Is IV more for collectors or for competitors? Are mixing those two causing our frustration?
In this forum, we always have this never-ending debate about which IV combination is better or which one should i power up. This not only creates the frustration of us not having the one we want but also makes us blame the unfairness of the game.
But if you think about it, our obsessions with IV doesn't make much sense: first, the game is not so competitive that you have to get certain IV pokemons to win; second, those IV difference is so small that other factors are much more important than IV alone; last but not least, Niantic is making this game less and less competitive with new gym system, raid system etc and since they need to enroll more players to join, they might keep making this game easier for lower level players.
I am sure that people here know about the above but why do we still care so much about IV? To my understanding, we are mixing being a collector with being a competitor. If you are collector, that you want your pokemons to have high IV makes total sense. Because we are competitors also with the mentality of a collector, we only want those useful pokemons to have high IVs, as high as possible. We know that 100IV pokemons are rare but we actually want each one of us to have that specific pokemon with rare high IV and that specific pokemon is rare to begin with. See? It’s not because the game is not fair but because we are demanding too much from randomness.
With what being said above, i believe in order to make us happier with this game, we should do this: First, ask ourselves whether we are more of a collector or a competitor. If you are a collector, try to collect high IV pokemons of each type, power them up and put them to gyms. So grinding will become more fun since you know it is a way for you to collect high IV mons of different types. If you are competitor, cut yourself loose a little on this whole IV thing. Maybe evolve/power up that high level wild mon with relatively low IV in its high base stat? Maybe power up more useful but relatively low IV mons with great moveset? Isn’t that saving you from your stardust problems?
So in conclusion, know what you want from this game so you can play it more fit to your play style.
Answers
You only consider IVs. But do you think it is better to have two high IV mons or six of them in the same level? People would even power up low level mons just because of IV alone. Imagine how much stardust you could have saved from that? Also how many more high level mons that you have caught in the wild that you can power up with less stardust cost? What you have done may just cost you an army of tyranitar just because you don't like those low IV ones.
That actually makes me think these two kinds of players: one with two high IV mons max out or one with an army of average IV mons max out. I guess at the end, it will come to the decision of certain players.
...but but but, I don't only consider IVs, I literally said it's about "everything"-- Even put it in all caps.
And I do have an army of TTs leveled with incredible IVs, though not saying everyone needs that. Plus, I've made all other important investments (dragons, golems, machamps + 1 or 2 of the other best of each of the remaining relevant damage types).
I choose to play this way. Duh, it costs more stardust and requires mad patience, but the game's a marathon.
I am also not asking you to forget about IV totally. Just relax a little and you may end up with six of each best pokemons at higher level.
I am not saying that your strategy is wrong. I am just saying lowering IV obsession might not be too bad at all. And what you have ended up with might be even better.
I decided to try that philosophy once and evolved a level 29, ~67% Larvitar I caught a while ago, and it's been annoying me ever since. I still only have two level 30 Tyranitars because of that, but I could have powered up two raid catches with better IVs for almost the same amount of candy. And it also ended up needing TMs for both attacks after I evolved it.
IVs are everything if you are competitive. We simply just haven't received the right mode to where we can prove it to the ones saying it don't matter (PvP). When I go into say a Zapdos Raid or a Moltres one, I bring my 2 highest Golems in first before my Tyranitars with SE. Both Golems have the same exact movesets but I hate using the 91% cause of the 11 Defensive stat. It seriously takes more damage that it's actually noticeable and the difference between the 2 is only 9% for IV and a few levels. Both are considered great IVs but I can still notice the difference in its health bar when they both take a hit from the exact same charged move.
So two of your high IV Golems are better than six in the raid? Also, it might happen that since you are concerned about IV, you have caught a high level Golem with lower IV but you just won't power it up. But if you had, you can have more high level golems with the same amount of stardust. At the end, your strategy is really better for your team?
Well actually my Team of 6 plus my wife's Team of 6 can beat 10 other players Team of 6 that are opposite teams than us two. We've done it twice so far in a Zapdos raid and the other teams even had numerous players above level 30.
It will be just us 2 versus everyone else and we've still managed to deal the most damage by Team and it got to the point where the other players will then want to go into a private group so we don't take all the balls from them.
I will never invest into anything below 91% no matter what.
But you only have two high CP golems, right? How do you know other players with more golems are not better than your team? it's also likely that other players don't even have golems, right?
Think about it this way: is it better off to power up two of the high IV golem or to power four of lower IV golems but with higher level?
Are you trying to barely get by or are you trying to win cause powering up poor IV high level Pokemon doesn't make any sense either. They simply just don't last that long.
If you're going to put in some work, why not do it right the first time and invest in your best candidates? Just because you can't afford it now doesn't mean its unattainable. I've seen the difference in IVs like I've said. My 91% takes way more damage than my 100% and they're both considered great IVs.
I even remember prestiging with the old gym system and can notice which Pokemon had poor IVs because how fast I can take them down. Just like it was mentioned above with the screenshot of that Blissey with poor IVs, a level 20 Machamp wipes it out in seconds and that's just a level 20 one. It will die even faster if it was going against me. Fast forward it to a higher level and it still won't compare to a similar one with IVs in the 90s. The numbers are everything.
Visually yes, especially after thousands of battles. You play the same match ups over and over again because there are very few meta Pokemon. You'll sort of know how much damage a specific Charged move is supposed to take after a few hundred times battling the same Pokemon. If it takes more than it normally would, then they have a poor IV stat.
IV's mattered more before the gym rework, because higher IV's made higher CP's possible, and higher CP's gave higher gym placement. Also, stardust was more plentiful, so it made sense to favor a 96% level 20 mon over a 73% level 30 mon, because the former could be affordably powered up.
Now, I'm keeping more and more high level mons with low IV's and ditching some of the high IV level 20's, because the level 30 ones are usable right now, and I'm not going to invest dust in a 96% level 20 Ursaring or Poliwrath or whatever. I've got 200K dust, and it is pretty much earmarked for Tyranitars, legendary birds, Dragonites, Mewtwo, and maybe, if I have any left, maybe a Machamp or Alakazam. Everything else is on the back burner. I'd love to be able to power up my 100% Lanturns, Starmie, Pidgeot, Bellossom, etc., but they are going to sit useless for a long time.
On the other hand, TM's make IV's more important, because you can fix bad movesets. And when you catch thousands of mons (I've caught 27.7K, for example) you are going to keep some and transfer others, and IV's are often the only difference maker.
In terms of practical usage, most of the difference in battle between mons a few IV points apart is in the imagination of the trainer. FunkySho's IV comparison vids on Youtube are a great illustration of that.
