Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

Why Nintendo should give out lots of digital boosters when they begin selling

Status
Not open for further replies.
ryanvergel

ryanvergel

New Member
Nintendo, if/when they do plan to sell cards digitally, should give out a lot of boosters/packs/decks online to stimulate growth in certain areas. Here is why-

1. If you give out "free booster pack(s)" when you register online, you encourage people to try it out. No one will want to buy 1s and 0s (or download some new program) until they realize its potential. We're all hooked for a reason. Include this in all physical TCG product, heck, even the DS games. They're already connected.
2. Giving them out for first time entrances into tournaments/prereleases, to encourage attendance and buying PHYSICAL cards, which is probably a main desire? This pretty much presumes that. Either way, it encourages buying both at the very least. To enter a tournament you need cards, those pokemon sleeves you sell, the theme decks with damage counters other necessities. The casual buyer might be enticed to become a long term, and brand driven consumer at that point.
3. Give them out, and quite a bit, for merely attending a tournament/PR- encourage attendance for parents, friends, and for everyone to walk away with something, even if its nothing in hand; you give away which should actually hook them more. Again, the kid with the parent sitting out at a PR/BR might buy more cards/sleeves to use as their kid knows free packs are always amazing. Come on, Mom, it's free packs!
4. Give them out for doing well- this encourages people to buy LOTS of cards to procure the expensive, physical cards to get them digitally if they want to compete online as well. You can easily give out the least productive set, or any other limitation. Give the winner of a BR/PR a digital box. I wonder what kind of physical growth that might create.

Yay/Nay?

The game is clearly addictive enough to just have people play and love it. That's why we keep playing, despite prize decreasing and stuff in this game year after year despite seeming growth. Hook these suckers too! It seems similar to what they did with the TCG when they took over. Lots of initial spending and then we are being reeled in right now. But I do love the ride!
 
Last edited:
Are you talking about the TCG Online? There won't be micro-transactions for digital cards, you can scan your cards QR code and it will be automatically added to the game so you don't have to buy the same version of the card and the best of both worlds according to them. Here is my post about it.

For TCG players this is great news, I'm certainly fine with this, its only unfair for people who just wanted to play a digital version of the game and not the actual game which is the case in gaming communities when they found out about this. I thought it would follow a similar business model like Zynga games but I'm glad they went this route, I was not going to spend money on digital cards, at least not for a flash game like that. If it was a downloadable game and you bought expansion packs (every card) I'd do it. But yeah the QR Code method is simply awesome if its how they are going to do it.
 
Last edited:
sdp said:
Are you talking about the TCG Online? There won't be micro-transactions for digital cards, you can scan your cards QR code and it will be automatically added to the game so you don't have to buy the same version of the card and the best of both worlds according to them. Here is my post about it.

For TCG players this is great news, I'm certainly fine with this, its only unfair for people who just wanted to play a digital version of the game and not the actual game which is the case in gaming communities when they found out about this. I thought it would follow a similar business model like Zynga games but I'm glad they went this route, I was not going to spend money on digital cards, at least not for a flash game like that. If it was a downloadable game and you bought expansion packs (every card) I'd do it. But yeah the QR Code method is simply awesome if its how they are going to do it.
Click to expand...

The QR code that only applies to the BW starters right so we get every copy of that in online TCg? If this is true will we be able to customize our decks in beta since i though it was going to be around august till the real thing comes out?
 
I just re-read the article and you are right it mentions "decks" so apparently thats only for theme decks...hmmm from the way it was worded I assumed that each booster/card would have QR Codes. I hope thats what they'll eventually go for, like I mentioned micro-transactions are not for me and it won't work for a game mainly targeted at kids unlike say Magic Online.
 
I like what MTG does or did. If you managed to collect every card of a set online (I think you were able to trade with people), the company would send you a sealed pack of the whole set for your troubles. I'm not entirely sure how this worked, but the fact that you could earn real cards from virtual cards was a big deal. If they decided to sell packs/cards, I would like to see a way to get some real cards for said virtual cards.

Drew
 
I hope there's no micro transactions for the online TCG >.> I don't wanna buy everything twice lol. Also do we need a special device to scan the QR code or do we just take a picture of it? I'm not familiar with them ;/
 
Does the technology exist to print a unique QR code on each card? If cards have a common QR code then within seconds of the first pack being opened all the cards will be "freely" available online. Effectively assigning zero value to the online cards.

I can imagine a unique QR code on a booster insert that would represent one online "purchase" of a virtual booster but not a code that represents the actual physical booster. But imagining such and it being implemented are very different. Paper is heavy and expensive to transport.

I do see the real possibility for tournament rewards and league rewards and player rewards to include QR codes that unlock either specific online extras or random online cards. A large format QR code would not require high definition printing so high speed inkjet and laser technology could be applied to the generation of unique codes.

I watch and wait with interest to see what TPCi have decided.
 
I say we DON'T have a separate online system at all...
one of the lamest parts of starting to play MTG is deciding whether you want to take the physical or digital route. I personally think the online thing should be a neat option but not an alternative to playing IRL. Removes travel and such but considering there's no (as of yet) tournament systems with the new program, I don't think making us pay for pixels is fair.
 
NoPoke said:
Does the technology exist to print a unique QR code on each card? If cards have a common QR code then within seconds of the first pack being opened all the cards will be "freely" available online. Effectively assigning zero value to the online cards.

I can imagine a unique QR code on a booster insert that would represent one online "purchase" of a virtual booster but not a code that represents the actual physical booster. But imagining such and it being implemented are very different. Paper is heavy and expensive to transport.

I do see the real possibility for tournament rewards and league rewards and player rewards to include QR codes that unlock either specific online extras or random online cards. A large format QR code would not require high definition printing so high speed inkjet and laser technology could be applied to the generation of unique codes.

I watch and wait with interest to see what TPCi have decided.
Click to expand...

The problem with this is the possibility of "cracking the code" and allowing players to scan random numbers with a QR generator.
 
ApachePrime said:
The problem with this is the possibility of "cracking the code" and allowing players to scan random numbers with a QR generator.
Click to expand...

The total number of codes available is sufficiently large that simply locking out players who scan bad codes for an increasing period of time would be sufficient to prevent such abuse. For every valid code there would be billions upon billions of invalid ones.
 
Agreed, Ryan.

Step 1: copy most/all of what Magic: The Gathering Online does.
Step 2: profit! (no, South Park lovers - there's no interim "???" step to this one!)

Seriously. Almost every time P!P has implemented an element of M:TG's op, it's succeeded magnificently. This is no different.
 
The way that MTGO does it is that you purchase an account for $10, and are given a pack, an event ticket (which can be used to enter events, or is a unit of currency), 300 common and uncommon cards, and a few decks that can't be used in tournament play, and can only be used in the newbie room.

I'd like to see something similar for Pokemon, except I think the account should be free and that it should come with a theme deck or two that can be used at anytime, because typically theme decks aren't filled with expensive cards anyway.

Good suggestions ITT.
 
Why not have a set of 40-50 cards that players are given 4 copies of each, and remove them from booster packs? For example,
-Professor Oak's New Theory
-Dual Ball
-Stantler (Call for Family)
-Starter Lines
-Unlimited Energy

The only key to this is to make sure that no one can pull these in packs (that would be the ultimate NPE), and it would at least give players a base to start with.

Since they have the freedom to randomize packs with whichever cards they want, why not have type-exclusive packs? If a kid wants to make a fire deck, let them buy a fire pack (same distribution as a normal pack, except all fire/trainer cards).

I played LOTRO, which was hugely successful in its day. Many of the neat elements included:
-Online-exclusive promos (that could do things physical cards could not, such as coming into play with random stats, etc.)
-Custom avatars for big event winners
-Casual lobby, trade lobby, tournament lobby, deck builder, etc.
-Tournament lobby had automated tournaments for a variety of formats (imagine playing a Base Set-Gym Challenge format), including sealed deck and draft
-Rating system with prestigious silver and gold avatar borders for higher-rated players
-Premier events
-Physical promos mailed for online tournament participation
-'Foil' cards, which were pretty weird looking versions of normal cards
 
If they're going pay-to-play, the system that I'd most want to support would be a pay-per-set deal. Flat rate for each set to get unlimited copies of every card in that set. $10? $20? Which one would be more palatable for players of all abilities?

What I'm suggesting is this...

$XX for unlimited copies of HGSS.
$XX for unlimited copies of Unleashed.
etc.

Not a monthly fee, though it kinda works out to be that way. If you don't like a set, you don't have to buy it, and you still have access to all the cards you've already bought.
 
Its all speculation, we really don't know how they'll do it besides the mentioned QR Codes which apparently only applies to decks, however in that same article they mention how "its the best of both worlds" because you are not going to be buying digital cards, so theres hope for this to be free or you get cards by buying physical cards and no actual money for bits involved. The fact that PTCG is aimed mostly at kids unlike say Magic is probably another reason why they might not want to charge since parents aren't as likely to spend money for bits.

I hope thats the way they handle it since I have no interest in micro-transactions otherwise, at least not for a flash game. If this was a Wiiware or 3DS game that actually has a single player mode and I will always be able to own then I'd be more open to spend X amount for every new expansion.
 
I would like to see enter barcode of a pack to get a pack online. Means you don't pay twice and adds more value to their packs. I'm fine with buying cards. I just don't wanna buy them twice.
 
DarkLordSigma said:
Is this all speculation at this point? Is there any evidence at all that PTCGO will be pay-to-play?
Click to expand...

The representative of TPCI demoing the product at Washington States told me that there would be a pay model. It was kinda crowded so I didn't get to speak to her much, but she told me that there will be codes inserted into theme decks and other products, and then you can also do a subscription fee of X packs/month. I'm not sure if those are the only options, but those are confirmed.
 
I can only assume that you're talking about the online one, as I don't see how this applies otherwise...

Anyways, free digital boosters initially to attract an audience is always a good tactic, though if they wanna follow the MTG online model like Cyrus suggested, you're gonna need prize support as well; don't top MTG online players also get like an invite to Worlds or something?

And of course, this is assuming they even use a pay model for this online tcg thing; granted, I think that would both suck and be a mistake if that went through considering the likely audience of this game compared to MTG online, but eh, could work.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top