Pokémon GO

Tauros and Seviper are regionals, so that wouldn't have worked, unfortunately.
Part of it is that we can finally get region swaps, though. It annoys me that the game is basically collecting and capturing Pokemon, but they can't seriously expect the majority of their players to actually travel to other continents to do so. It's about time we got Heracross and Illumise over here...

And, would Snubull or Houndour work better for dog instead?
Sure, anything but a hyena lol. It's overall a weak event, though I appreciate the double EXP and increased chances at lucky Pokemon, a tie-in to red packets.
 
The best part of the event is the double exp, in my opinion. However, there are still very valuable rewards:
  • Rattata as evolution XP fodder
  • Electabuzz for evolving and powering up Electivires
  • More Dratinis because why not lmao, it's a great mon
  • Mareep is a godsend to people who missed the CD last year
  • Torchics and Torchic candy for the eventual Torchic CD, since it will have the best Fire DPS in the game short of an eventual Reshiram / Primal Groudon
 
  • Torchics and Torchic candy for the eventual Torchic CD, since it will have the best Fire DPS in the game short of an eventual Reshiram / Primal Groudon
I actually didn't think about that. At the same time, they'll have to come up with someone groundbreaking to keep me playing the game that long, I feel.
 
In the latest newsletter:

1. Friendship event this weekend. Double friendship when sending/receiving gifts, double candy when trading Pokemon, and half Stardust required to trade Pokemon. Btw is it possible to trade from long distance?

2. Valentine's event. No details.
 

Champion Leon

Banned deucer.
In the latest newsletter:

1. Friendship event this weekend. Double friendship when sending/receiving gifts, double candy when trading Pokemon, and half Stardust required to trade Pokemon. Btw is it possible to trade from long distance?

2. Valentine's event. No details.
1) Nope, just challenge from a distance. Also I sent a gift. We are so close to being Ultra Friends! Since CD is Sunday, that double boost might be just enough for us to make it on Saturday!

2) I am surprised, but I hope it’s not just a Luvdisc spam spawn like last year. We should get Fairy Wind as an exclusive move for Togekiss in PoGo for Valentine’s Day, totally ties in with the Metagame, as well as the actual Pokémon name.
 
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According to the Chinese version of the game, the featured move in Swinub CD is Ancient Power.
I knew it... on one note, we can unlock second move. And this is indeed a good nod to the main games.
On another note, that costs much too, just to keep an exclusive move. And as useful as it seems, Rock targets are also already covered by Ice it has by itself. The only time it's useful is if it has Bug, Ice, or Fire-type target, which is rare (Bug, nah. Laplace's time has ended, and Fire can be covered by its own Ground)

I suppose this is like Psychic Gengar. Except with no Treat. (Also, at least Gengar's 2nd move unlock is cheaper)
 
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Champion Leon

Banned deucer.
I knew it... on one note, we can unlock second move. And this is indeed a good nod to the main games.
On another note, that costs much too, just to keep an exclusive move. And as useful as it seems, Rock targets are also already covered by Ice it has by itself. The only time it's useful is if it has Bug, Ice, or Fire-type target, which is rare (Bug, nah. Laplace's time has ended, and Fire can be covered by its own Ground)

I suppose this is like Psychic Gengar. Except with no Treat. (Also, at least Gengar's 2nd move unlock is cheaper)
I think what they could do is give us a Fast Move as well, since Gengar got 2 moves in 1 day, maybe niantic has a trick up their sleeve, especially in the week leading up to it people complain, which I actually think is what made them give Lick to Gengar in the first place.

Once people found out it was Psychic, all of Twitter was upset...
Still, with the buff to Shadow Claw but not to Lick, in PvP, Niantic found a way to reward Legacy moves... 3 years after it was removed from the game

Also, since it costs a Sinnoh Stone, that could justify why they give 2 moves in 1, harder to evolve, so a bigger reward.
 
I think what they could do is give us a Fast Move as well, since Gengar got 2 moves in 1 day, maybe niantic has a trick up their sleeve, especially in the week leading up to it people complain, which I actually think is what made them give Lick to Gengar in the first place.

Once people found out it was Psychic, all of Twitter was upset...
Still, with the buff to Shadow Claw but not to Lick, in PvP, Niantic found a way to reward Legacy moves... 3 years after it was removed from the game

Also, since it costs a Sinnoh Stone, that could justify why they give 2 moves in 1, harder to evolve, so a bigger reward.
Thing is, there is really no move that could make him better, except maybe Frost Breath
 

Expert Evan

every battle has a smell!
is a Forum Moderator Alumnus
Friendship weekend recently started as I'm already up to 61 best friends, soon to be 62 or as much as 64 by the time this is over on Monday. While I know I posted my FC here and on Twitter, there are many I'm not so familiar with and the ones that were inactive unfortunately I had to remove since it was hard to manage at times even though I'm usually in places where there's lots of pokestops to spin at. The following names I'm still trying to figure out whom they are as we're 2 or 6 days away already: AnthonyTran59 (apparently from Alberta Canada) & Enthalpy01 (Australia). I don't mind receiving gifts from so far away especially for the 7k eggs which help with trading distance.

Biggest thrill recently was catching a perfect weather boosted Palkia but not without drama. To make a long story short, between the 5 of us we had network error issues, didn't beat it the first time since it also had Draco Meteor and had to restart like 4 of 5 times before we barely got it when the raid time expired and with few seconds left. Not sure I'll power it up anytime soon since my dragon squad is already loaded with 2 rayquazas and about 6-8 dragonites all or mostly maxed out anyways.
 

Champion Leon

Banned deucer.
Friendship weekend recently started as I'm already up to 61 best friends, soon to be 62 or as much as 64 by the time this is over on Monday. While I know I posted my FC here and on Twitter, there are many I'm not so familiar with and the ones that were inactive unfortunately I had to remove since it was hard to manage at times even though I'm usually in places where there's lots of pokestops to spin at. The following names I'm still trying to figure out whom they are as we're 2 or 6 days away already: AnthonyTran59 (apparently from Alberta Canada) & Enthalpy01 (Australia). I don't mind receiving gifts from so far away especially for the 7k eggs which help with trading distance.

Biggest thrill recently was catching a perfect weather boosted Palkia but not without drama. To make a long story short, between the 5 of us we had network error issues, didn't beat it the first time since it also had Draco Meteor and had to restart like 4 of 5 times before we barely got it when the raid time expired and with few seconds left. Not sure I'll power it up anytime soon since my dragon squad is already loaded with 2 rayquazas and about 6-8 dragonites all or mostly maxed out anyways.
I don’t understand why Niantic focuses on making efforts less rewarding. Palkia could have been so much better with its signature move, breaking the mold for Dragon attacks.

Glad you got one. Think of a weather boost as a mini Lucky, where you save stardust and even some candies in the process.
 
I don’t understand why Niantic focuses on making efforts less rewarding. Palkia could have been so much better with its signature move, breaking the mold for Dragon attacks.

Glad you got one. Think of a weather boost as a mini Lucky, where you save stardust and even some candies in the process.
To be fair, they haven't release any of the Legendaries signature moves.
(Psystrike, Aeroblast, Sacred Fire, Mist Ball, Luster Purge, Precipice Blade, Origin Pulse, Dragon Ascent, Magma Storm, Lunar Dance)

I don't see them starting with Palkia, in the middle of a generation, and squandering potential to attract even more purchases of Raid Passes when they actually re-release Legendaries with their amazing, meta defining signature moves.
 

breh

強いだね
I don’t understand why Niantic focuses on making efforts less rewarding. Palkia could have been so much better with its signature move, breaking the mold for Dragon attacks.
There's no depth to attacks now as it is; there's no mold to break beyond I guess having 3 bars
 

Champion Leon

Banned deucer.
To be fair, they haven't release any of the Legendaries signature moves.
(Psystrike, Aeroblast, Sacred Fire, Mist Ball, Luster Purge, Precipice Blade, Origin Pulse, Dragon Ascent, Magma Storm, Lunar Dance)

I don't see them starting with Palkia, in the middle of a generation, and squandering potential to attract even more purchases of Raid Passes when they actually re-release Legendaries with their amazing, meta defining signature moves.
No. I think people will simply decide to not buy raid passes until they are Re-released. For me I stopped completely unless I defend gyms to earn coins for free. If I decide to raid, it’s with my free daily, and I won’t spend $ on a Pokémon that is subpar. Same reasons why people skipped Heatran and Ho-oh Raids. They decide if a metagame relevant Pokémon is better than what is currently offered, like Moltres over Ho-Oh.

We do see some signature moves released with Community Day, as for legendaries we do have legacy moves including Deoxys’ Psycho Boost on all forms so far. And that was at the end of Gen 3, which gives us precedent for further generations. Some people debate if it’s mythical or legendary, or both, but in regards to something getting an in game signature move off of raiding, there you go.

There's no depth to attacks now as it is; there's no mold to break beyond I guess having 3 bars
Ya, or just providing more Fast moves from Gen 7, since they gave use a recent update to make more Pokémon meta relevant, that was sort of a missed opportunity on their part... I.e Togekiss getting a Fairy fast move.

Palkia could have gotten HP for a chance at HP Water to compete with Kyogre, and Special Rend to compete with Rayquaza.
 
No. I think people will simply decide to not buy raid passes until they are Re-released. For me I stopped completely unless I defend gyms to earn coins for free. If I decide to raid, it’s with my free daily, and I won’t spend $ on a Pokémon that is subpar. Same reasons why people skipped Heatran and Ho-oh Raids. They decide if a metagame relevant Pokémon is better than what is currently offered, like Moltres over Ho-Oh.

We do see some signature moves released with Community Day, as for legendaries we do have legacy moves including Deoxys’ Psycho Boost on all forms so far. And that was at the end of Gen 3, which gives us precedent for further generations. Some people debate if it’s mythical or legendary, or both, but in regards to something getting an in game signature move off of raiding, there you go.
Raid Passes are still a major money maker for Niantic, regardless if you're personally purchasing them or not. There's people on my local group who caught upwards of 50 Moltres with Sky Attack, during its special Raid Day. Giving Legendaries a powerful, meta-defining move will attract a lot of players, and a lot of purchases, whether you agree with it or not.

Since we're talking about Legendaries, the mechanic behind the release of Community Day moves is pretty irrelevant, since a Legendary will never be the feature of a Community Day.

And since Deoxys is an EX Raid exclusive and you can't buy an EX Raid Pass, there's no real comparison with the dynamics of typical Legendary Raids. But sure.
 

Blitz

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The model is clear-cut to those who've observed what Niantic has adopted: Debut the Legendary/Mythical for a month, release the shiny version (with or without custom move involved), then rerelease it with a potentially powerful move that changes the way the Legendary/Mythical operates.

After what happened with Zapdos Day (replacing Charge Beam with the objectively superior Thunder Shock, and having no way to gain it outside of events), as well as the Community Day model, the FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) approach has by and large dictated how the majority of the playerbase operates. Now people will withhold evolutions or not go crazy spending raid passes due to what's expected of Niantic to do. It generates the most money while dragging out content, and people want to maximize their gains.

On the topic of custom moves, we know for a fact Precipice Blades, Origin Pulse, Doom Desire, Psystrike, and Psycho Boost are in the code of the game with defined values. Of those, Psycho Boost was released and it's a pretty horrible move (whereas the first 3 are actually very good). There is no defined pattern as to which move Niantic will code or even release, and combining the FOMO approach with the knowledge of these moves already existing in Go makes people even more apprehensive. Who knows if Spacial Rend is coming, or Magma Storm, or Shadow Force? That being said, people can choose to play in whatever way they deem fit, and Niantic's current model still benefits people who are willing to spend the most money regardless.
 

Champion Leon

Banned deucer.
Raid Passes are still a major money maker for Niantic, regardless if you're personally purchasing them or not. There's people on my local group who caught upwards of 50 Moltres with Sky Attack, during its special Raid Day. Giving Legendaries a powerful, meta-defining move will attract a lot of players, and a lot of purchases, whether you agree with it or not.

Since we're talking about Legendaries, the mechanic behind the release of Community Day moves is pretty irrelevant, since a Legendary will never be the feature of a Community Day.

And since Deoxys is an EX Raid exclusive and you can't buy an EX Raid Pass, there's no real comparison with the dynamics of typical Legendary Raids. But sure.
I think you missed my point. People won’t spend money on a bad Pokémon or a Pokémon that doesn’t have the best moves released. Since Moltres doesn’t have a signature Attack, we can safely assume Sky Attack is the best we will get. Lugia also has Sky Attack released as a special move, but people can still assume that it may eventually get Aeroblast. They can view it as a Lick Gengar vs a Shadow Claw Gengar, a second chance at an upgraded Lugia.

Your point of Moltres was with regards to Sky Attack, so of course with the best move it could have (and no future Moltres Signature move since it doesn’t have a signature move in the games), that is why they bought them.

My personal savings was off of subpar moves on good Pokémon with signature moves we can predict they will get, and only spending for when their signature moves, or special day moves are released. I.e. not spending on Ho-Oh and Heatran since they don’t have their signature moves, but spending on special move Sky Attack Moltres even if if it’s typing is the same or worse when compared to Ho-Oh and Heatran.

I will spend when Ho-oh and Heatran re-release with their moves, so it’s not about the Pokémon, it’s about timing it with their moves.
————
I think it is comparable to a community day, because in the case of Moltres is was a 3 hour event, with an exclusive move, just like community day. They even gave extra free raid passes for people who didn’t want to spend $. They also increased the catch rates, and even released their shiny forms for their first time (just like Community Day). The only difference was not needing 125 candies to evolve them in a short window, and needing raid passes instead; so some could easily argue special raid days like with Moltres and Gengar are pretty similar to to Community Days in the time limit, special move, increased catch rates, and new Shiny release...
—————
Ex-raids are the reason why some people buy raid passes even when they don’t like the current rotation of raidable Pokémon. So I would argue it is comparable if you can get a pass, afterall, when people do Tier 1-2 Raids just for a shot at an Ex-Raid invite, that says a lot.
——-
Maybe Blitz made my point clearer to you, but my focus was not on ever spending for passes, it was based on not spending until it is *worth it*.

If I have a budget, I would rather spend a few $ on a Pokémon when it comes out with its exclusive move, even if I spend $ Now to rack up species candies and rare candies, if I won’t end up using the species candies and rare candies for at least a year (as we saw with Mewtwo’s lack of Psystrike, Gen 2-3 legends, etc.) So when I get rare candies from my daily free Raids, i May as well spend it on what is already good like MMash Metagross, since it is unlikely it will need a new move, and MM Metagross is so meta defining that even if it gets a new fast and/or charge move, it won’t be bad enough to stop using MMash variants.

tldr: Spending $ Now for Raids to accumulate species candies on something that may be years away from its signature move is a waste, especially if new gems supercede what that signature move could offer. I.e. What if Sacred Fire Ho-oh’s Power is weaker than Blast Burn Blaziken? You spend $ on a Pokémon that is never better than something else.
 
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Two bits of confirmation:
For the first time, evolve Piloswine with a Sinnoh Stone during or up to one hour after Community Day to obtain a Mamoswine that knows the Rock-type move Ancient Power, a #PokemonGOCommunityDay exclusive!
Great news, Trainers! All day during your region's #PokemonGOCommunityDay, you can earn five Sinnoh Stones from challenging Team Leaders and five additional Sinnoh Stones from participating in Trainer Battles. Check out the in-game news to learn more.
At first I thought it was 5 total from Team Leaders and Trainer Battles, but now it looks like we can get up to 10 guaranteed Sinnoh Stones! Probably works the same way for the other day, too, only at a chance rather than guaranteed.
 

Blitz

Mightiest of Cleaves
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Specifically called GO Snapshot. Nothing really game-breaking but I'm sure some of our AR lovers here will enjoy the feature. Given this is one of Niantic's primary focuses, I assume we'll get the snapshot competitions more streamlined / announced here with the release of this feature.
 


Valentine’s Day Celebration

Feb. 13, 2019, at 1:00 p.m. PST (GMT -8) to Feb. 21, 2019, at 1:00 p.m. PST (GMT -8)
  • Pink Pokémon such as Clefairy, Hoppip, and Luvdisc will appear more frequently in the wild!
  • Certain pink Pokémon will hatch more frequently from 7 km Eggs!
  • Pink Pokémon such as Chansey and Porygon will appear more frequently in Raid Battles!

  • Lure Modules will last six hours for the duration of the event.
  • 2× Catch Candy
 

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