Pokémon GO

[QuentinQuonce]

Also, I will be annoyed if Niantic doesn't do the obvious thing and release shiny Zamazenta right after Zacian so that I can finally pick up the shiny.

I would imagine Zamazenta will follow Zacian immediately but it's possible they space them out a bit to draw out the season's theme. Galar doesn't have a lot of legendaries to put in t5 raids after all.

Might be the end of October but that's usually reserved for your Halloween staples like Darkrai and Giratina. Given Sinnoh tour was this year though, maybe not - could it be possible we get Spectrier released next month? Given they released Cosmog long before Necrozma I don't see why not, Calyrex could absolutely be saved until a future Galar tour. I don't see Eternatus debuting for a long time (and they'd make sense to do together). Kubfu seems like the sort of mon they should save for a season-long research, but wait for them to just make it a ticketed encounter like they did with Keldeo.

 

[R_N]

The spaced out Zamazenta & Zacian teh first time too. But just by like a week or two; I am guessing the same will be here.

I doubt they already rush out Spectrier for Halloween, since it's not like Paldea's first halloween dropped any of the ruinous treasures; we'll probably just see the usual suspects. If we get a new Galar ghost this year I figure it'll be Galarian Corsola + Cursola, since they have been conspicuously absent. The other 5 cross-gen evolutions came out in 2021 and all the other Galarian forms came out since then.

 

[R_N]

Niantic has revealed some of the details for the coming Dynamax feature in Pokémon GO through Japanese media such as Famitsu. Do note, elements are subject to change by release implementation next week
In battle when you Dynamax you can use 3 options: Max Guard to protect against damage, a Max Move and Max Spirit which will provide recovery to both your Pokémon and ally Pokémon. Each Dynamax Battle has a limited amount of turns to complete, which means more strategy needs to be implemented.
1 Star Max Battles require 250 Max Particles to enter. You can earn Max Particles by walking to Power Spots. Max Battles are local only and cannot be done remotely.
Only 4 people can participate in Max Battles at one time and you can use only 3 Pokémon and they have to be Dynamax capable to participate. Pokémon can only be Dynamax capable if caught from Max Battles. Dynamax capable Pokémon can be used in all other facets of the game but will be unable to Dynamax during it
You have the ability to upgrade the rewards from Max Battles using Poké Coins. In the example given, you could get an additional Golden Razz Bery, Rare, Candy, Hyper Potion and 10 Premier Balls for 100 Poké Coins
Power Spots, where Max Battles are located, can be found at random locations but don't take over existing Gyms or PokéStops
Max Move performance can be improved using Max Particles and Candy XL

ngl this all sounds like it sucks

Also very...confused at the prospect of "You have to be Dynamax capable to participate" and "Pokemon can only be capable if caught from Max Battles"

Serebii does not post all the information and you can get more information here but it is in Japanese
https://app.famitsu.com/article/202408/15663
Here are some importants one

1. You need 250 max particle to join a Max Battles and you can get 300 by walking 2 km (You can collect at maximum 800 particles a day)
2. Only Dynamax capable can participate in Max Battles and you will get the first one by tutorial (You can join a Max Battle with just 1 Dynamax eligible pokemon)

Edit
Additional Max Battle mechanics:

• You can dynamax your Pokemon when the Max meter is full
• The Max meter can be seen at the top and can be charged by attacking or hitting the "Max charge" (purple button that appears occasionally)
• At first, you only have one Dynamax Pokemon that you obtain in the tutorial
• You also need to teach each Pokemon individual "Max Moves" that can be used during Dynamax. You may not have many "Max Moves," but don't hesitate to participate in Max Battles to increase your numbers and skills
• I am not certain about this point but based on the information given it appears by default your Pokemon only has Max Attack and you need to do "something" to unlock Max Heal and Max Guard
• When three lines appear above a Pokemon's head, it means it is being targeted. You can avoid it by swiping

After a Max Battle

• You can place your Pokemon in the power spot to help support other players. You will receive rewards based on how much you helped them. (I assume this is to help player who attempt with group less than 4 player)

OK you're given a dynamax Pokemon for free.
That makes sense but also this is just...such an incredibly stupid way of handling this

 

[pika pal]

Max Battles sound pretty lame to me in that if they're not engaging for their own sake, you're basically playing them from scratch (due to requiring Max-able Pokemon) to catch... just more Pokemon. No use of the feature for other modes, nothing unique, and you can't carry much over to participate with your existing catches or resources. The slow roll out also means players can't reasonably expect more difficult stuff for a while since we're basically getting the Starters and a couple Normals as initial options (so good luck with Dragons for example).

I'm left with a Max Move question of if it's locked to the Pokemon's type(s) or will match their move(s). Like they demonstrate with Blastoise for Geyser, but will Venusaur with Frenzy Plant/Sludge Bomb have Max Overgrowth, Max Ooze, or both? Can Charizard have Max Wyrmwind from Dragon Claw?

Can I also note that the Max requirement means that barring a break from canon, Zacian/Zamazenta/Eternatus will be completely unusable in Max Raids due to being unable to Dynamax (I don't assume Eternamax is accessible since it's mad as an OP Boss-Monster type form) despite Dynamax slaying being their whole schtick in those games? This feels glaring especially given Zacian is rerunning in the same month the mechanic is introduced.

 

[R_N]

Max Battles sound pretty lame to me in that if they're not engaging for their own sake, you're basically playing them from scratch (due to requiring Max-able Pokemon) to catch... just more Pokemon. No use of the feature for other modes, nothing unique, and you can't carry much over to participate with your existing catches or resources. The slow roll out also means players can't reasonably expect more difficult stuff for a while since we're basically getting the Starters and a couple Normals as initial options (so good luck with Dragons for example).

I'm left with a Max Move question of if it's locked to the Pokemon's type(s) or will match their move(s). Like they demonstrate with Blastoise for Geyser, but will Venusaur with Frenzy Plant/Sludge Bomb have Max Overgrowth, Max Ooze, or both? Can Charizard have Max Wyrmwind from Dragon Claw?

Can I also note that the Max requirement means that barring a break from canon, Zacian/Zamazenta/Eternatus will be completely unusable in Max Raids due to being unable to Dynamax (I don't assume Eternamax is accessible since it's mad as an OP Boss-Monster type form) despite Dynamax slaying being their whole schtick in those games? This feels glaring especially given Zacian is rerunning in the same month the mechanic is introduced.

I think the Max requirement is actually just you need to have a capable Pokemon. Otherwise these first set of raids would be limited entirely to the Gen 1 starters, Wooloo & Skwovet lines.

So hypothetically you could bring Dynamax Charmander, 2 randos who can't Dynamax yet and Zacian. The only thing that should matter is that you have Charmander.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Waiting for this feature to be overhauled in a couple of months/years as for now I join the chorus of voices who find it tremendously unexciting.

So far this new season/event has been... a bit meh. It would have been nice if there'd been 2x catch candy (or even 4x) like the previous introductory events for Paldea and Alola had as it just makes catching enough of the three starters to evolve feel like a grind even with the extra candy you get for your chosen one. I mean, we have to catch 88 Pokemon (twice), walk 8 km, and eventually hatch 8 eggs as part of the research so it's a grind anyhow (which is annoying in itself, enough with the tedious pseudo-timegate quests).

Managed to catch two Dreepy so far thanks to using my baby account as a radar. That's something at least. Not actually come across a Stonjourner yet, they've all been too far to bother chasing! I'd like to amass a bunch of them for when I'm next on holiday...

 

[R_N]

Picked up the starters and, pleasantly, a Dreepy.
Happened significantly sooner than that dang Frigibax. I'm happy on that front.

Do need to seek out a Stonjourner, of course. Doesn't seem like they've hit the GTS yet, thoguh.


not looking forward to the eventual Spain-exclusive Paldean Pokemon. Feel like that one will be more of a pain to get. But ideally not as much of an ass as Comfey or Hawlucha.

 

[DrrT]

They have killed my interest in going back to the game with the whole only local raids nonsense. So many bad decisions on a new feature, but people are defending them, so clearly I'm the issue, living in a rural area.

Picked up the starters and, pleasantly, a Dreepy.
Happened significantly sooner than that dang Frigibax. I'm happy on that front.

Do need to seek out a Stonjourner, of course. Doesn't seem like they've hit the GTS yet, thoguh.


not looking forward to the eventual Spain-exclusive Paldean Pokemon. Feel like that one will be more of a pain to get. But ideally not as much of an ass as Comfey or Hawlucha.

If you or anyone by that matter need said Spain-exclusive mon eventually, just hit me up. I will happily trade it for anything. It's not like I have anything better to do nowadays and my only remaining friend doesn't play GO lol

 

[R_N]

My discord came through and someone pulled some fast & loose GTS trades to grab a Stonjourner and pass it around.

853/853, complete once more until Morpeko comes....eventually. I'd assume this month, but I also assumed it would have been in the "launch" of Galar so hey what do I know.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Amusingly I was reading about where Stonjourner is catchable (managed to grab about 5 of them by now, yay) and, while it does appear to be catchable in Northern Ireland, I haven't yet seen a confirmation that it's widespread in the Republic of Ireland.

Klefki's range appears to be a solid square over France (explaining why you can find it in southeast England and in some western parts of Belgium) but it'd be incredibly amusing to me if they'd specifically drawn the borders of Stonjourner's availability to take the UK's land area into account given how often people incorrectly identify the RoI as part of the UK.

I'd be surprised if this were the case, though, and it's more likely to me that Stonjourner's range simply is just a giant box covering the entirety of the British Isles. But if the intention was to make Stonjourner exclusive to the UK and they've correctly left Ireland out of that, go Niantic!

Obviously, if the range did look like this Stonjourner would still be encounterable in a very small part of the RoI as well as France, but pretty much all regionals have at least a little bit of boundary creep - Tropius is "the Africa regional" but can be caught in some parts of southern Spain.

 

[pika pal]

Apparently Power Spots are starting to pop up alongside the first Dynamax related Special Research, probably so people can catch their "first" Max Pokemon and learn the mechanics ahead of next week's event. And learn they are as people already found ways to get above the 800 Particle "soft cap" and have confirmed the Max Wooloo can be Shiny (which probably means any other Dynamax Pokemon can be if its "regular" shiny is out)

 

[R_N]

Apparently Power Spots are starting to pop up alongside the first Dynamax related Special Research, probably so people can catch their "first" Max Pokemon and learn the mechanics ahead of next week's event. And learn they are as people already found ways to get above the 800 Particle "soft cap" and have confirmed the Max Wooloo can be Shiny (which probably means any other Dynamax Pokemon can be if its "regular" shiny is out)

When they were detailing Dynamax's events ahead of time they were up front that you can find them as shiny

The Famitsu article I posted about earlier also detailed the particle cap was if you walk around. I presume that this is the "tutorial" they were talking about, since the Wooloo is free.


Hasn't activated in my area, guessing I'll get it tomorrow.

 

[pika pal]

When they were detailing Dynamax's events ahead of time they were up front that you can find them as shiny

The Famitsu article I posted about earlier also detailed the particle cap was if you walk around. I presume that this is the "tutorial" they were talking about, since the Wooloo is free.


Hasn't activated in my area, guessing I'll get it tomorrow.

So specifically what people are finding is the game stops giving you particles once you hit 800 for the day, but they've been timing the 2km -> 300 Particle reward after hitting 720 (stops give 120 apiece) so the game doesn't hard cap you at that number outright.

And mentioning the shiny I believe, just that people have confirmed it is live (since Niantic does have a track record of not turning on Shinies when they should be active)

 

[R_N]

A pleasant surprise to see the Hatenna line being added. I was figuring we'd either get Morpeko this month or nothing else at all.


Still chuckling at the Dynamax dripfeed, though. I wonder if they'll keep it limited to SWSH Pokemon only....

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Yeah idk about anyone else but I'm not hunting a Dynamax Beldum when I already have two hundos

Also, excellent to see my favourite Psychic-type being featured... Morelull.

 

[R_N]

Yeah idk about anyone else but I'm not hunting a Dynamax Beldum when I already have two hundos

Also, excellent to see my favourite Psychic-type being featured... Morelull.

Also Mawile, Swirlix & Spritzee

guess they wanted to lean into Hatterene being party fairy

e: Also Istrongly suspect that Dynamax capable Pokemon cannot mega, so there is a not insignificant chance that max metagross is just a worse off (long term) option compared to regular.

 

[girazard]

Also Mawile, Swirlix & Spritzee

guess they wanted to lean into Hatterene being party fairy

e: Also Istrongly suspect that Dynamax capable Pokemon cannot mega, so there is a not insignificant chance that max metagross is just a worse off (long term) option compared to regular.

Have just tested with my freshly caught DMax Charmander (now Charizard) and it can Mega as well as being Dynamax-capable. How and whether Gigantamax specifically (whenever that is rolled out) applies to this is unclear currently.

 

[Expert Evan]

I'll be in Baltimore this weekend for the Pokemon regional so I'm excited to attend the 3rd regional of this year. Earlier this year I participated in a side event in Orlando, FL in April, then in June was 2-2 in the New Orleans, LA NAIC so hopefully I'm as prepared as can be for Baltimore even though the new season for GBL great league is much more stressful than in the past as it was a tedious process to determine whom shall be in my battle party even if the IVs are not top ranked.

 

[R_N]

So Step 6-8 have been out this week of the big research and I am flabergasted that Step 7 is having us catch 88 Pokemon again.

Meanwhile Step 8 is just a nothing step. It's catch 3 Pokemon. Legitimately why even have that step? Why did you bother making this research line have 19 steps??



Also why is step 8 not the one where you get 88 pokemon, 8888 exp and 8888 stard ust????

 

[Expert Evan]

This is very frustrating, about 9 out of 10 times I can't do a max battle. I'm wondering if it's because I have an older device that is low in free storage space even though I'm constantly moving media or limiting the apps I have but to have a feature not working reliably is just so bad.

 

[pika pal]

This is very frustrating, about 9 out of 10 times I can't do a max battle. I'm wondering if it's because I have an older device that is low in free storage space even though I'm constantly moving media or limiting the apps I have but to have a feature not working reliably is just so bad.

I've noticed a lot of App crashes myself of late on like a 6S (so not too old but not "cutting edge" by any means).

As a pre-caution I always force close and restart the app before I try something I don't want interrupted like a PvP set or a Raid, because I'm becoming convinced it a memory or cache issue.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

With the release of shiny Zacian in Go, happy to say the event distribution Zacian from 2021 (and presumably the corresponding Zamazenta shortly if not the case already) is tradeable over Home. Stupid that it was ever trade-locked at all but boy was this worth waiting for.

I expect that once the G-birds are available in shiny form their respective event distributions will also be able to be traded too. If anyone has spares please hmu! Zacian, Zamazenta, and the G-bird trio are, iirc, the only available shinies I haven't registered on Home so I'm looking forward to finally checking them off my list.

 

[pika pal]

With the release of shiny Zacian in Go, happy to say the event distribution Zacian from 2021 (and presumably the corresponding Zamazenta shortly if not the case already) is tradeable over Home. Stupid that it was ever trade-locked at all but boy was this worth waiting for.

I expect that once the G-birds are available in shiny form their respective event distributions will also be able to be traded too. If anyone has spares please hmu! Zacian, Zamazenta, and the G-bird trio are, iirc, the only available shinies I haven't registered on Home so I'm looking forward to finally checking them off my list.


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Looking for Go copies specifically or the event versions just because they're tradeable now? Also going for Living dex or just records?

I have quite a few Shiny Zacian from hunting, might mirror swap and send a reject to Home at some point.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Looking for Go copies specifically or the event versions just because they're tradeable now? Also going for Living dex or just records?

I have quite a few Shiny Zacian from hunting, might mirror swap and send a reject to Home at some point.

I'm just going for records. I've been hunting shiny Zacian on Go myself but so far only got one, any trade rejects will definitely be going up to Home.

 

[Fluke]

I've been taking a look at my friends list and half of it probably hasn't played in years. Funnily enough I gave every person I added from Smogon a nickname that refers to their Smogon ID.

Expert Evan and willempju still send/gifts almost daily. Tysm!! I also have this person called Mayke0110 on my list nicknamed "related to Willempju". They also still send/open gifts :)

However, plenty of other people from Smogon are seemingly very inactive. I assume they have just quit the game but I don't really want to remove them for nostalgia purposes. Does anyone know if Kanburi PsychicAcademic Herracross Panic Station Meliodafu7 lotiasite still play?