Pokemon Go

Stardust costs come way down, but I'd argue still not enough. 80,000 is a lot when it takes me around 3 months to get up to around 100,000. And that's with playing the game on a daily basis as I walk to class or go to the store. Not to mention how long it takes to get up to full friendship.

I don't know. I just think that the young kids on the playground trying to trade a Pikachu should be done a lot easier. Particuarly since they aren't likely to get stardust that easily anyway. Its not like they can... just drive downtown or something. And even my parents wouldn't let me just walk around unsupervised.

Kids on the playground wouldn't be able to trade anyway. The feature is blocked to anyone under the age of 13.

Since when has an age restriction ever stopped anyone? I believe facebook had one and I don't remember that ever stopping anyone during middle school.

It comes down to 40k when you're Best Friends. Yes, it takes a while to get there, but the benefits are huge and once you get it, you have it forever, so have some patience.

Wait, how many hours each day are you playing? 100k Stardust over 3 months is only like six Pokemon caught per day, assuming you get all your streak bonuses. This also assume zero research tasks completed during that time.

As far as your scenario with kids trading a Pikachu, that's the really cheap case. If both have seen Pikachu before, it's a measely 100 at regular friend status. If one hasn't, then, well, it's up to them if they'd rather be impatient and pay 20k or work toward being Best Friends and pay just 800 (or even 1600 from Ultra).

Because this isn't advertised until after you made your account. Facebook just won't let you on if you claim to be under 13; this game will, but if you don't read the fine print you won't realize that you're not getting everything. And if you used PTC, if you were underage when the account was made, you're permanently marked as underage because Nintendo has the worst online systems ever. Even with Google accounts, your age made no difference when you first signed up but then you couldn't see sponsored stops/gyms because of advertising-to-minors laws, and now this. And you can't change it without starting over and losing your progress.

edited 24th Jun '18 6:58:56 PM by Anura

I play when I can but I have a life outside of Pokemon Go. I'm a busy college student after all. I've tried to get more invested like doing raids, but the app doesn't help much when I need to use things like Gym Huntr and Discord to just FIND a raid let alone do it, and even then I've been duped on communication where a bunch said they were going to a raid and then none showed.

What also didn't help was my S4 would go through my entire battery in a day without me ever needing to open an app, so playing Pokemon go was harder.

Yeah, maybe the Pikachu example is a cheap shot, but I think it stands for some of the larger cost mons. Kids don't get to exist much outside of school and home and MAYBE hanging with friends on weekends when they're not likely to be playing Pokemon Go anyway. I don't see kids being able to regularly get up to those Star Dust costs and I feel like Kids should be the target audience, not adults with cars. Its popular with young adults, but we shouldn't be the people the game is built for.

I meant more that people lie all the time.

edited 24th Jun '18 7:04:03 PM by InkDagger

Well, for better or for worse, it's not entirely aimed at kids, since it's a gacha game that aims to make money off of people via micro-transactions. As such, there needs to be reasons for significant investment, etc. in order to get people to spend that money (and the game was arguably quite shallow for a long time). This game expects people to put a lot of effort into it if they want access to the full suites of features. Still, it throws people a bone: low-tier raids can be soloed simply by having super effectiveness and many of the standard trades are pretty cheap. How many kids are going to be trading around tier-5 raid legendaries, anyway?

Another bone, as I mentioned, is the streak bonuses. Between those and the research bonuses, someone can easily earn tens of thousands of Stardust with little effort via those. This should generally be more than enough for trades unless one is excessively powering up Pokemon (which isn't a requirement at any point in the game—even level 15 Pokemon with super effectiveness can tear down a gym of level 40s and it's really only the tier-4-or-5 raids that demand level 30 or higher Pokemon and sometimes that can even be bypassed with sheer numbers).

People don't lie just because, they lie when they have a reason to. When setting up a Google or PTC account, they have no reason to lie about their age, unlike with a Facebook account. And sure, maybe new accounts made from now on will be more likely to have a false age, but only to those kids who did enough prior research to know what they were missing, or only started recently and don't mind starting over.

Also, Niantic has gone on record stating the importance of keeping the hardcore audience satisfied for the sake of the game's long-term health. If kids were the sole target audience the game would have died two years ago when the craze died down. The success of the Pokemon franchise (which is the most profitable thing ever, beating even Star Wars) comes from its near-universal appeal, and Go would be stupid not to try and take advantage of that.

edited 24th Jun '18 7:24:31 PM by Anura

July's field research will be focused on... Gen 1.

*sigh*

Didn't we already have a Gen 1 festival not long ago?

Yeah we did. Yawn...

Although, I wouldn't mind if it focused on lesser spawned Pokemon like Snorlax. I'd love to get me some 100 IV Snorlax. Just sayin'

We did?

Since the game started, I've only ever had One Snorlax.

Turns out Snorlax is the next weekly breakthrough 'mon. He comes with Body Slam, which is a returning legacy move that makes him more defensively viable. I still have one from before it went legacy, but I don't mind having more.

Whether I'd want more at the expense of the weekly legendaries we've had thus far is another matter...

Well, that'll let me fill my Dex slot for Snorlax and get one with a move from before I even played, so yay, I guess.

Got my first Alolan Vulpix while still hunting for that stupid dragon with which to unlock my dragon. Despite windy weather, incense and wandering around by the water, no dice. Oh, well. I guess I can take solace in getting something almost as cute as Dratini on my 21st egg, making my acquisition rate very slightly statistically better than what Reddit has been reporting.

This post was thumped by the Eldritch Flyswatter of Horror

If there's anything that works for Pokemon, it's pandering to the Gen I lovers. Sigh.

So far, of the Alolan forms, I've been seeing remarkably few. Alolan Rattata are uncommon in the wild, I've only hatched Alolan Meowth, and even in gyms, I've only seen Alolan Muk. I'm hoping my next batch of eggs is luckier.

Also, curious - anyone notice that the spawn rate for gifts from stops drops when you have some that you haven't sent out yet? If I don't have any, it's pretty much a guarantee that my next spin will get me one. However, odds drop when I have more, and I've never held more than three at once (usually by the end of my playing day, after I've already sent out gifts to everyone on my list for the day).

Ratatta is the only Alolan in the wild at the moment, and the eggs have different rarity tiers (Meowth is the most common, then Sandshrew, then Grimer, and Vulpix is the rarest).

Gifts are capped at 5, but I haven't noticed getting fewer when I have more. Apparently it's harder to get one from the same stop more than once per day, but that's unverified (and you definitely can't have more than one from the same stop at a time).

x2 The eggs are rigged to favour Meowth. It's something like over 50% for Meowth, 3-4% for Vulpix and Sandshrew and Grimer fighting over the scraps.

Alolan Exeggutor is also apparently back in the wild, according to some Reddit posts. Seems to be a lot more selective about where it spawns now, though.

I've also noticed no difference in gift drops rates whether I'm holding 0 or 4. The only thing that stops me in the cap. Also, you definitely can hold multiple gifts from the same stop. My desk sits on top of a single stop and I fidget spin it throughout the day. More often than not, I have five copies of the same postcard to throw at people halfway to lunch.

Huh. Must be my own sample bias.

By the way, anyone still looking for Ditto as part of the Mew quest will apparently find July's field research helpful.

Just hit level 39. Which means I'm 75% of the way to 40!

Grats! Anything you pumped up from 39.5 to 40 with that last increase?

You can actually power up to 40 from 38. The only thing I did that to was a Ditto, just for the lulz factor of making someone fight a higher-CP version of themselves. I generally stop powerups at 30.

Oh? So level 38 breaks the rule of Trainer Level + 1.5 as the cap that the other levels follow? Or is Gamepress lying to me?

Yeah, I know most people stop at level 30 or so due to the prohibitive Stardust costs, but I figured people might have a couple personal favourites or whatever that they give a bit of extra favouratism to. For example, I plan to push my Kingdra to max when I'm able, even if it's not necessarily the best overall choice.

I'm quite amused you went with a Ditto. Cost you lots of Rare Candy?

Funny thought: Ditto lets you potentially, in a roundabout way, use legendaries to defend a gym.

Gamepress is out of date on that point, I think.

I caught a lot of Ditto shortly after they were released. Not so many anymore, though using the Go Plus for most of my catches might have something to do with that. I don't get a lot of Rare Candy since I don't have a raid group, and soloing T3s only goes so far. The research that rewarded Rare Candy during the Water Festival helped me power up the Zapdos I got from a seven-day research bonus.