Pokémon GO

[Codraroll]

'tis the evening of the twelfth day of Christmas, so let's recap what Niantic got us this year.

*Clears throat*
*Old-timey record starts playing*

On the first day of Christmas, Niantic gave to me:
Another freakin' hat for Pikachu.

On the second day of Christmas, Niantic gave to me:
Two red Poké Balls,
And another freakin' hat for Pikachu.

On the third day of Christmas, Niantic gave to me:
Three Revives,
Two red Poké Balls,
And another freakin' hat for Pikachu.

On the fourth day of Christmas, Niantic gave to me:
Four times the app froze,
Three Revives,
Two red Poké Balls,
And another freakin' hat for Pikachu.

On the fifth day of Christmas, Niantic gave to me:
FIVE ... MORE ... BUGS!
Four times the app froze,
Three Revives,
Two red Poké Balls,
And another freakin' hat for Pikachu.

On the sixth day of Christmas, Niantic gave to me:
Six Nanab Berries,
FIVE ... MORE ... BUGS!
Four times the app froze,
Three Revives,
Two red Poké Balls,
And another freakin' hat for Pikachu.

On the seventh day of Christmas, Niantic gave to me:
Seven manky Mankey,
Six Nanab Berries,
FIVE ... MORE ... BUGS!
Four times the app froze,
Three Revives,
Two red Poké Balls,
And another freakin' hat for Pikachu.

On the eighth day of Christmas, Niantic gave to me:
Eight basic Potions,
Seven manky Mankey,
Six Nanab Berries,
FIVE ... MORE ... BUGS!
Four times the app froze,
Three Revives,
Two red Poké Balls,
And another freakin' hat for Pikachu.

On the ninth day of Christmas, Niantic gave to me:
Nine 5k Eggs,
Eight basic Potions,
Seven manky Mankey,
Six Nanab Berries,
FIVE ... MORE ... BUGS!
Four times the app froze,
Three Revives,
Two red Poké Balls,
And another freakin' hat for Pikachu.

On the tenth day of Christmas, Niantic gave to me:
Login failed ...

On the eleventh day of Christmas, Niantic gave to me:
Eleven GBL quests,
Ten make-up Stardust,
Nine 5k Eggs,
Eight basic Potions,
Seven manky Mankey,
Six Nanab Berries,
FIVE ... MORE ... BUGS!
Four times the app froze,
Three Revives,
Two red Poké Balls,
And another freakin' hat for Pikachu.

On the twelfth day of Christmas, Niantic gave to me:
12 months of events,
Eleven GBL quests,
Ten make-up Stardust,
Nine 5k Eggs,
Eight basic Potions,
Seven manky Mankey,
Six Nanab Berries,
FIVE ... MORE ... BUGS!
Four times the app froze,
Three Revives,
Two red Poké Balls,
And yet another f**kin' hat for Pikachu.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Freeze Burn and Ice Shock's adventure effects have been datamined:

Honestly both a bit meh, but I could see them being useful for raid hours and similar events with lots of legendary encounters.

 

[pika pal]

Freeze Shock could be very useful for Shadow Raid hours or quick catching in Cm Days, where mons can attack a lot or you don't want a streak interrupted by a Frame 1 Attack animation. Depending on how cheap it is it could have some use at least

Also, a heads up for Shadow Ho-oh Raid Day on the 19th, the announcement wording suggests ANY Ho-oh can be TM'd to have Sacred Fire, not just ones caught that day or Shadows/Purified ones, so stockpile a couple TMs if you have some good Ho-oh, since they make good Master League mons and could be useful to trade or use as "newbie" Fire Raiders.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

 

[R_N]

The "if we have to cancel in-person LA unova tour we really need money" button has been pressed

 

[pika pal]

Maybe now that they've turned Max Battles into the "must be there" content (with GMaxes and generic 5*'s being a thing now), they'll relax on the Remote restriction going forward. At the very least, make this a regular Feature for Takeover/Rocket events going forward.

 

[R_N]

the announced not-a-battle-pass is whatever
The deluxe version being $15 is crazy

Them ALSO selling a $20 Deluxe version that has the first ten ranks unlocked is just gross.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Don't be an idiot like me and hang around after work for 45 minutes to make multiple thoroughly painful shots at Dynamax Articuno. Just... don't.

 

[pika pal]

Don't be an idiot like me and hang around after work for 45 minutes to make multiple thoroughly painful shots at Dynamax Articuno. Just... don't.

I had to build a bunch of not-readily-available stuff like GMaxes or Legacy Move Metagross to pull off a Duo with a well built Best-Friend. Legendaries are doable but very tricky if you're not coordinating.

Hopefully options open up to make things approachable by the time we get more relevant Legends to pursue.

 

[R_N]

The lure module I plopped down spawned a Shellos, Paldean Wooper, Sheildon & an Alolan Geodude

So eggs it is



Why is the common route bird Pokemon so annoying to catch again, Niantic?

 

[pika pal]

The lure module I plopped down spawned a Shellos, Paldean Wooper, Sheildon & an Alolan Geodude

So eggs it is



Why is the common route bird Pokemon so annoying to catch again, Niantic?

I sat by a cluster of about 6 stops with Lures on them through SPotlight hour and caught about 10. Not as common as they should be.

Sometimes I wonder if Niantic forgets how common or rare some Pokemon are because of how useful they are (Corv is pretty busted for a Route 1 Mon and they already "squandered" Talonflame as a common-useful) and/or how few new releases they have until next game.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

The lure module I plopped down spawned a Shellos, Paldean Wooper, Sheildon & an Alolan Geodude

So eggs it is

Or GBL! If you fancy even more stupidly awful odds

 

[pika pal]

Or GBL! If you fancy even more stupidly awful odds

Surprising and annoying given the last mon they did this with, Morpeko, was criticized for over abundance. Guess they overcorrected

 

[R_N]

Also don't get me started on Shroodle

I expected it to be in 12km eggs but dog there's been ONE on the gts since launch and its' for a BDSP Hisuian Electrode.

 

[pika pal]

Also don't get me started on Shroodle

I expected it to be in 12km eggs but dog there's been ONE on the gts since launch and its' for a BDSP Hisuian Electrode.

Is the latter even possible to obtain or a listing they missed for illegitimate combos?

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Is the latter even possible to obtain or a listing they missed for illegitimate combos?

No, it's an annoying oversight - you can request a form from a game it doesn't exist in, like a Galarian Meowth capable of travelling to LGPE or a Paldean Tauros capable of travelling to SwSh. There's quite a few people requesting these sorts of combinations, it's the new flavour of trolling (level 1 legendaries is so 2010s...)

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Having just obtained a hundo Deoxys-A, I would like to add my voice to the chorus of requests to finally let us change the damn thing's form

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Update today indicates pretty strongly that Kubfu will be coming next season, very likely as a season-long research ala Cosmog and Poipole. Nice, I really like Kubfu so I'm prepared for mine to have garbage stats. I expect they'll eventually make more Urshifu available though since it's a branched evolution and a Gigantamax species.

(though it's funny how much Dual Destiny would have been fitting for Kubfu conceptually)

 

[Expert Evan]

Soon Scatterbug will be available as shiny, and while I've collected at least one from all regions, I may still save postcards from rarer regions going forward.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Update for Saturday's raid day: the restrictions on Hoopa have finally been lifted. Was probably something they tweaked with the Home update this morning.

“Update for Hoopa Confined and Hoopa Unbound

Beginning with Hoopa Unbound Raid Day, all Trainers will be able to change Hoopa’s form, regardless of whether they completed the Mischief Unbound Special Research story.

Also beginning with this event, Trainers can transfer Hoopa Unbound to Pokémon HOME!”

https://pokemongolive.com/post/hoopa-raid-day-2025?hl=en

 

[R_N]

I doubt this was a Home-side restriction, honestly. Home's always been able to handle Unbound Hoopa, so it really feels like a Niantic issue.

nice to know though

 

[pika pal]

Between this and the Keldeo shiny added to Home, can we PLEASE get a rerun of Keldeo in Go now (shiny or not)? Relevance aside it's one of the longest standing absences at this point from the game that has been introduced (i.e. excluding undebuted mons) and doesn't have red-tape/brand-synergy obstacles to reappearing (see the M1 Remake Clones or Detective Pikachu)

 

[R_N]

Between this and the Keldeo shiny added to Home, can we PLEASE get a rerun of Keldeo in Go now (shiny or not)? Relevance aside it's one of the longest standing absences at this point from the game that has been introduced (i.e. excluding undebuted mons) and doesn't have red-tape/brand-synergy obstacles to reappearing (see the M1 Remake Clones or Detective Pikachu)

It's very odd how it's the only Unova pokemon that's not been announced in any capacity. All the legends are accounted for, Victini is part of the paid pass, Shiny Meloetta as the new ticket, Genesect will be part of the raids/rewards just like the legends....

maybe Keldeo will be part of the normal research?

 

[Antihaxxer]

Between this and the Keldeo shiny added to Home, can we PLEASE get a rerun of Keldeo in Go now (shiny or not)? Relevance aside it's one of the longest standing absences at this point from the game that has been introduced (i.e. excluding undebuted mons) and doesn't have red-tape/brand-synergy obstacles to reappearing (see the M1 Remake Clones or Detective Pikachu)

Was Keldeo only payblock ?

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Was Keldeo only payblock ?

Yes, it was a ticketed research event a couple of years ago.

I'd be surprised if it didn't show up in some form during Unova Tour, even though they haven't announced it yet.

Not very surprised (this is Niantic after all), but surprised.