@gumball51321
Please re-read my comment as you seem to have it backward. Actually, wait; I wrote the post quickly so let
me re-read it first.
*re-reads own post*
Yeah, looks like I said what I meant to say, so let's try to clear things up. I proposed two things:
1) Quit making cards that only exist in the highest of the rarities.
2) If #1 isn't an option, then consider making it standard practice to re-release premium rarity cards as "normal" rares in the next expansion.
Either of these could hurt sales, but it could help them as well. How?
It isn't like TPCi is free with their sales data; from what little I've seen, sales seem bigger at places like Wal-Mart and not because competitive players shop there. Or even most collectors. Instead, the bulk of sales are by people who don't truly collect or play, but just want to buy "something Pokémon" or "something Pokémon TCG" related. Might be a parent buying it as a "toy" for the kiddos, might be a nostalgic adult buying it for his or herself. Serious collectors and players tend to order boxes (and not from big retailers) or buy/trade for singles. A serious player might spend even a few hundred per set but when you're outnumbered 1000 to 1, the "random" buyers at big retailers still win out. So changing these things up is unlikely to affect the
bulk of purchases. "Random" buyers still buy it because it's Pokémon or a TCG booster or whatever. Collectors still have the higher rarity cards to collect; they haven't gone away, it is just there will be a lower rarity version of the same thing available, eventually.
Players might go back to buying more boosters again because they wouldn't be as much of a rip-off. If sales are as disproportionate as I believe they are, it won't make a noticeable difference either way.
But if this happens, the people who invest in the first one are going to be screwed over because they invested in the first "cheap" one.
The first ones are
not the cheap ones. They will be the pricier ones, and anyone
competent will know that in next set, there will be a normal Rare reprint. Collectors will still need the rarer ones, if they make sure the rarer versions look better, a lot of players will want to use them anyway.
For three months, the first release will be the
only release, so if your deck needs [insert card], you still have to pony up for it.
However, you'll have the option of selling them as the reprints near, or if you cannot afford the premium rare versions, you can try and hold out for three months.
As this was intended to be a standard operating procedure for the game,
no one should be screwed over. Some will, but it is the same as now; swindlers gonna swindle, and fools are going to rush in.
I think that if you want to be good at something, you have to spend time and money.
Okay, but that is a faith statement. You haven't given a rational argument why it ought to be that way. I
know from experience that some people have natural talents; training will make them better, often investing in high-quality equipment will improve their performance, but they start out good already. Others have to work at it and guess what? That just takes investing time. Requiring people invest money is related, but it isn't always the same thing; though most of us have to earn our money, which means investing time and labor at our jobs.
The
big thing is, the cost has been
artificially engineered; premium rarity cards cost a bit more to print (due to being Holofoil, commissioning a great artist for a full art, etc.)
but these are decisions made by those creating the product, not necessities because the card somehow cannot function if it is instead printed as a normal Rare. If TPCi suddenly started printing
all cards as one rarity and some stuff became really, really pricey because demand far outstripped supply, then you might have a better case.
This is a completely watered down example, but take 1st edition Machamp for example. 1st edition cards were all the rage for collectors(I think, I wasn't born yet)and I'm sure people bought them as singles when they went out of print. Well, they messed up Machamp, and just about every printing for it was the 1st edition Machamp, so they became virtually worthless. Hell, the one that ISN'T 1st edition is the one worth more. I just generally think that from a market standpoint, this is a bad idea for almost any concept
What you are describing isn't a watered down example, but an irrelevant one. That might sound harsh, but I'll explain.
Machamp (
Base Set) was
never released in actual
Base Set booster packs; instead, it was only available in the 2-Player Starter Set. I don't remember the demand for it being high, at least relative to most other cards. The reason all
Machamp are 1st Edition wasn't an error but was by design. Speculators who tried to "invest" in them didn't actually know what they were doing. Kind of like me and my former comic book collection. XP This was a problem with
most early Pokémon cards because the "Pokémon Fad" whipped a lot of folks up into a buying frenzy. Supplies of the early Pokémon sets were
far below demand
plus most folks didn't know how to play competitively, where to learn what was competitive, and how that might affect short-term value. Prices seem to have finally rebounded now because almost 20 years later, the supply versus the demand is once again favorable to collectors.
People losing money due to poor investing is still a "thing". People try to turn a profit by speculating, and if they guess wrong they lose out. As I proposed changes to how the TCG is handled at the fundamental level, only people who refuse to learn the basics are going to suffer such problems... which is what already happens.
Now you may still disagree, and that's fine. I just want you to disagree with what I'm actually saying (barring some typo I managed to miss each time I read my own words XP).
