I still find Splinterlands to be a lot of fun and am excited to see all the new things that have been promised.
Of course, I did have to sink the requisite amount of money into the game in order to be able to say that.
I also feel that the way in which the recent land sale was handled -- with people having a lot of money (aka investors) being treated better than the actual players (particularly smaller ones) -- is going to have a long-term effect on perceptions and new player acquisition (not to mention this new scam that is diverting development effort away from Splinterlands even as they are fund-raising for it with the land sale).
Everyone knows that Splinterlands only cares about "players" (since aggroed frequently insists that non-battling investors are also players as well) in direct proportion to their investment.