Not (Yet) Leaving
Even though I totally lost the belief that things will change for Splinterlands and it will ever really go anywhere (maybe aside from some temporary hype), I'm not leaving or selling at this moment. Prices are simply too low and I don't believe the game will completely go offline anytime soon. However, I pretty much completely stopped playing ranked as there is no point to do so while running Archmage. I still play the Brawls and will continue to make content and even strive to reach 300k Staked SPS. There is just no way that I will ever buy packs, promo cards, or anything else that is put for sale as it is a near sure thing that those will turn completely worthless and useless over time.
These are Fundamental Issues I Have with Splinterlands right now which don't look like they are getting fixed ever...
1. Crazy Required Time Investment!
The problem with this crazy time investment requirement is that it narrows down the potential user base immensely. It also makes the game less fun and feels like work because you have to play not to miss out instead of being able to pick up the game for the fun of it at times you actually can and want to play. Almost nobody has time for any of this even if it would all be super fun and reasonably profitable. The reality is that there probably are a couple hundred players like this in the ecosystem like this. 95% of Splinterlands activity now is just bots playing bots.
This is also an issue that has never been addressed for as far as I know. It's unrealistic to expect a user growth if each new users is required to play Splinterlands almost 'full time'
Solution: Splinterlands needs a game mode that is fun and where players can come in to play the game at times that they want without any obligations or without missing out on returns on their investment.
2. Untapped Gameplay Potential!
Honestly, I think Splinterlands actually has the potential to be an extremely fun game with excellent addictive gameplay. However, this is left totally untapped because the game design always had the economy in mind which came at the cost of fun.
- Splinterlands is the most Pay2Win Game ever and many of the outcomes of the matches come down to which player has more, better, more expensive, or higher level cards. There are just not that many matches where you really feel that you fairly outplayed your opponent or where you got outplayed.
- Game Rules for each match are designed so each card one way or another has a use case and many cards are designed to be overpowered based on certain game rules. This also leaves very little room for experimentation as your are forced to play according to the game rules. I bough multiple cards (Like the Sthispa) just because I felt it was going to be fun to actually play with it. The reality though is that it's almost never possible to actually use it as there is a better strategy.
The game just doesn't allow players to have fun with the cards that they want to experiment with as it will always come at the cost of lower earnings.
- The Removal of League Caps in ranked also was a measure done to incentivize players to level up their cards but it created a situation where only max level cards are good enough since it's a matter of time before you just start facing opponents that are too strong. It's not realistic to demand that all players strive toward max level decks. The way it used to be is that only a handful of whales were able to reach that level which is what it should be.
- Tournaments are also completely stupid as they are line Poker Tournaments with an entry fee where some players get better odds compared to other players making it so that it's only attractive for the ones that are able to get the good odds (own all the cards)
There is just no way that tournaments ever going to get a bigger player base the way they work right now and I haven't entered one in a long time even though I have quite a big card collection. - ...
Solution: Splinterlands needs a game mode that maximizes the fun and the potential of the game where everyone is on a level playing field and where it isn't all about pay2win and needing to optimize the economy.
3. Guaranteed Asset Devaluation!
The way Splinterlads works right now is that after 2 years, all utility of cards is taken away as they are dumped into Wild format where it's better to just run a bot with the cheapest or free Soulbound cards. The idea that land will provide utility and value for older cards by now remains an empty promise.
Players are expected to buy packs paying 4$ a pack which most of the time will include 4 Commons and a rare which have a burn value of 0.04$ which it eventually will trend toward. The only case that can be made is for holding SPS since that needs to be burned by players who need DEC when it's trading above Peg.
There has been a complete disregard toward card owners as the solution for everything is always 'Let's Print More Cards'. This in a game where the main investment from all players are the cards and it's near impossible to out-earn the expected value decline. This is also another aspect that is completely ignored as it's always about 'getting DEC to peg' in the hope that enough SPS will get burned to increase the price and the rewards so cards get a bit more value again. The reality however is that players who buy packs will almost surely get crushed financially.
Solution: Splinterlands needs a game mode that gives proper use case again to older cards instead of just dumping them in wild or on land where cheaper options take all of their use case away since it's just bots playing each other there.
4. Dead Rental Market!
As someone who loves to hold assets to put to work, the potential of the rental market in Splinterlands always interested me. However, all their use case has been stripped away since the introduction of Wild Format not even to talk about the Tax to enter while renting has always been a massive hassle both as someone who is looking to rent or rent out cards.
The Set Rentals also doesn't solve this as few people actually have complete sets while the rewards these days are so low that the cost of renting even at cheap prices.
In the past there always was talk about how important the rental market was for the game but this now with the insane devaluation of cards feels completely dead with nothing on the horizon to change this.
Solution: Splinterlands needs a game mode with an entry fee and packs as rewards where players play on a level playing field and where part of the earnings go to those who 1-click delegate/lock cards that are used in this game mode.
5. Development Mistakes!
While I believe that making mistakes is part of the journey as it's not easy to run a crypto game. I also don't see clear malicious intentions, especially from @yabapmatt. The fact remains that an insane amount of obvious mistakes have been made over the years and I don't feel a lot has been learned from them.
Some of these on the top of my head are
- Ignoring the bot problem during the bull
- Removing Collection Power
- Copy-Pasting the economy model to other games (GLX / COLONY)
- Land & the Delays
- DEC-B
- Crazy Overprinting
- Expensive Price Setting
- Free Soulbound Summoners
- Focus on Economy over Gameplay
- .............
I also don't believe the 'new player experience' will be able to do much as there are just too many things fundamentally broken right now and there is just no selling point toward new players whatsoever. So I lost trust in the development direction of the game and feel the only way for things to (temporarily) work is if there would be another irrational bull market which pumps all prices and gets the sentiment up again creating a positive feedback loop before the eventual crash again.
6. Conclusion
As much as I have loved Splinterlands these past 6 years, it has come to the point where I lost the belief that it will actually tap into its potential and go somewhere. There are just too many fundamental flaws that aren't even on the radar anywhere. What the game in my view needs the most is a new fun game mode that actually gives and easy and fun entry point for new players to have fun with while it gives use case back to older cards. I won't leave Splinterlands just yet even though mentally I'm out at this point as I just have archmage running for me in Wild while I still submit my brawl battles and make some content which I still enjoy and which is rewarding. If the time comes when things pump again, I will start selling my assets and just stick with running the Max Level Soulbound cards on my account.
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