Pokémon GO

chemcoop

Here is something to believe in!
is a Community Leaderis a Community Contributoris a Tiering Contributoris a Top Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Staff Alumnusis a Two-Time Former Other Tournament Circuit Champion
Community Leader
GO FEST 2021

gofestpsd.png

It's almost that time of year! GO Fest 2021 is upon us and so is our first ever GO Fest celebration! Come hang out with us in the Pokemon Go room on Showdown for a weekend full of shiny brags, epic legendary raids, and awesome contests!

Our celebration will feature 2 types of contests; the first will be an avatar fashion show focused on showing off your sense of style and the second will be all about showing off your catches! See below for more info on each specific contest that we will be hosting.

Part 1: Fashion Festival

Our GO Fest Fashion Festival will have 5 categories, with details of each outlined here! Details on how to submit your entries are also outlined in the previous link, and you can submit with this form!

Winners:
  1. Best Stand-Alone Outfit!: dot Comfey​
  2. Freebies!: Amaluna
  3. Team Represent!: chemcoop
  4. Matching Outfits!: Amaluna
  5. Worst Look!: chemcoop

Part 2: Collection Challenge

The Collection Challenge focuses primarily on the research and costumed Pokémon available during GO Fest 2021. There are 11 categories, and participants can submit for up to 3. The categories are below, and further information is here. Entries can be submitted using this form!

Winners:
  1. Best Meloetta: Pablo
  2. Biggest Star Pikachu: Bobbyzchoo
  3. Lucky 7 Galarian Ponyta: Bobbyzchoo
  4. Pokédex Size Galarian Zigzagoon: N/A
  5. Flygon #3: N/A
  6. Pokédex Size Gardevoir: Amaluna
  7. Biggest Audino: Amaluna
  8. Chimecho and the Big Bell: jsmith1315
  9. The Quietest Whismur: PokeAuditor
  10. Heaviest Throh: Amaluna
  11. Tallest Sawk: N/A

Overall Winner + Prizes

GRAND PRIZE:
Amaluna
Runner-Up: chemcoop
Third Place: Bobbyzchoo
 
Last edited:

QuentinQuonce

formerly green_typhlosion
I'm just here for the Deino raids and Roggenrola spawns
Caught a shiny Deino and Snorlax yesterday! Properly chuffed.

Not expecting much from raid day but I'll probably just do most of the raids in person and conserve the remote passes for later. I don't like using remote passes on stuff that can't be shiny because it feels like a waste.
 

Expert Evan

every battle has a smell!
is a Forum Moderator Alumnus
Only shinies I got this weekend were 2 more skarmory and another wailmer which should certainly look great when I evolve and place into a Mystic gym.
 
In hindsight, stocking up on 12k eggs right before go fest was... not wise.

Fortunately, I had a stockpile of super-incubators and just barely managed to hatch four of them and collect some 7ks just before the event ended (+ 1 I hatched earlier). I look forward to hatching 5 igglybuffs in the near future. :blobwizard: The main loss, however, was that I didn't finish the Meloetta research on Saturday, so no extra cosplay pikachu. :/

In terms of shinies, I made out reasonably well, though not as well as last year. I mostly racked up duplicates, but I at least got audino, chimecho (x3), hat pikachu and unown g as new releases, and a gligar as one I was missing. No shiny deino, though, so I guess I'll just have to wait for its eventual community day.

Despite the non-boosted shiny rate on Sunday, but at least I made out better than I expected: the unown and gligar were both from Sunday, along with a Feebas, Tangela and Ralts. I did some raids, and finally managed to get a Zekrom and Regigigas after missing them due to EX raid nonsense and Zekrom debuting at the start of lockdowns.

Overall, Go fest was not bad. I think last year's rocket takeover with Shadow Mewtwo was more interesting/a better reward for day 2, but at least this year I am fortunate enough that I could actually go out walking around town instead of just around my apartment.
 

QuentinQuonce

formerly green_typhlosion
Didn't catch a single shiny on Sunday, nor any decent legends (the best I got was a 96 Regigigas I'll never use). I caught a respectable amount on Saturday though including Deino, Throh (which is not native normally so I'm thrilled by that one in particular), Audino x2, and Snorlax so I'm satisfied with that. Annoying not to get more of the newbies like Whismur, Chimecho, and Tympole, but they'll come around eventually.

This was a good event, but it could have been better if we'd had a few QoL tweaks. For me by far the biggest disappointment was the lack of distance trading. The chance to potentially make 18 special trades was massive, especially since I have a few lucky friends atm. But people were not helpful or responsive when it came to sorting out meeting up (understandable, given that a) the people I needed to trade with were all over London and b) the current situation in the UK) and I didn't manage to trade with any of them. Someone in my group joked that Niantic want us all out meeting up because they're "in the pocket of big corona" and it barely registered as satire. I ended up borrowing my housemate's phone and resorting to trading with my alt account, rashly wasting several shinies I should have saved for lucky trades.
 

Expert Evan

every battle has a smell!
is a Forum Moderator Alumnus
I haven't had much more luck with trading with my alts in hopes of something wonderful. Best so far was a level 35 tentacruel as a hundo which makes a great gym defender especially against fighting types but certainly won't use anytime soon in a PvE raid.
 

Pikachu315111

Ranting & Raving!
is a Community Contributoris a Top Smogon Media Contributor
Beats me. I think we all would have appreciated Arceus or some Gen 6/7 mons.
Oh, wow, a majority of the Kalos Dex is not available.

And, while I get why a majority of the Mythicals, Pokemon with multi-form gimmicks, and Kecleon & Zorua family are missing, why is Druddigon and Larvesta/Volcarona unavailable? They have no gimmicks, they're pretty normal Pokemon.

On that subject, of the Kalos Pokemon missing there's no reason why Skiddo/Gogoat, Inkay/Malamar, Helioptile/Heliolisk, Tyrunt/Tyrantrum, Amaura/Aurorus, Hawlucha, Dedenne, Carbink, Phantump/Trevenant, & Bergmite/Avalugg to be unavailable pretty much for the same reason; they'll all just normal Pokemon. Okay, maybe they'll have a little issue with implementing Hawlucha's Signature Move and Inkay family would mostly be missing their gimmick, but otherwise no issue.

*Sees Vivillon* *Prays for the souls of Pokemon GO players*

Also looking through the exclusives, I found some of them either as neat references, showing their research... or having no clue why they're like that. Think I'll make a post in the "Little Things You Like" thread about that.
 

QuentinQuonce

formerly green_typhlosion
So, is there any reason why GO skipped Gen 7/Alola and went straight into 8/Galar?
My guess (and it is only a guess) is that Gen VIII (or to be more specific, everything Galar-related) is coming to the end of its time, and Niantic/TPC want to get as much marketing and mileage out of it as they can before BDSP happens, and then presumably after that we move on to Gen IX. Once BDSP and L:A drop, the focus is likely to shift from Galar and its associated Pokemon to Sinnoh. That means less opportunity for marketing the Galar-based games.

Consider that the anime at the moment is taking its cues more from Pokemon Go than SwSh, and it isn't solely set in one region like previous seasons have been; it's more focused on all 8 generations. That means less potential overall to market the Galar mons. This way, they get to re-ignite interest in them. It's kind of a win-win for Niantic and TPC as it's sure to lead to a big surge in profits for Niantic (people always want to raid new legendary bosses and chase new shinies, no matter how underwhelming Zacian and Zamazenta will surely be until they get access to better moves and their other forms). But there is a strange whiff of desperation about it imo.

So while I'm hoping that these few Gen VIII mons are a taster, because I'd rather have the rest of Gen V and VI instead of the Gen VIII mons, I wouldn't be surprised if they carry on with Gen VIII - or, more likely, mix VIII with the continuing release of V and VI.


Oh, wow, a majority of the Kalos Dex is not available.

And, while I get why a majority of the Mythicals, Pokemon with multi-form gimmicks, and Kecleon & Zorua family are missing, why is Druddigon and Larvesta/Volcarona unavailable? They have no gimmicks, they're pretty normal Pokemon.

On that subject, of the Kalos Pokemon missing there's no reason why Skiddo/Gogoat, Inkay/Malamar, Helioptile/Heliolisk, Tyrunt/Tyrantrum, Amaura/Aurorus, Hawlucha, Dedenne, Carbink, Phantump/Trevenant, & Bergmite/Avalugg to be unavailable pretty much for the same reason; they'll all just normal Pokemon. Okay, maybe they'll have a little issue with implementing Hawlucha's Signature Move and Inkay family would mostly be missing their gimmick, but otherwise no issue.

*Sees Vivillon* *Prays for the souls of Pokemon GO players*

Also looking through the exclusives, I found some of them either as neat references, showing their research... or having no clue why they're like that. Think I'll make a post in the "Little Things You Like" thread about that.
The majority of the Kalos Dex is not available because we simply haven't reached it yet. Niantic has done the generations roughly* in order (including regional forms for Pokemon already in the game) so they're still getting through Gen VI atm.


But when it releases Pokemon in batches it doesn't bother with following a strict Pokedex order. The first Gen II Pokemon released were the babies and Togepi/Togetic, not the starters; the first Gen III Pokemon released were Shuppet, Duskull, and Sableye. They'd released Groudon and Kyogre before you could catch Taillow. Burmy, Cherubi, and Mime Jr were some of the last Gen IV mons released; Munna wasn't released until about 18 months after the first Gen V mons arrived.

As to why some of the Gen V mons are still absent, Niantic chose to drip-feed Gen V rather than release it in batches but then they opted to mix Gen VI in with it, which makes sense given Gen VI's smaller roster. It's not so much that Pokemon like Bergmite and Dedenne are unavailable as they are "yet to be released". At the current rate, we will probably get the vast majority of Kalos by the end of this year or early next, unless Niantic decides to switch tracks and start releasing all of Gen VIII instead.

In regard to all the missing Pokemon pre-Gen VI, there's a fairly evident reason for why each of them isn't here yet:

-Kecleon they're clearly unsure of how to implement. A lot of people suspect that the catching method will be something to do with AR Niantic is still developing
-the same goes for Zorua and Zoroark, which will likely be highly desirable Pokemon so can be saved for some sort of event
-Druddigon is a Dragon-type, which have always been rarer in Go than other types, but as a single-stage Pokemon it presents more of a challenge than Pokemon which need to evolve - once you've caught it, you've caught it. Gen V is actually fairly Dragon-heavy so they're obviously waiting for the right time to drop it
-Larvesta and Volcarona are going to be extremely desirable Pokemon when they're released so that won't be rushed. I've no idea if the fact that Volcarona sounds vaguely like "corona[virus]" is making Niantic hesitant to release it in the current climate (frankly, I doubt it) but maybe it's a factor. Data indicates that Larvesta, like Magikarp and others, will require 400 candies to evolve which is a gimmick as far as I'm concerned. Regardless, it's on par with Pokemon like Hydreigon and Dragonite and Niantic has always guarded those for an initial period.

When it comes to legendaries, Manaphy and Phione obviously present a logistical challenge (should you catch them separately? Should Phione be caught via Special Research as the penultimate stage before you encounter Manaphy? Should Manaphy be in its own special 25KM egg?) as does Shaymin. Arceus is clearly being saved for next year.



*before anyone rushes in to pull me up on that, consider what the word "roughly" means. Obviously there are some exceptions.
 

Codraroll

Cod Mod
is a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributoris a Top Smogon Media Contributor
Moderator
And, while I get why a majority of the Mythicals, Pokemon with multi-form gimmicks, and Kecleon & Zorua family are missing, why is Druddigon and Larvesta/Volcarona unavailable? They have no gimmicks, they're pretty normal Pokemon.
I'm pretty certain Larvesta and Volcarona were planned to be released last summer, when there was a week-long Bug-type event followed by a week-long Fire-type event around the summer solstice. However, given the enormous potential for negative publicity (Imagine the headlines: "Niantic wants you to go out and catch the Corona Pokémon!") it was probably put on ice. I think it will still be a year or more before we see it.
 
Maybe Niantic thought that introducing some Gen 8 Pokemon would be sufficiently exciting and surprising to offset the backlash they anticipated (and are hopefully getting in sufficient numbers of players reducing playtime & spending) for halving the interaction distance despite the community asking them not to revert it because it made the game more enjoyable and safer to play (even without considering Covid). :mehowth:
 

Pikachu315111

Ranting & Raving!
is a Community Contributoris a Top Smogon Media Contributor
-Kecleon they're clearly unsure of how to implement. A lot of people suspect that the catching method will be something to do with AR Niantic is still developing
-the same goes for Zorua and Zoroark, which will likely be highly desirable Pokemon so can be saved for some sort of event
-Druddigon is a Dragon-type, which have always been rarer in Go than other types, but as a single-stage Pokemon it presents more of a challenge than Pokemon which need to evolve - once you've caught it, you've caught it. Gen V is actually fairly Dragon-heavy so they're obviously waiting for the right time to drop it
-Larvesta and Volcarona are going to be extremely desirable Pokemon when they're released so that won't be rushed. I've no idea if the fact that Volcarona sounds vaguely like "corona[virus]" is making Niantic hesitant to release it in the current climate (frankly, I doubt it) but maybe it's a factor. Data indicates that Larvesta, like Magikarp and others, will require 400 candies to evolve which is a gimmick as far as I'm concerned. Regardless, it's on par with Pokemon like Hydreigon and Dragonite and Niantic has always guarded those for an initial period.

When it comes to legendaries, Manaphy and Phione obviously present a logistical challenge (should you catch them separately? Should Phione be caught via Special Research as the penultimate stage before you encounter Manaphy? Should Manaphy be in its own special 25KM egg?) as does Shaymin. Arceus is clearly being saved for next year.
Kecleon: My first thought was doing a photobomb thing like they did with Team Rocket, but hearing they're developing AR, and if it's not too far away, makes sense they would hold on it cause would be an easy Pokemon to link to it. You're looking around a scene in AR, there's some obvious Pokemon around, but then off the corner of your eye or in the background there's this random zigzag line floating in the air.

Now question is would you just need to interact with it to enter a battle with Kecleon or are they gonna make a reference to Gen III and release a device that helps uncover "hidden Pokemon" (unless they have something already like that). Would be neat if they let those who are perceptive just encounter the Kecleon while others who are having a hard time could use a device to see an outline of Kecleon like in the right image above.

Zorua: If they want something special with Zorua that just isn't a copy of Ditto, maybe they could have something where a new update can let you see other player avatars on the map. However, while most are in the default standing pose, there would be some who would be slightly slouched over.

Abilities: Of course a big issue with both of these is that GO doesn't have Abilities yet and these are two of the Gimmick Pokemon. Now, Kecleon and Zorua family can work without their Abilities, but their Abilities gave them additional identity. Now, I learned that they did release Castform and gave it a special gimmick of changing forms depending on the weather akin to its Ability Forecast, so hopefully they do something similar not only for Kecleon and Zorua family but also the other Pokemon which have signature Abilities. For Zorua family maybe let you pick one of your other Pokemon and they'll copy its form. Kecleon is tricky, they could go the Color Change route and have it change Type depending on what moves its hit with (and hey, in GO that may not be such a bad thing with Pokemon stuck with two moves usually of their STAB); though would be more interesting if they go the Protean route and allowed it to learn a batch of elemental moves instead of just Normal.

Druddigon: I hope they don't plan on waiting for the Chinese Year of the Dragon, it'll be waiting for over 2 years (2024)!

Phione & Manaphy: If they want to stick with game reference, I'd say have Phione obtainable via a rare special 25m Egg that can only be found when walking with Manaphy as a partner.

Arceus: Curious what they plan on doing with Arceus. Will they give it the ability (heh) to freely change to any Type the players wants it to be and just have it always know Judgement? Would be kind of a bit much to have 18 different variety of Arceus as their "own" Pokemon.
 

QuentinQuonce

formerly green_typhlosion
Arceus: Curious what they plan on doing with Arceus. Will they give it the ability (heh) to freely change to any Type the players wants it to be and just have it always know Judgement? Would be kind of a bit much to have 18 different variety of Arceus as their "own" Pokemon.
I mean, they're releasing all 5 Genesect variants separately so I wouldn't put it past them...

Honestly the best way to do it imo would have it be random. Like, Arceus is in raids this month, and it can be either Poison, Fire, Water, or Ground. Then the next time it comes back it can be either Fairy, Electric, Grass, or Flying. That way they can space it out but not so torturously that people get bored.

But maybe they'll think of something cleverer - and perhaps by then form changes will be a thing.
 

QuentinQuonce

formerly green_typhlosion
The baby account which I started specifically for extra chances to find hard-to-get shiny Pokemon just outdid itself by hatching a shiny Nincada and not one, but two shiny Rufflet this morning.

Question is, do I trade them to the main account?
 
Niantic has finally heeded their customers' and major community members' feedback and will make 80 m the new default pokestop distance going forward. The US's stop distance has been set back to 80 m already.


After the news I did the Zacian raid hour and it seems like Niantic thanked me for returning to the game by giving me a hundo.

...I mostly did the Zacian so I could transfer it to HOME. Guess I'll have to do another one if I have a chance.
 

Expert Evan

every battle has a smell!
is a Forum Moderator Alumnus
As long as the stops work at 80 meters permanently I'm happy. Some of us old fogeys cannot go out and exercise like we used to especially if we had a heart attack already just saying.
 

QuentinQuonce

formerly green_typhlosion
So apparently Niantic can't even be bothered to guarantee that the Combee reward from the Secrets of the Jungle research is female, fbm.
I'm sure there's some mad bastard out there who considers a hundo male Combee the jewel of their collection.

Personally, I'm dreading the day they release the shiny...
 
I'm sure there's some mad bastard out there who considers a hundo male Combee the jewel of their collection.

Personally, I'm dreading the day they release the shiny...
Screenshot_20211001-173348_Pokmon GO.jpg


I'm ahead of the curve! :D was my very first 4* and I swore so loud I got dirty looks. Still planning on leaning into it and taking him to 50.

In all seriousness, I'm just enjoying playing again. I drop a fair amount of money on the game and had initially just... cold turkey stopped playing when the distance for stops was halved. I missed the entire Galar event, basically.

My current quibble is with furfrou forms and the stupid fucking decision to lock them by region. It's a HAIRCUT.
 

Expert Evan

every battle has a smell!
is a Forum Moderator Alumnus
For those of us doing the Halloween task on step 3 of 4 to catch 9 different species of ghost types, you may want to join a raid to catch Giratina before it goes away in 3 days. I usually have no problems with 3 or more strong trainers to defeat it with best dragon/dark/ghost types at least.
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 1)

Top