surprising data on plat use efficiency for L77 cap

[Fusionstrike]

When the 77 cap was announced, I decided I'd be very efficient about how I approached it. I thought I'd grind xp only when I had a 3x combo to maximize the benefit. With 10 characters to choose from, I figured I'd have at least one decent combo to play with most days. Also, I'd only have to buy 4x xp elixir instead of thrasher if I wanted to speed things up.

Luckily, I got a 3x combo to work with several days in a row (not all on the same char). I ran through the new levels and measured my progress when using 4x xp elixir. I played all of the 5 levels, and the amount of xp I gained varied, mostly due to which level it was and how good a team I joined. But I could reliably get about 5k xp per hour (or more precisely, per elixir).

Then today I decided to give plasma leveling a try. I figured it would be faster but more expensive, so I kept track, and was surprised at what I found.

XP gained: 23034
Plat spent: 12x(5 plat 5min xp anywhere) + 1x(27plat 4x xp loco) = 87plat
XP/plat: 265

Compared this to my average caverns run:
XP gained: ~5000
Plat spent: 1x(27plat 4x xp loco) = 27
XP/plat: 185

So it's faster and less expensive overall to level in plasma using plat, and by quite a bit. Running the numbers, here's the total cost to cap 300k xp using these rates:

1132 plat in plasma
1622 plat in caverns

Keep in mind that these calculations assume having a 3x combo blessing, so having to buy thrashers would increase the cost. But since both methods get more expensive, it's still a significant savings to do plasma over caverns. Repeating the calculations above with thrashers at 36plat each:

XP/plat using thrasher in plasma: 240
XP/plat using thrasher in caverns: 139

I always figured that leveling in the new area was slower but cheaper. It surprised me to learn I actually get a better value for my plat playing low levels with xp anywhere. So the only ones who should be in the new area are those leveling without plat (in which case they may be better off in BSM) or those farming the new items.

Of course, if STS relaxes the difficulty of the new mobs then this calculation would change, but for now it's definitely better to grind the xp in plasma.