Pokémon TCG Pocket Trading Is Awful, But Pokémon GO Proves That There’s An Easy Fix

The long-awaited trading feature in Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket has proven to be far from satisfactory for many players, but there is a way to remedy this. The game could make a dramatic improvement to its new function simply by following the lead of Pokémon GO. Pokémon TCG Pocket’s fellow mobile title already models a solution that is as simple as it would be effective.

The introduction of trading in Pokémon TCG Pocket has been criticized heavily, and for good reason. Under this system, the rarest (and thus most desirable) cards are incredibly difficult to trade, with two limited resources constraining the mechanic. As a result, the way trading works in Pokémon TCG Pocket is proving to be frustrating and a huge disappointment for many players. However, a future update to the game could also fix this.

Trading Is Terrible In Pokémon TCG Pocket, But Not Pokémon GO

The Longer-Running Mobile Game Has A Much Better Trading Model

Pokémon TCG Pocket’s trading feature revolves around the use of two different resources to enact trades. Trade Hourglasses function like others in the game, as trading requires its own form of stamina. Furthermore, Trade Tokens must be spent in order to trade cards of a higher rarity. The stamina gauge places a bottleneck on the number of trades that can be completed in a single day, but it is the implementation of Trade Tokens that turns trading into the latest frustrating feature in Pokémon TCG Pocket.

As these can only be obtained in limited quantities by exchanging the player’s own high-rarity (at least Three Diamond level) cards, a major problem for many players has quickly become apparent. Namely, in order to trade even a single high-rarity card, many more must be exchanged for tokens, which can rapidly deplete a collection. Of course, this has effectively placed a cap on the number of trades that any player can reasonably make, made worse by the fact that high-rarity cards are the only cards that most people will be interested in trading for.

However, Pokémon GO’s own approach to trading already offers a solution to this issue. Pokémon GO’s own trading, although not perfect, is much easier to use due to it consuming Stardust. Unlike Trade Tokens, Stardust is plentiful in its native game, and can be earned in large amounts simply by playing normally. The specific amount of Stardust needed to make a trade varies depending on multiple factors, including the Pokémon being traded, and a case can be made that Pokémon TCG Pocket should use a similar system by allowing trades to be enacted with its own abundant resource: Shinedust.

Shinedust Should Be Used For Pokémon TCG Pocket Trading

The Resource Is Readily Available In The Game

Pokemon TCG Pocket shinedust with sleeping Pikachu behind it

Shinedust can be obtained through activities like battling and opening booster packs, making it very plentiful in Pokémon TCG Pocket. As it stands, the use of Shinedust in Pokémon TCG Pocket is purely cosmetic, allowing various effects to be applied to cards. For those with no interest in such things, this makes it a largely useless resource. Making it so that Shinedust could also be used for trading, whether directly or by exchanging it for trade tokens, would change this completely.

It is worth noting that Trade Tokens may also be distributed as rewards for actions like completing missions or winning battles, but this alone will not enable regular beneficial trading for all players.

Expanding the uses of Shinedust would make it more valuable to all players, and give it a relevance beyond cosmetics. Moreover, this change would alleviate much of the current concern over the scarcity of Trade Tokens. A reliable alternative source of the tokens would prevent players from having to decimate their collections, and so make the entire feature much more viable in the long-term. Shinedust, in its present state, is arguably underused, and so it can provide an easy solution to this issue.

How Pokémon TCG Pocket Could Make Trading Great

Simple Changes Could Greatly Improve The Feature

The text from the game about Trade Tokens in Pokemon TCG Pocket

Of course, it is important to note that there are other ways to improve trading than just fixing another disappointing Pokémon TCG Pocket feature. For example, the most common cards, with One and Two Diamond rarity, could be made exchangeable for Trade Tokens. This change would greatly ease the burden on the rarer parts of a collection and make the tokens more plentiful even without reworking the applications of Shinedust.

Similarly, the cost of trading could be reduced. As it stands, people need to exchange four One Star cards for 400 Trade Tokens to trade for another One Star card. If this was reduced, far less cards would need to be given up in order to make a single trade, and as a result the cost in resources would be far more tolerable. Likewise, trade stamina could also be more easily replenished by having a shorter cooldown.

It is important to note that while any of these solutions would help to address the current issues that trading faces in Pokémon TCG Pocket, they would be far more effective if combined. Nevertheless, even in isolation, Pokémon GO has already proved that adjusting Shinedust is a viable method that could greatly improve the gameplay experience. Only time will tell how Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket will address the backlash to its trading, but the clear existence of potential solutions means that the feature still has hope.