D3P : What's your strategy with ISO ?

Ok guys, you release many characters (good and bad) in a short time. It could be thrilling is the Iso was available in enough quantities to level them up.

In the last 30 days only we had :

Blade : 170 K Iso needed
Ms Marvel : 70 K Iso needed
Devil Dino : 340 K Iso needed (that one was less expensive)
Dr Octopus : 170K Iso needed

Total needed in 30 days : 750K

Useful characters in the metagame : let's say Blade will be.

Players who care about the metagame only will only need 170K Iso.

Let's say that Lady Thor will be available in 3 months... So the Iso to be spent, is to be gathered within the next 3 months. 430K/3 : 140K per month.

I'm not judging here whether the characters are useful, if they need to be maxed...

But you told us numerous times you wanted roster diversity and use (we all agree on this, believe me). If you want us to use our roster to play the PvPs and PvEs, why don't you make Iso FAR LESS expensive and/or distribute it in larger quantities.

To my knowledge, there are only 2 players who have a complete maxed roster (from 1* to 4*) : Colognoisseur and myself. That's not a lot...

More than 7 million Iso are now needed to max characters. Players are conscious they will never be able to achieve that. 7 million Iso is now worth $8900.

Can you reasonably think people will spend that amount of money just because they are addicted ?

There has been a problem since the beginning with Iso, and lowering the price did not change the situation much.

So, what's the use of releasing new characters ? People play hard in the PvEs to get the covers, then play the next PvP. And then, nothing, because most of the characters are useless (only Blade seems to be useful in the afore mentioned list).

Please let us know what you intend to do with Iso in the near future.
«1

Comments

  • franckynight
    franckynight Posts: 582 Critical Contributor
    To be honest, the iso flow is pretty good if you have time to hit LRs.. I ve never had problem to iso max a char as long as i hit LRs properly (that means with a good tanking and the will to grind 4-5 rounds from beginning to end).. i even got more than 150 k isos for a batch of LRs when i hit them like crazy.. the season of fury release i racked up enough isos to iso max him and all others 3* released that very season.. there it goes for the isos as other matters of interest in this game, if you take time, you'll be good.. its just a question of time..
  • dkffiv
    dkffiv Posts: 1,039 Chairperson of the Boards
    From June until today, the amount of ISOs I've needed to level what I currently have has increased from 553k to 2.17 million. I've been receiving a lot more covers and catching up on the original ones that eluded me (down to needing only 37 covers to give everyone perfect builds) but the rate at which new characters comes out seems to outpace ISO intake.

    I've been tracking match rewards and I think you average around 170 per if you assume you always have the +30 no-skip bonus. With progress rewards and other bonuses you need to average like 40-50 wins a day to take in 10k isos. Lightning Rounds are great but they are midweek so most players cannot grind a ton of them.

    Even if you assume you are earning 10k isos a day, that's only 2-9 levels per day which is rather depressing considering how many levels it takes to max your characters. If you manage a relatively fast 3 minute win, it takes 30m to an hour per level for high level 3 or 4* characters. The more you win the tougher your opponents are so either you risk losing or you tank your rating which just adds even more time to time invested vs. isos earned.

    The anniversary week double ISO felt right. Completing a match to only earn 70 + 30 ISOs is insulting. Don't get me started on the 20 ISO PvE rewards.
  • To be honest, the iso flow is pretty good if you have time to hit LRs.. I ve never had problem to iso max a char as long as i hit LRs properly (that means with a good tanking and the will to grind 4-5 rounds from beginning to end).. i even got more than 150 k isos for a batch of LRs when i hit them like crazy.. the season of fury release i racked up enough isos to iso max him and all others 3* released that very season.. there it goes for the isos as other matters of interest in this game, if you take time, you'll be good.. its just a question of time..

    Lol...key phrase "if you have time..."
  • Moral
    Moral Posts: 512
    I know it's lengthy, but colognissir already undercut your premise.

    viewtopic.php?f=7&t=18017

    For most of us it's about resource allocation and prioritizing. Unlike Big C, I don't have the time or inclination to dedicate myself to banking a million iso on top of keeping everyone maxed.

    And in case you don't feel like reading the entire statement, he only buys HP for covers. Through play he makes enough ISO to cover fully leveling a 3 star every two weeks.
  • Wonko33
    Wonko33 Posts: 985 Critical Contributor
    arktos1971 wrote:

    Please let us know what you intend to do with Iso in the near future.

    They intent to keep raking in the money, they don't care if almost no one will pay the 8900$ for a fully leveled roster, as long as they make decent money off the majority of their player base.

    We can sit here with our "wouldn't they make more money if <insert something I want> ?" ideas, but I'm pretty sure they have savvy number crunchers that tell them otherwise.
  • Moral
    Moral Posts: 512
    Wonko33 wrote:
    arktos1971 wrote:

    Please let us know what you intend to do with Iso in the near future.

    They intent to keep raking in the money, they don't care if almost no one will pay the 8900$ for a fully leveled roster, as long as they make decent money off the majority of their player base.

    We can sit here with our "wouldn't they make more money if <insert something I want> ?" ideas, but I'm pretty sure they have savvy number crunchers that tell them otherwise.

    They don't need number crunchers to tell them completing rosters brings a sense of closure that makes a good jumping off point.

    "Always leave them wanting more." - P.T Barnum & Walt Disney
  • jojeda654
    jojeda654 Posts: 1,162 Chairperson of the Boards
    If anything, the Anniversary showed me that the current Iso flow is pretty reasonable. A few of my alliance mates mentioned they gathered about 100k in that 1 week, and it was not like they were playing much more than during a regular season. That's 2/3 of the way of a rare character. If the devs left 2X Iso permanently, you have many more players reach the end game that much faster. Not exactly sustainable.

    If having a Full, Maxed-Out roster is one of your goals, that's on you. I wouldn't expect the devs to make it easier for you just because you wanted an extra challenge.
  • dkffiv
    dkffiv Posts: 1,039 Chairperson of the Boards
    Moral wrote:
    Wonko33 wrote:
    arktos1971 wrote:

    Please let us know what you intend to do with Iso in the near future.

    They intent to keep raking in the money, they don't care if almost no one will pay the 8900$ for a fully leveled roster, as long as they make decent money off the majority of their player base.

    We can sit here with our "wouldn't they make more money if <insert something I want> ?" ideas, but I'm pretty sure they have savvy number crunchers that tell them otherwise.

    They don't need number crunchers to tell them completing rosters brings a sense of closure that makes a good jumping off point.

    I've played League of Legends enough to unlock every character and have enough IP to purchase a new champ as soon as its released. I still play the game because I enjoy it and can mess around with any champion I want.

    PvE (aside from the ridiculous scaling) has become more enjoyable now that I have 11 maxed 3/4* as well as a bunch of other ones that are 130+. If I had a fully maxed roster I am fairly certain that I would still be playing just to have enough currency banked to max out new champions as they are released.
  • dkffiv
    dkffiv Posts: 1,039 Chairperson of the Boards
    jojeda654 wrote:
    If anything, the Anniversary showed me that the current Iso flow is pretty reasonable. A few of my alliance mates mentioned they gathered about 100k in that 1 week, and it was not like they were playing much more than during a regular season. That's 2/3 of the way of a rare character. If the devs left 2X Iso permanently, you have many more players reach the end game that much faster. Not exactly sustainable.

    If having a Full, Maxed-Out roster is one of your goals, that's on you. I wouldn't expect the devs to make it easier for you just because you wanted an extra challenge.

    The placement/progress rewards were much higher and the events ended sooner in that period of time. The double ISOs from matches alone do not generate that much of a difference. The average per match probably only increased from 170 to 250 or so (sell value for covers did not change).
  • Colognoisseur
    Colognoisseur Posts: 806 Critical Contributor
    From December onward I have always farmed over 100K iso a week.
    Like Franckynight mentioned I hit LR for 75% of that.
    If you haven't figured it out LR's are the single best source of iso on the game and if you use them you will see your iso levels jump.
    This is true no matter what level roster you have.
    It isn't about winning it is about farming the seed teams like crazy and almost any level roster can beat the easy seed teams.
  • Bowgentle
    Bowgentle Posts: 7,926 Chairperson of the Boards
    From December onward I have always farmed over 100K iso a week.
    Like Franckynight mentioned I hit LR for 75% of that.
    If you haven't figured it out LR's are the single best source of iso on the game and if you use them you will see your iso levels jump.
    This is true no matter what level roster you have.
    It isn't about winning it is about farming the seed teams like crazy and almost any level roster can beat the easy seed teams.
    To give an estimate for the people who don't plan on hitting every single LR: Playing to 250 on seed teams and maybe 4 matches against real people nets me about 3000 ISO, maybe more if covers drop. That's about 25 minutes of playing.
    You don't have to hit LRs religiously, but 5 per day are easily doable - that's 15K ISO for 2.5 hours total.

    Of course, that's from the perspective of someone with a maxed out roster. If you only manage to go to 100, it'll be less, but still definitely more than you'll ever get from PVP in that timeframe.
  • This only works if you are able to get the seed teams, I am about 20% of the time.
  • Colognoisseur actually took his time maxing Invisible Woman, just saying. icon_e_smile.gif

    I've never yet maxed a newly released character straight away. I've levelled them bit by bit (but I don't buy the missing covers either, I usually wait for them to come to me, so I guess my approach is a different one anyway).
  • dkffiv
    dkffiv Posts: 1,039 Chairperson of the Boards
    dragma wrote:
    This only works if you are able to get the seed teams, I am about 20% of the time.

    Drag is correct, you need to be on right as an LR is starting and you may need to tank to avoid facing real teams immediately. Its a large time investment to milk LRs though it is by far the most efficient ISO source. Without wolverine + daken you will eventually end up running out kits even against seed + easy teams, especially if you have a limited 2* roster. I think a lot of established players forget that we had easier access to 3* covers and actual healing / clock fast forwarding to bypass the issue of dead / injured characters.
  • Since iso is the limiting factor it does hurt diversity. Would I level up and sometimes use nearly every character if I could sure. But I only have so much iso so I pour it into the people I most want to play with, which usually equates to the strongest/best characters (that I have covers for). I have several very unleveled 3* that I would use if they were maxed but don't see maxing them as the best plan for my iso. So, the self fulfilling prophecy is born, that no one uses certain characters because they aren't good enough. Not because they aren't good, or fun, or interesting. But simply because they don't make it high enough on my list to give them the iso to make them worthwhile, that is why they never get used.
  • TazFTW
    TazFTW Posts: 695 Critical Contributor
    jojeda654 wrote:
    If anything, the Anniversary showed me that the current Iso flow is pretty reasonable.

    Yep, I used the iso I got from Anniversary week and increased everyone 5 levels. I have the full roster of characters plus a 2nd OBW, which means I added levels to Yelena and Bag-Man.

    This is what happens when you're on an iso high; you begin leveling Yelena and Bag-Man.
  • Well, the veterans can actually farm Iso. I know that. I farm a lot more than what has been mentioned because I play a lot.

    A new player can not farm so much Iso in the beginning. I was talking about needing 7 million Iso to max a roster. Cologn, Francky, Bow... don't need 7 million Iso to max their roster.
  • All you need to get the seed teams is have your application open before the event starts and don't exit the application. You can literally wait an entire hour after LR started and you'll still get the same number of seed teams as starting right away. It looks like sometimes the game decides to queue up a second batch of seed teams but I've gotten this second batch starting an hour after the LR started too, so it's got nothing to do with when you started. If you got hit while doing the seed teams there is a very high chance all your seed teams will be gone (but not 100%, I've seen seed teams return after a hit), though due to the general lag of the system you should appear as someone with 0 PvP points most of the time while you're working on your seed teams which will reduce the attacks.
  • Pylgrim
    Pylgrim Posts: 2,328 Chairperson of the Boards
    From December onward I have always farmed over 100K iso a week.
    Like Franckynight mentioned I hit LR for 75% of that.
    If you haven't figured it out LR's are the single best source of iso on the game and if you use them you will see your iso levels jump.
    This is true no matter what level roster you have.
    It isn't about winning it is about farming the seed teams like crazy and almost any level roster can beat the easy seed teams.

    People who tout LRs as an incredible Iso source seem to overestimate (likely based on their own experiences) the amount of time and commitment other people have. If you don't hit the LR at exactly 1:30:00 you will not get more than 6 seeds, in my experience. Miss the start by two minutes and there's a very good chance you won't get even the initial set of 3. Then you have to frantically go through battles as fast as possible until you run out of seed teams. You'll be surprised to know that the amount of people who can stop everything else going in their lives for 10 or so minutes exactly every 2 hours is fairly low.
  • Pylgrim wrote:
    From December onward I have always farmed over 100K iso a week.
    Like Franckynight mentioned I hit LR for 75% of that.
    If you haven't figured it out LR's are the single best source of iso on the game and if you use them you will see your iso levels jump.
    This is true no matter what level roster you have.
    It isn't about winning it is about farming the seed teams like crazy and almost any level roster can beat the easy seed teams.

    People who tout LRs as an incredible Iso source seem to overestimate (likely based on their own experiences) the amount of time and commitment other people have. If you don't hit the LR at exactly 1:30:00 you will not get more than 6 seeds, in my experience. Miss the start by two minutes and there's a very good chance you won't get even the initial set of 3. Then you have to frantically go through battles as fast as possible until you run out of seed teams. You'll be surprised to know that the amount of people who can stop everything else going in their lives for 10 or so minutes exactly every 2 hours is fairly low.

    You can just leave the application on. You don't have to be playing at the time the event started, just as long as it's open before the event started. Of course you do have to be able to play before the LR ended.