Take my money! New Collector's Edition idea.

ErikPeter

A few months ago, when I was a relatively new player, I suggested the D3 create a sort of collector's edition to get money from people (like me) who are unwilling to pay for roster slots or random heroic tokens. (I got only two 3+ characters from my last two months of heroic tokens. No way am I spending $20 for the chance of 10 more Hawkeyes.) The old idea was to have a one-time purchase that got you 5 bonus roster slots and maybe a champion token. I still think that's a good idea; it's a great deal for new players, desperate for roster space, and since roster slots are progressively more expensive, it's an even better deal the longer they keep playing (and maybe they'll realize that the 42-packs are a great buy in that time).

So that's the S.H.I.E.L.D. Collector pack: $11.99 for 5 bonus slots and a champion token (one-time purchase). The bonus slots could even only hold 1- and 2-star characters if you wanted to be really stingy.

Anyway, here's my new idea, for players who have fleshed out rosters (~40) and still won't cough up money, and are now suffering the ISO crunch:

The S.H.I.E.L.D. Green Iso-8 pack: A one-time purchase, $19.99, to unlock "the latent potential of green ISO-8". This "competition pack" increases the level and level cap for all of your characters to a minimum of 70 (or 50 for 1* characters). ISO a player has already spent getting to 70 is refunded; That's 28420 for a maxed 1-star, and for characters above 80, that's about 35k for 2-stars, and 12461 for 3-stars. For 2-star characters, the level cap is now equal to 70+2 per additional cover. For 3-star characters, the level cap is 70+8 per additional cover.

So what does this do?

• It would be a nice one-time Iso-8 boost for established players, which can be used to level up their other characters. E.g. For my 41-character roster it represents about 250k ISO, which converts to about two more characters maxed out, plus my 1/5/1 Xforce to 156.
• Characters are competitive with fewer covers. Now earning a 1/1/1 featured 3-star hero, would be roughly even to the 166s when powered up (except for the relative strengths of the power ranks, of course,) making for more interesting featured PvP (which is usually "my two best characters and this tag along dude who is too weak to compete because he's got two covers.") And players who buy recruitment packs are given an even bigger incentive, since extra covers they find ensure their featured hero can be powered up to higher than 166 (after levelling with ISO, of course).

It might seem strange but in PvE players are used to fighting opponents that don't follow the typical advancement structure (e.g. a level 80 Venom with only 3 covers in Symbiotic Snare). Granting free levels leans a bit to pay-to-win, but remember that any ISO gained from the purchase is actually a refund for earlier work. If it sounds controversial, implement the level cap boost gamewide, and then offer the automatic levelling-to-70/refund portion as a one-time purchase, (the Green Iso-8 pack), which is a cost-effective Iso-8 boost for frugal players and whales alike.