Pokemon Go

Got an EX Raid Pass for a raid tomorrow. I'm gonna assume it is actually given to a handful of players so I wouldn't be alone right?

If you got it for tomorrow, you probably got invited by someone else. Deoxys is easy enough to be done with two people anyway.

Yeah, check your raid invite and it should say who invited you (it'll be one of your Ultra/Best friends). See if you can get in contact with them to make sure you're headed there for the same time (I've seen enough catastrophic failure in Ex raid coordination that I feel it's always better safe than sorry).

Though if you're going to hit a Deoxys raid with only a small handful, make sure you have enough recovery items (with the caveat, of course, that winning will earn you some). Deoxys is quite doable if you're over level 30 with only one other person of a similar level, but it's going to plow through your team like nobody's business (even if you resist its moves) in the process.

Been raiding at this sponsored gym for 2 months now at least weekly and still no EX Raid pass. But good to know that if I finally do get one, I won't need many folks to bring him down, unlike Mewtwo.

Ex Mewtwo didn't even need that many. 4-5 with nominal counters was generally enough if people were able and willing to re-enter once. The month-long, public version is what got crazy where they bumped its HP a ton such that 5 people with nominal counters actually ended up struggling pretty hard (7 is usually where things started getting comfortable again).

Edited by KuroiTsubasaTenshi on Nov 29th 2018 at 1:53:15 PM

So, it appears that field research breakthroughs no longer guarantee a Sinnoh stone.

Sometimes it seems like Niantic is just randomly testing out different ways of doing special evolutions and seeing what sticks.

December's breakthrough is one of the legendary birds or beasts at random.

Welp, guess I'm hoping for Raikous. The birds would be okay consolation runner-up, since, if nothing else, I can throw them at my Let's Go to help overcome IV RNG for the Master battles.

You don't fight the masters for legendaries or mythicals (or Ditto), you just have to show them the Pokemon at level 100. And even if you didn't, stuffing them full of stat candies makes it possible to beat level 75 masters at level 40 no matter what IVs you have.

Hmmm, I knew that about Ditto, but didn't for the legendaries/mythicals. That's almost disappointing, since I was looking forward to an epic legendary battle rather than a boring level grind. I guess the candy thing is also good to know, though I'm not too keen to spend a long time grinding that, either. I guess I could do some kind of half and half where I field whatever I can with amazing IVs and good levels so I can horde candy for the others who are worse off and reduce the overall grind. Definitely know what's going in the Pokeball Plus for prolonged periods of time now, though. :|

Welp, I already have all three birds and all three beasts, so I guess I can just shoot for extra candy for them.

I'm only missing Moltres. One-in-six odds for a new Pokedex entry aren't great.

the invitation says it is I who should invite others, rather than being invited

anyway here's hoping I'd get it today!'

EDIT: Well that was fun, the gym was in a park's monument and I saw a bunch of people with phones so looks like there were many people. Also a grandma. And wow 18 people obliterated Deoxys quickly.

Edited by Ookamikun on Nov 30th 2018 at 2:27:56 AM

Niantic’s being weird.

While 18 people will obliterate just about any raid boss, Deoxys's Def and Stam are so bad that "paper-thin" is a major overstatement. To put it in perspective, the first time I went to an Ex against it, I got to watch five totally random, unprepared accounts (with at least one being a weaker alt) mob it to death with auto-select.

PvP confirmed!

Oh, boy, I can't wait to stand there, meeting eyes with my opponent as we furiously tap screens at each other with our Mons that have single quick and charge moves.

Also, the CP divisions are going to be a serious mess, since there are many Mons are that are way stronger for their type than their CP attempts to indicate (no, I don't hate CP as a "stat", I have no idea what you're talking about ).

CD spawns have started!

PvP will be restricted into leagues based on CP: Great League has a 1500 CP limit, Ultra League has a 2500 CP limit, and Master League has no limit. Battles will be 3v3 singles.

Edited by Anura on Nov 30th 2018 at 9:28:47 AM

Looks like legendary birds from research breakthroughs can be shiny.

Also they've released shiny Misdreavus for no apparent reason.

Didn't get the chance to find a shiny Dratini or Bulbasaur (which I don't have yet), but I did find a shiny Beldum (with cruddy stats, of course) almost immediately after the event started and evolved it during the bonus time.

It's always a shiny with garbage stats I swear.

Well, wild shinies have the same chance of "meh" stats as any other wild Pokemon (the way they roll stats, the average forms a bell curve around 50%), so imagine needing to roll that unlikely very top percent that usually involves going through hundreds of the Mon of that type to go through, then needing to hit a very unlikely shiny chance. That's why raid shiny days are generally better: the raised floor makes you much more statistically likely to get a shiny in the upper tier of assessment.

CD weekend was pretty good to me - I finally got the one CD shiny I missed (Mareep - that said, I waited until today to evolve it because I wanted the double Electric set), plus two extra shiny Eevee (including a 90% that's becoming an Espeon as soon as I walk it enough). I also got a ton of candy to power up the good Metagross and Tyranitar I have.

For what it's worth, I also got four shiny Larvitar, but all with horrendous stats, so they're all going to be trade bait (probably in a few months, when more people will be wanting shiny Larvitar). Oh, also a shiny Pikachu, but at this point, it's starting to feel like "who doesn't have one of those?"

Hilariously, I don't. However, it's one of those things I feel I can wait on. As much as I like Pikachu and want a shiny Pikachu for the sake of it, its shiny palette is kind of a bad joke, so I'm not really in any rush to get one.

During the usual boosted window, I managed to get one of every shiny aside from Squirtle (which I've already got way more than I need of...) and and Pikachu. During the rest of the weekend, I snagged an extra shiny Charmander. Astonishingly enough, I ended up with a wild shiny that wasn't total garbage: an 87% shiny Larvitar. I also got a non-shiny 98% Larvitar, so now I have 8 Smack Down Tyranitar. >.>

Aside from that, built a couple high-level, but "meh" IV Dragonites, including the 51% shiny. Was kinda tempted to leave it as a Dragonair because it looks nicer than the Dragonite in terms of palette, but it would have been a liability in gyms. I could have also waited because Outrage is a little better than Draco Meteor, but I wasn't really in the mood to spend Charged TMs on a 51%. Also evolved six Blast Burn Charizards (including my 100%) and six Frenzy Plant Venusaurs. I am prepared.