Possibility of Bottle Caps in Pokémon Go?

Pokémon Go shares a connection with the main series games, in that both have IVs as determinants of Pokémon stats for individual species instances. They're not changeable except mostly in the case of trading, and even then, it's the trading partner that gets the benefit rather than the original Trainer, unless the trade is a mirror trade. But what if the IVs can be changed without requiring a trade, which can be useful in certain circumstances? To do that, Pokémon Go would have to borrow (implement) yet another concept from the main series games as it has done recently with the addition of the Master Ball.

That concept would be Bottle Caps, items in the main series games that can change the IVs of Pokémon. The regular "silver" Bottle Cap and the Gold Bottle Cap are the representative variants. The former maximizes a single IV, while the latter maximizes all IVs. By their functions alone, they are undeniably useful, as they can do what catching and breeding alone cannot do, at least within a short time. Supposing that the items and/or their exact functions are (to be) replicated in Pokémon Go, the effects would be significant and far-reaching, and that would call their necessity into question.

As mentioned above, trading changes IVs, essentially "re-rolling" them. In that way, something like a Bottle Cap seems superfluous, especially in the case of a Lucky Trade, which is likely to result in improved stats and thereby accomplishes the purpose of something like a Gold Bottle Cap. Yet the results of trading may or may not have the same effects as using Bottle Caps due to the possibility of IVs decreasing in other circumstances outside a Lucky Trade, and that is something that would support the addition of Bottle Caps to change IVs rather than (or perhaps in addition to) making trades to do so.

Still, it is known that some Pokémon (Shadow, Mythical, and previously traded ones) can't be traded and therefore cannot have their IVs changed through the mechanism, though Shadow Pokémon can be Purified to change their IVs, the only non-trade way thus far. Bottle Caps may then support subpar instances of these rather than creating a new one - for example, I have a Keldeo that can benefit from an increase in Defense, even with all other things remaining the same. Even so, Niantic is keen to avoid loopholes, and that's why (notably) they put the "ban hammer" down on trading Shadow Pokémon in the first place.

With such a situation, it seems that implementing Bottle Caps in Pokémon Go may be a rather fanciful thought, and one that is rather remote and not at all quite possible given the above circumstances. But as with the Master Ball, perhaps even the situation will merit their addition at some point, which would open the door to a wide range of possibilities. It would also help to establish further relations with the main series games for those who are (or were already) familiar with them and further affirm this mobile game's status as an integral companion to those games, if it isn't already apparent.

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Two years ago: Personal Social Media Experiments with Pokémon

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Five years ago: Pokémon Go Community Day, 6/16/2018

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