Some time ago, TCGP finally added a long-awaited feature, that of trading the cards, which fulfills the namesake of the game. In the physical TCG, this is certainly easily accomplished in various ways, the simplest being to just swap cards with friends regardless of quality or amount. But since TCGP is an electronic implementation, there have to be controls in place for the process, and there are such controls. It is therefore helpful to elucidate those controls as well as the overall process by which the action takes place.
At present, the feature and its associated system works almost like a trade in the Global Trade Station, for those who are familiar with that in the main series games. A player chooses a friend to trade with and then offers a card (essentially, "depositing" it). The friend can then offer a card in return, after which the first player can confirm the offer. When that happens, the two cards are traded and both receive the new cards. Either player may decline the offer after being given, or the initially offering player may terminate the trade request, in which case nothing happens. This method offers controls for the players involved.
Controls also come in the form of restrictions on both cards and execution. Only cards of any Diamond and one Star rarities may be traded for cards of the same rarity, and neither can Promo cards. The cards of three Diamond up to one Star also require certain amounts of Trade Tokens - obtained from in-game events or converting excess cards for the item - to be consumed, with more of them obviously needed for rarer cards. Lastly, each trade consumes a Trade Stamina, recovered in the same way as other stamina gauges, and only one trade offer can be active at a time - so other players cannot offer to ones already offering either.
Now, I say "at present" because the trade feature and system is actually being planned for revamp later this year. Trade Tokens are planned to be phased out and trades using them would use the game's already existing "currency" - more on this in a different post later on. The developers are also looking into how to let other players know about specifically desired cards, something that right now is more of a "guess-and-check" unless the players can communicate by other means, as well as enabling higher rarity and Promo cards to be traded. Obviously, players are looking forward to these and other changes too.
Though in some sense the feature is currently in an imperfect state, the trading feature and system as implemented in that current state is still a good manifestation of the central premise of the TCG, as cards that can be traded as well as played with. Further improvements will need to affirm that as still being the case, and they'll be something that players will look forward to. Now that trading is in the game, there is another way of obtaining the (some of) cards that one wants or needs for their collections or card battles.
One year ago: New Controls in Pokémon Go
Two years ago: Pokémon Go Community Day, 3/18/2023
Three years ago: Countermeasures for Pokémon Go: "Over" Time?
Four years ago: New Pokémon Go Bonus Hour Experiments
Five years ago: On Blogging and Microblogging
Six years ago: Character Songs
Seven years ago: "You Shall Not Pass" - Hard-to-Access Gyms and PokéStops
Eight years ago: Alton : Food :: I : Pokémon
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