[bskap]

Assuming your goal is to level up. A lot of people were playing for the collection aspect.

[Thriptic]

I think the game absolutely needs PVP / better gym mechanics and trading to survive. Right now the emphasis is 95% on collecting, which is why people are losing interest.

[vintermann]

And it wasn't going fast enough for them?

But maybe they didn't want it to go fast. Maybe it was supposed to be unfeasible to get a full set in a reasonable amount of time. This doesn't seem too unlikely if they want to implement trading at some point.

[ethbro]

True, "Gotta level up" is a far less compelling motto.

[calsy]

I don't think the motto is the 'foundation' for gameplay. Last I checked pokemon was also about battles.

[calsy]

Um yes, its called 'evolving' your pokemon. Commons evolve into new high CP pokemon which fill up your pokedex AND give you high XP in the process.

[bskap]

Yes, but there's only one evolution track per pokemon (except Eevee which has 3 in gen 1). The optimal strategy for grinding experience is to catch a million pidgeys and evolve them all into Pidgeottos for the experience and then transfer them because Pidgeot isn't that powerful of a pokemon. The optimal strategy for building the pokedex is to catch enough pidgeys to get a Pidgeot and then you don't need to catch any more pidgeys.