Should trade evolutions be removed?

[Sheep]

I've seen a little bit of debate/discussion in the community about this lately. With how trade evolutions were probably originally coined as a way of bonding together via Link Cable (which required being together in person), it seems like an outdated evolution method to some that's more of a hassle than anything fun. People aren't really getting that same bonding experience trading over WiFi since most of the time they're just asking a person they don't know over the internet for help.

Would you prefer trade evolutions be removed and replaced with something else? For example, Haunter evolving to Gengar at lv. 40 or Porygon evolving to Porygon2 if it knows a certain move. Or would you keep these evolutions in future games?

 

[Devalue]

Would keep trade evolutions, but add tradeback NPCs. Suggests one tradeback per day. Incentivizes trading with humans still.

Could be at a location with other NPC trades going on too. Why not create a trading hub in a town? Gives that town personality. Imagines an NPC group wonder trade event there too. Works as a daily event or once a week (on a random day).

 

[ReKoil]

I really wanted Tradeback NPC's at one point too. Think it'd be perfect for people who can't find anyone to trade with. Not as big of a problem anymore, thanks to the inclusion of internet, as it used to be, but when I was younger I had nobody to physically trade with and thus could not trade at all.
These NPC's could still solve the problem of people getting scammed when trying to get trade evolutions that involve held items though. You are forced to set these up online through the use of forums as attempting to do these with randos will just have them running off with your mon you wanted to trade evolve. And you most likely won't have another instance of the item to try it again. Not counting gen 8 these items were usually one off items or bought from a Battle Tree/Tower like in gen 7.

Anyway I wouldn't remove them. I might remove the annoying held items though and turn those into normal trade evolutions. Would cause a problem for Clamperl, but could be fixed by having it evolve into one or the other form determined by it's nature or a move it knows.

 

[PageEmp]

Yes! I don't even know how they work on the Switch, and if they're more comfortable making trade evo final forms available at the wild area, and have the ability to change evolution methods (we saw how location evos got pruned in favour of them all now evolving by stones), then yes, they must modify trade evos.

I think the best way to do it is to sub it with say, items, since converting trade evos into level evos sound weird because you can evolve them by trading at any level before, and now they only evolve by level? Especially weird as the trade evo final evos have the same level up moveset as their previous stages.

Maybe a trade stone to substitute the ones who don't evolve by trading with item, and those who do, they will need to be levelled up with that item. I'm also thinking of new evo stones for trade evos who share the same item, like say, a Gear stone for Metal coat evos.

 

[Sydian]

maybe like devalue said, an NPC that will trade with you and immediately send it back. honestly though, it's easier to do trade evolutions now than back in the day so it can be a hassle, but idk...for me it was more of a hassle to find someone with a game, one of you has to have a link cable, and then you have to do whatever pre-reqs there are to trade in the games you're using. maybe it's easier to me now bc i'm an adult and not having to rely on friends i don't have and can just grab my partner like lol hey i need to evolve haunter or hell, i have my own means bc i have multiple consoles. but man the struggle as a kid, especially during gen 3 when the games weren't as popular. that was hell.

but anyway, i'm not opposed to changing it to a more single-player manner of getting the evolutions like via level, item, move, etc. but i do think trading is far easier than ever before...well, gen 6 did it best but still, no more link cable is always a plus for me.

 

[RadEmpoleon]

I know in PoGo with trade evos like Gengar and Machamp they have it so you can either trade or get a certain amount of candies. I think they could try to implement something similar in the main games- keep evolution by trade, but maybe add a second way to evolve as well. It would probably be a much more complex evolution method, but not impossible for players to do if they don't have access to internet connection.

 

[Sheep]

Oh yeah, it's a lot easier for me to do trade evolutions now - I can just ask my partner or friends via Discord and be done super quickly. When I was young I had to come over to my friend's house if I wanted to make any dex progress and that...wasn't always easy :x I love how easy it is now, but it's so easy that it makes me wonder if this little roadblock is necessary. It doesn't require any work to level up or find a shop/NPC with a stone, just a trade which is more about finding willing people to help. I'd love to be able to do trade evolutions quicker since I find they aged a little poorly with how much easier the game has become otherwise.

👍 to an NPC that helps with trades/trade-backs or even just changing it to +10 levels

 

[Duck]

On one hand, with the Internet there is a reasonably easy way to do trade evos.

On the other hand, trading is apparently paywalled behind Nintendo Switch Online, which you might not have or want to have for anything else.

So yeah, I'd love to have alternatives to trading - maybe a Link Cable, a "trade and trade back" machine in the Pokémon Centers or just an NPC ? - but considering trading is one of those annoyances that might push someone to buy NSO, I find it unlikely Game Freak will ever do that.

 

[Zeostar]

I wouldn't mind the removal of them entirely.

Even with the internet, this still requires an online subscription. There are certainly still children without access to a membership.

 

[Incudust]

not only should trade evolutions be removed, they should have never existed.

 

[Figure]

Yes they should leave. TPC makes PLENTY of money without people needing to buy two copies and with the internet and wonder trading it isn't like you can't get every Pokemon now, now it is just a pain in the ass.

 

[a_person73]

I think that they were a cool concept, but poorly implemented. They shouldn't have been in the game since gen 1, and GTC really helped people to get new evolutions. GTC shouldn't have been removed if the wanted to keep them in the game, as it's just really difficult to finish the pokedex now because of that.

 

[Corveone]

Yes, I think they should. Trading would be still an important feature because it's required for version exclusives or to get Pokémon from other regions anyway, so trade evolutions are completely redundant and unnecessary, and never made sense with the Pokémon lore to begin with. It's outdated Gen 1 stuff that they never bothered to modernize.

 

[Drayton]

Instead just removing it, why not add a NPC that will trade anything or certain pokemon for a pokemon that needs trading like a kadabra for example and get rid held items that needed for evoling

 

[Corveone]

Instead just removing it, why not add a NPC that will trade anything or certain pokemon for a pokemon that needs trading like a kadabra for example and get rid held items that needed for evoling

Issues with Pokémon obtained via trade instead of caught and raised by yourself I guess: trainer IDs, altered growth rate, nicknames, inability to get egg moves, etc.

 

[Palamon]

No, I don't think they should be removed, but it should be made easier to get them. I really think there should be a trading npc in Pokemon games that can help players who don't have people to play Pokemon with. And not the Mindy troll, actual npcs that will trade you Graveler for a Graveler, and etcetera.

 

[Amore]

Mindy

An absolutely devastating betrayal, I was so excited for my Gengar!

 

[Adam Levine]

I suggest two changes to trade evolutions:
1. Give them an alternate method to evolve, as RadEmpoleon proposed. Don't get rid of them entirely, but...
2. Get rid of trade evolutions that require items. Those are a pain to get, especially when you rely on strangers to trade with you. Just have Electivire obtainable the same way Golem is. Accelgor and Escavalier can keep their evolution gimmick though.

 

[Drayton]

Issues with Pokémon obtained via trade instead of caught and raised by yourself I guess: trainer IDs, altered growth rate, nicknames, inability to get egg moves, etc.

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

 

[Soaring Sid]

No, I don't think they should be removed, but it should be made easier to get them. I really think there should be a trading npc in Pokemon games that can help players who don't have people to play Pokemon with. And not the Mindy troll, actual npcs that will trade you Graveler for a Graveler, and etcetera.

So true. As someone who played until Omega Ruby with no one to trade with this resonates with me. I was always stuck with Machoke and Haunter. I think I used trading in X but before that it was a pain.
And no not the Arceus forsaken Mindy not at all