Bugpop wrote: The only reason to spend money is to have something sooner. I have spent more than most, but not as much as others. Spending money gives you an edge, but it doesn't guarantee anything.
Cuchulain46 wrote: I think some of the previous posters have alluded to it, but haven't come out and said it. The biggest problem with your investment was the exact breakdown of what you spent money on. Having invested a small amount myself to break into the end stage of 2* territory, I can say that resource allocation plays the largest part on your ROI (return on investment). First of all, if you spent money on ISO, then you basically wasted whatever you put into it. Secondly, buying 1-2 3* covers won't get a hero high enough max lvl to be useful. Next, you mentioned using cap as one of your main 2* heroes, while cap isn't completely useless, he is on the bottom of 2* tier, so investing resources into him is very unlikely to be as useful as Thor, cstorm. obw, wolvie, daken or top tier 1 *'s if they aren't at max. Lastly, buying covers for heroes that you don't have the iso to spend in order to lvl will have a much diminished effect on progression. Often times you benefit from roster slots by simply being able to keep a hero that is powered up during an event, letting you accomplish more in that event then would be possible without them. Shields used in pvp allow you to preserve your points, get low to mid tier in a reward bracket and ensure you stay there. As mentioned before, Northern Polarity's guide on * progression would be the best read for you. Take note of where you are, (not where you want to be) and spend your remaining resources to help you progress from your current point.
Bugpop wrote: Time is another commodity that is invested in the game. Earning Iso-8 in the game can be easy during PVE events and can be for PVP, but after a certain point it's a grind. The value of your time becomes an issue. It becomes difficult to earn 4k iso in an hour without PVP and PVE awards. If one could manage sustain 4k iso/hour, it would take 13 hours to earn 52,000 iso-8. That's assuming 1 battle every 2 minutes... no breaks. 52,000 iso-8 (Mother Lode) can be purchased for $99.99. Some people choose to substitute their real-life grind for in-game grind. They spend less time obtaining the same amount of iso.
Phantron wrote: I haven't spent money on this game but I'm more inclined to buy iso 8 over HP for the reason Bugpop mentioned. While you can't grind for HP, after a certain point there's also no need for more HP. You probably don't want to start off by spending money on iso 8 because it's not clear to a new player who he should spend it on. Even if you're spending money on a solid character like The Punisher, it's not clear if he offers you enough advantage to be worth it. Usually money should be spent for characters who are either very likely to be featured, or characters who are way ahead of the power curve, like the recent lazy two characters, so that you get a lot of use out of them even if they do get nerfed eventually.
NorthernPolarity wrote: Phantron wrote: I haven't spent money on this game but I'm more inclined to buy iso 8 over HP for the reason Bugpop mentioned. While you can't grind for HP, after a certain point there's also no need for more HP. You probably don't want to start off by spending money on iso 8 because it's not clear to a new player who he should spend it on. Even if you're spending money on a solid character like The Punisher, it's not clear if he offers you enough advantage to be worth it. Usually money should be spent for characters who are either very likely to be featured, or characters who are way ahead of the power curve, like the recent lazy two characters, so that you get a lot of use out of them even if they do get nerfed eventually. I think it depends on what your end goal is. If your end goal is to max out all of the characters in the game, then buying iso would be the correct move as it's the limiting factor of the game. However, I think that most want to get to a point where they place highly in tournaments, which means maxing out a 2* team and getting a couple of 141 3*s. In that case, I think HP is the limiting factor due to roster slots and cover caps.
Phantron wrote: NorthernPolarity wrote: Phantron wrote: I haven't spent money on this game but I'm more inclined to buy iso 8 over HP for the reason Bugpop mentioned. While you can't grind for HP, after a certain point there's also no need for more HP. You probably don't want to start off by spending money on iso 8 because it's not clear to a new player who he should spend it on. Even if you're spending money on a solid character like The Punisher, it's not clear if he offers you enough advantage to be worth it. Usually money should be spent for characters who are either very likely to be featured, or characters who are way ahead of the power curve, like the recent lazy two characters, so that you get a lot of use out of them even if they do get nerfed eventually. I think it depends on what your end goal is. If your end goal is to max out all of the characters in the game, then buying iso would be the correct move as it's the limiting factor of the game. However, I think that most want to get to a point where they place highly in tournaments, which means maxing out a 2* team and getting a couple of 141 3*s. In that case, I think HP is the limiting factor due to roster slots and cover caps. Even then, let's say you spent money on The Punisher and get him to 141, but a ton of people have him at 141 and since this game's model is inherently competitive, it's not going to offer you a significant boost, despite the fact that The Punisher is one of the most solid characters in the game. Getting Magneto to level 141, on the other hand, should pay for itself (and if not, there's probably no hope for you anyway). Having a high level lazy Thor or lazy Cap right now is likely to offer a very considerable advantage, as not only those two characters are way ahead of the power curve, but it's also very safe to assume both characters are going to be featured prominently. I can see spending money to get lazy Cap to say, level 80, would offer you a rather big advantage as he's likely to be boosted another 90 levels in a new PvE event, and there's probably going to be at least 2 more PvP events featuring him as a featured character, so even a minor boost to say, level 120, will still make your roster look very threatening compared to the guys using the loaner Captain, which will offer you a huge advantage in PvP as people pass you up to attack the guy with the loaner Captain.
Phantron wrote: I can see spending money to get lazy Cap to say, level 80, would offer you a rather big advantage as he's likely to be boosted another 90 levels in a new PvE event, and there's probably going to be at least 2 more PvP events featuring him as a featured character, so even a minor boost to say, level 120, will still make your roster look very threatening compared to the guys using the loaner Captain, which will offer you a huge advantage in PvP as people pass you up to attack the guy with the loaner Captain.
Cuchulain46 wrote: Bugpop wrote: Time is another commodity that is invested in the game. Earning Iso-8 in the game can be easy during PVE events and can be for PVP, but after a certain point it's a grind. The value of your time becomes an issue. It becomes difficult to earn 4k iso in an hour without PVP and PVE awards. If one could manage sustain 4k iso/hour, it would take 13 hours to earn 52,000 iso-8. That's assuming 1 battle every 2 minutes... no breaks. 52,000 iso-8 (Mother Lode) can be purchased for $99.99. Some people choose to substitute their real-life grind for in-game grind. They spend less time obtaining the same amount of iso. This is true, but outside the current issue imho. The post is about the $ spent not accomplishing much towards the goal of advancement. My response was based on obtaining adequate "bang for your buck," not whether a $100 dollar purchase of iso is worthwhile to all people in all circumstances. If to the original poster spending $135 on this game was the same as buying a cup of coffee for me, then I would have no qualms about recommending buying several 3* covers and iso to max lvl them.
hibikir wrote: That's the strangest thing about this game's economic model: Money actually buys you a few things early (roster slots), but as you keep playing, the value of every dollar goes down very quickly. So as you get more invested in the game, the less likely you'll get a good payoff for giving anything to the developers. The closest thing to a good investment after the very early game is to buy slots for alliances.
NorthernPolarity wrote: hibikir wrote: That's the strangest thing about this game's economic model: Money actually buys you a few things early (roster slots), but as you keep playing, the value of every dollar goes down very quickly. So as you get more invested in the game, the less likely you'll get a good payoff for giving anything to the developers. The closest thing to a good investment after the very early game is to buy slots for alliances. Yeah, they should look into monetizing more through items that are considered "good investments". I bet that weekly iso boosts (100% iso gained or something) for instance, would be a pretty hot commodity item.
Wobby wrote: I wasted money yesterday.. Seriously played my first LR and made it to top 25... Threw up Shields. Leave the screen, come back and see I've been hit for -30 (that counted??) and my rank was out of top 50. Diabolical token becomes a green 2* Thor via a Heroic instead. Anger ensues... But at least my daily reward today was 50 HP which recovers the cost of that spent on shielding... But doesn't help me get a 3* cover.
locked wrote: Dude, 50 HP shield only covers you for 15 minutes in a LR, are you sure you weren't hit because the shield expired before the end of the round?