Friday, 30th of December 2022
Saturday, 31st of December 2022 [25]
It’s end of the year and as much as I wanna pack and get ready for my NYE weekend bash, I am much more excited about writing for the contest @dCrops have just announced in partnership with @OCD , #POSH and 
When the first event of this type was announced for Halloween, I was still very new in the game, but despite that I have still managed to collect a good amount of event resources, allowing me to exchange them for 2 or 3 mystery seeds. I was over the moon and convinced that #dCrop is just the game for me. A game with equal chances to gain something from the events for everyone - new and old in the game.
First time read about dCrops on read.cash was in October and my planned holiday was just around the corner. I bookmarked the article by 
Like I said, so I did! I finally took my journey on Hive seriously and posted my first article in #OCD community. This was the best community to post my introduction in, as my post gained a nice exposure and my next articles were also supported by this amazing community.
I have been a gamer ever since Nintendo and Super Mario times. No matter how young or old I am, there has always been a game I play if you ask me at any given time. They change, just as my taste in them. Over the years however I grew to like the farming games the most. They’re usually easy and very much fit my real life. I just love planting things, arranging them and when it comes to harvesting - well, sometimes I do, sometimes I forget 😂 The beauty is in the growing, the journey.
My dCrops journey started with a tiny disappointment. I wanted to jump in on the quest, but I realised that quests are not for the beginners with skinny wallets. I needed a lot of NFTs to complete the quests and I had 0 Crop to swap the quests if I didn’t like them.
I must admit, this made me a little less excited about the game. I love completing the quests and in games that I played (not on blockchain) there are quests for every level of player. I must realise though, that these games are designed to get you hooked and start spending your own money to progress through the levels. Needless to say that the money only ever goes into the game, not the other way round.
#Blockchain games are different. The investment usually comes first and in time you can earn some money from your investment. I’ve played quite a few of those and I earned some, lost more and almost got discouraged to ever play again. There is a delicate balance that has to be created in order for the game to be successful over long period of time.
Looking at how popular dCrops game is in the depths of crypto winter I feel it has a bright future and it can be a game that I will be playing for years rather than a few months. This means that the devs have thought of everything and are doing their best to keep that delicate balance.
Let's take a look at the Halloween event for example. The amount of resources to earn per each task was first announced and then adjusted a few days later. It might have made some people disappointed as they get less resources, but it is a healthy decision to be made by the team. Where there is money to be earned there will always be a few trying to abuse and milk the system. In order to keep the game afloat the devs have to be realistic about distributing the resources. Again - the gentle balance between fun and profitability for the players and the longevity of the game.
I might have lost many 1000's of $ in the blockchain gaming, but what I have also gained insight. I’ve become more observant of the little things and actions that count.
In my dCrops journey I had to make some decisions. My problem is that I always want it all and I want it now 😂 I’m trying to do too many things at once - grow my HP stack, so my vote has more power, grow my LP stack for the same reason, grow my stack of NFTs in dCrop, so I can participate in quests and events.
End of the year has found me rather stuck. I’m 50HP away from my dream of ending the year with a nice and round 500HP stack. I skipped my first LPUD, as I spent my Hive on amazing ALPHA packs (pics above) for dCrop. I’m 3000 CROP away from bribing my way into Santa’s nice list for the Xmas event, as I spent all my Hive on buying the expensive seeds from the secondary market to finally complete the first quest!
As you can see, I had to pick and choose how I spent my precious Hive I earn from creating content here. One could say - write more often and you won’t have this problem. Well, Ernesto ain’t gonna ride with this. Too much productivity is overwhelming to him. And let’s be honest - I never write a post that is less than 500 words. Writing one good quality article with appropriate pictures to illustrate my point takes the juice out of me for the next day or two. I still need to engage with other people’s content, as this is a social platform after all.
Although not all of my end year goals can be completed, I am over the moon about being able to complete my first full list of quests this Spring season and opening that chest in a few days is something to look forward to!
How did I achieve this after just a few seasons in the game?
Of course, I had to make a few mistakes, learn and observe and come up with a #strategy. Selling all my harvest would be great for growing my CROP stack and it would sure help me get on that Santa’s good list, but I decided to hold them all. As I familiarised myself with the game, I discovered many opportunities and as much as I love growing stuff, there is not that much to do once you plant your seeds.
I wanted to be able to cook and craft things from recipes and seeing the xmas update in dCrops with all those amazing things to craft only ignited my excitement. I know my way into this new world is by completing the quests. The quests can be from 3 categories:
- Plant
- Sell
- Harvest
The selling category is especially tricky. It might be a quest to sell harvest from the current season or any other seasons. The quantities to sell are usually 1-3 pieces of the chosen crop, so everything I grew and harvested I kept in my inventory over the past 3 seasons. There wasn’t much, but I hoped one day luck will be on my side.
Last season I sold a few crops that I had in quantities of more than 3. I didn’t earn much CROP - only around 40. When Spring season started I rushed into re-rolling the list of quests and I was excited to see that I can finally fulfil all the sell tasks from the list!
There were other tricky tasks, which I couldn’t complete, so I used the CROP I earned from the last season to swap the quests until I drew tasks that I am able complete. I calculated the amount of Hive needed to buy the seeds to complete the other tasks. It seemed affordable… until I realised that harvesting 5 potato crops will not be fulfilled with just one potato seed 😂 so I had to buy more of these!
Yesterday I was standing on the crossroads again. Do I spend my last 10 Hive on buying more CROP to get on the Santa’s good list or do I buy 1 more potato seed? I already had 4 planted and potato NFT card is amazing enough to have 25% of a chance to grow multiple crop. The odds were on my side - with 4 seeds planted, at least one of these is bound to give me extra crop according to statistics.
I needed to harvest 5 crops of potato to complete the list of quests for my first ever chest. Well, I gave in. I bought one more seed, as it was the last chance to plant it. I spent way too much Hive to complete those tasks to then be disappointed if for some reason neither of those seeds will give me extra crop.
Now that I spent all my Hive, I’m pretty sure that not one but a few of those seeds will give me a double crop, but I wasn’t going to risk it. Luckily the xmas event lasts for more than 2 seasons, so I still have a chance to bribe my way into Santa’s nice list. I’ll sell a few bits from my inventory and I’ll buy the remaining amount of CROP from the market.
After all, we’re in the depths of crypto winter and everything is on sale! Seeing how the dCrop developers go about their business I have no doubt that everything I spend on buying CROP token and dCrop NFTs will be worth much more in the future.
Before I go, let me share the screenshot form dCrops game to illustrate why I want to be on Santa's nice list. The gifts you are able to send every day (3 per day), may contain any of the following:
At the end of the event there will also be a raffle. I love the prizes in this raffle, so I might send some of my NFTs to the game in order to receive a few raffle tickets.
To sum it all up, dCrops blockchain game is a very promising one and I feel that the team is really working hard to make it more interesting for players with every new update they relese. I hear they also listen to the feedback received from the players, which is always a good thing.
*SATURDAY UPDATE: *
What do you know? I harvested the first out of 5 potato seeds and it turn out that my first understanding of it, which assumed that quantity produced is = quantity of crop as mentioned in quests was correct. Only later I started overthinking it and looked at one harvest = 1 crop 🤣
What can I say? I received a beautiful harvest from this first seed and I even scored one 3 stars crop and 3 2 stars crop. What more does the girl need to be happy?
One may ask - 'Do you regret buying 5 potato seeds, when in fact you only needed 1?' and the answer to it is ABSOLUTELY NOT! I have no regrets.
My 15 years old self could probably throw a fit at this discovery, but my 40 years old self smiles and says 'I either earn or I learn'. This time I learned, but I will also earn nice amout of CROP for selling all those beautiful harvests.
I didn't know that I can claim and open the chest as soon as I complete all the quests. That was anther nice surprise thanks to my misinterpretation of the rules. Inside my first chest I have found 10 goodies. Sure, I could calculate the value of them, but I probably will do it in another article.
Right now, I'm at the salsa event and I need to catch up on sleep and then dance another night away until 6am on the 1st of January 2023! If we don't see each other around, let me wish you an amazing New Year and plenty of abuntant harvests in all areas of your life.
This article has been written for dCrops and OCD writing contest. All screenshots attached are snipped form the official dCrops website . If you also play the game and would like to participate in the writing contest, there is still time to join. Here are the rules (snipped from @dCrops article mentioned above):
Until next time 💙