Pokemon TCG Pocket‘s trading system is set to be overhauled in future, with changes made so all players may “casually enjoy the feature as intended.” The Pokemon TCG Pocket team confirmed the overhaul on social media, while acknowledging the complexity of the system has proven to be a challenge to many.
Since trading launched in the game, many folks have taken to online circles to complain about its multiple currencies (Trade Tokens and Trade Stamina), as well as the need to sacrifice doubles of high-level cards to trade in the first place. While the GamesHub team found this system relatively fair, given trading is an add-on feature that doesn’t replace collecting cards in pack pulls, it appears the vast majority of players disagree.
“Since releasing the first iteration of the trading feature a few days ago, we have received a large number of comments,” the Pokemon TCG Pocket team wrote on X. “The item requirements and restrictions implement for the trading feature were designed to prevent abuse from bots and other prohibited actions using multiple accounts. Our goal was to balance the game while maintaining a fair environment for all players and preserving the fun of collecting cards that is core to the Pokemon TCG Pocket experience.”
“However, thanks to your feedback, we understand that some of the restrictions put in place are preventing players from being able to casually enjoy the feature as intended. We are actively investigating ways to improve the feature to address these concerns.”
Read: Pokemon TCG Pocket’s trading system is good, actually
For now, precise changes have not been confirmed, but the team has stated there’ll be new ways to gather Trade Tokens in future, with these set to be distributed through events and other channels soon. This way, players won’t have to sacrifice high-level cards to make trades.
How to make trading easier in Pokemon TCG Pocket
Those players still keen to keep trading as changes are implemented should note trading isn’t as complex as it first appears, particularly if you’ve been pulling doubles of EX or rare cards. In any given deck, you can only have two of any card – so if you got more than that, you should feel comfortable sacrificing these cards for Trade Tokens. That includes any triples of rarer crown cards, some of which can be traded in for 1,500+ Trade Tokens.
Any spare EX cards or 3+ diamond cards that exist in triples can be sacrificed to the trade altar, and with some of those high-rarity cards not actually being tradable, you shouldn’t feel bad about tossing them aside.
Once you have the Trade Tokens, it’s just a matter of finding a friend to trade with. If you’ve got other friends playing the game, the easiest way to trade is to have a chat to them, and then organise what you’re missing. There’s also plenty of online Discord servers and Reddit chats to scroll through, with keen players awaiting cards to finish their collections.
At this stage, it’s unclear how this system will be changed for the better, but we expect more word in the coming weeks – so stay tuned.