Pokémon GO

[RocketSurgery]

As long as Niantic hasn't changed it in the last few days, Meltan being mythical means it's a guaranteed 3 XL candies per catch, making it fairly easy to rack up XL's for it. From one meltan box I managed to get 220 XL candies, making it an easy option for the level 47 reqs for anyone having trouble acquiring XL candies otherwise and who is willing to spend the dust to max out a Meltmetal.

(And just in case anyone didn't know, sending a Pokemon to HOME charges the Meltan box now, you don't need Let's Go).

 

[PsychicAcademic]

As long as Niantic hasn't changed it in the last few days, Meltan being mythical means it's a guaranteed 3 XL candies per catch, making it fairly easy to rack up XL's for it. From one meltan box I managed to get 220 XL candies, making it an easy option for the level 47 reqs for anyone having trouble acquiring XL candies otherwise and who is willing to spend the dust to max out a Meltmetal.

(And just in case anyone didn't know, sending a Pokemon to HOME charges the Meltan box now, you don't need Let's Go).

The Stardust requirements are still one big wall though.
That's like hundred thousands each for something you won't use a lot, unless you happen to have exceptionally good thing for PvP.

 

[Kanburi]

The featured Pokémon for April's Community Day on April 11th has been revealed to be Snivy, and the featured move (as with grass starters) is Frenzy Plant. Bonuses: 3x catch Stardust and 3-hour Incense.

Snivy stars during April Community Day!

Trainers,

The featured Pokémon for this April’s Community Day will be Snivy, the Grass Snake Pokémon!

Date + Time

Sunday, April 11, 2021, from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. local time

Features

• Snivy will be appearing more frequently in the wild. If you’re lucky, you may encounter a Shiny one!
• Evolve Servine (the Evolution of Snivy) during the event or up to two hours afterward to get a Serperior that knows the attack Frenzy Plant.
• Take a few snapshots during Community Day for a surprise!
• There’ll be a special one-time-purchase Community Day Box available for 1,280 PokéCoins, featuring 50 Ultra Balls, four Star Pieces, four Mossy Lure Modules, and an Elite Charged TM.
• For US$1 (or the equivalent pricing tier in your local currency), you’ll be able to access the Snivy Community Day–exclusive Special Research story, Snivy in the Sunshine.
• Stay tuned for when tickets for the Snivy in the Sunshine Special Research story go live! Tickets are nonrefundable (subject to applicable law and the exceptions set forth in the Terms of Service). Please note that this Special Research will not include an in-game medal.

Bonuses

• 3× Catch Stardust
• Incense activated during the event will last for three hours

Please be aware of your surroundings and follow guidelines from local health authorities when playing Pokémon GO. Upcoming events are subject to change. Be sure to follow us on social media, opt in to receiving push notifications, and subscribe to our emails to stay updated. For the latest on in-game events and feature updates, be sure to check this help center article.

—The Pokémon GO team

 

[Kanburi]

Rayquaza raid weekend has also been announced for March 27th, 10am to March 28th, 8pm local time. All Rayquaza caught within this time period will know Hurricane.

Rayquaza returns to raids for a limited time!

Trainers,

A Special Raid Weekend featuring Rayquaza will be happening during the first-ever Weather Week event! Rayquaza, the Sky High Pokémon, is known to feed on water and particles in the atmosphere. Sounds like it’ll be eating well during this rainy and windy event!

Date + Time

Saturday, March 27, 2021, at 10:00 a.m. to Sunday, March 28, 2021, at 8:00 p.m. local time

Features

• Rayquaza will be appearing in five-star raids alongside Therian Forme Thundurus.
• Rayquaza encountered and caught during this time will know the attack Hurricane.

Rayquaza is known to only seldomly descend to the ground, so you won’t want to miss out on this chance to catch this Legendary Pokémon while it’s drawn in by Weather Week!

Please be aware of your surroundings and follow guidelines from local health authorities when playing Pokémon GO. Upcoming events are subject to change. Be sure to follow us on social media, opt in to receiving push notifications, and subscribe to our emails to stay updated. For the latest on in-game events and feature updates, be sure to check this help center article.

—The Pokémon GO team

 

[Kanburi]

April events announced.

• Shadow Zapdos from Team GO Rocket Special Research
• Male Frillish from Research Breakthrough
• ★5 Raids
  • Therian Forme Tornadus from March 30th, 10am to April 13th, 10am local time
  • Therian Forme Landorus from April 13th, 10am to April 27th, 10am local time
  • Incarnate Forme Tornadus, Thundurus, and Landorus including their shiny forms starting April 27th, 10am local time
• Mega Raids
  • Mega Houndoom, Mega Manectric, and Mega Abomasnow until April 4th, 10am local time
  • Surprise Mega Pokémon starting April 4th, 10am local time for the rest of April
  • Mega Gengar and Mega Manectric from April 5th, 10am to April 20th, 10am local time
  • Mega Venusaur and Mega Abomasnow starting April 20th, 10am local time
• Weekly Raid Hour on Wednesday 6pm to 7pm local time featuring the ★5 Pokémon above
• Spotlight Hours (6pm to 7pm local time)
  • April 6th: Buneary; double transfer Candy bonus
  • April 13th: Mankey; double evolution XP bonus
  • April 20th: Grimer; double catch Stardust bonus
  • April 27th: Finneon; double catch XP bonus
• April Community Day on April 11th featuring Snivy
• Other events
  • Team GO Rocket Timed Research: April 1st, 12am to April 8th, 11:59pm local time; rewards Super Rocket Radar
  • Spring into Spring: April 4th to April 8th; flower crown Chansey, Blissey, and Happiny among other spring-and Egg-themed surprises
  • Rivals' Week: April 13th to April 18th; debut of certain Pokémon
  • Sustainability Week: April 20th to April 25th; Grimer, Trubbish, and more to become more common
  • Friendship Day: April 24th; new event
  • "Snappy Event that will continue into May"; details TBA
• Weekly free bundles for Remote Raid Pass and more

Learn all about April’s events here!

Trainers,

We hope you’re prepared for a month of exciting Pokémon encounters and bonuses!

Save Shadow Zapdos from Giovanni

This month, Giovanni will have Shadow Zapdos in his grasp! If you haven’t already, complete the latest Team GO Rocket Special Research, The Higher They Fly..., to earn a Super Rocket Radar. This will help you track down the Team GO Rocket Boss and save Shadow Zapdos! You can also receive a Super Rocket Radar from Timed Research that’ll be available during the first week of April.

Team GO Rocket never rests, Trainers, and neither can we! For more information, please see this help center article.

April Research Breakthrough encounters

From Thursday, April 1, 2021, at 1:00 p.m. to Saturday, May 1, 2021, at 1:00 p.m. PDT (GMT −7), you’ll encounter male Frillish in Research Breakthrough encounters.

Featured Pokémon in five-star raids and Mega Raids

The following Legendary Pokémon will be appearing in five-star raids throughout April.

• Therian Forme Tornadus will make its Pokémon GO debut in five-star raids on Tuesday, March 30, 2021, at 10:00 a.m. local time and will depart on Tuesday, April 13, 2021, at 10:00 a.m. local time.
• Therian Forme Landorus will make its Pokémon GO debut in five-star raids on Tuesday, April 13, 2021, at 10:00 a.m. local time and will depart on Tuesday, April 27, 2021, at 10:00 a.m. local time.
• Incarnate Forme Tornadus, Incarnate Forme Thundurus, and Incarnate Forme Landorus will be appearing in five-star raids starting on Tuesday, April 27, 2021, at 10:00 a.m. local time. If you’re lucky, you might even encounter a Shiny Tornadus, Thundurus, or Landorus!

In addition, the following Mega-Evolved Pokémon will be appearing in Mega Raids.

• Mega Houndoom, Mega Manectric, and Mega Abomasnow will appear in Mega Raids until Sunday, April 4, 2021, at 10:00 a.m. local time.
• On Sunday, April 4, 2021, at 10:00 a.m. local time, a surprise Mega-Evolved Pokémon will be appearing in Mega Raids. It will continue to appear in Mega Raids for the rest of the month. Stay tuned for more details!
• Mega Gengar and Mega Manectric will appear in Mega Raids from Monday, April 5, 2021, at 10:00 a.m. to Tuesday, April 20, 2021, at 10:00 a.m. local time.
• Mega Venusaur and Mega Abomasnow will appear in Mega Raids beginning on Tuesday, April 20, 2021 at 10:00 a.m. local time.

Every Wednesday in April will feature a Raid Hour event from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. local time. Raid Hours will feature the Pokémon appearing in five-star raids that week. As a reminder, you’ll gain extra XP for completing five-star raids throughout the Season of Legends!

Stay tuned for the May events blog for more details on the excellent Pokémon that’ll be featured in raids after April concludes!

Pokémon Spotlight Hours

In the month of April, Pokémon Spotlight Hour will take place every Tuesday from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. local time, and each of these hours will spotlight a different Pokémon and special bonus!

• Tuesday, April 6, 2021: Buneary will be in the spotlight, and you’ll earn twice the Candy for transferring Pokémon.
• Tuesday, April 13, 2021: Mankey will be in the spotlight, and you’ll earn twice the XP for evolving Pokémon.
• Tuesday, April 20, 2021: Grimer will be in the spotlight, and you’ll earn twice the Stardust for catching Pokémon.
• Tuesday, April 27, 2021: Finneon will be in the spotlight, and you’ll earn twice the XP for catching Pokémon.

April Community Day featuring Snivy

Join us on Sunday, April 11, 2021, from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. local time for a Community Day event featuring Snivy. Evolve Servine (the Evolution of Snivy) during the event or up to two hours afterward to get a Serperior that knows Frenzy Plant. For more information, be sure to check out the blog here.

Upcoming new events

Stay tuned for details about these upcoming events.

• Team GO Rocket Timed Research: From Thursday, April 1, 2021, at 12:00 a.m. to Thursday, April 8, 2021, at 11:59 p.m. local time, be sure to complete Timed Research to get a Super Rocket Radar, which you can use to battle Giovanni!
• Spring into Spring: From Sunday, April 4, 2021, to Thursday, April 8, 2021, you can look forward to a spring-themed event! Look out for Chansey, Blissey, and Happiny wearing flower crowns, as well as other spring- and Egg-themed surprises!
• Rivals’ Week: From Tuesday, April 13, 2021, to Sunday, April 18, 2021, Pokémon that are rivals will be featured, including some Pokémon making their Pokémon GO debut!
• Sustainability Week: From Tuesday, April 20, 2021 to Sunday, April 25, 2021, you can look forward to a sustainability-themed event! Pokémon like Grimer, Trubbish, and more will be appearing more often in the wild, and it’s up to all of us to catch them!
• Friendship Day: On Saturday, April 24, 2021, celebrate friendship with a brand-new event!
• April will end with a snappy event that will continue into May, so keep a lookout for more details later in April!

Weekly free bundles

Every Monday in April, a free one-time bundle containing a Remote Raid Pass and other items will be available in the shop.

Please be aware of your surroundings and follow guidelines from local health authorities when playing Pokémon GO. Upcoming events are subject to change. Be sure to follow us on social media, opt in to receiving push notifications, and subscribe to our emails to stay updated. For the latest on in-game events and feature updates, be sure to check this help center article.

—The Pokémon GO team

 

[Expert Evan]

Lots of bugs currently in Pokemon GO once again. The other day I noticed the game froze when trying to start a team rocket battle hence the next day all things associated with team rocket just disappeared, so if you're trying to rush through level 44 then that's going to be on hold. Also friendship bonuses for becoming a best friend or even an ultra friend don't seem to show popup notifications anymore nor is there any noticeable gain in XP upon accomplishment anymore. One of my alternate accounts lost a potential 700,000 xp from this glitch and I doubt I can ever get any of it back one way or another.

 

[Codraroll]

Pretty typical of this game, really. It seems like they can't patch a bug or add a feature without breaking something that has worked appreciably since day one.

 

[Kanburi]

Collection Challenge is only available during Friendship Day hours (11am to 2pm local time), that is to say you can only complete and collect rewards before 2pm. I greedily wanted to wait for another two days so I can save one Lucky Egg and get a Best Friend for an extra 100k XP lol.

 

[girazard]

It was so unbelievably painful to run into practically everything (including two CACTURNE) except the last Cacnea I needed to complete this.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

View attachment 335167

It was so unbelievably painful to run into practically everything (including two CACTURNE) except the last Cacnea I needed to complete this.

I had the complete opposite experience, took me under 20 minutes. Tangela was the only elusive one (and the first ran away) but with incense it was the quickest collection challenge I've done by far.

The lucky rate was abysmal (for me at least) though. Did a full 100 trades and got only 8 lucky Pokemon - and most of those were achieved by trading old mons from 2017. Finally got myself a 98 lucky Froakie, though, so can't complain!

 

[Expert Evan]

While I was satisfied that lucky egg with friendship bonus now worked, My biggest complaint was getting nothing lucky when attempted to trade with my alt over 30 times mostly with stuff I had tagged for this purpose. I'm hopeful they keep the 40 kilometer trade distance active for awhile since I have a ton of lucky friends still that I can never seem to get around to if ever.

Edit: according to leekduck's tweet, distance trading ends at 11am Pacific time today so am scrambling to get in some last minute local lucky trades while it last for another 2 hours from this edit.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

While I was satisfied that lucky egg with friendship bonus now worked, My biggest complaint was getting nothing lucky when attempted to trade with my alt over 30 times mostly with stuff I had tagged for this purpose. I'm hopeful they keep the 40 kilometer trade distance active for awhile since I have a ton of lucky friends still that I can never seem to get around to if ever.

Edit: according to leekduck's tweet, distance trading ends at 11am Pacific time today so am scrambling to get in some last minute local lucky trades while it last for another 2 hours from this edit.

I've got a limited number of Pokemon from 2016 and 2017 (I stopped playing until late '19) and I've fruitlessly traded several of them away in the last couple of days hoping the increased chance would pay off. No joy.

Part of me wonders if I should just keep them - very few are mons which I actually use, but it's such a shame to trade them away for effectively nothing. Maybe they'll tweak the system so that by the year 2025 every single Pokemon caught in 2016 will be guaranteed to turn lucky...

 

[Codraroll]

It was so unbelievably painful to run into practically everything (including two CACTURNE) except the last Cacnea I needed to complete this.

I remembered the challenge only 20 minutes before it ended. Managed to get every single Pokémon relatively quickly, except Sunkern. Literally a minute after it ended, I encountered a Sunkern.

Niantic can go take a long swim in a leaky pool full of tropical jellyfish.

 

[Kanburi]

4 weeks of research breakthrough, 4 weeks of ★2 male Frillish: 12/10/13, 11/14/10, 10/11/13, and 12/10/10.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Go Fest 2021 has been announced.

Hoping for some good rare spawns in this one! Certainly better than the ones in the poster, for sure. Given the wording "stay tuned" and the presence of musical notes on the poster, I'd say it's highly likely that Meloetta will be debuting in this event.

 

[PsychicAcademic]

4 weeks of research breakthrough, 4 weeks of ★2 male Frillish: 12/10/13, 11/14/10, 10/11/13, and 12/10/10.

Tbf, Frillish is more for PvP. And even then typically you want Atk as low as possible....
I'm yet to find suitable Frillish to use for two leagues....

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Well, Smeargle is definitely boosted. I got a shiny before I'd completed all 15 Photobombs, and several people in my local group got more than one. Nice to have a shiny with an increased rate. Is there a list of all such species that's up to date? I know Lapras, Aerodactyl, Onix, Scyther, Sneasel, Pineco, Absol, Clamperl, Sableye, Mawile, Feebas, and Bronzor all do but not sure which others that applies to.

 

[girazard]

View attachment 335167

It was so unbelievably painful to run into practically everything (including two CACTURNE) except the last Cacnea I needed to complete this.

Oh for the love of Arceus.

 

[Deleted User 465389]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1389309113063165958

starting in 6 days, there's going to be a marill thing!
(to be fair azumarill's actully good in the great league, and it's not caterpie or anything)

 

[Deleted User 465389]

(sorry for the double post)

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1390652640112091141

this community day’s actually good?
whaaaaa...

 

[Expert Evan]

Very fascinating that lot of the new pokemon require it to be a buddy with special instructions to evolve including the following:

Spritzee - use an incense. I did mine during the recent special research quest
Swirlix - feed it 25 berries, can do all at once so not to be stuck with it as a buddy
Pancham - catch 32 Dark-type Pokémon, I suggest to wait until May 18 (Tuesday) at 6pm for spotlight hour to make it a buddy, catch 32 alolan rattatas then evolve during the hour as you'll get double XP for evolving it as well.

 

[girazard]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1403083900629438465

Guess Niantic decided Shadow Lugia got too much attention in XD!

 

[Codraroll]

Too bad they don't seem to be giving Ho-Oh a custom texture like Shadow Lugia had in XD. From the looks of things, it will be a regular Ho-Oh with red eyes and purple smoke and that's it.

Bet they would love to do it, however. It's like making more Megas: a custom design unique to Pokémon Go would be one heck of a selling point, but TPC is protective of their IP and don't want no lousy third-party devs to change or add to the work of the Only Approved Creators or something like that.

 

[jordanthejq12]

a custom design unique to Pokémon Go would be one heck of a selling point, but TPC is protective of their IP and don't want no lousy third-party devs to change or add to the work of the Only Approved Creators or something like that.

It's been done. That's all I'm saying.

 

[Pikachu315111]

View attachment 349718

It's been done. That's all I'm saying.

But Niantic didn't design Mecha Mewtwo, it was designed for the remake of the1st Movie no doubt with a lot of back-and-forth changes & approvals with at least The Pokemon Company (not sure if with GF specifically).

Now no matter what they do Niantic would need approval from TPC, they likely needed approval from Ho-Oh to even do as much as they did even though it's just a recolor. The same probably also with all the Hat Pikachu & Raichu. I imagine the same thing is going on with Tencent & them putting in the costumes for Pokemon Unite.

That all said, while it is a shame in this instance Niantic couldn't make a Shadow Ho-Oh on part with Shadow Lugia, not sure what else they would do with creative license to slightly alter Pokemon designs; or, at least in a way that if they tried pushing it they may be able to convince TPC to give them the okay as long as it's justifiable. Because they couldn't be too extreme with a design change as then it may not be recognizable as that Pokemon. Like the most right now I can think of is maybe adding in the various Magikarp patterns from Magikarp Jump and expand from there.

BTW, posting for another reason, though distribution is yet-to-be revealed they have shown the Professor Willow TCG card:

It's nothing too special useage wise, it's just a Willow version of the "Professor's Research" which is essentially a hand reset (discard hand, draw 7 cards). Now, as you see above, it does come with a code that accesses a special research for Meltan. Still, for a Pokemon GO fan and/or TCG collector this would still be a nice memento to have. Who knows, maybe they'll do this again and this time do the three Leaders (which you'd think would have more unique effects, or at the very least re-use effects from the typical Professor's Research card).