Preparing for its biggest update yet, The Sandbox has dropped more details ahead of alpha season 4, which launches on Wednesday 9th October.
Running for ten weeks until the middle of December, for the dedicated players the event offers 50 hours of gameplay across 100 different experiences. Rolled out gradually, at least one experience will be released daily during the entire season.Â
Introducing the Battle Pass
As for the biggest change to previous seasons is the introduction of a Battle Pass system. Featuring 30 different levels, each level unlocks new rewards including a share of SAND tokens and NFTs. Notably, half of the Battle Pass levels have free rewards available to everyone, while half are exclusively available to Alpha Pass holders.Â
Alongside offering more rewards, the Alpha Pass also grants NFTs which unlock access to gated areas within select experiences. These areas contain special quests allowing holders to earn additional SAND and Ethos Points (EP), the latter which can be used to level up quicker.Â
Overall, Alpha Pass holders can earn up to x13 more SAND as part of the Battle Pass system than non-holders.
In conjunction with the season launch, Alpha Passes will go on sale for 25 SAND (around $6), which can be bought either from The Sandbox Marketplace, or in the game client. There will also be opportunities to win Alpha Passes during one of the weekly raffles held throughout the season.
New for alpha #4 is also the Alpha Hub, a social meeting point featuring some of The Sandbox’s brand partners and additional quests through which players can earn more EP.
Ethos Points
Similar to previous seasons, users continuously earn EP throughout the ten weeks by playing and completing quests. EP can be used to level up the Battle Pass as well as generate more rewards. Quests are available in three levels, each generating a different amount of EP. Once players reach a certain amount of EP, they progress to the next level. Higher EP also means a stronger chance of winning an Alpha Pass.
What’s different this season are the additional ways through which EP can be earned. These include Experience of the Day, which allows users to earn 15 EP. In case multiple games are Experience of the Day, they each generate 10 EP/game.Â
Every day also presents a new Social challenge, letting users earn 25 EP. Additionally, extra EP will be rewarded to those who invite friends to the season.
Some experiences will be NFT-gated and contain Premium Quests. These reward more EP than normal quests. To get access users are required to get either a Partner Key NFT (for 5 SAND) or a Category Key NFT (for 20 SAND). These unlock other gated areas and benefits too.
By holding an NFT avatar, users will also earn more EP, with different rarities determining how much can be earned.Â
NFT rewards
Of course, participating in Alpha Season 4 can also generate rewards in the shape of NFTs.
By pre-registering for the event users can earn a Gold Helmet NFT. Meanwhile, any player who creates an account or logs in during the season can claim a White Helmet NFT.
Besides helmets, 20 NFTs can be earned throughout the season, 10 of which are available to everyone, and 10 which are only for Alpha Pass holders.Â
In addition there will be Adventure Quest NFTs, rewarded for completion of Adventure Quests. A total of 110 NFTs from 40 brand partner collections will also be available to buy in limited quantities during the season. These collections will mint on the same day their associated experience goes live.
$2.5 million SAND up for grabs
Finally, as part of the Battle Pass, everyone participating in the season can earn 25 SAND tokens. This increases to 300 SAND for Alpha Pass holders. Holding LAND gives an additional opportunity to earn up to 80 SAND.Â
On the last day of the season, a raffle will be held where 500 winners will get 1,000 SAND each. The accumulated number of entries to this raffle is based on EP-based leaderboard ranks.Â
For more details, check out The Sandbox‘s official guide to Alpha Season 4.
