Reward System Changes
The majority of the changes and updates we have been making recently are focused around getting things ready for what we hope to be a large influx of new users over the next 6 - 12 months as we start to pick up and refine our marketing and promotion efforts.
One particular area that will also need some adjustments is the quest and season rewards. The current reward card system has worked well for the past year or so, but it doesn't scale up with the growth of the game. The reward cards are hitting their print limit faster and faster as more players are coming on board, and we don't have much flexibility to introduce new types of rewards in the current system.
Our goal is to always grow the value of the rewards that are available for players in the game, but it's very important that it's done in a sustainable way. If we give out too many rewards as compared to the amount of value coming into the ecosystem, then it will just dilute everything rather than adding new value (similar to central banks printing more money from nothing, for example).
We have a number of ideas about how to sustainably increase the amount and value of rewards given to players, and these changes are geared around supporting them.
Loot Chests
We are planning to change the quest and season rewards to take the form of "loot chests" that will contain reward cards in addition to other things such as DEC and potions. The exact contents of the chests will be randomly determined, and the higher your league, the higher level chest you will receive with proportionally more rewards inside. It's important to note that we are not getting rid of the reward card system, and we still plan to introduce new reward cards from time to time (more on that below).
The purpose of this change is to give us more flexibility around the rate at which the reward cards get released in addition to being able to give out different sorts of things as rewards. We will be starting out with adding DEC and potions to the quest and season loot chests, but we have lots of ideas for other types of things to add as additional rewards in the future - with a focus on things that help players grow the value of their accounts while also being less susceptible to "farming".
While the actual contents of each loot chest will be randomly determined (based on unpredictable blockchain data, as always), the average total value of the items should be very similar to the average value of the reward cards you would have received previously.
For example, if you have achieved the rank of Diamond III in a season then you would previously receive 40 reward cards as your season reward. After this change goes into effect you will receive a level 10 loot chest instead which will have a random number of reward cards that is less than or equal to 40. Any fewer cards than 40 will be replaced by DECs or potions of similar value, and potentially other items in the future.
This change is scheduled to go into effect on Tuesday, February 4th, at around 9 am - 12 pm EST.
Sponsorships
One way that we're particularly excited about to bring more real value into the ecosystem and increase the value of player rewards is through sponsorships.
As you may remember from this post, we have recently partnered with the Blockchain Founders Fund to help us grow and promote the game, and one of the first initiatives they are working on is bringing in sponsorships not only for tournaments, but also for things such as quest and season rewards.
We plan to put the vast majority of any sponsorship money we receive directly into increased prizes and rewards for the players. We want to create a cycle where increased prizes brings in more players, which in turn brings in more sponsors, which further increases prizes, and so on.
We are very excited to have such a professional and experienced team working on this, and we hope that over time we can build up a steady stream of sponsorships so that we can steadily increase the tournament, quest, and season prizes for all players. These changes to the reward system will also help us to achieve that goal as, once again, we can be a lot more flexible on the types of rewards we give out to fit the needs of potential sponsors.
Reward Cards
All new Reward Edition cards released from now on will have the Untamed card frames and have the same leveling and burn rates as the rest of the Untamed cards. They will still be part of the Reward Edition and show under that edition filter and the print limits for each rarity will remain the same as well.
We are working on adding 6 new Reward Edition cards to replace some of the ones that are nearing their print limit, and will announce the details in the near future as soon as they are ready, so please stay tuned for that!
Understanding Splinterlands Rewards
We understand that the in-game rewards are very important to our players, and we don't take changes to them lightly. We also understand and expect that some players might be upset about the changes as well. Our goal, like we said above, is to build for long-term, sustainable growth of the game and the value of the cards.
While there is nothing wrong with farming and selling rewards - in fact, one of the great things about the game is that you are able to do that - the goal is always to try to incentivize players to grow their collections for the long term.
We also know that some of you are concerned that it's too hard for new players to progress without making purchases. We understand that concern too, and we want to address it as much as we can, but it's also important to understand that purchasing is necessary in a game where all of the assets are transferrable and have real value.
Splinterlands cannot be compared to traditional games like Clash Royale or Hearthstone when it comes to rewards. Those games can give out whatever they want as much as they want because none of it has any value. It can never be transferred or sold, so there's no dilution or risk to giving out too much.
Splinterlands is much more like Magic the Gathering or other physical card games in this respect. We've never heard about anyone getting free cards in a game like that for completing daily quests or season rewards. Those cards have to be purchased, and for your purchase you receive real collectibles with real value that you can re-sell later, potentially even for a profit.
With Splinterlands, we are trying to combine the best of both of those types of games - which is something that has never been done before - so we are experimenting with how we can offer rewards just for simply playing, while also having those rewards have real-world value. But it will take some trial and error to get it exactly right, and it will never be exactly the same, or as easy, as traditional "free-to-play" games. Maximizing your rewards will require some purchases and commitment to building for the long-term.
Get Packs & Potions at 30+% Off!
We should also note that, if you do you want to grow your collection, now is a great time to do it since you can get Untamed packs and potions at a 30%+ discount by buying DEC on the markets at low prices and redeeming them in the game at the rate of $0.001 / DEC. You can buy DEC with STEEM on Steem Engine or with TRX on Tron Trade, or with other cryptocurrencies by using the "Buy DEC" feature at the top of the Splinterlands game website.
Please note that this opportunity is simply due to the fact that people are listing DEC tokens for sale on the markets at lower than the rate for which they are accepted in the game. It is not any type of special promotion run by Splinterlands and is completely subject to the availability and pricing of DEC tokens on the external markets which is out of our control.
Stay tuned for more updates from the Splinterlands!
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I actually really like this idea. I can win some DEC value and go buy cards I want rather than hope that they get dropped. At the same time, the lottery aspect for reward cards is still there.
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Loot crates seems like a good idea (if we still could possibly get GFL)
And I think it's important that reward cards stand longer, because currently it just makes it so too many new cards are flying into the game right after another
Looking forward to those changes. It will be interesting to see how they will play out in practice. One thing I find a bit concerning is that you put even more sell pressure on DEC with this.
It should actually do the opposite. The majority of the DEC available on the markets comes from burning reward cards. Now there will be fewer reward cards, and while some are replaced by DEC directly, others will be replaced by potions and other things in the future. So we expect the overall amount of DEC available for sale to decrease as a result of this change.
Love the future potential here.....
ooooh mixing it up, lets see how this one goes down. The card rewards were starting to get a bit stale so a mix is going to make it more interesting
Will potions still apply to reward cards in loot boxes? What will the Quest Potion do?
Good question. They could even start to phase out quest potions if they wanted. Or make them apply somehow.
Gold and Legendary Potions will still work for reward cards in loot chests and the Quest Potion will not change - it will still give 5 extra Reward cards in your Quest Chest.
Nice!
I'm looking forward to all the changes :)
Looks like all reasonable changes to me. As someone else noted, I do wonder what some of these changes mean for the price of DEC. I'm not convinced it will take sell pressure away but I guess we'll find out soon enough.
I always had the fear of inflation with the growing number of the Reward cards. But I'm happy that I was not alone,and that you are looking into the topic as well. Me happy!
All look pretty understandable changes,and seem a good way to address the concerns you've mentioned. Looking forward to see those chests!
Loot chests are an interesting idea. Will have to wait and see how it affects players before I can have an opinion.
I absolutely hate this idea. Especially in a world where legislation are seriously considering putting laws against loot boxes. Just be upfront about it instead of having it be hidden and random.
You're in Gold II you get 10 cards and a potion and 500 DEC. There's already plenty of randomness within drawing cards without adding another layer of randomness to it.
I agree that the reward card system right now is just way too generous and cards are being printed and given out at a furious pace. It feels like yesterday when the new reward cards that include the furious chicken were released and they are already 50% out by now with the limited player base.
There are plenty of things that can be done to fix this. The way I look at it, reward cards should mostly help starting players to get a bigger collection without them having to spend all that much. Since the game gives a natural drive to 'pay-to-win' / 'pay-to-earn' getting that initial hook for new players is probably the most important.
Make the season longer and more difficult to actually climb up to higher levels. I wouldn't mind seeing a 1 month 1 season cycle which instantly would halve the pace the reward cards are given out from season rewards.
Make new reward cards require a lot more cards to level up to higher levels. (even more than the untamed cards) Low levels should not require all that many cards as it benefits new players, getting them at higher levels should always require those that want them to buy them on the market. Right now I already managed to grind out Level 6 level on many of the newest neutral cards that just came out.
Give out less reward cards for each league. If right now 1 card less would be given in Gold, 2 less in Diamond. Nobody would actually bother so much while it would make a difference in the rate they go out.
Another idea I had is to somehow slotify the daily quest rewards instead of getting them from opening quests. I'm sure that would make it possible to give out less while at the same time make it a more enjoyable experience. A function to play those slots with DEC or STEEM can also be implemented.
Anyway, nice to see the team has a long term vision and doesn't shy away from making short term unpopular decisions. The key will be to balance everything and get te rewards down one bit at a time to make them more sustainable.
Keep up the great stuff !
Whoa, slots, DEC, for monster cards... That would be unreal. Having some randomness of rewards is also an interesting concept. Winnings can be varied day to day, maybe you get really lucky, maybe you get "stuck" one day. People seem to enjoy upside without the downside though, so that might be difficult.
I love what the team has proposed, and I hope they consider some of these very well thought out ideas! I particularly like a longer season idea! I want to play, but I'm only human :joy:
I'd like to a see a streamlined option for corporate sponsors.
A big button on the site. Upload your blurb and background image; swipe your credit card, and the site 'buys' 575 packs, and puts them up for grabs in a tournament.
No requirement to have/pay $2 worth of DEC, not even a requirement to have a steem account.
Loot chest sounds intresting lets see the reaction of community...
like the changes that are coming up. Can't want to try them out once implemented. Thanks!
I personally like the "loot chest" idea, let's bring it on to the SM community :)
Hi!
This post was transalted into Russian for the community and sharing.
STEEM
https://steempeak.com/splinterlands-ru/@splinterlands-ru/novosti-splinterlands-anons-izmenenii-nagrazhdeniya
GOLOS blockchain
https://golos.id/steemmonsters/@id-splinterlands/ru-novosti-splinterlands-anons-izmeneniij-nagrad
twitter
https://twitter.com/Splinterlandsru/status/1222368005641904128
with some additional data tables and the improved in context preview image
Hope you like it & support!)
I think the changes are considerate as the sustainability of the game is highly important.
A lot of things depends though of how members react to the changes and if it'll fall in line with your predictions.
The important thing is that you're monitoring and evolving the game for long term existence as a lot of players money in been invested and it will be great to know their investment has both current and future gains. Thanks.
The new rules are actually helping me win finally and get over the bots that rule the lower levels, sometimes. I used to struggle but the new features help me to select easily. Thanks to the brains behind these new features. ♥ ♥
I think it is a very good decision.
I like all of these changes a lot. I hope that we see some cool sponsorships. Thanks for the work guys.
I can't wait for loot chests! Sounds fun to me!
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Yep its much needed, I can't earn rewards and level them up anywhere near fast enough before they reach their limit and new ones come out atm and I think my account is at the size where I should be able to max out most reward cards.
Since the player base has grown, and will hopefully continue to do so, maybe raising the rewards card limit a little as well would help make it more affordable for all players, current and who haven't started playing yet, to get a max level rewards set. To me it seems like there is a bit of a shortage anyway.
I hope it's a big image of a treasure chest that we have to click on. I have my kiddo opening my reward cards, and he sure would be excited to open treasures. Not sure how I'm going to explain potions and DEC to him as the prize. Right now he loves to hover over the cards looking for the "gold aura - shaky shaky" card. Purple is next best thing. :)
I get my six year old son to open my cards every time if he's nearby. He loves it. Knows most of the names of the cards. Gets excited when there's a gold foil. I'm hoping these loot boxes are just as fun to open. The current experience opening packs and orbs is encouraging. They did a great job on that.
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Excellent work and as I have said several times-we have a rare mix of economics and gameplay that are exceedingly well managed in the present with always an eye on future sustainability. One thing I think would be interesting is sponsoring certain youtube content creators with a blurb-a referral link of that content creator, and them plugging a brief 10-15 second screenshot of that creator participating in the game and earning something. Just a thought, I have heard talk of something like this before, and convincing someone to sponsor their youtube channel probably isn't a very tough sell, lol. Keep up the great work, I am very excited to what can come in 2020... Hopefully it is the year of the monster :)
You guys are doing an outstanding job! Thank you for the update on behalf of the Spirit Animals Guild!
A change was needed for good reasons! Look forward to it :)
This is great news and lots of thought always goes into these types of decisions.
Interesting....
So long as a rank 1 chest has a (if even slim) chance at something nice I think this could go a long way. However, if a Rank 1 chest is gated to never produce a value above "x" amount.... while a Rank 10 will "always" have something high value I can see that driving away a LOT of new players.
That being said, I can see how the changes ARE needed. I was watching the recently released reward cards. They were run out of print pretty quick. And I found myself thinking that a potion or some DEC as a reward option at the end of a daily quest, instead of a card now and then, would be neat. ..well low and behold y'all were thinking that too. heh
Sucks, but understood. People were FARMING!!!
I like the idea of loot chests and other items in them besides the reward cards.
Kudos for the disclaimer about the discount when investing with DEC. This caused some confusion in the previous release.
Splinterlands is still the best game on any blockchain!
I understand the need for this change and I like the way you decided to handle it. This new loot box system actually allows a player to grow the diversity of their collection a lot better:
Before the change I can earn reward cards and if I'm in the top 50 players I could also score some packs. That's it.
After the change I will still get some reward cards but I'll also get DEC which I can use to buy any edition card on the market (or packs, or orbs, or whatever else I want to do with my DEC). I'll also get potions. Some potions result in extra reward cards but some also will get you Untamed packs and Orbs, not to mention a chance of getting the special edition mystery reward drop cards.
Seems a lot more fun way to give out daily and season rewards than just a load of reward cards. I welcome this change. Also happy about the increasing sponsorship opportunities. Sounds like we might see some Steem Engine tokens and other interesting goodies in our loot boxes in the future.
I love the idea of bringing loot chests in the game, I think that makes it way more fun to open your rewards, especially because you would get other stuff than cards as well. Can't wait for loot chests to be added :D
excelent interesant
This update will help everyone build their cards and play the game more efficiently and have fun while playing.
it will be more fun if we get a small chance to win more than our ranking.
ex . 10 people from all 5000 will win double rewards or more and can be everyoane from first to last place
Bummers