ISO-8 versus other ingame currencies

Orti

While I agree with a lot of constructive feedback of many forumites I have to disagree with transitions being too slow because of lacking covers.

I'm currently two weeks before my anniversary with MPQ and over that year I smoothly went from 1* to 3* land. Today I have all 3* characters rostered and many of them cover maxed. Since I simply hate pve grinding and want to play a game at the times I prefer I joined TPS (focus on pvp only). I manage to join and play 2-4 lightning rounds a week - can't just ignore work etc. In Pvp I usually get t100 (600-1000pts), s20 I made 2k in sim and 10k total.

There are three ingame currencies and for some reason ISO-8 is treated very differently:

HP: HP can be bought at more or less reasonable prices and is handed out as a progression and even placement reward everywhere. HP prices for roster slots and shields (that's where I spend them) are rising the larger things you purchase but in a relatively fair way.

Command points: very similar to HP, cp can be bought or received while playing. Since there is only one thing to buy at a fairly reasonable (and stable) price I'd consider that currency rather fair.

ISO-8: I'm constantly ISO-8-broke. Even more so since I transitioned to 3* land. With ddq and the above mentioned rewards I usually receive I already got most of the covers I wanted. On an average day I get enough Iso to raise one 3* by 3-4 levels (mostly from ddq). I assume 4* leveling will go even slower. Buying iso is ridiculously expensive and really not an option.

Something is wrong here... either it should get harder to get characters covered or there should be some higher iso reward as soon as you pass a certain threshold.

Keeping up with weekly boosted and event featured characters is just frustrating this way.

Any chance this will be changed?

Unknown

I wouldn't bet on it.... They won't even drop the 20 ISO "FU" reward for something worth your time. This game and every other mobile game cares only for whales. Whales keep the game afloat and the rest are honestly, sponges who take up server space and fodder to help keep the rich feeling elite.

If they could offer a business model in which they simply step forward and kick FTP players in the nuts while enabling the wealthy step on your pain wrecked body for a price, they would do it. If you are not spending cash, you are a drain on resources and as such..... Un-wanted.

Take the hint and move on with your life without hope of more freely attainable ISO.

TO STAY FAIR, MPQ is cheap when compared to many other mobile games.

Unknown

I find it interesting that the "Soft" currency is the one that has the biggest shortage in this game, when most of the time it's the "hard" currencies that people are always short on in F2P games.

That being said I'd much rather be short on the constantly-gaining-if-in-low-amounts Iso, because that means I can level up characters constantly, and always get One More Level on a pretty regular basis (Even if I need 100 of em). It seems like more fun progress then waiting for just one more cover, or for more HP so I can buy a roster slot so I can open my Legendary tokens again.

jvasses

I have mostly finished my 3* conversion, and am just starting to begin the 4*. I suffer from the iso shortage greatly. I like the game enough to spend some real $ here and there, but the price of iso is so ridiculous. I think D3 forgot an entire "0" on the iso. 75,000 iso for $100....I am well over a million iso short of leveling everyone on my roster. if they changed the price to 750,000 iso for $100, then I might actually consider making an iso purchase.

Unknown

i just play pvp, found out that i maxed 1 3star with 3 week saving iso, 110/120 for 3* just fine i mean they got weekly boosted right?, dont over thinking it too much

patience is the key

Ludaa

Iso is their ultimate progress governor. Whaling covers? Not too crazy. Whaling Iso? Insane. So, even most whales will still have to grind the game to fill out their roster.

Resource needs can flip flop sometimes as well. Many times in my 630 days I've been in the position where the bottleneck wasn't Iso, but needed covers.

dfour24

See I've always wished that iso was a reward that scales with your roster. It would make total sense. New players would still receive the low iso rewards due to low leveling costs but high end players i.e. 4* transitioners and up would have iso rewards scaled up to make leveling a lot more reasonable...

Orti

Contrary to many others I'm convinced the majority of revenue is generated by the more casual players.

Whales exist, yes. But how many people spend a software developer salary per month on Mpq and how many employees need to be funded?

I played this game for almost a year now and I didn't spend more than $150 so far. Still with thousands of players spending $20-$50 every now and then you get a constant revenue stream.

I feel part of that majority and now that I threw in money for roster slots I'd appreciate having more iso.

Or again: probably a lowered frequency in new covers.

To me it feels just lame sitting on those covered but not yet leveled characters.

Zen808

Agree that ISO as an IAP is over-priced. However, most of the people who are saying that 3* covers are the bottleneck are probably PVE players. The majority of the ISO is in PVE - Node rewards, and even Sub placement can give out quite a bit. PVP, conversely, is very cover-rich, but resource poor, since you often have to spend more ISO and HP than you can make through wins.

Add to that, Ice has said that the PVP makes up a very small portion of their total user-base, so even if they ever reach the point where they feel that changes need to occur to ISO distribution, I'd bet that they'd happen mainly over on the PVE side.

Unknown

I do kinda have a question for people who are Iso-starved.

How often do you level up your characters?

Like, I remember back in the 1 and 2* ranges, I tended to level up characters as soon as I had the Iso available to, usually targeting whatever character I wanted stronger the most.

I'd imagine that once I use up my Iso reserves now, I'd feel the sameish way. As soon as I saved up he 1,000 Iso or whatever it'd take to level up one of my guys from 150 to 151, I'd probably do it.

And that feels way more fun when you're leveling up a character you use bit by bit instead of waiting for a cover, but I don't know if that's the cool/hip way to do it then.

Pongie

colwag wrote:

How often do you level up your characters?

Since August, I have been slowly pushing my 3* roster at 120 to 166 at a rate of 1 a week (97k). With 16x of them at 166 now, plus I'm gaining 4* covers much faster than before, I find myself slowly down on the ISO spending. I just can't justify taking the remaining sub par 3*s to max level. The middle tiers are being pumped to 140 when their pvp event comes around, but I think I need to save as much as I could for the eventual 4*s. So far I have taken XF, King Pin and Carnage to 150 just to beat the DDQ node. Taking any beyond 200 will be several weeks worth of saving ISO.

TxMoose

to me it makes no sense to just max all your 3*s. there are levels of usefulness and my levels basically tell you who I find useful. max the guys who will always be useful. 140 is a good spot for solid characters who can either help a little unboosted or who become strong when boosted. bottom tier at 120 will be fine even when I enter 5* play in about 18 months.

Marty17

I kept tabs on how long it'll take me to level characters (from 40 to 166) with regular participation of DDQ & PvE, it averages to 10 days.

zeeke

Best way to fix the late game ISO shortage: let us sell 4 star covers for 5k ISO. Done

amusingfoo1

Ludaa wrote:

Iso is their ultimate progress governor. Whaling covers? Not too crazy. Whaling Iso? Insane.

I was thinking about this the other day. 78k ISO is three or four days of play. 20k hp is about two or three weeks worth. These definitely don't gibe.

udonomefoo

amusingfoo1 wrote:

Ludaa wrote:

Iso is their ultimate progress governor. Whaling covers? Not too crazy. Whaling Iso? Insane.

I was thinking about this the other day. 78k ISO is three or four days of play. 20k hp is about two or three weeks worth. These definitely don't gibe.

WelcomeDeath

I actually think the amount of iso given out is reasonable. I think if you're leveling every day, it can seem like you don't have enough. If you wait a week before leveling and do it all at once, it's much more rewarding. Started doing this a couple months ago, had been leveling 3* 4 or 5 levels/day. Once I started saving until payday and found I was making 100k+ iso per week, seemed like much more. Iso as a purchase is crazy given the amount you can earn in game, but I think it's meant that way to put the brakes on the whales a bit.
On 20 iso rewards: this is the one area almost all players take issue with. I think pve nodes should be playable 10 times max (or 13 for 48 hour sub). Playing this many times brings point values down to 1, no real reason to keep playing unless there's cp or 500 iso left. Make the rewards vault-like, a static 10 which include the 4 that are there now plus 6 each 20 iso rewards. Every time you play, you increase your chances of getting the last reward. After 10 times, lock the node (you can't get anymore real points anyway, so who would keep playing?). You'd still be hit with 20 iso, but at least there'd be a reasonable way to work towards getting all 4 good rewards (critical boosts aside)

zeeke

Welcome Death wrote:

I actually think the amount of iso given out is reasonable. I think if you're leveling every day, it can seem like you don't have enough. If you wait a week before leveling and do it all at once, it's much more rewarding. Started doing this a couple months ago, had been leveling 3* 4 or 5 levels/day. Once I started saving until payday and found I was making 100k+ iso per week, seemed like much more.

Talk to me again when you are leveling your 4 stars past 200.

Zen808

zeeke wrote:

Welcome Death wrote:

I actually think the amount of iso given out is reasonable. I think if you're leveling every day, it can seem like you don't have enough. If you wait a week before leveling and do it all at once, it's much more rewarding. Started doing this a couple months ago, had been leveling 3* 4 or 5 levels/day. Once I started saving until payday and found I was making 100k+ iso per week, seemed like much more.

Talk to me again when you are leveling your 4 stars past 200.

Ha! The joke's on you! It'll be years before I reach that point!

WelcomeDeath

zeeke wrote:

Welcome Death wrote:

I actually think the amount of iso given out is reasonable. I think if you're leveling every day, it can seem like you don't have enough. If you wait a week before leveling and do it all at once, it's much more rewarding. Started doing this a couple months ago, had been leveling 3* 4 or 5 levels/day. Once I started saving until payday and found I was making 100k+ iso per week, seemed like much more.

Talk to me again when you are leveling your 4 stars past 200.

To level a 4* from 200 to 270 takes 241493 iso. That's about 2.5 weeks worth. Being that maxed 4* are supposed to be the end game (before 5* existed), that's not too bad compared to a little less than a week to max a 3*. They're better characters. It's supposed to take longer.

zeeke

Welcome Death wrote:

zeeke wrote:

Welcome Death wrote:

I actually think the amount of iso given out is reasonable. I think if you're leveling every day, it can seem like you don't have enough. If you wait a week before leveling and do it all at once, it's much more rewarding. Started doing this a couple months ago, had been leveling 3* 4 or 5 levels/day. Once I started saving until payday and found I was making 100k+ iso per week, seemed like much more.

Talk to me again when you are leveling your 4 stars past 200.

To level a 4* from 200 to 270 takes 241493 iso. That's about 2.5 weeks worth. Being that maxed 4* are supposed to be the end game (before 5* existed), that's not too bad compared to a little less than a week to max a 3*. They're better characters. It's supposed to take longer.

Oh I understand the math, it's just that you need say 2 hours of play per day with should net you on average around 15k ISO. So to level a 4 you have to spend about 50 hours of play time.

That is insane since you need a couple of them to stay competitive. Especially now with boosted 3s, the 4 tier is way too weak. Even boosted.