My 1 Year Without Splinterlands, What Have I Come Back To...???

As the title suggest, I haven't touched Splinterlands, or looked at crypto, in over a year. I just came back with fresh eyes, and there's a lot to see, and not see! The last year has been a bit of a blur. Lots of downs, but the ups are coming back. After feeling a bit better about life things, I decided to check in on Splinterlands.

Although I had sold off almost all of my assets before leaving last year, I still had a pretty decent collection of guild cards, including my coveted level 3 GF Quora, and two level 1 reward summoners to be able to pull her into Wild and Modern battles (albeit at only level 1, for now, but still very useful). I also had a few hundred SPS staked, and some staked rewards that needed to be claimed from the last year, and so I claimed and restaked those tidbits. And to my surprise, but also not surprised, the good people in my guild, Team Possible Hackers, had not kicked me out of the guild for just disappearing. I hadn't really told anyone that I was leaving, so it was nice to see the comradery.

So let's talk about what changed, since I left. First, the prices of cards! WHOAAA!! Are we having a fire sale?! As much as I would like to see that as a good thing, being that I wanted to start a collection again, but the implications are that something is wrong with the game. Bitcoin was just recently at its all time high. Why aren't Splinterland prices as well?? Either way, I don't have a lot of capital to bring into the game at the moment, so I was happy to see that at least I could get a few things with the small amount of funds that I can throw in right now.

Next, I find out that Aggy is not CEO anymore. I don't have any particular feeling about that either way, being that I don't know what's happening behind the scenes, but I was wondering why that was the case? I know he's still working on other things on the back end, but it just seems like a large change either way. Hopefully whatever he's doing on the back end will add fun and value to the game and the ecosystem.

How about land? I see that land is usable now, but only to tend. No spells are available yet, so it seems land is just in it's playable placeholder stage. I'm hoping that is something that is being worked on as a priority, as the land update is very much late on when it was intended, and it's a feature that is very integral to the future of the game. Either way, I plan on picking up a few in the future, since prices are favorable.

Cards. It looks like there has been 1 release over the last year, Rebellion. Very interesting looking card set, although not a fan of where the rarity marker and Splinter faction symbols are located on these new designs, but not a huge deal. Interesting cards, fun new summoners, and a few decent promos going on. I have picked up a few of the Halving promos, mostly to get a small shot at the prizes being offered with the purchase points. It does seem that Wild-only cards have gone on a big discount as well, due to some recent changes on botting policies, or something of the sort. I don't know the full details, but either way, you bet I'm going to take advantage of it. I helped myself to some cheap or important GF cards, mostly aiming at Earth, Neutral, and Dragon splinters, to help bring my GF Quora into play. I later bought some of the cheaper cards from other Splinter factions as well, and some of the reasonably priced summoners to have a little variety.

The rewards system has also been changed over the last year. What used to be fun chests to open daily, has been turned into "Glint". Definitely a bit disappointing, but I do see the rewards are being retooled soon, and Yabapmatt is looking for suggestions from the community. Speaking of Yabapmatt, he's one of the reasons I believe there is hope for Splinterlands. I see the passion he has for this project, and I know that he's not motivated by money. Obviously money is needed to run the operation, but it's not the driving factor. I can tell he is a great person, and his intentions are positive and well thought out. I understand people might not always agree with his decisions, myself included at times, but I will always give the guy the benefit of the doubt that his decisions are based on things that we don't always see. As long as he is at the helm, I know that the game is being worked on and maintained.

Tower Defense? Never heard of it (j/k). I heard that the company that made the game bought it. I have never seen the game played, so I'm not missing much. I do think it was a bit of a side step to bring that into the mix when Splinterlands was/is still heavily into development. Even if another company was making it, resources had to be put into it that could have been better spent on Splinterlands. I'm not gonna lie, the premise was interesting, and it's nice to have the ecosystem grow, but when Splinterlands is still not finished with the promised features, I can see why people might get annoyed that energy is being put into something else.

To wrap this up, it's been interesting seeing everything that has, and hasn't, happened in the last year. I still enjoying playing Splinterlands, and I'm enjoying seeing all the new rules, powers, cards, etc. I have come back at a good time, to at least get cards cheaply that I can play. Whether we end up where we were a few years ago again, who knows? But in the meantime, I'll enjoy playing the game again, discovering new things, and joining brawls with my guild. There still doesn't seem to be a community like Splinterlands in any other blockchain game I've played, and that is very encouraging. I'm looking forward to the new "things", and I think I'll stick around for a while again. If you're on the fence about joining, worst you can do is throw a couple of bucks at it and check it out. I promise you'll at least be intrigued.

And to you, I hope things have been going well for you in the past year. Life is short. Spend it doing something you love to do!

Thanks for reading,

ChannelMagnetic