"Steem Monsters" + "Drug Wars" - Power Strategy Tips #33

in #steemmonsters4 years ago (edited)

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As I have now been playing Steem Monsters and Drug Wars for several months, I've wanted to contribute something of ACTIONABLE value to my fellow players (and FUTURE players) - but NOT just fill my Steemit feed with daily images of quest reward - or battle - SPAM, (no offense to those doing so). Ultimately, Steemit is about ADDING VALUE to the social experience - that is the magic of blockchain technology. So, after some serious pondering, I decided that a weekly "Steem Monsters + Drugs Wars player strategy diary" type series, 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. If you gain a better understanding of: blockchain, gaming, "blockchain gaming", marketing, and/or any other area of knowledge I end up exploring as this series naturally progresses, then I will have done my "good deed" (of providing value) for the week. Also, feel free to hit me up on the battlefield...

@transcript-junky

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( 1 ) With the newly tweaked strategy of buying one 100 (+10) "Orbs" cards packs per month, as an effort to more properly PACE myself, AND provide additional DEC liquidity, I was happy to find that I was able to keep my "pack problem" under control by sticking to my carefully-designed "protocol" for opening packs, and discovered some surprising ADVANTAGES to opening only the 1-3 packs per day (in line with my strategy). One of the advantages is that by opening only 1-3 packs per day I am able to more closely monitor the price changes of the different "Orbs" cards (the edition of cards I am primarily focusing on right now, until they sell out) over time. I have kept a meticulous record of ALL of the rare, legendary, and gold "Orbs" cards I have gotten in the FOUR 100 (+10) promo batches I have bought and opened. That record looks something like the data below (** this one is from the current batch, where I separate the record into "10-pack" sections, and then do a subtotal after opening every 10 packs (10-pack sections are denoted by the "..."):

$2.80 - Goblin Chef (gold -Level 4)
$1.79 - Dwarven Wizard (reg - Level 1)
$6.10 - Silvershield Bard (gold - Level 3)
$4.40 - Minataur Warlord (reg - Level 1) --> [sent to @forever-crypto]
$4.50 - Lord Of Fire (reg - Level 3) --> [sent to @forever-crypto] - subtotal - 100/110 - $19.59

(I opened these above 10 (free) packs (in one go) on November 16th, 2019)

...

$1.85 - Dwarven Wizard (reg - Level 1) - November 17th, 2019
$1.85 - Dwarven Wizard (reg - Level 1) - November 18th, 2019 (experimenting with TWO packs per day - 100/2 = 50 days)
$1.80 - Enchanted Defender (gold - Level 4) - November 18th (2nd daily pack)
$1.89 - "Mermaid Healer" (non-gold - Level 1) November 19th, 2019
$1.89 - "Mermaid Healer" (non-gold - Level 1) November 19th, 2019

etc. etc.

As you can see above, I got the "Dwarvan Wizard (reg - lvl 1)" card on November 16th, and November 17th, but the price changed from $1.79 to $1.85 USD. This is helpful information, ESPECIALLY as I can compare the price of the cards over the longer-term by keeping this running record of the card values when I first open them. This also makes it easier for me to do the "input/output" accounting to get a clearer idea of the return I am getting on the crypto I spend on the packs. Another main advantage of opening only 1- 3 packs per day is that this slower pace allows me to replenish the three most continuously useful potions ("+5 reward cards" + "brilliant legendary" + "brilliant alchemy") in a more efficient manner, so that I always have a decent amount of DEC liquidity, as I convert reward cards, and non-keeper "Orbs" cards into DEC. The main reason I made this tweak was because I was running too low on liquidity by buying the 100 (+10) batches and opening them all at once.

Here is this week's breakdown of the reward cards, and "Orbs" cards openings:

** Keep in mind that I don't expect you to read every detail of this log, but I provide it so you can see the level of DETAIL of my accounting, AND ALSO how the specific details I am recording are used for the larger strategy decisions**

November 17th, 2019

Daily Quest Reward Cards
keepers - 210 DEC
non--keepers 45 DEC
total = 255 DEC

Orbs (Pack #1 - following completed quest)
keepers - "Dwarvan Wizard" (non-gold - Level 1 - $1.85 USD - 600 DEC)
non-keepers - 210 DEC
total DEC - 810 DEC

purchased - "+5 rewards cards" potion - 3,600 DEC (31,542 DEC balance)

"Orbs" (Pack #2 - experimented opening this SECOND pack per day to increase the pace from 100 days of opening packs to 50 days - in order to strike better balance between conserving DEC reserves (aka "liquidity) versus unlocking card DEC earning potential - instead of letting the cards (and their DEC-earning potential) lie dormant.)

keepers - "Dwarvan Wizard" (non-gold - Level 1 - $1.85 USD - 600 DEC)
non-keepers - 210 DEC
total - 810 DEC

November 18th, 2019

Daily Quest Rewards Cards
keepers - 210 DEC
non-keepers - 195 DEC
total - 405 DEC

"Orbs" (Pack #1 - after daily quest rewards dump)
keepers - "Enchanted Defender" (Gold - Level 4 - $1.80 USD - 1,500 DEC)
non-keepers - 210 DEC

** bought one more "Orbs" pack with past few days DEC earnings - 30,668 DEC in-game balance

"Orbs" (Pack #2 - second of "two packs per day" schedule)
non-keepers - 240 DEC
Total - 240 DEC

** bought one additional "Orbs" pack from DEC earnings from past day ** - 30,146 DEC in-game balance

November 19th, 2019

Daily Reward Cards
keepers - 150 DEC
non-keepers - 120 DEC
Total = 270 DEC

"Orbs" (Pack #1 - after completing daily quest)
non-keepers - "Mermaid Healer" (non-gold - Level 1 - $1.89 USD - 600 DEC), "Mermaid Healer" (non-gold - Level 1 - $1.89 USD - 600 DEC)
** sold both of these on market for $1.89 each ** // commons - 180 DEC
Total - 1,380 DEC

"Orbs" (Pack #2 - For reaching "Gold I" Level)
non-keepers - 330 DEC

"Orbs" (Pack #3 - second (1 of 2) daily pack)
nonkeepers - 240 DEC

November 20th. 2019

"Orbs" (Pack #1 - BEFORE finishing daily quest, because quest was difficult to finish. Opening the pack helped MOTIVATE me to finish the quest. This is actually a VERY helpful strategy tweak, as it's easy to get "stuck and frustrated" on a difficult daily quest)
non-keepers - 330 DEC

Daily Reward Cards
keepers - "Rusty Android" (Gold - Level 4 - $0.68 USD - 750 DEC) + 255 DEC
nonkeepers - 375 DEC

"Orbs" (Pack #2 - second (evening) daily pack
nonkeepers - 240 DEC

November 21st, 2019

"Orbs" (Pack #1 - morning daily pack, opened BEFORE finishing daily quest, which was morale-boosting, because the quest was difficult today, and took a few hours more than usual)
non-keepers - 240 DEC

Daily Reward Cards (** JUICY **)
keepers - "Black Dragon" (non-gold - Level 1 - $1.41 USD - 1,500 DEC), "Daria Dragonscale" (non-gold - Level 1 - $0.49 USD - 300 DEC) + 135 DEC (commons) = 1,935 DEC
nonkeepers - 270 DEC
Total = 2,205 DEC

"Orbs" (Pack #2 - second daily (evening) pack)
nonkeepers - 240 DEC

November 22nd, 2019

Daily Quest Reward Cards
keepers - "Ruler Of The Seas" (non-gold - Level 1 - $4.00 USD - 1,500 DEC) 30 15
nonkeepers - "Sacred Unicorn" (non-gold - Level 1 - $1.70 USD - 1,500 DEC) 60 15 300 15 45 15
Total -

"Orbs" (Pack #1 - after daily quest rewards)
nonkeepers -
"Corrupted Pegasus" (non-gold - Level 1 - $12.75 USD - 3,000 DEC) --
** sent this card to @forever-crypto as gradual repayment for "Dwarvan Wizard" (gold - Level 3) card 210
Total = 3,210 DEC

"Orbs" (Pack #2 - second (evening) daily pack)
nonkeepers - 240 DEC

** bought new "+5 reward card" (5 charges) potion - 3,600 DEC

** bought one additional "Orbs" pack (2,400 DEC) to celebrate today's JUICY pull of cards. I am finding that, based on my average daily income (of DEC), AND accounting for the ongoing costs of the "+5 reward cards", "brilliant legendary", and "brilliant alchemy (gold)" potions, it is best to purchase one additional "Orbs" pack every OTHER day, instead of DAILY. Pacing is the KEY to this whole process. This enables me to continue adding packs to my reserve stash (to satiate my "pack addiction") AND ALSO have enough liquid DEC to keep all of the potions at max (since those potions significantly increase the possibility of getting "super cards" which can then be used to buy more packs. I think this is the BEST option based my current DEC income of ~ 2,000 - 2,500 DEC/day). I am also monitoring my average daily DEC earnings, as my collection grows, and will adjust the pack-purchase pace in line with that income level.

November 23rd, 2019

"Orbs" (Pack #1 - Before completing daily quest, because I wanted to try to reach "Diamond III" level before completing the quest, to get more reward cards"
nonkeepers - "Minotaur Warlord" (non-gold - level 1 - $3.98 USD - 3,000 DEC - put for sale on market) + 300 DEC
Total = 3,300 DEC

Daily Reward Cards (it was too difficult to reach "Diamond III" this morning, so I will work on that AFTER the now completed quest)
keepers - "Sea Genie" (Gold - Level 4 - $0.72 USD - 750 USD) + 90 DEC
nonkeepers - 120 DEC

Although there are some DISADVANTAGES to slowing down the process of opening (and being able to USE, and earn, DEC from any "super cards" in the 100 (+10) pack batches, the reality is that I think I now have ENOUGH "power cards" to minimize this disadvantage, and so waiting a few weeks to open some of those "super cards" is not going to make a HUGE difference compared to the value of having proper DEC liquidity. In addition, once the "Orbs" cards run out, I plan to use this SAME strategy to continue buying the new "Untamed" series packs. So right now I am laying the foundation for my LONGER-TERM system of perpetually buying SteemMonsters card packs using the assets I ALREADY have in the game (instead of using crypto from OUTSIDE of the game (ex. Bitcoin). My ultimate focus right now is building the momentum to do this.

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( 2 ) I am finding that opening TWO daily "Orbs" packs (one in the morning (either AFTER the daily quest, or BEFORE it (if the quest is difficult), and one in the evening) is an ideal pace, as it serves the DUAL purposes of staying motivated (knowing that I can look forward to INDULGING my "pack habit" twice on a regular (one "dose" every 12 hours) basis), AND keeping the pace of pack-opening to a "healthy" level so that I am BOTH unleashing the earning potential of the cards, but also doing so at a "comfortably replenishable" pace, so as to maintain DEC liquidity. This also allows me to progressively SAVE some DEC as a more long-term investment, as the price of the DEC token ITSELF may very well increase substantially in value as the game evolves and become more popular.

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3 ) I know some/many of you reading this may be starting to think that all of the recordkeeping, and number-crunching, in these recent posts is a bit "neurotic" - which is (partially) IS - but in my defense let me state that there is a PURPOSE for such excessive detail. What we all should to keep in mind is that one of the MAJOR advantages of "blockchain gaming" is that you OWN the assets! So this means that the "accounting" process is actually AS MUCH a part of "the game" as the "active play" is! In fact, one of the reasons why I have tended to play "#drugwars as a "secondary" game (instead of putting my full focus on it) is because it lacks the second part - interesting "active play" features, and so I am using my "Drug Wars" more as a "marketing case study", and a way to explore specific feature specific to the DrugWars game (ex. gangs), than the more "active play" which I engage in daily with "Steem Monsters". Keep in mind that this whole series is essentially BOTH a "detailed" analysis of these two specific (Steem-based) games, AND a more "general" exploration of "blockchain gaming" as an evolving industry/phenomenon/technology. So, when I list all of the details of the "asset" transactions (ex. reward cards (with DEC values), pack results (with DEC values), and the additional transactions which result from those (ex. buying more packs, potions, etc.) this is to DEMOSTRATE (through actual daily activity) the "asset management" aspects of these games. Keep in mind that this is the FIRST time in gaming history that we have had access to this new aspect of gaming, so it is worth exploring, in my opinion. You can see, from the above detail, that my strategy is generally IMPROVING, and such improvement is primarily the result of this meticulous recordkeeping, experimentation, and analysis - just like in any proper business/project endeavor.

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( 4 ) I got an EVEN JUICIER (100%) upvote from @steemmonsters account for the previous post in this series. As opposed to the ~ 6 Steem that the previous 50% upvote have been paying out for several weeks (which covers around HALF of an "Orbs" pack), the ~ 16 Steem (from the 100% upvote) converts to ~ 2,500 DEC, which is the perfect amount to cover ONE FULL "weekly celebration pack". Then if I pull a (more more - which is certainly possible, as you can see from some of the images in this post) "super card(s)" (like a "gold Orbs (promo)") that upvote essentially become worth MUCH MORE over time, and that further incentivizes me spending the time and energy developing these posts. I have also suggested from the @splinterlands official "manual curation team" that they try to figure out a way to create an "upvote trail", so that people like me, who write especially detailed posts (whci require significant time and energy relative to the one (albeit significant) upvote from the official account) , can get a little more "upvote love" - which, as I explained above, I am simply going to reinvest into more packs to INDULGE my "pack habit"). But an "upvote trail ALSO may go a long way in getting more people posting more extensive analysis of the game, instead of just rewards card posts ( which have their place also), which IN AND OF ITSELF will help expand the marketing reach of the game across the internet.

Also, one of the manual curators ( the lovely @carrieallen ) staged an "intervention" this past week by suggesting I "consolidate" these posts a bit, and/or add some images, etc. Her points are valid, and although my main rebuttle is that these posts are essentially a "diary-ish" form of me working out some of these gaming ideas in "real-time" (as I write each of the posts in this series in SPURTS throughout the week, as the various topics evolve and/oor arise) I, of course, DO want the readers to be able to most efficiently EXTRACT as much JUICINESS from these "drops" as possible. So I am in the PERPETUAL process of trying to consolidate the info in these posts, and add some more images. I will start by posting FIVE of my reward card and/or "Orb" pack card results pages from throughout the week. I think there are ENOUGH of these images to make these pages a bit less "text heavy". I will do this "adjustment" process step-by-step, and so the main goal this week is to add the images (and TRY to consolidate the text a little bit). Shout-out to @carrieallen for the constructive feedback.

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( 5 ) As I mentioned in the previous post, my new strategy is to move 0.03 BTC out of Coinbase and into Steem, in monthly installments, over the next few months (at least until I get proper momentum of DEC liquidity so that I DON'T EVEN HAVE TO tap into the BTC. However, this month I have ALSO been monitoring the significant decrease in value of Bitcoin. But the thing to keep in mind is that the most important thing is that RATIO of "BTC to Steem" (BTC:Steem). Like whereas today the values are (BTC = $7,600 USD (CoinGecko), and Steem = $0.126 USD), even with the price drop of BTC the AMOUNT/QUANTITY of Steem I can get for BTC (via @blocktrades ) is essentially THE SAME (~ 1,800 Steem). However, with the price of BTC going lower this simply means that it would be EASIER to "buy back" the BTC I sell for Steem (and then SteemMonster cards) if I choose to implement that strategy (in a monthly "buy" of BTC using SteemMonsters earnings). If this actually materializes it would be CONVINCING EVIDENCE of the value of "liquidating" some (generally) STAGNANT Bitcoin for alt-coins which are more "practically useful", and then using the gains to buy more Bitcoin for the long term. Right now, my entire SteemMonsters card collection (minus one 100 (+10) upcoming "Untamed" packs) on PeakMonsters : https://peakmonsters.com/@transcript-junky/collection is ~ $3,000 USD. if you divide the current price of ~ $7,600 USD/BTC by ~ 3,000 that gives you ~ 2.53 BTC. If I just sold all of my SteemMonsters holdings right now I would be UP around 0.10 Bitcoin from when I started playing SteemMonsters and DrugWars. As long as I am still UP it may be ideal to start setting aside a monthly amount of DEC to sell for Bitcoin (just IN CASE Bitcoin starts "mooning". If I can make back the original BTC then all of my SteemMonsters activity will be "profit" in the long-term, and I COULD even start buying up some super-cheap (but with strong fundmental) coins, like DOGE (which is MUCH cheaper than BTC, and so I will get more "full tokens" of DOGE versus BTC, and liquidate my holdings further). I have been buying DOGE consistently for the past year, as I believe it has long-term appreciation potential and stability. This is an idea I am playing around with right now, but as long as I continue to be "up" relative to BTC I have time to figure out a proper strategy on this end of things (especially since my daily DEC earnings is still not "enough" to maintain BOTH "in-game" investment PLUS "out of game" investment at the same time). Hopefully that will change as things move forward, and with progressively increasing daily DEC earnings I can begin to buy other tokens (ex. DOGE, BTC, etc.). The key is to proceed METHODICALLY, yet with an OPEN MIND.

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( 6 ) This past week I was so busy with various projects that I did not have much time to dedicate to active #DrugWars play, but I DID manage to be able to stick to my core "passive" strategy of contributing 500k (drugs) + 500k (weapons) + 500k (alcohol) per day to the various "gang buildings" which needed topping up, and it appears that the other members have been keeping up on their end by doing the gang jobs, and so for now we are moving forward. I am also adding the task of checking our gang's Discord channel to check-in with the other members and see if there is any important news going on. I am doing this every time I make a one of my "three per week" Steemit posts, and share the link in Discord. Given my lack of time/energy right now, I think this is a "productive enough" stategy to keep thing moving in the @drugwars game, and also continue earning DWD tokens, which I can then convert on @steem-engine into DEC to buy more packs.

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I hope you find some/any of these tips useful in increasing your understanding and/or skill level in the Steem Monsters (Splinterland) and/or Drug Wars game(s). More JUICY tips to come with each weekly update, as I become more experienced and successful in the game.

See you on the battlefield...

@transcript-junky

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I like your well thought out posts. It gives me ideas about my own gaming. I don't have BTC to just buy a lot of packs but I do have time to play the game and earn my way up. I've been saving all the DEC I earn and convert all the DWD I get into steem power to keep playing splinterlands. Once I am happy with the amount of steem power I have. I think I will follow your lead and convert all DWD to DEC. It should help with buying packs in the future. Thanks for the idea.

Yup. I just happened to be lucky to have earned a bit of BTC back in 2013-2014 (at ~ $200 - $400/BTC ), and so this is now PART of the payoff of seeing the potential in BTC and taking the risk. But you make a good point, in that I am writing this series (hopefully) to ANYONE who wants to be as "low investment" as possible. I know I have a bit of an "advantage" as a result of the Bitcoin I own, but at the same time, INSTEAD of "feeling guilty" about that, I think the way forward is to try to show those SteemMonsters players who are on MORE of a tight budget a way to build momentum in a methodical way. I hope this series helps people achieve that..

So much detail in loving monsters. I love it. ;-)

It dawned on me only recently that getting upvotes from @steemmonster and other steemmonster supporters help greatly in advancing the game. Good luck with your future pack openings.

Yup! The 50% (and now 100%) upvotes I have been getting from @steemmonsters ( which will hopefully continue ;->) since they started manually curating is not as much valuable for the ~ 10 - 15 STEEM weekly payout (for that one weekly "celebration pack" to feed my "pack addiction") is actually just ONE benefit from the weekly series posts. The more long-term perk is all of the new followers I get when the JUICY upvotes put me on the trending pages. So the posts are JUST ONE part of an ARRAY of different tools I am using to both boost my OWN progress, and help other players, and draw in some new people. Maybe I'll hit that final "Minotaur Warlord" (Gold - Level 3 - $175 - $200 USD ) in today's celebration pack.. Fingers crossed...

Hi, @transcript-junky!

You just got a 12.95% upvote from SteemPlus!
To get higher upvotes, earn more SteemPlus Points (SPP). On your Steemit wallet, check your SPP balance and click on "How to earn SPP?" to find out all the ways to earn.
If you're not using SteemPlus yet, please check our last posts in here to see the many ways in which SteemPlus can improve your Steem experience on Steemit and Busy.

Woohoo!

You have been manually curated by the @steemmonsters team!

Enjoy your juicy upvote and keep creating excellent Splinterlands content!

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