Jaedenkaal has given you some great advice. Let me give you some more.
HP: I’m going to repeat what Jaedenkall said for emphasis - don’t use your gold coins for anything other than roster slots. If you are going to invest any money in this game the most helpful thing you can do for yourself is buy HP and use it to open roster slots.
ISO-8: There’s only one use for it and that’s to level your characters. Most players experience a very large ISO surplus early with nowhere to spend it; that’s okay. Your roster will eventually reach a tipping point (usually in the 3-star tier) where you will run out of ISO and then you will be running an ISO deficit forever more.
CP: Hoard your command points. Save every single one and let it pile up. You don’t need it right now. When you are in the 3-star tier you can start spending it to buy covers to finish covering the top-tier 3-stars (I bought a lot of 13th covers for 3-stars with CP). It will be tempting to buy legendary tokens with your CP but this should only be done once you have champed at least half the 3-stars (and ideally - all of them) and you’re ready to join the 4-star tier.
LTs: Hoard your legendary tokens as well for the same reasons you’re hoarding CP. 4-star and 5-star covers are not going to help you until you’re well into the 3-star tier.
Champ them all: Eventually, you want to roster and champ all the twos, threes, and fours. Additional covers gained are then applied as ‘champ levels’. These yield excellent rewards and make your characters stronger yet. Many events have nodes that require a character and having them all on roster, even if you don’t level them, will help you be more competitive. One day, you may have all the fives too.
Focus on Story Mode: We call it PvE around here. This is where you can compete right out of the gate and where early rosters are built. Select a SCL (shield clearance level) that your roster is capable of handling - that means you can clear the harder nodes all 6 times. Don’t be intimidated if the entry node in a PvE event looks too hard - you’re given loaner characters that can handle it. After that, the enemies will be something your roster can handle as long as you don’t select a SCL that’s too high for your roster (a common early mistake). The rewards gained here will be your bread and butter.
Don’t worry about Versus Mode: We call this arena PvP. I know it looks intimidating but don’t worry about it. Do what you can and know that it will become easier as your roster advances. One extremely useful tip is that if you jump into a PvP event as soon as a slice starts (like, the exact minute) the game will populate your nodes with ‘seed teams’. These are low-level AI opponents that you can beat up on easily for quick rewards.
Chase tokens: Acquiring Standard, Elite, Heroic, Tacos, and event tokens should be your goal right now. These are going to yield the 2-stars and 3-stars you need to advance. Every once in a while you’ll trip across a 4-star cover. That’s okay. If you have the roster space, save it for the future. If you don’t have the roster space, don’t feel guilty about selling it.
Do DDQ every day: Deadpool’s Daily Quests is a great way to build resources and covers. Go as far as you can. Some nodes will be too hard. Some nodes will require a character you don’t have. Don’t be dismayed. Eventually you’ll get to a point where you do have the characters and they won’t be too hard.
Welcome to Marvel Puzzle Quest. It’s a marathon, not a sprint, but it’s a lot of fun. Don’t be a stranger to the forums there are a lot of helpful people here and lots of useful information.
