(Almost) Everything you know about ISO is probably wrong: Part One: Gold cost(s)
DNA3000
Member, Guardian Guardian › Posts: 20,236 Guardian
For the past few months I've been looking at ISO in the game. Where it comes from, how much it takes to level up champs, etc. And while my investigation isn't over yet, I've learned a lot about ISO that upended many of my assumptions about ISO that I always took for granted, even though the facts were in plain sight. I'm going to try to dump them out as I organize them, and rather than dump them all in one gigantic post (which would overload the forum limits anyway) I'm going to break them up into small bite-sized pieces. I don't know how may parts this series will eventually encompass, but here's part one.
Here's something you can do. You can simply ask the game how much gold it takes to use every kind of ISO brick, from the basics to the class bricks.
This is what the game says each brick costs if you try to use it on a champion. It isn't obvious until you actually run the numbers, but something to notice is that the gold ratio for all the basic bricks - which is the gold cost per unit ISO - is actually not identical. Tier 1 basic bricks are actually slightly cheaper to use than tier 6 basic bricks. A player would go cuckoo using tier 1 basic bricks to level up their 6* Hercules, but they would save about 1.25% of their gold costs doing it.
Conversely, while basic ISO bricks cost more the higher you go, class ISO bricks cost less the higher you go. Tier 2 class ISO bricks (I didn't have tier 1 bricks to test and I think they only drop from 1* dups, so almost no one else has them either) cost 1.12 gold per ISO, which is over 5% more expensive than tier 6 class ISO bricks.
Interestingly, this means every gold cost chart you've ever seen out there is wrong (and probably in more than one way, but that's another article). It is impossible to say how much gold it will cost to level something up, without specifying which bricks you're using. Not just in the Basic vs Class sense, but also in terms of which tier bricks. Of course, beyond a certain point most players will be using tier 5 bricks for the most part, so it is possible to estimate the real world costs fairly close. We aren't talking about ISO costing twice as much or half as much. But, if you're nit picky, gold costs depend on ISO brick tier.
Is using the wrong class ISO worse than using basic bricks? Yes, but barely at top tier bricks. Tier 6 basic bricks cost 1.053 gold per ISO while tier 6 class bricks costs 1.06497 gold per ISO. So wrong class tier 6 bricks cost about 1.1% more gold to use than basic tier 6 ISO bricks. That's more, but not catastrophically more.
The whole "wrong class is worse than basic" rule arose in the early days of the game when we were more likely to be using lower tier bricks. If we compare tier 3 bricks, then wrong class bricks would cost almost 4% more, and that is a much larger gold gap. But basics get more expensive going up while class ISO gets cheaper going up, and they almost meet in the middle. Makes me wonder if tier 7 ISO bricks will actually break even one day.
The class discount is definitely a thing. Because you get 50% more "value" out of using matching class ISO, the gold ratios are vastly better for appropriate class use. That rule is definitely true. But even though many players already do this just to preserve their sanity, here's another rule I haven't seen anyone mention (if they have, I just haven't seen it). When you are overflowing on ISO, sell the small ones, save the big ones. The big ones not only take up less inventory and stash space, they also cost less to use.
This rule is backwards for basic ISO bricks, but the difference is small enough that the tule "sell the big ones keep the small ones" might be impractical for the benefit. But if you are someone literally scraping by on gold, this does technically save about 1% gold.
TL;DR:
1. Different ISO bricks cost (proportional) different amounts of gold to use. The difference is not gigantic, but it is in some cases noticable. Higher class bricks are cheaper than lower tier class bricks. Lower tier basic bricks are cheaper than higher tier basic bricks.
2. It is better to use matching class ISO rather than basic ISO. However, the penalty for using wrong class ISO drops to a very low amount when using higher tier bricks. It is about 1% difference when comparing tier 6 bricks.
3. Always use matching class ISO whenever possible. This rule is still absolutely correct in all cases.
Preview of part two:
We're off to the races.
How much gold does it take to use ISO?
I think most players know two things about ISO. First, using class ISO is cheaper when it is used on the corresponding class, and probably that using class ISO is horrible when it is used on the wrong class. But is that actually correct, and if it is to what extent is it correct?Here's something you can do. You can simply ask the game how much gold it takes to use every kind of ISO brick, from the basics to the class bricks.
This is what the game says each brick costs if you try to use it on a champion. It isn't obvious until you actually run the numbers, but something to notice is that the gold ratio for all the basic bricks - which is the gold cost per unit ISO - is actually not identical. Tier 1 basic bricks are actually slightly cheaper to use than tier 6 basic bricks. A player would go cuckoo using tier 1 basic bricks to level up their 6* Hercules, but they would save about 1.25% of their gold costs doing it.
Conversely, while basic ISO bricks cost more the higher you go, class ISO bricks cost less the higher you go. Tier 2 class ISO bricks (I didn't have tier 1 bricks to test and I think they only drop from 1* dups, so almost no one else has them either) cost 1.12 gold per ISO, which is over 5% more expensive than tier 6 class ISO bricks.
Interestingly, this means every gold cost chart you've ever seen out there is wrong (and probably in more than one way, but that's another article). It is impossible to say how much gold it will cost to level something up, without specifying which bricks you're using. Not just in the Basic vs Class sense, but also in terms of which tier bricks. Of course, beyond a certain point most players will be using tier 5 bricks for the most part, so it is possible to estimate the real world costs fairly close. We aren't talking about ISO costing twice as much or half as much. But, if you're nit picky, gold costs depend on ISO brick tier.
Is using the wrong class ISO worse than using basic bricks? Yes, but barely at top tier bricks. Tier 6 basic bricks cost 1.053 gold per ISO while tier 6 class bricks costs 1.06497 gold per ISO. So wrong class tier 6 bricks cost about 1.1% more gold to use than basic tier 6 ISO bricks. That's more, but not catastrophically more.
The whole "wrong class is worse than basic" rule arose in the early days of the game when we were more likely to be using lower tier bricks. If we compare tier 3 bricks, then wrong class bricks would cost almost 4% more, and that is a much larger gold gap. But basics get more expensive going up while class ISO gets cheaper going up, and they almost meet in the middle. Makes me wonder if tier 7 ISO bricks will actually break even one day.
The class discount is definitely a thing. Because you get 50% more "value" out of using matching class ISO, the gold ratios are vastly better for appropriate class use. That rule is definitely true. But even though many players already do this just to preserve their sanity, here's another rule I haven't seen anyone mention (if they have, I just haven't seen it). When you are overflowing on ISO, sell the small ones, save the big ones. The big ones not only take up less inventory and stash space, they also cost less to use.
This rule is backwards for basic ISO bricks, but the difference is small enough that the tule "sell the big ones keep the small ones" might be impractical for the benefit. But if you are someone literally scraping by on gold, this does technically save about 1% gold.
TL;DR:
1. Different ISO bricks cost (proportional) different amounts of gold to use. The difference is not gigantic, but it is in some cases noticable. Higher class bricks are cheaper than lower tier class bricks. Lower tier basic bricks are cheaper than higher tier basic bricks.
2. It is better to use matching class ISO rather than basic ISO. However, the penalty for using wrong class ISO drops to a very low amount when using higher tier bricks. It is about 1% difference when comparing tier 6 bricks.
3. Always use matching class ISO whenever possible. This rule is still absolutely correct in all cases.
Preview of part two:
We're off to the races.
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Comments
Also, as a relatively long-winded forums poster myself, I appreciate that this post is considered a "small bite-sized piece".
I don’t know what I’m doing wrong to have never had an issue with gold and only iso.
Meanwhile I've been actually using a lot of basic ISO for rank ups more recently, because I have effectively unlimited gold but my rank up pace has accelerated (in part due to the much higher availability of catalysts from places like the BG store) to the point where I regularly run out of the right class ISO. Selling basic ISO gives me more of what I don't need at the expense of getting rid of a bottleneck I can't easily replace. So while I recommend and actually lived the rule "use right class, sell everything else" for years, it is now a rule I no longer follow due to changing circumstances.
It *suggests* the ISO economy is not as rigorous as we might have otherwise assumed. Which is a potentially useful piece of information moving forward.