Evolving the ELY Economy: What’s Changing and Why
Over the past few years, the Vulcan Forged ecosystem has grown from a single game into a fully-fledged world of experiences – VulcanVerse, Berserk, HeXenagos and Paint Olympus – not to mention some games that have come and gone along the way.
With that growth came our in-game token, ELY (formerly LAVA). ELY is meant to be the blood of the ecosystem: something you actually care about earning, spending and competing for – not just a number that endlessly inflates in the background.
Right now, too much ELY is being given out too easily. That hurts the value of the token, makes rewards feel less meaningful, and doesn’t set us up well for the next stage of growth.
So we’re making some important changes to how ELY is distributed, starting with a Phase 1 update that rolls out now.
This article explains why we’re doing it, what’s changing, and what it means for you as a player.
The Problem We’re Solving
When a rewards token is over-distributed, a few things happen:
- Value drops. If millions of tokens are handed out every month, each one naturally becomes less valuable.
- Rewards feel bland. When everyone is constantly earning small trickles “just because”, the rewards stop feeling special or exciting.
- Farming beats playing. Systems that pay out passively tend to attract multi-accounts and low-effort farming over genuine play and skill.
- Long-term health suffers. We want Vulcan Forged to still be here – and thriving – in five or ten years. That means putting sustainability ahead of short-term faucets.
Our goal is simple:
Make ELY something you are proud to earn, excited to win, and happy to spend.
To do that, we need to cut back on free, passive ELY and shift it towards competitive play, quests, raffles and seasons across the ecosystem.
Our Goals With the New ELY Economy
Phase 1 of these changes is built around a few clear principles:
- Restore scarcity and value.
ELY should be harder to get, so that getting it actually means something. - Reward skill, effort and engagement.
The best way to earn should be by playing, competing, completing quests and taking part in events – not idling. - Make rewards more exciting.
Raffles, seasons, and mixed ELY + NFT prizes are more engaging than pure “drip” rewards. - Create a foundation we can build on.
These are step one in a broader roadmap that includes seasons, improved quests, land and guild utility, and more ways to burn and use ELY.
What’s Changing in Phase 1
1. Adjusted Daily ELY Pools
We’re reducing and refocusing the daily ELY rewards pools so that they:
- Support active play instead of passive farming
- Reduce overall token emissions
- Give us room to make events and seasons genuinely rewarding
Planned daily pools now look like this:
- VulcanVerse: 10 ELY per hour (shared across active players / activities)
- Berserk: 100 ELY per day
- Other games:
- HeXenagos: targeting around 50 ELY per day (to be tuned as we go)
- Paint Olympus: focus first on tournament-based rewards rather than a flat daily faucet
We’ll be actively monitoring how these changes feel and perform. Numbers may be fine-tuned based on data and feedback – but the direction is clear: less constant dripping, more meaningful rewards.
2. Removing the Frenzy Pass (For Now)
The Frenzy Pass has served its purpose, but in the current economy it adds:
- Another source of constant ELY output, and
- Another system for new players to understand on top of quests, events and seasons.
We’re removing the Frenzy Pass for now so we can:
- Simplify the experience for new and returning players
- Consolidate rewards into systems that fit the new ELY philosophy (quests, raffles, seasons)
This doesn’t mean we’ll never have a pass-style product again – but if/when it returns, it will be redesigned to fit the tighter, more competitive ELY economy.
3. Updating the My Forge Quest Panel
The current My Forge quest bonuses are heavily focused on flat buffs like Double XP / Double ELY. In an environment where we’re trying to control emissions, that’s no longer healthy.
We’re making the following changes:
- Removing Double XP / ELY bonuses from MyForge
- Introducing weekly raffles linked to quest completion
Planned structure:
- Players who complete their weekly My Forge quests will earn entries into a weekly raffle
- Each week, we’ll have 10 raffle winners
- Each winner will receive 100 ELY or an NFT reward
Why this is better:
- Rewards are focused on players who actually complete quests, not just log in.
- The chance to win meaningful chunks of ELY or NFTs each week is more exciting than small passive bonuses.
- It allows us to tightly control total emissions while still giving regular, clear reasons to play.
Over time, MyForge will become the central driver of activity across all games – with quests that touch VulcanVerse, Berserk, HeXenagos, assets, and future titles. This work is ongoing in the background at present. We’ll share on Discord, when we’re ready to go.
4. Berserk Season & Card Pass Changes
Berserk remains a core pillar of the Vulcan Forged ecosystem, so it’s getting special attention.
Berserk Season – starting 1 December
We’re planning a new Berserk Season starting 1 December, with:
- A mix of ELY and NFT rewards
- A clearer season structure, so you know exactly what you’re playing towards
- Rewards that emphasise competition, participation and deck-building, not just raw grinding
Instead of endless open-ended rewards, we’ll have time-boxed seasons that feel like real events, with their own goals and incentives.
Berserk Card Pass – more focused, more collectible
We’re also adjusting the Berserk Card Pass to make it:
- More valuable for collectors
- Easier to understand
- Better aligned with the new reward economy
Planned changes:
- The pass will grant around 40 cards per pass
- The intention is: one of each OG card in that pass cycle
That makes the Card Pass a clear value proposition: you know what you’re getting, you expand your collection meaningfully, and it ties into future raffles, seasons and deck strategies.
We don’t need to tell you to get that Berserk practice in.. do we? Note that some of these changes are pending, with work ongoing.
“Is This Just a Nerf to My Earnings?”
Let’s address the obvious question that we know some of you are asking!
Short term:
Yes, if you relied primarily on passive daily ELY or stacking multiple low-effort accounts, you’ll see a reduction. That’s intentional – those systems aren’t healthy for the token or the ecosystem.
But for engaged players, the aim is different:
- Your rewards should mean more.
If ELY is less common, the ELY you do earn from leaderboards, seasons, raffles and quests should carry more weight. - The game experience improves.
Systems focused on competition, quests, and events are more fun and fair than pure faucet loops. - We can keep building.
A sustainable ELY economy gives us room to ship more content, more events and more utilities without constantly worrying about runaway inflation.
To be clear, we’re not “turning off rewards”, we’re simply shifting them from “everyone gets a trickle” to “those who play, compete and engage get meaningful rewards.”
What’s Coming Next
This update is Phase 1 – the “immediate actions” that require relatively low development time but have a strong impact.
Beyond this, the broader roadmap (which we’ll share more of over time) includes things like:
- Deeper My Forge integration across all games
- Game-specific quest panels (Berserk, Hexenagos, Paint Olympus etc.)
- Richer leaderboards – including sub-leaderboards inside VulcanVerse (boss fights, Tartarus, guilds)
- Narrative “God Quests” and themed progression
- More ELY sinks and burn mechanics, tied to passes, buildings, and in-game systems
- Land and guild utilities that make ownership and community play a bigger part of the economy
All of those depend on us having a disciplined, sustainable ELY distribution at the core. That’s what this first round of changes is about. Of course, we’re also reviewing the viability of all of our games, to ensure we concentrate our efforts where needed to give players the best experience possible.
Into The Future
Over the longer term, the Vulcan Forged team are going to be looking at our token structure in depth, with the potential that ELY could be replaced with an existing token, such as V or PYR – please note that at present, the team are in the early stages of discussion with nothing concrete; for now and the short term, the ELY economy evolution is taking place.
We’ll Be Listening
We know any change to rewards can be sensitive, and there will be questions and concerns.
Here’s what you can expect from us:
- We’ll monitor data (participation, ELY flows, abuse, etc.) and adjust where needed.
- We’ll (continue to) listen to feedback from the community and key players across all games.
- We’ll communicate, so you understand the direction we’re taking and importantly, why.
This is about making Vulcan Forged stronger for the long term – for players, collectors, guilds and everyone who’s been with us since the early LAVA days. Those watching on will have noticed that we burned 10 million ELY on Monday 17 November. The evolution has begun.
Thank you for sticking with us through the evolution. We Forge On!