Thoughts as a returning player.
I left on the old, now discontinued, app, back right around the time Tag Team had just come out. Most of my memories are around Mega Evos, Hypnotoxic Lasers, Virbank gyms and whatnot.
I returned a couple weeks ago, downloaded the new app, and I figure constructive criticism/feedback is good.
1) The mobile app works surprisingly well.
Comparing the mobile app of a f2p card game that's used to advertise the physical cards to other mobile apps, it's a lot more smooth than most others. Pokemon GO aka Pokemon NObatterylife, TeamFightTactics (where it sometimes just bugs out and doesnt want to connect you to the server/locks you out on login, only on the mobile app not on desktop, very long time known issue), even Hearthstone (Pokemon TCG live has a much much better UI, and is much smoother).
Mainly though it's that the frames run surprisingly well and smooth, it's impressive.
2) I get some parts of the card migration, others I don't.
I can understand TPCi not wanting to migrate every card. It sucks because some I do miss and have fond memories of, but I get it. However, I don't understand why we're not allowed to say, use our Call of Legends Energies. I understand that the older cards from before, they'd have to upkeep on bugs and whatnot (getting to that in a bit), and it might not even be in their hands. TPCi probably said "here's your workforce budget, work with what you got). So I understand that some of the older cards we just have to miss at least for now (maybe in the future?), but I do not understand why some of the old/alternate art cards couldn't be imported.
#BringbackCallOfLegendEnergy
3) Some resource allocation I get, some I don't.
I understand that bugs will always happen. Frustrating, but part of any game. I overall approve of a new app just because that means a new engine, and we can see with some really poorly engined games (League/Riot client, Hearthstone client, etc) that can really backfire on you if too much time and bandaid coding happens. I also understand that the purpose of this is to mainly advertise the card game to get more people to buy in person packs, in an increasingly digital market. In a world where people are getting more and more digital, Pokemon is using the digital space to promote their physical, and I get it. This game is basically an ad, and otherwise it's a net loss. So I understand it'll never have the best graphics, best supplied workforce, etc.
... However I still don't get why uh.
Please explain this to me. I would rather just have one less face option than to see this nightmare fuel staring into my soul.
4) Overall minor tweaks would be nice.
When I'm selecting one out of multiple cards of the same card to use, I can't seem to pick the card with the art I want (i.e. two Ultra Balls but one is a Secret Rare), it just lets me pick whichever is on top. There might be a way around this, but it's not intuitive if there is. Why is it like this.
If I want to share my deck with a friend I'm talking with, there's no super short sweet and nice way of visually displaying all the cards in my deck. Please implement this.
There can also be more search term filters. I had to manually google/**** every fossil Pokemon, because typing in "Fossil" doesnt show every Pokemon that evolves from Unidentified Fossil. (I know Fossil decks have basically never really been good, but I'm always curious since I collect fossils). I wanted to see what cards inflicted status, so I had to manually search "Freeze, Confuse, Burn", etc, for every status. Why can I not just search "Status" and have every card that interacts with any status condition pop up?
5) "Crafting" is better than trading probably but tournaments would be nice to bring back
Tournaments on the old client were fun. Also hey more packs. It'd be nice to see them back in the long run-- not necessarily soon since it just got out of Beta and other things are being done, but it'd be nice to see.
I'm personally fine not having trading if that means I get to just make my own cards with the tokens I receive. Also not having cards divided between locked/untradeable and tradable and... That whole thing was a mess so yeah.
6) The bandaid had to be ripped off eventually, and overall, I'm cautiously hopeful.
Getting a new game engine is nice. Especially for a game that's sole purpose is to advertise. There are definitely exciting things about this version, and I am looking forward to the future. However, it very much depends on the developers quickly tackling bugs (such as the cards currently banned), and communicating with the community.