IV-boosting item
OK, this is going to be a mini-rant because I'm really annoyed right now. I just completed my 3rd Moltres quest (yes, the end of the 7-day research quest is Moltres again and probably will be next time as well), and the IVs were terrible for a third time in a row. I didn't get my hands on that great of a Moltres when they were around last year and I've been wanting a better one for a while, but field research has been a huge disappointment for me so far.
Luck determines nearly everything in this game, to its great detriment. I think it would make this whole experience feel a lot less grimy if they introduced a super-rare, hard-to-get item that permanently increases IVs, because then people could work to make their own perfect legendary as opposed to relying on RNG to gift them an encounter and a catch. As a particularly egregious example, there's someone in my Discord with 400+ legendary raids completed without a single perfect encounter. My luck hasn't been quite that bad with raids, but at least you have a lot of shots with raiding - with these field research quests, you get 4 (it seems) chances to get something with high IV and then you're out of luck for however many months they want to wait before re-releasing an elite Pokemon again.
Anyone with me on this? As a side bonus, it could potentially blunt the desire for IV scanners, which are highly controversial. If I knew I could take an 85+% IV Pokemon reliably to 100%, I'd be a lot less salty in this game in general.
Answers
I think that's probably true regarding the 'not as special' sentiment, and it's not really in Niantic's best (financial) interests to provide an item that might slow down raid pass sales because people are satisfied with the good-enough Legendary they caught. Given their game design preference to rely on RNG for nearly everything, I don't see them ever implementing something like this.
On the other hand, our obsession with IVs (and I'm as guilty as anyone) is somewhat misplaced, considering how little a couple IV points here or there will really have an impact most of the time. Sure, you can talk about breakpoints in specific matchups, but the truth is they just don't matter that much. I think this game tends to bring out peoples' (read: my) perfectionistic tendencies because the gameplay itself lacks depth. When you look at the line of main series games in this franchise, a common thread is that battling is rich strategically and complements the more mundane catching/grinding RPG elements. Here, there's literally nothing else to do except look for Pokemon with the highest IVs possible.
Sort of a long-winded response and kind of got off-topic, but my point is that IVs shouldn't be as big a deal as they are, and if they are to remain the only point of focus, I'd prefer if if there were a quest-based way to make your own team's IVs better at the risk of 'cheapening' the experience of winning the lottery.
TMs actually encouraged raiding though. So if these special items were as rare or rarer than TMs and were raid rewards, people would actually buy more raid passes to get them. But yeah quest-based stuff would be good. For example getting stuff like Protein, HP up, Iron. I know in the main games they add EVs but we don't have that stuff here so they could enhance IVs.
...honestly I threw away 27 FTMs to make room for the Ultra Box. I still have over 30 of each. With the exception of Mew, which has questionable usefulness anyway and mine wasn't even a top appraisal, you only need 1 FTM at most for any given Pokemon and I'll keep accruing them by continuing to raid. I haven't had experienced a noticeable dip in CTM drop rate; my guess is the drought you're experiencing is just a consequence of bad RNG.
If it's a rare item that you might get kind of like TMs, then you can decide what it will be used on, whereas finding a 100% mon during limited time events wouldn't give you that option. You either are lucky to find for example a shiny mareep that's 100% and can get the community day move or you're not. Whereas getting rare items means that shiny mareep that's 60% IV and has a good moveset can be turned into a 100% (eventually).
I digress, instead of luck we should have a continued Special Research Progress after Mew. It will be long as Mew was but you can choose 1 out of 3 different Research that will have different rewards. For Instance one can be 1 IV booster to max. The other one could be 80 or so Rare Candy and Stardust. And lastly the other one could be a chance to catch Mewtwo or some other rare pokemon. Just some thoughts.
Having an item to raise it up by 1 automatically? Meh; I'm not interested in that. I would prefer that IV's be able to be raised by using the Pokémon in battle. Say, for instance, you have a Moltres with an Attack IV of 12 - after you win 120 battles with that Moltres (where that Moltres gave the last blow before the Defender fainted), your Moltres' Attack IV goes up to 13. Then 130 more wins, it's Attack is 14. Then another 140 wins, and it's maxed out. Essentially 10 x Current IV level to raise it by 1.
For the others, say for every 100km you walked with a Buddy, you could raise their Stamina by 1 full IV rating. So Stamina 12, walk 100km, now Stamina 13. Walk another 100km, now you've got IV 14.
And for Defense, it's half of what Attack requires; so to raise Defense by 1, you need to defend a gym 5 x Current IV Level to raise it up by 1 (and maybe include a bonus where if your Pokémon defeats the Attacker, you get a +5 for that battle given how difficult it is to "win" as a Gym Defender).
But just having an item to raise IV's? Ehh... not a particular fan of that idea. I kinda like the idea of FTM's and CTM's before they were released, but after they were released I was underwhelmed. I'd really prefer to WORK at something in Pokémon Go than to rely on Niantic's wonderful "R"NG.
Maybe via Research Projects, but I'd still like something that feels like TRAINING. Nothing in Pokémon Go is like Training, since "Training" was removed from the Gyms in favour of feeding Berries to defenders to pump up their stats.
I like the suggestion but your rates are off. 100 gym battles is trivially easy to a city player compared to walking 100km, any hardcore gym player does 100+ battles pretty much daily. As for defense I don't quite get what you mean. Battles as a defender pokemon? Any Blissey left in a city gym easily racks up 20 battles in the next 30-60 minutes if you feed it. The number would again have to be something like 100*current IV for it to be even remotely balanced and still hardcore city players would soon have nothing but perfect def IV Blisseys.
The other obvious flaw is that legendaries can't defend so there would have to be some other way to raise their defense IV.
All-in-all I love this idea of working for the IVs, but it would require some major balancing if gym battles are part of the equation because there are huge differences in gym activity between different areas.
IVs (and to a lesser extent past legendaries and legacies) are the only thing that we really have to make this game somewhat competitive, namely because raid bosses are around for a long time and are the same for everyone (exception of regional rotations).
And though they are luck based, I think it's nice that low level players have a shot at getting ahead of higher level players. I've done over 400 raids and my group of 3 friends that raid way less than me have between them 6 91-98% Mewtwos, 2 100% Lugias, and 2 100% Kyogres, none of which I have, but you know what - power to them because even though I put more into my account it gives them an edge in SOMETHING that I don't have which I like - that way, if we were to introduce true PvP battles, the bigger, badder WaterYouWading4 account wouldn't just bulldoze over them per-say.
As I mentioned in my response to Detonatress, the lack of competitiveness is the real problem, not the quibbling about IVs. PvP would be pretty boring in this battle format. If Niantic switched up the way fighting works in this game to rely more on skill and strategy, which would be more true to the essence of the main series games, then a lower level player with worse Pokemon could theoretically beat a high level player with the best possible Pokemon. You shouldn't be able to bulldoze them unless you really understand the mechanics of the game. This is the direction the game ultimately needs to head in for it to be interesting long-term.
Furthermore, in the interest of -good- PvP, everyone should have the ability to make the best teams they can construct. If my success in a PvP battle came down to the fact that I needed more fire DPS and I couldn't conjure the luck to capture a 15-Attack Moltres, I think that's pretty cruddy.
If we're being honest, I don't want any way to change IVs. I see it as just one more thing being handed to trainers. Yes, getting something with good IVs is luck based, but it's an incredible feeling to finally get that great specimen. Also, I think it adds value to those perfect Pokemon that you have. It comes down to the old adage: if everyone is special, then no one is special.
My underlying point is that the main draw of a game like this shouldn't be winning the lottery. Right now, that is the main draw, and sure, catching a perfect legendary feels awesome. If the draw were, instead, using your skill and knowledge to best other trainers, even ones higher level that you, I'd argue that's a more repeatable and fulfilling objective to satisfy.
I think an IV boosting item would be good but they should be rare and difficult to get, at least as rare as an evolution item, for example. You could get one for catching a mon 14 days in a row, for example, that would give 26 a year for active players. They could be stat specific so there would be 3 different types, defense boost, attack boost and HP boost.
Agree with your thoughts and also feel that luck is too important rather than perseverance or skill. However, I detect in your text a bit of obsession with 100% Mons. I really don't understand that, although my kid has the same fascination. If the item boosted your Mon to 96% or 98% would you use it? The point would be that the special "boost" item you envision would boost IV to make a collector's item or Ultimate Mon Fighter, yes ... or is it really just to reach 100% for ego / glory reasons? I would walk a 100 km or more to get such a Stone so let's hope Niantic is reading your text.
