Season 4 Changes!

Season & Quest Rewards


One of the most difficult things for a blockchain-based project where all assets are transferrable and have value is giving out rewards. On the positive side we want to reward stakeholders with great teams and new players who aspire to have them. On the challenging side we have to deal with users creating multiple accounts to farm the rewards and consider the impact the rewards will have to the values of the assets. That's just to name a couple concerns. Traditional games don't have to worry about any of this due to the restrictions they put in place, but we do.

Most crypto games deal with this by simply not giving out any free rewards just for playing, but we feel that rewards are too important to creating real value behind the cards to ignore them.

Our first attempt at a reward system went reasonably well, but it had a few key issues which we feel are critical to address.
We are going to do that by introducing a set of 10 brand new cards, known as the "Reward Edition", which can ONLY be obtained via playing the game and earning rewards.

Starting at the beginning of Season 4, the season and daily quest rewards will switch from Beta edition booster packs to cards from the new Reward Edition.

The daily quest rewards will now also scale up based on your league. This means that players who have reached the Champion league will earn more cards from their daily quests than players in the Diamond league, who will earn more than players in the Gold league, and so on.

This will hopefully reduce the amount of reward farming through creating many alternate accounts, and increase the value of leveling up your cards to reach higher leagues.

Reward Edition


The Reward Edition will initially consist of 10 brand new cards. Each card will be limited in number, so they won't just keep being printed indefinitely. The exact numbers are still TBD but we will publish them as soon as they are ready. We plan to add additional cards to the Reward Edition in the future as the original ones start to run out.

The Reward Edition cards will look like, and be worth the same amount of XP as the Beta edition cards. They will have the same rarities, gold foil versions, and require the same amount of cards to be combined to reach each level as the Beta edition cards.

When you receive Reward Edition cards as a reward in the game, they will be randomly chosen in the same way as cards are chosen for Booster packs, with the same chances of being each rarity and gold foil, and you will flip them over to reveal them just like when opening a pack.

They will also be transferrable and able to be bought and sold on the decentralized market just like any other card.

Each splinter will get at least one new card from the Reward Edition, and as always, we aim to make them competitive but not over powered. They will also feature a few new abilities that will be added to the game to further distinguish them from the existing cards, and also to spice things up a bit!

Other Changes


Although not nearly as exciting as the new cards, we also have some small gameplay adjustments which will go into effect at the beginning of the next season:

  1. All healing abilities will restore a minimum of 2 health.
  2. Debuffs will no longer reduce Melee Attack to below 1. This is mainly to address Zintar Mortalis reducing most Melee attack monsters to 0 attack at lower levels.

Thank You for your continued support!

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I very much approve.
Creating new assets as rewards is a smart move. It helps to stop the devaluation of the beta cards and beta packs that people have bought and attaches rewards to something independent and yet extremely desirable. This is what I was hoping for.

We'll make sure to get Peakmonsters.com prepped for the buy/sell of the new cards.

***@o07 ** Nice GiF !!

The best news for this week. Who has free assets, I would make a huge purchase in your place. Predicting a rise in prices for cards in the market by 15-25%

Why would prices rise if buying is in ROI interest driven? Smaller prizes means, smaller roi for buyers. Not counting tourneys though. When tourneys start anyway?

The prizes are not smaller, they are different, and in many ways much more valuable for top level players, which is the goal.

Agree this is a great move!

Thank You Yaba, Aggroed, SM Team/Support for everything you're doing... especially the "behind the scenes" activity/work/concepts/ideas... that we may not be aware of.

Kudos ALSO 2 Everyone playing SteemMONSTERS...

SteemMONSTERS certainly seems to be on the way to becoming THE "Killer App" on the Steem Platform.

Cheers 2 EVERYONE**** !!

Some people might be playing the game to, you know, have fun, and not looking for ways to profiting as much as possible from it.

I started playing to try and profit, then got hooked. Now I've bought more cards than I've sold, profit went out the window :)

i have a serous problem with no longer being able to earn booster packs at all in the game, I invested my money with base carrds with the idea over time I could level them up through play... you just made all the cards in every starter pack of every small player WHO FOLLOWED THE RULES ...
WORTHLESS....

THERE IS NO UPGRADE WITHOUT SPENDING MONEY......

Had that been stated before we made original purchases you would not have had the same level of adoption!

That is called a bait and switch...

In New York State, you would have to deal with a D.A. on that.

I suggest that you sprinkle some of the beta 2 cards or a beta 3 card which can be combined with alphas or betas to level them up.

Or a special task or daily achievement that give out a pack....like a win with all splinters + a level up within 24 hours gives a maximum of 1 pack.

This way a player can upgrade in game, in most games, base cards are easy to earm, and you just cut that off....every card in the starter pack MUST be buildable in game to be fair!!!!

Otherwise this game will never succeed!

I have to agree. This new change is a bait and switch intended to force everyone to pay more money because now the only way for me to upgrade my beta cards is for me to sell the reward cards and at a rate of 1 card a day that just doesn't make sense, it's not worth my time.

yeap... they used to to post memes about how silly everyone was who called it "pay-to-win" initially... and how everyone would "stake-to-earn"...

I guess they just have to keep the booster sales afloat somehow but I think this will backfire as people start loosing the motivation to play every day to get the same cards over and over

I'm with you on this, I play everyday to make sure I can build my cards through combining the booster rewarded, to give me a chance at the top. Ive bought booster packs when I can afford it, does that mean i shouldnt play anymore if i cant afford a booster? Because trust me, my deck still needs a hell of boosters. Please dont take it away from us. If i cannot buy then let me work for them now abi?

Are the new cards combinable with beta cards?

No, they are completely new cards.

Then they are quite useless for battles for a while.

Will these cards replace the daily quest reward beta cards only or will they be given also as the end of season ranking rewards?

Beta booster packs will only be able to be obtained via purchasing. All rewards for daily quests and end of season will give out the new cards.

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All healing abilities will restore a minimum of 2 health.

On this topic, what determines the amount of healing in terms of health points that either healing or tank heal provides? For tank heal, is it the recipient's max health or the healer's max health that determines the amount of heal?

Both Heal and Tank Heal restore 1/3 of the target's base health rounded down.

Will the heal now be 2 HP throughout, or will it be capped to a maximum (or to a minimum) of 2 health points per heal? (it isn't quite clear in the text above).

It will now restore a minimum of 2 health. It may still restore more than 2 health for monsters with high base health.

FINALLY! I've been looking for ages for this answer 😂

Is this really needed? Now that people actually have to play to earn rewards, if they want to play on multiple accounts, I say you should let them. Why? Because they actually put in time, so you reward them for that.

Besides, draining the booster pool is not necessarily going to help the game. The game needs the marketplace to constantly get cards for the marketplace to get traction. If people stop selling, and thus people stop buying, the game as a whole will go downward as a result, as a dead marketplace means dead "crypto-cards." Yes, we'll own 'em, but it's the marketplace that gives them value.

Additionally, you're not actually solving the market problem in any way, shape, or form, with this, anyway. You're just moving it from all the cards as a whole, to the new cards. Which will take the brunt, or depending on how many get released, will just penalize the weak players even further. The packs as a whole can take the brunt of this focus better, because there are a lot more cards. Focusing it all on 10? And if these cards, due to everyone having them (the other option, to only the gifted few at the top), then they'll be worthless, and as such, won't make for much of a reward.

Finally, you're going to give more to the players at the top. This whole model, of rewarding the top so much from the players at the bottom, needs rethinking. This keeps the players at the bottom there, as the players above them keep racing farther and farther away. How will the players below them, who are already at a disadvantage, ever catch up?

I'm not saying the top shouldn't be rewarded more, but gently, like how HS does it. Not to a degree like it's been done up to now, where Bronzies get 3 packs to Challenger's 30. That's just a classic case of the rich getting richer, and the poor getting poorer.

I have to agree about your point of the rich getting richer and poor getting poorer as always seems to be the case. I really hope @yabapmatt will do something to mitigate this issue. otherwise people will stop playing and less people will join. I love Steem Monsters and hope it stays afound for along time! 👍💁

@yabapmatt, @geekorner makes some excellent points here that you should consider for future updates.

You're looking at this as if it were a traditional game where the assets aren't trade-able and don't have value. HS and other traditional games can give out as many rewards as they want to whomever they want, because the rewards are not worth anything.

In a blockchain-based game where players own all of the assets and they are worth money, it adds a money-making aspect that is not present in traditional games, and it's of the utmost importance that the incentives are aligned between acquiring cards and getting to the "top" and making the most money.

If we give out too many rewards to players "at the bottom" (like we were previously) then the best way to make money is to create as many new accounts as possible and automate their play to have them purposely stay "at the bottom" to farm the rewards. In this scenario players "at the top", who made large investments into the game get screwed because they would have been better off financially farming rewards with many low level accounts. This is exactly what was happening and is the main problem the recent changes are meant to address.

Blockchain/crypto games are money games. They are different than traditional games, and yes, people with more money to spend will get much further much quicker. If people "at the bottom" compare themselves to people at the top, that will be discouraging, but if they instead look at it for the opportunities this type of game gives them that traditional games don't - i.e. the ability to earn money while having fun playing a game, then I think it looks much better.

We probably need to do a better job messaging this, but we'll get there.

No your looking at it wrong, people earn money at WoW because of the Huge community, that does not care about earning money! You guys are destroying your game when you focus on Marketplace and assets... What is going to get 100x thev amount of players coming in is definately not telling them to invest in cards! STOP TALKING ABOUT IT ALL TOGETHER IF YOU DESIGNED THE GAME AND RUN IT!!!!

It is absolutely the wrong optics, it makes it sound like an MLM scheme...

Talk to @richatvns he's a Business Operations Consultant, we were having this discussion over poker last night at Rudy's and he pointed this stuff out to me...

From what I can see the only real change is that we get Reward Cards instead of Booster Packs. Everything else is similar. People could still reward farm as usual. the difference would be them getting rewarded out of 10 cards. Alpha and Beta markets will do well. But if reward farming is a widespread thing, you've just kicked the can down the road.

Maybe you should play around with the idea of some tournaments or quest system to reward dedicated players. But I do think things will be fine for a time.

Very interesting statement! I can’t predict the future but I see the same problem incoming... from a only playing standpoint the reward cards are a cool addition to the existing decks but from a reward standpoint I fear that they will drop to bottomless prices and to people who already own them at max they will me worthless...

I think Steemmonsters live because it’s a platform not only for players but also for investors, artists, collectors and also card farmers are a huge part of the community! ...let’s see what future will bring us,

48939D11-BF46-4364-93E3-9BDD2F1A131E.jpeg

Can you tell me how the dragon cards work? I have one but i'm assuming i need a dragon summoner?

yes, you need a dragon summoner to summon dragon monsters.

A dragon summoner can also summon cards from one additional colored splinter of your choice and neutral monsters.

Hey I'm having trouble logging into my steemmonsters account. It's telling me that my private posting key is incorrect which is pretty obviously not the case as I'm getting it directly from my steemit page. Is there anywhere I can get some help loggin in? Or is this just a temporary issue? Upvoted for visibility.

Are you sure you are using the private posting key? The public one won't work. You have to click show private key to reveal it

Crustacean King at level 3 is the same as level 4. There is no benefit in leveling up.

Wow! I noticed that JUST yesterday, @pompe72!!!

Thanks for pointing it out here so @yabapmatt can get Crusty properly sorted.

That is a mistake, thanks for pointing it out!

what?!

chuckles

seriously!?

stares in disbelief

Been playing for around 3 weeks now I’m so addicted 🤪

Posted using Partiko iOS

No more packs how sad :( Now I'm gonna never get to level up my team

yeah, you're so right... it kind of takes away the incentive to keep playing if it's going to cost a ton of money to make progress.

You can sell the new reward edition cards you get on the market and use the proceeds to buy cards you need on the market or booster packs.

So the new cards are to sell them?

switch for quests rewards - ok
switch for season rewards - not really (maybe just smaller nr. of packs is better solution? Anyway u want to get rid of all packs to present next gamma edition?)

the thing to undestand is there is no reason to play this game (but i like it) it has no players now, it isn't outstanding etc.

Really cool changes. Looking forward to the next season!

Wow! New Cards sounds so cool! Steem Monsters Season 4 is going to be AMAZING!!!! Season 3 changes were incredible as well! I love battling Steem Monsters!
Crustacean King (904px, 5fps).gif

@cLove71... Chris, You REALLY do make incredible GiFs !!

Cheers 2 You !!

I like your gif. I'll try to make one.

Great Crusty gif, @clove71!!!

Lots of great news here. I love the Rewards cards and new abilities. Keeping the game fresh and the cards collectible is the right move!

Zintar debuff - Ouch!
The only thing black has going for it, is it's strong in early levels. Now seems weak across the board. It would be interesting to see a percentage of what splinter gets played by levels.

@just2random here you go: https://steemit.com/steemmonsters/@holger80/is-each-splinter-equally-often-used-in-battle

Green is actually the least played at higher levels. Black is pretty strong.

Hi.

I see many good improvements to the game - like new cards.

Debuffing Zintar ruinins many players' and my one and only half maxed out splinter and makes me very sad and willing to quit.

I always imagined a game as a product (a finished one) before introducing it to clients.
Alpha edition and existence of SM game outside our reach and having mavericks (first, testing players) in place made me think, that the beta edition and release of the game to Steemit community will give us a finished product.
There were debuffs before, we also have seeing upping some monsters, but why was it it all not done in trial version of the game?

Now it looks like many new players especially those with thinner wallets will be in despair of even trying to compete with those who are here for longer or those with more "resources" either in ranking, in trying to get top ranking rewards or in winning any of the tournaments.

I hope that new cards will consist enough of death splinter to equalize the effect of Zintar Mortalis debuffing (what added effect will Zintar now have, please? As the splinter doesn't have tank healer, maybe summoner could have tank heal ability ;) ... or any other ability instead the old one ).

Thank you for your work in creating and improving the game :)

All the best @yabapmatt

Peter.

I think you're misunderstanding the change to Zintar. He will still reduce the melee attack of all enemy monsters by 1 point, unless that would reduce the melee attack to 0. At high-level play this will make no difference as almost all enemy monsters will have a melee attack of 2 or more. The change is strictly for lower level play where most monsters have a melee attack of only 1 and Zintar previously brings them all to 0 making them unable to attack.

Also regarding making balance changes, every good game does this on a somewhat regular basis (Hearthstone, Clash Royale, etc) and we will continue to do it as necessary as well. Creating a well-balanced game is the most important thing for us to protect the value of the cards.

Understood - thank you :)

Wow! That seems great. Thank You @steemmonsters for this awesome changes. You are really working hard to keep the things running smooth and making them better.
Regards,
Dayyan Khan

Oh wow, great changes! THis causes the better players to get more rewards and "rich get richer" thing to trigger but I guess there's always a downside to find. And also, they've invested into cards more soo let them have more rewards in bonus cards.

Also Im stoked to see how the play with Zintar now will be :) Can't wait for season 4!!

Yass we shall see my friend

Posted using Partiko Android

Nice changes ...... I look forward to earning some of these new cards.

Another debuff for death sucks. I may need to change my main team.

Good decision!

Ok, Death splinter will not CRUSH that hard now, but It'll still crush others for sure!

I like the changes you are making and this game comes with everything, I love it.

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Awesome that’s great news I love how the game keeps progressing based on user experience and feedback! It keeps getting better and better

Posted using Partiko iOS

I think it’s an awesome move with new cards as rewards for the daily quest and season rewards. People are still incentivized to play and earn. Three seasons of free booster packs was a great way to get new players started but we knew this system of rewarding couldn’t be sustained. Looking forward to the new cards and season 4!

Nice changes which make overall great sense. Great future ahead! Feels good to be part of this.

Posted using Partiko Android

Those are great knews!! I can't wait to start playing the new season, the less than 1 PA debuff is really awesome! Because it was truly unfair to a lot of people to struggle playing against death splinter, and now the grass splinter can be used with more confidence haha

Excellent changes.

Cool updates can't wait to see the new card designs!!!

Posted using Partiko Android

GOD, that's a very good news
"Debuffs will no longer reduce Melee Attack to below 1. This is mainly to address Zintar Mortalis reducing most Melee attack monsters to 0 attack at lower levels."

This is a very interesting change. I'm looking forward to doing my daily quest and getting the new card once Season 4 begins!

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I don't quite see how it's better to emit new assets and how that's preventing the devaluation of the assets done through farming?!

I'm also a bit sceptical about creating a new league of cards that's dis-proportionally being emitted to high league players?!

But yeah, kinda looking forward to new cards at least.

LOVE these changes!!! Now we can just focus on having fun, ranking and leveling up!!! YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!! ;)

btw, saw Mushroom Seer pic in this comment thread. Great design. Will that be included in new Earth splinter reward cards, @steemmonsters/ @yabapmatt?

Bug report, in this game (all ranged and magic have snipe) my Screaming Banshee gives double blast attacks. https://steemmonsters.com?battle=70e89da75a0adc36916245e5c82ecdcab837007b&ref=steemitromney

Blast: Does additional damage to Monsters adjacent to the target Monster.

that's intended behaviour, not a bug

Ah thanks! Its overpowered tho

I bet that we will see a decrease in players using the Death splinter after this change. Even though he still will be tough on higher lvls, there will be little or no point of using him on the low lvl fights when other summoners buffs will outdo Zintar totally.

I can get on board with the changes, I think only 10 cards does make it hard to create a diverse splinter as thats less than 2 per splinter but if there are more to come then it should be okay.

Sweetness! Look forward to a new round I only made it up to silver once I figured out how to play my cards a bit better. Heres to getting to the highest level goodluck all!

Thanks for helping out with the Zintar Mortalis change. The lower ranks really needed it.

This is Awesome ! Season 4 is going to be EPIC!! Great job @yabapmatt and @aggroed , looking forward to exciting times ahead!💁💕✌👍
QUESTION @yabapmatt : WHEN DOES THE PEACEFULL GIANT GET MAGIC!? He has lots of lives but only 1 speed and he doesnt do anything!Thanks!

@steemmonsters - I got my first Reward Cards but I can not locate them anywhere in my "collections" - on the market tab there is an area for this cards but not in the person collections, why is that? Did I miss anything? @aggroed

Is this already live?

@yabapmatt
I wont lie, i am a bit disappointed by the changes, i understand the problem with beta cards diluting and either one of the two solution u have implemented, different cards or lesser cards were both good but applying both of them spoiled the game for me. I played 10-15 games today to complete my daily quest in silver 3 and received one card. It will take me forever to level up that card so its useless. I doubt i will ever try to complete the quest again. Thr is a point when things stop being fun and become a job.

you got only one card because you must have started the quest in bronze?!?

afaik the daily quest will reward you according the league you were in when it started.

Great! Love the idea of the new cards, and I’m looking forward to seeing them pop up in my collection.

Bugger about Zintar no longer making weak melee cards 0.... I loved it when that would happen (when I was playing death splinter team at least).