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Is it worth upgrading gems in Stepn?
How to decide when it’s worth upgrading or selling gems in Stepn
In my previous post I discussed different methods of selling shoes. Another aspect of the game are gems, which can be upgraded by burning 3 gems of the same kind and GST. Unfortunately, upgrading is not a guaranteed outcome. So how do you know when it’s worth it? Let’s take a look.
At the moment, level 1 efficiency gems have a 0.09 Sol floor, with level 2 gems having a 1.158 Sol floor. To upgrade from level 1 to 2 costs 50 GST, which converts to 0.138 Sol. The upgrade success rate is 35%.
In an inefficient market, trying to figure out mathematical edges can be worthwhile and translate across to future P2E games. One concept that is useful is knowing our expected value (EV). EV is the average outcome we expect in the long run and defined as:
EV = (Winning percentage * $Amount Won) - (Loss percentage * $Amount Lost)To be profitable in the long run, our aim should be to consistently make positive EV decisions.
In our scenario, if we sold each individual level 1 gem at 0.09, we would make 0.0846 Sol per sale due to the 6% tax per transaction. If we were successful in upgrading, selling our level 2 gem would net 1.08852, also accounting for the 6% fee.