Pokémon TCG Pockethas launched its new trading feature, although many players aren’t happy with how to earn trading currencies in the game. Overnight,Pokémon TCG Pocket launched a major update to the mobile app that adds two major new features. The first is theSpace-Time Smackdownset, a new expansion that adds over 200 new cards to the game, including a number of Pokémon that first appeared inPokémon Diamond and Pearl. The other new feature is theaddition of trading, which has been promised since the game first launched last year.
However,Pokémon TCG Pocketfans are not pleased with the requirements for trading. WhilePokémon TCG Pocketdevelopers previously confirmed that not every card in the game would be tradeable,the new trading feature requires two different kinds of new currency. The first is Trade Stamina, which functionally places a cap on how many times a player can trade in a given day. The second currency is Trade Tokens, which can be obtained by trading in high-rarity cards. Trade Tokens can be obtained by completing event missions or by trading in high-rarity cards.
Why Players Are Upset With Trading In Pokémon TCG Pocket
Trading Comes At Too High Of A Cost
The main issue with trading is the poor exchange rate for trade tokens. Players can only get Trade Tokens by exchanging cards of 3-diamond rarity or higher, but the current exchange rate for Trade Tokens is much lower than the cost to trade a single card. Players would have to exchange four Pokémon ex cards or 1-Star Pokémon cardsto earn enough Trade Tokens to make a single trade of that kind of Pokémon card. When added with the actual card needed to make a trade, players are looking at giving away five rare Pokémon cards to get a single one in return.
Pokémon TCG Pocket’s Next Set Trailer Reveals Great Fix For A Big Genetic Apex Problem
The new Pokémon TCG Pocket set Space-Time Smackdown reduces the number of pack options for players, which should be a big help while collecting cards.
Below is the cost to trade different rarities ofPokémoncards, along with how many Trade Tokens they’ll get by exchanging them in the game:
0
400 Trade Tokens
100 Trade Tokens
The move has been met with almost universal anger from various communities ofPokémon TCG Pocketfans. On Reddit, the vast majority of the comments include players vowing to stop spending money(r/jetc) or decrying the changes(r/hurtbowler). While Trade Tokens will presumably also be available through other means, as of now,players have to commit a ton of cards in their collection to make a single high-rarity trade.
Our Take: Pokémon TCG Pocket’s Biggest Miss Yet
Trading Is A Major Disaster In The App
While we understand the hesitancy of rolling out trading,Pokémon TCG Pocket’s current trading system is utterly and completely broken. Given the relatively poor pull rates for high rarity cards,most free-to-play players and even players who spend some money on the game simply don’t have the resources needed to actually make more than a trade or two in the game. If players could exchange low rarity cards for trade tokens, this new rollout might not have been met with as much anger, butPokémon TCG Pocketneeds to make a change quickly if they want to keep its reputation as a fun and accessible game.
