Note: I believe the vet community should be more rewarded, but at first glance it looks like new users don't stand a chance
I love TCG since I was a kid. When I first played Magic at 11, when I discovered Pokemon TCG in Gameboy Color at 13, until dreamed of becoming a Hearthstone Pro Player (but only being good with Arenas).
Splinterlands seemed to be their "Hulk" evolution, having all the facilities of RNG mechanics and matchmaking of an online TCG, up to the possibility of reselling the cards as well as an Offline TCG.
As a base value of just 10 dollars and with a high possibility of Return of Investiment in a few months, it was clear that I needed to test. But I miss a lot of the details ...
The structure of the argument on the title needs to be observed and rethought based on two pillars: (1) The importance of new players and (2) what is the experience of new users within the platform
1 - The importance of new players
1.1 Matchmaking
Any online game that aims to sustain itself over the years needs to be positive over a basic equation: NEW PLAYERS- DISSIDENT PLAYERS
Mainly a game with matchmaking 1x1, avoiding delays in the queues and providing better experience in a more complex/developed meta.
1.2 Financial Ecosystem
A game based on NFTs is more than necessary that the assets acquired in-game have some monetary value, in fact a good part of the early adopters are investors and are looking for their items to increase in value, and have some desire over these assets.
And this is only possible with the entry of new players bringing greater liquidity to the market. Or do people think that a player base with a very high percentage of veterans will buy that Common Unplayable card in the high ranks?
2 - The experience of new users within the platform
1.1 Lack of clarity in Gameplay
This is the biggest advantage of the obvious comparison Hearthstone, even with several different mechanics, the animations were extremely educative which speeds up the learning curve. Achieving the famous Game Design goal to create highly addictive gameplay: Develop a EASY TO PLAY BUT HARD TO MASTER game.
And if there's one thing I say easily, it's that Splinterlands is not EASY TO PLAY.
It is not necessarily about mechanics, but how they are applied and demonstrated by generating more questions than answers. Which exposes yet another flaw of the dev team, lack of an good F.A.Q or educative material to guide the journey of the new player (A good official Youtube with guides would solve too much).
You are thrown to the lions and you have to whatever you can to live on
1.2 Level UP of Cards & Strategies
One of the most complicated things to balance in a TCG is the quality of rare and powerful cards that Veterans have in their collection compared to new players.
But the Level Up structure of the cards brings to daylight and increases this gap in an extremely unnecessary way, seeing that it would be impossible to beat a player simply because he has a set of level 3 cards is disappointing.
It is as if you put a level 99 against a level 1 in *World of Warcraft *, there is no strategy, only a massacre.
1.3 Rankings with Collection Requirement
Of all the dubious decisions of the game, this one, for me, is one of the worst.
In just 1 day I reached 700 of the necessary rating to get the Bronze I ranking and then be rewarded fairly to help my progress, but it is very likely that I will end up in Bronze III simply because there are no items to certify my gameplay.
The feeling is of punishment for playing better than my collection allows.
Can you imagine a LOL player could only get a certain ranking if he had a collection of 50%/70% of heroes bought independently?
The difference that one game is free and another is $10, and that doesn't make any sense.
Conclusion
The game is fun and has positive points (such as the possibility of being profitable), but it seems that it needs to be polished with decisions that increase the entry of new players and get some evolution in the gameplay.
But it seems that the system prefers to take advantage of the hype of selling a piece of land online instead of solving problems that already exist in the core of the gameplay.
If you want to start the game now, and give me some help, use my referral link: https://splinterlands.com?ref=allonsyvilla