The future of the rental market

🔥 Hello, Splinterlands Friends and Family! 👋

For this week's Splinterlands Social Media Challenge!, I want to share some thoughts on the latest rental changes and how I believe they will shape the future of the game. 🧠📈

As many of you probably know by now, I'm both a renter and an owner. I run a fully owned account @javiss and a semi-rental account (@javiss01), so I have a unique perspective from both sides of the battlefield! ⚔️👀

On top of that, I rent out an almost full Rebellion set, which generates a bit of passive income. 💰 This gives me a pretty solid view from every angle when it comes to the rental ecosystem. 🏠🔄

🎯 Introduction:

🧾 Renting in Splinterlands

Renting has been a pivotal part of the game since I joined Splinterlands back in 2021. Even before the official rental market existed, players could rent through PeakMonsters, using a clunky and somewhat awkward system. 🛠️ While it wasn't perfect, it gave me the chance to try out the game and honestly, without it, I probably wouldn't be here today. 💙

When I first started, I had very little funding, and even less willingness to invest real money into a game I barely knew. Renting allowed me to pick up key cards like Zaku or Llama Mage for cheap and compete in Silver and Bronze leagues. 🥈🥉

Eventually, renting was integrated directly into the game, and everything became much more accessible. With just a few clicks, players could rent an entire team, and the rental market thrived for a while. 📈📦

As with everything in Splinterlands, things eventually shifted, particularly with the overprinting of Chaos Legion cards, which introduced a series of problems: some real, and some just perceived by the community. 🧠⚠️

I wanted to share this little story because I believe Renting is one of the features that truly sets Splinterlands apart from any other game out there. 🎮✨

🗳️ The DAO Vote: What's Changed?

A few weeks ago, a DAO vote passed to eliminate short-term rentals, allowing cards to only be rented for an entire season. This change was implemented about a week ago and came with several implications. ⚠️

First, it complicated things for players who were only renting for brawls or tournaments since that’s no longer possible. 😕
It also impacted players who used to rent cards just for a weekend, while on vacation, or during limited play windows. 🧳🕹️
Removing rental flexibility has clearly made things more difficult for casual players.

💥 The Original Problem:

So why was this change introduced in the first place?

While 2-day rentals were great for everyday users, they also enabled a specific kind of abuse. Players could rent cards for 2 days, burn through their energy, and then let the account sit idle for 2 days while the energy recharged, essentially gaining the benefit of 4 days of energy in a 2-day window. 😬⚡

This exploit gave those users an unfair advantage, and because of how the energy system works, it was nearly impossible to prevent without a structural change.

⚠️ Current and Future Problems:

Even though the exploit was real, removing it came with a price. In my guild — and others I know — some players have already decided to quit because of this update. 🧍‍♂️💔
These were mainly players who rented cards exclusively for brawls, but there were others who simply couldn’t afford the new upfront rental costs.

One major issue that emerged is a significant increase in rental prices. For example, Lux Vega, which used to rent for 40–50 DEC per day, now costs around 250 DEC! 😵💸

In my opinion, the main reason behind this spike is that the rental market hasn’t adjusted yet. Every time there's a major shift in rental mechanics, it takes time for both services and players to adapt. There are still many dormant accounts holding cards that haven’t been relisted or repriced. 📉⏳

While rental prices are slowly coming down, they still remain too high. Whether or not they’ll return to previous levels is anyone’s guess. 🎲
But personally, I’m optimistic, I think rental prices will stabilize again, and renting will continue to be a viable and fun way to enjoy the game. 🃏🏆

🤝 My Personal Point of View as a Renter: The `@javiss01` Account

As many of you already know, my @javiss01 account is primarily a rental-based account. While I own a few cards and have received some delegated cards from friends, the core of the account relies heavily on rentals. 🏗️

Unfortunately, the account took a big hit after the recent changes. Some key cards I used to rent affordably — like Kelya Frendul, Lux Vega, Igor Darkspear, and even Oshannus — are no longer available at reasonable prices. 😞

This made the account really difficult to use. In fact, today I decided to transfer my Lux Vega to the account, because honestly, without her and Kelya, the account is pretty much unusable. 🛑

At the moment, I still have some cheap rentals active, mainly because the contracts haven't expired yet. Funny enough, I'm currently paying 200 DEC/day, compared to the 400 DEC/day I used to spend. So technically, I'm paying less... but that’s only because many of the cards I need just aren't worth renting anymore at their current prices. 😐

Maybe rental prices will drop and I’ll be able to pick those cards up again or maybe I’ll lose the rest of the good deals I still have. 🤷

I'm not exactly sure how this will play out. That said, it’s not a huge deal for me since I had already planned to retire this account once Chaos Legion rotates out of Modern and that’s only a few months away. 🗓️
Worst case? My retirement plans for this account just happen a little earlier than expected. 💤

💼 My Personal Point of View as a Rentee: A Reb Collection

As mentioned in the introduction, I don’t just rent cards in, I also rent cards out. In fact, I’ve been renting out almost an entire Rebellion collection. While I still need to level up a few cards and fill in some key gaps, overall it’s a strong set. 🔥🃏

I was using PeakMonsters' automatic pricing adjustment, which honestly never worked perfectly. I often had to adjust prices manually, but somehow it worked well enough. Before the change, I was consistently earning close to 3,000 DEC/day. 💰

After the update, I had to relist my cards manually, since all previous listings were cleared. That’s actually important and in my opinion, a key reason why rental prices are currently inflated. Many users likely haven’t realized they need to relist their cards, which has caused a temporary scarcity in available rentals. 📉

As more players realize this and relist their cards, rental supply should increase, and prices should naturally come down. It’ll be a slow process, and some cards might never return to the market, but overall, we should see things normalize. 🧘

Right now, after investing a good amount of time managing my rentals again, I’m earning about 2,000 DEC/day, which is significantly less than before. But again, I believe this is just because the market is still adjusting, and prices haven’t stabilized yet. 📊

🔄 In short: Adaptation takes time for both renters and rentees.

Just for reference, the overall rental market volume was around $450/day before the change, and now it’s down to about $330/day. 📉
It’s a notable drop, but it’s also a useful metric to track, and I’m hopeful the numbers will rebound in the near future. 📈

😞 A Bit of Bad News: The Bid System on PeakMonsters Is Being Retired

To wrap things up, I wanted to talk about a feature that was vital for the life of any dedicated renter: the bidding system on PeakMonsters. 🎯

The bid system was an amazing tool that allowed players to automatically grab great rental deals — sometimes even at half the price — simply by placing bids on the cards they needed. It was efficient, smart, and super helpful for anyone trying to get the most value for their DEC. 💸

Unfortunately, as @asgarth confirmed, PeakMonsters will not support or implement a bidding system under the new season-only rental rules. 😔
The reason? It’s not profitable for them to maintain it in this new format. So for now, bidding is off the table, and all rentals will have to be done manually. 🧾⛔

This is definitely a blow for renters, especially those who relied on the system to rent cards in a more strategic and budget-friendly way. It was a tool that saved both money and time and we’ll surely feel its absence. 🐻💔

image by @javiss.gif

⚔️ Final Thoughts

This post wasn’t meant to be a guide or tutorial in any way, its just a space to share some honest thoughts about one of the latest DAO decisions and how it's already affecting the game.

While I personally believe this change might hurt the ecosystem in the short term, I also trust that it won't stay this rough forever. As with most changes in Splinterlands, things tend to settle after a while. 🌀 Players adapt, markets correct, and new opportunities emerge. That’s part of what makes the game dynamic and exciting.

✅ It’s true, removing flexibility from rentals does make things harder, especially for casual players, guilds, and brawl-focused accounts. Asset value takes a hit, and the entry barrier grows. But it’s not the end of the world. Either the community will evolve, or the system will eventually find balance.

From my own experience — both as a renter and rentee — I've seen how frustrating the immediate aftermath can be. Rental prices shot up, key cards became inaccessible, and systems like PeakMonsters bidding got left behind. But I’ve also seen the flip side: better SPS rewards in ranked battles 💎, and fewer abusers draining the system with energy-recharging exploits.

So yeah, it’s not all bad news. We’re just in a transition period, and while it's bumpy now, I still believe in the core strength of Splinterlands and its community. 💪🛡️

Thanks for reading my perspective, and I’d love to hear yours! 💬👇
Let me know how the rental changes have affected your game, and whether you’re adapting, pivoting, or just riding it out.

Until next time, fellow battlers… 🔥
Stay strong, stay sharp, and keep splinterfighting it!

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