Selling 2* champions - stop the bad math

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  • udonomefoo
    udonomefoo Posts: 1,630 Chairperson of the Boards
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    j0nats wrote:
    Another con is i dont feel like champing ares again since other toons need the iso.

    This is why I'm not selling to use the iso on a 4, i'll never build the 2 again if I do that. I'll wait until the new 2 is covered and do it at once.

    Also, on the "bad investment" concept - yeah, maybe. But 8k iso is what, 2-3 levels on a 4*? That's not breaking the bank. Am I going to now roster moonstone and max her just to start farming her? Nope. But for the existing already maxed ones it is not a bad idea. This is a game and getting rewards makes me enjoy it more, so I'll take the constant flow of 2* champ rewards even if it is a skinner box.
  • Quebbster
    Quebbster Posts: 8,070 Chairperson of the Boards
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    Polares wrote:
    Quebbster wrote:
    Warbringa wrote:
    Being a finance guy I can talk with some knowledge on this.....unless you have hoards of iso to waste and get way, way more 2* than the average casual player (me)....this is a terrible investment due to time value of iso (money). It will probably take the average player several months to get enough covers to champion a 2* from scratch (took me 4-5 months to max out my 2* characters and maybe even longer). Those rewards are a paltry return for months of investment. That iso would be better off going to improve your roster now. The exception would be someone who has so much iso they can afford to drop 70,000+ on a low return, longer term investment and earns so many 2* covers that they feel confident that they can max out a 2* champion in around a month.

    That all being said, it is still an upgrade from what we had before so I am slightly thankful but I will not be utilizing it for farming as I need that iso for far too many more important things at the moment. It does give one other advantage though, if you need to come up with iso fast to max a 4* etc. you now have a much less painful way of raising a good store of iso if necessary.
    One thing to keep in mind is that two-star covers are significantly easier to get in three-star and fourstar land. It's a lot easier to play PvP and Lightning rounds in particularly and get two-star covers that way.
    I championed my Bag-man this weekend and I happened to have ten covers in my queue that I've gotten from PvP drops the last two weeks... The other characters are easier to get, so having fifteen covers in queue shouldn't be a problem.

    This is a really BAD investment for anyone in 4 to 5 land. You are wasting precious iso in champing and leveling 2s to get rewards you don't need (3s and HP ?!?!?). The only thing worth getting is the 5CPs, but the iso you lose is much important for this very small amount of CPs

    The iso you are using for 2s can be used to champ 4s, which is basically what a 4 user should be doing. Even champing the meh to bad 3s is a very bad investment. You may recover some of the iso later on, but that iso can be used NOW for leveling 4s and 5s. And the rewards for champed 4s are much better. I have champed some 3s I never use just to get the LT and that was a really bad decision.
    I have all threestars and 20 fourstars championed and I am very happy with the path I am taking. My aim is to have them all championed eventually. I enjoy getting champion rewards, and I think 8K ISO is definitely worth it. I haven't quite decided if I want to max my non-maxed two-stars though.
  • Chipster22
    Chipster22 Posts: 297 Mover and Shaker
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    For the fun of it I decided to run the numbers for 3*, 4*, and 5* character farming in the style of the OP.

    This is largely academic because of the large time spans required to champ and re-champ even a 3*, but I wanted to see the numbers anyway.

    I was unable to find the amount of HP given when selling 3*, 4*, and 5* maxed champs, so that bit is incomplete.

    3* ISO rewards and costs:

    Sell a maxed 3* champ = +105,000 ISO
    Use 13 covers to create a new complete 3* = -6,500 ISO
    Re-max the 3* to level 166 + championing fee = -127,419 ISO
    Use 100 covers to max the champion levels = -50,000 ISO
    ISO rewards earned while championing = +57,500 ISO

    Total = a loss of 21,419 ISO

    Other rewards earned:

    1,000 HP + unknown amount when selling
    2 Heroic tokens
    5 Legendary tokens
    50 Command points

    4* ISO rewards and costs:

    Sell a maxed 4* champ = +320,000 ISO
    Use 13 covers to create a new complete 4* = -13,000 ISO
    Re-max the 4* to level 270 + championing fee = -378,320 ISO
    Use 100 covers to max the champion levels = -100,000 ISO
    ISO rewards earned while championing = +112,500 ISO

    Total = a loss of 58,820 ISO

    Other rewards earned:

    4,000 HP + unknown amount when selling
    0 Heroic tokens
    10 Legendary tokens
    250 Command points

    5* ISO rewards and costs:

    Sell a maxed 5* champ = +500,000 ISO
    Use 13 covers to create a new complete 5* = -26,000 ISO
    Re-max the 5* to level 450 + championing fee = -573,929 ISO
    Use 100 covers to max the champion levels = -200,000 ISO
    ISO rewards earned while championing = +220,000 ISO

    Total = a loss of 79,929 ISO

    Other rewards earned:

    19,250 HP + unknown amount when selling
    0 Heroic tokens
    25 Legendary tokens
    625 Command points
  • PeterGibbons316
    PeterGibbons316 Posts: 1,063
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    Polares wrote:
    Quebbster wrote:
    Warbringa wrote:
    Being a finance guy I can talk with some knowledge on this.....unless you have hoards of iso to waste and get way, way more 2* than the average casual player (me)....this is a terrible investment due to time value of iso (money). It will probably take the average player several months to get enough covers to champion a 2* from scratch (took me 4-5 months to max out my 2* characters and maybe even longer). Those rewards are a paltry return for months of investment. That iso would be better off going to improve your roster now. The exception would be someone who has so much iso they can afford to drop 70,000+ on a low return, longer term investment and earns so many 2* covers that they feel confident that they can max out a 2* champion in around a month.

    That all being said, it is still an upgrade from what we had before so I am slightly thankful but I will not be utilizing it for farming as I need that iso for far too many more important things at the moment. It does give one other advantage though, if you need to come up with iso fast to max a 4* etc. you now have a much less painful way of raising a good store of iso if necessary.
    One thing to keep in mind is that two-star covers are significantly easier to get in three-star and fourstar land. It's a lot easier to play PvP and Lightning rounds in particularly and get two-star covers that way.
    I championed my Bag-man this weekend and I happened to have ten covers in my queue that I've gotten from PvP drops the last two weeks... The other characters are easier to get, so having fifteen covers in queue shouldn't be a problem.

    This is a really BAD investment for anyone in 4 to 5 land. You are wasting precious iso in champing and leveling 2s to get rewards you don't need (3s and HP ?!?!?). The only thing worth getting is the 5CPs, but the iso you lose is much important for this very small amount of CPs

    The iso you are using for 2s can be used to champ 4s, which is basically what a 4 user should be doing. Even champing the meh to bad 3s is a very bad investment. You may recover some of the iso later on, but that iso can be used NOW for leveling 4s and 5s. And the rewards for champed 4s are much better. I have champed some 3s I never use just to get the LT and that was a really bad decision.
    I disagree. My usable 5*s are as high as I can level them, and my 4*s collect dust. Champing additional 4* characters just means I have more 4* characters collecting dust. Meanwhile, my 3*s actually see play during their featured events. And every time their event rolls around I typically end up with anywhere from 3 to 5 additional covers for them. So for me it makes more sense to champ my mid/bottom tier 3* characters than my mid/bottom tier 4* characters. Same thing with 2*s now. The ISO you put into them comes back plus some other rewards. It all just depends on the person, their roster, and what they plan to do.
  • GrumpySmurf1002
    GrumpySmurf1002 Posts: 3,511 Chairperson of the Boards
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    Chipster22 wrote:
    For the fun of it I decided to run the numbers for 3*, 4*, and 5* character farming in the style of the OP.

    This is largely academic because of the large time spans required to champ and re-champ even a 3*, but I wanted to see the numbers anyway.

    I was unable to find the amount of HP given when selling 3*, 4*, and 5* maxed champs, so that bit is incomplete.

    3* ISO rewards and costs:

    Sell a maxed 3* champ = +105,000 ISO
    Use 13 covers to create a new complete 3* = -6,500 ISO
    Re-max the 3* to level 166 + championing fee = -127,419 ISO
    Use 100 covers to max the champion levels = -50,000 ISO
    ISO rewards earned while championing = +57,500 ISO

    Total = a loss of 21,419 ISO

    Other rewards earned:

    1,000 HP + unknown amount when selling
    2 Heroic tokens
    5 Legendary tokens
    50 Command points

    4* ISO rewards and costs:

    Sell a maxed 4* champ = +320,000 ISO
    Use 13 covers to create a new complete 4* = -13,000 ISO
    Re-max the 4* to level 270 + championing fee = -378,320 ISO
    Use 100 covers to max the champion levels = -100,000 ISO
    ISO rewards earned while championing = +112,500 ISO

    Total = a loss of 58,820 ISO

    Other rewards earned:

    4,000 HP + unknown amount when selling
    0 Heroic tokens
    10 Legendary tokens
    250 Command points

    5* ISO rewards and costs:

    Sell a maxed 5* champ = +500,000 ISO
    Use 13 covers to create a new complete 5* = -26,000 ISO
    Re-max the 5* to level 450 + championing fee = -573,929 ISO
    Use 100 covers to max the champion levels = -200,000 ISO
    ISO rewards earned while championing = +220,000 ISO

    Total = a loss of 79,929 ISO

    Other rewards earned:

    19,250 HP + unknown amount when selling
    0 Heroic tokens
    25 Legendary tokens
    625 Command points

    But again, this is not a 'loss.' Doing this infinitely does not drain your iso.

    Phrased another way, you gain 35081 in the process of champing and selling a maxed 3*. Instead of the other 21,419 iso, you receive the HP/CP/Token rewards.
  • TxMoose
    TxMoose Posts: 4,319 Chairperson of the Boards
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    I disagree. My usable 5*s are as high as I can level them, and my 4*s collect dust. Champing additional 4* characters just means I have more 4* characters collecting dust. Meanwhile, my 3*s actually see play during their featured events. And every time their event rolls around I typically end up with anywhere from 3 to 5 additional covers for them. So for me it makes more sense to champ my mid/bottom tier 3* characters than my mid/bottom tier 4* characters. Same thing with 2*s now. The ISO you put into them comes back plus some other rewards. It all just depends on the person, their roster, and what they plan to do.
    I'm with PG - I'm one who has maxed tier 1 and most of tier 2 of the 4*s along with my 405 OML, any others I max will just sit unused (unless I get the last cover on quake or nova - those i'll pause the plan and max). I'm going back and completing the 3*, then the 2* rarities too. I've already done vision and colossus is getting done tomorrow. I'm prioritizing covers in queue (and expirations) and who they feed. hoarding most of my tokens until I finish the project (2-3 months) and then everything gets applied (so nova and quake unlikely to get finished with no token openings).
  • PeterGibbons316
    PeterGibbons316 Posts: 1,063
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    TxMoose wrote:
    I disagree. My usable 5*s are as high as I can level them, and my 4*s collect dust. Champing additional 4* characters just means I have more 4* characters collecting dust. Meanwhile, my 3*s actually see play during their featured events. And every time their event rolls around I typically end up with anywhere from 3 to 5 additional covers for them. So for me it makes more sense to champ my mid/bottom tier 3* characters than my mid/bottom tier 4* characters. Same thing with 2*s now. The ISO you put into them comes back plus some other rewards. It all just depends on the person, their roster, and what they plan to do.
    I'm with PG - I'm one who has maxed tier 1 and most of tier 2 of the 4*s along with my 405 OML, any others I max will just sit unused (unless I get the last cover on quake or nova - those i'll pause the plan and max). I'm going back and completing the 3*, then the 2* rarities too. I've already done vision and colossus is getting done tomorrow. I'm prioritizing covers in queue (and expirations) and who they feed. hoarding most of my tokens until I finish the project (2-3 months) and then everything gets applied (so nova and quake unlikely to get finished with no token openings).
    Yeah, I've been just keeping an eye on the upcoming events and try to get featured 3*s maxed by the time their event rolls around. It doesn't take but 3-4 days to get enough ISO to max them, so once the order gets updated I can plan for the next few events. Just finished Squirrel Girl, and already have GSBW maxed, so for now extra ISO is going to 2*s.
  • broll
    broll Posts: 4,732 Chairperson of the Boards
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    Warbringa wrote:
    Being a finance guy I can talk with some knowledge on this.....unless you have hoards of iso to waste and get way, way more 2* than the average casual player (me)....this is a terrible investment due to time value of iso (money). It will probably take the average player several months to get enough covers to champion a 2* from scratch (took me 4-5 months to max out my 2* characters and maybe even longer). Those rewards are a paltry return for months of investment. That iso would be better off going to improve your roster now. The exception would be someone who has so much iso they can afford to drop 70,000+ on a low return, longer term investment and earns so many 2* covers that they feel confident that they can max out a 2* champion in around a month.

    That all being said, it is still an upgrade from what we had before so I am slightly thankful but I will not be utilizing it for farming as I need that iso for far too many more important things at the moment. It does give one other advantage though, if you need to come up with iso fast to max a 4* etc. you now have a much less painful way of raising a good store of iso if necessary.

    I agree it's bad if you look at it as an investment of 70,000 ISO. I prefer to see it as more of perpetual re-investment to keep a steady revenue stream from the champion system. If you only sell a champion after you've made a clone of that character with 13 covers and immediately re-invest the ISO from the sale to champion the clone, then really all you've lost is 50 levels off the characters and a small amount of ISO and will gain champion rewards for future covers of that character where you would normally only earn ISO. The only way you really lose anything with this method is if you would have otherwise sold the 2* champion solely for profit without re-championing. Which probably makes sense if you're past the point of needing new 3* covers or having more than a few 2* champions, but for people still in 2* to 3* transition it can still make a lot sense.

    Also you are looking at this as 4-5 months of effort for little gain, however if you immediately re-invest it into a new character there is almost no effort to get that gain other than a small about of ISO and 1 character slot. This would be the difference in seeing buying a new house as spending 200k instead of transition the equity of your previous home into the sale of new one.

    Now I admit I'm not a finance guy, but this seems to make sense to me, if there is a flaw in my logic please feel free to show me where it is.
  • Chipster22
    Chipster22 Posts: 297 Mover and Shaker
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    Chipster22 wrote:
    For the fun of it I decided to run the numbers for 3*, 4*, and 5* character farming in the style of the OP.

    This is largely academic because of the large time spans required to champ and re-champ even a 3*, but I wanted to see the numbers anyway.

    I was unable to find the amount of HP given when selling 3*, 4*, and 5* maxed champs, so that bit is incomplete.

    3* ISO rewards and costs:

    Sell a maxed 3* champ = +105,000 ISO
    Use 13 covers to create a new complete 3* = -6,500 ISO
    Re-max the 3* to level 166 + championing fee = -127,419 ISO
    Use 100 covers to max the champion levels = -50,000 ISO
    ISO rewards earned while championing = +57,500 ISO

    Total = a loss of 21,419 ISO

    Other rewards earned:

    1,000 HP + unknown amount when selling
    2 Heroic tokens
    5 Legendary tokens
    50 Command points

    4* ISO rewards and costs:

    Sell a maxed 4* champ = +320,000 ISO
    Use 13 covers to create a new complete 4* = -13,000 ISO
    Re-max the 4* to level 270 + championing fee = -378,320 ISO
    Use 100 covers to max the champion levels = -100,000 ISO
    ISO rewards earned while championing = +112,500 ISO

    Total = a loss of 58,820 ISO

    Other rewards earned:

    4,000 HP + unknown amount when selling
    0 Heroic tokens
    10 Legendary tokens
    250 Command points

    5* ISO rewards and costs:

    Sell a maxed 5* champ = +500,000 ISO
    Use 13 covers to create a new complete 5* = -26,000 ISO
    Re-max the 5* to level 450 + championing fee = -573,929 ISO
    Use 100 covers to max the champion levels = -200,000 ISO
    ISO rewards earned while championing = +220,000 ISO

    Total = a loss of 79,929 ISO

    Other rewards earned:

    19,250 HP + unknown amount when selling
    0 Heroic tokens
    25 Legendary tokens
    625 Command points

    But again, this is not a 'loss.' Doing this infinitely does not drain your iso.

    Phrased another way, you gain 35081 in the process of champing and selling a maxed 3*. Instead of the other 21,419 iso, you receive the HP/CP/Token rewards.

    Isn't that counting the ISO rewards gained from championing twice then? The 57,500 ISO gained during championing was already included in the calculations to come up with the 21,419 ISO deficit.
  • GrumpySmurf1002
    GrumpySmurf1002 Posts: 3,511 Chairperson of the Boards
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    Chipster22 wrote:

    But again, this is not a 'loss.' Doing this infinitely does not drain your iso.

    Phrased another way, you gain 35081 in the process of champing and selling a maxed 3*. Instead of the other 21,419 iso, you receive the HP/CP/Token rewards.

    Isn't that counting the ISO rewards gained from championing twice then? The 57,500 ISO gained during championing was already included in the calculations to come up with the 21,419 ISO deficit.

    It's not in double counting the championing rewards, it's in not counting the sold covers as a 'loss,' because it's not actually costing you anything.

    Option A (Championing):

    Sell a maxed 3* champ = +105,000 ISO
    Re-max the 3* to level 166 + championing fee = -127,419 ISO
    ISO rewards earned while championing = +57,500 ISO

    Gain is 35,081 iso + other stuff

    Option B (Selling): Gain is 56,500 iso + nothing else.

    The 'loss' is when comparing the two options, and amounts to 21,419, but both options lead to net Iso gain.
  • MissChinch
    MissChinch Posts: 509 Critical Contributor
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    It's not in double counting the championing rewards, it's in not counting the sold covers as a 'loss,' because it's not actually costing you anything.

    Option A (Championing):

    Sell a maxed 3* champ = +105,000 ISO
    Re-max the 3* to level 166 + championing fee = -127,419 ISO
    ISO rewards earned while championing = +57,500 ISO

    Gain is 35,081 iso + other stuff

    Option B (Selling): Gain is 56,500 iso + nothing else.

    The 'loss' is when comparing the two options, and amounts to 21,419, but both options lead to net Iso gain.

    Smurf has it correct, the issue is that people are confusing true cost and opportunity cost...

    A form of the "bad math" will come into play if someone tries to correct Smurf's numbers saying, really the cost is X (confusing it with opportunity cost, in an attempt to simplify) Then that "cost" with opportunity cost baked in gets quoted 2 or 3 times and someone gets the idea to compare it to a different alternative, at which time the difference gets double counted because you're not comparing apples to apples.

    Oversimplification on this point will sacrifice accuracy and leave a lot of people with a poor understanding of whats actually going on.
  • Chipster22
    Chipster22 Posts: 297 Mover and Shaker
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    Option A (Championing):

    Sell a maxed 3* champ = +105,000 ISO
    Re-max the 3* to level 166 + championing fee = -127,419 ISO
    ISO rewards earned while championing = +57,500 ISO

    Gain is 35,081 iso + other stuff

    Option B (Selling): Gain is 56,500 iso + nothing else.

    The 'loss' is when comparing the two options, and amounts to 21,419, but both options lead to net Iso gain.

    But the 56,500 ISO comes from covers earned outside the farming process. They are covers earned through normal play of the game that must be added into the farming system to keep it going.

    Farming does result in a real net loss of ISO without the addition of covers earned elsewhere. You would eventually run out of ISO farming in a vacuum assuming only minimum rewards were earned.
  • Chipster22
    Chipster22 Posts: 297 Mover and Shaker
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    Chipster22 wrote:
    For the fun of it I decided to run the numbers for 3*, 4*, and 5* character farming in the style of the OP.

    3* ISO rewards and costs:

    Sell a maxed 3* champ = +105,000 ISO
    Use 13 covers to create a new complete 3* = -6,500 ISO
    Re-max the 3* to level 166 + championing fee = -127,419 ISO
    Use 100 covers to max the champion levels = -50,000 ISO
    ISO rewards earned while championing = +57,500 ISO

    Total = a loss of 21,419 ISO

    Other rewards earned:

    1,000 HP + unknown amount when selling
    2 Heroic tokens
    5 Legendary tokens
    50 Command points

    But again, this is not a 'loss.' Doing this infinitely does not drain your iso.

    Phrased another way, you gain 35081 in the process of champing and selling a maxed 3*. Instead of the other 21,419 iso, you receive the HP/CP/Token rewards.

    I'm trying to understand why having less ISO would not be considered a loss. I believe that you would run out of ISO if you farmed champions without inputting more to the covers to the system. (Assuming a worse case scenario where you got the minimum rewards from tokens')

    For example, lets say a player has only the following:

    1 champed 2* at level 144
    63 covers for the same 2* character
    Exactly 17,500 ISO from champion rewards previously earned from existing champ

    The player could sell their existing 2* champ and receive 65,000 ISO bringing the total to 82,500 ISO.

    The player could then roster a new 2* and use 13 covers to full cover the character.

    Next the player could spend 74,529 ISO to fully level and champ the new character leaving 7,971 ISO.

    Finally the player could use the remaining 50 covers to max/champion their new character up to level 144 earning 17,500 ISO, 375 HP, 5 Heroic Tokens, Three 3* covers, and 5 Command Points in the process.

    At the end of this first cycle the player would have:

    1 Champed 2* at level 144
    0 covers
    25,471 ISO
    375 HP
    5 Heroic Tokens (minimum 1,250 ISO)
    Three 3* covers (1,500 ISO)
    5 Command Points (minimum 250 ISO if used to purchase a classic legendary token guaranteeing a 4*)

    The minimum ISO value of all the player's assets at the beginning was 98,250. (65,000 for the champ, 15,750 for the 63 covers, and 17,500 ISO)

    The minimum ISO value at the all the players assets at the end was 90,471. (65,000 for the new champ, and 25,471 ISO)

    The minimum ISO value at the end is 7,779 less at the end of the first cycle. If you add back in the ISO value of the heroic tokens, the three 3* covers, 5 Command Points, the deficit is still 4,779 ISO.

    The only reasons the player would not run out of ISO eventually is because they are adding covers earned outside of the farming system or they are receiving rewards greater than the minimum.

    Am I missing something, or misunderstanding your point?
  • MissChinch
    MissChinch Posts: 509 Critical Contributor
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    Chipster22 wrote:
    Chipster22 wrote:
    For the fun of it I decided to run the numbers for 3*, 4*, and 5* character farming in the style of the OP.

    3* ISO rewards and costs:

    Sell a maxed 3* champ = +105,000 ISO
    Use 13 covers to create a new complete 3* = -6,500 ISO
    Re-max the 3* to level 166 + championing fee = -127,419 ISO
    Use 100 covers to max the champion levels = -50,000 ISO
    ISO rewards earned while championing = +57,500 ISO

    Total = a loss of 21,419 ISO

    Other rewards earned:

    1,000 HP + unknown amount when selling
    2 Heroic tokens
    5 Legendary tokens
    50 Command points

    But again, this is not a 'loss.' Doing this infinitely does not drain your iso.

    Phrased another way, you gain 35081 in the process of champing and selling a maxed 3*. Instead of the other 21,419 iso, you receive the HP/CP/Token rewards.

    I'm trying to understand why having less ISO would not be considered a loss. I believe that you would run out of ISO if you farmed champions without inputting more to the covers to the system. (Assuming a worse case scenario where you got the minimum rewards from tokens')

    For example, lets say a player has only the following:

    1 champed 2* at level 144
    63 covers for the same 2* character
    Exactly 17,500 ISO from champion rewards previously earned from existing champ

    The player could sell their existing 2* champ and receive 65,000 ISO bringing the total to 82,500 ISO.

    The player could then roster a new 2* and use 13 covers to full cover the character.

    Next the player could spend 74,529 ISO to fully level and champ the new character leaving 7,971 ISO.

    Finally the player could use the remaining 50 covers to max/champion their new character up to level 144 earning 17,500 ISO, 375 HP, 5 Heroic Tokens, Three 3* covers, and 5 Command Points in the process.

    At the end of this first cycle the player would have:

    1 Champed 2* at level 144
    0 covers
    25,471 ISO
    375 HP
    5 Heroic Tokens (minimum 1,250 ISO)
    Three 3* covers (1,500 ISO)
    5 Command Points (minimum 250 ISO if used to purchase a classic legendary token guaranteeing a 4*)

    The minimum ISO value of all the player's assets at the beginning was 98,250. (65,000 for the champ, 15,750 for the 63 covers, and 17,500 ISO)

    The minimum ISO value at the all the players assets at the end was 90,471. (65,000 for the new champ, and 25,471 ISO)

    The minimum ISO value at the end is 7,779 less at the end of the first cycle. If you add back in the ISO value of the heroic tokens, the three 3* covers, 5 Command Points, the deficit is still 4,779 ISO.

    The only reasons the player would not run out of ISO eventually is because they are adding covers earned outside of the farming system or they are receiving rewards greater than the minimum.

    Am I missing something, or misunderstanding your point?

    None of the scenarios I've seen discussed put a value on the time required to farm covers, they have all taken the covers as an assumed resource.

    Its not a loss because you have more ISO after the process than before:
    25,471 > 17,500

    It IS an opportunity cost, because the covers could have instead been sold for more than your net gain of about 8k ISO.


    If you want to assign a value to the farming done to acquire the covers in the first place of exactly their sale value, then in the scenario where you sell the covers you actually dont make any ISO, its a wash, net of 0 ISO. Valuing the farming time is going to be tricky which is why the covers have always been an assumed given...

    The discussion gets more subjective and likely a little less intuitive if you start valuing your time to farm, but its no less accurate, just much harder to compare between people because not everyones time is going to be worth the same value, hence leaving that out and trying to give the difference between both scenarios so people can choose based on the value of said time.
  • GrumpySmurf1002
    GrumpySmurf1002 Posts: 3,511 Chairperson of the Boards
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    Chipster22 wrote:
    Am I missing something, or misunderstanding your point?

    Sure in a finite space where those 63 covers are the last you'll ever see, then you're taking an Iso loss. But that's not how the game works. More covers are coming in because more covers are always coming in, so the comparison needs to be where you're beginning a potential farm.

    Beginning of potential farm:

    level 144 star.pngstar.png
    63 covers for next one
    17,500 iso.

    Beginning of next potential farm:

    level 144 star.pngstar.png
    63 covers for next one
    25,471 iso.

    Every time you go through the process of acquiring the covers and using them to champion (in this case now a 2* character), you're adding 7,791 to your iso bank.

    Where a 'loss' comes in is comparing that to this scenario:

    Beginning of potential farm.
    level 144 star.pngstar.png
    63 covers
    17500 iso
    (Instead of starting farm, just sell 63 extra covers)

    Beginning of next potential farm

    level 144 star.pngstar.png
    63 covers
    33,250 iso.

    Comparing 33,250 to 25,471 is where the 'loss' of 7,779 is. But in both scenarios you have more iso at the beginning of your next potential farm than when you started.
  • Chipster22
    Chipster22 Posts: 297 Mover and Shaker
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    MissChinch wrote:

    None of the scenarios I've seen discussed put a value on the time required to farm covers, they have all taken the covers as an assumed resource.

    Its not a loss because you have more ISO after the process than before:
    25,471 > 17,500

    It IS an opportunity cost, because the covers could have instead been sold for more than your net gain of about 8k ISO.


    If you want to assign a value to the farming done to acquire the covers in the first place of exactly their sale value, then in the scenario where you sell the covers you actually dont make any ISO, its a wash, net of 0 ISO. Valuing the farming time is going to be tricky which is why the covers have always been an assumed given...

    The discussion gets more subjective and likely a little less intuitive if you start valuing your time to farm, but its no less accurate, just much harder to compare between people because not everyones time is going to be worth the same value, hence leaving that out and trying to give the difference between both scenarios so people can choose based on the value of said time.

    I think what it may boil down too, and why I have a hard time accepting GrumpSmurf1002's and your explanations, is that in my mind there is no difference between a cover and it's ISO value. (At least for 2*'s)

    Before championing, every 2* cover I got was like a commodity that I sold for the 250 ISO as soon as I could get to the button.

    So I never actually have a pile of 63 covers as in my example above because they have already become ISO.

    If there were more uses for covers, I might understand the argument for opportunity costs and such.

    Anyway, I have started some champion farms because the odds are that the rewards will be much greater than the minimums no matter how you figure it and the fact that one reward can feed into another is a bonus.
  • Warbringa
    Warbringa Posts: 1,290 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited June 2016
    Options
    MissChinch wrote:
    Warbringa wrote:
    Being a finance guy I can talk with some knowledge on this.....unless you have hoards of iso to waste and get way, way more 2* than the average casual player (me)....this is a terrible investment due to time value of iso (money). It will probably take the average player several months to get enough covers to champion a 2* from scratch (took me 4-5 months to max out my 2* characters and maybe even longer). Those rewards are a paltry return for months of investment. That iso would be better off going to improve your roster now. The exception would be someone who has so much iso they can afford to drop 70,000+ on a low return, longer term investment and earns so many 2* covers that they feel confident that they can max out a 2* champion in around a month.

    That all being said, it is still an upgrade from what we had before so I am slightly thankful but I will not be utilizing it for farming as I need that iso for far too many more important things at the moment. It does give one other advantage though, if you need to come up with iso fast to max a 4* etc. you now have a much less painful way of raising a good store of iso if necessary.


    Something to keep in mind, you don't get to just elect to receive one specific characters cover, so you're essentially working on all 14 (or 13 if you remove bagman) in parallel... Even if you went at your pace of 4-5 months, you average that out:

    13(5 heroic tokens, 3 guaranteed 3* covers, 5CP and 375HC)

    comes out to:
    65 heroic tokens, 39 3* covers, 65CP and 4875 HC

    which taken per month equates to:
    13 to 16.25 heroic tokens,
    7.8 to 9.75 3* covers,
    13 to 16.25 CP and
    975 to 1218.75 HC
    per month, using the timeframe you stated in your post...

    So even moving at that speed, it would be nice to know that just by championing and selling 2*s you could keep up with the game releasing a new character per month without worrying about new slots... and get a better than a heroic 10 pack to boot, not to mention the 3* covers and CP...

    I'd say its worth serious consideration even if you take 4-5 months to max one out (which at the rate 2*s roll in seems extremely casual if you're already in the 3* range, and really quite slow even starting from scratch) but then again I'm a hoarder and don't like having covers for new characters I have to sell because I don't have slots to roster em...

    I only have maxed out 8 of my 2* and they maxed out all within a week or two of each other. I would have to spend more than that to do so going forward as I already had all of those 2* characters maxed (lvl 94) and a hoard of iso sitting around when championing occurred. In addition, I would suffer having low 2* characters in required PvE as I rebuilt them since I do tend to utilize boosted 2* in several team combinations quite frequently. That iso will that I would spend on farming 2* will be better used to level 4* for Crash of Titans and champing all 3* both for effectiveness and actually seeing progression. I only earn per average 50,000 iso or so per week unless I am grinding...which I have stopped doing for the most part these days.
  • MissChinch
    MissChinch Posts: 509 Critical Contributor
    Options
    Chipster22 wrote:
    MissChinch wrote:

    None of the scenarios I've seen discussed put a value on the time required to farm covers, they have all taken the covers as an assumed resource.

    Its not a loss because you have more ISO after the process than before:
    25,471 > 17,500

    It IS an opportunity cost, because the covers could have instead been sold for more than your net gain of about 8k ISO.


    If you want to assign a value to the farming done to acquire the covers in the first place of exactly their sale value, then in the scenario where you sell the covers you actually dont make any ISO, its a wash, net of 0 ISO. Valuing the farming time is going to be tricky which is why the covers have always been an assumed given...

    The discussion gets more subjective and likely a little less intuitive if you start valuing your time to farm, but its no less accurate, just much harder to compare between people because not everyones time is going to be worth the same value, hence leaving that out and trying to give the difference between both scenarios so people can choose based on the value of said time.

    I think what it may boil down too, and why I have a hard time accepting GrumpSmurf1002's and your explanations, is that in my mind there is no difference between a cover and it's ISO value. (At least for 2*'s)

    Before championing, every 2* cover I got was like a commodity that I sold for the 250 ISO as soon as I could get to the button.

    So I never actually have a pile of 63 covers as in my example above because they have already become ISO.

    If there were more uses for covers, I might understand the argument for opportunity costs and such.

    Anyway, I have started some champion farms because the odds are that the rewards will be much greater than the minimums no matter how you figure it and the fact that one reward can feed into another is a bonus.

    I think you got the idea of it... The right term for it is opportunity cost, since you dont actually pay money not to sell it, it just costs you the opportunity you have to sell it. Its how we compare everything even if we're not conscious of it... I don't actually have to pay any money not to go to work for a day, I just miss out on getting about 8 hours worth of billable time...

    The whole discussion is about assigning a value to those 63(or 113) covers and the ISO required to train. You can sell the 2* covers for 250, but some will value them higher based on what else you can do with them besides selling...

    Another way to think about it is: would you buy covers for their sale price? Some would buy 2*s for 250 (I would to satisfy my short term HC needs) a lot more would buy 5*s at 2000... so for some, the value of the cover exceeds the price you can get when you sell it. All the sale price does is define a floor, as no sane person would say a 2* cover is worth LESS than 250 ISO.

    As an aside you if you value the covers at exactly their sale price the math gets simpler, and you can really just boil the championing and selling discussion to purchasing X HC for Y amount of ISO (its been worked out with proper ratios to assign value to heroic tokens and CP) but how I value 4* and 5* covers is far different, so using the sale price for an ISO equivalent is kinda meaningless for me personally...


    Its clear that you understand whats going on, but if we say "Championing and selling costs 7k ISO" its misleading on two accounts;

    first because someone can see that and say "Selling nets me about 15k ISO, so the difference between championing that costs 7k, and selling that gains 15k is 21K... I dont think those rewards are worth 21K ISO" The mixing of opportunity cost and real cost ends up double counting the 15k figure.

    and second someone can see "Championing and selling costs 7k ISO", have the resources on hand and think they actually have to pay ISO, which they don't they come out with 7k more ISO than they started with.

    Your just one step ahead on comparing it with the sale scenario is all... and it all boils down to how you word the final conclusion.
  • MissChinch
    MissChinch Posts: 509 Critical Contributor
    Options
    Warbringa wrote:
    MissChinch wrote:
    Warbringa wrote:
    ....


    Something to keep in mind, you don't get to just elect to receive one specific characters cover, so you're essentially working on all 14 (or 13 if you remove bagman) in parallel... Even if you went at your pace of 4-5 months, you average that out:

    13(5 heroic tokens, 3 guaranteed 3* covers, 5CP and 375HC)

    comes out to:
    65 heroic tokens, 39 3* covers, 65CP and 4875 HC

    which taken per month equates to:
    13 to 16.25 heroic tokens,
    7.8 to 9.75 3* covers,
    13 to 16.25 CP and
    975 to 1218.75 HC
    per month, using the timeframe you stated in your post...

    So even moving at that speed, it would be nice to know that just by championing and selling 2*s you could keep up with the game releasing a new character per month without worrying about new slots... and get a better than a heroic 10 pack to boot, not to mention the 3* covers and CP...

    I'd say its worth serious consideration even if you take 4-5 months to max one out (which at the rate 2*s roll in seems extremely casual if you're already in the 3* range, and really quite slow even starting from scratch) but then again I'm a hoarder and don't like having covers for new characters I have to sell because I don't have slots to roster em...

    I only have maxed out 8 of my 2* and they maxed out all within a week or two of each other. I would have to spend more than that to do so going forward as I already had all of those 2* characters maxed (lvl 94) and a hoard of iso sitting around when championing occurred. In addition, I would suffer having low 2* characters in required PvE as I rebuilt them since I do tend to utilize boosted 2* in several team combinations quite frequently. That iso will that I would spend on farming 2* will be better used to level 4* for Crash of Titans and champing all 3* both for effectiveness and actually seeing progression. I only earn per average 50,000 iso or so per week unless I am grinding...which I have stopped doing for the most part these days.

    Makes total sense, how one values HC probably plays a part in it too, I'm still new enough to probably be over-valuing it by older account's standards... I dont have any of the dupes I want and am still over 10k HC away from having enough roster spots to roster everyone I want... I have to throttle down my CP and token usage for want of free roster space.

    I thought it worth working out with the slow timeframe in mind just to show you still get a lot of throughput even in the slowest case... I totally see how its a no-go if the whole idea of the tradeoff doesn't generate value for you (which, if it doesn't, slower is probably better looking than faster anyhow) So its likely better to let evaluation of the rewards and not the timeframe drive the decision.
  • Warbringa
    Warbringa Posts: 1,290 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited June 2016
    Options
    broll wrote:
    Warbringa wrote:
    Being a finance guy I can talk with some knowledge on this.....unless you have hoards of iso to waste and get way, way more 2* than the average casual player (me)....this is a terrible investment due to time value of iso (money). It will probably take the average player several months to get enough covers to champion a 2* from scratch (took me 4-5 months to max out my 2* characters and maybe even longer). Those rewards are a paltry return for months of investment. That iso would be better off going to improve your roster now. The exception would be someone who has so much iso they can afford to drop 70,000+ on a low return, longer term investment and earns so many 2* covers that they feel confident that they can max out a 2* champion in around a month.

    That all being said, it is still an upgrade from what we had before so I am slightly thankful but I will not be utilizing it for farming as I need that iso for far too many more important things at the moment. It does give one other advantage though, if you need to come up with iso fast to max a 4* etc. you now have a much less painful way of raising a good store of iso if necessary.

    I agree it's bad if you look at it as an investment of 70,000 ISO. I prefer to see it as more of perpetual re-investment to keep a steady revenue stream from the champion system. If you only sell a champion after you've made a clone of that character with 13 covers and immediately re-invest the ISO from the sale to champion the clone, then really all you've lost is 50 levels off the characters and a small amount of ISO and will gain champion rewards for future covers of that character where you would normally only earn ISO. The only way you really lose anything with this method is if you would have otherwise sold the 2* champion solely for profit without re-championing. Which probably makes sense if you're past the point of needing new 3* covers or having more than a few 2* champions, but for people still in 2* to 3* transition it can still make a lot sense.

    Also you are looking at this as 4-5 months of effort for little gain, however if you immediately re-invest it into a new character there is almost no effort to get that gain other than a small about of ISO and 1 character slot. This would be the difference in seeing buying a new house as spending 200k instead of transition the equity of your previous home into the sale of new one.

    Now I admit I'm not a finance guy, but this seems to make sense to me, if there is a flaw in my logic please feel free to show me where it is.

    Yes, granted in real terms I was incorrect in that it isn't 70,000 up front cost since you recoup over time much of the iso and the actual cost comes down to 8,000 iso or so. It really isn't a big total iso cost when you factor that point in. It is still a significant up front cost though in that you must still pay iso to max out to 94 (12,000 iso or so?), champ the 2* and you have lost out on 13 covers of iso to recover the 2*. Combine this with the time it takes on this investment for myself, as a casual player in the 3*-4* transition, I don't think is a good deal. I still actually use several of my 2* (when boosted as they are around level 200 or so and my 3* roster is around 170-180, they can be very effective especially OBW, Storm, Daken etc) in PvE in certain team combos and I use them all the time in DDQ. I will be going for months without being able to use them in PvE as I can now (DDQ isn't a huge issue as they are effective at level 94 or less). The issue is that the total cost is more upfront for rewards that will take me a long time to get...thus my time value of iso argument. You still pay 20,000 or so up front and get the rewards over a long-time frame (4-5 months in my case). That is why I make the argument that if you happen to be able to max 2* out much faster than that (or just have a ton of iso that 20,000 is not relevant) it may make sense. If you don't rely on your 2* at all for play then it could make sense too. Yes the rewards you receive for the eventual cost of 8,000 is worth it in a vacuum but when I factor in time, it just isn't worth it to me.