Documenting my Splinterlands Knowledge - Wild Journey Part 3 and Glint Thoughts

Hello there.

The Glint changes are now live. Last week, I was very excited to see how the changes work. I finished last season in Wild Diamond with my mostly Bronze deck, and just 11k staked SPS. Without this change I should have gotten Diamond Season chests, and it will be difficult for me to get reward points for that. So I would probably be just getting 10 max at the end of the season. I was thinking that since Glint will replace the chests, this season should be ok. For the most part, I think Glint is both good and bad.

My case above with the Diamond Season chest which is too difficult for me to get is one of the good things that changed with Glint. With the card level changes, it is expected that some players will move to higher leagues even without the expected staked SPS for those chests. And it doesn't just end on the Season chest. Since I finished in Diamond and will start in Gold, I expect to get to Diamond early in the season [I am currently Diamond 3], so my Daily chest would also be Diamond in the old setup. I was getting a max of 2 Diamond chests last season in my dailies. So not having to deal with Diamond chests with low staked SPS is good.

Another good thing about the changes is the Season End Loot. Like I said above, I would probably have a lackluster EOS reward this season if it was still the old system, since I can't get a lot of Diamond chests. But with the Glint changes, it only looks at the Highest rating. Seeing how it changes when I win or lose, it seems to be the highest current rating once the season ends. So even though I have very low staked SPS [x3.55 in Diamond 3], I am not penalized for it with my EOS loot. As long as I do well in my battles, I'll get a good amount.

Going back to the daily rewards, to replace the daily chests, players now get Glint per win. The computation is supposedly similar to the FP/RP for chests. Staked SPS is taken into account, Guild bonus, then the cards used [no starter, GF, Alpha, Beta, Promo]; Focus bonuses are now gone. The SPS in daily chests have also been moved to the SPS awarded in battle wins. I noticed that I am getting a bit more SPS now. As for the Glint, I compared what I am getting in my battles in Wild, and I am getting almost the same amount as Silver 1 in Modern [I checked the top battles in silver and checked their Glint rewards]. I can't reach Modern Silver 1 with my deck, and I still find Wild Diamond easier or as hard as Modern Bronze 1/Silver 2. So this change makes my battles easier and fun, while also giving me the best rewards I can get.

Then there is the reward shop. In the ideal scenario, more choices should be better. There are titles, energy, merits, potions, and cards; with more possibly added in the future. The different price range for cards should cater to all players. The Initiate would mostly be for Bronze and newer players, while the Master will be for the Champ players. I have played for a few days already, and I still can't get a Master Draw, which is expected because my staked SPS and Glint rewards are low. Each Draw level has its own chance and number of possible cards. It uses potions to increase the chances of legendary and GF cards.

In an ideal scenario, getting the higher cost Draws should give better cards. My initial strategy was to save up my Glint and purchase 10 Master Draws. But then I came across a few Hive Peakd posts about players and their draws. One was lucky with their Initiate Draws, they got a few Rares and 1 Epic. Then I saw a post where they bought an Elite Draw, and just got 1 copy of a regular foil Imperial Knight.

That is where things turn bad, at least for me. I have seen some posts, with them getting 2 legendary cards in their Master Draw, or Epic in their Initiate. But with my abysmal luck, I'll probably get 10 common cards in my 10 Master Draws, and that's not worth the Glint cost. A big problem for me is that I have low potions. I used them even back in Bronze. I was starting to accumulate some when I moved to Wild Diamond, but then the change happened, so now I'm stuck with 20/19. The problem now is, I need to buy potions now. But at 77.6/97 Glint per potion, they are priced at a premium compared to just a throwaway in the previous system. They are equal to or more than what I get in 1 win, compared to like 10-20 pieces inside a Diamond chest. And when you think that 1 energy costs 1700 Glint, I probably won't be buying potions anytime soon.

I guess that is another issue that a lot of players have with this change. It feels like we are getting a big decrease in rewards compared to the previous system. In the old one, there is a chance of a lucky chest that contains large amounts of SPS in Diamond and Champ chests. That is no longer possible now. Modern players get more SPS in their wins, but Wild players don't get as much. The same goes with the potions. They are now worth/cost a lot more because of the changes. I know I won't be using any potions for anything other than Master Draws.

For me though, and possibly others who got stuck in Modern and switched to Wild, this change is better. With my current Season End Loot of 81k Glint, I can purchase 10 Elite Draws and 10 Master Draws, which is theoretically better than what I could have gotten with the previous system. These are all my impressions though, since I haven't tried any Draws yet. But for now, I'm still hopeful that this change could be good.

That is it for my first impressions of the recent changes. I'll probably give a follow up on this next week. Don't hesitate to let me know what you think, and if you have suggestions for improvement.

And as always, these are Not Financial Advice, and Do Your Own Research.

If you want to start playing Splinterlands, you can use my link:
Splinterlands Referral Link