All of you voting - read this comment. The whole thing. Because voting blind is just ignorant and stupid.
I've been actively playing Soulkeep since it started and here's what I have observed:
The game is barely developed but changes do happen and the team... sorta listens... it has improved quite a bit and many bugs have been fixed... but there's still issues. Splinterlands has issues too but they are also fixed when brought up.
There WAS a "Delegation Exploit" due to card mechanics.
Each card has a set amount of Energy and that regens over time. This limits a cards use per day. In turn this was supposed to encourage Owning/Renting more assets and leveling them up.
The exploit was this:
A card could be used by Player A down to 0 energy. This card could then be Delegated to Player B... where it would have FULL ENERGY. This caused a lot of issues and allowed Multi-Accounting to be CHEAP and caused the Multi Accounting issue we have now...
PLEASE NOTE: This problem has been SOLVED and guess who was a BIG part of solving it... Yup. Me.
Now, even if you Delegate a card, the Energy does NOT reset as it did before.
Problem. Solved... although it led to a new problem 🤦♂
However... DC's solution also worked... but caused a problem where you run the risk of renting a card with 0 energy on it since the cards energy remains the same regardless of who owns/delegates the card - womp womp
Trust and believe spending 200 DEC to rent a Celene... only to find it has 0 energy and you have to rent another... so you can play your attempt... SUCKS.
So while the Multi-Account farming is still a thing, especially in the lower leagues... it was solved a bit by the Delegation fix. The higher leagues have very few leveled cards available for those leagues so that has helped tremendously!
Now with that clarified for everyone... let me suggest a solution to this problem based on my experience over the past several months...
Just like the thought of Web2/Web3 onboarding for the Mobile... WE DO NOT HAVE A FREEPLAY OPTION IN THIS GAME.
We get ONE. SINGLE. ATTEMPT. Per day... (per account)...
After that... we have to PAY to play this game!!!
The SPS Rewards are great for TOURNAMENTS... Which is what they are... BUT... That is our ONLY game mode...
Solution:
Make a "FREE MODE" - Just let us play the damn game!! Maybe they can make a Glint-like "in-game" Reward Currency to spend on "Web2 cards" or whatever...
Make the Tournaments... TOURNAMENTS. We currently get a FREE Tournament pass each day and then it costs Tickets to play... Each ticket is FOUR DEC (4).
If the free attempt was removed without a way to actually PLAY THE GAME... that would suck a lot... so there must be a way to play first - even if it is limited by energy too, just like in Splinterlands... or similar.
But... here's the crux of the problem... THERE AREN'T MANY PLAYERS. (just like in Splinterlands)
So it's easy to whine about "it's not fair these guys are earning so much SPS"... Ok... well... where are you?? It's not like this is a secret...
"Oh but I don't like that game" - well... I don't like Tournaments in Splinterlands... but you don't see me trying to rug the SPS Rewards for them???
Circling back to my previous point:
More players = more reward dilution + more DEC burn... solves some of the problem... and actually HELPS the "Flywheel" (y'all remember that right?)
Just in case you don't... Flywheel = Burn SPS, get DEC (but only works if DEC is at/near PEG)
Burn DEC = Good then??? Right? This game is a great sink for "Burn DEC on Tickets, for a chance to earn SPS"... which would then, in theory, be burnt for DEC... once it's at peg... which burning DEC helps... and causes the demand and price of SPS to rise, along with all other assets.
Important bits
Now... here's the kicker... the Cost to Play is VERY HIGH in the upper leagues. I am in League 7, for example.
If I WIN in League 7... I get a LOT of SPS... If I place poorly... like last night... I don't actually get many... let's compare with actual data.
I won 1st place in League 7 a few days ago: 1,767 SPS prize
I won 9th place in League 7 yesterday: 91 SPS prize
Me, the Champ 🏆
Me, the Chump 🤡
1st... 1,767... 9th 91...
HUGE difference in the Prize Payout!! So why bring this up?
Here's how much it COSTS ME TO PLAY:
1st Attempt: - (Zero)
That's my free attempt! So I could technically win 1,767 SPS... FOR NOTHING!
However... let us be reasonable here... I am a fairly good player... I sometimes win the Tournament... However... ALMOST EVERYONE ELSE IN MY LEAGUE IS ALSO A GOOD PLAYER...
Which means... 1 Attempt usually doesn't cut it and if I want to ADVANCE up in Leagues... I will need to collect a lot of SOULS (earned by killing the in-game Fiends).
So 1 Attempt is typically only if something in my life prevents me from playing at least one more...
Attempt 2: League 7
Attempt 2 in League 7 costs 236 Tickets.
Looking back, each ticket costs 4 DEC... so that's 944 DEC - still not a bad exchange: 944 DEC for 1,767 SPS!
However... this is only a CHANCE because the other good players are trying to do the same thing!
The free attempt lets us see what Maps are being played and what Rulesets are in play - both of these things change each day. (This is why multi accounters have an advantage)
The first attempt is "Ok, what strategy do I use to get maximum score" and the subsequent attempts are "Refine said strategy to get 1st place"...
RNG is still a thing here with Rulesets like "Tower Lock", "Spell Lock" etc and of course Dmg RNG comes into play... one round you might get unlucky and lowball the dmg so a Fiend gets through and guess what...
ONE FIEND GETTING THROUGH IS ENOUGH TO MAKE OR BREAK FIRST PLACE... and 2nd place is about 760 SPS in League 7, which is 1,000 SPS less!
Attempt 3: League 7
Should you choose to play again... you're now looking at 472 Tickets or 1,888 DEC to play... but there's a problem... Do your cards have enough energy to play????
I hope so... because renting cards for League 7 (or higher) IS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE... There just aren't many of them and those that do exist... ARE BEING USED.
But let's assume we play again... 944 DEC + 1,888 DEC = 2,832 DEC... which is STILL a great investment for 1,761 SPS!!!
But... what if you lose... what if you get screwed by RNG... or make a human mistake... or forget to place/move your hero (I hate when I do this)...
Keep in mind... we are talking about only THREE PLAYS PER DAY at this point... and these cards aren't CHEAP at this level...
2,832 DEC for 9th Place = 91 SPS
Does that seem like an unfair reward? Not to me...
But what about 11th place?? Or lower How many rewards for 11th place in League 7...
ZERO
Yeah... that's right... ZERO REWARDS... It is a Tournament, after all... but 2,832 DEC for THREE chances to play for a game... where I could possibly earn NOTHING...
Remember... this is a game that I and others, have spent a LOT OF DEC AND $$$ to purchase the assets to play it on Peakmonsters... so we could have a chance to EARN these Rewards...
How much money??? Well... Just purchasing ONE single BCX of Celene cost me $160 back when it first launched... and they are about $145 now... per BCX (a max copy needs TEN btw)...
With all that being said...
The concept of "Removing SPS Rewards Entirely"... PISSES ME OFF.
Because it's coming from people who AREN'T ACTIVE IN THE GAME... or if they are... they aren't winning and are now complaining about it.
EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. OF. US... was told "Play Soulkeep, earn SPS Rewards!"
Guess what, I thought that was cool! I liked the game! I played the game! I spent lots of DEC and TIME to win my way up to League 7 (of 10)...
Now you can BUY your way up the Leagues with Soulboxes though (more on that in a second).
But people who haven't even PLAYED THE GAME... who DIDN'T TAKE THAT OPPORTUNITY... are trying to take away these Rewards entirely...?
Excuse me... but that's fucking bullshit.
In fact - that's been almost my ENTIRE EXPERIENCE IN SPLINTERLANDS...
Buy CP!!! buys CP... CP cards are now worthless amd sit in my collection -95%
Play Spl and earn DEC + Web3 Cards!! plays Spl... Here's your Glint. Spend DEC if you want to make your cards Web3.
Buy Land!! buys a plot on 2nd market... -97% investment
Buy SPS!! buys SPS... -95% investment
Buy GLG!! nope... -95%...
Buy Arcade Colony!!! NO WAY... No idea what it's at...
Buy Soulkeep stuff... I SEE WHERE THIS IS GOING 😡
To all of you who are voting to remove SPS Rewards from this game entirely... let's just go ahead and remove Soulkeep from Peakmonsters too because there would be no point in even listing it there. I'll sell my Soulkeep assets for a loss and move on.
But now... for a brief moment... I can do what I joined Splinterlands to do in the first place... "Play to Earn"... and I don't mind paying to do so.
Have you forgotten that? Have you forgotten why we are here?
You didn't want to play this game that is sort of affiliated with Splinterlands somehow... hey that's fine.
But for those of us who DID... who bought the assets... who've been helping shape the game with feedback to the devs... who have written articles helping people PLAY THE GAME...
WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO TAKE FROM US WHAT WE WERE PROMISED??????
It would be one thing if we didn't spend the $$$ because we were TOLD here's the SPS you can win... and the only reason a few players are winning a lot of SPS... IS BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T PLAY... and now... the people who didn't join up... are pissed off at the people WHO DID... who took a CHANCE... and that chance is paying off... SO THE "PLAY-NOTS" are whining and trying to take away the Rewards for those of us who took YET ANOTHER CHANCE in this increasingly stupid ecosystem.
Don't be salty you aren't earning... Here, let me channel my inner Gank... "Stop whining and get gud bro - then you'll earn that SPS"
I understand you guys are frustrated with a lot of things about this game and ecosystem... I am too... but at the end of the day... Soulkeep Rewards aren't the CAUSE.
The SPS was already set aside for this.
YOU didn't play. That's on YOU. Don't punish US... Oh and if you're thinking "but Dingus... you're high up and we couldn't catch you..."
Yes you can: you can now BUY a set amount of Soulboxes per day and advance rather quickly... But they aren't cheap...
How much are they? Well again, in the lower leagues, not so much... But for us in the upper leagues... here's the numbers:
I purchased my maximum daily amount a few days ago for 9,263 DEC... for 63 Soulboxes... so I could get a little bump in Legendary Souls to advance to League 8...
You need 2,000 Legendary Souls to advance from League 7 to League 8.
Each box has 1 or 2 Legendary Souls. I opened 63 Boxes and got... 67 Legendary Souls oof...
I did also get a lot of Common/Rare/Epic Souls which you ALSO need... but the Legendary ones are harder to get. Obviously.
So for ~10k DEC I got 67/2000 Legendary Souls or 3.35%... which means to "Buy" my way into League 8... it would cost about 305k DEC 🙃
WHY DO YOU THINK THE PRIZES ARE UNREASONABLE?!?! THAT'S EXPENSIVE!! It's just like buying a Max Level Rare Reward Card from SPS!!! 😑
My point is - the majority of us earned the right to EARN these Rewards 😤 and you want to TAKE THEM from us?!?
Tl;Dr:
Change Nothing = meh
Remove SPS Rewards Entire = a big "fuck you" to players who spent a lot of time and money on this game because we were told about the opportunity to "Play to Earn" SPS. Don't rug us because YOU didn't take the chance and play.
Stake SPS = a good compromise
A Freeplay Mode AND Tournaments like we have now with DEC entry fees and Staking Requirements = a GREAT compromise.
VOTE FOR THE STAKING REQUIREMENTS, DO NOT RUG US - a lot of us EARNED THESE REWARDS...
Thank you for your time and I look forward to your feedback.
RE: What's the best option for Soul Keep SPS rewards?