Reflections on the Conclave Arcana Playtest
With the Conclave Arcana presale around the corner, I wanted to take a moment to share some thoughts on the playtesting experience from our side of the table.
This process has been incredibly rewarding — not just in terms of raw fun and gameplay reps, but in the opportunity it gave us to take a more active role in shaping the set before release. There’s a real sense that player feedback helped move the needle here — and that, in itself, is a huge win for Splinterlands & Web3 gaming in general.
We’ve been testing for several weeks now, offering comments, breakdowns & balance suggestions across a wide range of cards, abilities & synergy patterns. And while not every piece of feedback needs to result in change, the simple fact that the door was open — that the design team was actively reading, responding & refining — speaks volumes. The set’s in a better spot today because of it.
We also walked away with a much better understanding of how CMT, Nate & the rest of the team approach iteration — what they prioritize, where they’re pushing boundaries & how they frame decisions internally. That kind of visibility doesn’t usually happen in game dev, & it made the whole thing feel collaborative in the best possible way.
I’ll be sharing some more formal thoughts in the coming weeks — especially around how we might improve the process on our end (both in terms of structure and documentation) — but the short version is this: it’s been a blast & we’d love to continue playing an early role in set development moving forward.
Very grateful we were able to help set what feels like a new precedent — not just for Splinterlands, but for what community-driven design in Web3 can look like.