very difficult. I think sometimes it comes down to taking breaks as Gary had once given me as advice or just realizing that its a journey rather than a race. Go at your own pace, and if your not feeling it come back to it when the passion returns
I also try to save my purchases for a couple big ticket items that i really want, makes it worthwhile i feel
Iāve had a lot of fun recently hunting down 1999-2000 ā4th printā sets.
I also took the decision to crossover some of my personal collection to TAG. Had a lot of fun predicting the grades and then opening them up from the sealed packs they return them in.
Modern has been awful though
Because it is very likely shilled. They were suspected of doing a lot of shilling on reddit through undisclosed accounts. A lot of it was pointed out with its flaws and it died out but theres been a resurgence that very carefully and specifically avoid all the pitfalls of shilling that were pointed out, in a unnatural way.
Its a shame because the slabs look great and they took some innovative risks with their brand. Im personally convinced they arent on e4 because theyd be immediately kicked for shilling and end up like cgcs account. But then again, how would you even build a base in this market without shilling? I dont think it can be done in a natural authentic way that would be enough to keep a business afloat.
Buying word of mouth has never been easier. Back in the 2000s a product had to be good for people to talk about it and want to naturally recommend it. (Not saying itās a bad product)
Nowadays you can buy influence for pennies from literally anyone with 50 followers. Makes it hard to know whatās good or not. Like from my eBay recommendations āhello freshā is the greatest food ever produced. We tried it once and it was literal ass
Itās absolutely not a coincidence that older collectors feel that way, Weāve been over this many times, We were in a global pandemic the last time we went over this! Thatās nearly 5 years ago now Scott!!
You also have to realise that collecting is and always was a race against the clock, time takes & changes everything. It was either going to end up in limboā¦ fade into obscurity or go sky high and all 3 of those factors in the long term make it tougher to collect.
All the passions we have collected over the years will stay with us if we choose to hold on to them, The landscape is just different and the world has become increasingly more toxic. Itās a really big world out there and the next few generations of ehh āhobbyistsā have unanimously decided where things are headed and thatās how itāll be.
hehe I canāt help but feel somewhat mentioned in the ādata gatheringā part as I do recall helping you test the site and mentioning this possible privacy breach 
that may or may not upset a few people.
pokes
Ah yes the PokĆ©mon Casino, The art of scaling a lottery to the population of potential players. Arenāt we engaged? Someday weāll have the Shiny Special Alt Art that will be 1/100 of said specific Alt Art (that is like 1/100 boosterboxes already) and the hungry content generation machine will love it.
Everything that you see now in regards to Modern is how it was designed to be.
With that said I too miss the 2015-2018 years of the hobby, It was truly in its toddler stage with most cards being in the single to double digits in terms of pop report. I still think there are interesting conversations to be had with fellow collectors but itās just different and theyāre harder to find :).
I donāt see your post as a negative complaint itās more of a reflection of how you feel and thatās okay, Especially after being around for such a long time, as you can see: it sparked a lot of interesting thoughts & conversation.
However next time you make a thread can we please simplify it to: āis moonbreon the base set Chorizo of modernā¦?ā Thank-You
So far Iāve stayed out of this thread because I feel like others have adequately expressed my feelings, so no need to repeat others. I really want to emphasize this exact point, I think its great that Pokemon has introduced all of these other types of rarities (IR, SIR etc.), which has really created a bit more excitement for the average collector. However, because pull rates are so damn bad, it amplifies the gambling aspect of opening packs. Nothing is good enough besides the top chases, which take like a million packs to open.
Back in the day when the top chase were holos, you were near guaranteed to get one every 3 packs, so the idea of opening packs to complete a set was completely realistic and not this big thrill. I feel like the devaluation of holos has directly correlated with the rise of the gambling aspect of pokemon cards. Even as recent as the XY era, holos were still appreciated and considered a āpullā. By the SWSH era, holos were discarded in favor of hoping to pull much more rare alt arts. And now, the saga is complete with holos being relegated to a guarantee in every SV pack. Instead of having something to look forward to every 3 packs, it can take 10-20 packs just to pull an IR, which in turn heavily increases the thrill of actually pulling something, and thus the dopamine hit, which is what leads to that addictive feeling of wanting open packs to chase that āhitā. We are creating an army of future degenerate gamblers (actually many things in society are doing this, but Pokemonās got the unique target audience of literal children).
As a Forretress collector it couldnāt be better lowest prices, SV brought us a shiny Forretress card, full art forretress, the reg ex, and a few new set cards.
Iāve been seeing this thread bounce around, and Iāve been trying to come up with a way to answer it, because I do still enjoy Pokemon quite a bit. However, I know Iām in the minority here, both in literal personal demographic and also in what opinions I hold because of it.
I donāt have a super strong attachment to base set, I love all of the modern artwork weāve been getting, and I donāt invest in Pokemon whatsoever. I buy what I like and plan to keep those cards in my collection indefinitely (or play competitive TCG with them and exchange for another deck later). The only collection goal I really have is with my Piplups, Iāve accepted that I wonāt ever get some of the multi-thousand dollar cards on that list, and Iām okay with that.
With all of that in mind, I surround myself with likeminded collectors, whether that be here on e4, the species collector discord, or other small groups not comprised of people that do all of this for a living and exclusively care about value (no hard feelings to those that do, many of yāall here are lovely, but a lot of stonkers are insufferable).
I am exposed to a lot of social media due to my work, but you have to curate your algorithms to avoid seeing the negatives. Go follow some small content creators that love pokemon for the sake of it- collectors showing off their species collections, judges and professors talking about events, artists drawing the mons they love, or even some of the top TCG players that stream the game. Diversify within those groups as well- seek out people that donāt fit the ā40s-50s white manā mold and youāll discover hundreds of thousands of fans that interact with Pokemon in a completely different way that you do- and thatās a good thing! Not interacting with the $investing side of it has made my enjoyment so much greater.
One of my biggest grievances with TCG collecting is the focus on monetary value. Thereās nothing wrong with liking expensive cardboard, but sometimes youāve just gotta distance yourself from the noise of it all and become someone that collects based on their personal enjoyment. Thatās my secret to staying happy with this hobby.
I still have been enjoying this hobby lately and itās still my number one way to relax and take a break from everything else. The amount of joy it gives me has been varying a bit but the truth is itās probably the only real escapism tool i currently have and it also probably has a bit too big role in that, i think thatās also why the playtest saga hit as hard as it did and for the first time ever made me quite sad about collecting
But if you donāt take that into account iām really enjoying my niche and my collection goals, mainly consisting of vintage and non tcg. What i want from modern releases is very limited and from that little too i skip stuff easily if some unreasonable price jumps happen. Iām in lucky position not having to open a bunch of stuff from new sets for my enjoyment, instead one of my main ways to enjoy modern is to create frameworks where i can make beautiful entities and binder pages of art with mere cents at best.
Whatās something i donāt like is that other collectors, mainly outside E4, make me more cautious and i have less and less interest in interacting with them. There are exceptions too tho, not too long ago while in a bus i heard a guy talk about the shrouded fable etb he had bought in so enthusiastic way that i asked him about it and we had a nice little chat about pokemon which restored my feeling of local collectors a bit. But mainly regarding other collectors, iām just hoping i can at some point in future actually meet some people from E4 even if itās atm difficult for multiple reasons.
Most of the concerns I see in this thread arenāt card specific, rather they stem from the rise of social media platforms designed to farm engagement. Drama, polemics and anger drive the most engagement on Instagram, Twitter and YouTube so that is what people lean into. We get the world we deserve.
The opposite is true of E4. Thereās no financial or clout incentive here. Attempts to shill are snuffed and people are free to share their thoughts in the spirit of having a genuine conversation about their interests.
I agree a lot of it is a reflection of larger cultural trends. And even more specifically thereās a recent trend in a lot of male-dominated hobby spaces towards egoism, excessive risk taking/gambling, instant gratification. Sports, crypto, cars, video games, etc all feel like they are trending this way. A decade ago, I would probably have said that these types of spaces were being harmed by a puritanical fixation on identity and a political correctiveness but it almost feels like we are living a backlash/overcorrection to that moment. As you say, this trend feels very big though, like a broad reflection of the last 10 years of culture that came out of social media.
This is my own subjective experience, ymmv
Best summary of the changing community sentiment during the past two decades. First you break the prototype news and now write this beaut? 
cpbog1
This is very true. In my opinion, itās exacerbated by the younger age of Pokemon collectors. There are a lot of insecure and attenion-seeking folks using Pokemon as a way toward perceived social success and are tying their financial prospects in hobby spaces to their identity.
Some of the egoism, clout-chasing, gambler behavior that we see in Pokemon doesnāt exist to this extent in other hobbies that are comprised of older, more mature, established collectors.
I donāt want to derail this conversation too much, but it reminds me a bit of @skinstās reflection about our forum and Discord being a bit of a boyās club. With time, I think the demographic of who engages with Pokemon will change and this may alter some of the larger cultural trends that weāre seeing in Pokemon collecting behavior.
A couple of posts have touched on it, but I think the biggest problem at the minute (which is amplified by ācontentā creators) is the instant gratification culture we find ourselves in. Consumers are bombarded with influencers pulling hits from latest sets, and want that same rushā¦ and canāt help but feel the need to tear into packs or pay over the odds to have that card. Itās a little wonder people are becoming burnt out and tired of it, because for the majority of people itās not sustainable.
By nature I enjoy delayed gratification, and being apart from my collection means I often think of it with the anticipation of when Iāll next see it. Buying goals are often drawn out and a journey to be enjoyed for me, and honestly not much has changed in terms of enjoyment of the hobby despite all the noise.
If youāre struggling to enjoy it, take a breath, (maybe take a step back) and remember sometimes good things take time. The hobby isnāt going anywhere.
While I am aware of the somewhat annoying aspects of this hobby, I just choose to ignore those parts and focus on what I find joy in (species collecting for specific language).
For me, itās just kinda cool to see rare stuff. I donāt necessarily need to personally own it, but itās cool to see things in the wild, kind of like spotting a rare bird or exotic car. Itās interesting to read about other peopleās journeys and why something in their collection was difficult for them to get, so in a sense I get to live vicariously through other people. Itās somewhat similar I suppose to watching a speedrunner livestream a game Iām familiar with or watching someone attempt a challenge run in some sort of game.
I guess it also does help that I have other hobbies too, so I donāt experience burnout. Iām glad I donāt have to "loginā or ācheck-inā daily like most modern live service games so itās nice having a lot of freedom. Having a physical collection displayed also really helps keep me invested since I pass by it daily and appreciate what I worked towards building.
Maybe my answer will change in many years from now but thatās how I feel right now.
modern english tcg is cringe tho frfr ongod
I still occasionally go through ig reels and sometimes the pack opening videos can be entertaining, but the second any price tag appears on screen itās next video for me
āItās getting increasingly difficult to find joy in this hobbyā
What do you mean? I found her.
This is an exact inverse of what being into PokƩmon 15 years ago was like. If you were into PokƩmon in any way during that time it was a social detriment. Buying packs of PokƩmon cards from retail stores felt like Mission Impossible trying to avoid seeing people because it was simply embarrassing to be seen holding them.
It seems the one thing thatās remained consistent in the hobby with younger collectors is the insecurity. It just manifests differently now.
I think the saving grace for me is that vintage still excites me. I have a hard time allowing myself to even buy modern cards because they have no emotional element to them. I tend to just not be enthusiastic about what 90% of people are most of the time though.
Iām glad you brought this up, I think of that post by skinst often, as well as a few backlash messages I received when I told another member to avoid using language which could be perceived as anti-LGBT. The boyās club perception can only change when people in the minority have more visibility which signals to others to come forward as well, although Iām not sure exactly how to do this. Itās also difficult because many people donāt like change or people who they deem as other or different.
You mentioned about slowly shifting demographics, and I have noticed that there are some active discord participants that fall under the āgirls and gaysā category, but they donāt seem to post much in the actual forum, and I genuinely wonder why that may be.
