AC Scratches ARE NOT GOING AWAY

They are removing the "AC Scratch Ticket" ITEM that allows you to bank scratch pulls for future use.

See this announcement: https://pso2.com/news/announcements/acscratchdiscontinuation

My speculation on the reason why this is happening:

• It relates to the fact there's no Meseta in NGS.
• It relates to not being able to sell NGS items in a PSO2 / Vanilla Personal Shop and vice versa.
• It relates to the AC Scratch system in NGS maybe using the same system in parallel to PSO2 / Vanilla. Meaning if you bought an AC Scratch Ticket item, you could use it on either an NGS AC Scratch or PSO2 / Vanilla AC Scratch with the same item. This could cause problems if the NGS AC Scratch is visible in PSO2 / Vanilla or vice versa. Meaning items obtainable only in PSO2 Vanilla (IE: items with no use in NGS, such as augment/affix items or a Mag Evo device) would be able to be obtained on an NGS-Only character.

so the AC scratch tickets i been holding onto from gamepass to use for a scratch that has stuff i really want to try an get will be useless by then. that sucks as better hope there is one that comes that i like

Potentially they want to rework the mechanism for purchasing and/or playing the gacha in New Genesis, and the continued existence of legacy AC Scratch Ticket items risks confusion with the unknown new method in a way that would cause more upset than simply removing them and eliminating that risk.

Perhaps this is also to combat the potential impact of any duped (or original-edition Xbox Game Pass $1 for 12) tickets spilling into New Genesis, drawing a line under that brewing trouble.

The two questions this announcement immediately raises, with varying importance depending on your spending habits and priorities, are:

• What is this new method? Is it going to bring a significant change to the trading ecosystem that served PSO2 seemingly well for 8-9 years in Japan? For some players this hint of a new system could be quite concerning.

• After New Genesis launches and PSO2 will continue to be playable, will the existing system that AC Scratch Tickets can be spent on continue likely with repeats of past sets, or will it conclude altogether to turn AC Scratch Tickets into completely useless items? If so, will players be warned about this as early as possible so we don't find out at the last minute with only low-quality sets left to use them on?

Probably most players only bought tickets when they wanted to use them. Maybe some bought a ton of AC Scratch Tickets to hold onto for use in multiple future sets? I could be wrong but I imagine that's a minority.

Personally I can't see this change affecting me so long as we get the Phantasy Star Classic AC scratch set that players have been asking for for months. I figure most people who've been saving up tickets are similarly saving up for something so giving us enough notice about if we'll ever get it will help combat the potential for upset this change brings.

@ShadowBlood89 said in PSA: AC Scratches will no longer be purchasable in advance (via the "Ticket" item) starting 12/23:

so the AC scratch tickets i been holding onto from gamepass to use for a scratch that has stuff i really want to try an get will be useless by then. that sucks as better hope there is one that comes that i like

Might not be as useless as you think according to the news post: "Also, please note that pre-purchased AC Scratch Ticket consumable items can still be used through the existing PSO2 system for AC Scratch Ticket collections."

Also from the JP version of this post (Sorry for poor translations also redacted the irrelevant parts): "In addition, you can continue to use the "AC Scratch Ticket" that you have already purchased if they are "AC Scratch" with "PSO2" specifications even after the sale ends. Is possible."

Sources: http://pso2.jp/players/news/27129/ - JP announcement (Use Google Translate to read this) https://pso2.com/news/announcements/acscratchdiscontinuation - Global version announcement (Already in English)

This change also technically makes AC scratch more expensive for no benefit since you could buy the 12 pack, save the 2 and only use the 10 per different scratch for the bonus. Now its either you roll 2 extra times in that same extra scratch or you lose the 2 scratches if you buy 1 at a time.

@SternalVessel61 said in PSA: AC Scratches will no longer be purchasable in advance (via the "Ticket" item) starting 12/23:

This change also technically makes AC scratch more expensive for no benefit since you could buy the 12 pack, save the 2 and only use the 10 per different scratch for the bonus. Now its either you roll 2 extra times in that same extra scratch or you lose the 2 scratches if you buy 1 at a time.

Good point, and something I missed. Arguably the scratches themselves aren't more expensive, but the bonuses are yes.

This messes up the way I buy Scratches big time. I buy them in the 12 pack of tickets and then use 5 or so per scratch, so now I have to pay full price for no real reason other then, my assumption, greed. Yes its only $2 more but still, its either overshoot the bonus by 2 each time OR spend an extra $2.