These are great moves but it kind of (not exactly but in aggregate) transfers the current problem to the upper leagues and this is a temporary to midterm fix or alleviation depending on how many new players we get into the game in the near future.
Don't get me wrong, it is very helpful, but it does not address the real problems that has now replaced the bot farming problem that we voted to ban in modern format and now speaks to the underlying flaw of the ranked battle system.
Ranked is a 1V1 math contest (strategy is a form of math). People that are math geniuses (especially those in the developing worlds where incomes are low) are going to flawk to this game and scholar for whales and then use those profits to create multiple accounts to camp the lower leagues and make this their side hustle or their main hustle.
This is what is happening now. They were camping in the lower leagues to make that guaranteed income, that is their living money, this is not their fun game time or their after work thing it is serious for them.
Now with these changes they will consolidate and push upwards in the leagues. I know many of you will say that this is a good thing and they need to stake SPS, buy or rent more cards, etc.. But where did all that crypto come from? They do not represent new fiat and new players coming into the game, instead it is a closed circular extraction loop.
It is another flavor of farming except they are humans. Instead, after this consolidation phase they will re-math their situations and figure out how to continue extracting and multi-accounting and thus creating insurmountable walls of difficulty at every league level.
Suggestions:
Why are vouchers not on the secondary game market? New players are supposed to use the convoluted HIVE engine to get vouchers?
RE: Splinterlands Ranked Battle Overhaul