New Store - Heroes for Hire (4/11/17)

Quebbster

It depends a bit on where you are in the game. If you are still building up your roster then HP is precious and should only be spent on roster spots. Once you get to the Point where you have everyone you need rostered the flexibility increases quite a bit. If you are farming two-stars (and really, you should be), then you earn plenty of HP even accounting for the need for roster spots and can easily spend a bit here and there.

I outright bought the thirteenth covers for Hulkbuster and Jean Grey back when they were the king and Queen of the game. I was able to rely heavily on them to get good placement in both PvP and PvE, so I'd like to Think those investments paid off well. But I wouldn't consider spending on a cover unless I was sure it would make a large difference for me.

broll

One of my unicorns is coming up in this store.  Iceman Green.  Even at the 3600 price point it's gonna be hard for my 0/5/4 to pass that up...

Borstock

MarkersMake said:

My guess? Trade secrets. They don't want to reveal their strategies and how they interpret their data to other gaming companies. Plus, people would probably just be mad at the reason, not believe the reason, or misinterpret the reason anyway.

See bolded quotes above.

Random selection is not a trade secret. It's fundamental to any comparative study. 

So either you were talking about something else, or just filling space with nonsense. 

I have no idea when I ran over your cat, but I apologize for doing so. Incidentally, I was talking about something else and I'm still not sure how you're getting your interpretation out of what I said. I have always assumed that who got what price was decided at random. The "trade secrets" I'm talking about refers to what they are doing with the data, not how they picked who got what price.

Borstock

broll said:

One of my unicorns is coming up in this store.  Iceman Green.  Even at the 3600 price point it's gonna be hard for my 0/5/4 to pass that up...

Tough one to pass up, since it unlocks the power. But are you willing to plunk down 120 CPs to keep it going? If not, the fact that it unlocks the power might not make a huge difference in the long run.

broll

Borstock said:

broll said:

One of my unicorns is coming up in this store.  Iceman Green.  Even at the 3600 price point it's gonna be hard for my 0/5/4 to pass that up...

Tough one to pass up, since it unlocks the power. But are you willing to plunk down 120 CPs to keep it going? If not, the fact that it unlocks the power might not make a huge difference in the long run.

Short answer: probably, but not immediately.

I'll probably mark him as my only BH next time I open a large horde and hope I finish him off, worst case if I don't, I would buy out whatevers left then.  Having at least 1 green at least give me the flexibility to buy him out which I currently don't have.

MarkersMake

Borstock said:

MarkersMake said:

My guess? Trade secrets. They don't want to reveal their strategies and how they interpret their data to other gaming companies. Plus, people would probably just be mad at the reason, not believe the reason, or misinterpret the reason anyway.

See bolded quotes above.

Random selection is not a trade secret. It's fundamental to any comparative study. 

So either you were talking about something else, or just filling space with nonsense. 

I have no idea when I ran over your cat, but I apologize for doing so. Incidentally, I was talking about something else and I'm still not sure how you're getting your interpretation out of what I said. I have always assumed that who got what price was decided at random. The "trade secrets" I'm talking about refers to what they are doing with the data, not how they picked who got what price.

Apology accepted. 

I've got a new cat now, and we're very happy. 

My interpretation was that you responded to (and quoted)  a direct question asking why they chose some people to receive a lower price point, not a question about what they were going to do with the information they gained. It wasn't a stretch. 


Your entire argument is a simple appeal to authority: they are the devs, so they know what they are doing. That's great - I'm glad you have so much confidence in their competence. It's an unassailable position because it only requires faith and the willingness to say "but you don't know what they know" multiple times in various ways, and then to randomly speculate about the potential reasoning behind their actions. 

The sporting GM analogy earlier was actually pretty apt. Sometimes GMs make decisions that are baffling at first glance, but once the reasoning behind them is revealed, everything makes sense. 

But sometimes people like Dave Stewart (MLB) are put in charge, and their decisions are objectively bad; based on faulty logic and suspect data. It's ok to point it out and say "this makes no sense on any level", and not simply defer to them because they are in a position of authority. 

I'm not saying that's necessarily the case here - but there is nothing wrong with questioning decisions that don't appear to make much sense.


EDIT - here is a link to the misadventures of Dave Stewart for anyone who is interested (probably not many) - http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/celebrating-the-year-in-dave-stewart-comments/ 

Borstock

The question was: Why don't they give us the reason for the differences in prices?

The question was not: Why don't they tell us how they chose who gets what price?

He asked: Why don't they tell us why this apple is $3 and that apple is $4?
I said: They don't want other companies to know their strategies.
And somehow you got from that: They don't want other companies to know they're charging more to minorities.

I was thinking more along the lines of: When they did a similar thing with oranges in another store, then changed both prices to $3, they found out it made people buy a lot more oranges than when, in a third store, they just set the price of pears to $3. People thought they were getting a discount, similar to how some stores jack up the prices of products and then immediately put them on sale, or how the MSRP on cars is often high so that dealerships can haggle and customers feels like they're getting a deal when they're really just paying about what everyone else pays anyway.

RE: Dave Stewart: When Dave Stewart took the job as GM of the Diamondbacks, it was his first time holding such a position. He didn't have "GM of the NY Yankees from 1996-2011" on his resume.

MarkersMake

Borstock said:

The question was: Why don't they give us the reason for the differences in prices?

The question was not: Why don't they tell us how they chose who gets what price?

That is only true if you ignore the entirety of his previous posts to you, which consistently asked "why don't they tell us how they chose who gets what price." Are you seriously  claiming that he stopped being interested in that question, and suddenly wanted to know the general reason there was a difference in prices? 

You're not illiterate, and unless your name is Dory, you do not suffer from total short-term memory loss. 

Also, regardless of what is on his resume as a GM, Dave Stewart played professional baseball in the major leagues for 17 years. The man understands baseball. 

He just doesn't understand how baseball works. 

Jaedenkaal

Well this should have been in a different thread. Nothing to see here...

Alkyoneus

Yikes this is still going on? This seems a pretty simple cash grab by them, trying to see who will pay more for something and whether this is going to pull money out of people's wallets. 

This company has been fairly shameless about their greed lately, It's not rocket science.

abominatrix

I really wish the devs would stop running this "test" with 2500 and 3600HP. I only see the 3600HP offer, and this is what I see today:

a. I can buy 2 days of the HFH store for 7200HP. For that "low, low" price, I get 2 4* covers, 16 elite tokens, 20K ISO and 6CP.
b. I can buy out the complete Starlord store for 5600 HP. In return, I get 1 starlord legendary, 1 4*, 6 heroic tokens, 3 Starlord 3* covers, 18500 ISO and 13 2*.

I would take the Startord store even if they were offered at the same price, let alone for 1600HP less. 

Unlike many in the discussion, I'm not opposed to paying the 3600HP, but only for the 13th cover or MAYBE for one that gets a useful toon to exactly 4/4/4 so I can safely bonus it. But, the difference between the two offers is simply astounding and proves to me that the devs have no idea of how to set up an in-game economy that is anything but random. While I guess that opens up arbitrage opportunities like this one, it's still... non-optimal.

My usual response to things like this is "You don't like it, don't buy it", but this one got me grumbling for some reason.

Borstock

@MarkersMake As a literate person who is not a memory-impaired fish, I honestly have no idea what you're talking about. 

kobu

b. I can buy out the complete Starlord store for 5600 HP. In return, I get 1 starlord legendary, 1 4*, 6 heroic tokens, 3 Starlord 3* covers, 18500 ISO and 13 2*.

I would take the Startord store even if they were offered at the same price, let alone for 1600HP less.

Uh, why? One token and a 4* for 5600 is ridiculous. People just need to stop spending money on this game. Compared to how much it would take to get anywhere now with so many characters, it's like spending $100 per pack of baseball cards. More than ever this game is for people with more money than sense.

Borstock

kobu said:

b. I can buy out the complete Starlord store for 5600 HP. In return, I get 1 starlord legendary, 1 4*, 6 heroic tokens, 3 Starlord 3* covers, 18500 ISO and 13 2*.

I would take the Startord store even if they were offered at the same price, let alone for 1600HP less.

Uh, why? One token and a 4* for 5600 is ridiculous. People just need to stop spending money on this game. Compared to how much it would take to get anywhere now with so many characters, it's like spending $100 per pack of baseball cards. More than ever this game is for people with more money than sense.

The way HP drops in this game now, especially for VIPs, you're going to spend it on something.

DyingLegend

Borstock said:

kobu said:

b. I can buy out the complete Starlord store for 5600 HP. In return, I get 1 starlord legendary, 1 4*, 6 heroic tokens, 3 Starlord 3* covers, 18500 ISO and 13 2*.

I would take the Startord store even if they were offered at the same price, let alone for 1600HP less.

Uh, why? One token and a 4* for 5600 is ridiculous. People just need to stop spending money on this game. Compared to how much it would take to get anywhere now with so many characters, it's like spending $100 per pack of baseball cards. More than ever this game is for people with more money than sense.

The way HP drops in this game now, especially for VIPs, you're going to spend it on something.

Yeah roster slots

Quebbster

Once you have everyone you need rostered the HP surplus builds up fast.

Quebbster

It's the standard release cycle - Star-Lords now, Grocket in two weeks, Gamora in four weeks. Making enough HP to roster new characters isn't that difficult.

Bowgentle

sh81 said:

I always seem to manage it ....just.  Cant say I get an easy surplus build up

You're not at the roster level Quebbster is talking about.
4* champ level rewards is where the HP are.

abominatrix

If I was starting the game today, or last month, or last year, I would understand the problems with HP. If I were heavily into PVP, I would understand it. I'm in neither of those boats. Instead, I have 123 roster slots after buying one for 3* Starlord, so slots is not a problem. If I find myself short, maybe I sell bagman. Or use the slot I have open to manage the 2* farm. Or shoot a 5* I'll never fully cover (Hello, Hulk). Whatever.

Instead, I'm VIP just to turn off ads, and with regular play, feeding the 2* farm,  and not wasting HP on random pulls over the past month I find myself with over 7000 HP. HP is not a problem in this game if you don't need shields and if you've played long enough to already have the slots you need. I could spend the whole 7K today and have no problem rostering 5* starlord, Gamora and Grocket before the covers expire. At that point, buying out a store doesn't seem that bad of an idea. Don't know that it's the starlord store, but it's not like I'm getting any interest on banking the HP.

I'm far from the same level as Quebbster; very far from it (a dozen 4* champs and beginning to feel the ISO squeeze). If I can manage to stay ahead of the covers, than anybody who only needs to keep up with the new releases can.

Anyway, my point wasn't about spending HP, it was about the random way the devs value the HP I might be interested in spending. Some days, it seems reasonable, some days, it doesn't, and there's no appearant rhyme nor reason to it.

Jaedenkaal

Bowgentle said:

sh81 said:

I always seem to manage it ....just.  Cant say I get an easy surplus build up

You're not at the roster level Quebbster is talking about.
4* champ level rewards is where the HP are.

Well I only have 10 championed 4*s with 15 champion levels between them, but I do generate enough HP that I've currently rostered 3* Star-Lord and still have just over 4000. I'l admit I've gotten lucky lately with DDQ taco tokens, but still, I average fairly significantly more than 1000 HP every two weeks with no purchases.