Steem Monsters - Power Strategy Tips #5

As I have now been playing Steem Monsters for over three months now, and have wanted to contribute something of ACTIONABLE value to my fellow players (and future players) - but NOT fill my Steemit feed with daily images of quest rewards - after some serious pondering I have decided that a weekly "Steem Monster 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. Also, feel free to hit me up on the battlefield...

@transcript-junky

1 ) For a few days at the start of this season I began experiencing a bit of a "rut". This rut began manifesting in a combination of ways. Firstly, there was the boredom. Having to start each new season at a lower level, with many of my cards and summoners reduced in their capacities, is a bit tedious, to say the least. Am I the only one finding those "yellow triangle exclamation point" signs at the top corner of the cards a bit "de-motivating"? ...

Having realized, and accepted, that I was in a rut I decided to put more focus on some alternative tasks which are PERIPHERAL to my main Steem Monsters game play. For instance, I started spending more time reading posts on the #steemmonsters hashtag page. There are MANY new updates/upgrades on the game, and so keeping up-to-date on these, and enjoying watching the process unfold, is a substantial (yet rewarding) task in and of itself. I also allocated more time towards exploring the more GENERAL news related to the EXPLOSION of new blockchain games hitting the market (or in development) now, and using those articles to feed my "blockchain gaming news" series posts (more on this below (in #2). In this way, I can use "battle off-time" to CONTINUE making general progress. In addition, the Steem income I earn on BOTH these strategy series posts AND the "blockchain gaming news" posts can be re-invested into SteemMonsters, and the other games I will participate in into the future (ex. DrugWars).

2 ) The research that I do daily for my "blockchain gaming news" Steemit series is clearly showing that we are at the DAWN of the blockchain revolution in the gaming industry. Here is the most recent post in that series in case you are interested in exploring this growing topic more deeply :

Trending Blockchain Gaming News #6 - March 8th, 2019
https://steemit.com/gaming/@transcript-junky/trending-blockchain-gaming-news-6-march-8th-2019

Now that the second main Steem blockchain game "Drug Was" has been launched, I have had a natural change/evolution in perspective, and am beginning to see my activity (both as a player AND an online marketing professional) on SteemMonsters as JUST ONE PIECE of a much larger equation. That is, SteemMonsters is an excellent case-study (from a marketing standpoint), AS WELL AS a great "hands-on" introduction to the world of blockchain gaming. For instance, many of the skills we gain via SteemMonster battles can be transferred over to the battle function in Drug Wars. In this way, we are CONTINUOUSLY evolving our knowledge of the various applications of blockchain, specifically in the gaming world, and this knowledge (and skill) can be applied in OTHER areas of blockchain applications.

3 ) I was FINALLY able to convince an active player of @DrugWars to write a proper "Intro to DrugWars" post, as I the buzz has been growing about this new Steem blockchain based game, but when I looked into it I found the learning curve to be a bit too much for me, based on time/energy available. Luckily, @timcliff (who is an EXCELLENT Steemit "witness" who I STRONGLY recommend all/any of you to vote for) went ahead and put out this great post :

Drug Wars on Steem - Ultimate Beginners Game Guide
https://steemit.com/drugwars/@timcliff/drug-wars-on-steem-ultimate-beginners-game-guide

This detailed intro post was just what I needed to feel more confident to start putting a little bit if my SteemMonsters reward earnings (Steem) into the new game to start diversifying my Steem investment. Tim makes it clear that it IS INDEED possible to start playing DrugWars WITHOUT investing any Steem directly, but since a lot of my SteemMonster Steem income comes from the free (quest and season) reward cards I earn from playing, it is essentially NO RISK to start investing a small portion of that in DrugWars, to BOTH put some "skin in the game", as well as INCENTIZE myself to continue learning about the game. I'm a strong believer of putting a "reasonable" amount of skin into the game of most of our endeavors in life, because having a STAKE in something is a GREAT MOTIVATOR for progressing in that endeavor. Try it some time.

Since we now have MORE THAN ONE viable gaming option on the Steem blockchain, re-directing a little bit of the time/energy I usually spend doing battles on SteemMonsters (ex. getting up-to-speed with DrugWars) is BOTH time well spent (in that it allows us to diversify our efforts and income streams), AND is a MAJOR antidote to the boredom which arises during the more tedious periods of daily SteemMonsters play (ex. reduction of power of cards/summoners at the beginning of each new SeemMonsters season, etc.). It is also a HEDGE during those periods when your SteemMonsters income drops (ex. the start of new seasons), and so I think this is a winning formula.

4 ) Related to #3, I have now started browsing the #drugwars Steemit hashtag for a few minutes each day to FURTHER develop a proper "feel" for the game before I divert more of my precious time to it (in case it doesn't grow as much/fast as SteemMonsters, or I lose interest for any other potential reason). For instance, in my initial evaluation of DrugWars (a few weeks ago) I discovered a few significant spelling and grammar mistakes which made me question the integrity of the game. The MOST EFFECTIVE way that we learn about ALL of these games is through reading about the experience of other players. The related hashtags to these games are a PRIMARY source of this kind of information, and in my opinion a NECESSITY for anyone serious about making progress. We can minimize wasted time/energy by monitoring the progress of those who are more involved in a particular game. We can also benefit from their strategy tutorials - ESPECIALLY those tutorials which enable us to get over the learning curve of a specific game (like the post by @timcliff above). This will be true into the future, as blockchain gaming continues to build momentum, and more games (of differing quality and subject matter) are introduced. Sometimes it may be best to "pass" on a new game, simply because the theme doesn't resonate with you, or you determine that you simply don't have enough time/energy/crypto to invest to maximize gains. In this way, you are "investing" BOTH you TIME and CRYPTO -- which is really no different than any other kind of traditional investment pursuit.

Well, that's all for now. I hope you find some/any of these tips useful in increasing your understanding and/or skill level in the game. More JUICY tips to come with each weekly update, as I become more experienced and successful in the game. All comments welcomed.

See you on the battlefield...

@transcript-junky