Pokemon Go

Speaking of, here's the reveal:

Meltan is adorable, but dang if seeing the realistic Willow and the cartoony Oak together didn't land straight in the Uncanny Valley.

Yeah, that was really weird. The banter made it worth it, though.

So, courtesy of this raid month, I've gotten a Shadow Ball Mewtwo to level 40. I've also got a secondary at 36 (meant to do just 35, but I miscounted power ups). Now to power up the other four (to 35... I'm not doing 40 again).

Yeah, the only way I'm powering to level 40 is if I get a Lucky. Costs way too much stardust.

Also, glad to see I wasn't the only one weirded out by the fact that Professor Oak did not get rendered in PoGo style. The limited animation versus Willow's smooth poly animation also took me right through the Uncanny Valley.

I feel that way about most of the common fighters. Vanity bias projects aside (like that Raichu and Kingdra, because I like them way too much), Tyranitar and Machamp have been my only practical exceptions. However, when it comes to good legendaries, well, that's where the dust expenditure can be especially worth it, Lucky or no. The big problem for me in that case, is that scrounging up over 200 legendary candies per level 40 is a major pain.

I’ve said it already, but: Ditto. Making someone fight themselves but higher level is hilarious, if impractical thanks to the lower HP. And with Meltan, I might be able to get a second one going.

I don't know how impractical it really is, given that the gym meta is all about stalling for Golden Razzes and/or being annoying as possible (since, otherwise, if someone wants something enough, all they have to do is throw bodies at it until they've won via meat grinder). Ditto forces them to either fight something that they won't be doing super effective damage against (maybe even not very good damage in many cases), or something that they have super effective damage against, but has super effective damage back. Annoy someone enough this way and they may just leave the gym alone.

EDIT: Granted, the investment to 40 might not be worth it, but it's possible to get weather-boosted Dittos, so collecting and deploying level 29-35 ones shouldn't be too intensive.

Edited by KuroiTsubasaTenshi on Sep 26th 2018 at 10:21:30 AM

Well, depending on the raid boss, there is argument for using them in raids. If nothing else, a fully powered Ditto would effectively be an extra 3000+ CP wild card 'mon to throw at a powerful raid (though with the caveat that you stand a good chance of using moves that the raid boss resists - cases where I did see it work well were Lugia, Groudon, Thunder Kyogre, Rayquaza, and Lati@s).

I'm half-tempted to start trading Ditto in the hopes I'll get a Lucky one. I certainly have enough candies (I don't know how many times I threw a Pinap at a Pidgey, only to have it change into a Ditto).

Since we're still seeing them as uncommon spawns, I'm left wondering what it'll take to get Meltan finally appear as a Pokedex entry. Probably the release of Let's Go Eevee & Pikachu.

Beldum confirmed for October 21st. Bonus is 1/4 Egg Distance. Metagross will continue to learn the special move up to an hour after Beldum stop spawning.

Oof. Of all days, that's my dating anniversary. I usually don't do much gaming that day for obvious reasons.

We’ve known about the date for nearly two months, they announced all the Fall ones in advance. November’s one is the 10th.

Edited by Anura on Sep 27th 2018 at 3:25:06 PM

Yeah, it was one of those "out of sight, out of mind" things.

And, for the record, Blast Burn Typhlosion performs exactly as well as Charizard (and Hydro Cannon Feraligatr is quite better than HC Blastoise, and may as well outdo Gyarados, but between Kyogre and Palkia it won't have much of a future).

Well, you've got a month, so maybe see if you can hatch/snag a decent Beldum and take a minute to evolve it during that time period? You wouldn't get to farm, but at least you'd get the special Metagross for a very negligible time cost to the day.

My problem is that I so seldom run into Beldum. I need to farm candy (which I've been doing with Ralts, another I seldom see... and honestly, I had next been planning to walk Trapinch, which I see even less frequently). Ugh, too many 5 km candy walkers.

Hrm... Blast Burn Typhlosion sounds like it's a marginally better defender (since it's not being eaten alive by Rock attacks nearly to the same level as Charizard), but it's not really going to be a major factor overall. Then again, it doesn't help that it's always been the odd 'mon out of the Fire starters, and we're heading towards a meta that's going to be mostly slanted against Fire types anyhow (kinda like the main games, really). Hydro Cannon Feraligatr is going to probably be a popular budget Water attacker for newer players that play during that event - Water is always a solid attack type, and you can have three HC Feraligatr in the effort it takes to get one Hydro Pump Gyarados (and if you don't have easy access to 'karp, probably much less effort). Sure, it falls off if you already have HP Gyarados, Kyogre, or when we get access to Palkia, but it's going to be a solid backup even then (and probably be an annoyance in gyms, where it's going to stand up as a better defender than Gyarados due to not going down pretty much in one Thunderbolt).

New Ex passes out. Seems they're super wonky, though.

My friend got one for today for 20 minutes from when he received the pass. Then Reddit ran into this weirdness.

Oh, and be very careful with friend invites. For some dumb reason, if the person declines, the friend invite is gone for good.

Edited by KuroiTsubasaTenshi on Sep 27th 2018 at 2:24:27 AM

Maybe they were trying to fix the "clockblocking" issue?

Sounds like.

Also, Niantic promised the scheduling would fix itself and instead just canceled all the weird passes. Time for them to get roasted.

Why can't I log in to Pokemon Go? It has been like that for days now.

Edited by HeatEdgeSword on Sep 30th 2018 at 5:20:17 PM

Their authentication server is pretty iffy at times. Unfortunately, the usual recommendation I see is to uninstall the game and reinstall it—and that's not a guaranteed fix.

I actually tried that before, but it doesn't work.

EDIT: never mind, I did log in today.

Edited by HeatEdgeSword on Sep 30th 2018 at 11:40:15 PM

The Kanto event is over, but regionals will hatch from 7km eggs for another week.

Still missing Tauros, so that's welcome!

RIP chances of getting the pink noodle. I chased those Dratini spawns whenever I could, even doing a few of the raids (whenever they actually spawned). No dice. Gonna also miss the Chanseys.

Man, it must be nice when you can pluralize "Chansey." I think my most notable spawn luck was with Hitmonchan (saw a whole bunch of them, interestingly, but only one Hitmonlee), though I was honestly most thrilled with the Rhyhorn spawns I kept finding (none were particularly great, but it was nice to load up on candy ahead of Rhyperior's release).

On the other hand, I got lucky and almost immediately got Kangaskhan and Mr. Mime from eggs (as a side note, while I don't need it, good to see the regionals will be in 7 km eggs for another week), so my Gen I 'dex is now complete. Next, time to figure out if/when I can get to South Florida to start rounding out Gen II.