Standard Tokens can no longer be purchased?

ZootSax
ZootSax Posts: 1,819 Chairperson of the Boards
edited April 2017 in MPQ General Discussion
Did I miss an announcement that you can no longer buy standard tokens for 500 iso8.png? When I logged on this morning, it looks like the standard token screen only shows up if you have unopened tokens, similar to elite tokens and can no long be purchased.

While standard tokens were never a good deal for that cost, it seems strange that they would change it with no notice after all the other announcements they've been making. Additionally, while purchasable standard tokens can speed up the 2* and 3* transitions, it's extremely inefficient and totally unsustainable, so I don't see any exploitable problems this would solve.

This actually affects me because I'm in the opposite boat of most people; I'm swimming in iso, but lack covers for my 4* characters and have nothing to spend iso on. I was planning on dropping a few hundred thousand iso on standard tokens once I could set HawkGuy as my bonus hero to champ him ASAP. Sitting on a war chest of over two million iso with none of my 8-11 cover 4*'s still in tokens, I am in the situation where I have literally nothing to spend iso on, so getting a usable HawkGuy was actually a more reasonable investment than 500 iso8.png standard tokens would otherwise be. Now, this stealth change basically kills that idea, and I'm back to hoarding iso indefinitely with no end in sight, at least until I get sandboxed for having too much iso. *sigh*

Comments

  • PuceMoose
    PuceMoose Posts: 1,445 Chairperson of the Boards
    I'm not sure about the purchase option, but I did want to make a comment on this:
    I'm back to hoarding iso indefinitely with no end in sight, at least until I get sandboxed for having too much iso. *sigh*

    I am in a similar boat to you, and I've been sandboxed twice due to accumulating over two million ISO-8. Recently I started approaching that level again and I emailed customer service and asked if the sandbox cut-off was still around two million. They responded with:

    We apologize for any undue alarm your previous experience may have caused. It should be safe for you to continue accumulating ISO-8 within the game without encountering any further issue. However, should you experience any issue please let us know right away so we can resolve the issue as quickly as possible.

    I don't know if that's a global policy change, but so far I'm at 2.7 mil and haven't experienced any more sandbox issues. It might be worth reaching out to them to verify for your own account, in case the threshold is different between accounts (how long you've had your account might affect this, etc.)
  • Quebbster
    Quebbster Posts: 8,070 Chairperson of the Boards
    Puce Moose wrote:
    I'm not sure about the purchase option, but I did want to make a comment on this:
    I'm back to hoarding iso indefinitely with no end in sight, at least until I get sandboxed for having too much iso. *sigh*

    I am in a similar boat to you, and I've been sandboxed twice due to accumulating over two million ISO-8. Recently I started approaching that level again and I emailed customer service and asked if the sandbox cut-off was still around two million. They responded with:

    We apologize for any undue alarm your previous experience may have caused. It should be safe for you to continue accumulating ISO-8 within the game without encountering any further issue. However, should you experience any issue please let us know right away so we can resolve the issue as quickly as possible.

    I don't know if that's a global policy change, but so far I'm at 2.7 mil and haven't experienced any more sandbox issues. It might be worth reaching out to them to verify for your own account, in case the threshold is different between accounts (how long you've had your account might affect this, etc.)
    I've been hovering at 3 million ISO for weeks without ill effect, and I have been over 2 million for several months. I don't think you need to worry.
    As for the Standard token issue, it was announced when the Bonus hero system launched, but most of the discussion since then have focused on other things.
  • Nightglider1
    Nightglider1 Posts: 703 Critical Contributor
    ZootSax wrote:
    Did I miss an announcement that you can no longer buy standard tokens for 500 iso8.png?

    Yes.
  • ZootSax
    ZootSax Posts: 1,819 Chairperson of the Boards
    Thanks for the responses, all.

    I'm glad that the change was announced and that the sandboxing isn't as rigid as I feared.
  • Dragon_Nexus
    Dragon_Nexus Posts: 3,701 Chairperson of the Boards
    I find it baffling that people can have so much ISO they don't know how to spend when I'm constantly ISO starved.

    Last time I had a massive amount of ISO, aside from the shield level thing, was before championing hit and I had a lot of ISO and nothing to really spend it on.
    Now I'm happy building up my 4* library but hoo boy is that pricey. I'd love to just have 2 million ISO to splurge on a bunch of 4*s I either really want to level up, or just want to level cos I like the character. (Just got my 13th cover for Gwenpool and I cannot justify levelling her up to max just yet, despite wanting to).
  • Hendross
    Hendross Posts: 762 Critical Contributor
    Hoarding tokens and ISO alike is that "healthy gameplay" they're aiming for.


    145 LL Tokens
    1.7m ISO
  • Dormammu
    Dormammu Posts: 3,531 Chairperson of the Boards
    Save your ISO. There will come a tipping point in your roster when you'll be glad you have it; when you reach that point, you will be ISO-starved forever thereafter.
  • Quebbster
    Quebbster Posts: 8,070 Chairperson of the Boards
    I find it baffling that people can have so much ISO they don't know how to spend when I'm constantly ISO starved.

    Last time I had a massive amount of ISO, aside from the shield level thing, was before championing hit and I had a lot of ISO and nothing to really spend it on.
    Now I'm happy building up my 4* library but hoo boy is that pricey. I'd love to just have 2 million ISO to splurge on a bunch of 4*s I either really want to level up, or just want to level cos I like the character. (Just got my 13th cover for Gwenpool and I cannot justify levelling her up to max just yet, despite wanting to).
    It's because the ISO needed to max a fourstar is three times the cost to max a three-star. I can easily see players in three-star land and below having a sizeable ISO surplus, but it will vanish when they start maxing fourstar characters.
  • Dragon_Nexus
    Dragon_Nexus Posts: 3,701 Chairperson of the Boards
    Quebbster wrote:
    I find it baffling that people can have so much ISO they don't know how to spend when I'm constantly ISO starved.

    Last time I had a massive amount of ISO, aside from the shield level thing, was before championing hit and I had a lot of ISO and nothing to really spend it on.
    Now I'm happy building up my 4* library but hoo boy is that pricey. I'd love to just have 2 million ISO to splurge on a bunch of 4*s I either really want to level up, or just want to level cos I like the character. (Just got my 13th cover for Gwenpool and I cannot justify levelling her up to max just yet, despite wanting to).
    It's because the ISO needed to max a fourstar is three times the cost to max a three-star. I can easily see players in three-star land and below having a sizeable ISO surplus, but it will vanish when they start maxing fourstar characters.

    I guess that must be it.
    I had something close to 800,000 ISO in 3* land, I recall, right before championing. When it happened I spent all my ISO on champing every 3* I could, then focusing on whichever 3* cover I got for characters at 13 covers and not level 166. That drained me very quickly...

    Until shield levels, I never really got that much ISO stored up again, unless I chose to to champ a 4* all at once.
  • DapperChewie
    DapperChewie Posts: 399 Mover and Shaker
    ZootSax wrote:
    Thanks for the responses, all.

    I'm glad that the change was announced and that the sandboxing isn't as rigid as I feared.

    Yeah, this change was a while ago. There was a thread about it, but really, if you were buying 1s, you were wasting your iso anyhow.

    Put it into your 3s and 4s. Get a full roster of 2s. If you have every 2, 3, and 4 maxed out, maybe save it until you get more 4* covers, then max them then. If you're just starting into the 4* transition, this does happen. But before long you'll find you never have enough ISO, and you'll be glad you didn't waste 2,000,000 iso and nearly 5 hours (at 5 seconds per pull) on a crazy amount of 1* covers and maybe like 30 3s. (math says you'd get 186, and that includes bonus heroes.)

    I don't get how people can have an iso surplus if they don't have literally every character champed, outside of the beginning of that 4* transition.
  • Anon
    Anon Posts: 1,455 Chairperson of the Boards
    I find it baffling that people can have so much ISO they don't know how to spend when I'm constantly ISO starved.

    This. I'd love to have millions of ISO sitting around.
  • SummerGlau
    SummerGlau Posts: 1,027 Chairperson of the Boards
    Anon wrote:
    I find it baffling that people can have so much ISO they don't know how to spend when I'm constantly ISO starved.

    This. I'd love to have millions of ISO sitting around.

    I'd love to have thousands of ISO sitting around
    These first few 4 star champs are a grind