"How Hyper Training could work in Pokémon GO, thematically and mechanically"

#PokemonGO: Hyper Training is a mechanic introduced in Gen 7 by which you can boost one or more of a Pokémon’s IVs to the max, so long as the following conditions are met:You have beat the main game (defeated the champion)The Pokémon in question is level 100You pay with a rare consumable (bottle caps: normal is 1 IV, gold is ALL IV)This can easily be thematically translated to Pokémon GO as:You have reached character level 40The Pokémon in question is level 40You pay with the same rare consumableWhy character level 40?It’s the closest analogue to “beating the game” I can think of (aside from dex completion, but that is a different stage of beating the game in the core series). Currently, there is no difference between a level 38 and a level 40 player, so this would give players something meaningful to look forward to.Why Pokémon level 40Pretty simple, it pulls directly from the max level requirement in the core games. It also flips the concept of “get a good IV, then max it” to “max it, then get a good IV”.How would bottle caps work?This is what Hyper Training would be balanced around. In Let’s Go, you can get 1 guaranteed bottle cap per day, and have a few (5 or 6) additional low-RNG chances at more bottle caps, and even lower RNG at gold bottle caps, per day. Guaranteed 1 per day obviously is too common for Pokémon GO (half the number of IVs, significantly harder to max a Pokémon), but I think a similar system could work if stretched out.I think a threshold of being player level 40 is necessary before you can start earning bottle caps, so that they aren’t clogging your inventory before you can use them. Beyond that, I believe they would be best implemented as a loyalty reward, rather than a simple rare drop (e.g. TMs), so that urban and rural players stand on the same field with regards to earning these. Potentially an uncommon breakthrough reward, an uncommon weekly stop streak reward, and/or an event loyalty reward (e.g. log in and play every day of a given event). A 90%/10% split in normal and gold bottle caps would make sense with existing systems (90/10 is the split for item count when spinning a stop or gym).I think a goal of players averaging 30 caps per year would make sense (27 normal, 3 gold, translates to ~18 maxed per year if you’re mildly conscientious about maxing Pokémon that already have at least one perfect IV). I feel like this wouldn’t greatly out-pace how fast players can max their Pokémon (especially since upon hitting level 40 you probabaly have enough stardust to max a handful, or already have a couple maxed since hitting 38), and wouldn’t result in inventories filling up with caps with nothing to spend them on.Why does Pokémon GO even need hyper training?Currently, players are rightfully hesitant to invest the exorbitant resource costs needed to max out a Pokémon unless that Pokémon has top stats (why spend ~200k stardust and ~200 rare candies to max out a legendary when it isn’t even 90%+ and you might get a better one when the shiny comes out). It makes sense, invest only in the best. But hyper training would allow you to invest in anything and THEN make it the best. Players could still carefully choose what to max out in order to spend fewer bottle caps (e.g. that 7/15/15 you caught that trolled the hell out of you when appraising), and wouldn’t require external tools to do so (you know for a fact which stats are already as good as they can be from appraisal).The weight of sunk cost gets lifted when there is an end goal of “once I max this I have the ability to make it perfect anyways”. Your CD shinies and EX Raid Pokémon can no longer just be meh IV inventory decorations (would you rather invest all those resources into a 30% shiny or a 96% normal). It also greatly helps out rural players, who do not have as many opportunities to RNG their way to top IV rare Pokémon, especially legendaries (and the resource costs are even harsher on them as well).TL;DR: once you hit level 40, start earning “bottle cap” consumables at a rate of ~30 per year from loyalty sources, spend them on max-level Pokémon to raise a single selected IV to 15. Especially nice for unlucky or non-urban players that don’t have high-IV rares. via /r/TheSilphRoad https://ift.tt/2OsZGc8