Hello Splinterlands Summoners! Great news for new players. A new free to play Mode was rolled out and went live as announced on discord. A free to play mode has long been requested feature in Splinterlands. Together with a player versus environment (PvE) feature, this mode introduces a fun and engaging means to invite new players to the wonderful world of Splinterlands.
Welcome to the Frontier
The Frontier Mode is meant for beginner Splinterlands players to try the game. It's 100% free to play and rewards players with Foundation Set cards.
Players will start with the Campaign mode and learn the basics of battling and team formation. At the same time, they will earn their first set of cards call ed the Foundation set. These cards remind me of the Alpha/Beta set of cards because of the buffs granted by the archons are similar to that set. It seems like a return to the basics of Splinterlands before more powerful archons were introduced.
After players earn the Foundation set cards, they can then use those cards to play in the Frontier. In fact, only Foundation set cards can be used in Frontier. This ensures that new players will not encounter players with more powerful decks and ensures a level playing field where all players play with the same deck.
Playing the Frontier Mode
I jumped right in and played some battles in the Frontier. You can now find it among the choices of battle formats you want.
New players should know by now how to form proper teams to optimize their chances of winning not only against their opponent but the ruleset as well.
In this particular battle, I expected to encounter a magic team so I used the Death team using a tank with Void ability. My prediction was not exactly correct but I still won the battle.
The next battle had Super Sneak ruleset so I chose the Life splinter that grants armor to the team.
I played some more battles and after winning five battles, I was able to claim my first daily reward. Players can earn a maximum of three rewards per day.
I got my second BCX of Spitting Camel. I'm not sure if the rewards are random and if there's a chance of pulling higher rarity cards. I'll soon find out by playing more battles.
What's Next for the Frontier Mode
Phase 2 of the Frontier mode will introduce raffles. Players will earn entries by simply playing in the Frontier mode. Prizes will be drawn weekly and entries will go into the next weekly draw.
The raffle will be a fun way to encourage players to play more battles. The more battles they play, the more chances of winning in the weekly draw.
The raffle prizes are juicy. There are chances to win Black Foil and Arcane Variants of cards! These prizes alone entices even veteran players to play in the Frontier mode.
My Impressions of the Frontier Mode
The Frontier mode of play is a great way to onboard new players in Splinterlands. Together with the Campaign mode where players earn their first cards, the Frontier Mode is a fun way to ease new players into the world of Splinterlands. The Campaign mode teaches new players with the basics of battling and team formation in Splinterlands. After completing the Campaign and getting their first set of cards, they can use those cards to apply what they learned in the Frontier Mode. The good thing about Frontier Mode is that new players will not be overwhelmed and discouraged by strong competition or players with more powerful deck since the cards are limited to Foundation set only.
Splinterlands and Arcade Colony Games to Onboard New Hive Users
I was onboarded to the Hive Blockchain because of Splinterlands. With the new free to play mode, more new players will be enticed to play Splinterlands and be onboarded on Hive as well. Arcade Colony, a platform under the Splinterlands subsidiary Invennium is working on porting games to mobile. This is another way to invite gamers to discover the Hive blockchain.
With proper promotion, we can expect a surge of new users to discover Hive through Splinterlands and Arcade Colony and use it as a blogging site and social media platform as well.