The Joy Of Learning A New Game!
If there is anything that I really enjoy, it's the process of learning and 'mastering' a new game. I've done this way back with Sports Betting which took years and continued adaptation to stay profitable. I had a blast learning to play poker spending countless hours on it and I also regularly have this with games as I'm still trying to get better at Balatro. Previously, I also had it playing Heathstone.
The factors that are needed for me to get going are that it needs to be cheap and easy to pick up (and hard to master), it needs to be instantly a ton of fun even if you don't really know what you are doing. And there needs to be a great community where you can have a feeling of belonging in or it needs to offer a way to earn something. Also, the only thing It makes me want to do is play all the time if I had the choice.
Splinterlands right now simply doesn't have this right now I would say but it at least had a good part it when I started playing back in 2018.
My Onboarding Exprience!
As I go back to the Steemit days, I held off from getting into Splinterlands (Steemmonsters at that time) because of multiple Reasons. First of all, the 10$ entry price even though you received all the core Beta Cards at level 1, including summoners like Arlic Stormbringer as actual owned cards was just too big of an ask. The Visuals at that time also looked way worse than what Splinterlands looks like right now.
What eventually made me get in was the fact that of all my friends from Steemit who were in our betting community, having fun with the game and constantly talking about it on the Discord, combined with the fact that I managed to get a free Spellbook code from @clove71. So a free entry and social buzz got me to the point where I tested out the game.
Splinterlands Onboarding Now: There is actually a way now to start playing for free with the Campaign Mode but it's just plain bad if you ask me and if I was given this as a game to try I would likely call it day pretty quickly. In case you do finish that, you have some Foundation cards to play with in Modern which are underpowered and again don't offer the instant fun gameplay to hook new players.
There is a Pay2Win catch as you soon will face players who have cards that are 10x better and can't be beaten without buying the 10$ spellbook. To be fair, right now it offers a deal that isn't as bad as it used to be as for 10$ you get a proper Hive Account, a 30-day battle reward Boost whatever that is, 3$ in credits and 5 Starter packs which otherwise go for 1$.
However, this 10$ Spellbook won't get you very far when it comes down to having the most fun possible with the game. I also would say that there is zero social buzz around the game right now for new players. All content pretty much goes toward existing players that already have big collections and SPS investments.
What Needs to Improve: The Campaign mode is a missed chance and probably would have been better the foundation cards were just from 1 new Splinter. From my experience it was extremely dull at the start just clicking some buttons and skipping through some text at the start while getting extremely confusing near the end where you have to know which of all the anchors has the needed card to beat the level. If anything, it needs to make players feel smart in a way and once done there needs to be a way for players to have the most fun experience possible in Splinterlands instead of the low level ranked mode grind. A Draft mode with some prizes with limited choices and a small entry fee where everyon plays on a level playing fiend and where you get matched up with simimar level players would be a massive win and it would also create great content that new players can relate to and try.
My Learning Exprience!
The good things back in the 2018 is that Splinterlands (Steemmonsters) had a fairly easy learing curve as there were only 150 cards (main set + promo + Reward Cards + Mini Set). You had 1 game mode with Ranked which had a daily challenge which when completed in 10 minutes of play-time and had rewards that included packs, owned Reward Cards, & DEC). The number of different abilities were limited and all of them were pretty straightforward and made sense. Packs went for 2$ in the store and Leagues were also separated, so it was possible to choose the be a silver player and be competitive. So learning the game along with my friends who also played was quite a fun experience which also was enhanced by actual earnings and the outlook for things to explode one day. There was no such thing as SPS, Vouchers, Land, Guilds, Licences, Proposals, Campaign, Soulkeep, Conflics, Survival Mode, different types of packs, gladius cards, bloodlines, ...
Life was pretty simple, and it was a good thing as it made everything fairly enjoyable to learn without having to put in too much brainpower, while the rewards were good. I remember learning the basic concepts of the game with the 3 different types of damage and where to place them and much later on I discovered that Speed also increased the chance of the opponent to miss. The idea of a new set was exciting, as after a while it all became a bit the same and there was a need for things to be shaken up a bit.
Splinterlands Learning Experience Now: Instead of 150 cards, right now this are 242 cards for new players if they only focus on Modern to learn about. This is already a massive increase and there is the possible confusion with Wild mode. There are way more abilities and they have gotten increasingly complicated which makes everything just extremely confusing and hard for new (and even extisting players)
Old Abilities
New Abilities
You now also need to buy or rent SPS if you cant to get most out of the rewards, Packs cost 4$ instead of 2$ while everyone can see that older cards in Wild didn't hold their value so you instantly know that your cards will become worth less instead of more. Rewards are nearly all soulbound now and instead of needing 10-15 minutes each day to get most out of the rewards, you now have to play 24 Matches which each easily take 3-5 minutes. All of this while Max Level which nobody can afford has become the standard norm since there are no longer any leagues and it's just a matter of time before you get pay2winned by players who have higher level cards. Tournaments make no sense unless you are a whale with all options availble. All the older players you are up against have soulbound cards and Gladius cards that you realistically are unable to get so they have a massive edge. All of this wile there is zero buzz around the game for new players.
All of this and the team is wondering why there are no new players coming into the game is pretty absurd to me.
Conclusion!
Splinterlands used to be fairly simple and very easy for new players to come into and learn what it is all about. However, with years of focus on making sure that the whales continue to spend money, the experience for new players has gotten overly complicated and not fun or rewarding enough while there is also zero social hype around the game for them. So unless something drastically is chanced t actually make the game the most fun possible for new players, I don't see another adoption wave happening. I'm kind of still playing the 'old splinterlands' now as a lot of the new stuff has me fatigued.
WHAT SPLINTERLANDS NEEDS IS A GAME MODE (LIKE DRAFT MODE) WHERE PLAYERS PAY A SMALL FEE TO ENTER AND WHERE THEY GET A FUN AND FAIR EXPERIENCE AT THE TIMES THEY WANT TO PLAY WITH SOME REWARDS BASED ON HOW WELL THEY PERFORMED. ALL PLAYED WITH LIMIED CARD CHOICES AND MAX LEVEL CARDS PROVIDED BY THOSE WHO OWN THEM WHO IN RETURN GET A PART OF THE ENTRY FEES.
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