What I wanted (not expected) it to be:
You start off as a new trainer. Pick a starter (or catch a local one) then you literally go off on your own pokémon adventure. You are the trainer, you have your starter and you just go around your street/town/city/country battling Pokémon (using the classic battle system already in the handheld games) and catching them and battling other trainers (players) you meet (if you want). Didn't want or expect gyms or a story or good graphics. Of course there would be microtransactions for items like potions and balls but you can also earn money/items through normal play. Legendary pokémon would be released for certain events at local landmarks or town centres or whatever.
Basically, I wanted it to be like Pokémon. Where you fight and weaken and capture them and battle others and level them up and evolve them etc. What I expected was go somewhere, point phone at fake thing, tap screen, maybe win or not, pay money to instantly win.
EDIT: I do find it funny some people are like "what did you expect? Pokémon? lol keep your expectations in check, these are the Ingress guys" as if that means that they would of course just slap Pikachu onto Ingress and call it a day. Like people expecting Pokémon staples like battling and levelling up would play a part in how you obtain Pokémon are crazy.