We have has already covered a large number of the serious issues with the new The Pokémon Company Pokemon TCG Livethe replacement for the decades-old digital way of playing the card battler, Pokemon TCG Online. But there’s another aspect that’s been underreported, and amazingly, it’s not a bug: They’ve halved the number of digital cards you get from your code cards. And to speak my cityhave claimed this is “optimal” for players!
After making the incredibly bad decision to migrate my account from PTCGO to PTCGL, I have a swaying heap of regrets. While change is ultimately inevitable for all –On-line is to be switched off as soon as live coming out of beta – it’s a great idea to wait for so many reasons. First, as clumsy as On-line could be, it’s not the heck buggy. Second, the replacement as a game titled Trading removes all aspects of trading. Third, migration destroys any card you have more than four of without compensation. Fourth… yes, you get the point.
But when I noticed that when redeeming code cards, only five cards came out of the digital packaging, I assumed something had gone very wrong with the software. All in the last ten years Pokemon TCG Product came with an extra piece of cardboard bearing a series of letters and numbers and a QR code. They have unlocked and made available for online use a digital equivalent of the package or item you purchased. From booster packs to deck boxes to coins and sleeves, it was a nice bonus and made it possible to play the excellent card battle game without having to meet in real life. And in each of these booster packs, you must unlock ten maps for online play.
The online booster packs worked the same as the IRL packs. You have an energy, a couple of common and uncommon Pokemon and trainers, then an inverted hollow (or if you’re lucky, alternative art, trainer gallery, etc.) and a rare one. It made sense and felt eminently fair.
Depending on which version of the software you’re using, you’ll now get either the full ten or half with half as many. It sucks deeply, and after contacting The Pokémon Company (TPC), my city has learned that it is entirely intentional.
“For mainline Pokémon TCG expansions like Sword & Shield [and] “Silver Tempest, each code card is designed to make five cards in Pokémon TCG Live,” TPC told us, “which helps reduce the rate at which non-foil common and uncommon cards are obtained.”
This is the strangest way of promoting one’s product, implying that it will be preserved fewer of their money benefits their customers. And sure, yes, no one needed the 79 Burmy cards he built PTCGO, but at the same time they had paid for it. Never mind that someone trying to complete a collection might be chasing an unusual spot they happened to miss and now have their chances more than cut in half.
Continue reading: The 10 best Pokemon TCG Cards from Silver Tempest
However, there is an (imaginary) economic reason for the decision, which does not bring any benefit to the players. There PTCGL has drowned itself in so many overlapping and confusing in-game currencies that it has become a difficult balancing act for TPC to navigate. One of these currencies are credits, which can be spent to buy any Card from any collection a player desires. So, yes, if you want you can just get the alt-art Lost Origin Giratina or the moon-loving Umbreon from Evolving Skies – cards that could set you back $500 in real life. Credits are obtained by winning games and completing Battle Pass objectives, but also by collecting more than four cards. There live You cannot have more than four, if you draw another one it will be converted into credits. And it seems they realized that if you got the whole bulk of your code cards, you would get “too many” credits. And that’s not my conspiratorial thinking: TPC told us so themselves:
During game development, we found that 10-card booster packs in Pokémon TCG Live often resulted in more duplicates of non-foil commons and uncommons. Once the maximum number of copies for a card type is reached, duplicates are converted into credits that can be exchanged for any card a player doesn’t already have in their collection (up to the maximum number of copies allowed). This problem was alleviated with five-card booster packs, which further balanced the game economy and contributed to a more optimal gameplay experience.
That means they created a new game economy that didn’t work very well, so they halved the number of cards you get to fix their mistake. Why are you limited to four maps? I dunno – obviously you can only play four of a type in a battle deck, but it does not offer unbalanced advantages to anyone She. But because you are, and it breaks their new system, if you don’t you lose half your moves. It is “more optimal” for you.
However, enter these codes PTCGOand you’ll still get all ten for as long as this software is allowed to live.
This doesn’t even address how disappointing the pack opening process is live compared to On-line. Previously, you scanned codes and created a collection for later. There you saw a picture of the packs, could click on each if you wanted, ‘rip open’ them and watch as all ten cards pop out and all rare cards are turned over for you to reveal. It was a nice experience. Now when you scan a code, you have to open the five cards immediately, without ceremony and without the feeling of opening a pack. Everything absolutely confusing design decisions.
In better news, TPC confirmed to us that despite the very IAP friendly new Crystals currency, there are no plans to allow players to spend real money. “Pokemon TCG Live will continue to be a free-to-play game with no in-app purchases, making it accessible to all types of gamers.”
