I wanted to give my reaction on the latest blog post from Gods Unchained.
https://blog.godsunchained.com/2022/01/11/whats-next-2022/
(all images from this source)
In general, I like what they are working towards. You also can't be mad at the trading volume and other graphs they showed:
With that said, the general timeline 'feels' like it's been pushed back. I say 'feels' because there aren't a lot of dates (not even "Q2 2022"). That's obviously disappointing. There are also a few nits to pick. Let's look in more detail.
Staking rewards will be distributed to all users that qualify as being active stakers. These rewards will be distributed from the Staking Rewards Pool, which consists of $GODS tokens funnelled in from acquisition actions made in the Gods Unchained store and the Forge. From as early as next week, tokens will begin seeding from those already spent in The Forge to the staking rewards pool so that when the staking goes live later in the year, the rewards pool will be stocked and ready.
Rewards will be claimable by all users who qualify at regular 7 day intervals, and will provide an amount of $GODS to each user proportional to the lowest amount held in their Immutable X account.
"Live later in the year." Technically, tomorrow and December 31st are later in the year, but this seems more like Q3/Q4. I had hoped they were a bit closer, but such is life. Maybe we'll be surprised, but this type of press release coinciding with the unlocking of presale $GODS tokens isn't going to be pretty for token price. I suppose that's a buying opportunity if you're a cup-half-full type of person.
Other info is generally what we've known, and sounds good to me. We did get a little more detail, though. A 7-day claiming cycle based on the least amount of $GODS you had through that time. Seems fair, honestly. Also, 7 days means you can get rewards fairly consistently to invest in more cards or compound your stake.
As a recognition of those who play and hold tokens, $GODS token holders will be able to vote on token-related proposals via decentralized governance.
Proposals will include topics such as:
- How to allocate token reserves
- Community and Ecosystem Fund Distribution
- Changes in $GODS token supply
- Sponsorship or grant recipients
Overall good info. There had been speculation that you would have to be an active governor to receive staking rewards (i.e. vote on stuff), but that isn't mentioned here or in the previous section. Governance is always a tricky thing. Immutable runs the ship and will select the voting questions (and possible answers). I wouldn't expect major issues to come up for votes, at least not at first. They do mention token supply, though, which is pretty big.
The next step will be working on fusing beyond Meteorite quality and into higher tiers.
Yes, please. Not a ton of detail, but not much is needed, either.
The Gods Unchained store is the first point of contact when new NFT expansion sets enter the ecosystem. The cards from these sets are then traded between users on marketplaces that utilize Immutable X’s Layer 2 technology. Involving the $GODS token in these functions is a key factor in giving the token meaningful utility, which is why 20% of all primary sales and 20% of secondary trading fees in Gods Unchained will be paid for in $GODS.
Again, please and thank you. You can buy in ETH, but 20% will be swapped to $GODS on the open market. This is an excellent way to share revenue/benefits with token holders. Right now, Immutable gets all the proceeds of pack sales. In the future, pack sales will help drive up the price of $GODS - benefiting all holders.
The team is working on pushing live a system which rewards players with $GODS daily, with additional points earned based on the cards you’re playing with. Decks with complete Meteorite cards will earn more points, and higher shine cards even more. This system intends to keep both Core trading and fusing relevant.
Honestly, the only negative thing I have to say about the blog post is here. First, they've elected to stick to the same vague language that caused confusion in their last release on this topic.
Decks with complete Meteorite cards will earn more points, and higher shine cards even more.
That's not 100% clear, but it does suggest that bonus points won't start until you have a full set of meteorite. I'm considering writing an entirely separate post on this topic, but in short, I think the better approach is to simply have small rewards per card in meteorite (exactly what they are doing for shadow). We want on-ramps for new players. Not on-walls.
We have an internal team designing and building this, with our first touchstone being to get a playable alpha out in 2022. Our hope is to deliver the first access to our players in the first half of next year, with a wider Alpha sometime in the second half of the year.
One of our few dates, and again pretty vague, but a mobile release this year would be huge news. Mobile opens the game up to so many more players. So many millions (billion?) of people have smartphones but no PCs. Fingers crossed they deliver.
For the longer run: new expansions are in the works, alongside new game functionalities, items and modes. To tie these developments all together, the team is also hard at work improving the player onboarding experience. This will make it easier for anyone and everyone to join Gods Unchained and get playing.
Hype. Nothing here not to like. What are 'new items'? We know about Sealed Mode, but modes plural? A better on-boarding experience is key to success, so working on that is always welcome (#rampsnotwalls).
Lots to look forward to in 2022. Immutable delivered a solid 2021 all things considered, so I have a lot of confidence in them moving forward. I'm also excited to get our first look at the new expansion and more details on the core set refresh. It's a new set of designers, and so far, they've impressed when it comes to understanding card balance.
