Discussion Is playing the game only online worth it?

S

Seastrome

Aspiring Trainer
Member
I've had numerous bad experiences playing in person and honestly, I just try to avoid playing in person if I can. Whether it's someone trying to ridicule my card choices in my deck, my game play, or a situation like this past fall with 2 top players played judge and got me a warning when i did nothing wrong, I just get tired of it all but don't want to quit outright.

That being said, is playing only online worth it? If only they ran official tournaments on there, it'd make in person a lesser option I would think.
 
That depends completely on you. If you want to play competitively at all, then online probably won't be enough.

Sure there are ticket tournaments, but there is no guarantee that you will be playing people with higher skill levels.

If you simply want to play for fun then I think PTCGO would be a good option for you. I also don't think you should quit the game in person just because of some bad experiences.

Below I am going to give you my own two cents about how I am interpreting your negative experiences. Please take this with a grain of salt as I am not intending to upset you. I simply would like to clear the air to encourage you to continue to play a game that you seem to enjoy. It would be terrible for you to stop playing the physical game all together due to some bad experiences.

When you say someone ridiculed your card choices for your deck, what do you mean? Did someone literally call you out or was it constructive criticism that you didn't want to hear? Part of the game is learning from others and being able to accept that your deck choices may not always be optimal. I know this for a fact because when I started, I built a bunch of decks that I thought were awesome and it turns out they were garbage. People pointed out the flaws in my deck and I thanked them for helping me become a better deck builder.

Game play criticism can be a little more harsh because nobody wants to be told that they are playing wrong. The issue here is that sometimes there is a more optimal order in which to play your cards. I feel like it can be easier to understand what needs to be done when you are spectating since you aren't entirely focused on what you need to do. I've had several games where I lost and someone pointed out that If I had only made a different move, I could have won. This can be a bit embarrassing, but ultimately it can help you make better decisions in the future.

I don't know what happened in your tournament, but it's not likely that you would get a warning for doing nothing wrong. This seems like you aren't accepting a result of a misplay. Can you explain this a bit so I can understand what happened? Of course you don't need to explain anything if you don't want to, I am just genuinely curious.

I don't mean to say that you misinterpreted your experiences (with the exception of the tournament warning, this seems unlikely). It is definitely possible that you encountered some rude people.
 
Last edited:
The PTCGO is a great place to test deck strategies, which saves you from buying cards you don't need. In my experience, there are a LOT of experienced players who are quite good. More often than not, I get a good challenge.
 
It's alright. Like max said, its a good place to test out new deck ideas (tbf, any deck I've ever built for real world play went through the ringer online), but I personally feel like the game can be buggy and will brick you to death sometimes. Tournaments are alright, just getting the tickets freely can be time consuming and a pain due to the RNG gods.
 
Tbh, TCGO in my humble opinion is just a place to deck-test. Not to live your TCG life on, go in person, 1 bad experience isn't every experience.
 
Probably should add this just for because. Don't let one bad experience tank the game for you. First cup I ever played, first match to boot, got into a mirror match mega mewtwo/espeon gx. The other guy played a trainers mail and put all 4 cards into his hand. When I called him out on he put 4 cards back into his deck, reshuffled and picked the trainers mail back up. I was totally livid, so much so that I threw every single remaining match, just in hopes that it might tarnish his record in the event it came down to that (For what it's worth it almost did). I steamed over it for awhile, but gave up on anger and just moved on. We've met several times since then in cups and prereleases, and each and every single time I have beaten him. I made it my goal to smash him every time he shows up to a event and let that keep me going.
 
I play a lot of PTCGO, but I will always prefer in person. The interaction with someone else while playing is way better than PTCGO
 
I mostly play ptcgo but its only because I can't currently make it to any IRL leagues, except league cups, but they're only 4 times a year. I much prefer playing IRL and I think that it is far superior. Keep at it and keep playing in person. Don't let past experiences stop you from playing in person, because it really is a whole new experience
 
You could always sign up for the Pokebeach online tournaments every month, they sound a lot of fun. I've never actually done one myself due to my lacking PTCGO collection, but I'm sure there are a number of people here that could give a more detailed experience.
 
Personally, I have only experienced one bad player out of everyone I’ve met in the past 3 regionals and LCs
 
I actually really enjoy playing the online game. Here is why:

> Saves $$ - Don't have to buy cards
>Never have to wait for a partner - can play anytime I feel like it, and there is always a partner available
>Don't have to keep track of cards - online system keeps track of cards for you
>Don't have to worry about damaging cards
>Timer keeps game moving
>Don't have to travel
>Shuffling is done for me
>Can keep any card in multiple decks, so multiple decks are ready to go at all times without re-building
>Much easier and faster to test new strategies and card combinations
>Match-up logarithm is pretty good at matching you with opponents with similar abilities

Things I don't like:
>No face-to-face interaction, which makes it impossible to "read" an oppnent
>Can't communicate with the other person except for a few emojis and a handful of pre-approved responses
>No "feel" of the cards in my hands
 
definetly worth since its free, also you dont need to spend much and actually have a lot of fun in the ingame trade market
 
Having kids means I really only have time to play online.

I too have had some negative experiences in person. I remember one guy tried to convince me that his colress allowed him to draw cards equal to the amount of cards in play as opposed to shuffle then draw.

If I found I had more time to play in person I would, however if it wasn’t for ptcgo I would never have been able to amass such a large collection of cards and therefore be able to test out dozens of different strategies.

Also you can play four online games in the time it takes to have one in person game!
 
I work full-time during the week so I play online a lot since it's hard to get to League after work. I try to attend League on Saturdays, and I attend League Cups and other tournaments when I can. With that said, I play on PTCGO way more than I do IRL due to how convenient it is, so if I had to choose between one or the other, I'd obviously choose playing online.

I can understand how one or two bad experiences can cause you to be hesitant to play in person. I'll share a personal experience.

The last League Cup I went to, I played against two people who had poor attitudes. One of them tried to belittle me after I made the game-winning play (he was salty I used Guzma for the win) and another had an attitude the entire time we played. It didn't help that the second person was my "win-and-in" match to make Top Cut and I lost. I left that tournament feeling bad and I haven't really had any desire to attend an IRL tournament since. Sometimes people suck and try to ruin other people's fun. Try not to let it get to you. At the end of the day, if someone is seriously going to put another person down over a card game that's supposed to be fun, that's a reflection of their character and in no way reflects you.
 
optimal_max said:
I actually really enjoy playing the online game. Here is why:

> Saves $$ - Don't have to buy cards
>Never have to wait for a partner - can play anytime I feel like it, and there is always a partner available
>Don't have to keep track of cards - online system keeps track of cards for you
>Don't have to worry about damaging cards
>Timer keeps game moving
>Don't have to travel
>Shuffling is done for me
>Can keep any card in multiple decks, so multiple decks are ready to go at all times without re-building
>Much easier and faster to test new strategies and card combinations
>Match-up logarithm is pretty good at matching you with opponents with similar abilities

Things I don't like:
>No face-to-face interaction, which makes it impossible to "read" an oppnent
>Can't communicate with the other person except for a few emojis and a handful of pre-approved responses
>No "feel" of the cards in my hands
Click to expand...

Pretty much sums it up, also should note that this site does hold a tournament once a month that's played online. So there is that tournament if you are after tournaments but very rare.
Also if travelling is not too much of a problem, might want to head to another store/venue to play competitively.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top