Why do people who have no dust care about IV's ?

People that have actually been playing everyday for a year, not that big a deal--stardust appears, stardust disappears. IMO, maxed out legendaries aren't super useful right now anyway. I'm getting mine respectable, but also while bringing up 2 more TTs and another Dragonite. If someone said any of this stuff would be super useful tomorrow I might fret (?), instead it is just like most every other time--continue to build and count on most of the others to stop building

Another point of view:
20 of us at a Mewtwo raid, all of us catch him but I'm the only one who catches a 100% IV.

My point, all of us now have Mewtwo and although I don't have enough dust to max him out, between the 20 of us mine will ALWAYS be the most unique.

You do realize the Pokemon don't go away, right? You can always get more stardust. You don't need to max out pokemon instantly.

You get more dust every day, you don't get a 100IV every day.

75k dust (to power to L30) is easily achievable within a week with 100 catches a day, discounting egg hatches or feeding mon. You could scramble for weeks without getting a 100.

I just hatched an 890cp Porygon 14a/15/15 (my other two were 868). I realize not a lot of point to a porygon, but it has potential--and using another upgrade opens up a bag space slot! One can be pleased without an immediate payback from it

A high IV pokemon is an investment rather than an immediate asset.

You power your 91% up fully now, I spend a couple weeks grinding stardust for my 100%.

Yours will be stronger than mine for those weeks, then for the rest of time mine will be better.

I care about IVs a lot...It's just something to do, a goal, whatever...You can win raids and get lucky and hit stuff with a straight throw and go in with 6 pidgeys and wait in the lobby to win...

Like I mentioned before, Pokemon Go is a collecting game...We like collecting high IVs and the higher the better.

I like the analogy that this is like collecting Grade 10 Gem Mint Comics or Cards or Action Figures, whatever. Once you get that 100%, you are sorta "done" with that mon, unless you actually need to use it like Tyranitars or Machamps...

You can always get more stardust, but I will probably NEVER get a 100% IV Shiny Gyarados. Or many 100% mons to begin with...unless I go using trackers/maps, etc...and have to drive everywhere which I refuse to do.

We all overthink the game and near nothing is really needed to level or do plain fine...but I'd be happy with even a "high" 90%+ IV Legendary, let alone, a 100% one...

For me, 97% is pretty much good enough to power up, max out already.

Getting 100% mons makes us happy, people like to share/brag...IVs are not overrated since I'm jelly when other people post their 1902 Zapdos...

You can change a Pokemons level but not it's IV's. So having a higher IV Pokemon is more valuable than a higher level Pokemon

Because dust is the limiting factor now, IV matters for lvl 20 catches in that with 1 or 2 less upgrades you can get to the same CP as a lower IV Pokemon.
That said, I agree that level of wild catches matters more now, especially since 30cp won't make a difference in gym placement anymore. I'll evolve a 25IV points level 30 over a 40IV points level 25.

But you can't blame people for feeling proud of their perfects.

Trainers are free to use their dust how they want. Some like to max out their Wigglytuff, others hoard for a rainy day. I find it is more fun to use it. When I get a high IV mon and don't have enough dust, then I just save up for a few weeks.

I mean, this really points out how boring this game truly is. Let's say all the pokemons have the same IV, we won't see people crazy doing raids anymore. With TM, basically once you get a couple of pokemons you want and max them out, you can stop playing. Shiny basically is the same as IV but even worse. They don't have any difference except looking cooler. Also, getting rid of all the game forums and chat within players, you can't show off your 100% IV or shiny, i believe most of us will see very little point of having 100%.

I won't stop until I get 100% IV on every Pokemon with the best move set to boot, then go for seconds.

At the same time, the players with millions of stardust really don't have strong Pokemon because they don't power anything up. It goes both ways.

Moves can always be changed and stardust can always be earned, but IVs can never be changed.

The game is a marathon and you have to keep in mind that only around a dozen and a half of species released so far are even worthy of stardust. Also, some players only power stuff up to levels that hit break points for max damage for their fast attack, so keep in mind that different players train their stuff using different philosophies. A level 39-40 mon will do around ~6-9% more damage with its charged attack than one with identical IVs at level 30. I personally max my best stuff to my level, but that's just my preference.

I have excellent copies of legendaries and I really value them, but that doesn't mean I'm in any hurry at all to max them out. If they're really not that much better compared to similar non-legendary species.

Most of the useful species, I'd say only need one individual maxed out, 2-3 for others (Golem, Eggy) and for a few of the species (Dragonite, TTar, Machamp) maybe as many as 4+. Once these individuals are collected it's around a 200k dust investment at the higher trainer levels, but soon enough you've got your deck. Then just wait for new gens/legendaries to release. But that's the best part of the game is getting those really incredible copies of useful species.

So it matters what you do with your dust along the way really. I do see your point for players who don't go out and get the stardust needed to keep up with their excellent IV copies, but I definitely go get it and I think other players do too.

Like, that's pretty much most of the game to me at this point-- getting stardust for the 6-8 things I have left that I wanna train. I keep around 200-400k stardust for future legendaries.

I personally don't see the connection between the two...

Like, whats with the comparison of a pokemons individual stats and a completely separate/none related resource that we use to power the pokemon up with?

If anything...i would say the value of higher IV mons (other than them being stronger stats wise obviously) has risen as a direct result of stardust. As people prefer to spend their hard earned dust on the strongest pokemon possible with the most potential...and not spend or 'waste' it on a weaker version of a pokemon when they know they could spend it on a stronger version. The idea of waiting a spending the dust on a more worthy pokemon is better in the long run for its power.

For example...allot of people may be put off spending a load of dust on a 82% pokemon, when they could hatch or catch a 96% (especially if its a raid boss) one the day after spending the dust...keeps people valuing IVs. (perhaps more than what its worth...but thats besides the point)