Pokemon Go!

[Eki]

I still play, but mostly passively (though, I've mostly done that for quite a while). And I haven't really taken advantage of the double exp event either, because I've been busy playing Pokémon.

[Titan Arum]

16 hours ago, Ookla the Mythical said:

Would you believe I have yet to catch a Pikachu?  Haven't even seen one spawn.  It's distressing, I tells ya.

Yeah, I'm a bit iffy on Gen 2 coming out quite that quickly.  I would think that something that big would involve a lot of hype on their part to get people interested.

I'm torn on candy hoarding right now, because my Jolteon and Flareon need upgrading some more, and I have yet to get a Vaporeon worth keeping.  I'd like to have my first gen set before I start looking at new Eeveelutions.  Still haven't found an Onix, nor enough Horseas to even get my Gen 1 evolution in.

The big CP shift they did a couple weeks ago really shook things up.  On the one hand, I got a few BIG jumps in Pokemon power for a few of my key 'mon.  On the other...well, it rendered the IV calculator spreadsheet that Mac sent me ages ago completely unusable.  I had to go out and find a new calculator, and it took a couple of days before they started getting updated with the new values.

I'm torn about a Gen 2 release coming sooner than later. On one hand, I feel like they should hold off on Gen 2 until spring because too many people in the Northern hemisphere will not go out hunting for Pokemon during the winter. With the majority of their user base living in northern latitudes, there will be a sharp drop off no matter what they do. But, if they do release Gen 2 right as winter starts they may retain their more hardcore players. It may end up being very difficult to get more casual players to come back come spring, no matter what they do. 

Are you a rural or suburban player? I feel like I'm totally lucky with my Pokemon diversity because I live in a big city. That's tough about not having a Pikachu yet! Your best bet for a Pikachu is probably hatching 2k eggs if you have any. I've gotten several Pikachu from that method. I am also very lucky because early on in the game I had a Pikachu that showed up every hour on the hour two blocks from where I lived. 

I've noticed with some of the most recent updates to the game that wild high-IV Pokemon seem to be rarer than they used to me. It's been annoying me. Now I usually just catch things and transfer them to the Professor. Do you use your Pokemon to battle or do you just want to power all of your good ones up? If I were you, I'd wait on powering up Pokemon until around level 30 or so, because you'll eventually find high-IV level 25+ Pokemon that will need less candy to power up. 

If trading were a thing, I'd totally give you what you need. I swim in Horsea and recently found an Onix next half a mile away that spits out 5 at a time! 

[Kaymyth]

1 hour ago, Titan Arum said:

I'm torn about a Gen 2 release coming sooner than later. On one hand, I feel like they should hold off on Gen 2 until spring because too many people in the Northern hemisphere will not go out hunting for Pokemon during the winter. With the majority of their user base living in northern latitudes, there will be a sharp drop off no matter what they do. But, if they do release Gen 2 right as winter starts they may retain their more hardcore players. It may end up being very difficult to get more casual players to come back come spring, no matter what they do. 

Are you a rural or suburban player? I feel like I'm totally lucky with my Pokemon diversity because I live in a big city. That's tough about not having a Pikachu yet! Your best bet for a Pikachu is probably hatching 2k eggs if you have any. I've gotten several Pikachu from that method. I am also very lucky because early on in the game I had a Pikachu that showed up every hour on the hour two blocks from where I lived. 

I've noticed with some of the most recent updates to the game that wild high-IV Pokemon seem to be rarer than they used to me. It's been annoying me. Now I usually just catch things and transfer them to the Professor. Do you use your Pokemon to battle or do you just want to power all of your good ones up? If I were you, I'd wait on powering up Pokemon until around level 30 or so, because you'll eventually find high-IV level 25+ Pokemon that will need less candy to power up. 

If trading were a thing, I'd totally give you what you need. I swim in Horsea and recently found an Onix next half a mile away that spits out 5 at a time! 

I am one of those obsessive types who can stick with a thing long past the point of reason, so I'll at least keep up my daily catch and spin through the winter.  I have enough coworkers still playing that at the end of the day, there's always a cluster of spawn outside the building.  And there's a park on my way home that I can stop at and spin without leaving the warmth of my car.

Suburban, though there really are a lot of good places to go if I feel so inclined; Kansas City is an oddly sprawling metro area with weird islands of urbanity hiding amongst swaths of forest.  WorldCon was kind of awesome; it was downtown amongst a sea of Pokestops with a PoGo meetup every day.  I caught a ton of Zubats and Clefairies.  Right now, there's a local park that's a Pinsir spawning ground (though I think they change up the nests every so often, so it's liable to change soon).  I'm sure I'll get a Pikachu eventually, but I don't get very many 2k eggs.  Tons of 5k, only ever one 10k.

I do some gym battling, but I've been chronically low on Revives lately and am kind of trying to build them back up again before I go on another gym spree.  I'm Team Instinct, so my gym takeovers never stick for long.   I do probably need to start hoarding Stardust again, but at the time I really needed my high-IV Flareon and Jolteon to level up enough to be gymworthy.  But I have noticed that hatched 'mon tend to have a lot stronger stats than most wild-caught.  I was lucky enough to hatch a Machop that's around the 97th percentile, so he's going to be well worth cultivating.  In keeping with my habit of giving my keepers silly names, I call him Squeezy.

Heh.  I appreciate the thought.  Though I'm going to be in D.C. in a couple of months, so I should be getting my own crack at exploring what the Pokehunting there has to offer.  Just watch.  I'll be that one idiot showing up early to the political protest so I can get in some Pokestop spins before things get started.

[Titan Arum]

35 minutes ago, Ookla the Mythical said:

I am one of those obsessive types who can stick with a thing long past the point of reason, so I'll at least keep up my daily catch and spin through the winter.  I have enough coworkers still playing that at the end of the day, there's always a cluster of spawn outside the building.  And there's a park on my way home that I can stop at and spin without leaving the warmth of my car.

Suburban, though there really are a lot of good places to go if I feel so inclined; Kansas City is an oddly sprawling metro area with weird islands of urbanity hiding amongst swaths of forest.  WorldCon was kind of awesome; it was downtown amongst a sea of Pokestops with a PoGo meetup every day.  I caught a ton of Zubats and Clefairies.  Right now, there's a local park that's a Pinsir spawning ground (though I think they change up the nests every so often, so it's liable to change soon).  I'm sure I'll get a Pikachu eventually, but I don't get very many 2k eggs.  Tons of 5k, only ever one 10k.

I do some gym battling, but I've been chronically low on Revives lately and am kind of trying to build them back up again before I go on another gym spree.  I'm Team Instinct, so my gym takeovers never stick for long.   I do probably need to start hoarding Stardust again, but at the time I really needed my high-IV Flareon and Jolteon to level up enough to be gymworthy.  But I have noticed that hatched 'mon tend to have a lot stronger stats than most wild-caught.  I was lucky enough to hatch a Machop that's around the 97th percentile, so he's going to be well worth cultivating.  In keeping with my habit of giving my keepers silly names, I call him Squeezy.

Heh.  I appreciate the thought.  Though I'm going to be in D.C. in a couple of months, so I should be getting my own crack at exploring what the Pokehunting there has to offer.  Just watch.  I'll be that one idiot showing up early to the political protest so I can get in some Pokestop spins before things get started.

Team Instinct for the win! We are a rare breed, unless you're in Portland, ME. They rule that city; or at least they did when I visited in October. 

You went to WorldCon?!?! I'm super jealous. That must have been awesome on so many levels, even forgetting about the daily PoGo meetups! 

Squeezy! That's brilliant for a Machop. Now I hear Dory saying "I shall call him Squeezy. And he shall be mine. And he shall be my Squeezy. Come here Squeezy!" Hahahaha. I don't name mine because I'm not very creative. Mine end up "Victreebell97.8" or something like that to let me know their IVs. Very, very original! 

I can tell you that downtown DC is a Mecca for good Pokemon. The FDR and MLK memorials (within five minutes walking of each other) always have a ton of rare spawns and it's the regional hotspot that's lured 100% of the time. The FDR memorial alone has roughly 10 PokeStops clustered together. The reflecting pool is a great place to catch Dratini too and the entire length of the Mall has various species nests throughout. I work very close to the Capitol building and take lunch breaks walking around catching things on occasion. Currently, 5 minutes away from me at work, there is a large Abra nest and smaller Seel, Electabuzz, and Mankey nests. 

[Kaymyth]

1 hour ago, Titan Arum said:

Team Instinct for the win! We are a rare breed, unless you're in Portland, ME. They rule that city; or at least they did when I visited in October. 

You went to WorldCon?!?! I'm super jealous. That must have been awesome on so many levels, even forgetting about the daily PoGo meetups! 

Squeezy! That's brilliant for a Machop. Now I hear Dory saying "I shall call him Squeezy. And he shall be mine. And he shall be my Squeezy. Come here Squeezy!" Hahahaha. I don't name mine because I'm not very creative. Mine end up "Victreebell97.8" or something like that to let me know their IVs. Very, very original! 

I can tell you that downtown DC is a Mecca for good Pokemon. The FDR and MLK memorials (within five minutes walking of each other) always have a ton of rare spawns and it's the regional hotspot that's lured 100% of the time. The FDR memorial alone has roughly 10 PokeStops clustered together. The reflecting pool is a great place to catch Dratini too and the entire length of the Mall has various species nests throughout. I work very close to the Capitol building and take lunch breaks walking around catching things on occasion. Currently, 5 minutes away from me at work, there is a large Abra nest and smaller Seel, Electabuzz, and Mankey nests. 

Woot!  Admittedly, I chose it because it happened to be the team that had active control of my local gym when I hit level 5.  Which was a good thing, as it turned out that all of my coworkers had chosen Instinct and probably would have run me off had I picked anything else.

Yes, I did.  In fact, since it was here in my home city this year, I was actually staff in Con HQ, so I dove in up to my eyeballs.  (I got to touch a Hugo Award.  It was so shiny and smooth.)  And yeah, it was really, really awesome.  The exhibition hall alone was pretty epic, and the panels and stuff...just incredible.  Though the highlight for me was winning a top award in the Masquerade that bumped me up from Novice to Journeyman in costume competition level.   I have pictures up in the cosplay thread linked in my signature.

Thanks!  I kind of get a kick out of the silly names, though most of my 'mon just get renamed their IV percentage.  Not even with their type name, like you do.  But my "keepers", my powerful ones, they get names.  Peaches the Vulpix, Pattycake the Tauros, Trogdor the Burninator Flareon.  Squeezy is a Machoke now.  *snif*  They grow up so fast.

Awesome!  I am going to freeze my fingers solid, I'm sure, but it'll be fun anyway.  So many Pokemon.  So many stops to spin.  DC I AM COMING AND YOU WILL NEVER BE THE SAME.

[Titan Arum]

Trogdor!!!! Trogdor!!! Trogdor was a 'mon. I mean, he was a fire 'mon. Or maybe he was just a Flareon! But he was still Trgodor!!!!!!!!!!! Burninating the Venusaur! Burninating the Oddish! Burninating all the Victreebels!

[Kaymyth]

30 minutes ago, Titan Arum said:

Trogdor!!!! Trogdor!!! Trogdor was a 'mon. I mean, he was a fire 'mon. Or maybe he was just a Flareon! But he was still Trgodor!!!!!!!!!!! Burninating the Venusaur! Burninating the Oddish! Burninating all the Victreebels!

Thank goodness SOMEONE around here is old enough to get my jokes.

[Titan Arum]

4 minutes ago, Ookla the Mythical said:

Thank goodness SOMEONE around here is old enough to get my jokes.

Homestar Runner was my jam back in the day! My roommates and I in college always eagerly anticipated the newest segment every week. We still randomly quote it when we see each other on rare occasions ("You're going to make it, Li'l Brudder!"). Sigh. Such great years! We even carved our pumpkins one year in the likeness of Strong Sad, Strong Bad, and The Cheat. 

[Kaymyth]

1 minute ago, Titan Arum said:

Homestar Runner was my jam back in the day! My roommates and I in college always eagerly anticipated the newest segment every week. We still randomly quote it when we see each other on rare occasions ("You're going to make it, Li'l Brudder!"). Sigh. Such great years! We even carved our pumpkins one year in the likeness of Strong Sad, Strong Bad, and The Cheat. 

....oh, you were in college.  And I'm back to feeling old. 

Back in the mid-oughts, I dated a guy for a bit who was super in Homestar with his roomies.  I remember finding it a bit odd, but amusing in proper doses.  And Trogdor kind of stuck, because duh, it's Trogdor.

[Titan Arum]

3 minutes ago, Ookla the Mythical said:

....oh, you were in college.  And I'm back to feeling old. 

Back in the mid-oughts, I dated a guy for a bit who was super in Homestar with his roomies.  I remember finding it a bit odd, but amusing in proper doses.  And Trogdor kind of stuck, because duh, it's Trogdor.

Ha. Sorry about that. There are a lot of younger people on this forum.

But, for those who may see this but have no idea what we're talking about: have a little bit of Trogdor in your life. With a beefy arm for good measure.

[Kaymyth]

2 minutes ago, Titan Arum said:

Ha. Sorry about that. There are a lot of younger people on this forum.

But, for those who may see this but have no idea what we're talking about: have a little bit of Trogdor in your life. With a beefy arm for good measure.

Nah, it's cool.  I'm used to it.  There aren't many people on the forum who have 40 breathing down their neck like I do.  On the bright side, I am now old enough to thoroughly enjoy looking a decade younger than I actually am, so there's that.  Thanks, DNA!

It does put me in a bit of an outlier for PoGo.  I wasn't in the right age bracket when Pokemon originally came out to get into it, which means I'm one of those very rare people in my age bracket playing it who doesn't have kids.

[Titan Arum]

PSA: Baby Pokemon can now be hatched (probably from 2k eggs, as seen by a hatched Igglybuff on Reddit) and Pikachu in the wild now have Santa Hats!

Edited December 12, 2016 by Titan Arum

[Kaymyth]

39 minutes ago, Titan Arum said:

PSA: Baby Pokemon can now be hatched (probably from 2k eggs, as seen by a hatched Igglybuff on Reddit) and Pikachu in the wild now have Santa Hats!

Good gods, that thing is even cuter than a sugar glider.

[Titan Arum]

Isn't it?! The baby Pokemon are all so cute! Someone already caught a Cleffa too. Here's the official announcement from Niantic.

Edited December 12, 2016 by Titan Arum

[Eki]

I thought they would drop the whole new generation all at once, but I guess not! Nice way to introduce gen two though. That generation focused on eggs and breeding, and baby Pokémon were basically created just to show off that mechanic. Since eggs already existed in GO, starting off with baby Pokémon was a good idea, I think.

And I found a Pikachu just outside, and they've never spawned around here before. So presumably they spawn more often now?

Edit: Although, the costumed Pikachu make me slightly worried... Another Pokémon game has like ten different Pikachu costumes to catch, and it's getting kind of out of hand... Hopefully that won't happen in GO

Edited December 12, 2016 by Eki

[Kaymyth]

2 hours ago, Eki said:

I thought they would drop the whole new generation all at once, but I guess not! Nice way to introduce gen two though. That generation focused on eggs and breeding, and baby Pokémon were basically created just to show off that mechanic. Since eggs already existed in GO, starting off with baby Pokémon was a good idea, I think.

And I found a Pikachu just outside, and they've never spawned around here before. So presumably they spawn more often now?

Edit: Although, the costumed Pikachu make me slightly worried... Another Pokémon game has like ten different Pikachu costumes to catch, and it's getting kind of out of hand... Hopefully that won't happen in GO

The spawning percentages and nests seem to change up every so often.  It's a constant cycling of things.  The area that was a Pinsir nest a couple of weeks ago is probably producing something else now.

[Eki]

11 hours ago, Kaymyth said:

The spawning percentages and nests seem to change up every so often.  It's a constant cycling of things.  The area that was a Pinsir nest a couple of weeks ago is probably producing something else now.

Yeah, but other nests don't seem to have changed, yet. At least from what I can tell. I think they just upped the Pikachu spawns for this event, and kept the other stuff mostly the same.

[Kaymyth]

Well, then maybe I'll finally catch a gorram Pikachu.  Even if it is wearing a festive Santa hat.  I mean, I would never wear a Santa hat.  Nope.  Not ever. 

[Eerongal]

20 hours ago, Eki said:

Edit: Although, the costumed Pikachu make me slightly worried... Another Pokémon game has like ten different Pikachu costumes to catch, and it's getting kind of out of hand... Hopefully that won't happen in GO

Are you talking about cosplay pikachu from ORAS? Because if so, that's one pikachu that you're given as a gift, and change the costume on manually to several different ones. You also can't trade/transfer it.

[Eki]

16 minutes ago, Eerongal said:

Are you talking about cosplay pikachu from ORAS? Because if so, that's one pikachu that you're given as a gift, and change the costume on manually to several different ones. You also can't trade/transfer it.

No, Shuffle. There's Sleeping Pikachu, Happy Pikachu, Angry Pikachu, Spooky Pikachu, Winking Pikachu, Holiday Pikachu... Probably others.

[Eerongal]

30 minutes ago, Eki said:

No, Shuffle. There's Sleeping Pikachu, Happy Pikachu, Angry Pikachu, Spooky Pikachu, Winking Pikachu, Holiday Pikachu... Probably others.

Ah. I played shuffle for all of like 10 minutes and never opened it again. Not my kinda game.

[Titan Arum]

They did indeed increase Pikachu spawns for Xmas hats. I'm liking it but I hope we get an XP boost the week of Xmas too. 

I harched an Igglybuff last night, so my Gen 2 hunt begins!

Oh, and nests change every two weeks now. Check the Silphroad for nests in your area. It's a website where trainers upload information in a crowd sourced manner about nests without breaking the TOS. 

Edited December 13, 2016 by Titan Arum

[Kaymyth]

Friday, coming out of work, there was a Pikachu hanging around outside the building in all its festive-hatted glory.  Perfect!  I thought.  Finally!  A Pikachu of my very own!  So I pulled up my last Ultra Ball, fed the 'mon a razzberry, and threw.

I hit!

And then it escaped and fled the scene.  I was heartbroken.  And then I caught my first Ditto, so I was a little less heartbroken, but still sad.

 

But today, after going out with friends for our traditional Pagan Christmas lunch at a Chinese buffet, a few of us went out to the Nelson-Atkins sculpture park to go catch some beasties and spin some Pokestops.  We had completed our circuit, when what do I spy on the radar?  Why, a Pikachu!  And it was right over there!

This time, I caught the little beggar.  That's right, Pikachu!  YOU ARE MINE!

 

...I think I understand how Team Rocket feels.

[Jondesu]

I was thinking caught more Pikachu with Santa Hats than I had ever caught without, prior to this event, but it appears I was a bit off. I think I've managed to catch 6 of the little buggers, but that's still slightly less than half of my total haul of 14 lifetime Pikachu's. Does that include egg hatches (in the badges)? If so, I've still caught more in the wild with Santa Hats than without.

[C. M. Hayden]

As long as I live, I will never understand Pokemon Go xD