Frost said:It would really annoy me if American packs started following the Japanese way. I know people are complaining about the pull rates of the EX cards in ND but aren't they even more rare in the Japanese sets? And not being guaranteed a rare in each pack would be horrible. I think the American pack rates have been fine since DP when they went back to 3 uncommons and 10 cards in a pack.
In the Japanese BW sets with EXes (BW3 and BW4), you get 2 EXes per booster box, and a booster box is only 20 packs. FAs are a pull rate of about 1 in every 2 boxes. So FAs are more rare, but EXes are much easier to pull. Approximately half the packs in a box will have a rare, either holo or EX/FA.
You're not guaranteed a rare, but they also are more strict on the cards that become rares. All rares are holo, and many of the cards that are non-holo rares in English sets are either uncommon or common in Japanese sets. So instead of having a 1/3rd chance to pull a holo/EX or get a non-holo, you have a 1/2 chance to pull a holo/EX or you get an extra uncommon, the same uncommons that make up the English pool of non-holo rares. So, actually, your chances of pulling a good rare are better.