About Illuvium (ILV)

As an open-world RPG game, Illuvium allows players to participate in the game by collecting creatures named Illuvial. Each Illuvial exists in the form of NFT, has the corresponding occupations, and is endowed with affinity.

There are a total of 5 occupations and 5 affinities in Illuvium. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages. They are divided into 100 categories. Users can now choose from two types of gameplay, PVE and PVP, and earn rewards after completing tasks. This way, users will make their Illuvial combination more powerful. \

Source: IIIuvium’s Official Website

ILV (Illuvium) and sILV2 are Illuvium’s two mainstream digital currencies other than BTC for ERC-20 projects on Ethereum. Token holders can use ILV to participate in liquidity mining and governance and earn rewards. There will be a lock-in period for ILV rewards, but users can use sILV in the game immediately. Overall, Illuvium adopts the current mainstream dual-token model to run the economic system within the ecosystem. \

Source: IIIuvium’s Official Website

NFTs are also adopted by Illuvium to represent each Illuvial and in-game items which can also be traded on external NFT marketplaces. Users can purchase the corresponding tokens on the Gate.io platform, and then start to stake gameplay on Illuvium’s official staking platform to obtain profits.

Illuvium is founded by Kieran Warwick and Aaron Warwick. One of the most key reasons for the two founders to attract attention in the crypto space is that they are the brothers of Kain Warwick, the founder of Synthetix. The success of Synthetix can help Illuvium to receive higher awareness when it is officially launched.

Launched in 2022, Illuvium is currently in an external beta test. Its main creative team is over 150 people from around the world. Although the team has no well-known star founders, it is worth noting that more than half of the members are responsible for game-related work. The project has attracted a number of art creators to create detailed and unique avatar designs for each Illuvial in the game.

Source: IIIuvium’s Official Website

Although blockchain-related technologies have shown explosive growth in applications of the game field in recent years, especially NFT-related technologies, the reality is that users have not witnessed a product whose gameplay is not so different from that of traditional games, regardless of whether those various GameFi products are popular or not. The main creative team of Illuvium has promised to launch a higher-level game experience to further explore the metaverse and the benign mode of revenue generation. In this regard, developers need to determine whether Illuvium has the corresponding characteristics to achieve this point.

What kind of game is Illuvium?

Illuvium has only published the beta version. After creating an account, the game client can download the PC version. Users can choose from free and subscribed games.

Source: IIIuvium’s Official Website

Currently, the core mechanism of Illuvium is that users capture, collect and cultivate their own NFT Illuvial. Each Illuvial in the game has a corresponding affinity value and occupation.

If the user’s Illuvial is powerful, it can combine occupation and affinity, and can be used in battle with other Illuvials with the same affinity and occupation. Users can get rewards after completion, which is called creating synergy effects. It is similar to Combos in other games, which can provide different tactical options for users to use and collect Illuvial.

Users can also merge their own Illuvials to create new Illuvials, which will increase power after reaching a certain level.

Each Illuvial needs to be captured in the initial stage, and the user must conduct the capture game through fragment props. The more powerful the wild Illuvial, the higher the level of shards used to capture, which can increase the probability of capture.

When Illuvial is damaged in battle, users can put it in fragments to restore health, pay a certain fee to speed up the recovery, or use items to speed up the recovery of health. Some Illuvials are quite unique in rarity and appear as sparkles, gold, or holograms.

Illuvium has five distinct classes: Warrior, Guardian, Psion, Rogue, and Empath. Their details have not yet been announced. The current known information indicates that players need to match multiple Illuvials and consider the synergistic effect of occupation and affinity, especially when building a “sublimated” mixed occupation. For example, Berserker is a combination of Warrior Illuvial with Rogue Illuvial. Players can combine two of the same class to create an Illuvial with specific skills for that class.

Illuvium has five Affinities: Air, Nature, Fire, Water, and Earth. Each Illuvial with an affinity can bring about and take damage. For example, Water Illuvials will bring about extra damage to Fire Illuvials, but less damage to Earth Illuvials. Players can mix the five Affinities in Illuvial to form an Affinity Combination. \

Source: IIIuvium’s Official Website

Meanwhile, Illuvium has also launched its own Land system as economic assistance for gameplay, which will be put into use after the official release. However, lluvium’s Land has already started an early auction in June 2022, with a total of 20,000 of five levels of Land. It accounts for one-fifth of the total number of Lands in the game. The Land of the T1-T4 grades adopts the form of a Dutch auction, while the most advanced T5 Land adopts the British auction.
In the Auction, a batch of 282 lots is listed every hour, for a total of 72 batches. Each batch’s selling lasts 2 hours. After listing, it will drop at 2.5% per minute until it is sold or the time runs out.

ETH and sILV2 can be used to pay for the land, but not in the same transaction. While sILV2 will not attract external revenue, it will incentivize current token holders to exchange their yield tokens for sILV2. This will greatly reduce the long-term total supply of ILV, causing ILV to deflate and the token price to rise.

Landowners will have the chance to earn income from players in the main game by the innovative feature of the Balancer multi-token Weighted Pool. They will achieve this by exchanging the Fuel they generate in the game for ETH. On the other hand, Illuvium players will exchange ETH for Fuel, which is used to complete all game transactions except IlluviDEX transactions between players.

How Does ILV Work?

As an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum blockchain, Illuvium (ILV) offers many different use cases within the ecosystem. The launch of the official version of the subsequent game and the utility judgment in the staking will influence the price of ILV.

Source: IIIuvium’s Official Website

Currently, Illuvium has completed two rounds of low-cost ILV release sales, and according to the official release plan, the process is nearly halfway through.

Source: IIIuvium’s White Paper

ILV rewards have a one-year vesting period, but players can use sILV2 immediately in the game. The sum of ILV and sILV2 is 3 million, so the total supply is limited. Circulation will also be lower as many users have staked their tokens.

ILVs serve three primary purposes:

• Players can earn rewards in ILV tokens according to their successes and achievements when playing the game.
• Holders can stake ILV in the Illuvium Vault. Stakeholders can get rewards in ILV or sILV2.
• Holders can govern the game through Illuvium’s Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO). The Illuvinati Council allows the community to collaborate on building games, improving proposals, and deciding on changes to other governance models.

Users must pay Ethereum gas fees if they move ILV and sILV2 which are ERC-20 tokens. The public still has no idea how the project team successfully implemented ERC-20 transactions into the game because the official version has not yet been launched.

About ILV Liquidity Pool

Source: IIIuvium’s Official Website

Balancer, Illuvium’s liquidity pool, is designed to allow DeFi protocols to draw from less liquidity than is typically required for seed pools like Uniswap or Sushiswap. Balancer is able to solve this problem with variable weights of assets.

The two assets in a regular pool are matched 50:50 in value, but in BLBP, the weights change over time, creating downward pressure. When the pool goes live, the price will start to drop.

The value of those tokens must still match the weight when the number of tokens in the pool decreases. That’s why the price of the tokens will rise to compensate. The token’s price goes down gradually, which can match the cycle of the recovery of the token.

Theoretically, Illuvium can fairly distribute up to 1,000,000 unlocked tokens and list them at an initial price of $50 per token by using Balancer’s smart pool.

• The Initial pool weight ratio: 96:4
• Final Pool Weight Ratio: 50:50
• Time Span: 72 hours
• Progress: Linear

How to stake Illuvium (ILV)?

Users who stake ILV can earn rewards in two different ways:

• Obtain ILV or sILV2 through liquidity mining. The lock-in period for ILV rewards is 12 months, but users can earn sILV2 and use them in-game immediately.
• Obtain ILV via income distribution. In Illuvium, Ethereum players’ spending can be used to buy back ILV, which is then distributed to stakers. This mechanism will go live when the game launches.

To stake ILV, users need to transfer ILV to an external wallet that can be connected to the user’s one, such as Metamask.

Pros and Cons of Illuvium (ILV)

Illuvium aims to break the cycle of low-quality games for NFT users by offering a more immersive gaming experience. By integrating the second-layer protocol Immutable X, it addresses congestion issues on Ethereum and improves performance. Utilizing Ethereum’s security and Immutable X’s performance, Illuvium provides a multi-layered ecosystem.

Pros

1. AAA-Grade Blockchain Gaming Experience: Combines NFTs with detailed virtual worlds.
2. User-Friendly: Suitable for new users with no registration or KYC forms required, ensuring privacy protection.
3. Zero Gas Fees: Offers near-instant transactions, enhancing the player experience.
4. Earning Opportunities: Players can earn ILV tokens through gameplay, with options for staking and liquidity mining.
5. Active Community: Boasts a vibrant community and social media following, supported by a strong development team.
6. DAO Governance Model: Allows players to participate in game development decisions.

Cons

1. High Leverage Trading: Can increase the risk of financial losses.
2. Market Volatility: The price of ILV tokens can be affected by the high volatility of the cryptocurrency market.
3. New Game Challenges: May face challenges in user acceptance and market penetration as a new game.
4. Sustainability and Profitability: Long-term sustainability and profitability have not been proven since the game is not fully launched.

Risks Associated with Illuvium (ILV)

Code Security Risk

Despite Illuvium’s staking contracts being audited, code security remains an inherent risk. Open-sourcing the project code can enhance community trust and allow a broader range of developers and security experts to review it. However, this approach might also introduce new security challenges.

Market Risk

The gaming market is not only highly competitive but also rapidly evolving. To maintain competitiveness, Illuvium must continuously innovate and adapt to market trends, such as by integrating emerging technologies like augmented reality, virtual reality, or cloud gaming, to attract and retain users’ interest.

Token Risk Supplement

The volatility of ILV token prices can impact not only project development and operations but also user engagement and staking willingness. The project team can mitigate this risk through token stability measures, such as introducing liquidity pools, token buyback, and burn mechanisms.

Regulatory Risk

As cryptocurrencies and blockchain games become more widespread, the regulatory environment is also evolving. Illuvium may face regulatory uncertainties that could affect its operational model, token economics, and market access.

Illuvium (ILV) Recent Updates

Illuvium Airdrop Details

Illuvium has launched an unprecedented airdrop event to express gratitude to its community. This event will distribute 260,000 ILV tokens, including 50,000 ILV for loyal holders and 210,000 ILV reserved for the Play-to-Airdrop program, with a total value of approximately $25 million. A snapshot was taken on April 14, 2024, to determine eligibility, and the loyalty rewards will be distributed in the second quarter of 2024. Participants can accumulate points by staking, purchasing Illuvitars, holding land, and trading on IlluviDex, which will determine the amount of ILV they receive.

Additionally, the Play-to-Airdrop event allows players to earn points by participating in Illuvium: Arena battles, exploring the overworld, developing land, and trading. The top 10% of participants during the beta test phase will receive ILV directly airdropped into their IMX Passport wallets. The public beta (mainnet) will enable players to own their Illuvium assets and calculate points at the end of the event. To enhance market stability and encourage regular participation, the vesting period has been reduced from six months to three months. Participants can immediately unlock 50% of their rewards, with the remaining 50% vesting over the next three months. Early reward claims will result in forfeiture of the unvested portion, which will be returned to the treasury. Unclaimed rewards will be returned after one year to support future events.

Illuvium Zero Beta Released on iOS, Google Play, PC and Mac

Illuvium Zero has progressed from the Alpha to the Beta phase, marking a significant milestone in the project’s multi-platform release. Players can now experience Illuvium Zero Beta on iOS, Google Play, and Epic Games (Mac and PC). This expansion allows more players to join the adventure and explore the latest updates and features on the Sepolia testnet. It’s important to note that player progress will be reset when transitioning to the mainnet.

In this new phase, players will complete tasks related to the Sepolia Beta version through a new mission dashboard, earning airdrop points. This provides an opportunity to test new features and contributes to the Illuvium ecosystem. Illuvium Zero Beta offers a free storyline, enabling any player to begin their adventure in this universe.

The Illuvium team is thrilled to bring Illuvium Zero Beta to players and looks forward to receiving valuable feedback as the game develops and improves. Whether earning rewards through missions or enjoying the free storyline, Illuvium Zero Beta provides a unique opportunity for players to experience this virtual world. Players can now download and start their adventure on their preferred platform anytime.

Conclusion

The launch of ILV and the decentralized finance (DeFi) staking platform, as well as the promotion of the excellent game, have helped Illuvium gain popularity and increase ILV trading volume. The price of Illuvium has also shown solid growth momentum since the launch of IIIuvium.

Though the ILV game has not yet been launched, the team’s actions and announcements have brought good traffic to the project in terms of what users are concerned about, including the design of the Token model, and long-term lock-up rewards. Of course, the price of ILV soared, which sparked hot discussions about GameFi 3A masterpieces. It seems that GameFi is advancing towards better game performance. We can also look forward to implementing other projects in the follow-up industry.

Regarding operation, Illuvium based on Ethereum layer 1 will give users a very bad experience. Illuvium currently adopts the Layer 2 scalability solution based on immutable X to make the game faster and reduce the cost of in-game financial transactions.

Illuvium is similar to other blockchain games, such as Axie Infinity, in terms of game mechanics, but it seems to have a better look, feel, and function. If it can make further gameplay breakthroughs in the GameFi ecosystem, this game may become one of the first batches that have truly covered the traditional game player groups.