TCG Live: its good. but could be a lot better still.
I enjoyed Online version prior. I have been collecting the physical trading card game for a year now and had just started getting into playing the aucutal game. So for me it was pretty decent setup. I learned the basics, made a few decks and I played it occasionally.
Live is a weird mashup of old and new. the UI works decently, but also has lots of unintuitive levels of menus to get to where you want to go. Like having to go into decks to see your collection...why not have a collection/database menu. having decks menu where you buy cards etc.
and after an hour of trying to figure out why even after i messed with filters, searched etc couldnt find certain cards, you have to click on trainers (rather than pokemon) on right side...then the cards I was looking for came up (on left side).
Think would be obvious, but I would of thought a collection would just have all cards in 1 menu (on left) having them divided up just is confusing. In the context of building a deck I guess it makes sense though. But not for general browsing/buying cards with credits etc.
Needs to be a way to just buy cards with credit directly from main collection, having to go into decks, then finding the card, and finding the variant, exchanging credits etc is very tedius when doing multiple cards. should just be able to right click a card a menu or thing comes up, can view it, click buy and poof done. like from the expansions menu. pick a set, click any card and have at it.
#1 I really wish we could enter more than 10 code cards at a time. I have 1000's of codes. even at 10 codes per minute...its agonizingly slow.
#2 Also with the 400 pack limit, I like that more than dislike it. At least then you kinda have a number to shoot for. once you enter 400 lost origin codes, thats it. then can sell/give the rest away.
#3 I know the game isnt designed/intended for collectors, but do wish there was some basic features like seperating holos/reversals from regular cards. having cards say 8 on them is super confusing at first when you know can only have 4 before it gets dusted, so have to go in, click on it scroll through and then you find you are missing a reversal or holo etc.
#4 I think should have a tab for 4/4 normals, tab for 4/4 reversal/holos etc and then even maybe a tab for alt arts/variants etc. that way intead of fumbling through a card, going through each number, you can visually see which ones you want/need to convert. Each tab could have 1/200 or whatever, so like for reversals as you fill them in and reach 120/120 or whatever, you know you have them all. 10/10 holo rares. 23/23 secret rares. stuff like that.
#5 I think should be more incentive to collect sets, achievements? currently you just fill the bar, and the bar doesnt even really tell you anything. also some sets the numbers are wrong. Lost origin says it goes to 189 which makes no sense because 196/196 is set end. 171 is end of the base set...so it just says 204/189 for me currently but what good does that do, when cant tell what missing or what is counting etc.
#6 Need to seperate secret/base/etc progress bars, otherwise just having a bar saying 205/189 isnt very helpful at all
#7 I am not sure the trainer gallery or subsets like shining vault have a purpose either. Because the game is designed purely around building decks, playing the game all the secret rare/alt arts/trainer gallery cards just serve as ways to show off/bling out your deck. which is fine but also kind of confusing if wanting to collect them also, as they are included in total # for set...which then leads back to point #6
#8 why no direct buying of packs/code cards/anything. I get it that pay-to-win is all the hot topic these days, but I honestly was shocked to not see any way to spend money on anything in game. So shocked that it just feels weird that its not there. First game in a long time, and honestly would of been ok with me and I would even buy into it. if you set prices low enough or even had an open market somehow for people to trade/sell codes etc directly, there's huge potential there.
#9 pull rates...slightly better than the paper game. only slightly. 600+ packs of lost origin still missing 20 cards, entered 400 code cards still missing about 10 cards but did get a giratina alt after 230 codes...so theres that. (i still dont have a giratina on paper version).
#10 game needs more modes/ways to play. specific set decks mode? like have a weekly rotation where it picks 1 or a few sets, and you can only build/play cards from those sets, have a casual and ranked mode as well. prizes can be exclusive deck boxes/sleeves, have a trophy/badge/pin achievement system etc. keep things fresh.
A few days prior to a new rotation announce the sets coming up next so can prepare. Offer credit discounts on those sets when converting cards during that week. double credit value when dusting extras. this would make people play many of those unused sets, and spend credits and just have fun without worrying about a meta, build decks out of the norm and allow casual players to jump in as well. i'd love to see an all pokemon Go deck mode/tournament.
#11 more quests/achievements/achieveables just more to do in general. the grind is fun for a bit but really need more engagement. reasons to play every day besides 2 daily quests. make the rewards better too.
#12 increase credits given for dusting or decrease cost of crafting. starting out it can be rough as new player to have enough credits to get decent setup. and only way really to get cards/packs is to go the secondary market, with shady websites or paying random prices for codes just to sit there and enter 10 at a time...for hours. spend more time entering codes/searching for codes and filling out decks than aucutally playing so far.
#13 continue to work on the animations, ui bugs, and performance as those are all important as well
#14 more social features. chat. messaging. teams and leagues? would be cool someday if you could join a team/league, register your decks and then go against other teams/leagues in a tournament bracket.
Right now i am importing all my codes (ZZZZzzzz) and then play a few decks, but there isnt much else to do. I can do some casual games, try a few ranked. just doesnt seem very fun and engaging yet. like its very early stages.
I might be asking for to much, as its just not that kind of game, and maybe will always be a simple basic online version of the game, with ladder play thrown in finally. I'd hope though there's plenty of inspiration and ideas, as this could be quite special if can start getting more fun things to the game, and creative change ups and not just a code card grind, with a very weak system for collectors and ladder grind as things to do.