Feedback on Visuals, Gameplay, Currency, Systems.

Preface:

I have played about 40 Games on the PTCG Live Beta on Desktop. In addition to this I have watched about 5-10 hours of gameplay content provided by creators in the community. I did not migrate a pre-existing account so I could experience the game like a brand new player will. My battle pass level is currently 6, my rating is 260, and my profile level is 7. 

I have played Pokemon TCG since Base Set and I have played PTCGO since 2016. I have played several other online card games such as Hearthstone, Magic the Gathering Arena, and Legends of Runeterra extensively. As a content creator with a sizable following on social media and a 1,000 member Pokemon TCG discord server, I have been receiving many questions, feedback, and complaints that I may reference throughout or speak on behalf of.

Feedback:

Early Game: The tutorial was great. I loved that you can do the whole thing, some of it, or none of it. The information is concise and easy to comprehend. The 9 decks that every account starts with are very close to competitive-ready in early 2022 so these will be phenomenal for new players or old players that do not have a pre-existing PTCGO account. Ideally I’d like to see new deck lists for the free decks every 6-12 months - everyone who plays online card games is used to getting bad free decks from games, so getting 9 pseudo-competitive decks upon starting the game will be a huge positive for many people. I would hate to lose this when the decks become outdated in 6-12 months, so that is why a plan to update these semi-regularly is important to me. 

Decks / Deck Builder: 

• If the last game mode you played is Ranked, you cannot view expanded decks in the “Decks” section, you have to go back to “Home” and click “Casual” then go back to “Decks”. I would like to be able to filter between formats while in “Decks” regardless of the most recent game type I played. 
• When I click the “Favorites” filter, it brings my favorited decks to the top of the list but still shows all decks. I personally feel it would make more sense to only show favorited decks. 
• Deck List Viewer: There is no way to expand the deck list to take up the majority of the screen so I can clearly see my whole deck all at once. This feels like a basic feature that should be available. Currently the deck list feels shoved into the bottom right corner. I imagine a little arrow or expand icon on the right of the screen by the title of the highlighted deck would be intuitive for users. 
• Collection: There is no collection Tab. You have to either edit a deck or create a new deck to see what cards you have in your account. This wouldn’t be as annoying if decks didn’t autosave every time you close a new deck out.
• When viewing cards that I do not own (via the sorting), it only shows the highest rarities. I’ve been asked about this many times because users couldn’t find their lower rarity cards they know they own. Using the “available” button is awkward and much different than sorting cards on PTCGO. Different doesn’t have to be bad, but this feels like trying to fix something that wasn’t broken. 
• When you export a deck list, the game doesn’t automatically fill the cards with versions you already own and it tells you that you don’t have the card. Example: If I import a decklist with 4 Boss’s Orders SHF and I don’t own any, but I do own 4 Boss’s Orders BRS, the game should just auto fill with any art of the card that I own. The same goes for different rarities of the same Pokemon ie: Arceus VSTAR and Arceus VSTAR Rainbow art. 

Currency/Earning

• The way the currency is set up it feels like it would have microtransactions set up. I say this because Gems are REALLY hard to get and so it feels like they would be hard to get to make money. If there aren’t microtransactions, please make gems easier to get. You should earn gems and credits more from playing and leveling instead of coins. 
• Some of the items in the store are really imbalanced cost-wise. Example, the V battle decks like corviknight and lycanroc (real life they are $9.99) are the same Gem cost as the Urshifu VMAX league battle decks (real life they are $24.99). For new players who don’t know any better, it would be an absolute waste for them to spend their gems on the v battle decks which are probably worth about as much as a pack or two realistically just because they can give some credits for the duplicates. 
• If microtransactions are added, I hope that the store items will become cheaper or that the amount of gems per $ is quite high. And if there aren’t microtransactions, I don’t know how it is supposed to be feasible to actually buy things from the shop. 
• I am confused by the concept of a free to play game that makes you grind for things but doesn't allow you to take a pay to play route if you want. There will be new players that don't know they're supposed to go to third-party sites to buy codes and they will become frustrated with no in-game route to quickly obtaining the decks they want to compete and play with. I believe that your player base of all ages and experience levels with Pokémon TCG want to be competitive with PTCGL and want to support the game with purchases. I hope this game can compete with other online TCGs to keep our community growing. I saw so many players (especially younger players with a lot of time to play) go to other card games with ranked modes, online invitationals, and easy deck building / buying systems over the pandemic because PTCGO lacked all of these. I'm disappointed to see that PTCGL may still be lacking these systems but I am optimistic for the future of the client.

Ranked

• I like that ranked rewards you with cosmetics. That's exactly what I want from a ranked ladder! I want to be able to flaunt my prestigious and exclusive cosmetics and be proud of my rank. 
• I do hope that once you reach Arceus Rank there is a numbered leaderboard so that the competitive drive doesn’t just disappear - this is a mainstay of ranked modes across all games including Pokemon titles such as Unite and Sword & Shield. A leaderboard like this could be used for invitational events in the future as well. 

Gameplay

• I don’t like the minimized cards on the bench. It seems like just a smidge more room could allow for the full cards to be shown.
• When promoting a Pokemon I can’t see my hand… this is a major gameplay issue. 
• There are some animations that take way too long and eat the timer. For example, Marnie takes extra time to individually do each step. Each players’ hands should be sent to the bottom at the same time and then each player draws at the same time. 

Gameplay visuals

• The blank hex area needs to be used a lot more. There are instances where it's done really well but for the majority of the match it is very boring and unused. I’d love to see stadiums influence it and maybe the type of each active pokemon. 
• When cards are played and they zoom in they are blurry regardless of my resolution.
• Overall Graphics and Design
• Looking at the home screen with the Brilliant Stars pack art and the ranked ladder with all the iconic Pokemon representing the ranks are both pleasant. And then we get into the game and our avatars are pretty generic and lacking any sort of connection to Pokemon. It sucks that I enjoy looking at the home screen and the ranked ladder layout more than I enjoy the actual gameplay board. I think we need playmats that can be purchased/earned and pokemon dolls or figures that we can have on our board. The actual card playing portion of the client is very bland and needs more life and connection to the franchise we are all here to enjoy.