With the new build deployed across the portfolio, its time to discuss improvements that should be made across the board in terms of product development. Although I think wholesale upgrades to the apps themselves would be a great investment, its clear that it would likely be more of a longer term upgrade than a short term improvement. Here are five specific things I want to see improved as soon as possible.

Card Showcase

I know, I know, Ive beat this to death. That doesnt change the fact that having a place to store your top cards for the world to see is not a vital improvement that needs to be resurrected. I have said a number of times that users are expected to spend and spend, but there is no real place to show your clout without someone offering you a trade and digging through your sheet. Not only would this improve user satisfaction, pride in their collection, and trading options, but it would likely contribute to indriect revenue with people seeking out ways to add to their showcase.

As a whole, the ability to show off or be recognized in the app for top collections is little to none, which will discuss more in a second.

Collection Score

Right now, no one really knows what is going on or how to improve a collection score. Although we all can see that there is a correlation to quantity over quality for adding to the score, it isnt a good system for helping users understand what a “great collection” is all about. I would love to see some wholesale changes that have a better representation of measuring the prestige of a user’s presence in the app. I thought the level system would be a good start, but that hasnt worked out even close to the way I thought it would.

To further highlight the point from the showcase request, if Topps really wants us to spend, we have to have a way that truly represents our accomplishments. Things like trades completed, sets completed, top cards acquired, packs opened, etc, can all be indicators, but there has to be more opportunity for people to be recognized for their collections in an holistic fashion.

Contests

After spending literally 18 hours playing Huddle playoff contests this weekend, its becoming more and more clear that the current build (or previous builds for that matter) really dont have a good system for the contests. Its hard to see when points accumulate, scoring lag is becoming unmanageable, and the overall interface is really clunky.

Something as simple as an automated player add tool would be great. I pick the player, how many cards to add, and the system adds the top boosted cards in order, automatically. Taking that a step further, would be great to have the system have tools to suggest which cards in your collection are best to play in any situation. Not only would it help new users, but it would improve the overall contest system.

The way its set up right now just doesnt help me stay interested.

Messaging

Right now, there are both character limits and lack of notifications when trying to communicate within the apps. I have a distinct desire to know when someone responds to a message I write, and I really hate having to initiate a trade in order to communicate with other users. I want a messaging center and a want a way to be notified if I so desire.

The lack of live messaging as available in other apps is quite frustrating, but the lack of dedicated messaging as a whole is infuriating. People can be bombarded with trade requests over a card, and messages can be lost in the process. I have missed out on some great deals because overall notifications around trading arent great as a whole. Obviously, some people dont want the extra pop-ups, but that’s where toggled settings should be the method.

User Profiles

Right now, the only thing anyone ever sees about me is what is available in my tiny avatar, my collection score, and my ratings. They dont see my favorite teams or players, they dont see my website, and they dont see any place for people to endorse me for trust. All of those things would be a great opportunity to improve the user experience and customize the way people interact with each other. I HATE when people offer me trades for my Vikings cards on Huddle, because I feel my collection makes it obvious that I am a huge Vikings fan. In reality, people rarely do homework before making trade offers, and that can lead to me having this level of interaction.

I feel some can be improved with larger profile avatars, better customization of the user profile and moving on from a user system developed in 2012. Just having a spot to tell people what I want and dont want in a permanent fashion on my profile would be a huge benefit.

Hopefully we start to see some major improvement, as I would love to have this as a focal point for 2017 and beyond. Topps needs a bit of a re-rack on some of their apps, and this could be a way to calm some of the storm around functionality in the community.