Xbox Series S/X: Thread 04

[wakka]

I would guess that's to protect them from bots and exploits that people might discover and quietly make use of to load up on millions of points then quickly convert into re-sellable consoles.

Stating the obvious now, but the £450 figure must have been chosen deliberately as the cost of a Series X, making it the annual ultimate prize - kind of like the CRT TV or sound system behind the ticket exchange counter in an arcade back in the day.

BTW [MENTION=345]Neon Ignition[/MENTION], out of interest, how much are you earning per month now with your optimised earning system?

[Neon Ignition]

Sounds right, given the long wait for new launched console stock and the limited time use nature of the points once claimed I'm thinking that endlessly saving them up is likely a bit of a pointless venture. I'm at close to 210,000 now so I'd pass max level long before I stood a realistic shot of claiming something like a Series X Pro down the line and be endlessly accruing points I couldn't use. I'm on a 266 Day Streak so looking at ending the 12 months somewhere in the early 300,000's. Even if I claim something like and Elite 2 controller I'd be back up to around 120,000 points by Christmas so I'm wondering if I should cash some in.

Per month it can vary but with a reasonable amount of consistency I'm now managing to get between 26,000-30,000 per month on average.

So I would hit their cap every 18-21 months or so?... yeah, I should probably claim something soon

[nonny]

My advice if you're going for a console is to get close to buying it outright but just buy a few discount gift cards to the last yards. As a general rule you can get around £10 off a £50 card. There is a lot to be said about buying them outright with points but really it's a grind. Style times it's just good to get the console early...

Also when I've not wanted anything big in the hardware space I've either bought a new controller or headset to then sell on. Recoup the rewards in actual cash.

[endo]

Stating the obvious now, but the £450 figure must have been chosen deliberately as the cost of a Series X, making it the annual ultimate prize - kind of like the CRT TV or sound system behind the ticket exchange counter in an arcade back in the day.

The veritable speedboat on the Bullseye prize board, if you will. "Iiiiiiiiiiiiin one!"

[Colin]

I don't understand how you all accrue so much points, I feel like I play on my Series S quite a lot but I only have about 800.

[nonny]

I don't understand how you all accrue so much points, I feel like I play on my Series S quite a lot but I only have about 800.

You accrue across multiple places:

Xbox App on Mobile
Bing searches on mobile/pc
Bing searches through Edge (in combination with above)
Rewards app on Xbox console(s)
Game Pass challenges

And these have multipliers / accumulation if you hit consecutive milestones. As an example do the weekly rewards app challenge in Xbox consistently and every 10th week you'll get 2,500 points on top (approx £2).

[wakka]

The veritable speedboat on the Bullseye prize board, if you will. "Iiiiiiiiiiiiin one!"

Let's have a look at what you could've won.

[dataDave]

I can’t imagine playing Paw Patrol through to completion for the sole purpose of earning chump change, all so I can save enough chump change to buy another platform that enables the same mechanism. This is the gaming equivalent of spending all your free time scouring the town center’s walkways looking for coins.

It’s good for Microsoft because the more time you spend doing all of this the less time and money you’re spending with another company, one which is definitely offering a more wholesome grade of entertainment.

Let's have a look at what you could've won.

Or indeed 'let's look at what you could have been playing instead of all this garbage'.

[nonny]

I can’t imagine playing Paw Patrol through to completion for the sole purpose of earning chump change, all so I can save enough chump change to buy another platform which enables the same mechanism.

It’s good for Microsoft because the more time you spend doing all of this the less time and money you’re spending with another company, one which is definitely offering a more wholesome grade of entertainment.

I've got kids to do that... Paw Patrol and Peppa Pig last month.

I generally do this now with minimal effort and I don't really agree with that view. I buy all my games digitally over the past decade so with the advent of game pass and being able to use these points against that, and against discounts for other titles it's just saving me money for about 5 mins effort a day.

As an example I've bought Resident Evil 2, 3 and 8 this month and it's cost me £5.60.

[dataDave]

Five minutes is fine I suppose. There comes a point when you have to offset the time and energy commitment against how much it's bringing in. Personally, I'd rather work through a Saturday if I was desperate for a Series X, rather than spend what precious free time I have tarnishing my publicly displayed play history.

[Neon Ignition]

Yep, with stuff like Peppa and Paw Patrol you're only really using them to get a quick and easy achievement to nab the daily 50pt reward on days you aren't playing the Xbox at length, it's usually a few minutes a day at most as a backup.

[wakka]

It's not my thing - I'm barely organised enough to keep track of my actual real life doings let alone manage an optimised MS Rewards accrual scheme - but I can see how it becomes an addictive metagame in and of itself. It's no different to what people have done with achievements for years, except in this case you get to trade the gamerscore for actual stuff.

[Neon Ignition]

I've taken the plunge and redeemed to claim an Elite 2. It may end up being borked in a few months time but if there's ever a time to try the lottery on one of them it's when it's for free

I'm going to push for Modern Warfare 2 next. The remaining points put me about ballpark 60,000 points short so I should hit that for launch or there abouts with 2yrs 7 months remaining on by GP sub left

[endo]

I don't follow the points thing, so I've got no idea how many I might or might not have. Don't give much of a toss tbh. However, I have downloaded Paw Patrol and Peppa Pig for the kids, with the youngest really enjoying them. That said, I did have to have a word with myself last week when I came to the realisation that I was sat up on my own past midnight playing Peppa Pig for the gamerscore.

[nonny]

I've taken the plunge and redeemed to claim an Elite 2. It may end up being borked in a few months time but if there's ever a time to try the lottery on one of them it's when it's for free

I'm going to push for Modern Warfare 2 next. The remaining points put me about ballpark 60,000 points short so I should hit that for launch or there abouts with 2yrs 7 months remaining on by GP sub left

As a heads up, usually a few weeks before launch a challenge pops up in the rewards app for big games like MW2 where you can get 6,000 points back if you buy it...

You're paying full price for the game through the store but it's £5 off nonetheless.

Also, places like cdkeys work for these cards in the rewards, but you have make sure it's the right edition (usually the standard edition).

I did this for COD Black Ops Cold War... bought it at cdkeys after activating the rewards card, paid £33 but got 6,000 points back when it was £50 in the MS store.