This report should have come a little sooner, but a busier than usual real life and some issues with internet made me postpone it a bit.
In fact, I am a bit out of touch with what has been going on for the past few days, as I only had internet through a metered tethered connection via mobile data, so I had to be careful what I used it for. Videos were out of question, as a couple of them would have filled up my quota pretty easily.
Even so, I played Splinterlands. With both accounts, the main one and the "no-investment" one. That shows the depth of my addiction, I suppose. :)
Now my regular fixed internet connection is back and I'll need to play some catch up.
But before then... let's see how was I doing with this grinding experiment.
Well, I can tell you one thing. Before I realized I should skip the Earth quests because Earth splinter is aweful in most cases for a brand new account without additional investments, I was in for some frustrating moments trying to finish the DQ. And I was unlucky too, I received Earth for DQ more than once.
Any other splinter is better than Earth at the beginning, but the best are probably Death and Fire, and shortly after, Water. I only played Water once for the DQ, so my experience isn't enough to form a clear opinion about it. A heavy magic water lineup has a good counter in Earth, but Water can be played differently too, even at these low levels. Also Life is pretty good as a DQ, but only if you play other splinters too for variety, otherwise it has good counters once players/bots figure out what you're playing.
At this level in Bronze III, I don't see any reason to play more than for the DQ. Maybe if this was my main account I could try some free tournaments or to join a guild (the latter isn't excluded, once this account grows a bit).
Now, how did I do?
I was lucky to still catch almost a week of DEC rewards for battles. That doesn't amount to much (4.817 DEC), but they bring me a valuable added benefit that I haven't accounted for: daily SPS airdrop.
Initially, I thought I will sell it for DEC and buy or rent cards when I can.
But I changed my mind, so I staked it. At some point, maybe I'll get some staking rewards too. Maybe in the future it'll help for staking on players etc. I know it's peanuts. But they add up if one is consistent.
Pooling these DEC with SPS would add a little more to the airdrop, but the increase is insignificant at these amounts.
On DQ rewards I was mostly unlucky and received potions, which I can't use for a VERY, VERY long time on this account. But I was also apparently very lucky once, and received 100 credits. Considering that I now have 131 credits, that's something!
On the seasonal rewards, more potions, 10 credits, but also ONE REWARD CARD: Gargoya Lion.
It doesn't even matter that is one of the weak ones. Anything is better than nothing. I put it out for rent, but that's one of the cards that don't rent out well (at level 1). Maybe at season ends? Anything helps, lol.
It only has a 5 DEC burn rate, which means I need a lot more until 1000 CP to go to Bronze II. Or cards with better burn rates from the (rental?) market.
The benefit is that it adds to the collection power, and thus to the airdrop points. And now I receive 0.002 SPS daily instead of 0.001 SPS previously.
This is truly a grind. But that's what I chose for this experiment and this account.
A player who would have this as a main account and enjoy Splinterlands, would most likely not resist not to put in even a little more funds to grow his/her account faster. Even if that little extra comes from another game. That usually happens with blockchain gamers - transfer of value from game to game.