The rewards system of the ranked play for Splinterlands is going through an overhaul process.
The first part of this overhaul was released at the end of February. I've seen people loving the new system and people hating it. As always, there will be two opinions on everything. I am kind of unbiased because I only play Brawls and Land. I stopped playing Ranked (directly) when it became more of a chore for me instead of being fun. That doesn't mean it doesn't continue to be fun for other players.
I like the Reward Shop addition that will be rolled out in a few days as a player. I am undecided on it as an investor. It also comes with a new soulbound token Glint, which is the only one that can be used in the new Reward Shop. Glint will replace reward points and will be earned after every battle and a big chunk of it at the end of the season.
Preview of the Reward Shop artwork (probably?) from Splinterlands' post.
Players, instead of receiving loot chests for their daily focus (which will be removed) or at the end of the season, will be able to use their Glint to buy things from the Reward Shop.
Except for a few limited-edition titles, all rewards that can be purchased in the Reward Shop are soulbound: reward card "draws", merits, energy & potions. That practically excludes SPS rewards, which can right now be found in loot chests. However, the SPS rewards that would be given for the daily focus and season rewards are now moved to the Wild and Modern reward pools, respectively, meaning the daily SPS rewards on matches won will increase significantly.
Reward card "draws" are similar loot chests for soulbound reward cards, with different chances of getting higher rarity cards, GF, and multiples.
The Reward Shop gives a lot of flexibility to both players and the team.
On the team side, they can decide what rewards can be added or removed from the shop and set or change the prices in Glint. Glint is soulbound, so it has no price, which means it doesn't fluctuate either. The team can play with this reward more easily, offer bonuses (50% extra Glint for battles won in Modern format, for example), take them back, etc. We will see how much players will like the power this gives to the team over their rewards.
On the other side, players have more flexibility too, except it will be in a closed system. You can decide to focus entirely on reward cards, for example, until you max them (which is what I'll do). That can be combined with burning double soulbound reward cards (that you already have maxed out). You receive Glint with which you can focus to get more reward cards until you max them all, hopefully. Or you can use Glint for something else.
You can also save up Glint between seasons and in the long term if there is a target you save for. The new soulbound reward cards which are expected this summer was mentioned as a potential target for some players.
We shouldn't understand that because players' flexibility is in a closed system, it doesn't matter. You can't sell soulbound reward cards, but you can use them to generate better rewards. We should never forget that.
