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DizzyBum
Apr 16, 2007




:siren: SIGN UP USING GOOGLE IF YOU WANT TO PLAY! DO NOT USE POKEMON TRAINER CLUB, IT'S BUGGY AS gently caress :siren:

:siren: CLICK HERE TO BE OUR FRIEND AND GET A GOOMY :siren:

:siren: JOIN THE POKéGOONS DISCORD TOO! :siren:


What is Pokémon GO?

Pokémon GO is a Mobile Free2Play Augmented Reality game where you, as a new Pokémon Trainer, walk around IRL and are randomly approached by sprites of Pokémon on your phone. Your goal is ostensibly, as the slogan goes, to "catch 'em all" and complete your Pokédex. In addition to catching Pokémon, you can also battle against other trainers' Pokémon in Gyms, against other trainers in 3v3 matches, and against Team GO Rocket NPCs.

The game is developed by Niantic, makers of the original AR game Ingress, and other related titles such as Harry Potter: Wizards Unite.

How to play


With the above image as basis, let's review the basics.

1) The current in-game weather conditions. Usually based on actual weather, but may be wrong. Different Pokémon will appear based on the conditions - grass in sunny conditions, water in rain, flying in windy, etc.

2) A gym currently controlled by Team Valor (more on teams later). Teams control gyms with a maximum of 6 Pokémon holding down a gym at a time. Only one Pokémon per species can be stationed at a gym, which means you're going to see only one Blissey instead of 4! Hey look, there's a Blissey right there! To take control of a gym, you must battle (and defeat) the defending Pokémon using the same strategy used in the main games (water beats fire, ghost beats psychic, etc.). Over time, however, Pokémon will lose their battling power in gyms if they are not regularly fed berries. In addition, there are Raid Battles, but that's for another section. Holding a gym for 10 minutes nets you one Pokécoin, but your rewards can only be cashed out after your Pokémon is kicked out of the gym, and you can only get 50 coins in a single day. You must be Level 5 or higher to fight in gyms.

3) A PokéStop. Once you get within the radius of the area, you can spin its photodisc to get free items, such as Pokéballs and Eggs. You can only spin once every 5 minutes; purple stops mean you've tagged it recently, blue means you haven't, and a halo around the blue stop means you've never been there before. You can also spin gyms, too!

4) A wild Pokémon! Specifically, a Luvdisc. While roaming around, you will get pinged about Pokémon appearing. Tap the Pokémon and point your camera to the horizon. Flick a Pokéball in the direction of the Pokémon, and you can "capture" it. You can miss (so you have to aim), and the Pokémon can break free randomly, just like in the regular series. Wild Pokémon can also jump to evade and attack, so you'll need to time your tosses. Pokémon will sometimes run away if they break free.

5) The heads-up display. Here, you can see a clear shot of your face, your buddy Pokémon, your current level, the progress you've made to the next level, and your name. When you walk, your buddy Pokémon will pick up candy of their species over a set distance. For example, a lowly Magikarp will pick up a candy every 1km, while legendaries take a good 20km.

6) The Nearby tab. Clicking on this will show you wild Pokemon in your vicinity and where to find them, as well as nearby raid battles.

7) Research tasks. By completing tasks, you get items and free Pokémon encouters. These Pokemon will always have decent to good stats and won't run away!

8) It's you! Your avatar will stay in the middle of the screen and the world will revolve around them. You can customize your avatar with hats, shirts, pants, shoes, and other stuff that soothes your fragile psyche.

Gyms and PokéStops are based on regional landmarks or noteworthy locations, but can also be sponsored locations. Drink some Starbucks and go walk off those calories!



Once captured, a Pokémon will come with certain stats. CP stands for Combat Points, and is a rough gauge of how strong your Pokemon is. Height and Weight are mostly there for flavor, aside from a couple special achievements. Pokémon will come with two attacks; a fast attack and a charge attack (usually a signature move; i.e. Pidgeot getting Air Cutter or Venonat getting Bug Buzz). HP stands for Hit Points - if your Pokémon's HP reaches zero, it faints and cannot battle anymore until it is revived.

Catching a Pokémon will grant you EXP, Stardust, Species Candies, and (for new Pokémon) a Pokédex entry. If it's a duplicate, you can "transfer" it to the Professor and gain candies specific to the Pokémon line (so, Pidgey Candies work for Pidgey, Pidgeotto, Pidgeot, but not Spearow.) Stardust and Candies are used to level up your Pokemon swiftly; you gain Stardust for every wild Pokémon captured (more for accurate throws, among other bonuses), and when you trade in a Pokémon, you gain 1 candy of that type, in addition to the 3 you got originally. In addition, you may select one Pokémon at a time to be your Buddy, which means that as you walk, you will be given that species' candy in increments correlated to their egg distance.

Battling in a gym is simpler than in the mainline games. You can swipe left/right to dodge attacks, tap to use a quick attack, or activate a charge attack, which builds up throughout a battle as you attack. Some attacks charge faster and can be used more often, but are weaker. Moves can vary within the same species, so it brings some variety to the game.

Introduced in this game (and totally ripped off by Game Freak for Sword/Shield) is Raid Battles. At Level 20, trainers are allowed to participate in battles against super-powered Pokémon controlled by the game as long as they have a Raid Battle Pass. These can be anything from a Magikarp that a 10-year-old could beat by himself to a Mega Charizard X that can only be taken down by at least a few high-level players. Winning gives you items you can only get from Raid Battles (including items that let you re-roll a Pokémon's attack choice), a chunk of XP, and the chance to capture the Pokémon you just beat. If you're one of those people who can't get enough of Raids, there are EX Raids, where only the rarest Pokémon (such as Deoxys) show up. EX Raids require an EX Raid pass, which are fairly difficult to get and require you to have won a raid and fulfill other specific conditions. (NOTE: EX Raids are currently disabled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, in order to avoid encouraging social gatherings.)

Adventure Sync

A fairly new feature, Adventure Sync allows you to use your phone like a pedometer and track distance for hatching eggs while the game is closed! You can link your game account to a fitness app (such as Google Fit) and it will automatically update your distance the next time you open the game. This means that any devices tracking steps via the same fitness app should also be compatible with Adventure Sync and award you distance. Note that this sometimes bugs out and requires you to re-enable and re-connect everything, but when it works, it's pretty drat handy.

Team GO Rocket


Occasionally, PokéStops will be taken over by Team GO Rocket! There, you can battle Rocket Grunts, which tend to use teams of a specific type (which will be hinted at in their dialogue). If you win, you get a chance to catch a Shadow Pokémon, which can be purified via candy and Stardust. Purified Pokémon get a small boost to their base stats and cost less to power up and evolve, and also get a neat white glow. Defeating grunts also builds progress towards locating and battling one of the three GO Rocket Leaders for extra rewards and unique Shadow Pokemon.

From time to time, you'll be given the opportunity to do some special research tasks involving battling Team GO Rocket, which culminate in some special encounters...

Friendship

You can be friends with other people you know goons! Tap on your HUD and go to the 'Friends' tab to see all your friends. You can send gifts that you pick up at PokéStops to them and receive them in kind. Gifts typically contain the same items you get by spinning a PokéStop, but with the addition of 7km eggs, which contain regional-form Pokémon, babies, and occasional Pokémon you can't catch locally! Friends can also be used to trade Pokémon, but the system is kind of impractical for casual players - the main reason anyone trades (to get Pokémon they don't have) requires a whole mess of Stardust. Depending on the friendship level, the amount of Stardust necessary goes from 1,000,000 down to 20,000 to trade the rarest of the rare.

Trainer Battles

And then there is PvP! Oh yes, it took a few years but they put in PvP. It's a lot like battling in a gym, except more complicated. Battles are 3v3 affairs, with little swiping minigames that power up your charged attacks, and each side also gets two Protect Shields to use to cancel out an opponent's charged attack. There is a GO Battle League feature where you are randomly matched against players from around the world in a ranked ladder system. Ranking up just requires you to win a certain amount of battles; your win/loss ratio isn't factored in so you can't rank down. There are unique rewards you can earn by winning several battles in a row, such as rare Pokémon. You can use Premium Raid/Battle Passes to earn different/more rewards if you choose, but this isn't necessary unless you've got passes burning a hole in your pocket.

Community Day

Once a month, Pokémon GO will showcase a certain Pokémon for several hours, and they'll show up everywhere. Exclusive event-only moves can be obtained by evolving those Pokémon to their final form. In the past there was a predictable rotation with these featured Pokémon, but 2020 pretty much threw that out the window after the Sinnoh starters got their days in the limelight. You can also expect a "Greatest Hits" Community Day in December, where all of the previously featured Pokémon throughout will show up at once, spawn rates are jacked up to insane amounts, and you get another chance to obtain those exclusive moves you might have missed.

The Teams



There are three teams to choose from, each representing the three Legendary Birds (Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres).

Team Mystic (Blue - Led by Blanche)
Team Instinct (Yellow - Led by Spark)
Team Valor (Red - Led by Candela)

Currently, aside from color preference, there is no benefit to picking one over the other. Pick whatever you like! If you really want to change teams later, there is an option to do so via the in-game store, but you can only do this once a year.

Items



Just like in the games, you can acquire a variety of items that do a variety of effects. Most, if not all of these, are straightforward and explain themselves perfectly in the descriptions.

The Store - Alright, cut the bullshit. It's F2P, right? What's the catch?

If battling in gyms is too time-consuming, you can also purchase Pokécoins in the shop, and these can be used to buy a variety of items. The choice to pay to play is always up to you, but this game does not appear to grant huge bonuses to players that spend a little (XP up is negligible; arguably incubators would be the items of choice).

The best value for your Pokedollar is almost always an Ultra or Adventure Box. While the exact contents are regularly changed up, Ultra Boxes contain mostly Battle Passes and Adventure Boxes contain mostly Incubators. They sometimes appear with different holiday-themed names, and they cost 1,480 coins.

Items available for purchase:
  • Remote Raid Pass - Special raid passes that allow you to participate in a raid anywhere on your map screen or via a friend's raid invite.
  • Premium Battle Pass - 100 coins - Participate in a single raid, OR use one to enter the Premium GO Battle League, which offers a different set of rewards for winning.
  • Egg Incubator - 150 coins - Place an egg into an incubator and walk a certain distance to hatch it. Breaks after 3 uses.
  • Super Incubator - 200 coins - Same as the regular incubator but also reduces egg hatching distance by 1/3rd.
  • Poffin - 100 coins - Feed this to your buddy Pokemon to temporarily max out its mood and allow you to earn additional hearts for a while.
  • Poke Balls - 100 coins for 20 balls / 460 coins for 100 balls / 800 coins for 200 balls
  • Incense - 40 coins for 1 / 250 coins for 8 - Greatly increases encounter rate for 1 hour, even while standing still.
  • Rocket Radar - 200 coins for 1 radar - Allows you to locate and fight a GO Rocket Leader one time.
  • Star Piece - 100 coins for 1 / 640 coins for 8 - Earn 50% more Stardust for 30 minutes.
  • Max Potions - 200 coins for 10 - Fully heals a Pokemon's HP.
  • Lucky Eggs - 80 for 1 egg / 500 for 8 eggs - Earn double XP for 30 minutes.
  • Max Revives - 180 for 6 - Revives a fainted Pokemon and fully heals their HP.
  • Lure Module - 100 for 1 lure / 680 for 8 lures - Attach this to a Pokestop to attract more Pokemon to it for 30 minutes. All players around the Pokestop will benefit from it.
  • Glacial/Mossy/Magnetic/Rainy Lure Module - 200 coins for 1 lure - Special lure modules which attract specific types of Pokemon based on the type of lure used, and also enables evolution of certain Pokemon.
  • Team Medallion - 1,000 coins - Allows you to permanently switch to a different team. Can be purchased only once every 365 days.
Upgrades:
  • +50 Item Storage (Backpack): 200 coins - max capacity: 5,800 items (last updated August 2023)
  • +50 Pokemon Storage (Storage Upgrade): 200 coins - max capacity 6,800 Pokémon (last updated August 2023)
Stickers - Novelty stamps that you can affix to gifts you send to friends. These are purely for fun; the in-store stickers are unique and usually can't be acquired through other means.
Boxes - Various rotating variety item purchases are available and seem to rotate in and out daily. Sometimes these are good buys and sometimes they're not, but they're pretty much always better than the single item purchases.


Accessories - How to Make the Game Play Itself by Spending Money

There are a few IRL accessories you can buy to augment your gameplay. All of them connect via Bluetooth and do the same thing: allow you to catch Pokemon, spin Pokestops, and track distance even while your phone is locked or you're using another app. These are excellent for players that want to let the game run while they're doing other things, but are absolutely not required.

Official Devices:

Pokemon GO Plus + - An updated Go Plus released in 2023 with some new features, notably a rechargable battery and the ability to use Great/Ultra Balls and not just regular balls.
Pokemon GO Plus - The original accessory designed exclusively for Pokemon GO and released in 2016. While connected, the wristband vibrates and lights up when a Pokemon or Pokestop are nearby; you then press the button on the device to attempt a catch or spin the stop. Not recommended at this point due to its scarcity and the fact that it's inferior to other, newer devices (including the official Go Plus +).
Poke Ball Plus - Marketed and released alongside the Let's Go! Pikachu/Eevee games, it also has Pokemon GO connectivity and functions like the Go Plus. It has one additional feature: if you have a Pokemon in the ball from one of the Let's Go! games (via the "Go for a Stroll" feature), it will automatically spin stops for you! It also has a rechargeable battery.

Unofficial Devices:

CodeJunkies develops a line of unofficial devices that function with Pokemon GO known as the "Go-tcha". They have a few different varieties of Go-tcha now, so if you're interested, you should be able to find something that suits your playstyle. I've personally used the Go-tcha Classic since 2018 and I can vouch for its success. I also highly recommend buying directly from this website or trying to find one at a store such as Gamestop; scammers selling knockoffs are prevalent on Amazon.


Words of Wisdom - DON'T BE AN IDIOT
  • DO NOT go roaming over private lots or residences looking for Pokéstops, Pokémon, Gyms, etc, unless you have express permission. Horror stories of people sneaking into hospitals, museums, etc all for extra Ingress portals are common, and I'm almost certain police has been called on more than one occasion because some fat nerd was playing with his phone near important private businesses.
  • If you choose to meet up with other people, be a little expedient and prepare. Know where you are, where you're going, and try to stay in a public venue. Don't put yourself in harm's way because you were really excited to go catch a Muk in a back alley.
  • Don't stare at your phone when crossing streets or whatever; you'll get hit by a bus. Pay attention to your surroundings before you walk off a ledge and break something that isn't your phone screen.
  • Don't try to play while driving, you goony idiot, because you will cause an accident.


Random Facts
  • Almost all Pokémon from the first 5 generations are available to catch. Legendary Pokémon cycle around every month or so; if you have a chance to do a raid to catch one, you should do it before they disappear for an undetermined period of time. As of the time of this post, Kalos (Gen 6) Pokemon have just started appearing!
  • Hatching eggs requires you to walk a certain distance before they hatch. The game tracks how fast you're moving across space however, so no, you can't drive around and hatch eggs fast. You can, however, leave the game open in traffic or ride a bike and get credit as long as you aren't exceeding ~20 mph. Please, still, do not drive and POGO, however.
  • Shiny Pokémon exist, and there are more added every so often! They're very rare, although arguably much easier to find than in the core game series.
  • Pokéstops are attributed to Points of Interest in your area, just like in other Niantic games such as Ingress and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite.
  • The "blue glow" around your Pokémon indicates that it was recently caught.
  • The color of the shrinking capture ring indicates how resistant to capture the Pokémon will be. Green is easy, yellow is medium, red/orange is hard.
  • The outer circle indicates the "strike zone" for a capture attempt. The shrinking inner circle will grant bonuses if your Pokéball hits there; the smaller it is, the bigger the bonus.
  • Pokémon in a gym are organized by the order in which they were placed by their owner. Go ahead, put a Pidgey in slot #6 behind a Blissey, Dragonite, Tyranittar, Gyrados, and Ampharos. You'll be glad you did!
  • You cannot put legendary Pokémon in a gym.
  • You can get one free Raid Battle Pass per day by spinning a Gym, but only if you do not currently have a free pass. This means you can use your free pass if you have it, then spin the Gym to get a second pass if you haven't yet done so that day.
  • Are the servers loving up for you? Use http://www.mmoserverstatus.com/pokemon_go to find out if its just you or not.
  • Just like in Every Pokémon Game Ever, Pokémon only heal if you use healing items on them (there are no Pokécenters, because there are no free rides). You can also evolve them or level them up for a free heal.
  • Did an egg hatch and the servers gently caress up, preventing you from seeing what the egg was? Sort your box by recently captured and it'll show you what hatched.
  • Niantic has been running special events fairly often lately. These are good times to stock up on various items, candy, or XP, depending on what bonuses are enabled.
  • If you get kicked out a Raid Battle's waiting room, don't panic - just make sure your phone's clock is set to Automatic so that it can sync with everyone else's time.
Hot Tips 'n' Tricks (courtesy of BrianBoitano, with some modernizing from me)
  • Power level using Lucky Eggs. Saving common, cheap Pokémon to evolve them all at once (such as Pidgey and Weedle) can really help boost you through some of those earlier levels. Use a Lucky Egg and evolve as much as you can in the 30-minute window. The evolution XP will double, which will be very nice if you also get the Pokédex bonus. For extra potency, wait until there's an event with bonus evolution XP, as the bonuses will stack.
  • Make lots of friends and send lots of gifts. This is one of the best ways to get easy XP nowadays, as reaching each new level of friendship with someone gives you a hefty chunk of XP. The big payoff takes a while (30 days to become Ultra Friends and 90 days for Best Friends) but it's absolutely worth it and requires little effort. You can even use a Lucky Egg to double the bonuses!
  • You can get walking credit on a bike or a slow car. This game uses the GPS only while it's running, so you can't fake an up-down pedometer motion. If you go too fast, the game won't count it. That being said, you can enable Adventure Sync and shake the hell out of your phone if you want to hatch some eggs in record time.
  • Power up before or after evolving, it doesn't matter, but wait until you actually want to fight a gym. No need to spend all your candies on a cp150 if you can just wait a couple days, level up, and get a cp250 to start with.
  • Think you've disconnected because you haven't seen any Pokémon lately? Open the shop. If nothing loads, force quit your game and re-open it. Still nothing? Servers might be borked.
  • Don't power up Pokémon until, AT THE EARLIEST, level 10. Your new catches from the wild will almost surely be better than anything you can power up that you caught early. You might be able to power up your early catches, but it will take a ton of candy, which will take away from Lucky egg boosting (see above)
  • Min/maxing. If you want to min/max ultimate value out of your evolves, 1) choose the base Pokémon that's closest to max CP already (the white arc over its head is mostly filled in to the right) and 2) wait until level 20, since you'll likely find much better base Pokémon to upgrade.
  • What the heck are IVs? Individual Values are random stat variances for every Pokémon. In GO, this can be as drastic as a 10% difference between a max IV Pokémon and a min IV Pokémon. While exact numbers can't be seen, the Appraise ability gives a bar graph that shows how good your Pokémon's Attack, Defense, and HP are. If you want to get anal about it, your can be use a stat-checker (https://thesilphroad.com/research). It takes all of 10 seconds to do and can determine if your Pokémon is really good or just meh, but it doesn't make as much difference as in the main games. Also, eggs universally hatch high IV (usually above 75%) Pokémon as opposed to catching them (random).

Helpful Links

The Silph Road FAQ - Has a lot of information rounded up in a simple, easy to use FAQ.
The Silph Road Reddit - Yeah, reddit sucks, ok, but its an aggregation of information that can be hard to find elsewhere.
The Sliph Road Atlas - Want to know where certain Pokémon nest? Check here to find out where to go!
Niantic Labs Twitter and Pokemon Twitter will most likely be where official updates are posted.
Starter's Guide to Pokémon Go
Gym combat mechanics - If you want to be the next Giovanni, you need to know how to battle!
EXP Calculator (courtesy of mirthdefect!) - this is a really good calculator to use when planning how many Pidgey you need to sacrifice for those sweet gains
Pokemon GO Datamined Resource - Collection of information decoded from game files, very good resource 11/10, also great for looking up movesets and best DPS for raids.
PvPoke - An open-source tool for simulating, ranking, and building teams for PvP battles.

Helpful Apps for determining IVs that won't softban you

PokéGenie (iOS)
Calcy IV (Android)

If there's anything that needs to be put in the OP, post in the thread or shoot me a PM. :wooper:



Previous thread: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3898898 (thanks Edward Mass!)

DizzyBum fucked around with this message at 00:44 on Aug 9, 2023

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DizzyBum
Apr 16, 2007


TIMELINE OF FEATURES

What the hell? People still play this buggy piece of trash? Did they ever fix the servers?

Pokemon GO has gone through several changes since its initial release in summer of 2016. Aside from the basic gameplay loop of spinning stops for items and throwing balls at rats and birds, the game has improved significantly and there's a lot more content available. Here's a rough overview of features that have been added and updated since then, in order of release date.

2016
  • Launch Day - Too many people played and the servers pretty much didn't work for a while! Assuming you could actually play on release, all the original Kanto Pokemon were available to catch excluding Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, Mewtwo, and Mew.
  • Buddy System - Select a Pokemon to follow you on the world map, and earn candy to evolve them based on how far you travel.
  • Appraisal - Check your Pokemon's stats. This has since been updated to show stats in greater detail.
  • Avatar Customization - Dress up your avatar with a variety of clothing items and accessories.
  • Daily Bonuses - Get extra rewards for catching a Pokemon and spinning a Pokestop every day, with an even bigger bonus for completing a 7-day streak.
  • Updated Tracker - The game will now highlight Pokemon at nearby Pokestops for you. The original "footprints" system, which let you gauge the approximate distance to random wild Pokemon, was removed.
  • Sponsored Stops & Gyms - Certain Pokestops and Gyms may be associated with sponsored locations, most infamously Starbucks.

2017
  • Gen 2 - Johto region Pokemon began appearing in-game.
  • Shiny Pokemon - You now have a chance to encounter Shiny Pokemon, which are rare alternate-color variants. Magikarp was the first, and more are constantly being added, usually alongside events and major updates.
    Revamped Gym System - Gone are the days of having to "level up" gyms via training, or chip your way through a team of 10 Blissey/Snorlax to get your coins! Now gyms accept a maximum of 6 Pokemon with no duplicate species allowed. Instead of "prestige", the Pokemon run on a "motivation" system which gradually decays over time and makes the Pokemon weaker and easier to knock out unless you feed them berries. When your Pokemon gets knocked out of a gym, you get up to 50 coins depending on how long your Pokemon defended it.
  • Gym Raids - Join up with other trainers at gyms, and battle super-powered giant Pokemon to win rare items and a chance to catch the Pokemon. This was a feature teased in the original announcement trailer with Mewtwo flying around Times Square. This was also technically the release of Legendary Pokemon, which are the main draw of high-level raid battles.
  • EX Raids - Special invite-only raids that offer very rare and powerful Pokemon as rewards. Mewtwo was finally released in-game as the first EX Raid encounter. (NOTE: EX Raids were suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic, and seem to have been retooled and re-introduced in 2022 as Elite Raids.)
    Gen 3 - Hoenn region Pokemon began appearing in-game.
  • Weather Feature - Local IRL weather data is now used to update the weather in-game at your location. Depending on the current game weather, certain Pokemon will spawn at different rates and with boosted stats, and some of your Pokemon's moves will be strengthened in gym and raid battles.

2018
  • Community Day - A monthly day dedicated to a specific featured Pokemon, which will spawn at massively boosted rates, have a high chance to be Shiny, and can learn an exclusive move.
  • Research Tasks - A quest system that rewards items and guaranteed Pokemon encounters for completing specific tasks, such as catching a certain number of Pokemon, hatching eggs, spinning Pokestops, etc. Research tasks can be found by spinning Pokestops. Complete a task every day to build progress to a "Research Breakthrough" which awards you with lots of items and a special Pokemon encounter that changes monthly.
  • Special Research - These are longer chains of research tasks that reward lots of items and often unlock encounters with legendary and mythical Pokemon.
  • Friends, Trading, & Gifting - Another highly anticipated feature, you can now add friends, trade Pokemon with them, and send them gifts from Pokestops. Gifts come with a picture of the Pokestop, a random assortment of items, eggs, and stickers. Building up your friendship level with other trainers also awards huge XP bonuses!
  • New Mythical Pokemon Meltan & Melmetal - This weird little thing that looked like a metallic blob with a hex nut for a head mysteriously appeared in droves after one Community Day... only to just be a bunch of Ditto in disguise. Was it a glitch or a prank? Within a few days, it was confirmed to be a brand-new Pokemon and a tie-in to the then-upcoming Pokemon Let's Go! Pikachu & Eevee games.
  • Adventure Sync - Connect your Pokemon GO account to a fitness app (such as Google Fit) and get credit for distance walked while the app is closed.
  • Trainer Battles - Finally, PvP is here! Take on other trainers in 3v3 battles that deviate strongly from the traditional turn-based strategy of the core game series. Enter the GO Battle League and get matched up against trainers from around the world to rank up and earn exclusive rewards!
  • Gen 4 - Pokemon from the Sinnoh region started appearing.

2019
  • GO Snapshot - Take pictures of your Pokemon hanging out in the real world with the added AR+ features.
  • Limited Research - Research tasks which are tied to special limited-time events; these must be completed before the event ends.
  • Team GO Rocket - Giovanni and his grunts have invaded the real world to corrupt innocent Pokemon and steal items from Pokestops! Battle and defeat these NPC trainers to rescue their Shadow Pokemon.
  • Raid Hours - Once a week (usually at 6pm local time on Wednesdays), a featured Pokemon will appear in raids on every gym for an hour.
  • Pokestop Nominations & Niantic Wayfarer - Trainers above a certain level can now nominate real-world locations to be reviewed as potential new wayspots! If approved, these may appear in Pokemon GO as new stops and gyms. Trainers can also earn the right to review nominations themselves! (See the next post for more info.)
  • Gen 5 - Pokemon from the Unova region began appearing.

2020
  • Spotlight Hours & Mystery Bonus Hours - Once a week (usually 6pm local time on Tuesdays), a featured Pokemon will appear with a massively increased spawn rate, alongside an extra bonus such as boosted XP or Stardust.
  • Buddy Adventure (aka Buddy 2.0) - The buddy system that's been around since 2016 received a massive update. Now you can level up your friendship with your buddy by doing various activities and feeding them berries. They'll bring you items and little souvenirs as thanks! Some Pokemon will only evolve if they're your buddy and you complete certain activities with them.
  • Home Play Features - Lots of QoL changes went into effect as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic:
  • Remote Raid Passes & Raid Invites - Special raid passes that allow you to remotely join a raid are now available. Friends can also invite you to raids around the world - as long as you've got a remote pass!
  • Daily Research Task - You're given a free research task every day to complete without needing to spin a Pokestop.
  • Team GO Rocket Balloons - You'll encounter a hot-air balloon manned by a Team GO Rocket member a few times a day. They're nice enough to bring the pain to you now!
  • A guaranteed daily Pokemon spawn just for you!
  • Various bonuses that include but are not limited to: more varied spawns, carry/open/send more gifts, your buddy Pokemon going out and collecting gifts for you, etc.
  • Mega Evolution - Certain Pokemon can now be mega-evolved, which provides a boost to their attack types when fighting in raids, and increase the amount of candy from catching a Pokemon of the matching type (e.g. Mega Charizard X will boost the power of everyone's fire and dragon moves, and you'll get more candy when you catch fire- and dragon-type Pokemon). Like the core games, this effect is temporary. Unlike the core games, you need to collect Mega Energy to mega-evolve Pokemon, and each species has its own type of energy, much like candy.
  • Pokemon Home Connectivity - You can now send Pokemon caught in this game to Pokemon Home, and onward to Sword & Shield!
  • AR Tasks - Special tasks that require you to point your camera at a PokeStop or gym for several seconds, and then upload the data to Niantic for a reward. The rewards from these tasks sometimes give you rare items, like Poffins.
  • Gen 6 - Kalos region Pokemon started appearing.
  • Go Beyond! - Alongside the discovery of Gen 6 Pokemon, trainers and Pokemon can now advance even further beyond their previous limits:
  • Level Cap Raised to 50 - Levels 41 and up require players to earn a large amount of XP and also complete high-level tasks. These are intended for regular players that are looking for a long-term challenge to complete.
  • Platinum Medals - Achievements with even higher requirements than the Gold medals.
  • XL Candy - High-level Pokemon can now be strengthened even further with the addition of XL Candy, which you can earn by catching high-level Pokemon or converting lots of regular candy.

2021
  • Collection Challenges - A variation of limited research where the objective is to catch, hatch, trade, evolve, etc. several specific Pokemon to earn some rewards.
  • Referral Program - Give a new or returning player your referral code, and they can enter it to unlock special bonuses for the both of you!
  • GOOMY ADDED TO THE GAME
  • Seasons - Not like weather, but more like overarcing long-term events that change every 3 months with various bonuses and different Pokemon spawns.
  • Powered-up Pokestops - Building off the AR tasks introduced in 2020, if players upload enough scans of an eligible PokeStop or gym, the stop "powers up" for 48 hours and drops more items. Can be powered up 3 tiers for additional items.

2022
  • Gen 7 - Alola region Pokemon started appearing. ...Uh, not the regional forms we've been seeing, but actual Alolan Pokemon!
  • Daily Incense - A special incense you can use once a day, which works for 15 minutes and has a chance to spawn rare/unique Pokemon (specifically the Galarian legendary birds). You have to be moving, though!
  • Mega Evolution Update - Now, when you mega-evolve a Pokemon, it only costs energy the first time. After that, if you wait 7 days, you can mega-evolve them for free. Your mega-evolvable Pokemon also now gain "mega ranks" the more you mega-evolve them. As their rank increases, they get special bonuses, such as increased attack and a shorter cooldown time. Mega.
  • Elite Raids - These are basically EX Raids, but without invites, the eggs appear 24 hours beforehand (blocking further raids in the meantime), and you can't use remote raid passes. :effort:

2023
  • Scarlet/Violet Connection - If you link the game to a copy of Pokemon Scarlet or Violet on the Switch, you can unlock the ability to catch Roaming Form Gimmighoul and collect Gimmighoul Coins to evolve it!
  • Rocket Raids - Fight Shadow Pokemon in raids. These are notably stronger than regular Raids and may feature unique or legendary Pokemon. Higher-tiered ones require a bunch of trainers to defeat. You can weaken them by using Purified Gems, which can be collected from defeating Grunts. These raids are local-only; no remote passes allowed!
  • Showcases - Casual competitions at PokeStops to see who's got the biggest/smallest/whateverest Pokemon. These seem to run during events. Place high and you can get some good items!
  • Routes - Follow a predetermined path in-game and complete it to earn a Route Badge and some other goodies. You can also record your own walking paths and submit them to hopefully be accepted as new Routes! (Sadly, as of right now this has a huge lack of content. Only certain players were granted beta access to submit Routes, and Niantic is manually reviewing them so they're taking a long time to be accepted. I'll update this if they ever remember to grant access for everyone else.)

DizzyBum fucked around with this message at 00:47 on Aug 9, 2023

DizzyBum
Apr 16, 2007


Reserved for info on Niantic Wayfarer and how to submit new stops and gyms

T1g4h
Aug 6, 2008

I AM THE SCALES OF JUSTICE, CONDUCTOR OF THE CHOIR OF DEATH!

New thread, new special research! I'm excited for a guaranteed shiny Celebi.

BGrifter
Mar 16, 2007

Winner of Something Awful PS5 thread's Posting Excellence Award June 2022

Congratulations!
gently caress Niantic. Greedy money grubbing bastards.

(It needed to be on the first page)

Gutted about the December Community Day changes. I just looked it up and almost everything I have saved up to evolve were 2018 Community Day moves. :suicide:

Cowslips Warren
Oct 29, 2005

What use had they for tricks and cunning, living in the enemy's warren and paying his price?

Grimey Drawer
From my local discord:

quote:

Tips for anyone trying to meet the level 43 requirements. Meltan count as legendaries for the catch 5 legendaries requirement. Transfer a Pokemon to Pokemon Home to get a Meltan box. Also a Poliwrath with Mud Shot and PowerUp Punch against Blanche's Great League team can get 14 Super effective moves per set if you don't do any of the bubbles on the charge moves.

Lorak
Apr 7, 2009

Well, there goes the Hall of Fame...
Main grabs from this Community day will be more Rock Wrecker Rhyperior and Hydro Cannon Swampert, for the common player:

Kantesu posted:

In order of usefulness (for December CDay), I'd probably put it:

Generally useful in lots of places (raids and PVP, gyms to an extent):
- Rhyperior
- Swampert

Mostly for PVP:
- Gengar, Gyarados, Beedrill & Empoleon (Gallade probably goes in this usefulness level, but it only sometimes wants Synchronoise)
- Torterra, Flygon, Feraligatr & Blaziken (Honorable mention to Charizard since Dragon Breath isn't useless to it, but lacks punch without also getting Blast Burn)

Shadow Salamence is great for raids if you have a Bagon sitting around that you've taken Frustration off of. Most of the rest don't stand out. Double Stardust is always nice, I guess.

Mustached Demon
Nov 12, 2016

I'm gonna predict we see redo community days for the 2018 stuff.

Auxiliary Treats
Jun 26, 2013
The Discord in the OP kinda got overshadowed by the general goon Pokémon server, at least for organizing remote raiding.

Pokégoons
https://discord.gg/9EpBXsZv

Opopanax
Aug 8, 2007

I HEX YE!!!


Well, at least I can finally evolve this shiny mudkip. I also don't have a shiny piplup so maybe I'll get lucky and catch one of those I won't

PathAsc
Nov 15, 2011

Hail SS-18 Satan may he cleanse us with nuclear fire

PISS TAPE IS REAL

New thread same Niantic

Hail satan

aniviron
Sep 11, 2014

Why the heck is the new stuff so hard to catch? This new generation's Pidgey is frequently showing as red when using an ultra ball, which generally only happens with legendaries or third tier evolutions. Do they do this on launch and adjust it later?

PathAsc
Nov 15, 2011

Hail SS-18 Satan may he cleanse us with nuclear fire

PISS TAPE IS REAL

I've been having more poo poo run away overall since the update. It wouldn't surprise me if Niantic raised the catch difficulties across the board when they added the platinum medals and bonuses. I have nothing to support it, but it would be :Niantic: as gently caress.

slave to my cravings
Mar 1, 2007

Got my mind on doritos and doritos on my mind.

Mustached Demon posted:

I'm gonna predict we see redo community days for the 2018 stuff.

Yea this makes sense :smith:

Edit also I saw this smilie earlier for the first time I guess it’s for the main series but it would work here too :majorminor:

slave to my cravings fucked around with this message at 04:11 on Dec 4, 2020

Saoshyant
Oct 26, 2010

:hmmorks: :orks:


They completely forgot about the gen 5 starters, didn't they? Hail Niantic, hail Satan. :gamefreak:

mastershakeman
Oct 28, 2008

by vyelkin

Lorak posted:

Main grabs from this Community day will be more Rock Wrecker Rhyperior and Hydro Cannon Swampert, for the common player:

I need the gyra quite badly so that'll be nice, as well as sceptile/torterra/empoleon

What are we actually missing out on ? Meteor mash metagross, frenzy plant venusaur, last resort umbreon, anything else?

BGrifter
Mar 16, 2007

Winner of Something Awful PS5 thread's Posting Excellence Award June 2022

Congratulations!

mastershakeman posted:

I need the gyra quite badly so that'll be nice, as well as sceptile/torterra/empoleon

What are we actually missing out on ? Meteor mash metagross, frenzy plant venusaur, last resort umbreon, anything else?

Frenzy Plant Meganium, Blast Burn Typhlosion, Smack Down Tyranitar. Hydro Pump Blastoise also is an edge case I think?

Dr Tran
Dec 17, 2002

HE'S GOT A PH.D. IN
KICKING YOUR ASS!
How long until the next iOS update? This shrunken menu is awful

Prop Wash
Jun 12, 2010



Yeah my discord’s full of a lot of grumpy people with a lot of Larvitars and Shadow Larvitars. Having a whole squad of Smack Down tyranitars comes in handy, and they hit the sweet spot where you actually see enough of them that you can afford to level them up.

Dr Tran posted:

How long until the next iOS update? This shrunken menu is awful

Have you seen the bug where your trading screen occupies like a small postage stamp-sized square in the middle of your screen, it’s so good

Opopanax
Aug 8, 2007

I HEX YE!!!


They still haven't said anything about getting rid of frustration, have they?

BGrifter
Mar 16, 2007

Winner of Something Awful PS5 thread's Posting Excellence Award June 2022

Congratulations!
Eevee is the one I’m extra bitter about. Walked a 99.9% GL Umbreon and a 15/15/15 for UL.

I was really looking forward to those. Not enough that I can afford to spend an Elite TM though, especially since I only have uh... two Elite Charge TMs.

White Light
Dec 19, 2012

The biggest kick in the nuts is that most (if not all) of those CD moves are mandatory for building strong versatile GBL teams that won't be outclassed by future move buffs or new moves being added in, they're just so good they're practically futureproof. What's worse is that since GBL wasn't a thing until January, more than a few old guard players probably skipped out on things like chikorita day because Venusaur was the flat better option for raiding, which was the meat-and-potatoes gameplay for the lion's share of the community for the longest time.

To turn around and dick slap your audience at the final countdown like that, what a class act.

White Light fucked around with this message at 15:05 on Dec 4, 2020

BGrifter
Mar 16, 2007

Winner of Something Awful PS5 thread's Posting Excellence Award June 2022

Congratulations!
There really isn’t a worse way they could have handled it. If they’d come out firmly and say “2018 Community Day moves will be back in June of 2021” at least then people could make a reasonable judgement about whether it’s worth burning an ETM for that length of time.

It’s entirely possible someone will burn a dozen ETMs and find out the next day “yeah we’re adding all those moves to the general move pool starting tomorrow”.

tildes
Nov 16, 2018
Pvp strategy question!

I have an Azumarill lead and then Altaria and Registeel. I just fought Meganoum lead, Umbreon and Gyarados.

I swapped from Azu to Registeel when I saw Meganium, then Regi killed Umbreon but we each lost a shield. Then his Gyarados came out and I swapped to Azu, and he obviously swapped back to Meganium and hosed me up and I ended up losing.

What would a better approach have been in this situation? I definitely managed shields somewhat poorly, but I’m so lost w typing and strategy here.

Captain Duvel
Dec 14, 2009
Has anyone seen a froakie? I sure as hell haven't. Put an incense on also. I think I got 5 new spawns out of 50.

Lobsterpillar
Feb 4, 2014
I've seen one on radar, about 2 blocks away. Once.

One of the GBL rewards includes this generations starters, so I'm thinking that might be my best bet. I think that's rank 14 or something....

Darth TNT
Sep 20, 2013

Captain Duvel posted:

Has anyone seen a froakie? I sure as hell haven't. Put an incense on also. I think I got 5 new spawns out of 50.

I think Incense, like lures don't attract the new pokemon either.

Froist
Jun 6, 2004

Darth TNT posted:

I think Incense, like lures don't attract the new pokemon either.

I thought the same on seeing that post, but checked their known issues page and it says incense are unaffects. But never rule out Niantic being Niantic..

thumper57
Feb 26, 2004

tildes posted:

Pvp strategy question!

I have an Azumarill lead and then Altaria and Registeel. I just fought Meganoum lead, Umbreon and Gyarados.

I swapped from Azu to Registeel when I saw Meganium, then Regi killed Umbreon but we each lost a shield. Then his Gyarados came out and I swapped to Azu, and he obviously swapped back to Meganium and hosed me up and I ended up losing.

What would a better approach have been in this situation? I definitely managed shields somewhat poorly, but I’m so lost w typing and strategy here.

Personally I'd have let Gary kill Regis here, so you maintain your ability to make switches. When Regi dies you bring in Azu, they bring in Meganium to get away from your Ice Beam, and then you can switch to Altaria and kill them with flying. You wind up with a mostly-OK Altaria and fully-OK Azu for whatever their third guy is.

Karma Comedian
Feb 2, 2012

Hahah so I just realized that perfect snowver I have used to be shadow until an unsuspecting me purified it welp

KRILLIN IN THE NAME
Mar 25, 2006

:ssj:goku i won't do what u tell me:ssj:


Karma Comedian posted:

Hahah so I just realized that perfect snowver I have used to be shadow until an unsuspecting me purified it welp

If it helps, a mega abomasnow will do more damage than a shadow one (in PVE at least)

mastershakeman
Oct 28, 2008

by vyelkin

tildes posted:

Pvp strategy question!

I have an Azumarill lead and then Altaria and Registeel. I just fought Meganoum lead, Umbreon and Gyarados.

I swapped from Azu to Registeel when I saw Meganium, then Regi killed Umbreon but we each lost a shield. Then his Gyarados came out and I swapped to Azu, and he obviously swapped back to Meganium and hosed me up and I ended up losing.

What would a better approach have been in this situation? I definitely managed shields somewhat poorly, but I’m so lost w typing and strategy here.

I rarely ever switch out when I don't have switch priority. Unless the enemy can clearly farm you down while saving his charged moves you're often better just eating a loss then bringing in a counter and if he switches you can chase

That team type often leads altaria for that reason- even if you run into a counter (like azu) you're often doing a lot of chip damage to them and they will try to kill you asap instead of farming

Kantesu
Apr 21, 2010

Karma Comedian posted:

Hahah so I just realized that perfect snowver I have used to be shadow until an unsuspecting me purified it welp

Normal one looks to have basically all the same important wins and losses as Shadow. Couple are different, but it should be functionally very similar (and cheaper to make). Plus you'll be able to Mega it for raids.

DizzyBum
Apr 16, 2007


Auxiliary Treats posted:

The Discord in the OP kinda got overshadowed by the general goon Pokémon server, at least for organizing remote raiding.

Pokégoons
https://discord.gg/9EpBXsZv

Adding it now, thanks!

tildes
Nov 16, 2018

mastershakeman posted:

I rarely ever switch out when I don't have switch priority. Unless the enemy can clearly farm you down while saving his charged moves you're often better just eating a loss then bringing in a counter and if he switches you can chase

That team type often leads altaria for that reason- even if you run into a counter (like azu) you're often doing a lot of chip damage to them and they will try to kill you asap instead of farming

thumper57 posted:

Personally I'd have let Gary kill Regis here, so you maintain your ability to make switches. When Regi dies you bring in Azu, they bring in Meganium to get away from your Ice Beam, and then you can switch to Altaria and kill them with flying. You wind up with a mostly-OK Altaria and fully-OK Azu for whatever their third guy is.

Thank you for the tips! It sounds like I’m maybe undervaluing keeping the flexibility to switch in general. I’m also maybe change my lead- I do keep running into counters.

Wildeyes
Nov 3, 2011

tildes posted:

Pvp strategy question!

I have an Azumarill lead and then Altaria and Registeel. I just fought Meganoum lead, Umbreon and Gyarados.

I swapped from Azu to Registeel when I saw Meganium, then Regi killed Umbreon but we each lost a shield. Then his Gyarados came out and I swapped to Azu, and he obviously swapped back to Meganium and hosed me up and I ended up losing.

What would a better approach have been in this situation? I definitely managed shields somewhat poorly, but I’m so lost w typing and strategy here.

Agree with the other poster that switching Regi out was where you went wrong. It's taken me a while to develop good switch instincts and not put myself in this same situation.

In related PVP news...I just realized I have a shiny Venusaur with Frenzy Plant with 95.3% PVP IVs for Ultra League. I didn't touch it all last season, because I was a dumb dumb who just started PVP and thought that bad attack IVs made everything worthless, but I'm happy to give this thing a whirl when UL starts!

Nth Doctor
Sep 7, 2010

Darkrai used Dream Eater!
It's super effective!


That new thread aroma.

I visited a remote gym for the first time in a year last night. Previously, I had a pokemon take my from 0 to 3 days short of gold in one stay.

I was kicked out by this morning. :sigh:

Karma Comedian
Feb 2, 2012

I can't not think "maga Obamasnow"

kensei
Dec 27, 2007

He has come home, where he belongs. The Ancient Mariner returns to lead his first team to glory, forever and ever. Amen!


Finally had a Froakie on the nearby to finish the timed research. :sigh:

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Mustached Demon
Nov 12, 2016

Karma Comedian posted:

I can't not think "maga Obamasnow"

Would drone strike be a charged move or fast?

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