I think the real issue is that a hobby like a trading card game is getting harder and harder to keep profitable in this increasingly digital age. I think we're all on the same page that the number of chase cards in Gen 7 is ridiculous, but PCL's answer to that so far has been to add even more variations of the chase cards. lol? And between them trotting out Charizard GX and full art waifus every set now the desperation to get people to buy is transparent. From my viewpoint, at least.
They're really going the wrong way at it, I honestly think with how popular Pokemon has been as of late, and how the competitive TCG has been getting more and more members, having those chase card variations would not have made a difference. Pokemon has been booming since 2016, it's apparent in how much cards like Base Zard have gone up since then. Nothing would have changed if they kept their sets at a lower number of chase cards. Regular. Full Art. Full Art Trainer. One-two secret rares. It was perfectly fine this way. In fact, I think the way things are going discouraged collectors like myself to give them money. I know that doesn't matter in the long run since collectors are the minority, and their marketing shows this, but still, if they wanted to appeal to everyone, they were doing it fine before.
I wouldn't even mind the giant clusterfuck sets if they could have a clear vision for them. They must know at this point that there's going to be a main Japanese expansion and then two subsets that get combined into a monstrous English set because that's been the last year and a half or so of the game. So work with it. You want Lost Thunder to be "the Johto set"? Actually plan the Pokemon out so that you get all 100 Johto Pokemon covered within a 250 card English set. It takes a little bit of planning but not an excessive amount. Gen 4-era's TCG was able to do it.
You actually bring up something very great here, and honestly, when I look at some of my favorite sets, like BREAKthrough, Boundaries Crossed, and Expedition, what do those sets have in common with the ones now? They're huge. It makes me realize this-I wouldn't mind these massive sets either, in fact sometimes these releases can be exciting. But, you're very, very right about it. Focusing it and making these things actually coherent would be a HUGE step in the right direction. I'm also pretty sure you or someone else mentioned this, but these giant sets would be fine if there wasn't SO many chase cards in the desperate attempt to sell sell SELL, that doesn't even NEED to be desperate because, like I said, they're selling fine as it is. With these massive sets we could have very well had every single Pokemon be covered as a card, but they just don't seem to know how to do that.
Less chase cards, more focus. The solution is obvious. It'd get collectors like myself buying things again, at least. And I don't think kids or competitive players are going anywhere.
