I love a good trading card game, but Pokémon TCG Pocket might be pushing it. Released just this past October 30, the mobile version of the TCG is set to debut its fifth expansion on March 27: Shining Revelry.
That's cool, as players will get a shot at pulling shiny versions of rare Pokémon. At the same time, I haven't even finished the prior two sets and we're already being bombarded with more and more cards? Okay, it's time to chill a little.
If you're out of the loop, Pokémon TCG Pocket drops sets basically every month. Each comes with dozens of new cards with varying degrees of rarity. There are a few ways to get cards: you can open booster packs or get lucky with a Wonder Pick, which lets you randomly choose from five possible cards pulled by another user from a booster pack of their choosing.
Opening packs will grant you a small amount of pack points. Collect enough and you'll be able to get any card you want in each set. The amount you get is almost insignificant, sadly, so if you're saving for a rare card you're facing dozens upon dozens of booster packs before you amass the required amount of pack points. Plus, they're not stackable, pack points you earn opening a specific booster pack can't be used to obtain cards from other sets.
There is trading in the game, but the system is so obtuse it's already being reworked after massive fan outcry. So you can see where I'm going with this right? It's already incredibly hard to complete sets due to the randomness involved. It's not even a matter of money, as you can't outright buy cards. You can buy packs, but that's just essentially like going to the casino and trying to hit the jackpot. Mind you, if you're strictly playing as a free-to-play user, you can only open two free booster packs per day.
click to enlargeLet me give you a clearer example of how hard it is to complete a set: in the latest expansion, Triumphant Light, you have a 0.222% chance to pull the three-star Arceus EX full art (which I have by the way, slight brag). That's not even the rarest card, that would be crown rarity Arceus EX, which only has a 0.040% chance of appearing.
Triumphant Light, released on February 28, was on the smaller side of sets, with 96 total cards available. The issue is that it followed the massive Space-Time Smackdown, which added 207 cards just this past January 29. The month prior Mythical Island added 85 cards on December 17. Not to mention the first set, Genetic Apex, which launched alongside the game on October 30 and includes 286 cards.
Pokémon TCG Pocket is a perfect example of "too much content" sometimes being a bad thing. It's starting to feel like the developers at Creatures Inc. and DeNA are forcing players to spend money to try and keep up with the releases. The one thing I'll hand the developers is that all booster packs are still available, so you have the option to try and complete a previous set or test your luck when a new one arrives.
If DeNa paid just as much attention to other aspects of the game, it would be a much more enjoyable gameplay experience beyond simply collecting cards. At least ranked is finally coming with the Shining Revelry expansion. So yeah, baby steps.
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