[SteemMonsters] Which is Better for the STEEM Ecosystem? Buying STEEM or SteemMonsters?
I've been having this internal argument with myself all day.
With the price of STEEM down around 0.60 USD I think it's a good time to start buying. But what actually has a better value? Buying STEEM and powering up or just buying more SteemMonsters?
If I buy STEEM I have to go through the whole fiat->crypto hassle. And then I power it up. And then I start upvoting. For 10,000 SP, we are getting 0.36 in STUs. So a 6,000 USD stake can yield 3.60 a day if you were to self-vote 10 posts/day. If you continued that for 365 days at current market prices, that's a 21% return. Not bad.
Of course, the market price of STEEM could go up or down (or both!) over that time. And you could power up along the way to get some compounding effect.
So that's Scenario #1.
In Scenario #2, I can buy more SteemMonsters. I've already more than doubled the money that I've put in over the past few months. I didn't keep records, so it's hard to say exactly, but I think I've invested somewhere in the 5-10k USD so far. "Invested." That's what I tell my wife.
My expectation is that values on cards are going to shoot through the roof once we go live with tournaments and start bringing in players from other communities.
I was doing a little math earlier and it takes 15,795 beta cards combined to make a max level beta deck. I believe that is what you will need to compete at the top levels of tournaments for prize money. So with 900k packs, that makes for 4,410,0000 cards after the golds get segregated out.
4,410,000 / 15,795 = 279
So without even getting into the rate-limiting steps of how many commons/rares/epics/legendaries are in the actual drops, we have a maximum number of maximum-level players. Include another 130 from the alpha and that's right around 400 potential max decks out there.
Of course, there will be a lot of players who have lower level decks, which decreases the number of potential max deck players. My guess is there will be somewhere around half as many actual max players. That's 200-ish players with the current cards.
We are already way past that number in total players, but most are casual players.
So yes, beta will run out - and quickly - once tournaments go live. And I think the market prices of beta cards will quadruple like we have seen alphas do.
Against those various facts, I think my money is better put into SteemMonsters than STEEM.
As to which is better for the ecosystem as a whole? I think whatever increases use is best. And that leads me to the same answer: SteemMonsters.
And lest you think I don't walk the talk, here's what I bought today:
interesting math! hadn't thought about it that way! i don't have a maxed out deck- do you know if there will be tourney levels for those of us who aren't maxed out?
"investing" ;) hehe ... but seriously, it truly is! i agree with you... the prices will only rise as this game catches on!!
I don't know how the tournaments will be arranged. I would guess that there will be some lower level leagues for players without max level cards.
I do know that aggro has said many times that anyone will be able to run a tournament, so there will for sure be tournaments put on by people with lower-level cards. They just may not be sponsored by the steemmonsters team.
thanks for sharing what you know!!
I think the potential of returns on both are equally good. I also think card prices are going to launch once tournaments start.
I believe there will be more maxed teams then you think. Max teams will be on sort supply for a month or three ( depending on the rate of XP growth ) but once XP is added into the mix it changes things drastically. Sure there are rumors the XP earned will be small amounts but I think allot are underestimating the mind of a grinder.
I like to say that I get a two for one deal when " investing " in steem-monsters as doing so has me investing in Steem as well.
What we do know about the XP grind so far is that it's going to take place during tournaments, it's expected to take about a year to go from level 1 to max level, and there will be some kind of cost to offset the XP gain.
So yes, eventually there will be more max decks. But we're looking at 6 months to go from max level - 1 to max level.
I think big gains will happen well before 6 months into the grind.
Oh I think gains will happen before the grind as well. I think the launch of tournaments will tell the tail of how popular this game is going to be and set the precedent for card prices.
I don't think there should be a monetary cost to earning XP. The cost should only be time from playing and our initial investment of buying the cards. To " charge " us to use our XP that we earned during play is a bad move IMO.
I don't know what the cost is going to be, just that they have said there will be one.
Oh nice just read your post and realized that my Gold Dragon was the cheapest on the market (Lol goes to change that price a bit it's a teaser only for those who are true holders :) To the sub 1k it goes.
Personally expecting a serious rush when the gold foil tournaments arrive as well as max level alphas then betas becoming rarer, although to a lesser extent once XP comes in.
(That said it may be a premium boost to have max level alphas or betas as we may be on series Delta by that time ha-ha)
Also you should run a few scenarios where delegations take play
E.G. Minnowbooster, Vimm, Steemhunt or Actifit
Two are SBD/Steem only ROI, two will have variable potential returns SteemHunt and Actifit Tokens
That may be a fun economic variable although personally I think Steem Monsters has the best ROI and is better than pure powerup.
I am very eagerly awaiting the delegation market. My guess is that a whole second layer market will develop where holders are offering cards at various lease prices.
@nealmcspadden I have to say I agree with you and I cant believe that I am in my 6th decade of Life and I am playing a game online like I'm a young Kid...........Thank you for the investment comparison...........
It's a fact: SteemMonsters reverses aging!
This feels too ambiguous. What makes a "deck"? Do you mean an entire collection of competitive cards? This can be thrown off when cards get buffed or nerfed, obviously. But what is a "deck"? That should definitely be clarified.
As for SM as an investment, like all of crypto, it's a gamble, but it's looking better than how bad all of crypto is looking, and diversifying definitely feels correct.
Also, 10 self-upvotes per day are hard, unless you start upvoting your own comments, which is generally frowned upon, and sometimes you upvote others, so the RoI on SP unless you engage in the aforementioned behaviour is actually very low.
Also, thanks for buying those cards from me! That put me in the black regarding SM. I have about $270 worth of cards right now. Is it a lot? No, but it's pure profit for me now, so that's good.
Yes, by deck I mean a complete beta set of max level cards.
YES!!! I agree with you! I have seen some crazy good deals too so it is like the perfect time! I am with you and plan on shopping this weekend, lol! #steemmonsters shopping that is.
Yes, it seems like the deals are appearing on the higher priced cards like epics and legendaries.
So many cheap gold legendaries, and normal legendaries this week. $3.5 legendaries, $250 golden legendaries.
I got some normal legendaries, wanted to get a level 2 hydra, so got that instead of like 8 low-priced legendaries, but yeah, if you have the wallet, and the faith, now's the time to find deals.