could ruffle WGT (Turkey hat) feathers... but found it interesting to see visually... some turkey to chew on I guess or food for thought.
It always amazes me to see people in coin rooms playing balls that cost a 1000 credits or more and they do it with nearly maxed out sponsor apparel even off of forward tee boxes.
Yet, people regularly claim coins are worthless... but if someone is using a higher end ball is it the coins or winning they value more? What are you winning except coins?
Showdowns have created a new twist (where there are payouts), but with the ongoing issues and glitches that continue to impact each event, you are taking a chance when you participate hoping you are not negatively impacted. And, WGT forces everyone to play in rooms that offer a lower ROI unless you downgrade your ball.
I have observed WGT promoting successful coin room players who primarily play cheaper balls... so it isn't necessarily all in the ball you use. You can't necessarily buy a better game, without putting in the work. Interestingly enough, it is the jacked up sponsor apparel allows you to play a cheaper ball more competitively.
As for coins and apparel, you are paying for them in ball hits whether you like them or not if you play coin games... this is what that cost looks like for the 250k rooms and below.
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along these same lines the effective cost of chasing something like the L10 sponsor apparel SE driver hat will take thousands of coin room games to acquire - especially when you factor in the apparel is distributed "randomly" even when you have selected a specific sponsor.
as such, if you apply the cost per game in credits to the amount of coin games required to level up an apparel item - if that is all you seek - players will easily in effect spend tens of thousands of credits to upgrade to an L10 SE hat especially if they are using high end balls.