As much as I love and enjoy playing Splinterlands, it can't be ignored that the ecosystem has some serious flaws that needs to be fixed is it ever wants to get a wider adoption.
Solid Blockchain Infrastructure!
Flaw #1: Guaranteed Card Value Decline!
Right now, the setup for Splinterlands when it comes down to cards is that you need to pay 5000$+ on packs for the latest set each 1.5 year in order to be competitive. This with the knowledge that the values will hold up for about a year to start declining afterward and totally fall off a cliff when they get dumped into Wild mode. What is possible to earn from them is nowhere near the expected value decline so it makes no sense whatsoever to invest in the game unless you are a player who doesn't understand this mechanic or is fine to take a guaranteed loss.
One of the reasons I was willing to buy cards in the past is with the idea that they would continue to be supported with some of the older and rarer powerful ones becoming more valuable as the ecosystem grows. This has been a major deception as my collection value on average has decreased at least 5x faster compared to what I'm earning.
Possible Solutions: Cards should be treated as the main required investment in the game again. Bring back Collection Power Requirements especially in Wild even in a way where players who own cards from multiple older sets are able to earn the most with this requirement even increasing each time a new set is put into wild. Card Burns should also be a thing and a great opportunity would be to require a similar-type card burn to unlock Soulbound cards so there is at least zero inflation there. Another idea is to directly or indirectly make part of the revenue from new cards go to existing card owners. Right now the devs are worse than the government in pressing the print button devaluing existing assets. A New Game Mode that usues older cards in a way where part of the fees from that game mode gets paid to those who provide their cards also could be a solution or to make renting way easier so it's actually possible to do.
Flaw #2: Required Obligated Play Time!
Right now, Splinterlands either requires you to play manually which at least takes up 1 hour of your time each and every day if you don't want to miss out on the rewards to recover the card value decline. This or you need to run a bot that makes you not look at the game anymore which isn't really what the game should be about. This high required obligated Play Time every day is just completely flawed. If Splinterlands wants to get any kind of adoption it needs to be possible for players come in and play at the time they want getting a fun game experience that feels fair (not pay2win) without them missing out on any of the rewards.
Possible Solutions: A New Game Mode where there is an entry fee (or battle pass) to play maybe even with packs as prizes as an indirect way for the team to sell packs. This game mode could have no requirements whatsoever to hold cards and have those that provide them get some passive earnings from the fees that are paid. This would allow for anyone to come into Splinterlands and have a fun experience at the time they want without the feeling of missing out on anything.
Flaw #3: Complicated Rental Market !
As someone who owns plenty of cards with many that I don't use especially lower ones and golden ones, it's extremely hard to actually rent them out without using a service and with the low values it also doesn't pay as the listing fees add up. Right now, I have a ton of cards but I barely rent any of them out since the prices are so low. While the prices were higher the time it took to manage rentals also was insanely high without using a service.
I know they are working on 1-click full set rentals which will be an improvement for players but as someone who is renting I don't think it will change much.
Possible Solutions: What I really would like is for there to be a system where it's possible to rent out cards with 1-click delegating the ones you don't need into a pool with that doing all the rentals automatically and paying out a fair share on a daily or weekly basis.
Flaw #4: Extreme Pay2Win!
Splinterlands must be the biggest pay2win game in the history of gaming especially now with the ranked rework. It's a game mechanic that makes it so that you want to level up but at the same time unless you spent an amount that for most isn't realistic, you will always end up facing opponents that are simply stronger than you which kind of kills the fun. I liked the way it used to be possible to be a bronze, Silver, Gold, Diamond player getting a more balanced experience. Now it's just possible in bronze to play max level directly paying to win is nobody there can beat that.
Possible Solutions: I'm quite sure that the most fun experience Splinterlands can offer is one where you are fully on a level playing field with your opponent and the outcome of a match is decided by both skill and luck. Making some kind of combined card pool based on your own cards and your opponents cards which can be chosen from would be an option. Every card that is picked that is only owned by the opponent then would make part of the earnings go to the opponent. It would be possible to play and climb with no cards and not really earn anything while the player who does own the cards gets earnings even for losses. A new game mode like Draft Mode would also possibly create an even
Conclusion!
While Splinterlands has an excellent blockchain infrastructure which the game runs on, many of the mechanics are completely flawed like the obligated play time, the extreme pay2win along with a guarantee that cards values over time go down. Unless some of these get solved it's hard to see another adoption wave of new players coming into the game. Despite everything, the game continues to be fun.
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