Pokémon GO

[Blitz]

The Rocket Takeover is now starting. It's experiencing a limited release in certain locations, however. Details:

Rocket Components are dropped by Grunts whenever you beat them.

6 Rocket Components are combined and make a Rocket Radar to find a Rocket Admin.

Fight the Admin (they use shields and their Pokémon are stronger than Grunts) and defeat the Admin for a chance to snag a Shadow Pokémon and some rewards.

Potential rewards: Unova Stone, Sinnoh Stone, 1000 Stardust, Max Potion, Hyper Potion, Max Revive, Revive

Shadow Pokémon:

Cliff: Meowth
Sierra: Sneasel
Arlo: Scyther

Furthermore, all 3 Shadow Pokémon can be shiny.

You cannot battle Rocket Admins during the night. I believe regular Grunts are unaffected.

-

I just did 35 battles, for 5 Rocket Admin battles in total, and I did not get a single stone or see any shiny, so idk if I'm just super unlucky or the odds are sucky (for the stones).

 

[Kanburi]

All that build up for some really underwhelming rewards, and that's not even considering the abysmal rate for the better rewards...

 

[Codraroll]

You cannot battle Rocket Admins during the night.

Hello from just below the Arctic circle. I'll be sure to play the games some time during the four hours of daylight we get each day in December, then.

 

[Kanburi]

Rocket bosses, including Giovanni, have started to appear. There's also a new special research to tie in with this event.

Meanwhile, I got my second straight Moltres from the new batch of research breakthrough rewards smh.

 

[Expert Evan]

I'm tempted to hold off on fighting the rocket leaders until I see what future steps are ahead. purifying 15 seems tedious since I've been transferring a bunch of them previously.

 

[Ivy]

The worst part is having to spend at least 15k dust on those purifications. Research is supposed to give you rewards, not be a dust sink!
Also 5 days waiting game with the pokestops, yikes.

 

[かたわれ時]

Thankfully my mother had the foresight to expect a research quest on Rockets so we had a bunch of cheap Shadow Zubats. We didn’t expect 15 though!

 

[Kanburi]

I had to fight 15 Rocket Grunts since I had transferred all my Shadow Pokemon (lack of space and didn't want to expand yet) already. Just got 2 raids and 2 more days to go before the next step. Fought Cliff once but I'm holding onto my second radar thing in case fighting a leader is in part 3 of the research.

Please no more "Catch a Ditto" or "Visit x new Poke Stops" missions...

EDIT: Got my raids done. Third Cobalion raid and still haven't caught it. Seems like Cobalion is my new Kyogre, just can't catch it even if I get Golden Razz-buffed curved great/excellent throws...

 

[Kanburi]

The rest of the special research tasks:

3/6
Use 6 supereffective Charged Attacks in Gym Battles
Win 3 Great League Trainer Battles against another trainer
Defeat 6 Team GO Rocket Grunts

4/6
Defeat Team GO Rocket Leader Arlo
Defeat Team GO Rocket Leader Cliff
Defeat Team GO Rocket Leader Sierra

5/6
Find the Team GO Rocket Boss
Battle the Team GO Rocket Boss
Defeat the Team GO Rocket Boss

6/6
Claim Reward
Claim Reward
Claim Reward

That's a lot of grunts to battle...

 

[Blitz]

November 2019 Events

tl;dr Supereffective Week w/ Shiny Tentacool, Terrakion for a few weeks, and Friend Fest with 2 special trades a day.

Not particularly eventful... but ok I guess.

 

[Panic Station]

A week with more potions and revives is nice. I don't pull battle items often because I don't do many gyms/raids, so taking on the grunts is sapping my meager supply.

 

[Kanburi]

Details for Chimchar Community Day released:

Also, after the latest update, I had to turn on Adventure Mode again. Make sure you do the same so your steps count!

 

[Blitz]

Galarian Weezing

Galarian Weezing is in raids. 1 hour timer. No idea when it ends lol

EDIT: Seemingly spawning at the end of each Community Day.

Other news: Niantic rep has confirmed Yamask was a Halloween-only spawn apparently. It's like Delibird... probably should have been communicated.

 

[Kanburi]

Finally found Sierra and beat her. Onto Giovanni now.

Pretty decent CD for me, got a few shinies and usable Chimchar. Also snagged myself a Galarian Weezing.

 

[Kanburi]

My Machamp gets destroyed by Giovanni's Persian and my Riolu isn't good enough for me to evolve it. Any other tips for taking on Giovanni?

 

[かたわれ時]

My Machamp gets destroyed by Giovanni's Persian and my Riolu isn't good enough for me to evolve it. Any other tips for taking on Giovanni?

Errr... this is my team:

Giratina-Altered Dragon Breath + Dragon Claw (gets rid of shields)
Kyogre Waterfall + Hydro Pump (Ground-type killer)
Aggron Smack Down + Stone Edge (kills Articuno)

 

[Kanburi]

Errr... this is my team:

Giratina-Altered Dragon Breath + Dragon Claw (gets rid of shields)
Kyogre Waterfall + Hydro Pump (Ground-type killer)
Aggron Smack Down + Stone Edge (kills Articuno)

I beat him just before seeing this post, but thanks anyway.

I bit the bullet and evolved Riolu and powered up my CD Swampert to 2,500 CP ish. Led with Smack Down/Stone Edge Tyranitar to charge up SE, swapped to Lucario to burn shields then beat Persian, and beat Rhydon with Water Gun/Hydro Cannon Swampert before going back to Tyranitar to finish Articuno.

So yeah pretty standard stuff.

 

[Kanburi]

December Community Day:

Enjoy a weekend of Community Day encounters, bonuses, and more in December!

Trainers,

As 2019 wraps up, we wanted to thank you all for making this year’s Community Days awesome. To celebrate this year, look forward to a special two-day event featuring Community Day encounters and bonuses on Saturday, December 14, and Sunday, December 15, 2019, as a thank-you for joining us for the 2019 Community Day series.

Community Day Schedule: Saturday, December 14, 2019

From 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. in your local time zone, you can enjoy the following benefits.

• Pokémon appearing more frequently in the wild: Totodile, Swinub, Treecko, Torchic, Mudkip, Ralts, Slakoth, Trapinch, Bagon, Turtwig, and Chimchar
• Pokémon appearing in raids: Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle, Pikachu, Eevee, Dratini, Chikorita, Cyndaquil, Mareep, Larvitar, and Beldum
• Pokémon available to hatch from Eggs: Bulbasaur, Charmander, Pikachu, Dratini, Totodile, Mareep, Swinub, Larvitar, Treecko, Torchic, Slakoth, and Bagon

From 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. local time, experience the following bonuses and increased encounters.

• Pokémon appearing even more frequently in the wild: Totodile, Swinub, Treecko, Torchic, Slakoth, and Bagon
• Bonuses: 2× Catch Stardust, 2× Catch XP, and 1/2 Egg Hatch Distance when Eggs are placed into Incubators during these hours

Community Day Schedule: Sunday, December 15, 2019

From 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. in your local time zone, you can enjoy the following benefits.

• Pokémon appearing more frequently in the wild: Totodile, Swinub, Treecko, Torchic, Mudkip, Ralts, Slakoth, Trapinch, Bagon, Turtwig, and Chimchar
• Pokémon appearing in raids: Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle, Pikachu, Eevee, Dratini, Chikorita, Cyndaquil, Mareep, Larvitar, and Beldum
• Pokémon available to hatch from Eggs: Squirtle, Eevee, Chikorita, Cyndaquil, Mudkip, Ralts, Trapinch, Beldum, Turtwig, and Chimchar

From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. local time, experience the following bonuses and increased encounters.

• Pokémon appearing even more frequently in the wild: Mudkip, Ralts, Trapinch, Turtwig, and Chimchar
• Bonuses: 2× Catch Stardust, 2× Catch XP, and 1/2 Egg Hatch Distance when Eggs are placed into Incubators during these hours

Community Day Schedule: Both Saturday, December 14, and Sunday, December 15, 2019

From 9:00 a.m. on Saturday to 9:00 p.m. on Sunday in your local time zone, the following bonus will be in effect.

• Evolve for Community Day exclusive moves: Exclusive moves featured during 2018 and 2019 Community Day events will be available again!

Prepare for a weekend of community fun, Trainers! And get ready to GO!

—The Pokémon GO team

 

[PsychicAcademic]

.... LAST RESORT UMBREON, We meet again.

 

[Panic Station]

Man, they oughta replace Torchic spawns with Mareep, because Supereffective Week is already Torchic Community Week.

 

[Kanburi]

After going an abysmal 4/12 for Cobalion, I caught a Terrakion on a critical capture with my second Poke (Premier) Ball after the first raid today.

 

[Codraroll]

Looks like I missed Cobalion entirely. We're hit with a cold spell over here, the roads have been covered in ice for weeks, and there's a ton of stuff to do at work, so I haven't had time to raid (and there aren't many other players around to raid with either, for many of the same reasons). I despise that Rocket sidequest with its "Win 5 raids" task, since I only end up doing a raid every other week nowadays.

Oh well, I might get a Terrakion, at least. Maybe. And I guess Cobalion will be back before we know it too.

 

[Kanburi]

Apparently the Looming in the Shadows special research is a monthly thing, and for December, Giovanni's last Pokemon is Shadow Zapdos.

Not really sure how I feel about going through all those shenanigans again...

 

[かたわれ時]

Apparently the Looming in the Shadows special research is a monthly thing, and for December, Giovanni's last Pokemon is Shadow Zapdos.

Not really sure how I feel about going through all those shenanigans again...

It’s not too bad actually if you have a ideal matchup ready. Just defeated Giovanni with elj and his Articuno was easily destroyed by my Ttar. Moltres and Zapdos shouldn’t be too much harder.

Also, the rewards are brilliant. You automatically get 6000XP for defeating Giovanni, to say nothing about all the other items. Pop in a lucky egg and your getting 12,000+ XP in a single session!

 

[Kanburi]

It’s not too bad actually if you have a ideal matchup ready. Just defeated Giovanni with elj and his Articuno was easily destroyed by my Ttar. Moltres and Zapdos shouldn’t be too much harder.

Also, the rewards are brilliant. You automatically get 6000XP for defeating Giovanni, to say nothing about all the other items. Pop in a lucky egg and your getting 12,000+ XP in a single session!

It's more the chore of having to battle all those grunts that's annoying. At least it's finally starting to get cool where I am so walking around isn't that big of an issue.