The Goal of the Glints Shop
Since Splinterlands is a Play2Earn game, one of the main goals is obviously to get as many earnings as possible over time. Unfortunately, how things are going now, Splinterlands has become more of a card management game since you are pretty much forced as an older player to let a bot play for you in Wild. Earning the reward cards on itself doesn't really give monetary value and actually will come with a cost if you want to unlock and actually own them so the main benefit is that you will be able to continue using them as Soulbound cards in the future.
I see this as another mistake that will backlash later down the line unless something is changed since the most optimal thing to do is just to grind them, keep them soulbound and dump all your existing cards to the point where you just run a bot in Wild with those cards which is possible since the last set included Summoners. It's so obvious that playing with bought cards should be encouraged over just playing with Soulbound cards but this is completely neglected.
Changes on the Horizon ?
What Splinterlands in my view needs most is a new game mode which gives older cards more use case again and where everyone plays on a level playing field. While I kind of hope on this with the tease of Conclave Arcana and Hardcore Mode, I doubt it will actually happen.
Cards or Energy?
The main question when it comes down to the Glits Store is if you want to mainly earn Soulbound cards or Energy which basically equals SPS as being able to play extra ranked battles earns you more rewards.
My Strategy !
From what I have seen, Major Chests seem to be the most +EV to buy and Epic Cards are generally better value compared to the Legendary Cards. Based on the previous Soulbound Reward Set, I assume it won't be an issue for me to reach Max Level in Common & Rare Cards so I'm not spending any glints on those in the store.
This last season, I bought the 1st batch of the Minor Reward Chests and the first batch of the Major Reward Chests along with 16 Ultimate Chests. Aside from that I also got 15 Epic Draw Cards. Whenever I get a golden foil, I just burn it for Glints.
With just a couple hours to go before the end of the season, I'm at 206k Glints as Season End Loot
Previously, I never could keep my hands off it at the start of the season which resulted in earning some Energy which is part of the chests that got used while in a lower league with on average lower SPS Rewards. So that is something that I will change and I intend to now make sure my Energy is at 0 at the end of the season, skip the first few days of the new season to let it replenish. Put it at 45 Energy when I start the new season and near the middle when earnings start to increase a bit set it to 10 and start buying the chests.
Focus on Epic Cards
So far my focus on the epic cards has put me ahead of the curve there owning most already at Level 3 with the most important and fun one (Olivia Of The Brook) being at level 4 while the Redyr Dragon is lagging wat behind with only 1 owned card. I'm not sure if I accidentally burned those thinking they were golden or that it's crazy variance.
The Legendary Cards I'm lagging way behind on but I'm just opting to focus on those later not minding so much if I can't get them Maxed out.
Conclusion
I'm still enjoying the process of collecting cards and leveling them up in Splinterland while I rarely play the actual game anymore. Going purely for the Energy which can be converted into SPS would just bring in 0.25$ for 75k Glints which isn't worth it for me. Overall the glints store is quite fun but I'm quite sure it will cause future problems as there will be many players and bots who only will use Soulbound cards they earned to keep earning rewards as there is no real advantage to cards actually bought with money. |  |  |
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