Pokemon Go

Is it me or is after the latest GO updates, every Pokemon encountered is a lot more aggressive? Like I've recently noticed just about every Pokemon attacking and jumping way more often than they used to which causes a lot of missed ball throws.

The weather boosted ones seem that way for me. Oh, and the GBL encounter rewards. That first Metagross was a machine gun of activity (attack twice, jump seven times, straight into another attack chain...). I don't think there was a single idle frame the entire time for that jerk. Non-weather-boosted/GBL encounters seem about as passive as ever, though.

Oh yeah, they've definitely been more aggressive. Maybe an uptick so people would finally start using the bananas instead of as buddy/gym feed?

So, started battling in earnest...damn, Azumarill's a killer, I feel like I need to build 2/3 mons around my team just for it and Altaria. It also irks me somewhat that I'm never sure why opponent mons seem like they can fire off charge moves one after the other.

(Also, "not very effective" charge move that still wipes out like half health, what's up with that? Umbreon I'm looking at YOU.)

Heh, so when I actually learn how to use Registeel as something other than a total noob, I'm getting some clear wins where I was previously doing some sketchy neutral match-ups. Neat. Even managed to earn a couple encounters. They were non-shiny Giratinas, but hell, I'll take the candy over another damned starter.

Still, I've pushed my luck with the extended sets to see where I can get and while I've got up around 50ish rating, it was a pretty big struggle (especially since fewer and fewer Wiscach users are getting caught off-guard by my brazen first-charge Grass Knot). Somehow I don't think even Rank 9 is happening—never mind Pikachu Libre.

Yep, that's the meta. Those two, plus Skarmory make me rather glad I settled on running an A-Raichu lead. Only thing is that she's a touch squishy, so shields get real touch-and-go.

As to the charge moves, if it's not the opponent explicitly holding the moves for a specific strategy, that's probably Niantic's servers being total toasters, as per usual. I'm not even sure if they have an interest in fixing their bugs at this point.

And, well, "Not Very Effective" is still going to do a ton of damage if the attack has high Atk or the target has low Def. In fact, going back to A-Raichu, I know that its Def it so glassy that in a mirror match, I just spam Thunder Punch. My opponent will usually face tank it and still lose 50% HP. Another good one is Clefairy dropping Meteor Mash. Even my Registeel is smarting a bit after eating one of those.

I'm tending to alternate between any three out of poliwrath, alolan sandslash, altaria, roserade, alolan raichu.

Sometimes lanturn, ludicolo, toxicroak, and tentacruel make it into the rotation. I did also get a steelix up but havent really found much occasion for it.

What do we find more annoying, getting teamwiped by one mon, or almost winning by a fraction?

Almost winning by a fraction, by far.

Team wiped by a single Mon. Unless I've grossly misplayed, it means that I got randoed into a fight that completely hard counters my team. Thankfully, that's not terribly common. Losing by a fraction also sucks, but at least that means not only did I get to do something, I made the other person really work for it. Those fights are typically the most satisfying losses because at least it managed to be a good fight (95% of the time, anyway—there has been a handful where lag has snatched defeat from the jaws of victory for me).

Something to consider, based on what I've learned with Registeel: a deep team pool is cool and all, but don't get too carried away swapping up. In the matches where skill is actually a factor (read: not lagging or bugging out to hell), I've found that at least 50% of winning is being quick on the draw for decision making with regards to match-ups. Being very familiar with 1-2 set teams is a more valuable skill than vaguely knowing how to use your entire pool. Knowing when to push one's luck in iffier match-ups is what turns games around.

I'm not upset if I get teamwiped by one mon. I don't get upset if I lost by the fraction of health. I get furious and upset when 'weak connection' makes me toss the fight. Because then I had no control over my waste of a Premium Pass that Niantic will refuse to give back since it clearly isn't their fault.

The lag and bugginess is bad enough that I refuse to use a Premium Pass. Probably helps that my primary objective in doing this at all is to acquire dust, Charge TMs and Rare Candy, though. I consider the exclusive encounters more of a pipe dream, since I don't want to drop $1 per attempt. I figure if I don't get them, it's not going to be much different than regionals, anyway. Besides, the one exclusive I'd want the most is the pipe dream of the pipe dream, being only available at Rank 10.

It's official - Niantic has officially postponed the Philadelphia and Liverpool Safari Zones. I think the notifications of the cancellations have only gone to those who bought tickets so far (so I can confirm the Philly cancellation), but yes, they've been postponed. For those who opt to keep their tickets, apparently some of the benefits of play will be active during their ticketed time and they'll still be able to participate when the actual event gets rescheduled.

Where it sucks is for those who paid for the City Explorer Pass in Philly - technically, everyone who had it can get benefits, but they specifically reduced those benefits if you're not within Philadelphia city limits. Sure glad I decided not to get that; I'd feel cheated if I couldn't get what I paid for there. On top of that, people who got that do not have the option to only refund that - you either refund for all of your purchase or none.

As a side note, I'm really annoyed about how things work at the moment with raids and legendaries. I don't like PvP much in this, so having the league be my only possible source for legendaries bites.

Assuming you get a Go-Fest style make-up day as the benefit during the original run time for keeping your ticket, it's a pretty significant haul of rare stuff (I played the whole make-up period and walked away with... I think it was 11 shinies), so I'd definitely recommend sticking with it.

I mean, I was planning on sticking with it anyway because I get guaranteed entry into the rescheduled time and I still have tons of friends and family in the area, so I'm going regardless. The benefits are nice, though.

Man, just lost a 4/5 set in Premium League.

Built a kangaskhan that should be strong on paper; mud slap to fight electric and poison types, outrage for neutral coverage and to fight dragons, power-up punch to build up attack stat and also to fight shields. Ends up never able to actually fire even power-up punch before the other guy gets off their charge move. Had a fight against a pinsir that somehow managed to get close combat of all things off before power-up punch.

Am seeing the occasional person build a team that just all takes quad damage to ice (flygon, altaria, tropius) on the strategy that they can take out your ice attacker between them while maintaining type advantage against most other things that get brought in to round out the teams...

If it helps, I just lost 5/5. That's damn annoying, though I guess better currently than if I still had to walk it off.

Edited by HalfFaust on Mar 19th 2020 at 2:02:36 AM

Snorlax with body slam seems to be working decently well paired with Alolan raichu and ludicolo.

I think I get why battle league seems a bit more frustrating compared to the mainline game battles, with the handhelds, there's a lot more options, so losing battles seems more like it was in your control, to the extent that with the right setup even magikarp can sweep iys way through a team of legendaries. Here it's pretty much if you lose it's because you got matched to someone whose mons just countered yours and there's generally no way to beat that.

Anyone doing the special Genesect quest? Every step has two easy tasks and one long ass grindy task that has you catching 25 Pokemon of certain types with 100 total by the end. I actually had to grind stops for balls cause it seriously drained my supply.

I'm not, but I have a friend who got it and already completed it. I'm not really in a mood to give Niantic any money at the moment.

Same, though I'm fairly microtransaction-resistant anyway (genuinely can't remember if I've ever sunk any real money on Po Go). Currently I'm just constantly low on balls, and haven't even bought the incense deal. I'm also back at my more rural/suburban home, where there are no pokestops within walking distance.

Some major updates from Pokemon GO's Twitter:

Further response to the Corona outbreak:

• 3x Stardust and XP for the Daily Pokemon Catch bonus
• Weekly bundles for 1 Poke Coin (featuring 100 Poke Balls this week)
• Gifts you can open daily = 30
• Gifts in your inventory = 20

New upcoming feature, Today View. It will be split into the following:

• Events: The topmost section will show you what events are currently running in the game. If there are multiple overlapping events, then there will be separate cards showcasing each one. (Note that events won't be visible when the Today View first launches, but they will appear later.)
• Pokemon in Gyms: Keep tabs on all the Pokemon you have in Gyms. You'll also be able to see how long your Pokémon have been defending their Gyms, how much motivation your Pokemon have left, which Pokemon have returned that day, and how many Poke Coins you've earned through defending Gyms.
• Streaks: Track your Daily Poke Stop Spin and Daily Pokemon Catch Streaks, and never break another one again!
• Upcoming: Check out what events are coming up at the bottom of the page. Tap to learn more from the in-game News!

Gifts also drop balls more often and in larger quantities. It's a shame that there's a dearth of people able to collect enough gifts to keep people supplied.

I really wish my house is near a poke-stop or a gym, this is so aggravating :<

My house is near 2 stops and a gym, but it's still too far away for me to spin them from home.

There was a year where the building I lived in also had a pokestop (it was a plaque of some event), so I could spin it from my bedroom. That house sucked for a lot of other reasons, but I miss that pokestop...

I've got a stop and a gym about a block and some change away, but it's an annoyance to keep running out to them. They almost need to be giving out multiple gifts at this point.

My work actually sits on a stop, so I can normally let my Pokeball Plus passively refill everything for me. My city's pretty much sent everyone home, though, so no dice there.

The team of snorlax, ludicolo, and lanturn are starting to be less and less effective as I get hit with more grass and steel types. I suppose I need some kind of bulky-ish fire types or things with fire attacks. Infernape is just too squishy to get anything off, and I don't have enough candy to pump up a moltres.