Why Players Are Upset At the New Online Pokémon TCG Live Game

What is Pokémon TCG Live?

You may have heard of Pokémon TCG Online, also known as PTCGO for short. If you haven’t heard of this you may recognize it from code cards. When you open a new pack of Pokémon cards, the first card you see on top is a code card you can redeem online. Redeeming this on PTCGO will give you a virtual pack to open from the same set that you opened in real life. For example, if you redeem a code card from a Vivid Voltage pack, you’ll get a Vivid Voltage pack online to open as well. After opening the cards in the online game, you can add them to your deck, play with them, or trade them for other cards. That’s the main point of PTCGO, playing the card game and trading. Pokémon TCG Live is the new version of this game that’s coming soon. Once PTCGL comes out, PTCGO will no longer be playable and you’ll have to play the new version of their online trading card game. There’s been a lot of discussion about this change and whether it’s a good or a bad one. If so many people love the PTCGO game, why would so many players dislike the idea of a new one?

Trading In Pokémon TCG Live

Trading cards, packs, and customizable items is a huge part of, not only the online game, but the Pokémon TCG in general. It’s literally in the name “Trading Card Game”. Many players have spent real world money on these tradable items and have huge collections from trading other players. As it turns out trading will not be a feature in the new Pokémon TCG Live. This is the main point of frustration for many players because it was half of the game. There are theories that The Pokémon Company may be choosing to phase out trading because they want players to spend more real world money on packs. This way, if you want a really powerful or rare card, you’ll no longer be able to trade another player for it. You’re only option is to open more packs for a chance to get it.

Graphics and Gameplay

Oddly enough, in this situation, the graphics and gameplay aren’t the main focus of this online game but it has still sparked some conversation as well. The graphics from what we’ve seen of Pokémon TCG Live, compared to Pokémon TCG Online hasn’t surprised. Of course what we seen may be subject to change, because the game isn’t out yet, but many argue the way the old game looks is better. What do you think?