Should trade evolutions be removed?

[Amore]

I hope Mindy moved to Unova then got her falsely obtained Medicham stolen and released by Team Plasma...

 

[PokemonPotatoHero]

Yes too much of a hassle, esp without friends playing together

 

[colours]

ngl, trade prereqs for evolutions are bothersome to me. i dunno if i'd agree to an outright removal, because what would you replace it with? i guess good ol' leveling is an option, or maybe holding a specific item and fulfilling x criteria that isn't trading. i think i may be leaning towards the latter if anything, for pokemon that need to be "hard" to obtain.

 

[Lucifer]

I concur that trade evolution isn't as substantial now that trading no longer requires meeting and interacting with people.

Furthermore, the problem with Wifi evolution trading is that it requires some people to trust a complete stranger to return their Pokemon whereas the Link Cable had required both participants to be sitting next to each other which better ensured that it was a trusted individual as it would usually have to be a close friend or relative. Wifi made it a lot easier to flee the trade with the other person's evolved Pokemon which can be an uncomfortable position, particularly with shinies.
As both a shiny hunter and someone who no longer has RL friends to trade with I would prefer not to take that chance.

The Link Cable was so much simpler and healthier, part of me misses it.

I am 100% on board with either trade back NPCs or complete removal of trade evolutions altogether in favor of level-up or a move or held item requirement.
Another option is a common alternative used in Fangames due to there being no trading method in most of them, a stone exclusive to trade evolutions.

 

[Corveone]

It's not that, if you just play alone because there is no one going to do trading or battling with you.. what's the point for me then

Late reply, but what if you want a Machamp that knows the egg move Bullet Punch, or Heavy Slam? Or what if you'd like to nickname that Machamp?

Many players might not care about those features but many others do, even for the single player experience (Egg moves can be really useful for particular challenges or for stuff like post-game battle facilities). Adding a "wanna trade your Machoke for my Machoke?" NPC would still take away those features from players that you do have available for Pokémon you caught yourself.

 

[Lucifer]

Or what if you'd like to nickname that Machamp?

I concur, as petty as it might be I have trouble using a Pokemon I can't name myself.
I believe Gen 8 has catered to this concern as unless I am mistaken it provides the option to re-name a Pokemon received in a trade once.

 

[_confused_piplup_]

hmmm this is a very nice topic to discuss. I think that since its origins, one of the most important features of pokemon was trading and it still is imo. On the other hand tho, I understand how frustrating it is to evolve a pokemon by trading, especially feebas to milotic or porygon. And it's even more frustrating when u have to pay for the Internet connection for trading, so yeah, this is a point tbh. But it would also be really sad just changing these pokemon's evolution to just levelling up. So, imo they should stay the way they are. I think it's a nice feature, but i do agree on the fact that it's frustrating, especially if u take into account the fact that u basically have to pay to evolve ur pokémon.

 

[Fairy]

I wouldn't lose any sleep if they got rid of trade evolutions.

 

[Raj]

Changing all the Trade Evolution to be Level based and such seems like a lot of work and would likely end up being a bit strange to compare to prior games. But I do think that they should implement an item in the official Pokemon Game that mimics trade that you can just buy in a shop.