Now that the Splinterlands DAO owns the IP and is effectively funding development directly, it feels like the right time to reassess the release schedule going forward since it is in the DAO hands. The next set is currently airmarked for the last quarter of the year. The current funding proposal is set for 2 years
For most of Splinterlands’ history, sets have been massive sales events — huge launches that generate a large burst of revenue all at once. Followed by a long quiet period. This was done on an 18-month-ish cycle, with normally a mini set or promo card sales in between.
An Alternative
Instead of giant releases every couple of years, what if we shifted towards smaller sets, more often? While still putting out a similar number of cards over the same time period
Some quick points before getting into it:
- Smaller set released around the same time as a typical set would be released
- Lower price point for players
- Similar amount of cards but spread out
- More meta evolutions, hopefully keeping players engaged for longer
- More consistent sales
- Clear release schedule so you can plan around what's coming
- Longer known time in modern
Suggested Print run
I suggest that an entire edition consists of 4 smaller sets that sell for 9 months, released every 6 months. In between those releases, we release 4 batches of rewards cards.
That could look like
45-50 cards per set similar to the mini sets. Total 180-200 cards every 2 years
15 card reward sets. Total 60 cards every 2 years
Thanks @fatjimmy and @bjangles, for sharing your homework with me.
Possible breakdown
| Set | Commons | Rares | Epics | Legendaries | Promos | Totals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core Set | 12 | 12 | 8 | 16 | 2 | 50 |
| Rewards config 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 15 |
| Rewards config 2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 15 |
This should equal a very similar spend over time as what we have previously done, just spread out, which I think is better for the Team, the DAO, the Players, and DEC.
Rough Timeline
| Release | Month 0 | Month 1 | Month 2 | Month 3 | Month 4 | Month 5 | Month 6 | Month 7 | Month 8 | Month 9 | Month 10 | Month 11 | Month 12 | Month 13 | Month 14 | Month 15 | Month 16 | Month 17 | Month 18 | Month 19 | Month 20 | Month 21 | Month 22 | Month 23 | Month 24 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core 1 | Presale | General Sale | General Sale | General Sale | General Sale | General Sale | General Sale | General Sale | General Sale | General Sale | |||||||||||||||
| Reward 1 | In Chests | In Chests | In Chests | In Chests | In Chests | In Chests | In Chests | In Chests | In Chests | ||||||||||||||||
| Core 2 | Presale | General Sale | General Sale | General Sale | General Sale | General Sale | General Sale | General Sale | General Sale | General Sale | |||||||||||||||
| Reward 2 | In Chests | In Chests | In Chests | In Chests | In Chests | In Chests | In Chests | In Chests | In Chests | ||||||||||||||||
| Core 3 | Presale | General Sale | General Sale | General Sale | General Sale | General Sale | General Sale | General Sale | General Sale | General Sale | |||||||||||||||
| Reward 3 | In Chests | In Chests | In Chests | In Chests | In Chests | In Chests | In Chests | In Chests | In Chests | ||||||||||||||||
| Core 4 | Presale | General Sale | General Sale | General Sale | General Sale | General Sale | General Sale | General Sale | General Sale | General Sale | |||||||||||||||
| Reward 4 | In Chests | In Chests | In Chests |
Prints for Conclave Arcana
| Set | Commons | Rares | Epics | Legendaries | Promos | Totals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conclave Arcana | 24 | 29 | 14 | 24 | 2 | 93 |
| Escalation | 12 | 12 | 8 | 17 | 2 | 51 |
| Total Sales | 36 | 41 | 22 | 41 | 2 | 144 |
| Rewards | 12 | 12 | 7 | 12 | 0 | 43 |
| Toward inc rewards | 48 | 53 | 29 | 53 | 4 | 187 |
I have included all the legendary airdrops for escalation
I have not included things like land cards, voucher cards, extras etc in here as they vary a bit more, but I will include suggestions for them further below.
We currently sell about 144 cards every 18 months and release about 187, including rewards. If we released at a similar rate over 2 years we should expect to see 192 cards from packs and 58 reward cards which is close to the above suggestion.
Why smaller, more regular sets could be better?
Currently, players are asked at short notice to find a large amount of funds for the presale, which is where most of the purchases happen. This will be asking for less, and you should have a very good idea of when the next one will be coming.
More regular, spread out revenue is good for the DAO and the TEAM, especially since I believe more regular sales will help reduce how much DEC decreases compared to peg.
This will give us more chances to make noise about what we are up too which is great for marketing but probably more work. Sorry Blaze
The regular shake-up in the meta will also be good for the community.
Making sure the sets "work"
There is some math behind our set sizes, and that is a concern going forward. The idea would be that 2 of these smaller core sets would be the equivalent of 1 main set.
One suggestion was to have each set only contain a few splinters with neutrals and maybe dragon.
Otherwise we can look at splitting each splinter into smaller releases (managing summoners would be interesting). Since there would be existing sets in modern, the fact that one pack sale insn't a "complete" set isn't a massive deal and it gets less the future into this we are.
I think it would be important to split the airdrops. Eg Release A airdrops include 3 legendary units and 3 legendary summoners, with Release B having 3 more legendary units and 3 legendary summoners.
Extra Cards
Obviously, the voucher cards will continue. I think we should keep 3 at a time (always a common and rare with epic and legendary alternating). I would love however to see them staggered so there is always a new card every month but still time to get some of the older ones.
| Release | Month 1 | Month 2 | Month 3 | Month 4 | Month 5 | Month 6 | Month 7 | Month 8 | Month 9 | Month 10 | Month 11 | Month 12 | Month 13 | Month 14 | Month 15 | Month 16 | Month 17 | Month 18 | Month 19 | Month 20 | Month 21 | Month 22 | Month 23 | Month 24 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Common | Card 1 | Card 1 | Card 1 | Card 2 | Card 2 | Card 2 | Card 3 | Card 3 | Card 3 | Card 4 | Card 4 | Card 4 | Card 5 | Card 5 | Card 5 | Card 6 | Card 6 | Card 6 | Card 7 | Card 7 | Card 7 | Card 8 | Card 8 | Card 8 |
| Rare | Legacy | Card 1 | Card 1 | Card 1 | Card 2 | Card 2 | Card 2 | Card 3 | Card 3 | Card 3 | Card 4 | Card 4 | Card 4 | Card 5 | Card 5 | Card 5 | Card 6 | Card 6 | Card 6 | Card 7 | Card 7 | Card 7 | Card 8 | Card 8 |
| Epic | Legacy | Legacy | Card 1 | Card 1 | Card 1 | Card 2 | Card 2 | Card 2 | Card 3 | Card 3 | Card 3 | Card 3 | Card 3 | Card 3 | ||||||||||
| Legendary | Card 1 | Card 1 | Card 1 | Card 2 | Card 2 | Card 2 | Card 3 | Card 3 | Card 3 | Card 4 |
There has also been a rumor of keeping land crafted cards always available. I feel we could do something very similar to the voucher cards with those as well.
Closing
Sorry this isn't fleshed out and has fancy images. I knocked the publish button before it was ready so I just raced to get most of my main thoughts out there.
I would love feedback on this.
Is this a release schedule you would prefer?
What changes would you like to see?
Why couldn't this work?
Do you agree or disagree with any of my assumptions?
If this gains traction, I will look to make a refined post of people's feedback and then run a poll to get a good gauge before trying to get it off as an offical proposal
Cheers
Having a consistent release schedule would be amazing, would also work well for a good tournament structure with quarterly major events occurring with the defined meta just prior to release of next set/rewards and qualifiers running the previous 3 months.
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