Hey Folks!
I am an avid gamer who has played about everything from Shooters, over Mobas to Sprots games, Card games and about everything in between. 20 Years+ of gaming experience and I am still as addicted as I was as a child.
I did learn over time what makes a good and what makes a bad game design - and let me tell you, Splinterlands is nailing it right now.
I started because of the idea of a quick buck and am now hooked for the gameplay, the economy system and everything in between. The Gameplay is best compared to auto battles such as Dota Auto Chess / Dota Underlords , or the hearthstone itteration on it.
The fact that we are playing on chain and get rewarded for our time and attention - as opposed to having to PAY to give them our attention - makes perfect sense, yet seemed like an unthinkable concept for the last 20 years.
Starting in Splinterlands is ridicoulusly easy. You pay 10 bucks - much less than most games need you to pay - and get a fresh set of cards that you are allowed to use.
The main idea of the game becomes apparenty basically after the tutorial or 1 or 2 games in. I think it was catching from the start.
For all of you guys out there that are in a similar situation and came to Splinterlands a couple weeks ago and dont ahve the luxury of having shitloads of old cards for very cheap - you can still enjoy the game to its fullest. And just like an other game - THE GRIND IS THE FUN PART!! And Splinterland has it nailed down to make the Grind as rewarding as possible.
I did invest a rather big chunk of money into my main account - but I was so taken by storm from this game that I made two additional accounts to try entirely free to play (apart from the initial investment of the Spellbook). And damn are those accounts in the profit. Big.
My couple of tips for new players who dont want to invest a bunch of money (or no extra money at all):
- Play a couple rounds in Bronze and figure out the mechanics.
- Go to Splintercards and keep reading up on the Abilities on monsters on the go - they are the deciding factor of win and lose. You will know them all before you know it, but for the start its crucial to understand them asap.
- Get your ass out of Bronze as soon as you can - rewards here are significantly worse than in silver, especially in regards to daily chests.
3.1 Getting out of Bronze will be the hardest part for you due to the power restrictions. I wish I could tell you an easy way out, but the way it is right now DEC rewards in Bronze are insanely low. If you can scrap together a couple DEC by winning your matches get your hands on a couple of cards to significantly increase your winrate.
3.1.1 Examples for such cards are:- Goblin Mech
- Sand Worm
- Creeping Ooze
- If you dont want to invest any extra money you will have to grind a lot to get to an amount of DEC that lets you rent your way into silver. The power requirements are brutal, but it is possible and it is worth it. Again, I am doing it. If you rent your way to those ranks, RENT EARLY! And grind as high as possible as you can. Your main source of income in Silver are not your rewards, but your battle earnings.
- Focus on one or two colours. The further in you get in your journey and the higher you get into Silver the more you will encounter stronger / leveled decks. You wont be able to beat everyone, but if you focus on your favourite 1 or 2 colours (maybe avoid dragon, but the rest works well) you are most likely gonna crush the majority of matches which allow one of your two main colours.
Please realize - With just a very small extra investment of 5 or 10 bucks in addition you will EASILY be able to rent your way into silver and continiously play there - significantly outearning your rental costs. Try to hold as much DEC as you can, this results in SPS airdrops, which via hive engine you can then convert back to more DEC. The rewardcards you get alone will after a couple weeks easily make up every penny you invested.
Enjoy the ride guys. Its a grind. Thats what we gamers live for. Before you know it you will be looking at your collection and be amazed on what you have gathered.