tysm!! so, even if i don't get the other exclusives, i could still trade for them?
There's a free Global Trade Service, GTS, coming out for Pokemon Home that should make trading quite a bit easier if you don't want to go out of your way to find people to trade.
There's a premium plan with Pokemon Home that allows for inputting three pokemon at a time but even the free version isn't bad.
I am going to assume since you are new to Pokemon that you have no idea what the "GTS" is so I'll try my best to explain:
The "GTS" service, first introduced in Gen 4, is a free service that up until Sword/Shield (a.k.a. SwSh) was included as an in-game feature. It can only be accessed via connecting to the internet because it allows for trading with people around the world. Unlike Surprise Trade, the GTS gives you several search tools to search for the specific pokemon species you want, the level you want, and the gender you want. Do keep in mind that you can either pick a Pokemon species (ex. Axew) through a drop-down menu or you can type one in that you haven't seen in-game yet by scrolling to the very bottom and finding the option that allows you to type out a species of Pokemon. Do note that if you don't pick a Pokemon specifically from the drop-down menu, you will not be able to select a specific gender, but can still select what level you want.
Once you have entered what Pokemon you would like to search for, there are now advanced search options present that help you limit your search even more. Among these, you can filter by what region you want the pokemon in question to be from as well as filter for trades you actually will be able to fulfill.
There's also an input feature. What you can do here is select a Pokemon from one of your boxes or party to show off to people and that you would not mind trading out. You can then enter a description for your pokemon to catch people's eye and request what you would like in return. You can place an item on your deposited pokemon if you would like.
Do note, however, you are very limited in what you can request for. You may request: a specific pokemon species, a level range (ex. lvl 1-10, lvl 11-20, lvl 21-30, ... , lvl 91-100), and a gender. You may not request: a specific held item, shininess, specific stats. Because of this, I would advise you to be careful when trying to trade (for example: shinies for other shinies), because while you can specify in your description that this is what you would like to do, you actually have no foolproof way to force them to do what you request.
Players from around the world will be able to see what you have put into the GTS and can trade for if they have a Pokemon in their box or party that meets the requirement. The "GTS" does not require you to be connected to it to initiate a trade, all you have to do is simply go back into the GTS after some time has passed and if someone has accepted the trade, you will be able to pick up the opposing players pokemon immediately and automatically.
Regarding Pokemon Home's GTS, with the free version, you will be able to deposit one Pokemon at a time into this GTS and three at a time if you paid for a Premium Plan (you will be able to deposit more once those Pokemon have been traded or when you have opted to remove them from the GTS). Both versions allow you to search for other players' deposited Pokemon as well as trade with them as long as you have the Pokemon they want. Pokemon Home's GTS requires you to have a mobile phone with an internet plan in order to use or some other kind of mobile device like a tablet (I do not think computers will be able to access home, but perhaps). However, it will sync with SwSh's game data allowing you to access you saved profile's party and/or boxes.
One thing to note is, the Nintendo Switch requires a universal Internet Plan ($19.99 a year plus tax), which can either be gotten in the form of code cards from participating stores or from the Nintendo Switch eshop. It can also be included in some gaming bundles. You are forced to get this in order to access the internet features within the games you buy, but it does carry across all games (hence the universal part). Each profile you create requires it's own internet plan however, but there are bundles available when buying multiple internet subscription.
I'm not sure whether the Pokemon Home features for phones will also require getting the internet plan for the switch, but either way you get a lot of additional perks when getting that Switch internet service as well. More information as well as the perks found here -
https://www.imore.com/will-nintendo-switch-online-be-worth-it as well as free (albeit limited but still really good) access to the fun eshop game: Tetris 99.
Of course, I am going off of how the GTS is currently for Pokemon. It could be tweaked a little bit for Pokemon Home.
And if you have any further questions, you can also look up information on google or youtube about the GTS for Pokemon Home once that releases as well as looking up game features that you are confused about. You should be able to find an answer pretty quickly
Or feel free to VM me
.
BTW, Pokemon Home is set to release February but there is no exact date confirmed yet.
At least to explain on shinies, they are basically rare Pokemon you can encounter and are verified by a little sparkle animation. There is also a little marking in the Pokemon's summary that verifies shininess as well. Shiny Pokemon are very good to have because they can even be worth as much as a legendary.
One tip for the GTS before I finish is don't be afraid to see what people are requesting for their legendaries. Sometimes all a person wants is a high level regular pokemon
.
Well, I hope I explained well enough!
