Has Splinterlands Finally Nailed It? We Investigate

Hi everybody, Charles Mcgarnicle here. Just back in Europe this morning after doing an investigation around the Hive Blockchains loves for everything Venezuelan when my editor, who you would not like to cross, Hank Steele asked me to follow up on a lead that Splinterlands has finally gotten good lately. So he sent me , McGarnicle to investigate. "And try not to blow up any McGarnicle!!" Yes chief.

Since Splinterlands big announcement that they were leaving go a large portion of their labour force there has been an air of melancholy around the place. Chaos Legion didn't sell the 15 million that it had printed. The game wasn't great for newcomers as there were practically no rewards so they couldn't get a foothold in the game and gave up. The vast majority of Hive is below the breadline so unless there were motivations to buy a burger out of their battles then most of Hive was not interested. If you had arrived around Steem Monsters then you got lucky and benefitted more from the game than probably a years salary from your full time job but in the bear market having the same players play the game , they too will get tired on forking out for new card packs and new tower games so changes had to be made.
Even though Chaos Legion did not sell out. It actually sold 12 million packs which is a great achievement considering we are in a bear market. But too many people talk about the games financial mechanisms. They talk around DEC and SPS but do not focus on what Chaos Legion actually contributed to the game itself. Never mind the packs. The new abilities with the Chaos Legion are a gamechanger and now make the game more competitive. The value of how much gameplay that Chaos legion brought was priceless. The abilities are genius and the artwork was fantastic. The cost of Chaos Legion are not massive either and this is also bring down the price of every other card. Some Chaos Legion Cards are much better than the original Beta cards which is affecting the Beta price as well. So all in all the over supply of Chaos Legion is a good thing for the player. Maybe not for the investor but that's their problem. It is also providing a window for bringing new players in that can reach silver and gold tier without breaking the bank on Chaos cards.

The real gamechanger is the new Soulbound reward cards that are given as rewards to the people who actually play the game. Now there was always an argument that there wasn't enough rewards as a % of investment but these cards make players motivated to compete in battles and also to earn cards to build up their deck. The larger accounts who just buy 1000's of packs have to earn crust with these Soulbound cards as well. Take that fat cats! Yer gonna have to get the paws dirty on the streets like old times! There are even some good summoners in these rewards that let you unlock the power of your Gladius cards to let them take part in battles also. Let's face it nobody likes getting a potion or now even a merit as rewards. We wanna see cards. The level of excitement opening a pack is the same as opening a FIFA pack now. There are cards and lots of them. A large barrier to the game is leveling up your summoners which can be expensive. Getting these for free in a pack is great to see. Soon Little Mohammed from Katmandu that hasn't a pot to piss in because he sold it for a laptop will be up there competing with the best with sis maxed out Soulbound summoner. So overall the players who play win out and get better cards which will bring new players to the game. It is difficult to see how the bots get on with soulbound cards. Will it make them stronger. Not sure around the answer to this. I guess we will find out in time.

The team have fixed the starter card issue where bots were using these to win rewards. They also put a penalty on level 1 cards to encourage users to power up their cards which is good. And now rewards are earned in a number of different ways with focus points given gold foil , starter cards, win streaks making it harder on bots to compete which is good for the average Joe like McGarnicle who plays in Silver.

Lands seems to be on everybodies mind on the platform as alot of people have invested in a plot trace or a region. But the worry is that Land might mess the game mechanics up. We are in the whole "Lost Last Episode TV Series" moment with land. Remember we were all waiting for the last episode and there was so much unanswered with Lost the TV series. The only way the ending would have been better than anticipated was is if the whole cast appeared from behind your couch and did a little dance. In the end Lost was a disappointment. And I fear this will happen with Land. Tinkering with the game mechanics will be dangerous as the game is actually brilliant now. Adding spells and potions will add a layer of complicity that may not be needed. But many OG users went mad buying land and now they want it up and running and a return on their investment. This could end up being like a Cyberpunk debacle if Land is being brought up every day of the week. Splinterlands hierarchy know what they are doing so I think they should be trusted by now to do what is right for the game and if it takes another couple of years then so be it.

The games battle leagues will be phasing out Collection Power that a user holds to the amount of SPS that the user stakes which is another welcome move. This will be another gamechanger as there will be more of a demand for the games token SPS which is good. Now players can earn SPS in battles and brawls and they can use this to increase their tier level. Again another incentive for the lowly bronze player to play more.

If the original Splinterlands posse took a step back and realized the genius behind the game and what they have achieved so far. The game is mad complicated at the backend but quite easy for a new user to learn their craft with regards to battles. After around a week of playing , the beginner should know their way around the platform quite easily. Other play to earn games such as Gods Unchained are way more complicated. There are also so many card combinations now that it is hard to predict what the opposition will be using. The Llama and Yodin , Kitty summoner walkovers are no more as well with new kids on the block such as Conqueror Jacek and Grandmaster Rathe.

In summary while McGarnicle normally investigates the shenanigan's and the fraudsters that are tearing Hive apart. It is a good news story here at Splinterlands which gives me hope for Hive as a platform. A game that has brought thousands to the Hive ecosystem and have not asked for much in return. They get criticized by their own community not because they are doing a bad job but because there is so much potential here.
If you were with them from the beginning when Haunted Spirit and Flesh Golems was the bad boys to beat , you can really see how the game has expanded and got to a level bordering on genius. So this report should be one thats gets reported at the end with the dancing hippos and the dogs that can bark the national anthem in the key of A . This one is a good news story and by god do we need it. Maybe Splinterlands should be applying for the 10,000 HBD per day in the DHF proposals. Judging on the past performance it might benefit Hive alot more and it may mean McGarnicle will have to spend less time in Venezuela!.

Genesis League is soon going to be upon us so we will be welcoming more sports fans onto the platform. Another game from the Splinterlands team which is already well underway. This has the potential to be massive given the explosion of the MLS. Keep an eye out for this one. It could maybe leave Splinterlands in its shadows. Mistakes were probably made during the evolution of Splinterlands so this game get to the same level but in half the time and you know what that means. The future is bright!

Charles McGarnicle Signing off.