For some reason, Niantic / TPC doesn’t want to expose Pokemon levels in the game. This has been the case for 9 years and is unlikely to change.
However, here’s a possible way to expose that information without confusing players: add a counter for the number of remaining powerups until hitting max CP.
– A Level 20 Pokémon will have 60 remaining powerups
– A Level 25 Pokemon will have 50 remaining powerups.
– etc.
We could even have search terms for it: powerupused1-40, powerupleft1-50, etc. (“Power ups used” may be confusing because most Pokemon in the wild are naturally “powered up” to a level higher than 1, but those power ups were not applied by trainers themselves. But “power ups left” is always based on a fixed reference point of Level 50.)
Why do we care about Pokemon levels? Currently. there is an XL candy transfer bonus through the Halloween Go Pass. The XL probabilities are based on Pokemon levels and coded in a weird step-function, with the probability of earning XL(s) increasing substantially upon hitting specific level thresholds:
https://www.reddit.com/r/TheSilphRoad/comments/1oe8glf/how_xl_candy_bonus_for_transferring_works/
This means if your Pokemon is just below the next level threshold, it may be worth powering up for a higher chance of XLs.
To quickly determine the Pokémon’s level, I usually look at the next power up cost. 4000 dust + 3 candy is Level 25, while 4000 dust + 4 candy is Level 26. That’s super-convenient, because Level 26 is one of the thresholds in the step-function that raises the XL probability. However, Level 19 vs 20? Both are 2500 dust + 2 candy. So I either have to enter the Power Up submenu & count the number of power ups until it increments by 3000 dust + 3 candies, or flag it for 3rd-party app (CalcyIV, PokeGenie etc) batch-scanning later. Either is inconvenient compared to having the number right there in the UI.
Having this power-up counter & corresponding search terms would also help players with completing “Power up Pokemon X times” field research, as well as “ Power up X Pokemon to max CP” level-up research for TL 73 & 77.
by MarkusEF