They really need to make the GTS smarter

[Blockhead Pippi]

I'm really sick of seeing all the rampant greed on the GTS. Whenever I look up a Pokemon, every result I see always asks for some legendary, mythical or otherwise one-of-a-kind Pokemon in return for it. It doesn't matter what the Pokemon is, people will still ask for a legendary for even the most common Pokemon imaginable. Why the hell would I ever want to trade my Solgaleo for a Rattata?

And it's been a problem for four generations now. You would think that at this point, they would notice certain trends in the GTS and make alterations in response to that. I would love it if they made it so that people are barred from asking for legendaries/mythicals for their common Pokemon, they would have to deposit something of equal value in order to request one. I would be happy enough if they even just implemented "No trades requesting legendary Pokemon" filter. At least then I wouldn't have to shift through so many results of the exact same thing.

It just boggles my mind that this continues to happen. I like the GTS, it's helped me a ton many times. But I get so tired of this, especially when all I want is to just make a quick trade.

 

[Team Gaara]

LOL, I was thinking the same when I went on the GTS looking for a Popplio and see people asking for Type:Null or Lunala, or Ultra Beasts, etc. Like, LOL, in no universe is even a Type:Null the same worth as a fking starter mon.

Like, they've implemented ways to suggest that the Pokemon you're putting up is bred/has good IVs and all that good sht, but you can still ask for Legends for a damn Cutiefly; that's ridic~

And on that note, how come if I'm searching for a Pokemon using the name (because it's not registered in my Dex) I'm not allowed to specify a gender? Like what is the logical reason for this?~ I'm looking for a female Popplio, but can't ask for it just because I typed the name in myself???? WHY???

 

[Muur]

At least we can have it set as "no legendaries" or "only Pokemon you own", so that's a good step.

 

[Slife]

It should be note that this is a common method used to transfer Pokemon and/or items to yourself from another game (for people who don't what to use Pokebank for whatever reason), and most people who do this aren't actually looking for other people to trade them these rare pokemon. The way it works is you deposit the Pokemon you want to trade over to another game (or a fodder Pokemon to hold an item you want to trade) onto the GTS and ask for a rare Pokemon in return (note that you should have said rare Pokemon available to trade in the game you want to trade to). Then you just boot up the GTS on your other game and look for yourself on the GTS, then trade over that rare Pokemon for the one you put up to transfer. It's precisely because the trade value is ridiculously uneven that this method works, as your Pokemon are not likely to be sniped on the GTS and you can easily trade with yourself.

 

[Stratelier]

^ Not entirely true. If XY proved anything, some of its GTS offers were accumulating on the server more or less forever, when trading to your other game only takes up to 5 minutes on the GTS.

Some of my thoughts that the GTS needs if it's going to really improve:

1 - "Pokemon I have" filter enabled by default ... or at least display those offers at the front of the search results.
2 - GTS block list, basically an extra marking that you can put on specific Pokemon indicating they are not to be included in the above filter.
3 - Reverse search. Select a Pokemon from your box and search for all trades requesting it. Useful for those times where you have something to trade off but aren't really looking for anything specific in return.

 

[Blockhead Pippi]

At least we can have it set as "no legendaries" or "only Pokemon you own", so that's a good step.

There is already a "no legendaries" filter? I should probably look into that, but I doubt it would block every Pokemon that would fit under that category. I mean, Type: Null and Silvally are not considered legendary Pokemon, but I still see a lot of offers requesting them, which I would never do since Type: Null is a one-of-a-kind Pokemon.

 

[Stratelier]

Yeah. Literally the ONLY option you can set before you start searching is whether to include people requesting "special Pokemon".

 

[Usagi-Zakura]

You should be able to check the stats of the Pokémon you're trading for as well. I found a Ditto on the GTS advertised as having "six IVs" asking for a legendary I happened to have copies of... traded it, it did not have six perfect IVs...
Heck I've seen people advertising them as "7 IVS" cuz that makes sense <.<

The same should be done for the other way too, if I put up a 6 IV Eevee (which I do have, after repeated breeding) I would have liked something better than a Popplio with "decent stats" in return.

Perhaps, in addition to asking for specific things, they could introduce an "auction" system, where you can put up a Pokémon, people can see exactly what its ability, nature and IV-spread are, and people can "bid" on it by uploading their own Pokémon which again you could inspect the stats of, and then you can pick which one seems the best trade.

 

[Blockhead Pippi]

It's a nice idea, but it would also be a long process. There's some people, like myself, who only use the GTS to get Pokemon they don't have solely for the Pokedex. I would rather just get my trade immediately without any extra hassles in that case.

 

[Guzma]

They made the GTS worse this gen... Now there's no possible way of telling if a Pokemon has a HA without nicknaming...

 

[PaulTheProtist]

Haha, I used to be able to ripoff people good on the GTS. Now with the lack of a customisable message, it's not as easy. Still, it was fun watching gullible idiots send legendaries to me for ridiculously common Pokémon. Ah, those were the days...

But I really just don't understand people place impossible trades. I mean, do the people who place a Rattata in for a Mewtwo even expect that to ever happen? Looking in XY, there are many trades like this that have been around for 2 years. If you're slick about it, like me, you can get away with it, but most of these people just... aren't. I see at least 50 stupid trades for every reasonable one, and it's pretty ridiculous. At least the system improved from Gen V, where they would only let you see seven trades, most of which were likely to be asking for 1-9 level Zekroms or Reshirams.

 

[henrymidfields]

They should also make it so that, for example, instead of just only Kingdras, you can send in a Seadra + King's Rock if a Kingdra is what the other person wants.

 

[PurplePopplio]

They should also make it so that, for example, instead of just only Kingdras, you can send in a Seadra + King's Rock if a Kingdra is what the other person wants.

I think that you mean Dragon Scale.

 

[Team Gaara]

You should be able to check the stats of the Pokémon you're trading for as well. I found a Ditto on the GTS advertised as having "six IVs" asking for a legendary I happened to have copies of... traded it, it did not have six perfect IVs...
Heck I've seen people advertising them as "7 IVS" cuz that makes sense <.<

The same should be done for the other way too, if I put up a 6 IV Eevee (which I do have, after repeated breeding) I would have liked something better than a Popplio with "decent stats" in return.

I thought of this, too~ It's pretty easy to just say a Lv1 mon has 6IVs when it was probably just a breeding fodder in actuality. Since you can't actually see IVs in game and it's not really possible to tell them based on Lv1 stats, I think they should possibly find a way to implement a way to judge the potential of GTS mons (like the NPC that does it, but putting an actual NPC there might be a bit much; just something similiar) before trading them, so you can make sure you're actually getting what's being advertised~

 

[Usagi-Zakura]

I thought of this, too~ It's pretty easy to just say a Lv1 mon has 6IVs when it was probably just a breeding fodder in actuality. Since you can't actually see IVs in game and it's not really possible to tell them based on Lv1 stats, I think they should possibly find a way to implement a way to judge the potential of GTS mons (like the NPC that does it, but putting an actual NPC there might be a bit much; just something similiar) before trading them, so you can make sure you're actually getting what's being advertised~

In Gen VII you can check IVs directly from the PC, it wold be nice if that also worked for potential trades.

 

[Stratelier]

In Gen VII you can check IVs directly from the PC, it wold be nice if that also worked for potential trades.

Do you mean pressing the Y button from the summary screen? I just assume those are EVs.

 

[Crysta Blade]

Do you mean pressing the Y button from the summary screen? I just assume those are EVs.

Post game you can unlock an IV check function which you can use from the PC.

Another thing that'd be a nice addition is being able to request a specific Nature.

 

[Usagi-Zakura]

As I've been trying to get some good IV Pokémon for Masuda breeding I've discovered you have a bigger chance of getting good IVs via Wonder Trade than the GTS... I certainly had much more luck with it as every time I tried trading for a mon that supposedly had "Great potential!" on the GTS; their IVs are either decent or just terrible...

Meanwhile via Wonder Trade I now have among others: a 5 IV Chinese Vanilluxe, almost flawless Japanese Salandit (all stats are maxed except HP which is Very Good), a perfectly good Japanese Mimikyu (4 perfect stats, decent special attack and very good special defense) a 5 IV italian Honedge, and an almost perfect Feebas (aside from Very Good speed). I've also gotten quite a few random starters (in-between the Caterpies and Metapods but that's unavoidable)

So yeah. Forget the GTS. Wonder Trade for the win.

 

[Ghostsoul]

Perhaps the GTS could be arranged into 'tiers'?
Having most Pokemon taking up one tier of the system.
Another tier would be for 'smaller' legendary Pokemon. (Like the Lake trio)
The next would be full of the 'larger' and version elusive legendary Pokemon (Like Zekrom)
The final one would be for mythics and event exclusive Pokemon

You can trade down to a lower tier, but can't ask for pokemon in the upper tiers.
Shiny pokemon are placed along side the 'larger' legendary pokemon perhaps?
An in-between tier for regular Pokemon with perfect IVs/EVs could be another one. One inbetween the larger and smaller legandary Pokemon?
There is probably lots of flaws with this system, but it's one way of doing it.

 

[Almonds]

They should also make it so that, for example, instead of just only Kingdras, you can send in a Seadra + King's Rock if a Kingdra is what the other person wants.

I think that you mean Dragon Scale.

They need to make this happen. I've seen a lot of people ask for Politoed. I have a Poliwhirl and a King's Rock, but there's no way I can send this over despite the trade results being the same.

If putting up a Poliwhirl holding a King's Rock can be done, sending one over shouldn't be difficult.