I ended up playing 93 battles in Splinterlands today after booting up my idle Alt account and managed to climb from Bronze 3 to Silver 2. This is my experience along with an expectations guide for new players...
I Felt Like Playing Splinterlands!
Sunday was one of those days where I didn't really feel like doing much which made me feel like I actually wanted to spend some time playing Splinterlands. However, I only had my brawls to enter, which in most cases was submitting battles without seeing the outcome. So I ended up playing some Modern with my Alt account. In the past, I always kept that as an account I sent Gold Foil cards with the intention not to go above level 3 Rare Summoners while playing one of the gold foil Frays in the Brawl.
The 1683$ Collection value is actually more something around 900$ and in worst case around 404$ which is the DEC Burn Value at peg. I have zero intentions to invest anything more as I simply don't have the time and will anymore to play Splinterlands for over an hour each day.
Out of the 388 cards I own on that account 237 actually still can be used in modern so I certainly have options to choose from. Letting a bot play Wild is something I'm not doing as I don't want to give my posting key and I also doubt that it would be that profitable given the 2$ entry tax.
New Player Card Owned Card Requirements
As I already has a collection that I'm kind of used to it was easy for me to get going with this. However, for new players it's far more complicated as you need cards to get started yet they have no clue which ones are good or bad.
TIP: If You want to know which cards are good, check out the top battles and take not of the monsters and summoners that are used there a lot
One of the instant downsides for new players is that older players pretty much have an edge since they own all the soulbound cards. while it is possible to buy them on the market, they simply go for way higher prices and nobody unlocked them at a multiple of the burn value just to sell below that. The downside of Chaos Legion cards is that they soon will rotate out of modern which the way things are right now will make them near useless. It's also possible to rent cards but with a Bronze Chaos Legion Set going for 0.09$ a day, it's more than what your are going to expect to earn. At the same time buying Rebellion packs or cards will be way more expensive but at least you will be able to keep playing with those for a bit more than a year.
At least now, it's possible to try out the game for free and start collecting earnings and more cards which all are soulbound and only part gets unlocked when buying the spellbook.
So overall I would say for new players the process of buying cards is still not good in Splinterlands and there should be an easier option to pay a small entry fee which gets them playing at a level playing field to start off on with the game. If you have 100$+ it should not be too hard to instantly buy enough cards that would make you competitive at the lower levels but without any prior knowledge it's more a guessing game.
SPS Staking Requirements
Not only do new players need cards, without owning or renting some Staked SPS, the rewards are going to be extremely low. My alt account almost permanently has 300+ SPS from playing the Brawls which I tend to unstake each month to add to my main account.
These are the current numbers and you pretty much want to be around the x8 range which for Silver 2 is only ~30$ worth of SPS so for a new player it's actually not a major required investment and this also can be rented for very cheap at the moment.
As I progressed, I did test out what increasing the SPS talked actually did for the Modern rewards.
From Bronze 3 To Silver 3
The early levels from what I understand are mostly dominated by bots that are run by the team to provide match liquidity (otherwise players instantly get matched with higher level players many times). This caused a winning streak which got me to Silver 3 in just 27 matches which included 3 losses. The SPS earnings also ramped up pretty quickly even though I only have 328 SPS staked from 0.009 SPS to 0.150 SPS after 27 battles.
It must be noted though that I hold quite some Gold Foil cards and I get a +12% Guild bonus. So for new players the SPS and Glint earnings will be a bit lower.
Getting Stuck In Silver
I managed to keep winning at a slightly lower pace reaching Silver 2 before I got hit by a wall and started ranging sideways. I also first increased my SPS stake to 100 which got SPS earnings from 0.16 SPS to 0.34SPS. Later just before I got hit by a 9-game losing streak I increased my SPS stake to 2500 delegating some from my main account.
This is pretty much how "Pay2Win Splinterlands" is designed, at the start you win every match as you have better cards while eventually, the time comes when you start facing opponents who even in Silver have Max Level decks
This dynamic for me just takes away so much of the fun and it quickly becomes a grind where you go through the motion trying to get the win without really caring all too much about the actual battles since they rarely to never are evenly matched. The situation where you first win everything and then it starts to be way harder also is rather frustrating and it takes some time to get used to the fact that battles start turning into coinflips with only so much you can do to actually get the edge.
Once you win your 3rd game in a row, you start getting a win-streak bonus and your rank goes up +40 instead of -20 while you only ever can go down -20 on a loss. So winning streaks make you eventually always reach a higher rank over time.
Total Day Modern Earnings
I also got around 10k Glints which I used to buy 50 Common chests which gave some extra Energy and also more cards that I will be able to use in modern along with 1 Golden Foil which could be really useful in the Brawls.
However, new players only really have 25-30 matches in a day on average instead of 95, they don't have any of the older soulbound cards or experience in the game. So likely they will have a much harder time unless they throw more money at it. Also the game still forces them to play at least 1 hour every day focused manually without exceptions if they don't want to miss out of the rewards.
Plans Going Forward
I will probably keep playing some wild on my alt account whenever I find some time and feel like it as it will help me to get some more Gold foil reward cards that I can use in the Brawls. The extra SPS that I'm earning is also welcome and actually not that low. The main idea however is still to just capitulate and sell the cards in the case the market would get hot again.
New Player Advice
Right now, I still just would not suggest any new player to actually start playing Splinterlands. The initial required cost (Cards +SPS) to get something going is quite high still compared to the actual rewards while they will face a wall very soon in the game where the only way to get beyond it is to invest more. If you do play, I would say make sure that your staked SPS is around the x8 range which tends to be very affordable still.
Conclusion
I had some fun today Playing Splinterlands but at the same time things are nowhere near the potential of what the game could be and I still would not recommend the game to any new players. Getting the needed assets is too expensive and complicated while the game itself is way too much Pay2Win which on top is crazy time intensive not allowing any off days. Players should be able to play and enjoy Splinterlands at a fixed small cost at times they actually want to play while being at a level playing field. This said, I have now fully booted up my alt account again which I will play some more Modern battles on going forward whenever I have some time and want to play.
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