Counter proposal. Elimination of time-sensitive pricing and delayed unlock periods by introducing quantity limits for unlocking of reward cards.

The proposed system by Matt to unlock soulbound cards is user unfriendly by putting you at the mercy of luck for months and then introduces a high degree of speculation into the equation. The above proposal, while eliminating the waiting game, still adds a lot of speculation. Should I unlock or not, if I know that in a couple weeks it will be much cheaper. If I don't sell until then I lose value. What about buying? Should I buy now or wait until it becomes cheaper by design. It turns the whole acquisition of a card into a game of chicken.

So how to make it better. I would suggests making unlocking possible immediately with the start of the print and keep the costs constant at lets say the 10x. Additionally, the number of cards which can be unlocked will be limited by unlock-limits, so the cards are not limited in print, but limited in tradeable copies.

Let’s take a run of the mill reward card, people draw it, they play with it or maybe against it and they decide individually whether this is a good card worth having or not. If from the beginning the maximum unlock-limit is clear, the maximum number of copies on the market will be determined from the start. In other words, everyone knows how many card will exist at some point.

Unlocking such a card is a clear proposition, do you value the card at 10x the burn value or not and are you prepared to put DEC behind your evaluation. If not, just keep it soulbound, if yes put in the DEC to unlock it. There is little speculation how many will be unlocked, as you can assume that unless the card is considered really bad it will eventually hit the unlock-limit. The only pressure to make the decision is determined by how quickly the card approaches the unlock-limit. There is no speculation or pressure to decide early, assuming the unlock-limits are not far too small for the playerbase.

To put out some numbers for the unlock-limits:
100000 for common, 8000 for gold
25000 for rare, 5000 for gold
10000 for epic, 2000 for gold
2500 for legendary, 800 for gold

This would be roughly what is needed to create about 200 max level cards. It might be a bit low, but don’t forget that there will be many soulbound versions out there. Feel free to suggest other numbers.

Suggested effects of this unlock-system:

• You get a reward card and the option to unlock it from the start. Being first may be advantageous, as someone who really wants the card might buy it no matter what, but you might also regret your decision as you discover the card is not as good as originally though. In the end, it is up to the player.

• A lot of speculation and uncertainty is removed from the decision as a player will know the current price of the card as well as how many can still be unlocked. If you believe in the value of the card, you can unlock it right away, there is little drawback to do it immediately.

• The decision is based on the perceived value of the card. You can unlock your card immediately and just use it yourself. You just put value in because you believe in the card’s value exceeding the 10x burn value, which runs contrary to Matts and the above system where when you unlock probably makes a huge difference.

• This likely leads to much more DEC being put into the reward cards, as it is no longer a question whether you want to sell it, but rather whether you want to participate in the card’s ownership. Granted card ownership is at the current moment not the most promising proposal, but being one of few owners of a tradeable version of a meta card is still not a bad thing.

• To unlock the cards you need to have them first, which could very well lead to higher energy consumption, after all, you could draw the card that is currently worth a lot on the market. More glint needed, more energy needed, more DEC burned.

Possible negative consequences and rebuttals to them:

• Whaling in is possible from the start, yes, but low initial supply will likely make it very expensive and a poor decision to just buy all the cards as soon as they are on the market.

• Players might feel like they are pressured to pay to get their reward. In reality, they get their reward the same as before, but they are presented with an option to get a share of the card’s market value.

• You could still not get the cards you want due to bad luck. Well, what else is new.

• Unlocks could be devalued by too many soulbound card’s printed until the set is done, but in the end soulbound cards go out of print and new and unlucky players alike have only the option of the market.

• Glint rewards could be even more frustrating if you get only cards which have already reached their unlock-limit. But again, bad luck is always a thing.