The Deluxe ex set is "breaking the spell" of chasing a complete collection and might be an off ramp out of the game for players like me

I've been a F2P since GA and thus far my motivation to play has been completing every new sets diamond and 1 star collections (in other words, everything that's tradeable). I've been playing ranked with the goal of reaching MB every month (worked sometimes) to get the extra hourglasses to open more packs to complete collections. Wouldn't say I've been doing it for fun considering how grindy and slow it can feel. Really, everything I've been doing and grinding away for was in service of having a nice looking, reasonably complete collection. I'm only missing cards from WoSaS and Springs as far as old sets are concerned.

Deluxe ex is rapidly eroding my will to keep playing. Not only is the set time limited, it is also bloated with old cards I already own (that somehow *don't* count towards the set's dex despite the game treating them as identical in literally every other regard). The set is by far the largest we've seen so far and paradoxically also the first to be limited to a month and only 4 card packs. It is essentially mathematically impossible to complete this set and most of it is old anyway.

In any way I try to look at it from a player's perspective, this set blows. For players who have been playing a lot, this set is 90% bunk. Most packs will contain nothing new. Maybe a reverse holo here and there or the odd *actually new* card. For players who haven't been playing and can use this set to catch up, it would've made no difference if all the returning cards had been made reverse holo to cut some of the bloat out of the dex. That way, even regular players would have more of a reason to open it because at least those *look* different. And that way there'd be a defensible reason for the dex to be completely empty at the start.

The fact that the Deluxe dex *doesn't* fill up with the old cards most of us already have feels like a slap in the face *specifically* to the frequent players who've invested time (and sometimes money) into getting them. And even the game itself considers the old ones identical to the new ones for everything *but* the dex.

So here I am thinking, there's no way I will *ever* complete this set. We don't even know if its pack points will stick around after it is pulled. We don't know how trades for the cards will work considering they are virtually identical to their old versions but can only be registered in one dex at a time. So, if my motivation was to have nice complete collections, what's the point to keep playing if it's just impossible now? Will I even care for the next set? Do I want to keep up the grind if the goal I had is already realistically unattainable? Does the "satisfaction" my digital collection brings me outweigh the frustration I and many others are feeling now that we're faced with these hostile design choices?

I dunno. But I'm thinking about it.

And I realize that DeNA doesn't care about one F2P user, who has never and would never spend a cent on their game, being bummed about the direction they took or even quitting. But I imagine I'm not alone. And I'm sure there are paid players who are equally as unsatisfied with this set.