2022 is turning out to be a HUGE year for Splinterlands. So much has been changing and there is much more to come!
So far we've had:
- The new Chaos Legion release which not only shook up the meta of the game but allowed new players to invest in the game without paying the high price of previous out of print cards.
- Measures put in place to prevent botting without an investment into the game (no more rewards for using un-owned/rented starter cards)
- SPS Validator Node License Sale
And for the rest of the year, we still have:
- New Reward cards
- New Ranked Rewards System
- Land updates
- Rift Watchers release (mini pack release)
- Wild & Modern leagues
So what does this mean for the game? Are we headed to the moon or are we bound to crash and burn?
No one knows for sure but in my opinion, the team is doing everything right to grow the game and I think you'll want to be along for the ride.
Chaos Pack Release & Status
Chaos Packs were in "pre-sale" in December 2021 and opened their general sale in January 2022. Within a few days, packs sales reached 6 million (40% of the 15 million available)!
That is incredible when you compare it to the previous large release, Untamed.
| Edition | Cost/pack | Packs Available | Packs Sold | Sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Untamed | $2 | 1.5 million | 1.5 million | $3 million |
| Chaos Legion | $4 | 15 million | 8.5 million | $34 million |
Untamed packs began selling in November 2019 and didn't sell out until June 2021, about 18 months later. At the moment this post is being written, we have already surpassed 10x sales of Chaos Legion packs vs Untamed packs in 6 months! That is incredible and shows how much the game has grown.
I know there are people who are upset that we haven't sold out yet and are asking "wen moon" but if you enjoy playing the game and believe in the team like I do, this is exactly what you want to see from the game.
But think about this, if packs immediately sold out or sold out quickly, would you have had a chance to accumulate the cards you needed in order to have fun in the game? I'm loving how this is going because I can take my time to strategically buy cards that can be both good investments and good cards in general.
I don't know how much longer we can expect the packs to be for sale but once we start to get stats on the new Legendary summoners, I imagine pack sales will begin to climb again as the new "value" of each pack is increased.
Anti-Botting Measures
This is a bit of a misnomer because the Splinterlands team has made it clear that they are not inherently AGAINST bots, but they do not want the bots to have an unfair advantage against a human player.
I respect that opinion because in this decentralized space, we should be free to play the game as we wish. For some of us, that means playing as much as possible. For others, it could mean playing a few minutes throughout the day or having bots play for you. Regardless, what makes Splinterlands great is the ability to participate in the game at your own speed and as involved as you want to be.
What was NOT great, however, is the ability for bot farms to buy a $10 spellbook and a few dollars worth of cards that allowed them to earn DEC and chest rewards. What we ended up with was a minimal investment account that was then used to "farm" down the rewards pool, effectively reducing the amount of DEC earned per win for the rest of us.
Again, the team did an amazing job by implementing "anti-(free)-botting" measures which now requires you to either own or rent the cards that you use in order to gain any rewards. That does not mean you can no longer use the "free" starter cards, you will simply be docked a percentage based on how many you use.
Now, in order to participate in the rewards, any one playing needs to actually invest in the game and contribute to the economy. This change was only in place for a day and I have already seen about a 2.5x increase in the DEC earned from ranked battles. Not only that, my investment in summoners and other various starter cards has greatly increased with the buying pressure from everyone who relied heavily on those cards.
Take a look at Unicorn Mustang, for example. This is a heavily used starter card which has greatly increased in value since it was announced that using cards that you do not own/rent will no longer give you rewards. It has roughly doubled in value which has been common with a lot of the other heavily used starter cards.
New Ranked Rewards System
This is going to be a complete game changer for Splinterlands. With the new system, we are no longer limited by how much we can play the game.
Instead of completing a 3-5 battle daily quest, we will now be earning "Reward Shares (Rshares)" through your Daily Focus (similar to Daily Quest) which counts towards your Daily and End of Season Chests. Basically, the more Rshares you earn, the more chests you can earn.
Additionally, the chest values are massively changing which gives even more incentives for players to push and reach for higher leagues.
As you can see, chests now have a Token multiplier attached to them which will multiply the amount of DEC that you would receive if it was a chest from today (before the update). And if you haven't noticed, no more Credits in Bronze chests! This will be a huge relief lower capital players since Bronze can really be a grind.
Another change will be the Gold/Rarity boosts. As you move up in leagues, not only do you get more DEC in chests, you also have higher chances of getting Legendary and Gold cards. This gives a massive boost to Legendary and Gold drops.
So Why am I Bullish?
Splinterlands has been around since 2018 and has not only survived, but is actively growing. Play2Earn gaming is still very young and the market cap of the Splinterlands has a lot of room for growth.
Take Axie Infinity, for example. The coin itself has a market cap of $1.2B.
SPS is only at $75M, DEC is around $3M, and Cards are about $135M for a total of $213M. I know I'm missing some assets in there such as land, unopened card packs, etc but it still shows just how "young" the game is.
Now, on the other hand, Splinterlands can be a complex game that doesn't exactly hold your hand when you get started. This can make it difficult to attract and retain a large number of users. For a lot of us, we enjoy the complexity because it gives the game some depth but for a lot of "casual" players, it may be a bit too much to handle. I'm confident that the team will make it more beginner friendly as they have shown their ability to do what's best to grow the game.
They could have easily "burned" tokens and cards to limit the supply and boost the price of their assets without adding value in order but instead, the team is making meaningful changes to improve the gaming experience.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I'm extremely bullish on the Splinterlands economy but most importantly, I am enjoying playing the game. It's a great mix if strategy, cards collecting, and trading that really sets it apart from the rest.
Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed my take on Splinterlands!
Referral link : https://splinterlands.com?ref=atbui89