Hey Josh--- define near future. What century ?
Big Daddy-- the Cards tried the breaking in thing and it did not work out so well
SAllen-- I have been collecting since 1957 and have a full Topps run. My sets from 1948 and 1951 to 1962 were put together card by card. From 1963 to 1973 I put them together by buying the cards in full series from the Card Collectors Company. After 1974 I did full sets, but still did packs each year and added recognized and unrecognized variations to the sets! first from shops and then eBay. Also have been doing all the Heritage sets but may stop that after the 1972 redo.
I think us old guys are prejudiced in favoring older cards ( at least I am) but I think someone having had nothing to do with the hobby would think the modern card technology is light years ahead in quality and aesthetics than the older stuff.