Above banner image is edited by myself, all screenshots are my own in game screenshots.
Greetings everyone and welcome to another Splinterlands post. I know, I know, I'm suprised too but Splinerlands has been coming out with a lot of fresh quality material so what can I say aside from bravo. Today we are going to talk about "Campaigns" which are PvE puzzle scenarios meant to familiar the player with in game mechanics and grant soulbound base cards to start their journey.
I know it's taken forever for a tutorial to surface, but it's definitely a quality endeavor and worth the wait. In addition to being a concise series of scenarios that familiarize newbies with the in game mechanics, the campaigns also firm up lore that MAKES SENSE and doesn't step on it's own toes.
No more "you are the battlemage, but you also summon a battlemage. Derpa derp" now it's established that the cards formerly known as "summoners" are now "archons" and it finally makes sense. Not to mention you get tidbits of lore about factions, domains, splinters, and praetoria seeded throughout. Truly well done.
The scenarios all walk you through the basics of lineup building in a fun lore-friendly way with various professors at Waur Medge Academy and explains each aspect of Splinterlands in the most laymen of terms and builds you knowledge up over the course of 11 chapters. Each chapter gets progressively closer to what an actual Splinterlands match may feel like when on the actual battlefield.
Not all scenarios are a "guaranteed win" but meant to have a novice perform multiple attempts to "get it right" simulating actually thinking about your own matchups given the cards available. All elements of a good incremental tutorial, across the board these scenarios deliver what is necessary in a fun and interactive manner. I'm genuinely impressed, it would've been amazing if these existed years ago for onboarding potential instead of the team buying bored apes, waka flaka collabs, and other frivolous expenses. Definitely better late than never though and a necessary part of gameplay experience.
Every current Splinterlands player should complete these scenarios, they grant free soulbound cards that are actually GOOD at lvl 1 and an excellent place to start off, but also an excellent addition to anyones collection. In my most recent post I was just talking about how I viewed one of these cards in a brawl match and commenting on how versatile and strong it was, only now am I realizing that it was a card anyone can get FOR FREE and use anywhere in Praetoria. Pretty incredible stuff and definitely worth the 10-20 minutes it takes for a veteran to complete, and a MUST for every entering player aswell.
These tutorials are a step in the right direction but far too late to have capitalized upon them during the massive bull run this game experienced. All these efforts would've been viewed and appreciated by all the real gamers that existed in this game during that time period and retention would've been much better. During the last bull run the choice was made to mostly appeal to fickle crypto folks, moonboys, botlords, and ROI obsessionists. During this bear they are trying to build what should've been built in the moment instead of being greedy, hopefully they keep this progression and direction instead of pivoting back into appealing to the same fairweather demographic. Where are most of those moonboys now? Gone. Where are most of the web2 gamers that were ignored and not prioritized and instead milked for ROI exit liquidity? Also gone. I just hope they realize gamers stay and moonboys go where the wind takes them. Anyway, overall good stuff and good progress on the game even if it's a little late to the party. See you in the Splinerlands Battlemages, stay safe out there and thank you all for the continued support. You all rock.
