Why trading doesn't work (and how it can be fixed)
Trading has the following requirements:
- Players must be at least Level 3
- Players must be Friends
- Cards with rarities of ♢ to ☆ may be traded
- Cards in a trade must be the same rarity
- Cards of the latest expansion and Promos may not be traded (Only Genetic Apex & Mythical Island)
- Each trade requires 1 Trade Stamina which refreshes every 24 hours (1 per day)
- Cards with rarities from ♢♢♢ to ☆ require Trade Tokens (120 for ♢♢♢, 500 for ♢♢♢♢, 400 for ☆)
- Cards with a flair must be traded for another card with a flair
You purchase Trade Tokens by exchanging duplicate cards (0 for ♢, 0 for ♢♢, 25 for ♢♢♢, 125 for ♢♢♢♢, 100 for ☆, 300 for ☆☆, 300 for ☆☆☆, 1500 for ♛)
Trading as a Crafting System:
Other collectibles have crafting systems that allow you to "disenchant" or destroy your duplicate collectibles in exchange for points which can be used to purchase other cards. This appears to be the intention behind the current implementation Trading system.
Using the rates of cards to Trade Tokens and considering that we give up a card to trade, we get the following exchange rates:
- ♢ 1:1
- ♢♢ 1:1
- ♢♢♢ 6:1
- ♢♢♢♢ 5:1
- ☆ 5:1
In a typical crafting system, this may be reasonable. But it doesn't work for Trading for the following reasons:
1. Both players need to pay this cost.
For each player to recieve a 3-Star card, the equivalent of 12 3-Star cards needs to be destroyed.
2. Even with matching rarities, the value isn't the same for both players.
- If my friend needs a Gardevoir to complete their Mewtwo EX deck, the trading cost may be worth it for them, but if they don't have anything I need, it's not worth it for me, even though it would be without the token cost.
- If I need a card I have 0 of and can only offer cards my friend has 1 of, the Trading Token cost isn't worth it for them, even though it would be without the token cost.
- If my friend needs a card but can only offer me cards I have 2 of already, I could justify this by asking for one of my favorite cards I already have and exchanging it for a flair. This isn't justified with the token cost.
In a traditional Crafting system, this lack of value wouldn't matter. Just craft the cards that give you adequate value and don't craft the ones that don't. But this is a trading system. People want to help their friends out. People are willing to trade something unequal because of the value it gives to someone else. But with such a steep cost, this impulse, which is ESSENTIAL for a trading system, is punished. You are punishing users for interating in meaningful ways with their friends.
3. Cards are both the cost to trade and the cost for Trading Tokens. Every duplicate a player turns into Trade Tokens is a duplicate they don't have to trade a friend who needs it.
In traditional Crafting systems, that isn't a problem because the game is generating a new card, but in a Trading system, it is. I could exchange all 4 of my duplicate Gyarados ☆ for enough Trade Tokens to trade a 1-Star. But if I do and a friend comes along who needs a Gyarados ☆, I can't help them.
This creates an incentive for players to add strangers to their Friends list just for trades because the more a player's friend uses the trading system, the less likely they are to have cards they need.
4. Players use Crafting systems for cards they NEED, but that isn't the only reason (or main reason) that players use Trading systems.
My brother needs a Venusuar EX and I have 9 of them, but he doesn't have any spare EX cards that I need. So instead, I would trade him my Venusuar EX for an EX I only have 1 of or an EX I would be willing to flair. But while I might be willing to pay the 500 Trade Tokens for a card I have none of, I'm not willing to pay the Tokens for a card I have 1 of or would be willing to flair. Instead, I'm incentivized to shred my spare Venusaur EX cards in order to trade with a stranger online who has a card I need. This is antithetical to the "trade with your friends" promise.
Under the current rules, players could trade with Discord, Reddit, or other online groups and get some value out of trading by treating it as a crafting system. But most players won't get that value. Consider the following: A father plays Pokemon TCG Pocket with his kids. He pays for Premium and for additional packs figuring that he will be able to trade duplicates to his kids. The current system makes this unfeasible. "Here's the full-art Eevee you've been wanting. You just need to get rid of your Dragonite, Gloom, Pinsir, Meowth, and Weezing for it."
Many people have reported purchasing Premium or Gold for additional packs, justifying the purchase because they can trade duplicates to their kids, spouse, or friends. This is a goal that can be monetized. Making that goal more difficult removes an easy justification for spending money.
5. People who don't need the system can afford it. Those who do, cannot.
A "whale" spends a lot of money in a mobile app. Mobile apps that accomodate "whales" benefit from having features that help "free to play" users and draw them to the app. Being able to show off their collections and pay for a chance at an advantage over free players is just one of a number of psychological appeals.
But trading is another option that can benefits players who spend money socially. If you spend money on cards, you have more that you are able to trade to your friends and you become that person everyone is looking to for help. It's a bit of a hero status. Players who spend money are socially rewarded for the value they bring to their friends, which can be a strong motivator to keep spending money.
But with the current system, players who spend no money, who only spend money on Premium, or who spend a few dollars here and there, cannot afford to make more than a few trades, which means they cannot engage with this system fully, which means those who spend a lot of money on the app cannot significantly help their friends.
6. Gold isn't as directly useful as it is in other settings.
Gold can be directly exchanged for Packs or directly exchanged for a Wonder-Pick, but it cannot be directly exchanged for Trade Tokens. Instead, to "purchase" high rarity trades, a player can spend the Gold on Packs and discard the duplicates. But this is a few too many steps removed.
If Trade stamina were the only restriction, a player could spend Gold on this and see a clear connection between the Gold they spend and the outcome. The "father" in the previous example may be willing to spend Gold so he can make a bunch of trades with his kids. In the current system, that isn't rewarded.
Redundant Restrictions:
- Players must be at least Level 3
- Players must be Friends
- Cards with rarities of ♢ to ☆ may be traded
- Cards in a trade must be the same rarity
- Cards with a flair must be traded for another card with a flair
- Cards of the latest expansion and Promos may not be traded (Only Genetic Apex & Mythical Island)
- Each trade requires 1 Trade Stamina which refreshes every 24 hours (1 per day)
- Cards with rarities from ♢♢♢ to ☆ require Trade Tokens (120 for ♢♢♢, 500 for ♢♢♢♢, 400 for ☆)
As I see it, there are a number of reasons to restrict trading:
- People shouldn't be able to sell trades on eBay or other sites for real money
- People shouldn't be able to farm new accounts and trade everything good into their "main"
- People shouldn't be able to complete an entire set quickly with trading and avoid hourglasses
- A newly "rolled" account shouldn't be able to trade everything it has on day 1 in exchange for the best decks of the meta
- People shouldn't be making unbalanced trades that take advantage of other people
These are redundant:
- If cards are restricted to just ♢ to ☆ and have a hefty cost, why require Stamina?
- If the latest pack isn't tradeable, why restrict to just ♢ to ☆? The cards people are most after are still not tradeable.
- If rarities must match and have a currency cost, why restrict to just ♢ to ☆? There is already a hefty cost and a requirement of reciprocity. Less rare cards are less punishing and more rare cards are more.
- If trades are limited by rarity and limited with stamina, why have a Trade Token cost? If you want 2 of each card from past packs, it will take almost a year of daily trades to do that, ignoring any cards that come out in that time.
Some better Restrictions:
- Account level to unlock trading should be at minimum 5.
If you look at guides to re-rolling accounts, they usually delete an account once it hits Level 4, so raising it to 5 provides a small check but affects no legitimate players (someone at Level 4 doesn't have enough cards of value to trade anyway and may even not have any tradeable cards) - Scale rarity to levels.
For example, unlock trading at Level 5 for ♢ to ♢♢, Level 10 for ♢♢♢, Level 15 for ♢♢♢♢ to ☆, and Level 20 for ☆☆+. This does create some value for bots (which may be able to farm EXP more easily) but it may be easier to detect an account that was created and then leveled to L20 in a day as a bad actor. - Set a time since account creation limit to trade.
If players must wait a week since making their account before they are allowed to trade, bots must wait longer before they can do anything useful, which disincentivizes them or makes it less feasible for them to mass-create accounts. - Require a synced Nintendo ID or Google Account to trade.
This would disincentivize bots and alt accounts. While both account types can be freely created, they require unique emails and this would make it much harder for bad actors to automate. - Use Shinedust as a trading currency.
It's given out in Missions, Events, Rewards, and is earned by obtaining duplicate cards. This fixes the issues of using from using Trading as a Crafting system, does not require the destruction of duplicates, but is also not unlimited. It also rewards daily play. - Remove Trade Tokens.
This is necessary. The model of trading as a crafting system is fundamentally broken and unworkable. Nothing you can do will fix that. It needs to be scrapped.
Using the account level, time since creation, and Nintendo ID/Google Account are proactive steps that make the feature harder for bots and re-rolled accounts, without substantially affecting legitimate users and make it easier to monitor account abuses. With these in place (and more detection for bad actors), you should be able to remove many of the redundant restrictions.
Trading Implementation:
Trading isn't functional exclusively within the app. As it stands, you propose one card you're able to trade to one user. That user can reject your offer or offer one card they can trade for it, and then you either accept or reject it.
This fails for a number of reasons:
- When you're communicating trading to a friend, what's more important is what card you NEED, not what you HAVE.
I need a Melmetal. If I offer my friend a Flareon, I do not know if they need it. All I know is that I need a Melmetal. There is no way to communicate that within the app.
Presently, some users are creating binders of cards they need and setting it as their featured binder, but this doesn't seem to be effective. - You have to arrange your trade offline.
You need to text your friend, use social media, or find online groups in order to effectively communicate a trade.
This poses a potential risk to minors, where they are reaching out to strangers on the internet and communicating through 3rd-party apps. - There are no in-app tools for tracking what you want or need
- You can only offer one card.
Some alternatives:
- You could create a new tag for binders with #CardsWanted and #CardsNeeded. When viewing the friends list in the trading menu, binders marked with these tags are linked
- You can propose 3 cards for trade, then the other player can accept which 1 they want and propose 3 back to you. The number doesn't have to be 3, but this allows a higher chance that if you reach out to a friend, they will respond with something you can use.
- You can allow players to make a trade offer available to all of their friends. When you scroll the friends list, you can see their offers and accept if you want.
- Allow any card to be placed on your wishlist (not just cards you have 0 of). You can view any of your friends' wishlists in the friends menu before offering them a trade.
Recommendations:
- Remove Trade Tokens altogether.
It's a bad system and using trading as your Crafting system is fundamentally broken.
It rewards people for trading with online strangers who have exactly what they need and punishes them for trying to help their friends.
For all Trade Tokens that have been issued, convert them into Pack Points for Genetic Apex. - Loosen the trading restrictions but implement additional checks on account age, levels, and linked accounts to crack down on alts and bots without affecting the main player base.
- Allow some trades from the new packs.
Newer accounts cannot engage with this system in any meaningful way because the cards they're picking up from the latest expansion cannot be traded. Even just allowing ♢ to ♢♢ from the latest set will go a long way. - Implement an actual crafting system.
A real crafting system would have allowed duplicate cards to be exchanged for Pack Points. They don't need to be done at the same rates that Trade Tokens are, but that's what should have been delivered instead.
Please consider this feedback.
The trading system is the biggest failed promise we've gotten in Pokemon TCG Pocket. Fans weren't happy with the quick summary of trading given a week ago, yet you managed to make the system FAR WORSE than fans expected based on that announcement.
I have played Pokemon TCG Pocket every day since November, and I would have dropped it more than a month ago without the promise that I could trade with my friends. But I can't. At least, not reasonably. My friend has been holding onto a spare Full-Art Vaporeon for weeks now but I'd have to destroy every single one of my Mythical Island 1-Star duplicates in order to make this trade.
That isn't "letting me trade with my friends". That's me and my friend utilizing an unfair crafting system together that leaves us both majorly ripped off.
I will not support, endorse, or play this game if trading is not resolved in a way that shows that you hear the community and will listen to your players.
Comments
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A system similar to PTCGO used to have, or the GTS for the video games would be great, someone could offer a card for another card with the same rarity, and someone who has the wanted card could see the trade and finish it. I also suggest allowing more trades at once for players, 3 for normal users, and 5 for premium users.
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