The developers of Pokémon TCG Pocket have finally unveiled significant enhancements to the game's much-criticized trading system, which has been a source of frustration since its inception. The proposed improvements sound promising, although they will take considerable time to implement.
In a recent post on the Pokémon community forums, the developers detailed the upcoming changes, which we're summarizing below:
Removal of Trade Tokens
Trade tokens will be entirely eliminated, freeing players from the need to sacrifice cards to acquire trading currency. Instead, trading cards of three-diamond, four-diamond, and one-star rarity will now require shinedust. Shinedust will be automatically earned when opening booster packs and obtaining a card already registered in your Card Dex. Since shinedust is also used to acquire flairs, the developers are considering increasing its availability to support trading as well. This change should enable more frequent card trading than the current system allows. Existing trade tokens will be converted to shinedust upon the removal of the item. The trading method for one-diamond and two-diamond rarity cards remains unchanged.
Additional Updates in Development
A new feature will enable players to share cards they're interested in trading through the in-game trading function. The most significant update is the removal of trade tokens, which have been essential for trading but difficult to obtain without sacrificing valuable cards. Under the current system, trading an ex Pokémon card requires discarding five other ex cards just to gather enough trade tokens, making the process highly discouraging.
The new system using shinedust, which is already in the game and used for card flairs, is a major improvement. Shinedust is earned automatically from duplicate cards and through various in-game events. Players who aren't heavily invested in flairs likely have a surplus, and the developers are exploring ways to increase shinedust availability to facilitate smoother trading.
Implementing a cost for trading is crucial to prevent exploitation, such as creating multiple accounts to trade rare cards to a main account. The trade token system was overly costly, but shinedust offers a more balanced solution.
Another transformative change is the ability for players to share cards they're interested in trading. Currently, there's no in-game method to communicate desired trades, leading to guesswork and minimal trading activity. This new feature will allow players to make informed offers, revitalizing the trading system.
The community has responded positively to these proposed changes, although there's a significant downside: many players have already sacrificed rare cards to acquire trade tokens, and those cards are irretrievably lost. While existing trade tokens will convert to shinedust, the cards themselves cannot be recovered.
There's also a delay to consider: these updates won't be implemented until the fall of this year. Until then, trading may stagnate as players hold off on using the current system in anticipation of the new one. This means several more expansions could pass before the trading aspect of "Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket" truly flourishes.
In the meantime, save your shinedust!
