier VI tank destroyer usually worth 3,200 gold, a garage slot to stick it in (usually 300 gold), a seven day Premium Account, three Large Repair Kits and 1,500 gold. That's the same as 6,400 gold, or 224 gold per dollar.
• The pricy Russian Bundle
  ($41.59) features the very tough premium Tier VII tank destroyer that is the the SU-122-44 (worth a whopping 6,750 gold), a garage slot for it, six Large Repair Kits, three Large First Aid Kits, four Automatic Fire Extinguishers and 2,500 gold. The entire package is
  worth 10,200 gold, working out as 245 gold per dollar.

Even with the gold added, the Credit Bundles are still not a very good deal, not only because your money isn't stretched so far, but also because you're still better off using real-world money to convert experience or buy premium items instead of converting it to credits that you will earn relatively easily. As I will always remind you, the value of Premium Accounts is directly proportional to how much you play while you have one, as they earn you more XP and credits every time you go into battle.

I'd say the Russian Bundle is certainly not bad value and it comes with a good vehicle. It's pricy as far as World of Tanks packages go and you're sinking two thirds of that gold value into one tank destroyer, but it works out a little bit better than a standard purchase of 12,000 gold for $49.95, about 240 gold per dollar. As ever, each package is most of all about whether you really want that tank and whether you want most of your package value spent for you. Be a discerning shopper.