Summary
A vocal portion of thePokemon GOfandom has recently taken to social media to share some detailed suggestions for how Niantic could improve trading in the popular AR game. Their discussion hence yielded several new additions to the ever-growing list ofPokemon GOimprovementsthat the fandom put forward to date.
Although Niantic introduced plenty of new features and overhauls to its hit game over the years,the way trading works inPokemon GOhasn’t really changed since its summer 2016 release. Players are still advised to befriend their frequent trading partners and regularly send them gifts to build up their friendship levels, which will consequently reduce the Stardust cost of exchanging creatures. However, trades have always required trainers to meet up with one another, which is not exactly convenient.
Dissatisfied with this state of affairs, some fans have recently taken to Reddit to argue how the game would greatly benefit from dropping that geographic restriction, thus mimicking the way trading works inthe mainlinePokemongames. “Trading could have been great,” wrote user ChalvlPlo0, concluding how the ability to exchange pocket monsters with anyone on one’s friend list would have been nothing short of “amazing.”
And while some players voiced support for their idea, others said they’d be content with a recurring event in the vein of a global trading day that would allow them to fill out their collections and help others do the same. According to some of those opinions, such a feature would fit the game’s community focus and improve its accessibility, all without making the quest to catch ‘em all too easy. A few fans even went as far as to suggest they’d pay for the luxury of remote trades, not least because they currently stand no chance of getting their hands on mostregional exclusives inPokemon GO.
Niantic, for its part, never gave any indication that it’s seriously considering revamping the game’s trading mechanics. The developer’s past comments on the matter also suggested that the steep costs of exchanging creatures, which go up to 1 million Stardust for unregistered Legendaries, are a roundabout anti-cheat mechanic intended to prevent players from using bots for acquiring exceedingly rare pocket monsters that they could then affordably send to their main accounts.
And while the developer hence has some valid reasons to keep the trading system exactly the way it is, that still doesn’t change the fact that exchanging creatures inPokemon GOremains an extremely limited experience, especially compared to the mainline series. A number ofPokemon GOplayers are clearly still hoping they could affect some change on this front, more than seven years since the game’s release, as unlikely as that might seem.
