As I have been playing Steem Monsters for nearly two-plus months now, and have wanted to contribute something of ACTIONABLE VALUE to my fellow players (and future players) - but NOT fill my Steemit feed with daily images of quest rewards, after some serious pondering I have decided that a weekly "Steem Monster player strategy diary", with CONCISE and ACTIONABLE tips would be of most value to my audience. Please let me know your thoughts (good and/or bad), and I hope that readers (now and into the future) will benefit from this series. Also, feel free to hit me up on the battlefield...
The Steem Monsters "game" is a great opportunity to EXPAND our understanding of the underlying concept of BOTH "cryptocurrency" AND "gaming". EACH BATTLE is an opportunity to LEARN about cards YOU HAVE, as well as those you DON'T yet have. This helps you in the decision-making process of buying new cards, leveling up select cards, and selling those which are less useful to you.
Focusing on the USEFULNESS of your cards provides a healthy parameter when budgeting yourself in trading (buying new cards, and selling current ones) and leveling up. By getting the most usefulness out of your current cards, and buying/up-leveling cards based on their usefulness in battle, you MAXIMIZE value out of your current cards/decks, and MINIMIZE excesses of spending.
If/when you accidentally let the timer run out, and consequently lose a match by default, don't fret! Think about all the times you WON matches because your opponent did the SAME THING. It is easy to feel dismayed when this happens, but when you think about how many times you have won a match without doing anything (when an opponent times-out) - ESPECIALLY when it is a battle within a daily quest (which is a FREE win towards the five quest battle wins required to get your reward cards) this goes a long way towards keeping SANE and FOCUSED while playing the game. One solution to preventing accidentally timing out - especially if it is the result of your multi-taskireally, really while playing the game throughout the day - is to leave the "battle results" page (which appears after each battle) open, and then when you are ready to play the next match you can be sure that you are starting from the END of the previous battle.
I have found that PACING myself when leveling up new cards is most productive, and provides the highest level of enjoyment and learning in the game. That is, I try to refrain from just PUMPING new funds into buying new cards (and leveling up current cards) UNTIL it becomes NECESSARY to do so. In other words, you may find that you reach a point of being STUCK with your current cards in a deck, and this is making it difficult to win quests (and thus NEW (reward) CARDS). If this is the case, TRYING to play your current cards for a day or two will be good training in gaining experience with the cards, their ability, and rules of the game. Them you can decide to level up one (or more) card(s) - I recommend ONE at a time, as this will enable you to get the best feel for how the higher level of the card affects performance, relative to the other cards, and the game as a whole.
Since there is no (or not yet) a direct chat/messaging function in the game, the #steemmonsters tag on Steemit provides ENOUGH feedback from other players to be both informative AND prevent you from feeling like you are playing in isolation. This is ESPECIALLY valuable in those times when you "get stuck" (ex. when you have a significant losing streak, when you get bored playing numerous consecutive rounds, when you're just having a bad day, etc.). You will often find OTHER players are experiencing the same (or similar) issues.
I have now found myself down to ~ 50 Steem out of the original ~ 700 Steem I had bought from selling 0.05 BTC (Bitcoin) on December 18th. Since my goal has been to sell 0.05 BTC every QUARTER (that is, every three months) I will have around 37 days before the next buy is scheduled. I want to try to stick to my original schedule. One of the reasons I have not paced myself properly this quarter if because it is the FIRST quarter I have done this, AND because I was relatively new to the game when I did this first round. The good thing is that there are OPTIONS for getting through the next 37 days WITHOUT having to do the next quarterly sell early. One option is that I can start selling/liquidating the cards I am NOT using. For instance, I received the new "Peakrider" summoner as a result of the recent airdrop this week, and since the life splinter is my weakest, AND I need to liquidate some cards for Steem, I have put this card on the market at $8 USD. There are some other cards I will be selling also. In addition to the daily quest reward card drops, these two tasks SHOULD get me through the next 37 days without having to prematurely sell BTC for Steem for the next quarter. However, I AM also monitoring the BTC -> Steem ratio on a daily basis, since I would rather do a premature BTC -> Steem sell, and get 600 - 700 Steem for 0.05 BTC rather than wait the full 37 days and possibly get significantly LESS Steem for my BTC. So as I monitor the BTC -> Steem exchange rate I will stick to this new strategy. The good news is that for the next quarter I will be more conservative in the pace/strategy with which I buy and/or uplevel new cards within the parameter of the amount of Steem I will have for the quarter.
I hope you find some/any of these tips useful in increasing your understanding and/or skill level in the game. More JUICY tips to come with each weekly update, as I become more experienced and successful in the game. All comments welcomed.
See you on the battlefield...