If it turn out to be anything close to this standard tokens become much more valuable, trading .05 chance from 3* to get an additional 1% chance at something more valuable then 100 Iso is a definite win I would say.
Also i will have to hang on to the next 10 cap covers i get from the PvE over the weekend to sell Monday when this goes in.
I would much rather spend money on HP than iso so this change is all good with me. I can do a lot more with $20 of HP than $20 of Iso. But that’s just me i suppose and I am not really a free to play player since I can rationalize spending money on a game that I play if the value is there.
A chance of HP from standard tokens and an Iso boost for all those Bullseye/Daken/blue Cap covers I keep getting?
Heck yes!
Being in a 1*->2* transition, dropping HP from 3*/4* sell prices is essentially trivial to me.
Even as a F2P player just looking at prices out of curiosity, the big difference between dollar-value exchange rate and drop-rate ratio for HP vs. Iso has always struck me as strange. Iso seems overpriced, but I suppose Iso becomes the primary bottleneck at higher levels, where players are much more likely to shell out money for it due to high sunk costs.
Maybe that was poor use of words since you are correct, it isn’t necessarily in place of the 3*. Doesn’t change the fact that 25 HP itself isn’t really worth much and I’d rather have the iso instead from selling a cover. If you break it down into pure dollars since both currencies can be purchased (As a disclaimer, I’m not a big time spender… $5 total spent when I first started playing and needed cover slots):
200 HP = $2
800 ISO = $2
25 HP = $0.25
100 ISO = $0.25
1* cover = 100 ISO
3* cover = 500 ISO
1* cover = $0.25
3* cover = $1.25
In essence, the 1* cover reward and the 25 HP reward are worth exactly the same. Now, obviously the overall value would go up if you did it the way I suggested, but it would be a pretty small amount even if the chance was at 2.6%
Also, what about Heroic and special tokens? Are there going to be chances for 25 HP instead of those as well since 3* characters were able to be purchased from there?
From a pure monetary marketplace value, you’re correct. From a time/resource value though, 25 HP is worth a much larger amount compared to even 1000 Iso-8. This change raises the overall rate at which HP and Iso-8 is gained for the general gameplay populace.
Well, that is kinda the point lol. Ppl are buying the hp because it is the “premium” currency. This change tries to make the premium currency more, well, premium. As I said, its not really unfair, it just changes the dynamic. For pack pulls this is easily a huge buff overall. The drop rate of 3*** is too low for it not to be. It’s only as placement rewards that the real effect of the nerf occurs. Ppl that still need covers won’t notice, but the hp will be noticeable in a month or two when instead of coming out of tournements with a net +75 for placement and a top 45, you are coming out with +50 (more for higher placement of course). Even then, more of the goal is to make it so you are coming out with -25 hp instead of +0 (8 hr shield) in that same scenario. It effectively gives me little reason to push beyond top 45 in a tourney with a maxed cover 3***.
Also, its not really “can rationalize” but “decide to rationalize.”. I could easily say "next time I drop a Benjamin for wine at a dinner establishment, I will get a nice round of drafts for the 2-3 ppl I am with instead. $60 saved and now I spend that here. Boom rationalized. I don’t want to rationalize like that because I hate the concept of freemium and I find the games more fun if I don’t have, or at least choose not to, hit the pay2advance button at all. That’s just my competetive nature I guess. Also, partly because I could probably rationalize it enough to max all the covers in 10 min with hp purchases, and there is no way I would stay if my ONLY goal was iso grinding with all the cover rewards being bought. That’s just me though.
The biggest nerf, and where it will annoy the most probably since it effects lower players too now, is lightning rounds. You can rationalize a 25 -50 hp expenditure to get a token or two if you know you get a 3*** you need or the hp back. Can you do it now as easily when that 50 hp is lost for good? This on it own will take hp out of the economy. Dont’ get me wrong, I don’t think its unfair or anything, its actual smart…way smarter than some of the admittedly boneheaded ways they launched nerfs in the last few months. It helps push iso more towards a free currency and hp more towards a pay currency. That isn’t necessarily bad, especially for business, but it is bad for new players if hp is very necessary to proceed. With the state of the game, I shed no tears for low level players atm though lol.
The general outflow of HP at the upper levels is going to get close attention as a result of this change. If it turns out to be too low we can always turn knobs somewhere to balance it.
To put it simply (quite a few factors went into the change), too much outflow to too large a group of players given the meta at the time. Although with Shields, some Boosts going to Hero Points, etc, that outflow is lower than it was before.
Slightly off topic, but playing devils advocate here. Since you say that 25 HP is much more valuable than 100 ISO in terms of time/effort (according to the calculated percentages earlier in the thread it is actually ~30x more valuable), would it not make sense to increase the amount of ISO you get from the marketplace by 30x? So for $2, you get 24000 ISO instead of 800? That ISO amount seems a bit high imo, but that is pretty much what you are saying.
If I make $20/hour, that hour of time/effort is worth 2900 HP or 8800 ISO. Doesn’t seem like buying ISO is really worth it at all.