Pokémon What are your thoughts on the newer shiny hunting methods/odds?

[skarmoury]

This was directly inspired by a discussion thread I saw on Reddit, and I was curious what others thought! (This was meant to be more of a discussion; there's a separate thread for sharing shiny stories and photos here :] )

For context, the base shiny odds in older games was 1/8192, but they made the odds higher (1/4096) starting in Gen VI. More methods of shiny hunting came about since then (Friend Safaris, SOS battles, Mass Outbreaks, etc.) that further increased the base odds.

I personally started shiny hunting since Gen IV but only encountered my first shiny in Gen VI, and I've tried every shiny method introduced. I appreciate how more accessible shiny hunting is now to the casual player and those starting with shiny hunting, but in the more recent games it felt a little too easy that the shinies don't seem that special anymore. I felt that in PLA, I think I have a whole box of shinies and I don't remember majority of them lol. I haven't finished SV yet but I heard the sparkling sandwich is absolutely broken too and you can find a shiny or two within half an hour of searching.

While I like the increased odds, I also want to feel like I put a bit more 'effort' into shiny hunting. For my playstyle, there's a fine line between "I want to spend some time on this" versus "I've already spent too much time on this". The effort part is very subjective though and I don't judge anyone for how and what they want to shiny hunt. In SV, I like shiny hunting outbreaks without the shiny sandwich, and I'm personally okay with the shiny not having any indication at all (unlike in PLA where they have a visual and audio sparkle). It feels more 'true to life', because I feel shinies naturally wouldn't sparkle and make a sound, they are just literally a different color. Again, no judgment to anyone who thinks otherwise. A shiny is a shiny regardless of how you got it, after all.

How about you? How do you feel about the shiny odds and shiny hunting in general? :0

 

[Flicky]

I never really bothered to shiny hunt in older games, because I never felt like I was actually getting anywhere. I did come across shinies by pure chance (Parasect in FR/LG and Budew in D/P/P come to mind), but I had terrible luck with actively trying for them. I did, however, have an Action Replay device which I used on my Pearl game to get some easy shinies later on (I know, ripping the fun out of it).

In a way, that's why I personally prefer the easier shiny catches - because the way I look at it, anyone can just hack their console to get them and it doesn't feel like any are that special due to that, so the difficulty doesn't matter to me. Not to mention the time it takes - I don't mind working for a shiny, but there's something mildly depressing about spending a couple of hours trying to chain and getting nothing for it. Finding one makes me happy, so that's all that matters to me.

I haven't cheated to get shinies since Gen IV, and I don't think I would bother again. I really like the increased odds the newer games have, and being able to see them in the wild is actually what makes me more inclined to spend longer on the games. I do personally hope they'll consider bringing back to the sparkling noise, especially since I've heard colour blind folks are struggling with finding them, but I can understand why some people would prefer the challenge.

 

[skarmoury]

I do personally hope they'll consider bringing back to the sparkling noise, especially since I've heard colour blind folks are struggling with finding them

Oh this is true, thank you for bringing it up! I think it would be a good option in the future to have "miscellaneous" sounds turned on and off, for more accessibility to the colorblind but also more challenge to those who prefer without the sounds. In relation to the visual aspect, I am quite annoyed at how small some of the Pokemon are that I have to squint just to see if they're shiny. Sinistea was such a pain to shiny hunt because they were quite literally the size of a speck of dust. ://

 

[Corrie]

I actually like that they increased the odds. It makes it more motivating to try to hunt for them. I don't want shinies to be too easy to come across of course, but I never bothered to shiny hunt in other games because of the very low odds. I just felt like it was basically impossible.

 

[LittleMissPanda]

I think it's fine the base odds for encountering Shiny Pokémon went from 1/8192 to 1/4096 but imo it's way more hype finding a shiny with much lower odds out in the wild rather than Masuda methoding, soft resetting, etc. but trying to make things easier on yourself definitely isn't a bad thing, either. I personally think just having them randomly find you instead is a lot more exciting, it's happened to me a fairly decent amount of times before and I'm not even trying to actively hunt anything. For example, random shiny Roggenrola, Zigzagoon, Bellsprout, Electrike, just to name a few that I've caught over the years, with full 1/8192 odds, what a rush! But things like soft resetting constantly for a shiny starter or legendary? Forget it, I don't have that kind of time or determination. If I encounter a wild shiny, awesome, but if I go through a whole playthrough not finding anything, no big Wooper.

I remember legitimately trying to pull off a 40 chain with the Poke Radar in Platinum for a shiny Pachirisu because I thought it looked really cute in pink, and one day I finally found one, and it felt pretty good but so wasn't worth the stress of having my chain broken all the time, so I can't imagine just sitting there for hours resetting my game over and over, though I did make an honest effort to SR for a shiny Bulbasaur in Fire Red once a day for 2 - 3 hours, but it just never happened, so after a couple of days I simply gave up.

Legends Arceus, however, made me want to actively hunt shinies just for fun because the game just loves throwing shinies your way so it kinda takes the challenge out of shiny hunting, but it's still exciting finding one, especially when it's not part of a mass outbreak or massive mass outbreak, just a random one spawned in somewhere on the map. If I happen to never go to that area, I pretty much miss out on that shiny, so if I'm at the right place at the right time then I consider myself really lucky. Even more so now in ScarVio since there's no visual or audible cue as to when there's a shiny in the vicinity, especially considering how quickly Pokémon despawn. Got really lucky early in the game to just happen to be in the same area where a shiny Psyduck spawned, and with base 1/4096 odds, no sandwich buff.

Yeah I can bet shiny hunting really tiny Pokémon in ScarVio is a huge pain examples being Flabebe, Applin, Sinistea, Diglett.

 

[MiniPocketWorld]

I've never shiny hunted in the past because the odds were so small except for in Let's Go. I never acquired the shiny charm that was suppose to help cuz I didn't have others to trade with and I'm not going to buy two of the same game.
I was unsuccessful in Let's Go but my spouse was.

Either way I thought the odds for shinies were generally ridiculous and needed changed impo. I don't want to spend two weeks looking for a color variant. I would however be willing to spend 4-6 hours to search for one.
There was a regular Corsola in a game that I was searching for that had 1% spawn chance. That took 2 hours just to find it.

 

[Pyoopi]

The only game I hunted for shiny Pokemon was in Pokemon Arceus and it's similar to what LittleMissPanda said. It was fun gliding around on the Braviary and you'd hear the twinkle below or see the glimmer vfx.

I've tried the shiny hunting in Pokemon S/V and it's rough. I miss the glimmer and sound. One of the current tricks is to visit an outbreak, kill 60, set up your picnic and close it. Then look around and then picnic again until you find the shiny. It's exhausting, lol.

My friend did the key pokemon and it was so hard to see. The shiny form is gold and the grass is yellow, so rip your eyeballs. In the end he got it but so many picnics.

 

[Halloqueen]

The only way I actively shiny hunt is via Mausda Method breeding with a 6 IV Japanese Ditto as one of the parents. I like to be able to directly decide the Nature and Ability, gender if there's a particular nickname or whatnot that strikes me, and I want them to be able to use whatever egg moves they have available to them that I'm interested in. I like to breed all of my team members to be competitively viable if I should ever want/need to partake in online battling, complete with proper EV training.

The majority of any other shinies I happen to come across are happy accident random encounters out in the wild, though I did try (and fail) a few soft resetting hunts for some things years back and did actually complete a successful shiny Kyurem hunt back in Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire.

I haven't had the opportunity to breed Pokémon in Scarlet and Violet, but I'm not really looking forward to the changes they've made considering what I've heard about it.

I don't really have strong feelings about the other shiny hunting methods available. They exist but they're sub-optimal for what I want to get out of shiny hunting.

I'm perfectly fine with them raising the encounter rate and making shinies more likely to be encountered. Even when chances are maxed out with the Shiny Charm and Masuda Method, hunts can still take a while, so every little bit is appreciated. Plus, I have friends who aren't into the competitive stuff and just play to have fun and they enjoy the simple pleasure of randomly encountering a shiny out in the wild, so I'm glad the base rate is 1 in 4096 now instead of the 1 in 8196 that it used to be.

 

[Croconaw]

I haven’t encountered a single shiny, and I’ve been looking just to see how long it actually takes. Even with the higher encounter rate, I still don’t think I’m getting any encounters. Truthfully, I don’t care because I’m not using them and they’d go directly into the box anyway.

What I do not like is the new way of breeding, but that’s a different topic for another time.

 

[LuchaSloth]

Honestly...I think the future is allowing people to color swap Pokemon themselves. This might have sounded like a ridiculous idea a few games back...but, now that we have things like gigantamax, and terastal forms, I just see it as an inevitability. I think the entire idea of shinies is going to be replaced by the ability to simply alter the colors yourself. Whether it's via some sort of supplement that you give the Pokemon, or what...I don't really know. I just see it as an eventual gimmick that we will see.

So...short answer: the shiny odds don't bother me, because I think they will become moot anyway. Maybe the shiny ratio still exists for the purpose of including the shiny animation, but the colors themselves (which are the main reason people hunt, IMO)...I just think that will become a thing of the past.

 

[Drawdler]

I don’t have swsh or s/v but I have to say the shiny jingle being gone in s/v is a massive slap in the face. Absolutely the wrong choice.

I saw a video about accessibility which raised a point that I hadn’t already considered- even PLA had a problem for hard of hearing / hard of sight people where if you weren’t facing a shiny when it spawned, and you were colorblind then you wouldn’t see it, or if you were hard of hearing you would miss that cue and potentially fly over
I’m kind of tired of hearing that it’s “exciting” not knowing if a Pokemon is shiny/looking more at the screen. I think it’s a terrible excuse for the lack of indication in s/v

I liked how automatic shiny hunting felt on the old games. Like even pre PLA because in PLA you need to think more about your routes. Pre-switch bam you have chains, radar, hordes, simpler hatching, and way faster SRs across various games. Even safari hunts if you were daring. Just toss any of those in the bg, keep rolling the dice, it was really chill having a sense of grinding away without having to actually commit anything and that was the entire appeal to me so I’m not into the current methods and I really tried in PLA

As for the odds: I wouldn’t mind if they even increased them again. If they want to change up the methods a little each game, that’s alright with me. I wish it was more than just outbreaks though… looking through a field/eyeing what spawns and that stuff seems so boring to me and I thought it was tiring in Legends, the old hunting was such a nice background activity and nowadays it requires too much attention to lull me the same way. They should have multiple methods per game.

to me gen 6 is the undisputed champion of how fun shiny hunting was, chain fishing, hordes, dexnav, friend safari and radar all within one gen. Lots of choice with varying odds, huge pokemon availability, that gen was the peak of collecting in general tbh

lastly: increasing the odds as more pokemon was added is a fair decision. And I don’t think the increase since gen 6 has dramatically devalued them. If anything it was healthy for the community because it got a lot more people into the idea. I have a few dozen shinies I got pre-gen 6 (mostly from REs) and 100+ stored in gen 7 atm

@LuchaSloth personally, I would love the ability to instead dress up Pokemon with accessories or do stuff like furfrou trims on a wider scale, see these different aesthetic things in the wild etc. however that would need more modelling and that would be a ton of work. I guess they could allow some retexture type stuff, like different horn or stripe designs, scales instead of fur, etc., and even that would need a lot of work. Coloring pokemon yourself would be more realistic, but i would find it kinda boring and disappointing.