Or are Gem Chests still the best thing to spend gems on?
I would say it depend of what you are looking for, if you want jewels for crafting, the gems bounties worth it but if you looking for troops go for gem chests
I personally use my gems for vip chest when there is a weekly mythic and also for gem bounties
Edit: dragon armor is also a good choice if you don’t have it
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Sundays definitely worth it, because of the extra diamonds. I believe it was something like 80?
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Oh, boy, I see @Mithran’s avatar in the “also typing a response” field. Let’s see if he beats me.
If you have access to VIP keys, buy the Sunday pack only. Save the rest of your gems to spend on VIP chests. If you don’t, then the daily packs are a better purchase than an equivalent amount in gem keys (and Sunday even more so).
This assumes the drop rate is 1/100 for VIP keys, and 1/1000 for gem keys. Can provide more math upon request.
Edit: Mithran has done this calculation exhaustively in the past. I forget what the conclusion was, so I look forward to a correction if I am wrong!
Edit again: this also assumes you already have a complete collection below mythic. If you need to budget gems to buy event keys, or diamonds to craft specific legendaries, the above analysis goes out the window.
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If you don’t have VIP chest access, in regards to mythic collection alone and nothing else, Gem Bounties are always slightly more efficient. For the Monday-Saturday packs one mythic “costs” approximately 8333 gems worth of Gem Bounties, such that if you keep buying Gem Bounties, you will eventually end up with one “extra” mythic for the cost of 8333 gems. You are estimated to get on average get one mythic spending 9k-10k gems on gem keys (1/1000 estimated drop rate), but you’ll get much less fodder drops (a ton random legendaries to ascend and traitstones from vs a very small amount of jewels from the bounties that convert to a handful of celestial or half that many arcanes). Therefore, I consider it a matter of personal preference if you don’t have VIP access, since there are good arguments in both directions - avoiding RNG, slightly less cost, and having access to old mythics by going for Gem Bounties, getting a ton more fodder by going for gem keys.
If you do have access to VIP chests, VIP chests will get you more mythics on average for the same expenditure by a pretty good margin - an estimate of on average 1 mythic per 4500-5k gems spent (100 VIP chests), and spent during an exclusive period, still always a new one - as well as far more fodder drops (legendaries, arcanes, celestials, gold). Still a matter of personal preference, but the lines are much clearer - if you really want old mythics, and you want to get them quicker, or just want to circumvent RNG and don’t care that you are giving up almost half your potential mythics for the same “cost”, or you have enough gems that they don’t approach scarcity and can do both (bracket 1, top 3 guild wars), you should still go Gem Bounties. I personally don’t see these as a good idea for VIP5+ players over VIP chests otherwise, and especially not long term.
The Sunday pack is completely different, since you get 80 diamonds and 400 shards and two gem keys for 50 gems. You should always buy this one if you are at all interested in crafting mythics, regardless of VIP level.
@Grundulum - I leave these windows open in the background and come back later. Your mention notification reminded me I was working on a post 
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I loled. 
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I’m planning on buying gem bounties until I have enough spare diamonds for one mythic. In case I get unlucky.
After that I might just buy the Sunday bounty, depending on where I am at that point. But I agree, the Sunday bounty is worth getting regardless.
I think, for a new player - No (only sundays). For old player - Hell yeah.
If you’re VIP 5+, just buy the Sunday pack. It only delays your crafting time by two weeks compared to buying the pack every day.
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Does that take into account shards you get as well from the daily packs?
[edit] My figures were incorrect. Check the post below this one for the correct values. Thanks @Mithran for finding the detail I missed.
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About 6.4 weeks buying all the packs vs 8.3 weeks buying just the Sunday pack. Assuming, of course, you get every other source of diamonds and shards (complete guild tasks, every dungeon).
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If you’re getting those numbers, I’m wondering what I missed if we’re stating values that vary by two weeks.
The way I see it, daily gem packs are only viable if you are in a guild that places in position 1-7 in Guild Wars every week. That way, you get at least 300 extra gems to pay for daily gem packs. So… lets see, 7 guilds with 30 people each = 210 players in the entire game where daily gem packs are viable.
You get 20 diamonds from dungeons Monday-Saturday, and 4 from shard combos (400 shards) for a total of 144/wk. Gem Bounties on these days also give 20 diamonds and 4 from shard combos, for a total of 144/wk. Sunday gives 74 daily from dungeons (20/20/30 diamonds, 100/100/200 shards or 70 diamonds, 400 shards) 84 for the gem bounties (80 diamonds, 400 shards). Tasks give 25x6 Diamonds (150) and 3000 shards (30) or 180 diamonds. So 144 + 144 + 74 + 84 + 180. Grand total, 626 Diamonds per week with all gem bounties (about 6.4 weeks per cycle), with no Gem Bounties except Sunday being 482 per week (about 8.3 weeks per cycle).
An 8 week cycle vs a 10 one would mean about 500 diamonds per week versus 400 diamonds per week. You can get those numbers exactly if you both ignore shard conversions and only assume five days for “weekday” packs instead of six as they are Monday-Saturday. Then, you’d have 100 weekly diamonds for the “weekday” dungeons and bounties, 70 from the Sunday dungeon, 80 from the Sunday Bounty, and 150 fro the guild tasks. (100 + 100 + 70 + 80 + 150 = 500).
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It takes 1000 shards to make a Diamond, not 100.
1000 shards makes ten diamonds.
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Biggest facepalm of the century, right here. I’m not sure how on earth I missed that. Thanks
Not really true at least for us near a complete collection its more viable then random mythics from chests.
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I’m a daily player but a pretty casual one, I don’t have access to VIP chests and my guild isn’t a top scorer. I’ve been playing pretty much since release so I just need mythics, but I need mountains of arcane traitstones, so I’ll probably keep going for chests except Sunday purchases
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