Pet Peeves - PTCGO?

S

SNES

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Hi guys

This is my second post/thread on this forum, and before I get to the topic I would like to state that I am not trying to provoke. :) I am only trying to start a friendly discussion.

Well... Here we go.

I have been playing the Pokémon TCG for quite a few years now, both in real life and online, and I find it extremely entertaining. That being said, I do have a few grievances regarding the online game.

These are some of my pet peeves regarding the PTCGO.

- This one is quite new to me... "Slow-trolls"! Boy is this annoying. I guess one is really bored if one turns to this kind of entertainment. :)

- The coin toss seems unfair - I have been playing A LOT! And it seems to me that the coin toss is not random at all. I have several decks online and one of them is based on blaziken and trick coin. I decided to count the amount of heads and tails during three battles in a row. These are the statistics; 2 out of 10 times I got heads.
This is something I have been experiencing since I began playing the online game. You tend to get tails more often than heads. When playing in real life I use Prof. Birch in all of my decks, I have to use Sycamore online due to this "disadvantage".

- Forfeiting a game. It is quite alright that you decide to forfeit. But when you do it right before the last KO or when you realise that the game is not in your favor I consider this very poor "sportsmenship"! If you play a game you can't always expect to win, if you do, then stay away from games. :) You learn nothing from winning all the time, in my humble opinion.
Trouble is, quite often a player is trying to complete a daily challange, and it can be very frustrating when an opponent decides to forfeit. Not once in real life have I experienced a player who decided to forfeit.

These are some of my pet peeves regarding the PTCGO. I would love to know yours! :)
I am all ears, in this case eyes, if you would like to comment on my pet peeves.

On a final note: As previously stated I am not trying to provoke. I would also like to say that I am not native to this language, so I do apologise for any grammatical errors as well as misspellings. :)

All the best
 
The biggest issue is with the RNG in general. The coin flip thing is a problem. At first it used to be tails was always the pick but now it feels the game just always pick one side of the coin. Also the mulligans the game gives seem out of wack too. If you get one, you'll get more and when you get a hand, its unplayable.
 
Not trying to knock the general topic, but we need to discuss randomization. I think; maybe this is just supposed to be a sound off kind of thread. Just in case, I'll stick it in spoiler tags:

The randomization is suspect but at the same time, most of us just have anecdotal accounts. For example

SNES said:
- The coin toss seems unfair - I have been playing A LOT! And it seems to me that the coin toss is not random at all. I have several decks online and one of them is based on blaziken and trick coin. I decided to count the amount of heads and tails during three battles in a row. These are the statistics; 2 out of 10 times I got heads.
This is something I have been experiencing since I began playing the online game. You tend to get tails more often than heads. When playing in real life I use Prof. Birch in all of my decks, I have to use Sycamore online due to this "disadvantage".
Click to expand...

Three games and 10 coin flips isn't a sufficient sample size to test this. I never was great at statistics so I don't remember how to calculate a good sample size, but I expect it would be at least a dozen tries, maybe even a few hundred or thousand. No, I'm not saying you need to do this! Just keep in mind that so far you've still got a realistic run of "bad luck". Also when it is anecdotal, like with Professor Birch, remember that you only tend to remember the extremes. So it is quite possible you're just remembering the times you got tails and failed to get what you needed from the smaller draw because that stands out in your memory.

SNES said:
- Forfeiting a game. It is quite alright that you decide to forfeit. But when you do it right before the last KO or when you realise that the game is not in your favor I consider this very poor "sportsmenship"! If you play a game you can't always expect to win, if you do, then stay away from games. :) You learn nothing from winning all the time, in my humble opinion.
Trouble is, quite often a player is trying to complete a daily challange, and it can be very frustrating when an opponent decides to forfeit. Not once in real life have I experienced a player who decided to forfeit.
Click to expand...

This one is important, but its really a symptom more than the disease. There is a huge entitlement mentality in general culture and in Pokémon, it manifests as people who will rage quit without being enraged. @_@ Not sure if there is anything that can be done about it save to encourage people not to do it. You agreed to play a game with this person; if something did come up, okay it happens. People constantly quitting right before the final attack can only be seen as an attempt at somehow denying your opponent the satisfaction of actually completing the game, even trying to sabotage your opponent's chance at finishing a Daily Challenge. The KO Challenges are ridiculously hard for this reason: 16 KOs should just be four or five games, win or lose. Instead it is more like 16 games, and that is with someone not ragequitting; if you get nothing but the people who quit as soon as things look bad for them, it might be impossible to complete the challenge as they quit before you can take a single KO! ¬_¬

I will add one of my own: the thoughtless use of "gg" or "good game". If this phrase has no meaning, is just something automatic you say at the end of the game, its an empty ritual and needs to go. It became polite to say as a way of acknowledging your opponent's efforts during a game. It comes across as someone who constantly says "hello" and "good bye" every time they see you... meaning if you are having a conversation and you have to stop for a minute to attend to something else, when you look back at them 30 seconds later its "Hello!". Same for if that other person stops.

Now if you have lived a life neither completely sheltered nor largely sheltered, you ought to know that when people are restricted in speech, using a word with the wrong tone of voice or timing can be used to insult someone. So when it was blatantly not a good game, usually meaning your opponent didn't even come close to winning, and you say "gg", it comes across as taunting your opponent, possibly intending to insult them because that's how you do it when (like on the PTCGO) you can't actually resort to profanity. Just like when you tell someone "That's brilliant. ¬_¬" when it clearly is not to call them "stupid" without actually using the word ""stupid".
 
For me, the removal of Unlimited from both Versus and Tournament Modes and replacing it with Legacy is a small one. Why remove an actual format from two of the game's four main modes and replace it with a non-existent one when an easy fix for it was banning two problem cards (You know the ones I'm talking about) from it?

Another one is how Legacy isn't our equivalent of Japan's Hall of Fame/Palace format with some small adjustments to the point structure to make up for the loss of DP-era sets and promos, running into LaserBank every other match is just depressing.

And finally, some of the challenges (mostly the special ones we get on the weekend) are awful. I can handle the knockout challenges, but these "Knock out 40 Pokemon that are weak to X type Pokemon" are MUCH more difficult to complete.

Oh, and while I have no issues with the coin flips, the shuffle mechanics are awful. But from what I've researched, this is from the TCGO staff using true randomization for shuffles instead of the "sufficient" randomization we're used to seeing in IRL matches.
 
@The Binder Guy

I understand a lot of your complaints, but I think the blame is a bit misplaced. The short version is that those directly in control of the PTCG) are either
  • Doing the best that they can, but the demands (perhaps only relative to the pay/time allowed) are too much
  • Not doing the best they can, but for some reason the higher-ups are keeping them instead of hiring someone better
  • Some combination of those two and/or possibly another angle I missed
I'm bringing this up because it transitions into not one but three pet peeves I have:
  1. This actually applies to the TCG as a whole. It was always gimmick driven, but after 17 years that adds up to a lot of gimmicks. So many unnecessary things are happening when the game's fundamentals are what need fixing or at least polishing.
  2. All the new, unessential stuff just makes keeping the PTCGO up and current that much more difficult, right? Think of how hard it is just to maintain a good spreadsheet on Pokémon cards; listing them all and their individual components, tagging them for various effects. Now imagine all the work that happens when a new category is added (like BREAK Evolutions, Ancient Traits, Mega Evolutions, new Types, etc.). Now remember that some existing result parameters you might find in a detailed spread sheet, like range of damage, can change because of stuff like Sky Field for an attacker like Raichu (XY). Such a database would be only part of the PTCGO. @_@
  3. People complaining about the wrong stuff. This one is annoying because I'm guilty too. It also isn't easy to fix because it can go either way: complaining about the wrong stuff includes not complaining about the right stuff, includes either too much or too little of either, and all can include not congratulating the people working on the game for doing the right stuff.
Again The Binder Guy, I agree with most of what you said, and maybe that is why you list these as pet peeves and not legitimate grievances. Indeed, I might be too generous in labeling what I just said as less than serious issues. ^^'
 
I appreciate you replies.

I have another pet peeve; people doing a boat load of c... even if they are able to do the final KO.

No matter what, I think that the online game is quite flawed compared to the real game. Too bad, the idea of playing the game online is really good.
 
Otaku said:
@The Binder Guy

I understand a lot of your complaints, but I think the blame is a bit misplaced. The short version is that those directly in control of the PTCG) are either
  • Doing the best that they can, but the demands (perhaps only relative to the pay/time allowed) are too much
  • Not doing the best they can, but for some reason the higher-ups are keeping them instead of hiring someone better
  • Some combination of those two and/or possibly another angle I missed
I'm bringing this up because it transitions into not one but three pet peeves I have:
  1. This actually applies to the TCG as a whole. It was always gimmick driven, but after 17 years that adds up to a lot of gimmicks. So many unnecessary things are happening when the game's fundamentals are what need fixing or at least polishing.
  2. All the new, unessential stuff just makes keeping the PTCGO up and current that much more difficult, right? Think of how hard it is just to maintain a good spreadsheet on Pokémon cards; listing them all and their individual components, tagging them for various effects. Now imagine all the work that happens when a new category is added (like BREAK Evolutions, Ancient Traits, Mega Evolutions, new Types, etc.). Now remember that some existing result parameters you might find in a detailed spread sheet, like range of damage, can change because of stuff like Sky Field for an attacker like Raichu (XY). Such a database would be only part of the PTCGO. @_@
  3. People complaining about the wrong stuff. This one is annoying because I'm guilty too. It also isn't easy to fix because it can go either way: complaining about the wrong stuff includes not complaining about the right stuff, includes either too much or too little of either, and all can include not congratulating the people working on the game for doing the right stuff.
Again The Binder Guy, I agree with most of what you said, and maybe that is why you list these as pet peeves and not legitimate grievances. Indeed, I might be too generous in labeling what I just said as less than serious issues. ^^'
Click to expand...

Exactly, the only one that's an actual grievance is the lack of regulations for Legacy (and Expanded to an extent, but that's for another time), the TCGO staff has to know that some players aren't fans of Legacy being a redo of the 2012-2013 Standard with HS-era cards thrown in for good measure (especially when it leads to decks like Weavile/Eggs and Genesect-EX/Virizion-EX/Celebi Prime dominating the format).

One thing I have a good feeling about the TCGO having very little say in is which bundles go into the shop, if they did then Jirachi XY67 would've been added to the shop a third time or added to the Winner's Wheel as a Mystery Box prize.

SNES said:
I appreciate you replies.

I have another pet peeve; people doing a boat load of c... even if they are able to do the final KO.

No matter what, I think that the online game is quite flawed compared to the real game. Too bad, the idea of playing the game online is really good.
Click to expand...

That's something most players are guilty of and it's largely due to following a system. Another thing to remember is that if someone is evolving "unnecessary" Pokemon, it's probably due to them probably having a Daily Challenge involving evolution.
 
The Binder Guy said:
That's something most players are guilty of and it's largely due to following a system. Another thing to remember is that if someone is evolving "unnecessary" Pokemon, it's probably due to them probably having a Daily Challenge involving evolution.
Click to expand...

Indeed; I am torn because like most I feels like pouring salt in the wound (so to speak) but at the same time, I've both failed to realize I had the win locked down and also have been trying to wrap up a Challenge. In the case of the latter, I try to remember to just ask, but I really would rather they match-up screen just stated an opponent's active challenges. I mean it already gives your opponent a look at the most prominent Pokémon Types in your deck, so it shouldn't be a strategy bother. I mean sometimes I take a break from the Challenge anyway, so unless I am an isolated exception you can't rely on your opponent's deck that contains a [M] Type in Expanded actually being a part of a Metal Challenge... they might just run a Jirachi-EX. ;)

Knowing about it though might help some of the ragequits less likely.
 
My biggest pet peeve? Most of them relate to Theme Deck mode.

Running into players who are too young to be playing this game, being supervised by a parent. I love the Theme Deck mode to death but my biggest problem with it is when my opponent is taking like, 5 minutes to make even the most simple decisions. Usually after that I just ask "Is everything okay?" and get greeted by "Calm down, my kid's only 6!"

At that point I just press the forfeit button.

Another one is when we both know for a fact I have the win and they just stall.
 
My big greievence is the whole "trade locked" idea. As someone who does not have the money to buy cards online, I need every bit of trade bait I can get. So although I have ~15 EXs, every single one is trade locked, as I used the one trade allowed EX to get all the Tranier's I could ever want (besides Trainer's Mail, I erroneously skipped that). My activity packs are also Trade Locked, so I can't trade them for Shaymins. At this point, I need to sell all my Trainers to complete any deck besides round. Honestly, they should only trade lock theme decks.
 
2 pet peeve's i have are for the cards focus sash and fighting fury belt.
The thing i hate about focus sash is that it's exclusive to the fighting type (and most of my salt does come from garchomp, but that's besides the point). It feels like a really unfair card. Now if it was available for all types cards, it could potentially make the meta stale (and night march even stronger). I think it would've been better if it only worked for pokemon under 100 Hp, but then i remember night march still exists so maybe it'd be better if it wasn't made at all. Yes you could megaphone and xerosic, but it still felt a little unfair. At least it's going out of standard.

At first, i thought fighting fury belt was made for strong non EX basic pokemon (raikou, Snorlax) to be at EX level, but it also works for EX's. EX's already have a lot of HP, it's what they're known for. Making a card that gives them even more HP just feels ridiculous. If it only worked for non EX basics, i'd honestly be fine with it. It's especially troubling when megaphone and xerosic are going out of standard, but hopefully either will get reprinted.

Biggest pet peeve of all. Item lock. I hate it. I absolutely hate it. I don't mind ability lock, i don't mind stadium lock, but i absolutely hate item lock. Especially first turn item lock like trevenant and seismotoad. I know i've already said this a lot, but it feels really unfair. More so than the other 2 i mentioned. being unable to use half your deck is just, ugh.
At least most of these will be rotated out of standard in a few weeks, so that's good.

Well just my opinion though.
 
PTCGO has more scoops online then in real life, if you play in an 8 man event, it is rare people will scoop.
 
@NinjaPenguin

I think you've made me realize another issue: no trading tutorial. Or at least, if there is one I doubt it teaches what people really need to know. To give you an idea, I have spent a grand total of $0.00 USD on the PTCGO. Yet I can make several competitive decks, and not by cutting corners either. That is because thankfully some people on another message board taught me how both to trade well and how to take advantage of (without abusing) the in game rewards. Not sure how much detail I can get into here without it being off topic, but anyone interested can PM me.
 
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I agree with the coin flipping and I also really don't like trade lock.
 
My biggest pet peeve at the moment is the inability to do anything with card overflow. I mean, I have nearly 70 Timburr from Plasma Storm, for example. It'd be nice to have a feature where you could turn cards into coins, or trade them in for a card of a higher rarity, or something along these lines.
 
Purrloin said:
My biggest pet peeve at the moment is the inability to do anything with card overflow. I mean, I have nearly 70 Timburr from Plasma Storm, for example. It'd be nice to have a feature where you could turn cards into coins, or trade them in for a card of a higher rarity, or something along these lines.
Click to expand...

Yeah. I think people forget that trade locked cards serve another purpose; you cannot accidentally trade away what you need for your Theme Decks (as an example). Plus it was designed to avoid rewarding "free" players so much that it makes it pointless to cash in on the Redemption Codes. Remember the PTCGO exists to support the physical Pokémon TCG. This is something an online only TCG avoids.

With that said I completely agree with you Purrloin that we need something to do with excessive duplicates in trade locked cards. Obviously is doesn't truly hurt to have 99 (or whatever the cap is) virtual cards forever sitting in your collection; what hurts is when you go to bust open a trade locked pack that was supposed to be an in game reward and... if not everything is a repeat of a card you've maxed out for trade locked copies, then at least the rare and reverse holo cards are. TCG video games as well as a certain popular online TCG provide an answer a bit like what you suggest; let us turn these in either for a chance at something new or for Tokens tos pend elsewhere. Seems way too good to be true that you could get something of a higher rarity, though.

I also recommend making it rarity based; though that means pulling your fifth trade-locked Shaymin-EX (ROS) is no better than pulling your fifth trade locked copy of any other Pokémon-EX, at least it will earn you more than you would get from a fifth trade locked common. This means you could expand this to other in game rewards as well; maybe an unopened booster could have a certain return rate as well, so that if you don't feel like opening some (cause you've got the whole set pretty much complete in quadruplicate) you can just cash it in. So the simple solution I think is getting X Tokens based on rarity.
 
Hello everyone. Glad to have found a place where people talk about what we enjoy, playing pokemon card games. I just found out about this game a week ago and have been having a blast. After reading some comments here it seems most people's problem are that they are impatient. There's a 25 min. timer so even if your opponent takes a while he is eating up precious time that can cost a win. That's how I look at it anyways. I will sit there patiently thinking, I'm either going to win by knocking out his pokemon or he ran out of time. Though I've never actually won because of time. I've you are impatient than events are great to play. The timer is shortened down to 12m.

As for the coin toss it doesn't seem unfair to me since:
1) it happens to my opponent as well. There are times where I get many tails but there are also times my opponent gets as many tails as well so it seems fair.
2) there are times where I get many heads as well.
Try not to focus too much on the negatives.

People quitting before the last attack I do feel is unsportmanslike but I don't complain since I'm here to win. I actually prefer it since it means I actually won. I've been in some battles where both me and my opponent refuse to lose and when someone seemed liked they lost they managed to comeback and win and I've done the same. Quitters never win.
 
I used to annoyed by abrupt concessions until I started experiencing matches in versus and events where neither side conceded but someone is awarded a victory or defeat randomly. I thought it was network connectivity as the first time it happened my friend said he lost his Internet. But then it happened in a tournament and then a couple more times when having matches with someone in the same room, in fact, sitting side by side. Not sure if anyone else experienced this before. And because you're often playing with strangers, you can't really follow up and ask, "dude, what happened?"

Just pointing out that concessions aren't always the result of someone being a bad loser. Anyone can explain what's happening so I can avoid these situations would be appreciated too. I think at the least, I should get my tourney tixs refunded when it happens in a round mentioned.
 
Ethanpoke221 said:
Just pointing out that concessions aren't always the result of someone being a bad loser. Anyone can explain what's happening so I can avoid these situations would be appreciated too. I think at the least, I should get my tourney tixs refunded when it happens in a round mentioned.
Click to expand...

Submit a report ticket about the one in the tournaments: this is a relatively recent glitch. So no it doesn't explain all the concessions from before it started up (I think with the last major update XD). Sometimes there will be totally legitimate (or at least understandable) reasons for people to have to quit, but if you go onto the PTCGO official forums, there are many who say loudly and proudly they concede if they get a bad start or as soon as they are certain they will lose.

Oh, and last I checked, in tournament play if one player suddenly disconnects, as soon as the PTCGO itself realizes this it will give them five minutes to reconnect: only after that are they disqualified and a victory awarded to the remaining player.
 
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