Addressing Community Concerns: An Open Letter to the TMA Community

Hello Machines,

Since The Machines Arena went Open Beta on April 23, we've made significant updates: launching the game on Android with full cross-play capabilities, introducing Familiars as new collectibles and in-game companions, revamping Ranked Weekends with sponsors, and preparing for the P2A system to reward players and collectors with the upcoming $TMA token.

These changes have significantly expanded the game's scope and complexity. While this is a beta and changes are to be expected, we understand there are pressing concerns. We want to provide clarity on these topics and explain how we are addressing them.

Familiars: why should you care?

We know there has been some confusion regarding the new set of Familiars, particularly with them having the same perks as the first set. Here's what you need to know:

• Familiars are an integral part of TMA: Familiars are a core part of The Machines Arena, giving small stat boosts to heroes. Expect new sets to roll out with future updates, offering additional in-game utility and more variety in their boosts. Check out more details in our original Familiars announcement blog post: Familiars Are Entering Into the Arena
  
  
• Current Familiars Limited Availability: The new sets released on May 29 will be unavailable for purchase shortly after the P2A launch (exact date to be announced). No new sets will be introduced until the season concludes, ensuring their exclusivity post-P2A.
  
• P2A utility: Much like Skins, acquiring and minting Familiars directly impacts the P2A system, as each asset you own adds to your rewards - that applies even to multiple copies of the same Skin/Familiar. We will share more details with the upcoming P2A announcement and Whitepaper.

Ranked Rewards misassignment

We know the misassignment of Ranked Rewards over the past weekends has caused frustration. Here’s what we’re doing:

• Prizes for legitimate winners: We have corrected the database errors and identified the rightful winners. They will receive their prizes accordingly, with the list of winners to be published on our community-updates channel on Discord.
  
• Improved detection system and blacklist: While our existing measures detect most cheaters, some exploitation methods have slipped through. We are developing an internal blacklist to prevent griefers from receiving undeserved rewards and accessing P2A benefits, alongside banning outright cheaters.

We are continuously enhancing our systems and expect our blacklist to mitigate these issues until further security updates are implemented. Please continue to report any issues through our support tickets or the report channel on Discord.

NFT Liquidity and Unlimited Skins/Familiars

The concerns about NFT liquidity and the availability of unlimited Skins and Familiars have been noted.

• Balancing Supply:  While we understand that an unlimited supply is somewhat uncommon in the web3 space, we believe it will not impact the game in the long term. Currently, TMA is still small in terms of player-base, and we anticipate that the temporary unlimited supply of certain Skins/Familiars will not adversely affect the economy as the game grows to tens of thousands of players. Furthermore, unlimited supply will soon be a thing of the past: we are developing stock limit functionality within the store, which will be applied to current and future collectibles once P2A launches. We will ensure to communicate early, transparently, and clearly about collectible supply limits, item removals from the store, new entries, and related updates.
  
• Upcoming changes in Minting. While currently everything can be minted for free (excluding gas costs), this will change significantly after P2A. The current system was designed to quickly roll out features, test them, and reward early adopters. We have been clear from the start that free minting will not last indefinitely.

Moving Forward

We appreciate your patience and understanding as we continue to refine the TMA Open Beta. We are learning from these experiences and are committed to transparent communication and effective solutions. Keep sharing your feedback; we are listening.

Expect more news and details on P2A with upcoming announcements and the Whitepaper publication.

Sincerely,

Giorgio 'Error 404' Crosali & the TMA dev team