A stunning increase in dark energy crystal (DEC) value in The Splinterlands game has come with many substantial and shocking developments without question.
Now the game needs to adjust, in a little way, but in a major way affecting a vast majority of the newest entrants in the game. Full disclosure I am in a guild (Team Possible) that has a max level (Level 10) member base. I still think the following proposed ideas would be a great addition to the game and will not devalue those who were earlier to guilds and leveled up buildings prior to the above-mentioned explosion in DEC to north of 5x the original peg dollar value of $0.001/DEC.
First, simply reduce the cost of starting a guild from 10,000 DEC to 1,000 DEC. Yes, I said cut the cost by 90% of starting a guild getting into guild brawls. This will have some effects in possibly bringing down the DEC value temporarily with the game taking in DEC for this expense to the players that are new to participate in guild brawls. That is not necessarily the point at all for doing this, but it may slow down the value and possibly help eliminate a DEC value getting out of control in the time to come with so many new events in game rolling out at a fairly close period of time.
The idea is to generate "roots" to the game in participating in guilds for the lowest level player, or entry level player in the game. Camaraderie to its highest levels have accomplished many amazing things in history, let alone what a feeling of realized team and community has done in gaming history. "Epic Victory" phenomena is real and needs to be taken full advantage of by the game.
So yes, a radical cut in cost for the Level 1 initial guild formation is a topic that I would need a lot of convincing that is not necessary. The other adjustment can also involve the leveling up of that initial level to the "base" guild hall from 10,000 DEC to 2,000 DEC (maybe even also as low as 1,000 DEC).
In cutting this cost as well an additional member of the guild can be added to the continued growth of the guild. That is a bigger deal than it seems. Instantly your guild gets an instant boost of about 6.7% immediately in additional human capital by raising the max number of members from 15 to 16, making all further improvements less costly representative of your guild total.
Adding an initial leveling up is a major psychological bump in these players that would be wise enough to take advantage of both these "in game relief for newbies." At the moment there is a great deal of challenge in improving your situation in the game, which has in no way harmed the game--but I would argue has made it much more substantial in the eyes of the eyes of the public. Nothing worthwhile is easy and this game is no exception to that rule in life.
Having more players allowed to take advantage in Guild/Brawls as a game feature is a must for the game. Getting newbies installed and rooted in groups of 15 and/or 16 in a common cause is a powerful factor in keeping game momentum and building for the future.
This is the only thing in game I would adjust at the moment. No other relationship with the player and the game with DEC swaps would necessarily need to be worried about. Just these two leveling options would be a great start and stop adjustment to allow these flocks of newbies to become affiliated with one-another making them a force multiplier that would make any other game envious of its inherent power.
No human being is (rightfully) horrified of a single bee flying their way. Worst case scenario you get a nasty sting that goes away (assuming the human has no allergies) in a few days. But messing with a hive of bees, totally different story. A hive of bees can bring a living thing tens of thousands of times more massive than the group to its knees if the entire hive is alerted to strike all at once in maximum strategic benefit to the hive. It's a powerful force of nature that I think the game can take advantage of with many benefits without the possibility of dwindling any other costs or lessening the value of all the guilds that had the foresight to level up while DEC was much lower in relative value at the time.