The magic of the Centauri people of northern Anumün is so secretive that it is a wonder their Mages make any demonstrations of their powers in the Mount Mox Arena at all. The audiences are always thrilled to see their magic attacks, especially at dusk and sunset, when they create a chillingly beautiful (and deadly) green light show. Not only does this magic rain green fire onto the enemy, but with proper concentration from the Mage, it also refortifies the defenses of the friendly team. Among the Centaurs, those who practice these ancient ways of magic are extremely rare. They spend most of their time close to Kron, protecting him from all the wild creatures outside his Citadel.
One of the things I love about these weekly Splinterlands battle challenges is that they bring awareness to both new and old cards that have slipped past my radar. I’m not a strong Earth player so the Centauri Mage was one of those cards. I didn’t even notice she was a centaur until making this post.
The Centauri Mage and her ability to return ranged attacks were key to my victory. Both arrows and magic attacks were returned to their source causing them damage like an instant boomerang of karma.
My battle went so well that after the dust settled, not one of my monsters was killed. Flawless victory! Thank you Centauri Mage and thank you for reading about one of my favorite new NFT cards today. May the power of the Splinterlands be with you. Get in the game!
Splinterlands just saw the purchase of its 100,000th Spellbook, halfway through August.
Reaching Benchmarks at Unprecedented Speeds
It took us over four years to sell the first 50,000 Splinterlands Spellbooks. Now, in just fifteen days, that number has doubled.
Referencing a graph of daily Spellbook purchases hardly makes sense anymore. The recent numbers so effectively dwarf the earlier stats that any daily sales numbers before July of this year barely register at all. Average daily sales in August are 100x what they were at the beginning of the year, and 200x what they were a year ago.
Graphing the Spellbooks purchased over time tells the tale of Splinterlands‘ slow and steady growth since its creation right up until last month when the influx of new players skyrocketed these numbers and literally put the game out of commission for a few stressful days.
As cool as it is to see these total numbers, it’s even more interesting to look at the Spellbook Purchase rates in context.
Free-to-Play Games
In free-to-play games, it’s customary for only a small fraction of the players to choose to purchase into the game. Usually, around 1% – 2% of all players end up buying into any free-to-play game, while the other 98% – 99% of players stick with the free version, or else leave the game entirely.
Splinterlands has always enjoyed a significantly higher buy-in rate than average, traditionally hovering between 20-25%. The fact that one out of every 4 or 5 new players sees enough value in our game to buy a $10.00 upgrade has always been a point of pride for us, especially considering that most games must sign up 50-100 players, on average, before they see one purchase.
More are Staying
However, lately even these note-worthy figures have been outdone. We saw the sale of the 100,000th Spellbook just two days after the creation of our 300,000th new account. As things stand now, over 32% of all accounts that have ever been created have continued on to Purchase a Spellbook and explore their full Splinterlands potential. A one-third buy-in rate is amazing, but it isn’t even the end of the story.
The August Spellbook purchase rate is now over 40%, meaning that this month more than 2 out of every 5 new player accounts decided that Splinterlands is too good to pass up. The past five days have seen an average buy-in rate of nearly 50%, which is just astounding.
New players usually try out the game in free mode for a bit before deciding if it’s worth actually paying into, so Spellbook numbers tend to lag behind sign-up numbers by a few days, at least.
Why Players Stay
Sure, Splinterlands has a lot to offer, even if you don’t already have an impressive Alpha pack. The continued release of new cards and the structure of the tournaments system ensure that new players will always have access to relatively inexpensive cards that can hold their own in battles. The new rental market gives card owners and card seekers even more options. SPS offers players the chance to have a real say in the future of the game, and the fact that it’s all built on the blockchain means that players genuinely own their Splinterlands assets and that every purchase buys you more than just a once-and-done half hour of playing fun.
But Splinterlands has something much harder to replicate than thoughtful design, interesting graphics, or addictive gameplay. Because Splinterlands isn’t merely a game: it’s a whole community. In Guilds and on Splintertalk blogs; on Reddit, Twitter, and especially in Discord, Splinterlands community members continue to make this an inviting environment for new players, and this effort continues to pay off.
The Splinterlands team is small. Even with all we can do, we still depend heavily on the community to answer questions, explain game features, and in general help direct all the new players who are pouring in. And let me tell you: the Splinterlands community has shown itself to be more than up to this challenge. So many of you are extremely knowledgeable and experienced, and freely share your gems of game wisdom with newer players, directing them to the resources that will help them and explaining the finer points of the game. Your passion for the game is by far the best advertisement Splinterlands could ever have.
Guilds offer enormous opportunities for players to connect with each other, form friendships, and grow roots in the community. You can find other games to play. You can find other assets to purchase. But the friends in your Guild aren’t available anywhere else, and it makes a difference.
If new players were pouring into the game only to discover cold shoulders, unanswered questions, and condescension, it’s a good bet that many of them wouldn’t stick around for long. The fact that 30-50% of those that swing by deciding to buy into Splinterlands and put down roots here is a testament to how awesome our community is, as much as anything else we have to offer.
We are so grateful. And humbled. And amazed. Thanks for being phenomenal.
Scholars of Khymeria have studied the shapeshifting, mystical beasts known as Ha’on extensively since their appearance ten years ago. At an early age, each Ha’on chooses a single power form, into which they can transform. Their time is then divided into their original humanoid form and the power form, which takes a considerable amount of energy to maintain for long periods of time. The Human forms of Ha’on are recognizable by their frightening single-colored eyes, a trait with which they are endowed when they realize their full shapeshifting potential. The Dark Ha’on is one of the strongest Ha’on, taking the power form of a large flying cat.
I remember when this NFT Death Legendary card was less than a dollar. I even had one maxed out. I didn’t have the cash to buy it today so I rented it for a few cents. Don’t feel bad if you sold all of your cards or are just getting started. There will soon be a new batch of cards that will give us all another chance.
I photoshopped and duplicated a copy of Dark Ha’on and enlarged it for dramatic effect. My enemy had a good strategy. They put out a strong tank, healer, sneak attacker, and some magic cards.
I used a summoner which gives all of my cards the ability to reflect magic back. Dark Ha’on absorbed most of the attacks while my two scary-looking archer and sniper ghosts helped my lead card wipe out the enemy.
Thank you Splinterlands for creating such a great game. The light years of advancement over the years have been truly impressive and I know there is a lot more where that came from.
If you are interested in getting started with NFTs, then I couldn’t imagine a better place to start than Splinterlands. Get in the game!
There have always been stories of Giants in the Splinterlands, but recently they began to arrive. They bring tales of a home far across the water that they had to flee from a terrible threat. Luckily, these refugee Giants mean no harm to the Splinterlands. Most of them arrived by swimming across the entire Outer Ocean.
The giant may be a pacifist, but he’ll help you win when used at the right times. If you’re a strong magic or ranged player, he’ll work well as a shield in the front or the rear. We sadly killed all of the Earth’s giants after they built our pyramids and won our wars. I miss them. Shame on us for their enslavement, extinction, and cover-up! At least they peacefully battle on in the Splinterlands. For now… Can NFTs go extinct?
Oh no! I got a rich Gold carded higher-level enemy. I sometimes feel like the game’s AI has a conspiracy against me and always gives my enemies a bunch of misses. Not today. I was lucky and got way more misses and won this battle. Much thanks to the Peaceful Giant. He gave his life for our victory today. All of the DEC earned in today’s battle will go to his family. There aren’t that many giants left. Maybe we should refrain from using them in battle from now on…
Small but mighty, the Fire Spitters have recently descended upon the Dragon Splinter of Draykh-Nahka, where they fit right in. They come from a faraway exotic place only known as the Pocket Dimension. The Pocket Dimension has many key differences to the Splinterlands, but lots of things in common as well. Most of the monsters there are smaller than those native to the Splinterlands, including the Fire Spitter. However, even the smallest Fire Spitters can produce a magnificent blaze, large enough to easily incinerate a cottage in a few minutes.
I remember when Splinterlands used to reward this card out like it was candy. It’s now worth over sixty cents! I would like to request an interesting and maybe even depressing bot that shows what all the cards we’ve ever owned would be worth if we never sold, burned, or combined them. If I had just HODLed every card I’ve been rewarded over the years, I would easily have $10,000 now, but I was dumb, broke, greedy, and emotional, so I’ll have to work my way back from monster bottom just like I’ve done two times before. While it’s very exciting that NFTs are selling for millions of dollars, Splinterlands has been making NFTs accessible as rewards for gameplay for years. Even though I regret selling so many of my cards I always remind myself that this whole NFT gaming journey all began with just $10. Show me any other NFT site where all you need is $10 and can grow that into a champion account over time. Right now I don’t know of a better decentralized blockchain-based game than Splinterlands. Do you?
My Fire Spitter Battle:
It took me forever to get a victory, let alone a chance for my Fire Spitter to be useful, but this battle had it safely positioned in the middle helping take out the enemy’s lead monster with a ranged attack of 2. The Fire Spitter is also useful during earthquakes because as a dragon, of course, it can fly. Thank you for reading. Check out my battle: https://steemmonsters.com?p=battle&id=550f392e715608a2c49e04f4af9d6101689262e6&ref=jeremiahcustis
