For the elite players
How are you all getting those crazy high iv Pokemon with perfect movesets and not spending any money?
I don't understand it. I play everyday, hatch a massive amount of eggs(which is where I get my best Pokemon, but still not as good as other player's)
Players on here have 100iv lapras
Multiple 3000 cp snorlax
Multiple maxed 100iv dragonites(doable, but still hard to roll perfect movesets)
Multiple 39.5 mons
Various other 100 ivs
On top of this well over 2000km walked while battling/prestiging gyms "all the time" and 20,000+ mons caught(doable also but when is there time to post on this site?)
I'm just not getting it. This coming from a guy who wakes up at 6, drives to the lake and walks for hours playing every morning and another time in the afternoon and has spent hundreds of dollars.
Answers
This website is a hub for those who take this more seriously/will post when they do find good stuff. The confirmation bias is the tons of players on Reddit/not going online to discuss this at all, which make up the majority, not having any of these things. You probably have plenty of mon's that would make people jealous.
The perspective bias is you vs everyone else. We are only in gen 1, if you keep walking and hatching those eggs you will definitely get some treasures.
TBH I spend a shitload on incubators non stop to hatch high IV mons. Also, in my experience the hatched mons when evolved usually gives me great move sets. Also many hours of grinding playing everyday and some luck too. And fastpokemap, Go Radar, and Pokevision when they were up and running did wonders. High IV dratinis were easy to find before they fixed its attack IV.
Many of them bot and GPS spoof. Also, they probably have a good third party tracking site. Even if you dont bot or GPS spoof, with a third party tracking site that works properly and a vehicle with gas, you can get a lot of high IV mon.
The only thing I have ever done is use third party trackers. Before I would just drive around and find nice pokemons. I haven't been able to find a good tracker for a few weeks now so all I can hope for is getting lucky with 10km eggs. Are there any trackers that still work well?
I know some people who got around 5 to 10 100%IV pokemon, and they are just really hardcore. At least 8 hours playing a day. Me, without spending a cent on the game and refusing to use fake gps or any tracking app or site, was only able to catch one 100%: a Poliwag, wich I evolved and, fortunatly, got perfect moveset bubble/hydropump. That's it. I got three mons at 2500+cp, which are two vaporeons and one Rhydon. That's all.
I got 19 100 IV mons mostly from hatched eggs. Most of them are not top tier mons like 100 IV venonat and caterpie. Niantic knows that people addicted to high IV mons would be hooked on incubators like me. Haha. I've hatched over 1300 eggs and probably like 150 10km eggs. Also, Go Radar when it worked would sometimes show the IVs of mons before you catch them. Caught three 100 IV dratinis that way months ago. I live in a big city near water so I have great access to quality nests and spawn spots. But it's much harder now to hunt anything since all third party trackers stopped working. Only ones working are apps like poketracker which only covers a small radius. The older trackers would cover the entire city with despawn timers. So if I saw a 100 IV dratini with a 15 minute timer I would hop in my car and just drive over there. Those days are gone.
I've been playing since about a week after the game came out. I pretty much leave it running on my phone when I'm not sleeping. And I walk about 10k with it every day. But I have never used any trackers and honestly have no idea even how to spoof or bot. Don't want to know. I'm level 32 and have only four 100% mons:
A Flareon with Heat Wave that I got early on. I powered it up to level 24 but stopped when I reached higher levels and started catching higher CP Eevees.
A Raichu with Spark/Thunder that I evolved from a hatched Pikachu. I powered it up from level 20 a bit but stopped.
A Nidoqueen with Poison Jab/EQ that I evolved from a Nidoran about a week ago. It's still at level 20.
A Dragonite with DB/HB that I evolved from a perfect Dragonair I was super lucky to catch in the wild. I've been powering it up slowly since I rarely see Dratinis, but I did finally hatch one last week. It's at level 31 now and will probably stay there while I slowly collect candies to one day evolve another one.
I decided long ago that I'm going to focus on move sets over IVs. If a mon is appraised at 82.2 or higher, it's definitely a keeper if it has the best move sets. If it has a 'strong' appraisal but has the best move sets AND high CP from the get-go, it also stays in my bag. I don't sweat over only "90%+ IVs" and, like others have said, cringe a little when folks say to wait for that magical mon with super high IVs. Most of my top tiers are in the 82-88%, and that's fine with me.
I feel super lucky to have that Raichu. I was in a public parking lot when the Pikachu hatched, and I literally squealed out loud when I read the appraisal. Then I did an actual happy dance when I evolved it and saw the move set. I just KNEW it was going to come out with Brick Break.
In total, I've hatched 918 eggs and have caught 6,848 wilds (total of 7,766 mons caught)
Keep in mind that a lot of these players will find the perfect ones at a very low CP and will actually take the time and effort to max it. I have zero perfects, but i also just transfer most mons under half their exp bar because i dont want to spend 2 weeks focusing on just one to power up.
Also, as much as I want a perfect pokemon like most do, I value moveset over IV always.
"Its not where you're from but where you're at."
I'm level 38 and I'm from Los Angeles CA.
I've spent about $30-40 on the game just to upgrade my bags and I collect maxed gyms everyday.
We have a lot of habitats with tons of pokestops to hunt at, like; Long Beach and Santa Monica. Most trackers can read IVs which gives you total advantage.
I have over 50 - 100% IV and 10 - 0% IV.
I caught most of them, only ever hatched 1 perfect Poliwag from LB.
I've caught perfect Machop, Charmander, growlith, vulpix, calefairy, and Snorlax from Santa monica/West LA and in Long Beach I have caught perfect Dratini, gastly, magikarp x 3, meowth, cubone, zubat, rattata, bulbasaur, rhyhorn x 3, nidorans, execute, slowpoke, eevee x 10 and more. Habitats/Areas that are hot spots with alot of spawns will more likely spawn a high IV.
Unfortunately, not everyone lives in Cali or has the same natural conditions to provide a high rate habitat.
I always grind by the water and in areas that are known to inhabit ultra rares like - lapras/dragonites/snorlaxes.
Places that spawn rares at 'high' rates will also spawn high ivs. 'High rates' as in more than once a day. Thats what I learned from my experiences.
I play on a bicycle. Brakeless-Fixed gear track bike. I have total control over my speed and I'm faster than most cars, plus I'm catching everything in sight. Also I surround myself with the best players in every area that I go. So we're always exchanging information.
Having high IV is great, but what is more important is the moveset. The move sets will determine the game play you have. IVs is just a bonus and being able to reach maximum CP.
My overall suggestion would be is to find your local "Rare Zone", an area that is known to drop ultra rares.
For example, places that spawn dratinis will spawn lapras, oddish/bulbasaur share the same spawn zones as snorlax, and clefairy is known to share the same spawns as dragonites. Im a complete nerd about pokemon lore and understanding their mechanics and knowing my area. I live in DTLA which has nothing but pidgeys and rattatas, so I would spend an hour to commute to the place I grind at and I play for over 5-10 hours a day regularly. Its important to know the place you're at and where you choose to play PoGo.
Also, San Francisco has high IV drops everyday, all the time. Its insane to even try to keep up with it sometimes. If you haven't been to SF, you guys should look in to it.
Hopefully I've provided some decent insight for you guys. Also, watch Nick from Trainertips videos on youtube. They're super helpful and inspiring too.
Awesome question!!! I'm level 30 and have played since a couple days after it was first released, and don't use bots or spoofing, so also wonder what's really 'normal' when I read some of these Q&A's.
After all this time I still only have two perfect IV mons.....
Rhydon 100%IV (mud slap / stone edge) acquired back 9/8/16
Vaporeon 100%IV (water gun / aqua tail) acquired back 9/21/16
....and have been powering them up all along my climb thru levels.
While not 'perfect', I do have several 98% (44 of 45) IV's......
Lapras, Gyarados, Vaporeon, Flareon, Kingler, Tentacruel, Sandslash and Fearow
......luckily most with desirable movesets.
So in general, I also roll my eyes every time someone answers to not power up an 75%+ mon and wait for a perfect one to show up, because they don't seem to be very frequent where I am. I frequently use my less than perfect ones and seem to do fine.... and have fun!
As Longhorn says: Good question!
But alas I am not an elite player, the opposite you could say. Only started playing when there were no dratini nests anymore and live in a rural (grass) area. Never played any Pokemon game before so I was clueless. Even powered up a Rapidash with worst moveset and bad IV's just because I liked it and I was so proud to have an evolution, renamed it after my horse and left it in a gym as often as I could (usually kicked out pretty quickly).
I have never used trackers, or GPS spoofing or bots or Bubblestrat. I walk and cycle a lot and then I play. Luckily I have collected lots of gold and stardust from being in 10 gyms most of the time for the last three months.
So I now have one Dragonite (3000+) and one Snorlax at almost 3000.
I only have 3 mons with perfect IV's. A Scyther (worst moves but it can only get better in generation 2 and I have plenty of candy to evolve), a Starmie with the best moves, and a Geodude I just hatched. I could have missed some perfect mons because I didn't check IV's of every pidgey I ever caught but I am pretty sure that my best "wild" Pokemon is only 98%. So I just smile when I read the "wait for a better one" comments. For me it took a lot of effort to just get one Dragonite and Venussaur and Charizard.
To be honest I do not even understand what exactly this "endgame" is when the perfect IV's are supposed to matter.
Now that I have learned to dodge (Big thanks to Nick from Trainer Tips!) I can beat a much stronger Dragonite with a pretty poor IV Cloyster.
So for me a 100% Pokemon is more of a collector's item than something you really need to have fun playing the game.
