Since January 29, Pokémon TCG Pocket has finally earned its name. In Trading Card Game, there is “trading” which means exchange, but the game was devoid of it when it was launched. The latest update has finally implemented this feature, which unfortunately comes with a few flaws. The rules applied to exchanges are considered far too restrictive and break the charm specific to physical card exchanges. At the time of writing, Pokémon TCG Pocket requires players to use two separate resources to send a Pokémon to another player: exchange vitality and exchange tokens. The first is recharged over time or with hourglasses, while the second must be crafted. And it’s the latter that poses a problem.
At 500 exchange tokens for an “ex” card (the maximum rarity eligible for exchange), players are forced to sacrifice the duplicates of their rarest Pokémon in the hope of taking advantage of this feature. Especially since full art (two stars) and immersive (three stars) cards only earn 300 coins per destroyed copy. In its previous press release, the development team explained that it was open to feedback from the community and it is clear that the first virulent reactions have been heard.
Apologies and promises
In a new press release shared on social networks, the developers in charge of the application want to be reassuring. The post begins with some explanations regarding the restrictions in place at launch: “The requirements and restrictions implemented for the trading feature were designed to prevent abuse by bots and other prohibited actions using multiple accounts. Our goal was to balance the trading feature while maintaining a fair environment for all players.”
While the developers’ concerns are far from unfounded, the trading system is still quite off-putting. As such, this is officially set to change: “Based on your feedback, we understand that some of the restrictions in place are preventing players from enjoying the feature in a casual manner. We are actively looking for ways to improve the feature to address these concerns. In the future, we also plan to offer multiple ways to obtain Trade Tokens, including through distribution events.” In fact, 1,000 Trade Tokens were just sent to players this morning. Be sure to check the in-game gifts tab.
A Few Tweaks for an Ideal Formula
On paper, the way Pokémon TCG Pocket trades aren’t as bad as they seem. The crux of the problem lies primarily in managing the resources required. Destroying cards to obtain materials is a system shared by many virtual card games, but the Pokémon Company's application is terribly lacking in balance. By increasing the number of tokens obtained per craft, for example, the trading functionality would already seem much fairer.
It would also be necessary to include a few additional card rarities. The developers are certainly worried that malicious players will monetize the exchanges of immersive or golden cards. However, there are still a few rarities that can be made eligible for exchanges without too much risk. In particular, promo cards that disappear once their collection event is over, or full art cards (two stars).
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