First of all, I really appreciaty what TPCi gives to us, compared to other TCG companies. That's why I play Pokémon and not any other game. That's why I support the game by judging tournaments, writing guides and attracting new players in forums or at events.
However, I agree to Yoshi-'s point about more interesting prizes. Yes,
more interesting, not more expensive. When I won my first State Championships trophy more than two years ago I felt really great, it was just a 3rd place one but I finally made it after beeing 5th and 6th at many other States before. Now, I've got 9 of these trophies, and they are still the same. It's not like they don't look good, but... yea, all the same. My high excitement for winning trophies and other commemorative prizes got lost in the last years. I still travel to many State Championships because I like the game and the competition, and I also want to face new players I don't meet at local tournaments. I'm still happy when I win, but I'm not excited about the prizes any more, even at big tournaments like States.
The Nationals trophy from 2008 was something exciting new. This year's Nationals trophy was kinda disappointing since it's the same shape as those from States/Regionals/whatever. Same for the City Championship Medals. The 2006-2007 ones were so much better than the 2008-2009 ones in my opionion. Would it really be that much of a problem to give a different kind of trophy every year? Or at least a different winner promo for Battle Roads?
Then, there could be some more promo cards. Maybe top cut stamped promos for States or something. Almost no extra costs for TPCi, but a great addition for players who made it into top 8 and then got kicked out. 4 boosters and nothing else for beeing 5th as a State Championship seems a little low for me. The other kind of promos, as Yoshi- suggested, are alternate versions of playable cards, just to have something special in the deck. I understand that this can be a problem for the TPCi since artworks are made in Japan and it may be difficult to release a card that's not released in Japan. But it would be another "great for players - cheap for TPCi" thing. And hey, there are some nice-looking Japanese trophy cards we didn't see in the rest of the world yet.
The second kind of prizes, the booster packs - ok. I actually don't want more. While the packs given out at Battle Roads are very few, they are quite ok at bigger tournaments. Exspecially Nationals have really heavy prize support, considering it's a free event without prior qualification issues.
At last, we also get some merchandise stuff. Here I have to say there was a huge advance at last season, compared to the season before. The playmats were really useful and good in quality. I hope to see some high quality deckboxes, sleeves or something for CC/States top finishers, that would be great.
With that said, the biggest thing to bother me in the past couple years is last season's K-Value distribution. Nationals should be worth more than States imo!
They are worth more more than States since you can win Scholarships and a trip to Worlds. I think that's enough. Worlds are worth more than States as well and have K-value 0. Too high K-value isn't that good. 32 for big events is ok, as well as 16 for CCs. 4 for Battle Road is almost the same as unrated, I liked the K-8 from the year before much more.
That's another thing I quickly want to touch upon - the elitist attitude a bunch of Masters seem to hold towards the Seniors and below. I know that on average the Masters have a higher skill level, but there's no need to snub the Seniors and Juniors - I'd like to see an average Master who spouts these remarks challenge the better Seniors and Juniors - he might be in for a rude awakening.
I think the problem is not about player skills, but about player attendance. Seniors and Juniors aren't supposed to face or beat masters, that's completely normal. I respect the younger age groups and help them building their decks, some of our Seniors even play at Masters level and we tested a lot for Nationals. The thing that isn't right for me and many other players is that age division with ~5 players competing get the same prizes as age divisions with ~50 players competing. Normally Masters have the biggest player numbers so that's why it seems that some Masters think like you posted. Is it fair if a Junior player gets the same prizes as a Masters player, even if he just played against (in eyes of masters) uncompetitive decks? Yes it is, since he's not supposed to be that competitive himself as a Junior. Is it fair if a Junior player gets the same prizes as a Masters player who faced tough opponents to win, while the Junior didn't even have to play because he was the only one in his age division? No, it's definitely not. The problem is, TPCi can't really change this. They may adjust booster pools by player numbers, but they can't deny a medal to a junior player because he was the only one at the tournament. It's unfair to give it to him while Seniors and Masters have to fight for it against ~20 other players, but it would be unfair as well to keep the medal back since the player can't do anything about beeing the only one in his age division.