We are well aware of all the current issues surrounding and this post is just to throw some ideas out there that I believe could be part of the solution to create a viable scenario in which all 3 can benefit.

Player Retention/ New Players

The Whales

The Interactive Map - What I think could be in it?

OPEN LEVEL LEAGUE - This League or the 'Legendary/God League' would be an open level arena. A place where Whales could duke it out with cards level 10 and higher. To encourage more card combining to continue to level up their cards. Imagine duking out with lvl 15 cards. This is the Arena reserved for the rich and famous and only accessible to those who can prove their might not with SPS staked but with the ranked up cards to prove it. Whales sitting on giant swaths of unused cards could combine them to make use of them in an open league placing much better deflationary pressure on future card releases and generation via land plots. Battling for prizes most of us can only dream of.

UNLIMITTED NFT EDITION CARDS - The open level league along with the interactive world would require the need for a series of unlimited cards, they could produce at land plots in order to have a pathway to the Legendary League. And a way for novice players to get their feet in the door in the lower leagues or for Wilderness/Boss battles at a budget cost on the open market. These cards would not be able to be burnt for DEC/SPS but instead for stat bonuses. As opposed to limited cards which should retain the ability for both.

CARD BURNS - We all want a way to create deflationary pressure on cards without completely making them extinct but to create a level of scarcity for previous editions without effecting the bots ability to play. What better way to do it than have a card burning system that allows temporary or permanent benefits to the players experience whether to speed up the production of a spell or weapon or to allow for better chances at retrieving a drop or to get across the map or to have temporary stat boosts. The rarer the card burnt, the higher the reward bonus in proportion. In addition burning cards could be seen as a way to generate future prize pools for Major Events or Tavern Duals or even go towards Boss drops in the wilderness. The down side to this is I know alot of people out there who do not wish to see this happen to this extent and I get it, I am just throwing out ideas that might benefit everyone including the little guys in the 3rd world who are hoping one day they can exchange their commons for a few loafs of bread. Ultimately we all want to see this game change lives that may have previously had little to no hope as it already has!

TAVERN - This is the place players can come to dual for a nominated fee, or a donated prize or another raffle/gambling mechanism in which Splinterlands can take a portion of the fee or prize to generate in game prize revenue.

TEMPORARY STATS & ABILITIES - One of the biggest ways to generate burning would be a mechanism to burn cards to gain temporary stat/ability buffs. The higher the burn in number or rarity, the bigger the buffs. This could come in the form of power to enter tournaments or fight Wilderness Bosses or Farming or Tavern Duals or other things like drop rates, potions or even access to otherwise locked areas of Splinterlands.

MEGA WILDERNESS BOSSES - Go alone or take your rag tag crew with you into the heart of Mount Mos to battle a level 20 Dragon Lord or to the forests surrounding the Elder Tree to fight Demi Gods, heroes and other ferocious monsters for drops the peasants dream of! Would that be something you could imagine? Using cards burns or paying fees or completing Quest objectives to unlock such battles. These boss battles could have a limited or repetitive purpose but could require much time to revisit without external input and the rewards and prize pools dictated by your levels and how many challengers failed before you went to challenge the Mythical Beasts and their Hordes.

ADDITIONAL PLAYING SLOTS - What about the option to temporarily play with 7 open card slots or even 8? Once again the sky is the limit with the right stat buffs or bonuses that can be minted or burnt for when engaging in this new world!

ACHIEVEMENTS/QUESTS - Complete journeys, unlock special cards, win 10 Tavern Duals, defeat 5 silver league mega bosses, burn 100 pelacor bandits over the course of your gaming experience to gain a gf pelacor bandit free and really the rest is left to your imagination in terms of achievements or quest.

BOUNTY HUNTERS - What about the option to find a specific monster, item? Got a grudge against another player? Put a bounty on them for everyone to seek out and destroy on the battlefield!

BUILD YOUR OWN LAIR - Rent or Buy a house within a plot to store your interactive goodies or celebrate your recent winnings with your guild buddies?

INTERACTIVE BATTLE MODE - An interactive map battle would need interactive battle cards. Maybe the option to carry the option for mid battle stat buffs. But more importantly as you place your cards into play the visual representation of your card moves to the field. Kind of like Yu-Gi-Oh.

All these additional options could be confirmed with a 2fa system to disable bot accounts from enjoying the more lucrative side. But the bots can still go about there battling amongst each other and any players battling for regular season rewards. But this is where the fun in botting ends as they would not be able to access the rest of the open world.

I think you guys get the picture. To create such a world would take a tremendous amount of coding and time and it may not be where people want to go but this is the only way I believe the evolution can go and stay in contact with the race for peoples attention. Could I be way off everyone else's sentiment? Absolutely, please be kind to me in the comments. But I do feel this is one such possible avenue in which the Whales win, Bots Win, New Players Win, Deflation Wins, Splinterlands Definitely Wins & Players stay engaged in all the interactive fun and hence Player Retention Achieved. If you've made it this far, I salute you and appreciate your time!