Pokémon TCG Pocket is about to turn two years old at the end of this month, and with that, developers DeNA are announcing a bunch of changes coming to the mobile game. Along with the announcement that there will be new ways to obtain animated immersive cards, a way to create in-game meta-decks, and a much-needed improvement to trading, we also learn that the release cycle for new sets should finally slow down and become less overwhelming.
It may seem strange to complain PTCG pocket is releasing too many new sets and beautifully drawn cards, but if you’ve tried to follow the game over the last couple of years, you’ll understand. Each month, a whole new collection of packs opens, each containing fully illustrated cards of different collectible rarities and new abilities that shake up the fighting scene. It became exhausting to keep up no matter how you approached the game, creating a serious FOMO effect. Slowing down this pace seems like a great idea, allowing more time to catch up on collecting recent expansions and slowing down the speed of the meta evolving.
“We have received feedback that the large number of cards released in each pack up to Series B has made collecting difficult,” the update reads, with the “B” referring to the year two expansion collection. “In the new series, we will be changing the booster release cycle from approximately a four-week cycle to approximately a six-week cycle, in the hope that this will allow even more players to enjoy creating collections at their own pace.”
Overwhelmed
Immersive maps are one of the PTCGPThe most endearing features of , special cards that play often stunning animations in the frame. But getting them is entirely a matter of luck. Their mining rates are said to be around 1%, and given that the game gives you two packs to open per day, you can understand why, with 30-day release cycles for sets, people were unlikely to get the previous ones before the next batch entered the fray. The new plan is to offer a way to unlock them through “collection completion” based missions.
I’ve played the game almost every day for the past two years and my motivation has been to collect all the immersives. I managed this for series A, but a number of series B eluded me, and while you can To get them through the pack points, they require 1,500 set-specific points – a number that is only achieved by opening a ridiculous 300 packs. (Fans have desperately requested that pack points be shared between all sets, but this has yet to be heard.)
Also new for the C series will be something called Special Packs. These will open with their own “special stamina pack” that “recovers once a week”. The first batch is called First Partners, a set that will include all 27 starter Pokémon, and it’s awesome! There will also be 1-star promotional cards as rewards for missions. Until now, promo cards have just been standard cards, so it’s nice that fully illustrated cards are coming here.
To exchange
Deckbuilding also appears to be getting an overhaul. Currently, you can create your own decks from scratch or “rent” decks created by the game, but we now have community decks. These will allow players to create decks that prove popular in the combat meta without having to search for them on external websites. In other good news, rental decks will no longer be limited to 10 uses, but will instead be unlimited, and will also be more readily available at the start of a new set’s launch.
Finally, and extremely welcome, is the news that some of the most strangely missing features in trading are going to be added. Right now, if you trade with someone on your friends list, the game seems to go out of its way not to tell you what cards they’re missing and, even worse, won’t show you their full wishlist. This will all change, meaning no more wasted trade attempts when someone offers you a card you already have five of.
What’s not mentioned is an improvement to the app’s terrible slowness, which freezes and staggers during the most basic acts like switching tabs. It was supposed to improve with a wild 3GB update in July, but it only got worse. It’s a little infuriating that after two years, The Pokémon Company and DeNa haven’t managed to get the game to work properly on Android or iOS, and don’t seem to be promising to try. It also doesn’t help that of the 10 things we listed as needing improvement two years ago, none have been addressed. It’s not very surprising that the app has lost half its player base since its launch, while it refuses to make so many core improvements. However, much of what is listed in the new update is definitely welcome.
Gn tech
