Three Days in Splinterlands - Some Noob Impressions and Tips

I suppose I should have chosen some mighty image to flex my amazing Splinterlands skills, but to be honest, a Cursed Slimeball probably IS me flexing! I have made it, more or less intact, through 3 days of Splinterlands, and wanted to increase my engagement and leave a trail of breadcrumbs for other noobs entering this game. And, perhaps I can stoke some nostalgia in you seasoned players by sharing my various phases of complete confusion. :)

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

I have been doing other Hive chain activities for about 2 months. I indulge my interest in movies and TV on CineTV, I try to learn about other cultures on Ecency (which is where I onboarded, btw), I work to get a tiny bit less dumb on Leo, and I flail about on Rising Star and CryptoBrewMaster. I also am excited about Exode. So, I know enough to be dangerous!

And still...

Getting going on Splinterlands is confusing. I didn't know what I was buying, I thought I would get a starter pack, but instead I got, I don't know, permission to play 2 earn? A little weird. I spent 20 minutes at least looking for my cards, the sought-after NFTs that are the staple of every blockchain game. There were none. Not knowing what else to do, I clicked BATTLE.

The game mechanics are sort of straight forward, but the mental demand of creating new decks for each battle are high. I was able to retain about 1% of the information from the tutorial, and that was mainly that I needed to pick Pyre the Summoner because that was the only one I remembered. There really is not time to look at and compare any of the cards. Instead, as a noob, it feels like HURRY UP AND PICK A CARD YOU ARE RUNNING OUT OF TIMEEEEEE {{{Surrender}}} Doh!

Yes, I have surrendered more than once to the combination of my internet lag and trying to remember whether melee cards in the 2nd position who don't have Reach can still attack anyone or the difference between Sneak and that weird red splat that makes me think the card has Blast but really it has Snipe and oh, did I go over my Mana count I better {{{Surrender|||

Yeah, it is a bit like that. haha!

And of course I ran out of some kind of credit or power and wasn't allowed to play or comment on Ecency or all sorts of things at one point.

But it is a lot of fun! I have gotten better - I mean, this is not saying much...I was terrible, terrible, terrible at first. I have gotten to know a couple of other players and seen the kind of caretaking and sense of community this game, and Hive, support. I have even won a couple of Daily Quests and have my own stash of mostly boring cards. I am excited to keep playing and eventually to rise up the ranks.

GOOD IMPRESSIONS

Among the things I have enjoyed most about Splinterlands:

1. You can play more or less as much as you like, and if you run out of resource credits, you can wait a bit. The games are free. That keeps enthusiasm high.
2. You gain more experience by winning than you do by losing, so even if you hit a rough patch, you still have a chance to stay in your current level without dropping down too far. That keeps motivation high.
3. The artwork is distinctive and it is reasonably easy to tell the difference among splinters and different cards.
4. The gameplay is complex and might not always come down to who has the Goblin Mech and who is just a Cursed Slimeball.
5. PayPal makes this a cinch to start playing. Creating and securing a new wallet every 28 seconds is one of the many underappreciated curses of Cryptoworld. PayPal is the devil, but it's a devil I happen to know.
6. Daily Quests are a great idea, and they go a ways toward softening the grisly blows of the bummed impressions noobs are likely to get when they start playing...

BUMMED IMPRESSIONS

There are a few things that I admit not to loving about actually being involved in Splinterlands versus the expectations I gathered from reading the occasional article or blog entry about playing.

1. You don't start with a Starter Pack. This is just, I don't know, really different from other games and from what some of the early players experienced. You pay money and all you get is the chance to play and perhaps to win cards or DEC down the road. That was a record scratch for me I have to admit
2. You don't win very much, or, really anything at all. When I finally won a battle with the playable cards I was excited to see my prize. Was it going to be enough DEC to buy a pack? Would it be a card? No. It was 0.01 DEC. As far as I can tell, a basic pack is 2000 DEC. To win your first game as a beginning player and form that instant impression that you need to win 19,999 more games before you could afford your first pack is insane. It's crazy. I don't care what anyone else says. That is a shocker of a journey to lay out in front of a new player. I was lucky to happen to join right before a Season ended, so at least I was able to get 5 chances at something from my playing. Sure, the cards I got from those 5 Season prizes are only worth $0.15 but at least I finally got cards, NFTs, a stake in the game.
3. IF this is something you card about, the time to cover your initial investment looks like it will be a long, long time. DEC is worth very little, almost every card I will win from Daily Quests or Season Prizes will be worth very little. I will be pretty surprised if my account is worth $10 in 4 months or even 6 months. It will either take a lot of luck or a lot of work. In my personal opinion, the lofty figures seasoned players throw around look very unrealistic to a Noob like me. It is tricky to know if you will like a game until you play it, but the best case scenario is to play Splinterlands because you like it, not because you think you will make your $10 back and "next stop Lambo."
4. The currency situation is confusing. Packs are listed in DEC but many things are listed in $ and it isn't clear if those $ are fiat or HBD or, well, who knows? I still don't know. I don't know if I have enough DEC to buy cards from the market, or if DEC can even do that.
5. The complexity of gameplay and that ticking, ticking, ticking clock make it really hard to feel competent or strategic. I do want to be able to make good choices for my deck based on whatever Quest I am on and what my opponent has played, and I do understand that we can't wait around a million years for both players to read the fine print of every card, but that timer goes so fast and is really {{{Surrender}}}

TIPS FOR NEW PLAYERS

To be honest, there are more things about Splinterlands that bum me out, but I am pretending to be an optimist, so I will ignore them. Instead, I will turn to my Tips

1. Socialize about the game! I got super lucky and met someone who has been playing for a long time. That awesome dude leased me a few cards that (a) made me more competitive and (b) increased my Power, which means when I win now, I am getting closer to 1.0 DEC than 0.1 DEC. That adds up over time. Plus, people are happy to give you their thoughts on basic strategy.
2. Find a good referral link. I screwed this part up. There are people that are so passionate about this game that they will lease you cards if you use their referral. Spend the time to find those referrals and create that awesome symbiosis! I joined up out of anger over a different, much eviler game (rhymes with Snailien Turlds) and was too mad to look.
3. Learn to a pretty comfortable level what the special powers are of the most common summoners. For example, the basic Nature summoners either reduce melee or range attacks. Put that info in your pocket - it will make it easier for you to build your decks.
4. Learn what all those weird splatty and eyeball and lizard hand symbols mean on the bottom of the cards. These are special abilities and it is easier to just visually scan for a lizard hand than to type in or scroll looking for Reach.
5. Invest time in getting good with at least one kind of deck build. I have been focusing on building Snipe-oriented decks and feel pretty comfortable with several of the cards that play that role. That makes it easier to build my Battle deck before {{{Surrender}}}

I look forward to sharing more about an idiot abroad in Splinterlands as I continue to learn and get destroyed in battle. Thanks to all the kind folks out there who are ready with advice, encouragement, and cards! I will probably never be good enough to play you, but I appreciate your help!