First off, I'm not a coder and I assume everything just can be done with the proper mindset and motivation and I'm totally neglecting if something would be too hard or complicated to develop.
2 Key Questions!
Right now, I see 2 main questions that needs to be answered positively which are of key importance to save the game and the economy. These are:
- If you had zero Investments in the game, would you come in now either buying or renting assets as a player or an investor?
- Would you recommend other people to get into Splinterlands?
It's one thing to be invested in the game for years, understand all the dynamics, and not really be willing to dump assets after they have gone down so much which I believe the majority of players are in right now (Sunken Cost Fallacy). However, how many would actually get in the game if tomorrow they were in a spot where they had zero investment or exposure to Splinterlands. Despite having a massive knowledge advantage, there would be zero chance that I would touch it.
This also shows in the number of Spellbooks sold in the last 6 months, only 427. The "Planned Advertisement" combined with the "New Player Experience" in my view will be a major deception. The reasons I would not get in Splinterlands right now are pretty straightforward and count even more for new players.
The 10$ Spellbook Entry costs gets you nowhere aside from a hive account which is created and 3$ in credits. New players start with a crazy steep learning curve not only having to learn the game which has gotten way more complicated compared to the Untamed days, they also either need to rent or buy Cards & SPS while they will be up against existing players who own all the Soulbound and gladius card which they can't even buy. All they get in return is a tiny bit of SPS and some Soulbound rewards while very soon they will hit the Pay2Win Wall facing opponents who just have cards at way higher levels.
The only reason someone would do this is if they actually expected their assets to increase or at least keep their value over time or if the game is just crazy Fun. However, only Modern League is a real option and with very little research it will make them understand that their card assets eventually will trend to zero when they get dumped into Wild where they are near useless. On top of this, they are required to play at least an hour each and every day if they don't want to miss out on any rewards.
This entire setup is just absolutely stupid and will never ever work. The only reason the major adoption peak happened in the past was because players actually believed their assets would be worth way more later down the line while the instant returns were so high that 10$ was cheap enough for some players to create mass bott farms. Right now, Splinterlands entirely depends on another totally irrational bull market where literally everything pumps to the moon including SPS which is just unlikely to happen at this point.
As for the 2nd Question if you would recommend Splinterlands, I don't think anyone in their right mind would currently be even thinking of trying to get new players in.
Step-By-Step Solution!
There is so much that needs fixing and I'm quite sure the new player experience by no means will cut it. This is what I would do to Save the game and possibly solve the economy.
- Create a new Pay2Play Game Mode where players pay some DEC or Credits to enter which is Fun, Easy, and puts everyone on a level playing field.
- Give Packs as a reward making it an indirect way to purchase them, also possibly include Glints, some SPS or Cosmitic Items.
- Pay a share of the DEC that is paid to enter to those who provide the cards for this game mode by locking them on Land.
1 The only way I could see myself come in and play Splinterlands in case I had zero investment right now is if there was a fun game mode which allowed me to play at times that I actually want to play. This without the need to worry about having card investments or having SPS staked. Just simply pay an entry fee for each round or series of rounds you play which at the end based on results and some luck could potentially earn more than what I put in. All of this in a game where everyone is at a level playing field and where bots can't get a massive advantage.
Splinterlands is by far the most fun when you play with max-level cards against human players in a setup where things are not overly complicated or overwhelming. Some kind of Draft Mode (Like Arena in Hearthstone) would work perfectly. Both players who get a similar limited amount of cards to choose from which they can make a deck with anticipating what the other would do trying to outplay each other often with similar decks with slight variations that make for fun and exciting battles.
In order to combat bots or battle helpers, one thing that can be done is to do matchups based on overall win-rate so weaker players get matched with weaker player also allowing them to win. While bots get matched up against bots.
Something else a game mode like this could do is to make Splinterlands more Streamable/Shareable. Right now with Ranked mode, Tournaments or Brawls this is just not the case. If the game wants to succeed it needs something that people can watch and get excited about to try themselves.
2 A Game mode like this with an entry cost would not require new assets to be printed as rewards. Instead, it could act as an indirect way to sell existing packs that are on sale. Including Glints and or Soulbound rewards also would be nice for existing ranked players to speed up their progress while new players would start earning cards which might push them to also try ranked play and invest.
Something that can be done is to include an entry to this game mode in the Spellbook, offer a bonus 10+1 value for players who are willing to buy more entries or even some kind of loyalty benefits that ramp up with milestones to get players to play more of this game mode. Rewards should increase the further they go in a fun way and similar to chest openings there should be a "Jackpot Opportunity". Something else that could be done is to split packs up in shards so players have an incentive to keep playing of they already earned for example 7 out of 10 shards needed to get to next pack.
3 I would say this by far is the most important part of this setup. Right now, value of existing cards is indirectly stolen by new card set releases so the devs can keep their paycheck going. More fair would be that at least part of the money that comes in from new cards that are printed flows back to the ones that actually get diluted which are the card holders. The exact ratio how this would happen in a realistic was can be figured out. Right now there is land that produces totally useless assets in the game while there are way too many plots for the player base.
In the new game mode, only Max Level Cards should be used to make it most fun and the least complicated. Everyone should be able to provide the cards by simply locking them on Land (Either their own or from someone else giving ~10% or so of the earnings to that land owner). No crazy requirements in also needing to stake DEC or having to own power cores, totems, time crystals,... (all the ones who do play land the way it is designed now should also have their Max Level cards count for this revenue share)
All the entry fees should be added up either daily or weekly in DEC and part of that should be paid to those who provide their cards fully based on how rare and powerful the cards actually are. So a common Venari Heatsmith of which there are 1M+ copies should earn way less compared to for example the Byzantine Kitty of which there are only 1186 and which would be picked way more often.
Not every card needs to be crazy valuable in Splinterlands but it would be nice to at least have a good part of them potentially giving good returns to the point where the Card-Price-Gap between new and old cards becomes way smaller compared to what it is now. There are also enough cards in the game for this new game mode to exclusively run on the old cards and not include the ones that can be played in Modern. One of the things this would also do is make every card matter and allow every player to actually have fun with them. I would say at least 50%+ of all cards in the game serve almost no purpose whatsoever now as often there is simply a better alternative available. Many cards in the game just haven't been played for months.
I really believe that Splinterlands would be way more fun and accessible when there was a way to get players on a level playing field instead of the extreme Pay2Win game it is right now. Some ideas that could make this happen.
Players can also choose cards from their opponent collection: This would put every single match on a level playing field with both players able to choose from the same pool of cards. If a players wins a match with some cards that only their opponent owns, part of the earnings will actually go to the opponent. The one with more cards that way does have the experience and knowledge edge while they still win if they get beaten by an opponent who uses some of their cards. This allows new players to come in with limited investment but still be competitive and have more fun.
Tournament based on Cards Owned: Tournaments right now are ridiculous similar to how a Poker Tournament where some players who pay the same entry fee simply have better odds to get good cards. it only really makes sense to play when you own all the cards. If instead there would be a tournament game mode where each day a certain number of cards were selected and everyone who owned them would enter. This would encourage card ownership and put the tournaments on a level playing field.
What All Of This Should Do!
I really believe something like this is needed to save Splinterlands as the ranked modes making players choose between Modern where they are sure to lose money as the rewards never cover the card devaluation while being forced to play at least 1 hour each and every day. Or Wild where the only valid option is to Pay the 2000 DEC tax while running a bot which also takes part of the earnings leaving with little to no return on owned cards.
Conclusion!
It's really hard to see Splinterlands succeed in the current setup and the thing that is needed the most is a game mode that allows for new players to come in while also rewarding players who own older card assets to close the gap in price between the old and new cards. If Splinterlands had a fun Pay2play arena-style game mode where all players are on a level playing field which can be played at any time without obligations, I would come in and play it even if I had zero investments in the game. (Shoutout to @yabapmatt, @bulldog1205 , @aftersound)
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