The majority of the changes and updates we have been making recently are focused around getting things ready for what we hope to be a large influx of new users over the next 6 - 12 months as we start to pick up and refine our marketing and promotion efforts.
One particular area that will also need some adjustments is the quest and season rewards. The current reward card system has worked well for the past year or so, but it doesn't scale up with the growth of the game. The reward cards are hitting their print limit faster and faster as more players are coming on board, and we don't have much flexibility to introduce new types of rewards in the current system.
Our goal is to always grow the value of the rewards that are available for players in the game, but it's very important that it's done in a sustainable way. If we give out too many rewards as compared to the amount of value coming into the ecosystem, then it will just dilute everything rather than adding new value (similar to central banks printing more money from nothing, for example).
We have a number of ideas about how to sustainably increase the amount and value of rewards given to players, and these changes are geared around supporting them.
We are planning to change the quest and season rewards to take the form of "loot chests" that will contain reward cards in addition to other things such as DEC and potions. The exact contents of the chests will be randomly determined, and the higher your league, the higher level chest you will receive with proportionally more rewards inside. It's important to note that we are not getting rid of the reward card system, and we still plan to introduce new reward cards from time to time (more on that below).
The purpose of this change is to give us more flexibility around the rate at which the reward cards get released in addition to being able to give out different sorts of things as rewards. We will be starting out with adding DEC and potions to the quest and season loot chests, but we have lots of ideas for other types of things to add as additional rewards in the future - with a focus on things that help players grow the value of their accounts while also being less susceptible to "farming".
While the actual contents of each loot chest will be randomly determined (based on unpredictable blockchain data, as always), the average total value of the items should be very similar to the average value of the reward cards you would have received previously.
For example, if you have achieved the rank of Diamond III in a season then you would previously receive 40 reward cards as your season reward. After this change goes into effect you will receive a level 10 loot chest instead which will have a random number of reward cards that is less than or equal to 40. Any fewer cards than 40 will be replaced by DECs or potions of similar value, and potentially other items in the future.
This change is scheduled to go into effect on Tuesday, February 4th, at around 9 am - 12 pm EST.
One way that we're particularly excited about to bring more real value into the ecosystem and increase the value of player rewards is through sponsorships.
As you may remember from this post, we have recently partnered with the Blockchain Founders Fund to help us grow and promote the game, and one of the first initiatives they are working on is bringing in sponsorships not only for tournaments, but also for things such as quest and season rewards.
We plan to put the vast majority of any sponsorship money we receive directly into increased prizes and rewards for the players. We want to create a cycle where increased prizes brings in more players, which in turn brings in more sponsors, which further increases prizes, and so on.
We are very excited to have such a professional and experienced team working on this, and we hope that over time we can build up a steady stream of sponsorships so that we can steadily increase the tournament, quest, and season prizes for all players. These changes to the reward system will also help us to achieve that goal as, once again, we can be a lot more flexible on the types of rewards we give out to fit the needs of potential sponsors.
All new Reward Edition cards released from now on will have the Untamed card frames and have the same leveling and burn rates as the rest of the Untamed cards. They will still be part of the Reward Edition and show under that edition filter and the print limits for each rarity will remain the same as well.
We are working on adding 6 new Reward Edition cards to replace some of the ones that are nearing their print limit, and will announce the details in the near future as soon as they are ready, so please stay tuned for that!
We understand that the in-game rewards are very important to our players, and we don't take changes to them lightly. We also understand and expect that some players might be upset about the changes as well. Our goal, like we said above, is to build for long-term, sustainable growth of the game and the value of the cards.
While there is nothing wrong with farming and selling rewards - in fact, one of the great things about the game is that you are able to do that - the goal is always to try to incentivize players to grow their collections for the long term.
We also know that some of you are concerned that it's too hard for new players to progress without making purchases. We understand that concern too, and we want to address it as much as we can, but it's also important to understand that purchasing is necessary in a game where all of the assets are transferrable and have real value.
Splinterlands cannot be compared to traditional games like Clash Royale or Hearthstone when it comes to rewards. Those games can give out whatever they want as much as they want because none of it has any value. It can never be transferred or sold, so there's no dilution or risk to giving out too much.
Splinterlands is much more like Magic the Gathering or other physical card games in this respect. We've never heard about anyone getting free cards in a game like that for completing daily quests or season rewards. Those cards have to be purchased, and for your purchase you receive real collectibles with real value that you can re-sell later, potentially even for a profit.
With Splinterlands, we are trying to combine the best of both of those types of games - which is something that has never been done before - so we are experimenting with how we can offer rewards just for simply playing, while also having those rewards have real-world value. But it will take some trial and error to get it exactly right, and it will never be exactly the same, or as easy, as traditional "free-to-play" games. Maximizing your rewards will require some purchases and commitment to building for the long-term.
We should also note that, if you do you want to grow your collection, now is a great time to do it since you can get Untamed packs and potions at a 30%+ discount by buying DEC on the markets at low prices and redeeming them in the game at the rate of $0.001 / DEC. You can buy DEC with STEEM on Steem Engine or with TRX on Tron Trade, or with other cryptocurrencies by using the "Buy DEC" feature at the top of the Splinterlands game website.
Please note that this opportunity is simply due to the fact that people are listing DEC tokens for sale on the markets at lower than the rate for which they are accepted in the game. It is not any type of special promotion run by Splinterlands and is completely subject to the availability and pricing of DEC tokens on the external markets which is out of our control.
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