Thanks for the Reply @yabapmatt !
Even though I'm not fully in line with the general vision, I still have big respect for everything that you are doing and I really want Splinterlands to succeed obviously.
I'm interested to hear how you would suggest doing things differently
So here is what I would do instead of making another core set (I know it's easier said than done)
- Create a new Pay2Play Game Mode (where players pay some DEC or Credits to enter) that is Fun, not overly complicated, and puts everyone on a level playing field with Max Level Cards.
- Give Packs or individual new cards in chests as a reward making it an indirect way to purchase them, also possibly include Glints, some SPS or Cosmitic Items depending on what is realistic.
- Pay a share of the DEC entry fees to those who provide the cards for this game mode by locking them on Land. No DEC staking requirements or anything else, just a simple 1-click action rental income solution.
The 3 main fundamental problems I see with Splinterlands that hold back existing and new players are
Time Investment Requirement: There is no way to come into Splinterlands now and casually get a fun game experience at times when you want to play. It's either you are all-in full-time playing this game in modern as there is an obligation to at least play 1 hour focused each day if you don't want to miss out. This, or you just run a bot in Wild and it no longer makes sense to play manually. This not even talking about the needed money investment to reach the most fun experience. This dynamic narrows down the target player base like crazy as nobody really has time for this while it also makes playing Splinterlands at times feel like a job at times.
Untapped Gameplay Potential: The Core Gameplay Loop in Splinterlands is actually very fun and well-designed both from the battles and the collecting / leveling up point of view. However, it's full of game-design choices that have an economical purpose and these always come at the cost of fun. The strong Pay2Win factor makes it so that in most games you either feel you won or lost because you had better/worse cards and rarely that you really outplayed your opponent or got outplayed. The game rules each match are in place to make sure all cards have a purpose which leaves very little room for experimentation. I want to have fun with cards like the Sthispa creating a strategy around it but in reality this is not possible because the game rules always dictate what you have to play. The fact that there are no league caps also was put in place to push players to level up which has set the standard at max level cards which used to be something only the biggest whales could achieve. Tournaments feel like poker tournaments where some players get better odds which is why it makes no sense to play them and they see vert little entries.
Guaranteed Asset Devaluation: In the current setup, after 2 years cards get dumped into Wild where they lose nearly all their use case. Since everyone just runs bots in wild, it's way more efficient and profitable to use cheap or soulbound cards there. Since there is such a big oversupply in cards with many going for the burn value, future cards that get dumped in Wild inevitably will suffer the same faith also because more cards are printed all the time with inevitable power creep. It makes no sense to hold a very expensive card set for pennies in rewards.
I really believe that 95% of the work in Splinterlands is actually done as the Infrastructure is amazing with everything working flawlessly, there are enough cards, and the potential core fun gameplay loop is there while there also is still an awesome community.
The thing that is missing in my view is a game mode where new and existing players can come in and experience Splinterlands at its most fun at a moment when they have time and really want to play. A setup where the entry cost of this game mode is an indirect way to purchase packs/cards while part of the entry fee actually goes to players who provide the cards could both help new players to come in while giving value to older cards back while also giving land a direct use case.
- Splinterlands Would become More accessible to New Players
- The Level Playing Field would make it more Fun
- New Players would want to try Modern Ranked
- More Packs would be Sold
- Players can actually play when they want to play
- The Game mode could be way more stream-friendly
- Card Owners Can get easy 1-click rental returns
- Values of good old cards should go up
- All cards would have a purpose for the game
- Splinterlands would become more interesting for Investors
- Give Land some Actual Use Case
- ...
I wrote multiple articles in the past months about these ideas and concepts. The Card Gap Problem / Making Old Cards Valuable Again / Why I gave Up After 6 Years / How 95% of The Work is Done / Why Green Candles Matter Most
Again, I know it's easy to be a Keyboard Warrior but all of it comes from a place where I want Splinterlands to do as well as possible.