"Increasing IVs: Combining Bottle Caps and Gym Training"

#PokemonGO: I know this idea is not new, but I searched both TSR and r/pokemongo and didn't find a post suggesting that both bottle caps and gym training be used to increase IVs.For those who aren't familiar, bottle caps are items introduced in Gen VII of the main series that can be given to an NPC (Mr. Hyper) who will then "hyper train" one of your Pokemon to get perfect IVs. Previous suggestions about adding bottle caps to GO include having them as raid rewards, rare gift items, rare pokestop item drops, and guaranteed items from a 7-day spin steak (or even 7-day catch streak). But I haven't seen much discussion on how the mechanic would actually work. Bottle caps aren't simply used on a Pokemon or fed to it. The IV-increasing still comes through training the Pokemon. Bottle caps are just used as a sort of "currency."On top of this, I've seen many people say they want gym training back (not necessarily with the old 'prestige' system), myself included. People have suggested that gym training could come with small rewards like stardust and candies. Fundamentally, this makes sense, since training is how Pokemon get stronger in the main series and the anime (and how people get stronger irl). We may be used to it now, but catching more Pokemon to make your existing Pokemon stronger has never made sense to me. It just doesn't really make sense that you can take a freshly caught level 1 Pokemon and power it up to level 40 by giving it candies and stardust. But I'm getting beside the point. The irony here is that when you battle a gym, which is how your Pokemon should be getting stronger, you're probably passing up on catching some Pokemon, which is how you actually make your Pokemon stronger in GO. (sidenote: does anyone else find it ironic that Niantic still calls us "trainers" when there is literally no aspect of the game left that involves training of any kind? we're just Pokemon catchers, not trainers)So it got me thinking that bottle caps can be redeemed at friendly gyms (maybe an NPC like Mr. Hyper can be added to accept the bottle caps), and then you can train the Pokemon that you want to increase the IVs of at the gym. It could be against the Pokemon in the gym, or a set line-up made by Niantic (perhaps challenges that Mr. Hyper would guide players through to train their Pokemon). The IV that increases could be the same as the highest base stat of the Pokemon that you train against (similar to how EVs, not IVs, are increased in the main series). This would be a great way for people to complete their Ace Trainer medals, and would give something better to do at friendly gyms than just feeding berries. The 2-step process of obtaining a rare bottle cap and then training at a gym would also make it more engaging and not too easy to do.With PvP coming supposedly by the end of the year, we really need a way to improve our Pokemon's IVs to make a fair playing field. Common arguments against this include:it would reduce raid pass sales if anyone can get a perfect legendary without chasing/grinding for one. But bottle caps would be raid rewards, and people still raid for the other items and more candies to power up a legendary. Plus, if you catch one with better/perfect IVs, then it's less hoops to jump through.it would take away from the excitement/specialness of having/catching a perfect-IV Pokemon. Currently, players don't have enough control over how strong their Pokemon are. It just comes down to luck and randomness with IVs. Finding a perfect-IV Pokemon shouldn't be any less exciting. And it doesn't reflect much effort/skill on the player's part anyway. If people really want to show off their caught perfects and differentiate them from hyper-trained perfects, then perhaps the in-game appraisal can say "hyper-trained."it would be too easy to get perfect Pokemon. Not if bottle caps are rare enough (without being too rare).it would make the game pay-to-win and people who spend money would have an even greater advantage. People who buy raid passes already have many perfect/near-perfect legendaries. This would make little difference for them, and they'd end up using extra bottle caps on sentimental Pokemon, shinies, legacy Pokemon, etc that aren't the most meta-relevant. It would actually help casual players who need them to make their best Pokemon stronger.It would also allow people who didn't use scanners in the past to get their perfect-IV Pokemon. Personally, I'm still hoping that scanners will make a come-back, but if we had a way to improve IVs (and if Niantic would make their own raid map), then there would be little need to have scanners anymore. Following scanner reports and looking all over maps was never fun, but it was the best way to get the best Pokemon. I would much rather get them through normal gameplay, if there was a reliable way to get them.The details of how bottle caps and training would work still need to be worked out, and I hope people will discuss and share their thoughts. In my opinion, each bottle cap should raise one IV by one point. A gold bottle cap could increase it by more. I think they should be primarily received as raid rewards (probably around the same rate as TMs), but like TMs, GRBs and rare candies, they can also be rare quest rewards, and maybe 7-day streak rewards. I'll update this post with ideas that get a lot of support. via /r/TheSilphRoad https://ift.tt/2NvYyTq