Tabletop TCG players didn't know LoR has balance changes. (Patch notes & nerfs/buffs)

Poke'mon TCG Pocket, like the TCG itself, is very collector-focused. The vast majority of people that buy poke'mon cards in the real world also buy them to collect rather than play. I've heard the figure at 80%+. Heck, a major content creator Deep Pocket Monster did a special video series based on "What if I actually learned how to play the game? I've been collecting cards for years and built a whole channel on the hobby but I still don't know how to play."

If you think the goal of a collectible card game is the collectible part, naturally you think in those terms. The more your cards can change, the less real and collectible they feel. NFTs tried the same idea "we'll use tech to prevent companies from changing this ever, so you TRULY own the digital thing." The tech doesn't actually do that of course, but there's a reason they kept saying it did.

Poke'mon TCG Pocket has spent months without even a basic ranked ladder and their collecting loop lets you ignore having to play the TCG part for a reason: they are trying to make the game as fun to collect as possible, and the gameplay side is a bonus if you want a few extra packs. Their development efforts have gone into collecting quests, binders you can make to show off to friends, master sets being visually posisble to complete in the digital space so you see cards you open filling in slots in a satisfying way, etc.