#10 - Disappointed with the latest DEC Battle Rewards Update

I read the October update this morning and to be honest, I was quite disappointed with yet another update to the rewards for the lower leagues.

Have extracted the key points of the DEC Battle Rewards update here in case you haven't read it:

In this case, within the next few days we will be removing DEC rewards from ranked battles for players in Bronze III and Novice league, and changing the reward shares calculation which determines the portion of the reward pool allocated for each win to use the cube of the player's rating instead of the square as it was previously.

This means that in order to start earning DEC battle rewards (and in the near future SPS rewards) players will need to get enough rating and collection power in their account to at least get into Bronze II league, and that the rewards will be skewed more towards higher rated players in order to provide additional incentive to players to increase their rating.

Perhaps to set the record straight, I have currently played Splinterlands for close to a month and I am mainly in Bronze 3 League and aiming to progress up the leagues with time. So that's my player profile, in case people are thinking whether I am biased (or not).

So here are my thoughts why I think this is not a good move.

This penalises players in the lower leagues, particularly those in Bronze 3 League. Don't get me wrong, I fully agree that higher rated players should deserve higher rewards, but that does not mean players in Bronze 3 should get zero DEC. Can't they just set a lower cap of 0.1 or 0.2 DEC per battle win for Bronze 3 and this at least allows players to accumulate DEC at their own pace? Moreover, isn't there the Energy Capture Rate (ECR) that prevents unlimited gameplay?

This comes right after the change in chest rewards, which players in Bronze Leagues were already penalised substantially. Previously, the chest rewards were 33% Cards, 33% Potions, 33% DEC. However, they changed it just not long ago to 10% Cards, 45% Potions, 45% Credits for Bronze 3. So after being penalised for not being able to receive DEC from chests, now players in Bronze 3 can't even earn DEC from battles.

Well, some might say that players are still able to accumulate cards at a 10% chance but let me share with the statistics for my account before and after the change.

• Before the change: Out of 11 chests, I had 5 cards (45%), 3 potions (27%) and 3 chests with DEC (27%)
• After the change: Out of 24 chests so far, I only had 1 card (4%), 11 potions (46%) and 12 chests with credits (50%)

Could you see how bad this already is for existing Bronze 3 players? Well, at that time, I wasn't so disappointed because like I mentioned earlier, I do recognise that higher leagues deserve to have higher rewards, and if I couldn't earn DEC from chests, I could at least earn DEC through playing my battles well. But sadly, that's not going to be the case now.

And if the above is not disappointing enough, I think the worst part of this move is that it deters new players from joining. Even if this is a play-to-earn game, I believe most of us joined the game partly for fun and gaming with friends instead of trying to make a living out of this. I had thought the main selling point of this game was that one only needed USD 10 to buy the Spellbook and the fun begins (unlike some play-to-earn games - which I shall not name - where one needs hundreds of dollars to start). It is then up to the individuals to decide if they want to invest more money to derive more from this game. With the new move, new players probably need at least USD 50 (based on current market price) to buy the spellbook and get a card that is worth 1000 CP.

At the end of the day, if there are no (or lesser) new players, there will be no fresh demand and existing players will end up be playing among themselves. Is that good for the game? Is that good for the value of the cards held by existing players? I am not sure about that.

I know, some might say, USD 50 is STILL a reasonable amount for a play-to-earn game. Yes, but what is stopping the bots from creating accounts and buying/renting 1000 CP of cards to farm at Bronze 2? Going down this trend, will Bronze 2 players be targeted next? If the bot situation is not resolved, who knows, will we get another update to reduce chest rewards or void DEC rewards for Bronze 2 and players who have bought and rented cards to increase their CP then find themselves shortchanged again? That's a scary thought, knowing how the game rules can be amended just like that and within a short span of time.

For those in Silver Leagues or higher, I am not sure how they feel about this update especially when they are unaffected (for now). But if you are one of them, put yourself in the shoes of a new player (like how you were when you started this game), how would you feel when the rewards keep changing for the worse? Would you have made it this far to where you are today? Or perhaps, would you have moved on and played another game instead?

Finally, as for myself, I will still continue to play at my own pace, and will buy and rent cards if I feel there is a need to. But with the latest round of reward changes, making it two downgrades in rewards within a month (and perhaps more later on, who knows), I am not so optimistic about the long term future of this game.

Do you share the same sentiments? Or do you disagree with my perspectives (that's perfectly fine)? Feel free to share your thoughts or any pain points about the game in the comments too.

P.S. This post is purely to share my heartfelt thoughts about the changes as well as to provide some feedback from a player in the lower leagues. Just wanted to be clear that by no means am I trying to offend anyone.