Trading has been one of the most anticipated features coming to Pokemon TCG Pocket. While many were excited, initial reactions to the reveal were less enthusiastic, and now that the update is live and the details are fully available, it’s somehow even worse than expected. Trading was a feature meant to enhance the player experience and help them get missing cards from sets. However, due to restrictions and costs, many believe trading was only implemented to say the feature is in the game when The Pokemon Company simply wants players to spend money on Gold and Pack Hourglasses to collect cards.
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Trading has brought the community together in its hatred of the feature, and the memes have already been rolling out to the subreddit. The backlash raises questions about the future of Pokémon TCG Pocket and whether the developers can address these issues before it’s too late, as players are threatening to cancel subscriptions and stop playing altogether.
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Trading has numerous restrictions, namely Trade Tokens and Trade Hourglasses. Players must use Trade Stamina in order to initiate and complete a trade, which can only be done with friends. This currency is generated automatically, giving one Trade Stamina every hour. For those impatient, Trade Hourglasses can be used to speed the process up.
Along with Trade Stamina and Trade Hourglasses, Trade Tokens are required for trading to work. For now, there seem to only be two ways to get Trade Tokens: waiting for an event that will grant free Trade Tokens, or burning cards to acquireTrade Tokens. While trashing extra cards for Trade Tokens doesn’t sound too bad, the exchange rate is absolutely abysmal.
Two-Star cards, some of the rarest in the game, only give players 300 Trade Tokens. This includes the immersive Charizard EX card, a highly sought-after card from the Genetic Apex booster pack. To trade a One-Star card with another player, you would have to spend 400 Trade Tokens. This means you would be trading at a loss no matter what.
Reactions have been swift and they are not good. Players are calling Pokemon TCG Pocket’s trading predatory and one of the worst cases of monetization. Many players are canceling their paid Premium Pass subscriptions in response, urging other players to do the same. Some fans are boycotting the new Space-Time Smackdown booster pack, which releases tomorrow, while others are even planning to uninstall the game altogether.
Naturally, some are defending the trading feature in Pokemon TCG Pocket, citing similar systems in other gacha games. These are far and few between, with most unilaterally hating trading. These players have made statements that Pokemon TCG Pocket’s trading is bad on purpose to encourage players to spend money to get specific cards rather than trading for them.
It remains to be seen if the backlash will impact trading and if Pokemon TCG Pocket will make the system less restrictive and costly. Many are hoping this is the case, as obtaining certain cards can be challenging, even with Wonder Picks. Trading is a great method for players to get missing cards, but a lot needs to be done to make it feasible.
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