Summary
Even though it has a gacha approach to obtaining cards from booster packs or other means,Pokemon TCG Pocketcan be considered one of the most generous games of its kind due to how often it gives players free means of improving their collection. For example, players have access to Wonder Pick to single out some valuable cards they might want or just ones they don’t own yet, all while getting two booster packs for free each day.Pokemon TCG Pocket’s Shining Revelry gives one starter Ex deck awayfor free, too. Yet, the game could handle duplicates in a much better way for fans than what it currently does, and it would make collecting cards even more accessible.
Getting duplicate cards from booster packs or even Wonder Pick can be quite a frustrating experience, and that’s because players have no control over what a pack will contain, nor can they do much about obtaining several copies of a given card, even rare ones.Pokemon TCG Pocketdoesn’t have a duplicate protection system in place, so players can even get multiple copies of a given card in the same pack. Still, there is a great way to counteract this, but it may be a pipe dream.
Pokemon TCG Pocket’s Duplicates Are Frustrating and Unrewarding
Pokemon TCG Pocket’s Shinedustis the main reward for players who get duplicates from booster packs, and while Shinedust is going to be all the more valuable in the future when it becomes the main trading currency in the game, it is far from the ideal approach to dupes. Duplicates can then be used alongside Shinedust to obtain cosmetic effects tied to that specific card, which can be fun, but it is not truly an improvement for players. Instead, duplicates should be exchangeable for a far more valuable resource the game provides very little of - pack points.
Pokemon TCG Pocket Would Kill Two Birds With One Stone With More Duplicate Value
Pack points inPokemon TCG Pocketare hard to come by because they are only obtained 5 at a time when opening a booster pack, and they only apply to that specific set instead of being shared for all sets in a given account. This makes them very difficult to handle and spend on rare cards, which are all very expensive and can cost upward of 500 pack points, meaning one has to open 100 packs just for one guaranteed Ex card. Instead, the game could allow players to trade duplicates of their cards for pack points, which would have two huge benefits.
On the one hand, players wouldn’t feel as bad about getting duplicates from booster packs, as each of them would potentially contribute to improving their collection. On the other hand, this would also improve the pack-point economy in the game, making the pack-point cost of cards more justified and accessible.Pokemon TCG Pocket’s Shining Revelry set is harder to collect, for example, due to the presence of shiny cards and the fact that they don’t appear in Wonder Pick. Allowing players to trade their duplicates for pack points would solve this problem and make all booster packs worth something, even if the loot is bad.
There are various ways the game could tackle this idea. For example:
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Given that this approach is just speculation, it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what the values would be, but trading rare cards for pack points should feel rewarding. Even with a similar system, duplicates of rare cards may be a bit of a letdown unless players are using them inPokemon TCG Pocketdecks, but at least they could provide a bunch of pack points for players to use on other cards. For now, this remains unlikely to be added, but it would have been the perfect way to make duplicates less frustrating.
