"Some questions on the soul of the community"

#PokemonGO: Does anyone remember Trainer Joey? That trainer boy who kept bragging about his lvl 4 Rattata that was in the top 10% of Rattatas?Does anyone remember a game where keeping your Pokemon was a smarter choice than letting it go, even if you find a stronger one later? I'm talking about a game where the lvl 4 Pidgey you caught on Route 3 could beat the Elite Four if you trained it enough. A game where caring about and even pack bonding with the little digital sprites you caught was encouraged.I feel like this game is turning me into a Trainer Joey. The game mechanics seem to run directly contrary to the ethos Pokemon. This idea of constantly catching and transferring Pokemon in the hopes of getting one a few percentage points more effective than your last one has felt wrong to me from the very beginning, and yet I kept playing. I'm only level 25 right now, and I don't have knowledge of whether or not this changes as you get closer to level 40. I just know that my inability to use that Combat Power 20 Charmander I got at the beginning of the game hurts in a weird way, like I'm violating what it should mean to be a trainer, and has prevented a lot of the enjoyment I could've gotten from this game.So I have some questions for the community. Answer as briefly or lengthily as many questions as you desire.Do you feel yourself becoming a Trainer Joey?Am I overthinking this micro transaction mobile game/should I just stop thinking about this and play?Do you think Niantic should allow the easier leveling of Pokemon? Perhaps borrow something from the core franchise and let you level them up by battling wild Pokemon and/or gyms?In regards to this last proposal, I do not think this would necessarily lower the skill ceiling or time investment/rewards relationship; just imagine if all those 400 Swablus you ground out by catching and releasing, you could instead knock out with the first Swablu you caught to evolve it at a similar rate/time investment to the status quo.Thank youEdit: Joey, not Jimmy. Haven't played Gen 2 in a long time via /r/pokemongo http://bit.ly/2JmX5zR