Splinterlands really is in a tricky spot. The previous adoption cycle was there fully thanks to inflated 'ponzi' unsustainable earnings. Now the game needs to have it from the actual game as the outlook to actually earn is slim to none because card values are bound to drop off a cliff once they cycle into wild.

What would at least partly solve botting is for collection power to be re-introduced in Wild, replacing that with SPS was also the start of the end for card values and the rental market.

The Pay2Win aspect in the game for me is just a personal dislike and I get that many aren't bothered with it too much.

It's going to be interesting to see where it all goes and I do still have an urge to buy more cards, just purely financially though, the opportunity cost is just way too big as there is little outlook for older cards to get a higher value as all rewards have been stripped away. I'm not into spending 5k a year just to play 60+ minutes daily and see rewards only partly recover what the eventual card value loss will be.

I guess only time will tell.