Ultimately, the extremity of Pokémon TCG Live is to regenerate the decade-old Pokémon TCG Online as the mode to play the enormously fashionable paper crippled implicit the internet. However, arsenic of today’s planetary beta release, fixed the bugs and issues we’ve experienced we’d powerfully suggest you debar it for now. However, if you’re determined, past for goodness sakes, work connected to find retired what you must bash first.

Pokémon TCG Online (PTCGO) is undeniably a wobbly aged portion of software. Struggling to support net connections connected tablet, and a clunky happening to grip connected PC, it’s surely fit-for-purpose, but there’s a batch of country for improvement. The volition is that specified betterment volition travel successful the signifier of Pokémon TCG Live (PTCGL). In assorted betas for the past mates of years, and delayed from its intended merchandise successful 2021, it’s yet capable for everyone to download today, portion PTCGO remains disposable until the beta is over. It’s just, well, I wouldn’t beryllium switching conscionable yet.

The large contented is, migrating your relationship into PTCGL means never, ever being capable to log backmost into PTCGO. It perfectly warns you this volition hap erstwhile you opt successful to migration, but it’s acold excessively casual to miss conscionable however superior the consequences of this are, and however overmuch determination is to lose. Then, erstwhile you do, you’ve moved from a comparatively unchangeable mentation of the game, to 1 that I’m amazed The Pokémon Company saw acceptable to merchandise worldwide.

Go Spend Your Coins Or They’re Gone

Those who’ve been playing PTCGO for a portion volition inevitably person a teetering heap of Pokécoins they’ve won, with which packs of cards and decorative items could beryllium bought. Migrate to PTCGL and, well, you’ve mislaid them. There’s seemingly immoderate benignant of conversion to an magnitude of PTCGL’s Crystal currency, but it’s opaque, and the 2 currencies aren’t equivalent. You decidedly privation to spell to Online and walk arsenic galore of them arsenic you tin earlier they’re lost.

You Have To Export Your Battle Decks Or They’re Lost

This 1 I had nary hint astir astatine all. While migrating your relationship to PTCGL brings crossed your paper postulation arsenic good arsenic some of your paper boxes, sleeves and coins (although it’s not wide which won’t marque it), and besides acknowledges your pre-Sun & Moon cards (even though you presently can’t play them), it conscionable won’t fuss importing your personally created conflict decks.

This is utterly mysterious, and frankly conscionable damned stupid. Having missed this detail, each hand-built platform I’ve made is present conscionable gone forever. And it’s not arsenic if there’s an elegant solution for those who do cognize successful advance.

In bid to support your ain Battle Decks, you request to log successful to PTCGO, and past export the substance of your “deck lists” to a substance file. To bash this, spell to Deck Manager, past View Deck, past Export Deck, which you tin prevention arsenic a .txt oregon Word file. You bash this for each azygous deck, and past migrate your relationship to PTCGL. You tin past transcript this substance into PTCGL’s Deck Editor, via the Create Deck - Import Deck paper options. But if you migrate first, there’s perfectly nary mode to extract this information from the aged app. Given it’s seemingly arsenic elemental arsenic a substance record swap, it’s beyond anserine this isn’t an automated process of relationship migration.

It Limits How Many Cards It Imports, And Destroys The Rest

When you import your account, it volition lone bring crossed a maximum of 4 of immoderate card. Why? According to the FAQ, conscionable because. Instead, much than 4 of thing you person successful your postulation is conscionable burned for zero compensation.

This gets worse for ACE SPEC, Prism Star, and Pokémon Star cards, wherever you tin lone support 1 of each. The aforesaid is existent for each 4th of a Pokémon V-UNION card. Why? It conscionable is.

There’s besides the bizarre determination to lone let you to bring implicit 59 of immoderate basal Energy type. 59!

Oh, and if you’re wondering however you tin spot the cards successful your postulation now, extracurricular of platform building, you tin lone find them by...looking successful the Shop? Yup, seriously.

It’s A Buggy Beta

It’s not similar PTCGO was the world’s astir reliable portion of software. Seemingly a butterfly farting adjacent your wifi was capable for it to sound you backmost to the login screen, and its load times were...not impressive. But PTCGL conscionable seems a clump of issues close now. Sure, it’s a beta, truthful that’s understandable, but fixed importing your relationship to it means ne'er being capable to spell backmost to the amended version, it’s decidedly accusation you’ll privation to know.

One of the champion features of PTCGL is the Battle Pass, which is simply a overmuch much blase mentation than the fortnightly unlockable items successful its predecessor. However, astir of the clip arsenic I usage this caller software, it conscionable tells maine it’s not accessible. It did this to me, successful fact, close successful the mediate of the enforced tutorial, meaning I was locked up connected a leafage I wasn’t allowed to leave, but couldn’t bash thing with. I had to discontinue retired and commencement over, close successful the mediate of the game’s evident attempts to springiness maine immoderate Silver Tempest Lugia-based cards, and I honestly person nary thought present if immoderate of it worked.

After winning battles I’ve played since, I’ve wanted to spot my progress. But I’m conscionable getting told, “This diagnostic is not disposable now.” Not impressive.

Also not awesome is finding, each clip you unfastened the app, that the game’s had to disable 1 of the cardinal elements of the game’s caller meta, Forest Seal Stone. These VSTAR-giving tools are a marque caller mechanic for Silver Tempest, and 1 of them is already “banned from play” owed to not moving decently successful PTCGL.

Oh, and perchance little important, the game’s caller avatars support changing themselves without warning, meaning the feline I’ve built to look a spot similar my lad keeps switching himself implicit to a truly douchy brace of sunglasses.

There’s No Functioning Swear Filter

Well, I conscionable can’t hold for my eight-year-old to log successful and play against Fuckle_Shuckle. Great work, everyone.

The New In-Game Currencies Are Bewildering

One of the precise champion things astir PTCGO was that, contempt the evident billions that could person been made, it ne'er allowed real-world wealth to beryllium spent in-game. While its infrastructure was perfectly built astir those codification cards you get successful Pokémon paper products, those ever consciousness similar a bonus extra, ne'er the crushed you’d bargain anything, allowing the online crippled to consciousness similar a freebie.

Currently, the aforesaid is existent of PTCGL, with nary mode to bargain thing straight wrong the app. However, it seems unbearably inevitable, fixed the bewildering fig of caller currencies it sports.

You inactive person golden coins, which are gained by levelling up, completing quests, reaching Battle Pass tiers, and which tin beryllium “bought” with Crystals. Crystals are gained by, er, levelling up, completing quests, and reaching Battle Pass tiers. But they tin besides beryllium spent connected getting the Premium Pass for the Battle Pass, which allows you to, um, unlock much Crystals? Then determination are Credits! These tin beryllium gained by—you guessed it—levelling up and achieving caller tiers successful the Battle Pass. But you tin besides recycle cards you summation implicit the caller four-maximum bounds for Credits, and past usage them to bargain idiosyncratic cards successful the Deck Editor. Confused? I deliberation that’s the idea.

Of each of them, the lone 1 you mostly privation are Crystals, truthful you’ll ne'er conjecture which is hardest to travel by. In by acold the dumbest aspect, to unlock the Premium Battle Pass you request Crystals, which it suggests you summation by winning them successful the Battle Pass, but they’re lone rewarded successful the...that’s right! The Premium Battle Pass.

It’s surely intolerable that one of these madly overlapping faux-coins won’t yet go disposable for a tiny currency sum. I anticipation I’m wrong, but, you know, capitalism. We’ve reached retired to The Pokémon Company to spot if they’ll stock immoderate plans.

Trading Is Gone

Honestly, I find this 1 of the astir shocking changes, and surely not 1 that you’re warned astir erstwhile migrating. PTCGL has nary trading option, which is conscionable the biggest shame.

In PTCGO, if determination were a peculiar paper you really wanted oregon needed, you could look done the trading conception to spot what others would beryllium consenting to swap it for. If it wasn’t there, you could suggest your ain trade, permission it up for 24 hours, and spot if anyone would bite. It was a beauteous online mentation of 1 of the cardinal elements of immoderate TCG, and it’s specified a bummer to spot it conscionable wholly eliminated successful the update. We’ve asked The Pokémon Company if it mightiness ever travel back.

You Will Eventually Have To Switch

There’s nary hiding from it successful the end. PTCGO is intended to beryllium sunsetted arsenic soon arsenic PTCGL is acceptable to permission beta. The Pokémon Company is inactive being cagey astir erstwhile this volition be, but precise unfastened and wide that its clip is astir up. The institution promises determination volition beryllium plentifulness of informing earlier the older mentation is switched disconnected for good.