Another #$%# Pidgey?!
August 7, 2016 5:14 AM Subscribe

It's been a month since Pokemon GO was first unleashed in a few countries. Now with most of the world going outside, the servers somewhat stable, yet tracking eliminated and a bug that make the game harder, how's your Pokedex coming along?
posted by Brandon Blatcher (503 comments total) 36 users marked this as a favorite

I was just saying at our Pokemon metafilter meet up in Sydney today, that it's the first time since I was like 16, where I met up with friends, went to a public outdoor space, and just sat around for hours talking. (Admittedly in the past we weren't intermittently swiping at our phones and negotiating who was going to set lures, but it felt very similar). And just like the me of 20 years ago, I got cold and piked early. Sorry, guys.
posted by lollusc at 5:22 AM on August 7, 2016 [9 favorites]

Pidgeys are the best! Thy only take twelve candy to evolve, so you can grind up 3/4 and evolve every fourth. Thus, you can hord a ton of pidgeys, pop a lucky egg, evolve them, and power level like nobody's business.

Now, doduos on the other hand, fuck those things.
posted by Itaxpica at 5:25 AM on August 7, 2016 [12 favorites]

Just to clarify, I don't mean I don't meet up with friends anymore, but rather that we tend to either meet in each other's homes, or we go somewhere with a purpose, like to see or do something specific, or we go to an indoor location like a cafe or pub. (The 16 year old versions of me and my friends couldn't afford to do that, so we just sat around on the cathedral steps, or on park benches.)
posted by lollusc at 5:25 AM on August 7, 2016 [1 favorite]

I didn't really enjoy playing Pokemon when I tried it, but I love reading all the stories about it.
posted by jeather at 5:51 AM on August 7, 2016 [5 favorites]

Fuck Dodrios, fuck Doduos, and fuck that marginally-better-than-what-we-find-on-the-street Rattata that just hatched from an egg. They also seem to have tweaked the distribution of Pokeballs/made breakouts more common, which has gotten in the way of our plans to PAY THE MAGIKARP PRICE for a Gyardos.

On the other hand, we now have two (2) Dratini, and I've instructed Mr. Machine to catch and raise up an Dratini army because they're the cutest.

(In all seriousness, our frustration with the Pokeball tweaking/breakout stuff/eggs/tracking mechanism issues, it's still a pretty great game to play in our urban area with a newborn who really, really loves being in a stroller. I push the stroller, Mr. Machine plays it on his phone, and when we're at a stop lights, waiting for the light to change, we ask the baby what he thinks of the tracker showing NOTHING BUT DODUOS.

Hint: Since we're not moving, it's yelling. It's always yelling.)
posted by joyceanmachine at 6:03 AM on August 7, 2016 [16 favorites]

I find it interesting how the "crap" Pokemon seem to vary by location. For instance, I've never even seen a Doduo. Besides Pidgies and Ratatas, my nuisance Pokemon is Weedles. Weedles everywhere, like worms after a rain.
posted by that's how you get ants at 6:21 AM on August 7, 2016 [29 favorites]

Here in Grand Rapids I mostly see Drowsys, Ghastlys and Jinxes downtown (amidst office buildings - read into that what you will), and Weedles and Caterpies out in the 'burbs.

And rats, pigeons and sparrows everywhere.
posted by JohnFromGR at 6:35 AM on August 7, 2016

We had a 3 hour drive from the woods of Maine back to Massachusetts yesterday, so we took a couple of breaks along the way. The Maine Wildlife Park is a Pokestop wonderland, every exhibit is a Pokestop. We stopped in Portland for lunch and a Pokewalk, and I caught my first Jigglypuff and Pikachu (and caught a second Pikachu later!). I may have squealed louder than my kid when we got that Pikachu. Portland is a magical place full of Pokemons. And delicious gelato and awesome bookstores. Portland is pretty great. Here in Salem and Boston there are Drowzees around every corner.
posted by banjo_and_the_pork at 6:46 AM on August 7, 2016 [7 favorites]

This game has been great for my family. The dogs are getting more walks than ever before. We've been to tons of parks and hiking trails, as well as old college-day haunts searching for pokestops. My 8 year old loves to play, but I think he's starting to get tired of all of the walking. The time until "where's the car?" comes is getting shorter and shorter. In Ypsilanti, MI, we've got weedles, ratatta and pidgeys galore. We did catch the North America exclusive (?) Tauros. The common tough pokemon we see on top of gyms a lot are Lapras and Vaporeon. We get most of our tips from AliA and his girlfriend Claire. They have a really cute King Charles named Eevee as well, who sometimes accompanies them.

I'm going to give that Lucky Egg / Pidgey strategy a try. Level 15 and the grind is starting. I hope the future updates continue to move nests around and hopefully the pokemon selection will vary on a seasonal basis. It'd be nice to not have to travel to different states to get different pokemon. My wife was in Florida when it first came out and she saw a whole different roster of pokemon down there.
posted by Roger Dodger at 6:50 AM on August 7, 2016

We have a running series of Dad jokes in our house regarding inserting Pokemon into Sleater-Kinney lyrics.

So far, I think our fictitious band, Scyther-Chansey, has a pretty good album lined up. Look for Diglett Meowth to be released in the fall featuring tracks such as No Pidgeys to Love, I Wanna Be Your Joey Cubone, Surface Eevee, Call the Arbok, and The Vulpix.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 6:52 AM on August 7, 2016 [37 favorites]

Good morning from the land of Sandshrews, Growlithes, Ekans, Rhyhorns, and Geodudes. And fucking Zubats. Oh, and Cubones. I've seen a total of 37 pidgeys.
posted by Room 641-A at 6:55 AM on August 7, 2016 [1 favorite]

I've only been playing casually but the park near me was full of Pikachu a couple of weeks ago (so I'm only level 15 but now have a Raichu, so I can feel a little special). Last week there were a ton of Magikarp. WHO KNOWS WHAT THE FUTURE WILL BRING (probably more pidgeys and rattatas, just like the non-digital city).
posted by jeweled accumulation at 6:56 AM on August 7, 2016

I went to see a play in Boston Common the other night, which was just FULL OF LURES. So in the hour I was sitting waiting for the play to start, I caught like 22 pokemon. Admittedly, a lot of them were garbage, but I did get a Dratini in there.
posted by dismas at 7:00 AM on August 7, 2016

Pidgey stacking is a thing and it does work for quick leveling up although at level 21, I seem to need about 100 of them. It's sort of ironic that here on the north side of Chicago, I see hundreds of Ratatas because IRL, there are real rats everywhere.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 7:02 AM on August 7, 2016 [1 favorite]

Also I caught a licktung and it's honestly kind of creepy.

I don't know if you were familiar with the games before Go but if not, wait till you encounter a Mr. Mime.

Oh, and don't read the Pokédex entry for Cubone.
posted by Freelance Demiurge at 7:03 AM on August 7, 2016 [1 favorite]

My phone lacks a gyro sensor so I can't actually play the game, but the generic Google News page I read regularly has articles about strategy and tips for playing PoGo, so I read a lot about it. It seems like a more nuanced game that I realized, and there are plans to make it a more deep and broad game than it is currently.

Wish I could play, but it's great fun to read about. Especially now that the articles aren't all about people walking off cliffs staring at their phone, etc.
posted by hippybear at 7:06 AM on August 7, 2016 [1 favorite]

Caught a Dratini and a Dragonair on the local college campus making laps around the promenade/reflecting pools. Might have also helped that I had insense on at the same time and some of the stops on the circuit were also luerd.
posted by Hasteur at 7:07 AM on August 7, 2016

Mostly Rattatas, Pidgeys, Weedles, Zubats, and Caterpies (and, for some reason, Pinsirs) in DC. Parks are good for Pikachus, but I've also found several Tauroses and Ponytas.
posted by zombieflanders at 7:08 AM on August 7, 2016 [1 favorite]

I love Lickitung. I love my strong licking boy. He is the cutest and most lickingest.
posted by dismas at 7:10 AM on August 7, 2016 [16 favorites]

I'm just about at 300 magicarp candies. SOON, gyrados. Soon.
posted by showbiz_liz at 7:11 AM on August 7, 2016 [9 favorites]

I didn't really enjoy playing Pokemon when I tried it, but I love reading all the stories about it.

Pokemon GO is rapidly becoming the Eve Online of mobile gaming, substituting spreadsheets for mild exercise
posted by GenjiandProust at 7:16 AM on August 7, 2016 [14 favorites]

I have no idea exactly what I am picking up with my kids, but agree that there are a lot of rats and pigeons involved. My 10 year old is the brains of our outfit. We stated playing while on holiday and it was a lot of fun wandering through new areas picking up Pokemon. I've been reading a lot of memorial benches, visiting churches and looking at plaques I would otherwise not have noticed. Back home again now and today the plan is to bike over to a local sculpture park where every single sculpture is a Pokestop. That oughta hatch a couple of eggs at the same time. I kind of love this game.
posted by Cuke at 7:21 AM on August 7, 2016 [4 favorites]

Pokemon GO is rapidly becoming the Eve Online of mobile gaming, substituting spreadsheets for mild exercise

I almost said "just like EVE" but I figured that would offend players of one or both games.
posted by jeather at 7:23 AM on August 7, 2016 [4 favorites]

I just logged in and checked the the two local gyms to see if there was a chance to get into one and earn my daily 10 coins but one is at level 10 and the other at level 7 and the weakest Pokemon installed is at over 2000 CP. So I'm out of luck around here.

Almost had a meltdown when after getting into my fifth gym of the morning and was ready to cash out and the server crashed, preventing the shop from coming up. Force quitting and restarting finally let me in.

I would have battled more, but the damn game is being stingy with potions, so I can't heal anything injured, just revive them with one of the killjillion Revives that keep getting passed out.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:27 AM on August 7, 2016

octothorpe: the game is designed so that if you have a weaker pokemon that is of the right type to defeat whatever is defending a gym you can still win. Knowing the pokemon types and how they work against other types is important.
posted by hippybear at 7:28 AM on August 7, 2016 [1 favorite]

hippybear but I'm still not going make it through ten battles.
posted by octothorpe at 7:33 AM on August 7, 2016

I just logged in and checked the the two local gyms to see if there was a chance to get into one and earn my daily 10 coins but one is at level 10 and the other at level 7 and the weakest Pokemon installed is at over 2000 CP. So I'm out of luck around here.

Yes, Electric hurts water (and fire), water trumps fire, rock trumps water, etc.

If you're battling another team, put your weakest guys first, so they can winnow down the competition. Slyther is seemingly weak 'mon, yet it moves fast enough to do some damage usually. Pidgeot is similar, when at 1100 or so, can do some damage.

Save you Snorlaxes for leaving in gyms for defense.

Lickitung is one of the weirdest in a fun way. Cubone is THE strangest and I just want to buy years of therapy for it.

There's some strange properties called IV (for interior values), which i don't quite yet, but they're supposed to be important if you really want the best of the best.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:36 AM on August 7, 2016

So there was this friend of my roommate's who I met after I moved into my house, and then ran into on the street while we were both playing Pokemon. We agreed that this was a fun time and that maybe we should do it again sometime; the next time we tried the servers were too wonky to even get in, but we did manage to get ice cream and talk for a while.

In advance of the ice cream meet up, I took to my Twitter (where I stick intrusive thoughts that I want to air in a place that's not nearly so public as Facebook) and wrote that I wasn't entirely sure whether that meet up was a date-date or a friend date but that I honestly wouldn't mind either way. The day after, in a classic social media faux pas, I added her on Twitter forgetting I wrote that post.

Luckily she noted the same ambiguity and said she wasn't sure either, and I was able to put on my big girl pants and take the classic AskMe advice of asking "hey, can we officially call it a date the next time we hang out?" And now there have been a few dates, and we just caught assloads of Pokemon in Spruce Harbor Park on Friday (so many psyducks and magikarps and slowpokes! My first dratini and golduck and tentacruel!). If two people holding inside hands and each catching Pokemon on their phone with the outside hand is not the iconic date image of 2016 I don't know what is.
posted by ActionPopulated at 7:36 AM on August 7, 2016 [120 favorites]

Octothorpe- You don't have to beat them all. If you defeat even just one or two of them, you decrease the gym's level, and if you do it enough times, the pokemon start getting kicked out one by one.
posted by showbiz_liz at 7:37 AM on August 7, 2016 [2 favorites]

I'm still not convinced. I've got exactly one pokemon > 1000 CP and there are ten there > 2000 CP.
posted by octothorpe at 7:43 AM on August 7, 2016

I do appreciate the suggestions but considering the reward is a whole 10 coins, it's just not worth the trouble.
posted by octothorpe at 7:52 AM on August 7, 2016 [2 favorites]

I guess the conundrum is whether the game is about collecting Pokemon or whether it is about attacking gyms on behalf of your team and doing battle with them in other ways.

(One of the features they will be rolling out eventually is 1:1 battles.)
posted by hippybear at 7:58 AM on August 7, 2016

Now that it's bee out for a while I think a lot of people have had their fill and realized that there really isn't a lot to the game.

Like, there's collecting, battling gyms, and hatching eggs and none of the systems have any depth to them. I'm still playing it but it's more something to do on the way to the grocery store or I feel like taking a walk and hey, I have pokemon and a full battery.

I wish that there was more to do? But I'm not entirely sure how they'd expand things. Like, maybe add in random trainers that you can battle for cool rewards? Not other players because I think that'd add a type of competition that would sour the experience. But maybe you'd run across Jogger or Hiker or Punk Girl and they'd have a few pokemon and they'd appear just like pokemon do.

Hopefully they do something about eggs as well because walking 10k with the app always open is kind of a pain. Like, 10k is a lot to walk to hatch an eevee (twice, because I'm lucky like that).
posted by Neronomius at 8:03 AM on August 7, 2016 [3 favorites]

The original trailer had trading as a prominent feature as well, so hopefully that is coming. It's also cool how you do see people gathering around gyms and interacting. I was sitting next to one with my dog when a ragtag crew of 7 college kids appeared and I heard one say "Hey, that guy's trying to take our gym." They hunkered down behind a concrete barrier and promptly regained control and we all passed a few friendly taunts and chuckles.
posted by Roger Dodger at 8:04 AM on August 7, 2016

One question though; maybe I'm doing this wrong, but do you personally have to hold down a gym with your Pokemon for 21 hours to get the coins, or just your team? At this point I have strong enough Pokemon to win a handful of gyms, but, living in a big city as I do, gyms change hands with very high frequency. I don't know that I've ever managed to keep a Pokemon at a gym for more than 4-6 hours. I assume they make it intentionally hard for you to collect coins to encourage buying things from the store with actual dollars?
posted by ActionPopulated at 8:04 AM on August 7, 2016

I have the same problem here. I haven't seen any gym last for more than 20 hours since I started playing, and I keep a pretty close eye on the ones around me.
posted by Roger Dodger at 8:06 AM on August 7, 2016

I assume they make it intentionally hard for you to collect coins to encourage buying things from the store with actual dollars?

*ding ding ding*
posted by hippybear at 8:11 AM on August 7, 2016 [4 favorites]

do you personally have to hold down a gym with your Pokemon for 21 hours to get the coins, or just your team?

Just in case you're not clear on this, what you do is take the gym and then immediately ask for your coin bonus before some other team kicks your Pokémon to the curb. So you don't have to hold the gym for 21 hours to get the bonus, you just have to ask for it when you have at least one (of your own) Pokémon installed in a gym. It took me a while to figure that out.
posted by Mothlight at 8:19 AM on August 7, 2016 [7 favorites]

One question though; maybe I'm doing this wrong, but do you personally have to hold down a gym with your Pokemon for 21 hours to get the coins, or just your team?

You only have to hold down a gym(s) long enough to collect the coins and stardust. Then it's 21 hours, at least, until you can collect again. You do not have to hold a gym for that entire 21 hours at all. I've won a gym, collected, lost it, then gotten it back and held it for the remaining however many hours and still collected after the 21 hours.

By held, I mean I won it back, went about life and then noticed the 21 hours was up and collected.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 8:20 AM on August 7, 2016 [1 favorite]

I think I speak for the parents of seven year olds everywhere when I say that this summer has been dramatically shaped by Pokemon Go, and in a generally positive way.

Although I hate the fact that my son is taking heat at camp because his dad is only a level 7 and Allie's dad is a 15 and Dylan T's dad is a 22. Some dads have jobs and are busy being productive members of society, son. They also probably don't spend 6 hours a day on Metafilter.

no, but seriously, yesterday I used Pokemon to lure the boy to a hiking trail to a mountain lake where he ended up catching his first fish.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 8:22 AM on August 7, 2016 [19 favorites]

^^^i just realized I needed to clarify, it was an actual fish, not a magikarp
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 8:26 AM on August 7, 2016 [71 favorites]

And you mean an actual fish, not a magikarp.
posted by hippybear at 8:26 AM on August 7, 2016

Not a magikarp.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 8:31 AM on August 7, 2016 [8 favorites]

...wait, how do you ask for the coin bonus?
posted by Blasdelb at 8:32 AM on August 7, 2016

That's why he's touching it. I told him he needed to catch 10 more to evolve it to a Dragonshark.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 8:34 AM on August 7, 2016 [5 favorites]

Pittsburgh is absolutely lousy with Drowzees. Every third gym has a high-powered Hypno perched atop it.

My office is a Pokemon dead zone but there are two gyms and two Pokestops visible in a nearby cemetery. I went to try and find them after work one day and punched the cemetery's address into GoogleMaps -- it proceeded to take me up a series of one-way streets winding up a hill and by the time it sent me down a barely-paved road lined with woods on one side and what are best described as "dilapidated murder shacks" on the other, I decided I'd cede the territory to Team Valor.

Then again, this game being released like two weeks after I moved here was the perfect incentive to get out and explore my new city, and if any Pittsburgh MeFites want to arrange a Lure Party then I'll make the IRL event!

Blasdelb: Hit the icon for your character, hit the Pokecoin icon, and then tap the shield icon in the upper right corner -- if it says anything other than 0, you have a coin bonus.
posted by none of these will bring disaster at 8:42 AM on August 7, 2016 [3 favorites]

My favorite part is definitely discovering new Pokemon. Due to my situation I'm stuck traveling the same few routes within a 5-mile radius so I don't have a huge variety. I ended up buying some incubators because a surprise "Oh?" is always fun. I've gotten a few new Pokemon that way but there's no guarantee you won't get a CP40 Fucking Zubat.
posted by Room 641-A at 8:43 AM on August 7, 2016 [1 favorite]

...wait, how do you ask for the coin bonus?

Go to Items>Shop and then in the upper right there will be a button/sign that says "Collect Now". Tap that to get coins and stardust, then you'll see the 21 hour timer start.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 8:49 AM on August 7, 2016 [1 favorite]

This thread needs.more ingress nerds telling you it's a better game. And strategically deeper.

In reality whatever floats your boat is cool.
posted by Keith Talent at 9:06 AM on August 7, 2016 [8 favorites]

Several comments deleted. If you think this game is not worth your time, that is a-okay, go ahead and do something else. Don't come in here and steer the conversation to... you and your feelings about this thing you don't care about.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 9:11 AM on August 7, 2016 [25 favorites]

This thread needs.more ingress nerds telling you it's a better game. And strategically deeper.

I had fun playing Ingress until it started to feel like work. I like that I can mess around with gyms without worrying about losing Pokemon. I was on a very competitive Ingress team, though.
posted by Room 641-A at 9:12 AM on August 7, 2016 [5 favorites]

Not playing this purely because I don't need another hobby (in the sense of "I really, really haven't got time for another hobby") but the social phenomena is interesting and anecdotally it's a lot of fun to watch players of various levels of socialization attempt to negotiate the intersection of real world and Pokemon world expectations.

For example, having lunch with coworkers on the outdoor deck at a local brewpub and watching a steady parade of polo-shirt wearing twenty-something guys (and the occasional greying/balding old man) standing in a circle in the sun about 10 feet away from a spreading shade tree, silently and expressionlessly tapping on their phones for a while, and then wandering off again.

It would probably have been more fun under that tree not far away, I would imagine.
posted by ardgedee at 9:24 AM on August 7, 2016

It probably helps that I have a bunch of coworkers who're avid about the game but also unabashed about discussing it with nonplayers. It really does sound like a lot of fun. Also because it allows players to do things like this.
posted by ardgedee at 9:29 AM on August 7, 2016 [2 favorites]

Oh and apropos the aforementioned brewpub I was at with my PGO-playing coworkers: Yelp provides a filter to sort your searches by proximity to Pokestops.
posted by ardgedee at 9:31 AM on August 7, 2016 [3 favorites]

Even though I keep the AR turned off* 99% of the time now, I think that's a big part of the initial appeal to non-gamers. I thought that link was going to a selfie of someone with a Pokemon.

*Since I live in a dry, brown, and sandy location I actually like imagining I'm in a big green meadow!
posted by Room 641-A at 9:34 AM on August 7, 2016 [2 favorites]

A very good Pokemon Go story.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 9:57 AM on August 7, 2016 [5 favorites]

I am starting to wonder: for every 'mon I have the Professor grind up I get one candy back. How many candies does he keep for himself?
posted by save alive nothing that breatheth at 10:04 AM on August 7, 2016

My Nexus 6 has problems connecting to the internet at the moment, so I have noticed my interest in the game dropping quite a bit if the only time I can catch anything is in my house while connected to wi-fi.

I'm half-convinced there's some underlying goofy thing about this phone that only came to light once Pokemon Go caused everyone to increase their data usage, but maybe it's just coincidence. I wonder if I pace enough to hatch these eggs...
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 10:09 AM on August 7, 2016

I have honestly been considering buying a new phone for the sole purpose of playing this game with my six year old daughter.

I'm otherwise entirely happy with my Galaxy S2, but this seems like such a good game for bonding with your kids.
posted by 256 at 10:25 AM on August 7, 2016 [1 favorite]

mmm... sleater-kinney themed pokemon, this is relevant to my interests.

you're no rock 'n rhyhorn
Diglett me out
Light Rail Clefairy
All hands on the Golbat
what's mr. mime is yours
one more horsea
Staryu Together
Words and Gengar
Buy Her (magikarp) candy

But they've already titled best pokemon song themselves: Oh...?
posted by Cold Lurkey at 10:38 AM on August 7, 2016 [5 favorites]

If you've been playing for a while you might enjoy watching Ricky Dillon explain how Pokémon Go has ruined his life. Or possibly not.
posted by LastOfHisKind at 10:47 AM on August 7, 2016

Werner Herzog doesn't get Pokémon Go:

Herzog: When two persons in search of a pokémon clash at the corner of Sunset and San Vicente is there violence? Is there murder?

Verge: They do fight, virtually.

H: Physically, do they fight?

V: No—

H: Do they bite each other's hands? Do they punch each other?

V: The people or the...

H: Yes, there must be real people if it's a real encounter with someone else.

V: Well, it's been interesting because there are all these anecdotes of people who are playing the game, and they've never met their neighbors, for instance. And when they go outside to look for pokémon they realize they're playing the same game, and start talking to each other.

H: You'd have to give me a cell phone, which I'm not going to use anyway, and I have no clue what's going on there, but I don't need to play the game.

Naturally, the Internet has instead decided that Herzog would be the perfect narrator of Pokémon.
posted by Doktor Zed at 11:25 AM on August 7, 2016 [4 favorites]

I wanted to watch that video and, again, it started with an advert of Herzog's Masterclass.

"It's like death, staring you in the face. "

Appropriate, I guess.
posted by katta at 11:37 AM on August 7, 2016

Yesterday evening I was talking with a (gay, male) friend who said that Pokémon Go sounded similar to his experiences on Grindr, except that on Grindr when you find the person you get sexual gratification or possibly an STD, and on Pokémon Go you don't. He further suggested that Grindr should rebrand itself as "Poke-a-man Go" and that there should be a way of making your suitors fight for your affections.

I can't really argue with any of this.
posted by Pallas Athena at 11:43 AM on August 7, 2016 [22 favorites]

Doduos everywhere in my New York neighborhood, and it just occurred to me that in the week I've been in New Zealand, I haven't seen a single one. Lots of Evees where I am staying right now, which is nice. Off to my hometown tmrw and am interested to see what I might find.
posted by gaspode at 12:06 PM on August 7, 2016

Pidgeys are ubiquitous though, yeah.
posted by gaspode at 12:06 PM on August 7, 2016

You guys should come over to my house sometime--we've got Skerples for days over here.

Sure, I've probably never played and I'm just using a name from that thread about knockoff goods. But can you really be sure?
posted by Horace Rumpole at 12:57 PM on August 7, 2016 [11 favorites]

no, but seriously, yesterday I used Pokemon to lure the boy to a hiking trail to a mountain lake where he ended up catching his first fish.

In order to break through to a stubborn six year old who was trying to toot himself in place in the middle of a crosswalk, I have threatened to delete a Pikachu.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 12:59 PM on August 7, 2016 [5 favorites]

I haven't played any Pokemon Go, but my SO wanting to get out and play did make me open up Ingress for the first time in almost two years. Three hours of walking later, I remembered why I quit playing after my bike got stolen.
posted by wierdo at 1:21 PM on August 7, 2016 [1 favorite]

They only take twelve candy to evolve, so you can grind up 3/4 and evolve every fourth. Thus, you can hord a ton of pidgeys, pop a lucky egg, evolve them, and power level like nobody's business.

that's what she said.
posted by quonsar II: smock fishpants and the temple of foon at 1:50 PM on August 7, 2016 [1 favorite]

YOU GUYS, we went to a park we'd never been to in the next town over and there were FOUR lured Pokestops reachable from one spot and tall trees for shade. (Many others throughout the park.) My kid loved the playground and I caught a wild Slowbro.
posted by purpleclover at 2:57 PM on August 7, 2016 [6 favorites]

It's something my wife and I do with our 10 year old daughter.

Tip for older players - it turns out that if you drive less than 20mph, it counts as walking. There are some straight, long, seldom used stretches of road near us, where you can drive (with the phone face down) at about 15 mph, until the phone vibrates, pull over, catch your prey, and then repeat... I know where all the pokestops are in our area, and yet I have no account in the game.

It has been a positive bonding experience, overall... and only a few (< 10) gallons of gasoline have been expended to date. It makes the otherwise boring process of getting people around town far more interesting.

Again, never, ever do I look at the screen while moving... that would be stupid.
posted by MikeWarot at 3:01 PM on August 7, 2016 [2 favorites]

Admittedly Pokémon reminded me of the existence of Ingress, which I'd heard about when it came out, but was only on Android, and I didn't think of disposing my iphone just for one game. I've become quite excited by Ingress now thanks to this boom, and spent the weekend capturing portals. I had a funny moment when a group of us were walking around the city staring at our phones, and another group of kids walked by and shouted to us that there was some Pokémon nearby. Though we were appreciative of their helpfulness, we had to explain we weren't playing the same game.
posted by Metro Gnome at 3:25 PM on August 7, 2016 [3 favorites]

This is the third night in a row that a pidgey appeared above my toilet. It's the only place in my apartment where I can reliably find a pokemon.
posted by Omnomnom at 4:08 PM on August 7, 2016 [7 favorites]

So, we set up fireworks displays, frequently in city parks. And now we get to tell hordes of Pokémon seekers that no, they can't duck under the barriers and enter the danger area to snag a pikachihuahua or whatever from right between the loaded guns.

Used to be mostly dog walkers, drunks and unruly soccer moms we had to deal with. Soccer moms who had to be directed to walk AROUND rather than THROUGH the discharge site with their irritating, sweaty broods were always the most hair trigger, psychotic and generally rude, absolutely the worst... But Pokémon people (generally polite, but very low on situational awareness) are recently rather more numerous, and come at us from all sides.
posted by bert2368 at 4:34 PM on August 7, 2016

I'm disappointed to find out what "gyms" are. I thought my friends were exercising.
posted by acrasis at 4:52 PM on August 7, 2016 [1 favorite]

My phone lacks a gyro sensor so I can't actually play the game

It was my understanding that the gyro sensor was only required for AR mode, which is optional. Has this changed with a recent update?
posted by radwolf76 at 4:59 PM on August 7, 2016 [1 favorite]

Pokemon Go launched this weekend here and it's great because it's so non-competitive. One kid came home with an ear-to-ear grin because he had a Pikachu and we all cheered for him.

Yesterday, my oldest kid was watching a movie while I got new clothes for the kids, and so he said his baby sister could play on his Pokemon account and within ten minutes, she'd used up all 40+ balls. Turns out, four year olds are not that great at catching Evees. She looked at the five new dresses she'd picked out from the sales bins and agreed to give up one so she could use the clothes money to buy him coins in Pokemon instead. This is a small kid obsessed with clothes (we spent two hours in H&M trying on tiny fashion and styling them, where she gets this from I do not know), so it was a genuine Character Growth moment for her, and her older brother was pretty moved. Although she's not allowed to play Pokemon unsupervised anymore.

I went downstairs just now to walk the dog and catch Pokemon for him at his request while he was at school, and then saw a lost cat, and had a moment's dissonance because of the AR where I went "Do I catch the Psyduck or the lost cat?" (I did catch the duck first. The cat is now sitting in my room, while I print lost cat flyers).
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 5:01 PM on August 7, 2016 [10 favorites]

Yeah my phone doesn't have a gyro and I can play. However missing out on the the AR mode and taking dumb photos of pokemon in your environment is a real drag.
posted by xiw at 5:02 PM on August 7, 2016

AR Mode kills your battery even faster (and with this game, that's saying something), and increases your chances of looking like a creeper. It can have its uses though. When a pokemon has retreated to a further distance after an escape, without fully running away, toggling AR mode on then off can bring it back close.
posted by radwolf76 at 5:08 PM on August 7, 2016 [2 favorites]

I've been avoiding this game just like I avoided Harry Potter because I'm bitter it didn't come out when I was young and bored and craved something exactly like this.
posted by bleep at 5:35 PM on August 7, 2016 [3 favorites]

Naturally, the Internet has instead decided that Herzog would be the perfect narrator of Pokémon.

Even Squirtles Started Small needs allllllll the funding.
posted by delfin at 5:43 PM on August 7, 2016

I am actually kind of grateful for the current bug that makes Pokemon harder to catch, because it finally broke my addiction and gave me my life back. I can't decide if I'm hoping they'll fix it or praying they won't.
posted by yankeefog at 7:03 PM on August 7, 2016

I loved the game when it first came out here in Japan, and it did lead to a ton of random people coming up to me to ask (a big bearded foreigner no less) how to do things in game. The way they've tweaked the escape chances and such has really changed the game, though, and I find it much, much less enjoyable. The first week or so, I found myself going out for hour long walks around the neighborhood, and making plans with friends to walk around Tokyo. Now, it's more something I'll check if I'm waiting at a train station.

I get that it's free to play, but releasing it with the primary mechanic being easy and enjoyable, then changing it to make it frustrating and unpleasant in order to increase in app purchases sucks, a lot. Niantic doesn't seem to realize, or care, that they lost a lot of fans. That said, I'm looking forward to the next games that come out using this sort of interface. Up until the release, I'd never played anything Pokemon, but now I'm interested. I'm looking forward, though, to seeing what's next.
posted by Ghidorah at 7:13 PM on August 7, 2016 [3 favorites]

PokeAdvisor appears to be blocked by Niantic.
posted by purpleclover at 7:30 PM on August 7, 2016

First Niantic blocked PokeVision, and now it appears PokeAdvisor is gone as well. :(
posted by booksherpa at 7:33 PM on August 7, 2016

toggling AR mode on then off can bring it back close.

And you can always take a moment to switch it on for a photo op and turn it back off since they stay in your phone.
posted by Room 641-A at 7:33 PM on August 7, 2016

Niantic really knows how to kill a party.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:42 PM on August 7, 2016 [2 favorites]

How do you even play this game without a gyro sensor allowing you to see the pokemon?

I tried for 30 minutes to play, but then just deleted the game because it was telling me there were pokemon nearby but I couldn't see them, so I had nothing to toss balls at to capture.
posted by hippybear at 7:58 PM on August 7, 2016

I think I've decided I don't really care about IVs. I was poking around on Poke Assistant and found this explanation:

Each type of Pokemon has a base set of attributes for Stamina, Attack and Defence. Each specific Pokemon is "born" with it's own IV (individual values), that further increase these stats by 0-15 extra points. You can not change the IV's, not all Pokemon are born equal.

These IV's make small differences in the final power of a Pokemon. For example, the base attributes of a Charizard are 212, 182, 156. This would be the "worst" charizard available where all IV's are zero. With max IV's, a Charizard would have 227, 197, 171. Each of these Atk, Def and Stam values for Charizard are only 7-10% better.

I'm having a lot of fun with the game, but 7-10 percent is never gonna make a difference for me. I'm just going to evolve high-CP dudes and that's fine.
posted by purpleclover at 8:01 PM on August 7, 2016 [4 favorites]

I get that it's free to play, but releasing it with the primary mechanic being easy and enjoyable, then changing it to make it frustrating and unpleasant in order to increase in app purchases sucks, a lot.

I'm assuming that they had to sink a lot of money into server resources to deal with the level of popularity of the game. Authentication and connection with the game seems much more stable now, but that's unbelievably expensive if millions of people are playing it daily.

If that's the case, there has got to be substantial pressure to increase the revenue from in-app purchases to cover the costs. This is probably the motivation behind the changes in the last update, as well as the reason for blocking access to third-party users of the APIs which were a drain on the system. I don't know if it's right, or smart, but it's understandable.

Since I'm mainly using the app as a reason to exercise a recovering sprained ankle, it doesn't really bother me. I nearly caught a dragonite yesterday.
posted by figurant at 8:02 PM on August 7, 2016

> not all Pokemon are born equal

Team Instinct propaganda
posted by Phssthpok at 8:19 PM on August 7, 2016 [4 favorites]

How do you even play this game without a gyro sensor allowing you to see the pokemon?

hippybear, the only time you actually need to see the pokemon is on the map. With AR mode off, the damned things sit still – basically just waiting for you to catch them against a neutral background.

On one hand, it's a huge relief not having to chase them around 3D space, not knowing whether it's bad gyro feedback or genuine elusiveness keeping you from catching something. On the other hand, it does kind of expose the underlying simplicity of the catching minigame.
posted by lumensimus at 8:20 PM on August 7, 2016

I get that it's free to play, but releasing it with the primary mechanic being easy and enjoyable, then changing it to make it frustrating and unpleasant in order to increase in app purchases sucks, a lot.

They've announced that the increased escapes are due to a bug that they're working on. They didn't do it to scam more money out of people, they're already making money hand over fist. Games like this are complicated codewise, and it doesn't help anything to leap to the least charitable conclusion possible when something you don't like happens.
posted by rifflesby at 8:23 PM on August 7, 2016 [1 favorite]

Figurant, I guess I'm trying to say that there really aren't many ways niantic ends up in a positive light. The most charitable views have them woefully unprepared for success, and really, really bad at planning this out. Somewhere along the lines, there should be someone in pretty much any business who's job it is to figure out basic costs, and how to keep the business afloat. They seem to have failed at that, by releasing a game that is fun and easy to play, then, when they failed to make enough money at it, released an update that took the experience that people found to be so enjoyable and made it much, much less so. I can see them ended up in a textbook someday of things not to do.
posted by Ghidorah at 8:28 PM on August 7, 2016

/Ouch. I hadn't seen that press release (they've been pretty lousy at explaining themselves, honestly) so, yeah, I guess just ignore that. I was under the impression it was a sales thing, as were a whole ton of people. I shouldn't need to find out about it in a thread on metafilter.
posted by Ghidorah at 8:30 PM on August 7, 2016

I think in the other thread someone mentioned that they're making money from companies sponsoring pokestops and the micro-purchases were secondary.
posted by Room 641-A at 8:52 PM on August 7, 2016 [1 favorite]

Apparently my brother, working in a remote-ish mountain west refinery, has had regular visitors from the interstate try to gain entry to try to catch pikachus or what-have-you. So . . . thanks W. Gibson?
posted by aspersioncast at 9:45 PM on August 7, 2016

Here in Pasadena, it's all Ekans, Nidorans, and Zubats - along with Pidgeys and Rats.
posted by ApathyGirl at 10:06 PM on August 7, 2016 [1 favorite]

Toronto is definitely Drowzee territory... as this totally reputable newspaper article attests.
posted by cirhosis at 10:32 PM on August 7, 2016 [2 favorites]

I've walked 347 km since I started playing. I used to average about 7000 steps a day and since this game I'm averaging three to four times that. I'm hooked but good.

I'm glad they've clamped down on the cheater sites. "Waah it's unplayable without cheating and spoofing and driving around in a car" No, it's not. If you got used to cheating and can't play the normal game without it, that's your problem. I'll be glad when the tracker works again, but it's perfectly playable without it if you just pay attention.

I'll also be glad when school starts up again and I can dominate the local whippersnappers.
posted by bink at 10:52 PM on August 7, 2016 [2 favorites]

I've seen 243 Pidgeys.
posted by univac at 10:56 PM on August 7, 2016 [1 favorite]

So I'm new to this game. Do I understand this correctly, you used to be able to hunt down the Pokemon around you? Because now you just kinda have to walk around and hope you bump into one, correct?
posted by Omnomnom at 11:02 PM on August 7, 2016

My loathed Pokemon is the fucking Spearow. GO AWAY YOU SUCK, you take 50 candies to evolve and a Fearow is not that great and you bounce around and take all my Pokeballs.

There is a spawn point at the end of my street that has the usual pidgey/weedle/caterpie/Spearow crowd, with occasional Gastlies, Jigglypuffs, and Drowzees, and every once in a while a Dratini. Just down the way a bit there's a much better one where I have caught both a Gyrados and a Tauros, and where a Primeape got away from me. I did an 11 mile walk last weekend to kill off a bunch of eggs, and just as my 10k egg hatched I walked into a lure party which meant that when I gasped in delight and said "You guys! I just hatched a Snorlax!" everyone squeed with me instead of assuming I'd had a stroke.

I love this game.
posted by KathrynT at 11:39 PM on August 7, 2016 [11 favorites]

Say, did I ever tell you guys about that time my friend was driving us to the Rhodes pokehotspot (RIP you crazy nightmare place), and our phones both vibrated at the same time, and long story short, I caught two magikarp simultaneously with a phone in each hand.

You may touch the hem of my garment.
posted by misfish at 11:50 PM on August 7, 2016 [17 favorites]

Hippybear - When you're on the screen to catch the Pokemon, there's a slider that turns AR on and off. The default is on, and if you don't have a gyro, the Pokemon doesn't appear. I almost gave up when I first installed it, thinking it the app was broken, until I found that slider.
posted by Helga-woo at 1:10 AM on August 8, 2016

The other unexpected bonus I discovered today was that where I used to be sad if I missed a train at Liverpool and had to wait 30 minutes, now it's awesome, because there's a bunch of pokestops, and a gym, and other people who also missed a train always seem to have a lure up on at least one of the stops, so you can use that 30 minutes *ahem* productively.
posted by lollusc at 1:39 AM on August 8, 2016 [4 favorites]

Wish Google could end its feud with the Korean government so we could get out and play here. Also it would mean Google maps would be worth a damn. Win-win.
posted by the christopher hundreds at 1:54 AM on August 8, 2016

Yesterday was 'día del niño' in Chile, so we took signal jr. on a pokémon safari in downtown Santiago, down Parque Forestal, where the main street is given over to bikes and skates on Sundays so no cars, all the way to Plaza de Armas. He caught upwards of 100 pokémon, hatched a bunch of eggs and beat a gym and generally had the best day ever. And we got him to walk for like 2 hours without complaining, which is a first.
So yeah, I like Pokémon Go.
posted by signal at 7:00 AM on August 8, 2016 [3 favorites]

As a non-data-plan-haver, I'm understandably not the target audience for this game. The feeling when you get to your vacation hotel room and there are four pokestops hovering JUST outside of range is not a good one.

I did collect a bunch of new stuff while in town, but I got home to find the usual rat/worm/pigeon ghetto.
posted by delfin at 7:02 AM on August 8, 2016

The feeling when you get to your vacation hotel room and there are four pokestops hovering JUST outside of range is not a good one.

Must be similar of going to a beach out of state, thinking you're going to clean up on Magikarp or something, getting there and dropping incense and nothing shows up except the flaming pony.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:06 AM on August 8, 2016

Morgan Freeman narrates himself catching a pokemon.

(May be a voice actor. I don't care. It cracks me up.)
posted by montaigneisright at 7:10 AM on August 8, 2016

Iran Bans Pokemon Go [The Guardian]

Iran has become the first country to ban the Pokémon Go mobile game, citing security concerns about the game’s use of location-based virtual reality technology. “Any game that wants to operate nationwide in Iran needs to obtain permission from the ministry of culture and Islamic guidance, and the Pokémon Go app has not yet requested such a permission,” the semi-official Isna news agency quoted Abolhasan Firouzabadi, the head of Iran’s supreme council of virtual space, as saying. A senior judicial official, Abdolsamad Khorramabadi, said last week that the augmented reality game posed a security dilemma and that the country’s intelligence apparatus approved of the ban. “There are many problems with the game and security-wise, it can create problems for the country and our people,” Tasnim, a semi-official news agency quoted him as saying.

posted by Fizz at 7:28 AM on August 8, 2016

yankeefog: "I am actually kind of grateful for the current bug that makes Pokemon harder to catch, because it finally broke my addiction and gave me my life back. I can't decide if I'm hoping they'll fix it or praying they won't."

I've mostly given up until they fix that. I'm not standing there and wasting a dozen balls just to catch a Rattata. I'm somewhat annoyed at their slow pace of making bug fixes and I'm probably not the only one who feels that way.
posted by octothorpe at 7:52 AM on August 8, 2016 [2 favorites]

I'm somewhat annoyed at their slow pace of making bug fixes and I'm probably not the only one who feels that way.

Yep. And their insistence on making things harder for the casual player while letting spoofers--those folks who were parking 2000+ CP Snorlaxes at multiple gyms a week after the game came out--run amok is really frustrating to a lot of people playing legitimately.
posted by zombieflanders at 7:59 AM on August 8, 2016

The ball bug isn't that bad too me. Annoying, but still playable, even if I have to use Great Balls.

The potions are the big problem, from where I'm sitting (or walking), the game is extremely stingy with those, while handing out mostly useless Revives. I usually have to delete those and regular Pokeballs to make room in my "bag". There's not much point in battling if you have wait days to recover.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 8:04 AM on August 8, 2016 [2 favorites]

See, I'm constantly throwing away potions to make room for more Pokeballs. I finally had to institute a rule of "everything gets a raspberry and one regular Pokeball and THAT'S IT unless it's rare or I really need it."
posted by KathrynT at 8:08 AM on August 8, 2016 [2 favorites]

I'd gladly trade some balls for potions, so hopefully that'll be a feature at some point.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 8:28 AM on August 8, 2016

You guys should come over to my house sometime--we've got Skerples for days over here.

The funny thing is, there is an actual pokemon with a very similar name, I give you Skrelp.
posted by Mayhembob at 8:44 AM on August 8, 2016 [1 favorite]

Trading/gifting has got to be somewhere in the pipeline, and I look forward to giving away my potions when it does. There aren't any gyms on my usual routes, and I don't really understand the fighting mechanic.

Local Pokemon report for upstate ny: Weedles, pidgeys, rats, and spearows at the top. Lower spawn rates but still widely seen: zubats, venonats, eevies, caterpies, nidorans, and drowzees (The drowzees seem to hang out at the mall, which seems appropriate). I see one in the "rare" category for every ~3 in the "common" category. I've heard complaints about doduo infestations but haven't seen a one here.

PoGo seems to have swept all of the active Ingress Resistance players away in my town, so it's been fun to flip between the two.
posted by tchemgrrl at 10:05 AM on August 8, 2016 [4 favorites]

So I'm new to this game. Do I understand this correctly, you used to be able to hunt down the Pokemon around you? Because now you just kinda have to walk around and hope you bump into one, correct?

Pretty much, yes. The original in game tracker actually worked. There were anywhere from zero to three footprints under each pokemon in your tracker, with zero meaning "they're right here!" and three meaning you had to walk around a bunch to find them. You could use the footprints to track, because they would decrease as you got closer. Then came the "three footprint bug" - everything had three footprints, and they never changed. Some people (including me) were using PokeVision, a website that accessed Niantic's servers and showed you a map of what pokemon were near you, and how long you had until they despawned. You still had to be in physical proximity to them to see and catch them, but it made the three footprint bug bearable. Most recently (a week ago or so) Niantic got rid of even the footprints AND blocked PokeVision and similar sites. So now there's no way to track the pokemon in your "Nearby" screen, and there's no 3rd party websites you can use to track.

There are pokemon all over the place, so finding them is not difficult. Finding rare ones, however, takes a lot of luck now. You need to be in the right place at the right time, because seeing it on your tracker just lets you know it might be within a certain radius of you - but not what direction or how far. Ironically, I think it makes people more likely to just stay in place near lures and other players, rather than walk around.
posted by booksherpa at 10:52 AM on August 8, 2016 [1 favorite]

To the Bellsprout that hatched from my egg this morning, I say unspeakable things to it and its terrible stats.
posted by PearlRose at 10:54 AM on August 8, 2016 [2 favorites]

those folks who were parking 2000+ CP Snorlaxes at multiple gyms a week after the game came out-

Seriously, who are those people, and how did they do that?

How do you get a Snorlax? Hatch from an egg? Weirdly, I've hatched like 50 eggs and cannot recall a 10k egg. Is that possible?
posted by purpleclover at 10:54 AM on August 8, 2016

Oh, and don't read the Pokédex entry for Cubone.

This is why I have named my Cubones "Herzog" and "RobertSmith". My wife on the other hand, named her Arcanines "Whosagoodboy" and "Imagoodboy".

In other news, I finally captured enough Pikachu to evolve him! SOON ULTIMATE POWER WILL BE MINE! BWAAHAHAHAHAAA!!!

*ahem* Yes, I mean capture frequency bugs. Breakouts. Very bad. Harrumph. Harrumph.
posted by happyroach at 11:18 AM on August 8, 2016 [2 favorites]

Veterans are clashing with Pokemon Go meetup attendees in Winona, MN (a week and a bit old, but just got on my radar today).

Youtube vid (tw: angry men screaming at/assaulting teenagers)
Local News Story
posted by sparklemotion at 11:20 AM on August 8, 2016 [1 favorite]

I find my interest in Pokemon Go waning as time goes on, and Niantic is not helping things any with their lack of... everything. I know I'm not alone, there is a park nearby me that had 50+ people in it playing with constant lures dropped. I think the bloom is off the rose at this point, so to speak.
posted by the uncomplicated soups of my childhood at 11:37 AM on August 8, 2016

How do you get a Snorlax? Hatch from an egg? Weirdly, I've hatched like 50 eggs and cannot recall a 10k egg. Is that possible?

Yes, I've hatched two from an egg. BUT I saw one in my neighborhood over the weekend, just drifting through. But with no indication of where he was because of the still broken tracker, I said fuck it and didn't go looking. So they do exist in the 'real' world, but pretty rare.

Egg hatching is pretty efficient way of getting Pokemon, especially if you keep the incubators full. I know a delivery guy who delivers sodas and he just leaves his phone attached to the handtruck to hatch stuff all day long.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 11:41 AM on August 8, 2016 [1 favorite]

A friend has observed that her 10K eggs have only dropped from lured pokestops. As far as killing the third party sights, I understand if they are hurting the servers, but they were very useful for spading and getting me to walk farther. Now the only thing that has made me walk for anything besides hatching is a gym with room in it or with beatable pokemon because I can see them 2-3 blocks away.
posted by soelo at 12:20 PM on August 8, 2016 [1 favorite]

I can confirm that Montreal is also lousy with Drowzies. And I got my first Diglet in Quebec yesterday! Also a random Jynx in Montreal the other day but I think that was because of a lure.
posted by numaner at 12:34 PM on August 8, 2016

My son and I caught a Starmie in the wild today!
posted by Mo Nickels at 1:40 PM on August 8, 2016 [2 favorites]

those folks who were parking 2000+ CP Snorlaxes at multiple gyms a week after the game came out-

Seriously, who are those people, and how did they do that?

There's cheating, unfortunately. On Android for sure (I don't know about iOS) there's a developer function that lets you fake a location for app-testing. So people now fake locations to go to gyms and Pokéstops. It sucks, frankly. You can be the only one at a gym — nobody within sight and the entire space visible to you, outside of which nobody could actually use the gym — and watch it change hands a dozen times in just a few minutes.
posted by Mo Nickels at 1:43 PM on August 8, 2016 [2 favorites]

I have a 15km commute where I ride my bike and the game consistently shortchanges me on distance travelled. I know its not because I'm going too fast because on the uphills where I slow things way down it still doesn't give me my distance. My current thinking is that because the phone is in my pocket the whole time something is happening with the GPS so I've ordered a phone mount for my bike (the Amazon page for the mount had a picture of a phone with Pokemon Go on it) to see if that will help.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 1:44 PM on August 8, 2016

I find collecting, hatching, and evolving pokemon to be a lot of fun, but the gym system is kind of stupid. The 21-hour rule means that there is no incentive to put a good fighter in the gym, as there is no way to hold one for that long; at least where I am, ownership switches every couple of minutes. So when I take over a gym, I generally just dump a Magikarp in there and cash out. Don't want to waste my potions on healing my superstars that never stood a chance anyway.
posted by cerbous at 2:34 PM on August 8, 2016

In re: distance travelled: I'm pretty sure that the game either calculates as-the-crow-flies distance every x minutes, or that it calculates as-the-crow-flies distance every time you do some in-game action. Maybe both. And sometimes neither if the server is bogged down, of course. But I know that if I leave my phone on for a few minutes when I get home after a ride, sometimes the distance makes a jump after a little while.
posted by tchemgrrl at 4:09 PM on August 8, 2016

I'll try leaving the game open when I get home tonight to see if it'll give me the distance (I usually close it in disgust when I see it has cheated me of my distance once again).
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 4:21 PM on August 8, 2016

There's a new update!
posted by rifflesby at 4:50 PM on August 8, 2016

ugh , i am so gunshy about updates with this thing now... if anyone does bite the bullet and find it improves the escape rate issue, do put a note in here please.
posted by Cold Lurkey at 5:02 PM on August 8, 2016 [1 favorite]

I'm sad about PokeAdvisor biting the dust. It was really helping me understand some of the battle dynamics.
posted by PearlRose at 5:10 PM on August 8, 2016 [1 favorite]

Pokemon Go August 8 Patch Notes:

Added a dialog to remind Trainers that they should not play while traveling above a certain speed. Trainers must confirm they are not driving in order to continue playing.
Made improvements to the accuracy of a curveball throw
Fixed a bug that prevented ”Nice,” ”Great,” and “Excellent” Poké Ball throws from awarding the appropriate XP bonuses.
Fixed achievements showing incorrect Medal icons.
Enabled the ability for Trainers to change their nickname one time. Please choose your new nickname wisely.
Resolved issues with the battery saver mode on iOS and re-enabled the feature.
Added visuals of Team Leaders Candela, Blanche, and Spark.
We’re currently testing a variation of the “Nearby Pokémon” feature with a subset of users. During this period you may see some variation in the nearby Pokémon UI.
Minor text fixes

posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:20 PM on August 8, 2016 [1 favorite]

About the new Sightings feature, which replaces Nearby:

The biggest and most interesting change has to be the new Nearby system, which is now named ‘Sightings:” Testing it out quickly here, it doesn’t really seem to outright help players actually track anything specific down. Instead, it seems to only highlight Pokémon in the immediate general area, rather than teasing you with critters that aren’t actually nearby at all (previously, these monsters were marked as three footprints away). Also, now there’s grass. Yay?

This new system showcases fewer monsters than before, though as commenter Professor Dog pointed out to me, it does get rid of duplicate creatures. That’s a plus. Reports online also indicate that this new system update its monster list more often than the older one, which is good. It means that, while you will have to do some wandering to capture something specific, hypothetically you aren’t flying blind for as long as before.

Despite some improvements, I’m in disbelief that they’ve kept the system this vague considering that nobody could figure out the previous one. But hey, this isn’t permanent. It sounds like Niantic is still fiddling with finding a new system to replace the old ‘Nearby’ one, and that eventually they’ll settle on something better. In the meantime, this test will give them lots of feedback to work with.

posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:25 PM on August 8, 2016

ugh , i am so gunshy about updates with this thing now... if anyone does bite the bullet and find it improves the escape rate issue, do put a note in here please.

I can confirm I caught a Sandshrew, a Geodude, and an Exeggcute with one normal pokeball on the first try.
posted by Room 641-A at 6:32 PM on August 8, 2016

(That is 100% of what I've seen since the update.)
posted by Room 641-A at 6:33 PM on August 8, 2016

I tried to catch a 736 CP Scyther today with a raspberry and a great ball. Not only did he escape on the first bounce, but he immediately ran away. Sad face.
posted by Roger Dodger at 6:37 PM on August 8, 2016

But, perhaps I have not updated yet?
posted by Roger Dodger at 6:38 PM on August 8, 2016

The blades of grass in the new Sightings box is a lousy design element, because not every location has grass and not green grass all year round. Between that and the warning for going to fast, Niantic looks like a controlled obsessed company that insists on getting in the users way.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:13 PM on August 8, 2016 [3 favorites]

Hey fellow data nerds! Pokemon: visualize them all!
posted by Room 641-A at 8:01 PM on August 8, 2016 [2 favorites]

misfish insisted I walk across my road (from her corporate city throne of authority) and go get a drowzee that was showing up in the newly updated 'sightings'. Which rather cutely now shows pictures of creatures near grass. Or as a friend said, "Now it's like finding the weedle in the haystack."

And yes, she totally bi-handedly (thumbedly) caught magikarp for us as I drove us to Rhodes late one Saturday night. May Rhodes rest in peace. It was a corker of a spot.

(Inside Fisher library at Sydney Uni is pretty sweet too though. Just no cool stuff. But power points, toilets and shelter. And under grads setting lures. Bless them.)
posted by taff at 8:35 PM on August 8, 2016 [1 favorite]

The blades of grass in the new Sightings box is a lousy design element, because not every location has grass and not green grass all year round.

That's Pokémon canon, though. In the main games, walking around in tall grass is what causes pokemon encounters, for the most part. More than one of the games open with your mom or a scientist telling you not to walk in tall grass because you haven't got a pokemon to defend you yet.
posted by rifflesby at 8:40 PM on August 8, 2016 [5 favorites]

Wear long pants and stomp a lot. /Australian response to long grass.
posted by taff at 9:33 PM on August 8, 2016

And under grads setting lures. Bless them.

So, pretty much what undergraduates have done since the first university, eh?
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:28 AM on August 9, 2016

The SO and I tried out the new sightings system last night. It seems to work reasonably well. We were able to zero in on a couple of interesting Pokemon within a block or two of our apartment complex. One thing I didn't like is when a new pokemon appeared or an existing one disappeared, there was no way to tell if that was due to your location or the pokemon (de)spawning. I'd love some sort of radar/compass system to get a general direction, but I'm not holding my breath.

I was still having trouble catching things, but I've been told that's probably because I've only just reached the level where it starts to get harder. Also, I suck at stuff like that generally. :)
posted by natabat at 7:43 AM on August 9, 2016

I don't understand how the sighting system is any more helpful than the Nearby was. I updated last night and have seen it several times but it is just pokemon with grass, no differentiation at all. I have seen it empty quite a few times, so is it only showing me ones that much closer than before? I also had at least 3 standard balls go really far this morning even though I had not been throwing them very hard. I guess it is better than the bug I was getting yesterday where they would land just behind the pokemon and then roll around for a long time before I could throw another.
posted by soelo at 8:29 AM on August 9, 2016

I'm traveling outside my usual area today, looking forward to seeing new pokemans.
Though with my luck, it'll be a dead zone, like my neighborhood.
posted by ApathyGirl at 9:27 AM on August 9, 2016 [1 favorite]

Here's what the new system will be: http://mashable.com/2016/08/09/pokemon-go-nearby-sightings-tracker/

(Sorry bad coverage here posting what I can)
posted by Room 641-A at 9:27 AM on August 9, 2016 [2 favorites]

With the new update, the "Battery Saver" mode is back on iOS, but when I tried it this morning it froze up just like it used to when the game first launched.

They seem to have fixed a few bugs, but I wish they would fix two that really irritate me: on the top of the Pokémon screen, the count of your pokémon is wrong (mine says 82/250 when I only have 70), and on the Achievements screen, the percentage of the filled-in circles is wrong (one of mine says "123/200" but the circle is less than half filled in). Hard to believe they haven't bothered to fix this stuff in either of the past two updates.

FastPokeMap is handy for finding things!
posted by oulipian at 9:38 AM on August 9, 2016

Thanks for that link, Room 641-A. I just got the Sightings update but no Nearby feature for me. So basically it only adds a grass background. Now at least I can hope that they'll roll out Nearby to everyone eventually.
posted by misskaz at 11:11 AM on August 9, 2016

Excited to check out the upcoming changes in the tracker system (even the tiny change with this patch is something...sounds like its accuracy has been improved so at least it's actually listing nearby pokemon now instead of "here are some pokemon that exist").

The badges are kinda fun, though I really wish there was some kind of reward for them, even a tiny XP bonus or a few coins or something. I'm up to 8 gold badges now, mostly just the ones for catching certain pokemon types.
posted by randomnity at 11:40 AM on August 9, 2016

The advantages of the new Tracking system are 1) the radius is narrower and 2) things actually disappear when they despawn or move out of the radius instead of just moving to the bottom of the list. Using it, we were able to zero in on and catch a Dragonair today.
posted by KathrynT at 12:01 PM on August 9, 2016 [4 favorites]

Professor Oak explains IVs (and disses rattatas)
posted by roolya_boolya at 1:50 PM on August 9, 2016 [1 favorite]

Thanks for that. Knowing that the difference between max and min IV is that small makes it a lot easier to stop fiddling with pain-in-the-ass spreadsheet calculators now that Pokeassistant is dead.
posted by rifflesby at 2:54 PM on August 9, 2016

This thread needs.more ingress nerds telling you it's a better game. And strategically deeper.

Heh. I've almost stopped playing Ingress altogether. I'm finding P:G so much more relaxing and entertaining. No Comm means no ability for assholes to stalk and harass you!

(I had to go to the police about a guy that literally followed everything I did, no matter where I was. I was in CANADA, blowing up portals at 3AM, and he was yapping at me about the specific portals! Did it while I was in Chicago, too. When I blocked him in the Comm, he started physically following me and asking other people to contact me in Comm, describing my attire and location. Niantic was their usual helpful selves when I sent in the police report. "Change your user name." Assholes.)

P:G is so much more...joyful. I've ended up with roving bands of strangers, all three teams represented, stalking Pikachus and Jynxes and Electabuzzes. There's a little good-natured ribbing, but no threats, no arguments. Just silly fun.
posted by MissySedai at 3:09 PM on August 9, 2016 [1 favorite]

now that Pokeassistant is dead

The site's up for me. Are they using outdated data? Or were you thinking of a different site?
posted by zombieflanders at 3:16 PM on August 9, 2016

Ah, you're right, I was thinking of PokeAdvisor.
posted by rifflesby at 4:16 PM on August 9, 2016

So I was in the camp where I was just going focus on collecting and not worrying about studying up on battle moves and ideal matches etc. since I'm a lover and not a fighter, but then I decided to take on a gym at a whim on the way home the other day and all -- every type possible, from 900-1400+ CP -- of my guys were absolutely demolished one by one, ruthlessly, by a single Hypno who only had a CP of 930. I have no idea what happened.
posted by blue suede stockings at 5:26 PM on August 9, 2016

The new "nearby" has definitely renewed my enjoyment. I was getting pretty burnt out walking for miles and just seeing the same 5 pokemon over and over. The partial roll-out must be by location, not by account, because I was able to see it around my office, but not at home.

It's way better than the footsteps, and pretty much supplants Pokevision. "Nearby" shows all the pokemon that have been sighted by other players at Pokestops within a few blocks. It says which stop they're at and highlights it on the map, so you can walk right to it. Now "sightings" shows pokemon hidden very near you, not seen by others or near pokestops (hence the need for the new grass motif to differentiate), so you would still wander around for those. "Nearby" and "sightings" should totally be reversed.

The only flaw is it almost makes it too easy. You don't have to "hunt" at all. But I'll take that over miles of Zubats any day. Turns out ratting for Oddish is more fun than ratting for rats. I was able to evolve my Gloom and my Rhyhorn, and that may not have happened for weeks otherwise, if at all.
posted by team lowkey at 7:54 PM on August 9, 2016 [1 favorite]

I managed to track down a Snorlax via triangulation... but it escaped me. That's the second one that's got away.

If I catch and hold one I am renaming it Moby GD Dick.
posted by angeline at 8:44 PM on August 9, 2016 [3 favorites]

Oh, the other downside of the new tracker is that I totally burned through all my great and ultra balls, because I was finding so many great pokemon... and they haven't fixed the bug that makes them break free all the f-ing time.
posted by team lowkey at 9:03 PM on August 9, 2016

That's not a bug, it's a feature to simulate difficulty and to make you go to pokestops which will invariably be sponsored and make them money. #pokeconspiracies

I'm glad they fixed the throwing, except my messed up way of throwing to compensate for the broken throwing is now inaccurate. Grr.
posted by numaner at 10:39 PM on August 9, 2016

I managed to track down a Snorlax via triangulation... but it escaped me. That's the second one that's got away.

How long were you taking to triangulate? Back when pokevision was working out shower that each Pokemon only stayed around for 15 min. So if you take any longer they'll just disappear.
posted by numaner at 10:41 PM on August 9, 2016

each Pokemon only stayed around for 15 min. So if you take any longer they'll just disappear.

So Pokemon Go is just Grindr for gamers, then.
posted by hippybear at 10:43 PM on August 9, 2016

HillarEeVee leading the White House gym was the highlight of my day: https://twitter.com/markvistaalum/status/763265282731307012
posted by Skwirl at 2:10 AM on August 10, 2016 [5 favorites]

This new driving pop up is driving me crazy. It popped up seven times in a 15 minute bus trip this morning, and pops up during my bike rides too ( when I am not looking at the screen, but leaving the app open to hatch eggs. Seems like the pop up overlay stops the movement from counting towards hatching?
posted by lollusc at 6:37 AM on August 10, 2016

Professor Oak explains IVs (and disses rattatas)

imgur link if you have 9gag blocked because reasons
posted by numaner at 6:59 AM on August 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

The driving pop-up appeared while I was standing quietly at a bakery counter ordering a cake, so I have no idea what it's operating on there.

As for triangulating, not long. I spotted the Snorlax on my radar, went one direction, then when it moved I turned right around and went the other way. I assume it did hit its despawn time... judging by the one that popped up under my nose the other day and I still missed, I think Snorlax has a pretty short spawn time, which is saaaaaaaaaad for meeeeeee.
posted by angeline at 7:06 AM on August 10, 2016

I think they're all 15 minutes, but with Pokevision I did confirm that even though they're supposed to spawn right under your feet sometimes they don't. Like you can see the damn patches of grass swirling and Pokevision says there's a frigging Voltorb right there but nothing pops up. Even now, running around a mess of grasses sometimes still won't produce anything. I know they're supposed to be "hints" but why give you a hint that requires you to run around the whole block and still nothing? And then of course when you're just riding on a train or an Uber and Pidgeys and Ratatas pop up along the street everywhere.

The inconsistency in this game is almost as bad as the things that drumpf say.
posted by numaner at 7:19 AM on August 10, 2016

Right? I understand the need to discourage playing while actually driving, but people gonna be reckless regardless (hell, I've done it just because I can). Making it minusculey harder to be reckless isn't going to change their minds.

And the pop up is annoying in general because GPS isn't perfect, and while you're standing around it might set you at a block away, then correct itself and then your avatar is flying all over the place and the damn pop up comes on while you're trying to do stuff.
posted by numaner at 7:53 AM on August 10, 2016

Pretty much. It sounds like idiotic micromanaging of the game, for some ideal rational. They've got this game in a lot of different countries where its under a ton of different conditions, so trying to limit it too much is just shooting yourself in the foot. Don't shoot yourself in foot, m'kay?
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 8:06 AM on August 10, 2016

This new driving pop up is driving me crazy. It popped up seven times in a 15 minute bus trip this morning, and pops up during my bike rides too

There is one staircase here (curved)--and only one--that makes it believe I'm driving every single time I ascend or descend it.
posted by blue suede stockings at 8:23 AM on August 10, 2016

I'm going to run down the metro escalator later and then complain loudly to Niantic if it pops up.
posted by numaner at 8:29 AM on August 10, 2016

There is one staircase here (curved)--and only one--that makes it believe I'm driving every single time I ascend or descend it.

I received the driving warning for the first time when I was climbing up the stairs in my house. Confused me totally.

Overall, I like that the update made catching Pokemon a little easier (and that I get EXP for my decent throws again), but I haaaaaaaaaaaaate the "Don't Pokemon While Driving" pop-up. It encourages drivers to look away to press the damn button so their "steps" count at slow speeds, and overall, comes up at weird times. I think the game-loading pop-ups were more effective and adding less to the distractions over all.
posted by PearlRose at 9:19 AM on August 10, 2016

The driving popup sounds like it would create more problems than solve them. If someone is driving, then looking down to read that text sounds more dangerous than doing nothing. The game around doesn't count distance if you're going too fast, which is around 20mph I've heard, so I don't know what they thing they're doing. Niantic is a rather odd company.

Niantic has lawyers. The same sorts of lawyers who advise car companies to disable adjustment of the console GPS when the car is in motion.

This implementation seems clunky (too many false positives, should have been live at launch), but the incentive from a liability point of view is clear.
posted by sparklemotion at 9:22 AM on August 10, 2016 [2 favorites]

Yeah well, the lawyers sound like a bunch zubats.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 10:37 AM on August 10, 2016 [9 favorites]

The engineers likely agree (hence the half-assed implementation)
posted by sparklemotion at 11:39 AM on August 10, 2016

Hey, just got the "you're driving to fast message" while sitting at a desk. Niantic, you so crazy!

Though this does pose all sorts of questions about tracking how fast someone is going after automobile accidents. We're all traveling around with a "black box" of data and who knows when that'll turn around and bite us in the butt.

I've been wondering why the app can't tell which direction we're going and auto orient the map, since everyone tilts the top of the phone slightly forward. That'll probably be in some upgrade.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 1:13 PM on August 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

I think the limit is lower than 20mph. I had the game open on my ride home last night (on a phone mount) and it didn't count any of the ride until a hill at the end and I am about 100% sure that I wasn't going that fast for the rest of the ride.

I've been wondering why the app can't tell which direction we're going and auto orient the map, since everyone tilts the top of the phone slightly forward. That'll probably be in some upgrade.

It's done this since the very beginning. You can tap the compass icon and it switches from North being up to the direction you're facing being up.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 1:32 PM on August 10, 2016 [2 favorites]

Yeah, PoGO's dynamic compass mode, like Ingress's before it, fails to work properly on every device I've tried it on. They got so many bug reports on it from Ingress players, they actually put it at the top of a small list of known issues on the bug report form on the Ingress support website.
posted by radwolf76 at 1:49 PM on August 10, 2016

You can tap the compass icon and it switches from North being up to the direction you're facing being up.

I had no idea. Playing it with now, it's doesn't seem to be totally accurate, which is probably why I never made the connection.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 2:00 PM on August 10, 2016

I now have a bug where the map knows where I am but there are no stops or gyms on it. This is as I am leaving work where I know there are tons, just none showing on the map.
posted by soelo at 3:36 PM on August 10, 2016

When I can just see myself and the map, restarting the app usually fixes it.
posted by purpleclover at 3:47 PM on August 10, 2016

It took four restarts for me and about ten minutes of waiting. Not sure which one fixed it.
posted by soelo at 3:55 PM on August 10, 2016

Dang. Super annoying.

After complaining upthread about no 10k eggs, I now have two incubating.
posted by purpleclover at 3:56 PM on August 10, 2016

It took four restarts for me and about ten minutes of waiting. Not sure which one fixed it.

Did you just install the update? The same happened to me, I assume it just had to redownload all the stop data from the servers.
posted by rifflesby at 4:16 PM on August 10, 2016

Does anyone else here have the dreaded vanishing egg problem?

I've lost two almost-hatched eggs! The eggs are just gone.
My theory is that it happens if you are exceeding the speed limit while they hatch.
posted by Omnomnom at 1:18 AM on August 11, 2016

Are you sure they're gone? I've had issues where they don't visually hatch, but new Pokemon are my collection. You can sort the collection by "recent" to tell what's the newst.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:14 AM on August 11, 2016

I've visited 1,196 Pokestops, and gotten exactly one 10k egg. And plenty of those were lured. I'm level 22, and sort of wavering in my enthusiasm. But then, I'll have good day where I finally catch a few rarer types, and that gets me invested again. I'm still trying to get a Pikachu (I've only seen one, and he got away).

I spend my time between urban NYC and rural Hudson River Valley, and I do find the lack of spawning monsters in rural areas to be a drag.
posted by kimdog at 6:19 AM on August 11, 2016

Did you just install the update? The same happened to me, I assume it just had to redownload all the stop data from the servers.
I think I had installed the update the night before and I know I played at lunchtime. Maybe there has been yet another update and my phone updated it using the lobby wifi at some point.
posted by soelo at 7:08 AM on August 11, 2016

In theory, speeding should not advance the mileage on your eggs so they couldn't hatch while speeding. But there have been so many reports of wonky distance measures that it would not surprise me. I have had eggs hatch while I was walking and not paying attention. The hatching screen must time out or go away if you keep walking. I still got the pokemon, though.
posted by soelo at 7:14 AM on August 11, 2016

Can anyone give me a good description of how to track down Pokemon using the latest update with the Sightings? So far I haven't had any success with this despite being in a huge empty parking lot with one semi-rare Pokemon first in the list. The Pokemon just dropped off the screen entirely rather than fell back in the list. I circled back, saw it again, but then it dropped off again. I don't have endless patience for triangulation, and when it just disappears from the list, I assume it despawned rather than is juuust out of range.

If anyone has pointers, I'd love to hear them.
posted by aabbbiee at 7:23 AM on August 11, 2016 [1 favorite]

I know people are having egg problems but I'm super stoked I hatched a Drowsee. The only one I've seen ran away. Sadly, Kaiser (medical center) removed the gym from the outdoor courtyard. That was the one gym I reliably spent any time at.(And yes,t here was another small update.)
posted by Room 641-A at 8:20 AM on August 11, 2016

Last night I drove past a Pokemon sighting! It was unbelievable how many people there were, I caught a hundred people just crossing the street at once, glued to their phones. (In that location there was a Dragonite last month, no idea what it was last night.)
posted by jeather at 8:47 AM on August 11, 2016

Hospitals removing stops and gyms and so wrong. What the hell else are you suppose to do while you're recovering?

Did they also remove the swirling patches of grass with the new sightings? I haven't noticed any at all yesterday even though the usual rate of pokemon popped up.
posted by numaner at 8:58 AM on August 11, 2016

I know people are having egg problems but I'm super stoked I hatched a Drowsee.

You can have some of mine, I've caught seventy of them. This area is lousy with them.
posted by octothorpe at 9:35 AM on August 11, 2016

I'm at 230/279 Drowzees now (which is a huge underrepresentation of their frequency here, because I usually don't even click on them unless I have extra balls to waste....and even then I always run now unless it's a green circle or a very high cp one. Screw drowzees and their 50-candy-to-evolve nonsense). At least my hypno army isn't completely useless as gym fodder, although I still keep them culled to my top 6, and usually use my better stuff instead.

I'm still excited every time I see a fire type though since they're so rare here. I just recently got the "caught 50 fire types" silver badge, and only because I've been spending a lot of time recently at an amazing spot in my city where absolutely anything spawns at lures, allegedly due to no "natural" pokemon spawning there otherwise (bonus: only very occasional drowsees there, unlike literally everywhere else in the city!). I think my pokedex was around 60 when I first went there a couple weeks ago, and now it's over 100 with 10-15 more entries anticipated in the next week or so from new evolves. Try to find those spots if your city has any!
posted by randomnity at 10:04 AM on August 11, 2016

Oh and for comparison, I click on every 12-candy-evolver I see, and I'm at 219/260 pidgeys, 62/80 caterpies, and 130/165 weedles. So yeah, total drowzee infestation here...
posted by randomnity at 10:18 AM on August 11, 2016

Trip report: No different pokeys except when I was by the LA River I caught a goldfish.
I've never seen a drowsee; must be an east coast thing?
posted by ApathyGirl at 12:01 PM on August 11, 2016

I've never seen a drowsee; must be an east coast thing?

You'd think they be a Colorado or Washington state thing...
posted by numaner at 1:00 PM on August 11, 2016 [1 favorite]

Come on down to the Library of Congress! We got like a dozen pokestops around the 3 buildings and plenty of Voltorps!

(it is hot as hell here though, as I can attest having just taken my pokewalk, maybe the heat is bringing all the Voltorps?)
posted by numaner at 1:01 PM on August 11, 2016

We're having an Eevee problem, they're popping up everywhere.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 1:01 PM on August 11, 2016

I wouldn't call that a problem... They used to be more prevalent around my house, and now they're extinct. I need more Vaporeons!
posted by numaner at 1:03 PM on August 11, 2016

I've never seen a drowsee; must be an east coast thing?

Am on the east coast, haven't seen too many drowzees, only have one. Too damn many Digletts though
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 1:08 PM on August 11, 2016

Come on down to the Library of Congress! We got like a dozen pokestops around the 3 buildings and plenty of Voltorps!

If you're in DC, the best place that has Pokemans is apparently the FDR memorial.
posted by zombieflanders at 1:12 PM on August 11, 2016 [1 favorite]

I hatched my 10k egg: Eevee. Which are pretty well-represented around here.

I've only ever seen one Diglett.

I learned a thing about gyms: The best way to train up a gym of your color so it will level up and you can pop a dude in is to beat the lowest-level dude with one of yours with a lower CP. (E.g., if the third slot is a 1000 Flareon, fight it with a 999 Vaporeon.) The gym will get like 500 points. Playing it with a higher-CP dude will not get the gym nearly as many points. (You can run away after beating just the one dude, and you'll still get your points.)
posted by purpleclover at 1:15 PM on August 11, 2016 [7 favorites]

Minneapolis has tons of drowzees. I have only one doduo and that came from an egg.
posted by soelo at 2:18 PM on August 11, 2016 [1 favorite]

Yeah that's how I've been "training". But if the first one is super low level and the second is vastly higher, choose one that can easily defeat the first one but still lower CP than the second, but you beat it, doing so will get you 600+.
posted by numaner at 2:19 PM on August 11, 2016 [3 favorites]

ApathyGirl, I saw one in the pier a few weeks ago but I ran out of ba1lls.
posted by Room 641-A at 3:57 PM on August 11, 2016

Excellent tip purpleclover! I have three gyms within two blocks of me, I'm going to try that out tomorrow.
posted by zombieflanders at 4:12 PM on August 11, 2016

So I'm up late to catch the Perseids meteor shower and I figured I'd drive around the neighborhood and knock out the gyms around here. Amazingly two of the 4 gyms I took over are taken after less than an hour. I guess others are up to catch the shower too.

My fourth though, was one of my team, and it had an open spot and the two there are not very high. I drive right over to the familiar park to find that there's police cars everywhere and they talked off the park. It looked like some kind of ah investigation scene. So I slowed down and acted like I'm being curious, but the gym is reachable while driving by, and I madness to put my top Exeggcutor in! Depending on how long they're going to be there, no one's coming tonight will be able to sit there and knock me out!

This all sounds horrible, I know, but I'm sincerely hoping nothing happened there... I didn't see much blood or any ambulances. Only police cruisers, there were objects strewn around so maybe it was a drug bust and they're checking the scene after.
posted by numaner at 10:22 PM on August 11, 2016

Why couldn't you stop the car? It is not safe to use your phone while driving.
posted by soelo at 8:09 AM on August 12, 2016 [1 favorite]

Something annoying happened today that I thought was fixed. A nearby building has three stops in it and I can reach one long before the others. I am walking and the closest stop has the blue circle on it, so I open it and start spinning the picture. I get nothing and so I close the stop and keep walking. I get the other two and I circle back for the first one which is still blue and not pink. I spin it again and it says "Try again later". I see that sometimes while I am riding the bus and I pick a stop that is not quite close enough. It's like an attempted pick up counts as an item drop even though you didn't get anything.
posted by soelo at 9:30 AM on August 12, 2016

If you get "try again later" on a blue stop, you did get the stop and items, it just doesn't show up properly (usually because you exited the spinning animation too early).

The stop visit will often show up in your journal with the items you got, and if you restart your app, the stop will be pink and you'll have the new items in your bag (I don't think you need to restart for the items to appear in your bag, though - you just don't get the notification). Not 100% sure that this is true every time but it has been true the few times I've bothered to confirm it.
posted by randomnity at 9:57 AM on August 12, 2016

Yeah, I still see that, too. Usually when I get "Try again later" at a pokestop that should be working, if I kill and relaunch it clears up and works, but it's still irritating.

I feel like I've been getting more red "Connection Error" banners lately in gym battles and while trying to catch monsters, which is also super irritating.
posted by Vibrissa at 9:59 AM on August 12, 2016

Sweet, I will check my journal. Also, I got my first 10K egg today!
posted by soelo at 10:25 AM on August 12, 2016

- navigate away from app
- navigate back to app
- my character darts in a crazy triangle as the GPS boings around and repositions itself
- "DON'T PLAY POKEMON WHILE DRIVING YOU FOOL!!"

Under "I'm a passenger" there should be a button for "I am literally sitting at my desk and have not moved in several hours"
posted by showbiz_liz at 10:28 AM on August 12, 2016 [4 favorites]

Why couldn't you stop the car? It is not safe to use your phone while driving.

The cops were shining lights at me, wondering why I'm creeping by their crime scene, so I was definitely not going to stop, and if they come up and ask me why I'm stopping and I tell them it's for a gym I can't imagine what they would do.
posted by numaner at 10:46 AM on August 12, 2016

I have hatched two 10k eggs: Eevee and Pinsir.

WHERE IS MY LAPRAS? I want a Lapras.
posted by purpleclover at 11:10 AM on August 12, 2016 [3 favorites]

I have been extra tired lately, so when I stopped at a Pokéstop this morning and saw the gym next to it was controlled by a Clefable - which I had not seen in the wild yet, let alone controlling a gym - I jerked my head up to gaze bewilderedly into the sky over the sushi restaurant the gym was at, fully and completely expecting to see a Clefable hovering there.
posted by angeline at 11:11 AM on August 12, 2016 [8 favorites]

WHERE IS MY LAPRAS? I want a Lapras.

I have two, let's trade! Oh wait, that feature isn't ready yet...
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 11:27 AM on August 12, 2016 [1 favorite]

It needs to get here. It's not that I don't ENJOY my army of Vaporeons, I just don't NEED that many.
posted by angeline at 11:31 AM on August 12, 2016 [1 favorite]

When it gets here, let's talk.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 11:33 AM on August 12, 2016

I gotcha. They're all over 1000, you'd have to power them up but they're all created from the finest high-CP Eevees I can find.

*opens trenchcoat stuffed with tiny magical foxcats*
posted by angeline at 11:39 AM on August 12, 2016 [5 favorites]

Stopping your car is not a crime, even if there are cops nearby. Playing Pokemon Go is not a crime. Using your phone while your car is moving is against the law in many places.
posted by soelo at 11:50 AM on August 12, 2016

I see on the PokemonGo subreddit that there is apparently a banwave incoming for botters and spoofers, which is good news for those frustrated with Gyms held by trainers that are level infinity with impossible Dragonites.

The game lost me for a little bit with the tracking bug, but there is a park nearby me that is constantly lured and full of people that.... shall we say, have not faced ye daystar in many a moon. I like the civic engagement the game provides.
posted by the uncomplicated soups of my childhood at 11:53 AM on August 12, 2016

who wants a Voltorb?? get yer Voltorb here! Voltorbs by the half-dozens! (also Staryus and Venonats!)
posted by numaner at 1:04 PM on August 12, 2016

I'd put up with nothing but zubats for a day, just to get some Voltorbs.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 1:08 PM on August 12, 2016 [2 favorites]

Stopping your car is not a crime, even if there are cops nearby. Playing Pokemon Go is not a crime. Using your phone while your car is moving is against the law in many places.

It's kind of a dumb law to me; I use my phone all the time while driving, as far back as when I had flip phones. It just takes practice and the ability to not be a dumbass about when to take your eyes off the road. I use it less when I have passengers, though.
posted by numaner at 1:11 PM on August 12, 2016

I have seen exactly two Voltorbs. One I caught when, for the first time ever, I walked the path that goes under the foot of the San Mateo Bridge, which was really cool! I have walked around some weird places I've never been to as a result of this game. It's nice; I've lived in this area for nearly 15 years, but I've been to a bunch of new parks and walked a bunch of new blocks. And I now know the map of the various local church-gyms, so if you need me to direct you to the Unitarians or the Congregationalists or the Baptists, I'm here for you.
posted by purpleclover at 1:16 PM on August 12, 2016 [1 favorite]

I learned a thing about gyms: The best way to train up a gym of your color so it will level up and you can pop a dude in is to beat the lowest-level dude with one of yours with a lower CP. (E.g., if the third slot is a 1000 Flareon, fight it with a 999 Vaporeon.) The gym will get like 500 points. Playing it with a higher-CP dude will not get the gym nearly as many points. (You can run away after beating just the one dude, and you'll still get your points.)

Here's a followup tip I learned last night: if you've just cracked a gym and are installing the first guy, put in a high-level Magikarp (high level for a Magikarp is like 150). Attack it with a grass or electric pokemon that is less than half its CP. You get 1000 prestige per fight with very little damage taken (which can be healed with the weakest potions), and can blow open all 10 gym slots in just a few minutes.
posted by rifflesby at 1:24 PM on August 12, 2016 [6 favorites]

Even though it'll be a hundredandfuckyou degrees out (109 with heat index as of 2pm today), looks like I'll be heading over to the LOC and the FDR Memorial this weekend.
posted by zombieflanders at 1:26 PM on August 12, 2016

I'm here to tell you dreams can come true: I hatched a 1666 Lapras out of a 10 km egg last night. I'm *still* excited about it.
posted by fiercecupcake at 3:00 PM on August 12, 2016 [6 favorites]

The IGN guide has great info on eggs. Relevant to the GPS questions above: Fast moving vehicles will likely disable the distance traveled unless there are frequent slow downs or stops (and the phone is constantly being jostled to replicate pedometer movement).

They also have a chart of which Pokemon hatch from the different distance eggs.
posted by Room 641-A at 3:09 PM on August 12, 2016 [1 favorite]

I hatched my first 10k egg last night. It was a giant snail. WTF.
posted by ApathyGirl at 4:10 PM on August 12, 2016 [3 favorites]

All hail Lord Helix! \o/
posted by rifflesby at 4:25 PM on August 12, 2016

I have played this game for who knows how many hours (level 21!) and only today realized that you don't need to pop the little item bubbles at pokéstops. As soon as you spin the photo, you can exit, and you get all the items (even the ones you might not want). I have tapped so many thousands of those bubbles....
posted by oulipian at 7:30 AM on August 13, 2016 [3 favorites]

Oh, yeah. I was tapping all the bubbles for a few days until a co-worker tipped me off on that.
posted by octothorpe at 7:36 AM on August 13, 2016 [1 favorite]

The lack of instructions is pretty great at forcing people to talk about the game and share tips, but yeah people have holes in their knowledge of the game.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 9:39 AM on August 13, 2016 [1 favorite]

...this is a strange, tiny nitpick, but the iOS app is missing some images/assets in some resolutions and it makes some things jarringly pixelated. They fixed that problem with the names of monsters in gyms, but I think it still happens with the poof of dust when a monster runs away from you.
posted by Vibrissa at 9:47 AM on August 13, 2016

Yeah I found out about not needing to pop the bubbles by accident. It was the best accident.
posted by numaner at 5:01 PM on August 13, 2016

Rejoice with me, for I have at last evolved my Gloom into a Vileplume, my Goldeen into a Seaking, and...finally...FINALLY...

...breaking a nine-evolution streak, I got a Flareon instead of a Vaporeon.
posted by angeline at 5:25 PM on August 13, 2016 [4 favorites]

Yay! Today was the day I finally evolved a Vulpix into a Banana Horse
posted by oulipian at 6:22 PM on August 13, 2016 [7 favorites]

I evolved my first Kingler and Parasect today and grabbed my first Venomoth. I saved up all my evolves for a week, used a lucky egg and a module in the stop accessable from my house and bashed out about 40,000XP in a half hour.
posted by octothorpe at 6:38 PM on August 13, 2016 [3 favorites]

Spent earlier today down by the river, getting all the Margikarp I could.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:54 PM on August 13, 2016 [3 favorites]

I knew about the "don't need to tap" thing with the pokestops, but honestly, that's part of the game. The psychologist on staff at Niantic is a genius. The little rush of tapping all the little bubbles is part of the addiction inherent in the game. It's like little cheevos for doing absolutely nothing. Makes me want to keep walking to the next pokestop.
posted by Ghidorah at 7:23 AM on August 14, 2016

I had the total opposite experience with the bubbles at Pokestops. It never occurred to me to do anything except watch them accumulate and then I went out Pokewalking with my friend and saw her frantically popping them!
posted by roolya_boolya at 8:38 AM on August 14, 2016 [1 favorite]

The little rush of tapping all the little bubbles is part of the addiction inherent in the game.

Counterpoint: I completely popping all the little bubbles and though it was one of the stupidest designs ever. Then I felt like a fool when I found out you didn't have to . Then I caught a new Pokemon and felt the sweet, sweet rush of discovery.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 9:04 AM on August 14, 2016 [1 favorite]

Went out for a walk down by the rivers in the almost solid humidity and caught my first Tentacool and Growlithe. (And got in 5,000 steps on my fitbit).
posted by octothorpe at 9:21 AM on August 14, 2016 [3 favorites]

I was totally charmed by the one man operation selling bottled water to the huddled, chatting, strategizing players who dropped a bunch of lures in Union Square Park, all profits to benefit "epilepsy awareness" (his own particular medical needs--he even made himself a signage hat): "Ice cold water! Colder than a Trump remark! C'mon, people--epilepsy is serious, Pokemon is not." It was the most New York City thing ever.
posted by blue suede stockings at 11:00 AM on August 14, 2016 [6 favorites]

Yesterday, I was throwing pokeballs at a rattata during my lunchbreak, when I got an incoming call for work. I really needed that call, so I swore and switched to phone mode.
And ten minutes later, when I was done with the call, I switched back and the rattata was still there, waiting for me to catch it!
posted by Omnomnom at 12:49 PM on August 14, 2016

Went on another Wild Snorlax Chase today, no joy.

*sob*
posted by angeline at 6:06 PM on August 14, 2016

I was out in the suburbs for the first time in a few weeks today getting some film developed and tried to play while I waited and realized how urban a game this is. I was in a strip mall on a road that's just one strip mall after another and I could see one stop and one gym from where I was sitting and nothing else. Compare that to me sitting in my kitchen in the city where I can see three gyms and almost fifty stops.
posted by octothorpe at 6:12 PM on August 14, 2016 [5 favorites]

Today my husband and I took all the gyms on the Kilauea Iki trail on the Big Island of Hawaii and left Flareons, Rapdashes, and Magmars (fire dudes). In 1959, the Kilauea Iki crater was literally a lake of fire. Also, how tf are there four gyms on that hike? It's pretty far distant from ...almost everything?

(We also admired the strange moonscape of the hardened lava crater floor, saw bright tropical birds, and wandered among the tree-height ferns, so settle down, people who think we didn't have a nice experience in the real world.)

Otherwise, the pokedudes are mostly the same as the SF Bay Area. (My husband thinks there are an unusual number of Clefairys here.) Disappointingly few Magmars. (None.)
posted by purpleclover at 7:53 PM on August 14, 2016 [3 favorites]

I literally haven't seen a Magmar, and the only Electabuzzes I have are hatched. I've seen them in Gyms around me and I wonder if they imported from somewhere else, just like the Hypno I got.

BTW if you sit in terrible traffic every day, might as well fire up the game and let it walk the eggs! You don't even need to play! (Assuming of course that we are right about the hatching working when the game is on but the screen turns off automatically versus being forced off)
posted by numaner at 10:43 AM on August 15, 2016

wooooooooo totally random Onyx popped up during my pokewalk to get starbucks! it's a crappy level but it's my first one!
posted by numaner at 2:30 PM on August 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

Will totally have enough Magikarp to evolve by tomorrow night. But still haven't found a high level 'karp, so will keep looking for my one true love.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 2:58 PM on August 15, 2016 [2 favorites]

I ended up hatching a bunch of 2k eggs till I got a magikarp I liked.
posted by purpleclover at 4:44 PM on August 15, 2016

That didn't work for me. Must continue the hunt!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:14 PM on August 15, 2016

Michigan Couple Sues Creators of Pokémon Go, Says It Turned Their Neighborhood Into a ‘Nightmare’
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:17 PM on August 15, 2016

I hatched a Clefairy I hatched a Clefairy *bounce bounce bounce* And I leveled up!

I'm at the halfway point in my Magikarp collecting. I haven't found one over 160 CP, do you think that'll yield a decent enough Gyarados? My only Gya, I found in a parking lot and it was pretty low CP-wise, I'm hoping to trade up.
posted by angeline at 7:59 PM on August 15, 2016

I don't think I've ever seen a Magikarp over 160. If you have a 160, that sounds like a real good candidate. Of course, bear in mind the catchable power increases as your level goes up, so if you're near to levelling it might be worth holding onto the candy for a little while, just to see? If you have the patience for it ;)
posted by rifflesby at 8:14 PM on August 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

Hm, I'm going to have to camp the Magikarp nest for a while to get the next 200 candies, I'll probably level up again. Good to know, thanks!
posted by angeline at 8:16 PM on August 15, 2016

I think someone's going around my neighborhood and clearing out the gyms but leaving them unoccupied. Saw a few on the train ride this morning and managed to put one of mine in one (which was promptly kicked out after like an hour, but I got the shop bonus). Not sure what team they are, and not sure how I should feel about that either. But it's kind of funny.
posted by numaner at 4:28 AM on August 16, 2016

I've seen 152 Magikarp, and the highest CP has been 154.
posted by purpleclover at 5:16 AM on August 16, 2016

I've seen one in a gym that was 190, but I have no idea if it was powered up or not.
posted by zombieflanders at 6:35 AM on August 16, 2016

I have over 350 Magicarp candies now and my highest-CP Magicarp is 148, as long as we're tradin' anecdotes.

GOD I want to evolve this little asshole so bad! But my lunchtime Pokemon walks are on hiatus until it stops being UTTERLY DISGUSTING outside, so I have to settle for the Magicscarp that show up on my desk.
posted by showbiz_liz at 6:44 AM on August 16, 2016 [1 favorite]

Yeah, the one I HAVE is 137 I think. I didn't catch the 160 one, it ran away.

Side note: it is extra hilarious when Magikarp runs away, somehow, even though I'm pissed that a stinking sub-200 CP fish that can't walk escaped me. I'm mad, but laughing every time.
posted by angeline at 7:19 AM on August 16, 2016 [1 favorite]

Had three 'karps run away from this morning, one after using a regular, ultra and great ball, with a raspberry! But did manage to catch two at 161 and now have 401 candies, so it's game time.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:27 AM on August 16, 2016 [2 favorites]

I feel like the game is losing steam for me, as I've caught all the common local 'mons many times over and I've stopped even bothering throwing balls at Pidgeys and Rattatas. Even collecting them for evolution xp doesn't have much appeal as the levelling has slowed way down.

My pokedex is at 91 but I feel like it would be such a slog to get the rest, gathering enough candy for the three-tier evolutions of pokemon I've barely seen and crossing my fingers for 10k eggs. I can barely even gym battle anymore as healing items seem so hard to come by (I'm drowning in razz berries, help).
posted by Gordafarin at 7:48 AM on August 16, 2016

Also I now sort of wish I had picked Team Yellow, only because enemy gyms are a billion times easier to beat than friendly gyms are to level up, especially considering the 'too many revives and not enough potions' issue. If my nearby gyms are friendly I don't even bother anymore.
posted by showbiz_liz at 7:56 AM on August 16, 2016

What does it mean when you chose Red team and your spouse choses Blue team?!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 8:09 AM on August 16, 2016 [1 favorite]

It means the end, my friend.
posted by angeline at 8:53 AM on August 16, 2016 [2 favorites]

I have yet to see a single Magicarp. I've been playing since like, the week after launch, and I've only seen 56 different Pokémon. I'm sure it doesn't help that my suburb is a virtual dead zone, but honestly.. where are they?!
posted by ApathyGirl at 2:14 PM on August 16, 2016

I'm sure it doesn't help that my suburb is a virtual dead zone, but honestly.. where are they?!

Areas with natural bodies of water. (Riverside, beach, lake, etc.) And you have to be relatively close to the water.
posted by blue suede stockings at 2:22 PM on August 16, 2016

Yeah, I think I've only seen them while riding a bus over a bridge, plus one that I hatched (CP 140, which seems respectable. Now I just have to collect another 360 candies!).
posted by Vibrissa at 2:29 PM on August 16, 2016

they also pop up on man-made water places, like national monuments and such that contain enough water for a large blue patch to show up on the map.
posted by numaner at 3:04 PM on August 16, 2016

Yeah, the patch of blue is what you're looking for. Canals, lakes, ponds, whatever, they'll show around those.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 3:25 PM on August 16, 2016

if you care about achievements at all keep going after those Ratatas for the shiny medal of catching the extra small (XS) ones.
posted by numaner at 3:27 PM on August 16, 2016

These days I enjoy it more in discrete bursts - like, make plans to go to a park for a few hours, either with a friend or a podcast, and just play the heck out of some Pokemon. Less of a "play it every waking moment, run to the store at 11pm as an excuse to catch JUST ONE MORE Pokemon" thing.

Same. It's become an extra incentive to drag my ass out of bed in the morning and get couple hours of walking in, along with an audiobook (Seveneves) which I've only been allowing myself to listen to on these walks. Playing because I'm walking, rather than walking in order to play.

I imagine when some new content drops I'll get excited again, though.
posted by rifflesby at 3:42 PM on August 16, 2016

But will new content drop?
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:25 PM on August 16, 2016

Magikarp Report: I've seen/caught 17/17. Seventeen! On the other hand, I have a bronze Fisherman badge for catching five big ones. I assume I'll hatch an evolved Magikarp before I collect enough candy to do it myself. Most of them were found around the pier or within a block or two off the water.

I'm really kicking myself because I was close to evolving a Kakuma but accidentally evolved a Weedle. It wouldn't be a big deal anywhere else but I've only seen seven Weedles.

Sunday night I went to the pier for an hour, but just before I arrived some drunk idiot jumped off, right into the water. SMPD conducted a massive search and rescue effort, and since the guy was later found in an area parking lot I'll share this photo of the most wanted Cubone in the west.

Oh, and I got a Seel!
posted by Room 641-A at 7:24 PM on August 16, 2016 [2 favorites]

Weedles are one of the most common types around here. I've 104 of them.
posted by octothorpe at 8:28 PM on August 16, 2016

My last three 10K eggs have been Eevee. I am disappoint. I haven't even seen half of the 10K pokemon, and I already have the greatest Vaporeon OF ALL TIME.
posted by team lowkey at 11:48 PM on August 16, 2016 [2 favorites]

Pittsburgh Dad tries to understand Pokemon Go (warning: possibly inexplicable regional humor).
posted by octothorpe at 4:37 AM on August 17, 2016

yeah, that's interesting that someone doesn't have a lot of Weedles around. I thought they were like Pidgeys and Rattatas, basic 'Mon that everyone has.

Hmm, I wonder if there's 'Mon at the South Pole? Googling reveals the answer is no.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:34 AM on August 17, 2016

Then again, the InterTubes says there's a few stops and a couple of gyms, but probably only hackers can reach them
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:49 AM on August 17, 2016

continuing problems that annoy the crap out of me because I just want to play the game and not be annoyed:

- The GPS is super finicky now after the latest update. It constantly pops up with "GPS signal not found" error. The times where you're switching in and out of the game and it has to reestablish location, I can tolerate that. But when you're walking outside, staring at the game, and it keeps popping up? That's crap. Like every other tree is a GPS blocker.

- This morning, on the train that I ride to work every day, the game started not moving. There's over a dozen pokestops I can hit on my train ride (basically every train station and every metro station, and a bunch when I pass by this one town), and the game was just not even moving, and not even saying there's no GPS signal.

- The issue soelo stated above is also prevalent for me. I don't even know what the error is, but restarting the game and checking the journal show that I never got the items. The pokestop just plain bugged out.

- This is relatively minor, since it's only affecting me when I'm sitting somewhere and have the game out. If it's open but isn't active, when I switch back to it (assuming it didn't have to restart since the phone refreshed its RAM), I get the forever spinning loading pokeball in the top left, and no pokestops, gyms, or any pokemon that pops up will load their images or screens. I'm assuming it lost connection to the server, but that's just strange that it could.
posted by numaner at 6:12 AM on August 17, 2016 [2 favorites]

On another note, it feels like the items from pokestops come in waves. I always get basic pokeballs and revives, but one week I'll also get a ton of potions of all 3 types, another week I'll get a bunch of Great Balls or Ultra Balls. Another it's nothing but Razz Berries.

Is anyone else noticing that?
posted by numaner at 6:14 AM on August 17, 2016

There is a pond off of my backyard, big enough to show up on the map as well as five other larger ponds in my neighborhood. I have never seen a magikarp in my neighborhood. I caught my first one on vacation at a lake, and then I have seen maybe 3 more. It is frustrating, but I also have not hit any of the larger parks in my metro area, most with lakes. Numaner, that sounds like connectivity issues to me, especially on the train. If I don't move in the game for a few seconds that I am moving IRL, I kill and restart the app. Also, I work among tall buildings and my GPS is not always accurate, but it is connecting.
posted by soelo at 6:43 AM on August 17, 2016

I feel terrible for your soelo, I literally just got a Magikarp at the fountain outside of the train station as soon as I walked out of it this morning.

I'm hoping it's a temporary issue with my phone carrier. We had a storm here last night that apparently affected the local Sprint service (I was getting alerts that Sprint users can't call 911 and should seek landlines if they need to). I was on T-Mobile (through Google Fi) this morning, and even though T-Mobile wasn't affected by the storm, it might be related.
posted by numaner at 6:55 AM on August 17, 2016

Is anyone else noticing that?

Sort of, but with Eggs. I'll get a rash of 2KM, then a rash of 5KM, occasionally a rash of 10KM. I think it's just my brain trying to impose a pattern on the randomness, give it meaning.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 8:12 AM on August 17, 2016

Like right now, I burned through my reserves of potions to just take down these two gyms (for lulz too, since I was still inside my 21 hr countdown), both over 10000 prestige, and I haven't been getting more potions, but I have 80+ Great Balls and 30+ Ultra Balls!
posted by numaner at 8:26 AM on August 17, 2016

Yeah, I wish you could turn off receiving items, so that way you could manage what you get. There would still be a element of chance, say by only allowing one or two items to be turned off, but it would help with these ridiculous situations of having a bunch of something you don't need, then having to delete them from your bag.

Or be able to trade items with teammates!

Or be able to leave notes at gym for other people on your team. That would you could schedule and coordinate things, while not having team vs team verbal fights and taunts.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 8:31 AM on August 17, 2016

Pretty sure my notes to my team would be like "STOP STEALING MY SPOT AFTER I JUST SPENT 30 MINUTES TRAINING ON THIS GODDAMN GYM"
posted by numaner at 9:02 AM on August 17, 2016 [4 favorites]

- The GPS is super finicky now after the latest update. It constantly pops up with "GPS signal not found" error. The times where you're switching in and out of the game and it has to reestablish location, I can tolerate that. But when you're walking outside, staring at the game, and it keeps popping up? That's crap. Like every other tree is a GPS blocker.

- This morning, on the train that I ride to work every day, the game started not moving. There's over a dozen pokestops I can hit on my train ride (basically every train station and every metro station, and a bunch when I pass by this one town), and the game was just not even moving, and not even saying there's no GPS signal.

I've been having the same two issues very often since the last patch (almost never before that). Once it actually had a positive effect because I left a heavily-lured area and was able to collect pokemon for a good 10-15 minutes while walking away. Most of the time it's incredibly annoying though, because I play without data so I'm very reliant on the pokestops I can collect as a passenger while my boyfriend hotspots me. Before the update, I could usually get almost all the stops on both phones. Now I can still get them all on his phone, but I have to restart my own app every 2-3 stops because my avatar has apparently gotten incredibly lazy since the patch.

I don't think it's a connection issue or a server issue since it's only my app that stops moving (and the game itself doesn't freeze, just the GPS). I was wondering if it was a sign I've burned out my GPS somehow, so I guess it's reassuring that I'm not the only one having problems. Maybe something about the patch doesn't play well with my phone's GPS (shitty first-gen Moto G here).

We also ran into the grimer glitch for the first time last weekend...one popped at a lure, and apparently both our phones are affected because they both instantly crashed every time we restarted the app for the full 3 minutes. Same thing when another one spawned a few hours later. So bummed that I finally see one spawn and I can't get it because of a dumb glitch...
posted by randomnity at 9:07 AM on August 17, 2016

I caught a Dragonite!!

...a CP 358 Dragonite but still
posted by showbiz_liz at 9:08 AM on August 17, 2016 [6 favorites]

How many balls and berrys did it take?!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 9:29 AM on August 17, 2016

Several of the two types of ~fancy~ balls and raspberries. I didn't keep track.

(The other day I found a CP 1200-something Arcanine and threw like, no joke, 30 fancy balls at the guy, and he just KEPT breaking out and NOT RUNNING AWAY and it was infuriating)
posted by showbiz_liz at 9:44 AM on August 17, 2016 [1 favorite]

I've been having the same GPS problems that numaner and randomnity describe, all since the most recent update. I have a galaxy s7 edge on Verizon.

On the upside, yesterday was a good day. I hatched a Krabby, and caught a Clefairy and (finally) a Pikachu. Oh, and a Nidoqueen.
posted by ApathyGirl at 9:48 AM on August 17, 2016

Oh yeah I finally got enough Voltorbs (50 candies to evolve!) and I have about a dozen to evolve with a Lucky Egg so I'm super excited about my afternoon break at the Starbucks that's right next to a Pokestop (which is of a local historic bar, heh).
posted by numaner at 9:57 AM on August 17, 2016

Jesus, this game. Sitting at the light , a Blastoid pops up (which I don't have). So I track him down to a side street (safety first!) and then proceeded to lob not 1, not 2, not 3, but EIGHT Ultra balls at him (some of them great hits), all with razzberrys and the damn 164CP thing still manages to run off. The 200 or so Polliwag and Pidgey that appeared after he split? Those I was able to capture just fine. Many expletives were uttered.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 10:23 AM on August 17, 2016 [1 favorite]

oh yeah I definitely just wasted 6 ultra balls on a 1006 Dotrio, with razz berries. then i said fuck it and used one of my many Great Balls and got him on the first one. and I already had 3 other Dotrios at higher CPs... I don't even know why I did that.
posted by numaner at 10:54 AM on August 17, 2016

Dodrio's are great, something about them is completely hilarious and surreal. But they're not so good in terms of battling at a gym. Which sucks, because Pokemon seems like it should be about more than just battling. But I dunno, I never paid much attention to the cartoon.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 11:31 AM on August 17, 2016

something about them is completely hilarious and surreal

Lickitung... Poliwrath... Exeggcutor... Jynx...
posted by numaner at 12:09 PM on August 17, 2016

My newly evolved Electrode is weak sauce, but I'm enjoying that smirk!
posted by numaner at 1:52 PM on August 17, 2016 [1 favorite]

I just caught an 1137 CP Pinsir.

I don't really like Pinsir, it looks like a walking vagina dentata, but that was a more impressive CP than I'd seen to date.
posted by angeline at 2:32 PM on August 17, 2016 [3 favorites]

I think my highest CP in the wild is a 1066 Cloyster. I just hatched my first 10K egg and it was a Scyther, which is cool since I don't have any. It pushed me into level 20, so I got some Ultra Balls and two more incubators.
posted by soelo at 5:49 PM on August 17, 2016

yeah my highest wild catch was also a Pinsir, like 1100+.

I hatched a Chansey! Now I just need a Clefable and a Wigglytuff and I'll have my 5 pink Pokemon basketball team (Jigglypuff and Clefairy I already have) coached by Lickitung!
posted by numaner at 8:14 AM on August 18, 2016 [2 favorites]

Returned from a late lunch and a Snorlax popped up on my desk! He ran off after escaping from one Ultra ball though, damnit. Best and weirdest experience I've had with this game so far.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 11:36 AM on August 18, 2016

Yasssss! I enjoyed this so much.

Still no 10k eggs, but I did have Vulpix hatch from a 5k, so that was happy.
posted by kimdog at 2:19 PM on August 18, 2016 [1 favorite]

Slightly relevant gif
posted by radwolf76 at 5:47 PM on August 18, 2016 [10 favorites]

on the top of the Pokémon screen, the count of your pokémon is wrong

So! It turns out that this is because eggs are counted as pokémon. It's not a bug.
posted by oulipian at 6:38 AM on August 19, 2016 [1 favorite]

There's a local place in the area that my friends have been going to since the game started to build up powerful Pokemon and I hadn't made the time to go there until last night (there's a theater there and the showtime worked out, I had no plans to go there for the game).

It was basically Pokemon Go mecca. There's a small -ish lake, and around it is a walking path. It takes about 15 min to walk around the lake depending on your speed. And every tenth of a mile is a marker, and each marker is a pokestop. I didn't count how long the whole thing is, but I'm assuming it's about 1km since I hatched a 2km egg after I made 1 whole loop and that egg already had 1km. There's one gym that was constantly under attack (I couldn't get in because so many people from opposing teams were jumping into it). And of course there's plenty of Psyducks, Slowpokes, and Dratinis!

When I was walking around the lake to wait for my friend to show up for the movie, basically everyone I saw was playing. At one spot there are 3 statues together and each is a pokestop so there were a lot of people gathered there, with lures going. I hung out there for a minute and noticed to my right was young group playing, then to my left was a middle aged couple and they were really into it too!

I think the whole thing was sponsored though. Each mile marker was made by Adventist hospital group, and some were health tips concerning walking more. So I think they probably paid to get the stops made (the pokestop photos all seemed like they were taken the same way), which was one way we talked about how Niantic made their profits.

I'm definitely going back there and gonna get enough for a Dragonite!
posted by numaner at 3:51 PM on August 21, 2016

So, back when the announcement trailer first dropped, the finale was a group raid for players to catch a MewTwo in Times Square. Having been to a few of Niantic's scheduled group events for Ingress, I could easily see how such a thing would translate over, but I thought they were being a little ambitious with the crowd size they showed. After all, it's advertising, and they always show the product in the most optimistic light.

I don't think that even Niantic ever suspected that day-to-day play, such as a Snorlax popping up in Taiwan, would make their Times Square event from the trailer seem hopelessly small.
posted by radwolf76 at 12:33 PM on August 22, 2016

Holy crap, that's wild. Actually doing a public stunt like that might be dangerous.

Plus, it might be pointless if Niantic doesn't apply some damn logic to how balls operate in catching 'Mon. Having a $%# Magikarp shrug off multiple Regular, Great and Ultra balls was not amusing.

Should I mention that I have three Snorlax? That I shrugged off hunting for a fourth 'cause it was late at night and i didn't feel like putting on clothes to look for it?
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 1:05 PM on August 22, 2016 [1 favorite]

I had a circuitous route this afternoon and a Spearow ran away from me twice and then showed up two more times and I just laughed. Stop playing hard to get, you are no Snorlax or even a Growlithe.
posted by soelo at 3:02 PM on August 22, 2016 [1 favorite]

Uhhhh, gyms are now AR for me? With no switch to toggle it off?

Super annoying.

(I still have no Snorlaxes. Snorlices?)
posted by purpleclover at 6:45 PM on August 22, 2016

Just Snorlax.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:13 PM on August 22, 2016

I've never even seen a Snorlax outside of a gym.
posted by gladly at 7:17 PM on August 22, 2016 [3 favorites]

New update rolling out:

Trainers,

Pokémon GO is in the process of being updated to version 0.35.0 for Android and 1.5.0 for iOS devices. Below are some release notes and comments from our development team.

- Implemented Pokémon Appraisal: Trainers will now be able to learn about a Pokémon’s attack and defense capabilities from their Team Leader (Candela, Blanche or Spark) to determine which of their Pokémon have the most potential for battle.
- We are still working hard on several new and exciting features to come in the future of Pokémon GO.
- Minor bot fixes

The Pokémon GO team
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:59 PM on August 22, 2016 [3 favorites]

ah so they finally made their own Pokeadvisor. Good on them I guess. Since Pokeadvisor's shutdown I've been using that IV calculator spreadsheet posted in the last thread. But I'm not entirely sure how accurate that is since the percentages there were slightly different than Pokeadvisor's. So this is good!

I haven't seen a Snorlax outside of a gym either, but apparently everyone around here has one except me. Also Slowbros. I guess I gotta go back to that lake and get more Slowpokes.

I haven't seen an Electrode in gyms though, even though I know everyone around here has been catching Voltorbs. Mine evolved into a pretty weak one, but my highest Voltorb was only ~350, and it evolved into a ~830 Electrode. I'm hoping that's the same problem everyone is having, since they don't show up in Gyms.

Did you guys notice a new migration yet? I feel like it's happening again. Cubones started showing up more at my job than Doduos (which are going extinct) and Voltorbs (which are endangered now).
posted by numaner at 6:49 AM on August 23, 2016

Yeah, each new update seems to change up the spawns/nests. There's Growlithes where there used to be Ponytas, for instance.
posted by zombieflanders at 7:02 AM on August 23, 2016

Cubones started showing up more at my job than Doduos (which are going extinct) and Voltorbs (which are endangered now).

Funny how different areas have different varieties. I've seen exactly one Cubone and zero Doduos or Voltorbs in a month and half of playing.
posted by octothorpe at 7:19 AM on August 23, 2016

I used to see loads of Doduos and Dodrios, now it's a once in a blue moon thing. And Eevees are getting scarce for me too, so I guess my quest for another Jolteon is on thin ice. Good thing I have my Vaporeon army, which is now a cool ten aquatic foxcats strong as of yesterday.

I'm on Edit Your Damn Manuscript Quarantine this week so it'll be a bit before I can hike out to the Magikarp nest near me to see if it still IS a Magikarp nest. It was also a nexus for Slowpokes, so I'm pleased to say I finally collected enough of those dumb pink hassocks to evolve into a Slowbro, and possibly just in the nick of time.
posted by angeline at 8:33 AM on August 23, 2016

it'll be a bit before I can hike out to the Magikarp nest near me to see if it still IS a Magikarp nest

FWIW the Magikarp nests near my office are still there.
posted by zombieflanders at 8:43 AM on August 23, 2016

A curious Canadian wants to know... if you're playing in the US, are eggs still shown in kilometres? Does the game display miles at all?
posted by oulipian at 9:55 AM on August 23, 2016

Nope, it's kilometers in the US.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 9:57 AM on August 23, 2016

It's just the worst when the pokestops refuse to give you potions and you're on single digits for all 3 types and your shop bonus reset is in an hour and you know you can't take on the crazy strong gyms around you without over a dozen of each potion type.
posted by numaner at 10:07 AM on August 23, 2016

Sure, but at least the 3rd Party sites are shut down, right?
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 10:39 AM on August 23, 2016 [1 favorite]

Well, that's a side effect of "minor bot fixes".
posted by radwolf76 at 10:46 AM on August 23, 2016

And we got that sweet "You're going too fast message". That's some damn fine progress, well done Niantic!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 10:49 AM on August 23, 2016

As far as I can tell, they haven't stopped the GPS spoofing. I was at a monument in the park near me and took over the Gym there and two minutes later I got kicked off it but when I looked around there wasn't a single other person within range.
posted by octothorpe at 10:49 AM on August 23, 2016 [1 favorite]

For a couple of day I was downloading various GPS spoofing apps because I got fed up to the point of "how the fuck are they doing this?? two can play at that game!" and nope, none of them worked with the game.

So either they have an unupdated version (I don't even know if the game lets you play without updating, since I've been updating just to resolve the bugs), or they actually went through some great effort to actually do that.

I'm approaching that point in any online multiplayer game where you get the sense of "this is not worth it" when you see the effort others put in. Whatever their life story is, whether they're teenagers with tons of free time or they're just super geniuses at figuring out how to play the game as efficient as possible, it's hard to get into a competition with so much stacked against me. So with the gyms set up as they are, I'd rather just be catching pokemon. But to better collect them, you need lures and incubators and those cost gold coins, and because I can't justify shelling out real money for this game, I have to deal with the gyms to get the gold coins. And this vicious cycle is starting to wear on me...
posted by numaner at 10:57 AM on August 23, 2016

Exciting news from my corner of the 'burbs.. Yesterday I hatched a Poliwag, I caught a Vulpix this morning, and then, less than 5 minutes later, hatched a... Vulpix.
/headdesk
I'm looking forward to the migration. I've had my fill of Ekans, Nidorans, Zubats, Paras, Mankey, Growlithe, Geodude, Ryhorn and Venonat. And rats, of course.
But Pidgey? Seems to have disappeared all of a sudden. Which is getting in the way of my MOAR PIDGEYS FOR THE BIRB GOD plan.
posted by ApathyGirl at 11:08 AM on August 23, 2016 [1 favorite]

My lunch hour has been interesting. I walk the skyways and after several GPS complaints, my location was almost always a half block away from me. I got two Magikarps despite the river being about a mile away and then I hatched another, so at this rate I may evolve one by Halloween! I've never seen an Ekan and very few Mankeys or Growlithe.
posted by soelo at 11:22 AM on August 23, 2016

omg send me all your Mankeys, Geodudes, and Ryhorns!
posted by numaner at 11:27 AM on August 23, 2016 [2 favorites]

The local lake filled with geodudes is now filled with Ponytas. Meowths have replaced Digletts in the park. Oddishs are now partying it up downtown.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 12:15 PM on August 23, 2016

I am getting Tauroses everywhere in the last couple days. And nidoran (f only).
posted by gaspode at 1:37 PM on August 23, 2016

Hey, that one gym I mentioned at my daily bus stop that only appeared once before disappearing forever? I was browsing a local real estate blog and discovered that Norm MacDonald lived in the building that's right at that bus stop! (He was selling his loft, but it was a year or two ago.) Pokenorm!!

I've never seen an Ekan and very few Mankeys or Growlithe.

These, along with fucking Zubats, Sandshrews, and a few others are so prolific her that they get auto transferred as soon as they are caught, to be evolved in a few days.
posted by Room 641-A at 3:59 PM on August 23, 2016

my sweetheart, who was initially a poke-skeptic, is now the main instigator of our going on walks down to pratt beach, which a self propagating lure-athon of four stops within 50 feet and four more close by. on any given weekday, there are about 50 people there, snapping up the magikarp in shoals , poliwags (my abiding weakness, the cutest pokemon) by the fistful, flocks of psy-ducks, ugh just whatever amounts of stupid horny goldfish and a steady stream of rarer types. the stampede seen in taiwan is just a scaled up version of what happens at the beach when someone sights a slowbro or charizard. this bucolic scene has been perturbed recently by two irritants:
1. the advent of weekend poke-bros, dudes who just hang out with fucking speakers playing terrible techno remixes of lorde or whatever and compare stardust amounts. (team valor, natch) they all have packed external phone batteries and coolers with food and drink to just park their obnoxiousness in the shade for a few hours and snarf up the pokemon. harshes my pokemellow.
2. i'm currently hovering just under level 22 and started to run serious chronic ball deficits. so i can't just rock up and sit under a tree at the beach, i have to be perpetually walking around to hit the stops to get the balls to get the pokemon. my sweetheart is now wary of leveling up past 20, because he doesn't want to share in my escape-prone pokemon frustrations. that said i think there is a hinky-good mechanic in the game, which was indicated when i caught, with my last remaining (normal) pokeball, the aforementioned slowbro, CP 1472. yes i was about to evolve one, but still, they are kings of the gyms around here.
posted by Cold Lurkey at 4:51 PM on August 23, 2016 [3 favorites]

...that said i think there is a hinky-good mechanic in the game...

Only one?!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:45 PM on August 23, 2016

Today was quite the pokecoaster. The peak was finally evolving a Venusaur! It's been crazy difficult, since Bulbasaurs are rare to begin with, and the escape rate is maddening.

1050 CP Scyther + wide throw Pokeball = Gotcha!
99 CP Bulba + 5 Razzberries + 5 Ultraballs + 3 Great shots = Run'd off!

But now I've got him and he's magnificent. Wait, that's not fair, I don't know how xe identifies. At any rate, everyone around here has water types, so they're about to get tore up.

I also finally paid the Magikarp price and evolved the mighty Gyarados and... meh? He doesn't seem like that great a fighter. Good, but no Vaporeon. Dark attack? I've never seen a ghost in a gym. It's nice to tick the box but kinda anti-climatic.

Hatched another 10K egg and... Pinsir. I passed over like 4 of them today because they're not worth the bother.

Also had the game freeze up during the "Oh?" hatching screen, had to restart and got nothing. Luckily it was only a 2K egg, but it could have been a Squirtle, which would have been all I needed for a Blastoise. Aw, who am I kidding. 100% it woulda been a Zubat.
posted by team lowkey at 12:16 AM on August 24, 2016 [3 favorites]

1050 CP Scyther + wide throw Pokeball = Gotcha!
99 CP Bulba + 5 Razzberries + 5 Ultraballs + 3 Great shots = Run'd off!

Yeah, I've been having the same problem in the last two updates. I just caught a 1100+ CP Golbat on the first throw with a regular Pokeball, but a 160 CP Squirtle ate up 10 each of berries and ultra balls and still ran away. WTF, Niantic?
posted by zombieflanders at 5:59 AM on August 24, 2016

I *think* the logic is that a Squirtle is more powerful than a Golbat, so a lower CP Squirt is more powerful than high CP Golbat. Even if that is the logic, it's poorly displayed for the player because CP should be a universal aspect where a 160 CP Squirtle and Golbat are about the same power level.

But there's IVs and HP, so it gets more layered and complex is in a frustratingly opaque way for casual players.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:36 AM on August 24, 2016

Man I wish there were less diversity of types around here. You got your Vaporeons and Gyarados for top water types, Lapras for top ice, Arcanines for top fire, Exeggcutors for top grass, Dragonites and Snorlaxes for top of everything else. Bug types and Poison types don't seem to be very high in CP when I've seen them in gyms (I mean, they're still like ~1200+, but the average Vaporeon is like ~1700).

I'm desperately trying to get a Gengar to see how it'll do in the gyms, but Ghastlies are so rare that if I didn't hatch one I don't think I would've gotten enough candies for my Haunter, and it's not that strong at all.

There's enough Poliwags here though that I might be able to get a higher CP Poliwrath soon, and then those Snorlaxes better watch out (assuming I get Fighting type attacks and not more Water types)
posted by numaner at 6:43 AM on August 24, 2016

I'm all sorts of confused about what to evolve and for what purpose. Evidently each type has several possible abilities and not all of them are powerful, so if you're planning to take a 'Mon into gyms, you sorta have to find the one with the right skill set that has a high IV, then collect enough candies to evolve it.

Naturally I've discovered this after evolving what I though were powerful 'Mon, to take into gyms, which I'm bored with this week. But hey, at least there's now a completely lame Pokemon appraiser within the App.

Fun discovery: It's possible for a Ratticate to have a 120 Hyberbeam. Have I been throwing away Rattas for now good reason?!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:05 AM on August 24, 2016

Has anyone spaded the heck out of the Appraisal messages yet? Most of mine included the comment about it being smaller than any they have on record. Is there any advantage to an XS creature other than the rats?
posted by soelo at 7:10 AM on August 24, 2016

Fun discovery: It's possible for a Ratticate to have a 120 Hyberbeam

Yep, my first Ratticate had it. I thought it was awesome, with its 700+CP, and then I quickly found that it couldn't even survive long enough with all the dodging to pull off the Hyperbeam.

There's no way to tell what moveset an evolved pokemon will get. Which adds to the frustration when you get a 1500+ Exeggcutor and it gets that crappy Seedbomb instead of Solar Beam.
posted by numaner at 7:13 AM on August 24, 2016 [1 favorite]

Is there any advantage to an XS creature other than the rats?

This may just be my imagination or maybe my practice with them, but I swear the XS Vaporeons I have dodge much faster than the ones that are XL. The battles stutter so often due to lag and I never seem to have enough potions that I don't wanna sit there and actually test this and get frustrated.
posted by numaner at 7:15 AM on August 24, 2016

My favorite one is my Muk, which I picked up in the wild. I've picked up two Grimers in the wild, but that's it. I drop the Muk into gyms just to show it off, but I don't think it's especially powerful. I just like it.
posted by aabbbiee at 7:47 AM on August 24, 2016

Evidently each type has several possible abilities and not all of them are powerful, so if you're planning to take a 'Mon into gyms, you sorta have to find the one with the right skill set that has a high IV, then collect enough candies to evolve it.

I don't think the moves are consistent across evolutions. I've had a Pigeotto with, like, steel and dragon attacks that turn into a Pigeot with flying attacks.

I should probably have been tracking this more carefully.

I got the update: The appraise button is too close to the transfer button. Also, yes, Niantic, instead of a handy set of numbers, what I *really* wanted was to click through a series of dialog boxes where a cartoon lady says nice things about my dudes even if they are bad.
posted by purpleclover at 7:49 AM on August 24, 2016

ugh I don't even want that update if that's how "helpful" they are.

I've had a Pigeotto with, like, steel and dragon attacks that turn into a Pigeot with flying attacks.

Pokemon GO Database lists the moves for the pokemon, and yes, they're all over the place. But several non-Dragon types have Twister.

And Brandon don't worry about that Ratticade, many others have Hyper Beam.
posted by numaner at 8:06 AM on August 24, 2016

How to decode appraisals.

Re: types of attacks: I just mean that finding an unevolved dude with the attack types you want doesn't guarantee that those attack types will stay through evolution. (She said bitterly, about her poison-poison Nidorino whose special once involved into a Nidoking inexplicably became Megahorn (bug).
posted by purpleclover at 8:16 AM on August 24, 2016 [3 favorites]

I just found that same page! That gives me slightly more confidence about updating. Doing that now!
posted by numaner at 8:19 AM on August 24, 2016

Can I just say that the sciency analysis of Blanche makes my nerdy self giddy? You can see the statements for the other teams on that page and they're so not cool. :-P
posted by numaner at 8:24 AM on August 24, 2016 [1 favorite]

And Brandon don't worry about that Ratticade, many others have Hyper Beam.

Yes, but a Ratticate with a HyberBeam would be so awesome! What if it has a 100% IV or 95% or above?! Surely there must be a way!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 8:49 AM on August 24, 2016

I have been thinking about powering up a Raticate all the way lately. But I don't have the spare stardust right now.
posted by purpleclover at 8:52 AM on August 24, 2016

Blanche is the only team leader that does not traffic in hyperbole. The others are annoyingly trumpian in their sentence structure and meaningless qualifications of appraisal.

How did I intuit this personality difference way back at level 5?
posted by Cold Lurkey at 9:07 AM on August 24, 2016 [4 favorites]

Wait, are we all blue?
posted by purpleclover at 9:34 AM on August 24, 2016 [1 favorite]

MetaFilter: Wait, are we all blue?
posted by numaner at 9:39 AM on August 24, 2016 [4 favorites]

I'm red as hell, baby. Downloading the update now!
posted by showbiz_liz at 9:44 AM on August 24, 2016 [2 favorites]

Well every single one of my _saurs is apparently a total piece of garbage
posted by showbiz_liz at 9:46 AM on August 24, 2016 [2 favorites]

I couldn't be anything but blue this year.
posted by octothorpe at 9:48 AM on August 24, 2016 [1 favorite]

I appreciate that Blanche was willing to give me straight talk about my charmander's future potential, or lack thereof. She's a pal and a confidant.
posted by prize bull octorok at 9:57 AM on August 24, 2016 [8 favorites]

Did you thank her for being a friend?
posted by zombieflanders at 10:05 AM on August 24, 2016 [5 favorites]

I thanked her for the information.
posted by numaner at 10:16 AM on August 24, 2016

Wait, are we all blue?

I'm yellow! It's been very satisfying to see the college near me, whose colors are blue and white and whose gyms were almost always blue, turn resolutely yellow with classes back in session!
posted by gladly at 10:31 AM on August 24, 2016 [1 favorite]

I am curious yellow
posted by Pallas Athena at 11:05 AM on August 24, 2016

I'm red, but had I looked at the teams more closely, I would have been blue, like my wife.

Things get awkward when we're both at gym, yes.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 11:09 AM on August 24, 2016 [1 favorite]

I'm red, because I didn't want my team leader to be a dude (grumble grumble patriarchy), but the blue team seemed too impressed with themselves as intellectuals (...sorry. I'm sure that y'all in particular are great people).

I like the new update; it's handy to be able to quickly appraise a monster when I catch it before deciding whether to transfer or keep it.
posted by Vibrissa at 12:13 PM on August 24, 2016

Here's the initial verbiage players are presented with when having to pick a team.

Valor (Red):

"Pokemon are stronger than humans, and they’re warmhearted too! I’m researching ways to enhance Pokemon’s natural power in the pursuit of true strength. There’s no doubt that the Pokemon our team have trained are the strongest in battle! Are you ready?"

Mystic(Blue):

"The wisdom of Pokemon is immeasurably deep. I am researching why it is that they evolve. My team? With our calm analysis of every situation, we can’t lose!"

Instinct (Yellow):

"Pokemon are creatures with excellent intuition. I bet the secret to their intuition is related to how they’re hatched. Come on and join my team! You never lose when you trust your instincts!"

I picked Valor having zero familiarity with Pokemon teams and because the description mentioned research and training, which sounded science like. Mystic sounded like the worst kind of WOO and Instinct just sounded incredibly lame and incoherent. Turns out the personality of the Valor in general seems to be power crazed assholes (obviously not everyone), so...yeaaaaaah. The wife laughs about this a lot, yes.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 12:32 PM on August 24, 2016

So happy about the update! With the appraisal info I've been able to pinpoint almost all of my pokemon's IVs (down from the fairly large range I had noted before). Some were a little disappointing (RIP "up to 93%" dratini...), but it's nice to know now, before wasting resources evolving/powering them up. Perhaps most helpfully, my magicarp potentials are now narrowed down to a 91-93% and an 80% with higher cp.

Also pretty awesome that now I'll be able to throw the crappier pokemon straight into the grinder without needing to figure out all the IVs manually first.

Also, anecdotal evidence that the grimer glitch may be fixed, at least for some: my boyfriend was finally able to catch one today, after encountering the glitch with both grimers encountered previously. I'll be so thrilled if I'm finally able to get one (assuming I ever see another one spawn...), but my phone is pretty bad so I'm only cautiously optimistic.
posted by randomnity at 1:12 PM on August 24, 2016

Honestly I just like the color blue.
posted by angeline at 2:11 PM on August 24, 2016 [3 favorites]

gOD I literally have 397 Magicarp candy, LITERALLY
posted by showbiz_liz at 2:13 PM on August 24, 2016 [2 favorites]

what the hell are you doing, run for the nearest waterfront and don't stop til you get there
posted by prize bull octorok at 2:56 PM on August 24, 2016 [2 favorites]

I'm yellow. I just liked the idea of playing by my instincts for the most part. (Sometimes I start researching various bits, but it gets less fun most of the time.)
posted by Margalo Epps at 3:06 PM on August 24, 2016

gOD I literally have 397 Magicarp candy, LITERALLY

Got a good 'Karp? Know its IV stats?
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 3:10 PM on August 24, 2016 [1 favorite]

I DONE IT

According to the Appraisal thing my CP 1567/HP 123 beautiful splashy boy is a "simply amazes me" (best of the 4 options) and a "I'm blown away by its stats. WOW!" (also the best of the 4). This despite the fact that, as a Water/Flying type, he inexplicably has Bite (a Dark attack) and Twister (a Dragon attack).
posted by showbiz_liz at 3:46 PM on August 24, 2016 [8 favorites]

Yeah, Gyarados has always been a little weird that way. A lot of 'mons are, but that's a definite example.
posted by rifflesby at 2:48 AM on August 25, 2016

I've got a dumb beginner/casual player question. Can you please please help me?
HOW do I localize the Pokemons I see in the bottom "near you" box? Because currently all I can do is walk around till one of them materialises. Any strategies that make me less dependent on coincidence?
posted by Omnomnom at 3:04 AM on August 25, 2016

The mons disappear from the list if you leave their vicinity. This can be used to do geometry. I think instructions are in the r/pokemongo FAQ or at least have certainly been posted there.
posted by save alive nothing that breatheth at 3:30 AM on August 25, 2016

As it stands the sightings don't really help aside from telling you what's near you. You can try to triangulate a general direction by walking around and see if the Pokemon you want is moving away or closer (nearest to farthest start from top left them go row by row). However it's been storm that many times 'mon further down the list will pop up right next to you. To add to that, when they spawn they only hang around for 15 min. So if you take longer than that they'll just disappear off your list.
posted by numaner at 3:39 AM on August 25, 2016 [1 favorite]

Honestly I just like the color blue

That was actually my deciding factor too.
posted by numaner at 3:40 AM on August 25, 2016

Any strategies that make me less dependent on coincidence?

You can drop incense, which will attract 'Mon to you. But it's hit or miss as to what comes. But whatever shows up will only be visible to you.

You can also go to Pokestop and use a lure, which will attract 'Mon to that stop. Everything that shows up will be visible to everyone else at the Pokestop.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:45 AM on August 25, 2016

Yeah, Gyarados has always been a little weird that way.

Yeah, I don't get why Gary would have such a low powered bite.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:46 AM on August 25, 2016

HOW do I localize the Pokemons I see in the bottom "near you" box? Because currently all I can do is walk around till one of them materialises. Any strategies that make me less dependent on coincidence?

In addition to incense and lures, many Pokemans show up in certain places. Water and Dragon types show up next to bodies of water. Usually, the bigger the water, the better, so rivers and lakes and beaches should net you some Dratini and Psyducks, and tons of Magikarps. Hilly areas should get you Rock types like Onix. Apparently (although I've yet to confirm this myself), Psychic types hang around hospitals and other medical facilities.
posted by zombieflanders at 6:05 AM on August 25, 2016

I've spent a lot of time around and in hospitals lately, for hours at a time and have seen zero psychic types.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:16 AM on August 25, 2016

Thanks, I didn't realise the Pokemons are listed by proximity! Will try working with that.
posted by Omnomnom at 6:28 AM on August 25, 2016

I've actually noticed psychic and fire types hanging out by water as well water and dragon types. I've seen a lot at a park by the water, but almost none at other parks. (I haven't tried lurking at hospitals.)
posted by Margalo Epps at 7:34 AM on August 25, 2016

They are not always listed by proximity, as sometimes one that is further down the list pops up right next to you. However, everything on the list should be within a couple blocks' walk from you, more or less.
On the game screen, the edges of the map are about 1km from you in all directions. I find that the Pokemon that appear on my screen are usually within .3km from me, which is close enough to track it down within the 15-minute spawn timeframe.
If you have the time to triangulate, here is how to do it. If you can't walk in exactly straight lines, just getting three points on the outside of the Pokemon's range will give you an idea of where the center of the range is.
posted by aabbbiee at 7:42 AM on August 25, 2016 [3 favorites]

I went to the beach this week and caught 12 (new to me) pokemon, including a Magnemite and a Tauros. I only really seriously pokemon-hunted for about 3 hours, while we were wandering around this tiny little beach town, usually on our way to dinner.

Then a Venonat hatched from my 5k egg, so I guess you can't win them all.

Also, I chose Team Valor because I like red. Seriously, that's the only reason I chose it.
posted by PearlRose at 7:51 AM on August 25, 2016

Re: incense, I recall reading that it really only works if you are moving, I think at a leisurely walking pace. It hasn't seemed to work at all for me if I'm just in the house. I may have read this on the IGN site but can't check now.
posted by Room 641-A at 8:15 AM on August 25, 2016

Pokemon Go: Using Incense correctly to catch more Pokemon (emphasis in original):

There’s one key trick with Incense that can make or break your experience with it: Incense spawns 1 Pokemon every 5 minutes while you’re standing still, but Pokemon will spawn every 1 minute or 200 meters when you’re moving.

This means that, yes, popping incense while you’re at home or at work not up to much actually isn’t very helpful – you’ll get at a minimum of a single Pokemon for every 5 minutes – 6 total while the incense is active – but that’s it. If you’ve got a decent pace walking while using incense however you can catch far more and also catch a wider variety as you move through areas with different Pokemon available.

posted by zombieflanders at 8:18 AM on August 25, 2016 [3 favorites]

I tried using incense by walking enough to hatch a 2km egg from scratch and it definitely didn't give me a 'Mon a minute. Was even walking by a popular river, filled with people, gyms and stops and there was nothing approaching a 'Mon a minute.

Sometimes it does seem to help, but those sometimes are always while sitting at home. Like Lures, I think Incense is really dependent on some other, unknown factors at times.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 8:54 AM on August 25, 2016 [2 favorites]

(Being Team Instinct, I love the Appraise update because the anime dude says things like "Want me to check out your Squirtle?")
posted by Pallas Athena at 11:11 AM on August 25, 2016 [4 favorites]

I've spent a lot of time around and in hospitals lately, for hours at a time and have seen zero psychic types.

That's because they're taken to the underground military base under the Olympic stadium.
posted by happyroach at 11:20 AM on August 25, 2016 [2 favorites]

I've not found the insence very useful, except in one particular situation. I'm on a boat, in the nearby archipelago, traveling at a steady speed of 7-ish knots. There are no Pokethings around, nothing on the nearby list. With insence, a new 'mon pops up almost instantly after I' ve caught/lost the previous one. Rare ones, too. So, uh, "helpful" hint? Get on a slow boat? You're welcome.
posted by haapsane at 1:25 PM on August 25, 2016 [1 favorite]

Psychic types hang around hospitals and other medical facilities.
Where I am, Drowzees and Jynx LOVE train stations.
posted by blue suede stockings at 2:21 PM on August 25, 2016

Hopefully in another year or so, we'll get a news report from an engineer who's left the company that will explain the game's programming rationals.

I fully expect most of it to be along the lines of "We had this great idea, but the marketing department said no".
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 2:27 PM on August 25, 2016 [1 favorite]

Friend and other friends of said friend were complaining on Facebook about too many nerds blocking the bike paths playing Pokemon.
posted by octothorpe at 2:56 PM on August 25, 2016

Friend and other friends of said friend were complaining on Facebook about too many nerds blocking the bike paths playing Pokemon.

So blocking bike paths is dangerous and uncool, but I made it out to one of the local parks where there were literally 100+ nerds of every shape, color, age and variety clustering and chattering happily and I'm firmly on the side of, "It's great to see nerds out enjoying public green spaces along with the joggers, the bikini flaunters, the cyclists, and the stroller pushers."
posted by blue suede stockings at 3:00 PM on August 25, 2016 [2 favorites]

I like that I can now "appraise" my pokémon (though clear stats would be even better), but forget what level it is by the time I've appraised the next one. I've taken to renaming them based on their stats -- KakunaDecent, KakunaBattle, and so on (Instinct code words; presumably a 1-4 system would work just fine for those of you who can remember whether 1 or 4 was the good one). Occasionally I'll have some like my tentacool set of TentaStrongA, TentaStrongD, and TentaStronHP (still deciding which one to evolve). It's nice to be able to see the levels side by side. Also, that way if I already have a strong or two, I can immediately transfer every "room for improvement" (that one gets a minus if I'm holding onto the creature for a bit).
posted by Margalo Epps at 3:57 PM on August 25, 2016 [1 favorite]

I managed to finally raise a Blastoise today, and just like Gyarados, ended up underwhelmed. He also has a Dark Bite, and a Steel Flash Cannon. It's just not very useful. Guess I'll just spend another month and hope for the best next time.

But one of my 10K eggs finally paid off and got me a Snorlax! He's adorbs and I will never say anything bad about him (or think anything bad about him, since he's apparently psychic).
posted by team lowkey at 4:21 PM on August 25, 2016 [5 favorites]

MetaFilter: the joggers, the bikini flaunters, the cyclists, and the stroller pushers
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:18 AM on August 26, 2016 [2 favorites]

Not too many bikini flaunters out here in Pennsylvania.
posted by octothorpe at 7:14 AM on August 26, 2016 [2 favorites]

I'm pretty disappointed in the diversity of Pokemon in Dallas. Was being driven around downtown and the Deep Bellum hipster area and it was all the same ones I see in DC.
posted by numaner at 10:51 AM on August 26, 2016

Hmm, I have a small trip to two other cities coming up and I hope at least one is far enough away to have a different ecosystem of creatures. I won't have a ton of hunting time in either one, so I may have to scope out some places in advance.
posted by soelo at 1:11 PM on August 26, 2016

squirtles, once rare in the 707, have started showing up in greater numbers. the migration is real
posted by prize bull octorok at 1:16 PM on August 26, 2016

Yeah, sorry, numaner. Our Poke selection is terrible in the big parts of DFW you would expect greatness in. So far the gold mines here that I know of are in Bedford and downtown Fort Worth.
posted by angeline at 1:34 PM on August 26, 2016 [1 favorite]

huh, weird. I live in Savannah, GA, which isn't a large town at all. Seriously, you can drive one end of our downtown to the another in 10 minutes tops. But based on what I'm reading about other places, it's a nirvana of Pokemon, with pretty every one of them having been caught by several people. Being right next to major river probably helps.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 1:55 PM on August 26, 2016

I caught a Snorlax! A 133 Snorlax, but still a Snorlax! There were rumors amongst the children I'm the park that there had been a Dragonite, but I saw no such thing myself.
posted by purpleclover at 2:58 PM on August 26, 2016

There exist, briefly, Poke-burgers. In Sydney. Australians, do let us know if they're as amazing as they look...
posted by Margalo Epps at 10:10 PM on August 26, 2016

Well, i figured out what happened to the pidgeys. The ekans ate them all. it's been all snakes all the time for the last day.
posted by ApathyGirl at 12:09 AM on August 27, 2016

Well, i figured out what happened to the pidgeys. The ekans ate them all. it's been all snakes all the time for the last day.

I WANT TO GO TO THERE

Meanwhile, here's a chart of spawn rates. Brings back all the bittersweet feelings around catching my first Dratini finally....CP 41.
posted by blue suede stockings at 6:07 AM on August 27, 2016 [1 favorite]

Man, Psyduck shows up so often at my office that of my 12 top CP guys, 3 are Golducks over 1300!
posted by showbiz_liz at 8:07 AM on August 27, 2016

Also why is that chart not sortable??
posted by showbiz_liz at 8:08 AM on August 27, 2016

There are some sorting options if you click on the button in the lower right, when you're looking at your list of Pokemon. Options are:
Recent
Favorite
Number
HP
Name
Combat Power
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 8:52 AM on August 27, 2016

No I'm talking about the spreadsheet linked right above my comment, I know how to sort in the game
posted by showbiz_liz at 8:59 AM on August 27, 2016

Here's a spreadsheet of the info in Google Docs, does that work?
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 9:31 AM on August 27, 2016 [3 favorites]

Thanks!

Wow, Drowzee is the 8th most common thing in the game? I've only ever even SEEN two of them!
posted by showbiz_liz at 11:39 AM on August 27, 2016 [3 favorites]

Ugg, I cannot get any potions out of any stops today. My guys got all beat up at a gym and all I'm getting is balls and berries and no potions.
posted by octothorpe at 6:59 PM on August 27, 2016

I'm out of revives. I need six or so more just to get back up and running, and then a stash before I do more gym battles. Battles make me a bit anxious but they're more fun than I thought they'd be. Having six creatures and picking them for the type advantages makes it more possible to win gyms with really high level Pokémons. I'm mostly in it for the coins though. I really hate that it doesn't ask you to put a Pokémon in when you win though; someone took a gym I won because they got there first today and I've done the same before I realized what the weird error was when the gym vanished while I was battling. Seriously bad setup.
posted by Margalo Epps at 8:29 PM on August 27, 2016

Wow, Drowzee is the 8th most common thing in the game? I've only ever even SEEN two of them!

They're very common in certain regions, and very rare in others. I have a friend in Wisconsin who is inundated with them. I used to get Doduos in similar quantities, and theorized that everywhere was split up into "Doduo zones" and "Drowzee zones", but I stopped getting Doduos around the time of the first "nest migration".
posted by rifflesby at 12:19 AM on August 28, 2016

I buy that theory. London is Drowzee central, but the only Doduo I have I hatched from an egg.
posted by yankeefog at 12:33 AM on August 28, 2016

Ugh, there's only one gym in this side of Dallas Love airport and it's buggy as hell. The GPS can't pinpoint me so the avatar run all over the place constantly. Then when it's actually hovering at the gym long enough for me to start a battle it errors out right when the GO is zooming in.
posted by numaner at 9:32 AM on August 28, 2016

numaner: "it errors out right when the GO is zooming in"

That was happening to me, and it turned out it was because someone was training at the gym. Just par for the course in this game that they don't provide any sort of feedback to tell you what is going on.
posted by team lowkey at 7:33 PM on August 28, 2016

Weirdest thing, I'm done to nine revives and 15 Ultra Balls. Pokestops just aren't kicking them out to me.

I blame Eeevee.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:09 AM on August 29, 2016 [1 favorite]

That was happening to me, and it turned out it was because someone was training at the gym.

I should've been clearer, I was doing the training and failing. I seriously tried for like 20 min, must've looked really awkward wandering around the airport gates looking frustrated at my phone. I even left it alone for a little while and didn't see anything happening to the gym. The prestige was not changing. Much later right before I boarded I checked again though and saw that someone was taking the gym down with the prestige way lower than before. I was really tempted to go find then and ask how hey didn't have this finicky GPS issue.
posted by numaner at 6:02 AM on August 29, 2016

I had problems with similar to that on ATT, while Verizon friends gloat about not having the problem and T-Mobile friends say other things. So maybe it was carrier related?
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:20 AM on August 29, 2016

hmm could've been. I was on T-mobile at the time, maybe should've tried Sprint. (I'm using Google Fi, which lets you switch between the two and US Cellular).
posted by numaner at 8:32 AM on August 30, 2016

What is CP good for, and what is the appraisal good for? I'd been using CP as a general 'who's good' measure (among equally evolved and powered up 'mon), as I didn't want to get into IV charting. Now that appraisal is in the game, I want to go by that, too. But I don't get what CP really is, now that I see that a low-CP guy can have a great appraisal and a high-CP one can have a lousy appraisal. Do you ignore CP?
posted by daisyace at 5:05 AM on August 31, 2016

CP is how strong your Pokemon will be against others, when battling in gyms, that's it.

But CP is composed of some hidden stats-Attack, Defense and Stamina. So a high CP can still have terrible Attack, Defense and Stamina percentages, hence the low appraisal. To use an example, sure greyhounds are known for being fast dogs, but not every greyhound is wickedly fast and sometimes you'll get a slow one.

FYI, the appraisal mechanism in the game is pretty crappy and only worth using to get an basic idea of an individual 'Mons strength. IV charting is still necessary, if you want the best of the best.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:16 AM on August 31, 2016

Getting a really strong Pokemon actually comes down to luck and grinding through the game. Because not only do you have this hidden IVs which determine the Pokemon's strength, each 'Mon's type has the potential for one of three powers.

Example: Here's the datasheet for a Exeggutor. Note how under charge moves there's three possibilities, each with different levels of power:
Seed Bomb: 40
Psychic: 55
Solar Beam: 120

Needless to say, you want an Exeggutor with Solar Beam for its charge move and you definitely want its IV for Attack to be high, along with the CP.

But there's nothing you can do as a player to specifically get that! Other than trying to hatch as many eggs as possible (which oddly enough costs money). Or try to capture as many Exeggcutes as you can, until you find one with high IV stats, then figure out what the power moves for that Pokemon (which are different from and Exeggutor), and then evolve one with a high Power Move and *hope* that translates into an evolved form with a Solar Beam.

My personal view is that the game is self selecting for nerdy, stat reading types (GO VALOR) and that'll turn ultimately turn off a lot of casual players.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:45 AM on August 31, 2016 [1 favorite]

CP is composed of some hidden stats-Attack, Defense and Stamina. So a high CP can still have terrible Attack, Defense and Stamina percentages, hence the low appraisal.

I'm not following. If Attack, Defense, and Stamina are terrible, and CP is composed of those stats, why can CP be high?
posted by daisyace at 5:45 AM on August 31, 2016 [1 favorite]

Because CP is something that the user can increase, so it can be high. But if the IV stats are bad, then the CP will be bad, while still being high.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:44 AM on August 31, 2016

Then shouldn't never-powered-up pokemons' CPs and appraisals match well? That mismatch is what's making me feel like I don't know what to make of either. E.g., I have a Tauros, never powered up or evolved. CP is 134. If the arch over its head was scaled 1-10, it's dot is about at 2.5. Yet it's "a wonder!" (The highest Mystic appraisal). How so?

(The reverse happens, too, with never-powered-up, high CP guys with poor appraisals, and I don't get what that means, either.)
posted by daisyace at 11:50 AM on August 31, 2016

This page was linked above and explains the appraisals pretty well. Then I would go to Poke Assistant and put in the CP, HP and stardust amounts. It guesses at the level based on those. It will also guess the other stats and it gives some equations and explain things pretty well. Between the two, you can usually get a good idea of all the stats.

This comment has some good info, too.
posted by soelo at 12:04 PM on August 31, 2016

Hmm, let's try to this metaphor: IVs are like genes, and they determine, say, how good of a swimmer you are and they indicate you're regular swimmer, with a CP of 100.

So you can train and increase your swimming ability, i.e. CP, to that of 150. But because the genes (IVs) dictated you're just an average swimmer, then no matter how hard you train, you're not going be better than Michael Phelps, who has a CP is 250.

Even in non powered up Pokemon, the CP and IVs don't have to match at all and it's a rarity when they do. IVs can't be changed, while CP can, so like a stopped clock, occasionally they'll match up but usually they won't.

In fact, I've found that Pokemon with high IV usually have regular CP when found/hatched. Pretty much every high CP 'Mon I've come across, their IV has been pretty average or even crappy. Don't know if that's confirmation bias or what.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 12:08 PM on August 31, 2016

So if a low CP guy has a great appraisal, does that mean that, when evolved and powered up, its CP will be unusually high for its kind? And a never-powered-up high CP guy with a low appraisal is already close to maxed out?
posted by daisyace at 12:38 PM on August 31, 2016

No I don't think so, IVs and CP are separate in that aspect.

A Pokemon that is high CP will have a corresponding high CP when evolved.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 1:06 PM on August 31, 2016

I think a pokemon with high IV / high appraisal will just have a better edge than another pokemon of the same CP. However, based on the info from pokemongo db in that page, the extra edge are at best +15 over the base stats (which every pokemon of that species always have). If you take that Gengar as an example, 219 attack against 204 will only make a difference if you set them both at each other controlled by the computer. However when you battle your own skills (and frankly, internet connection speed) have a much greater effect.

That is to say, this is not anything to really worry that much about. Higher CP will still determine the level of the pokemon, which is basically the degree of that arc. And the higher level the pokemon, the stronger it is. That's really all there is to it. Other than that you just have to hope your special attack (or even the quick attack, some of which are noticeably stronger than others) can kick enough butt.

The appraisal system came about because Niantic wanted to add more content to the game and not have 3rd party sites like the defunct PokeAdvisor horning in on their game. It's only really necessary when you literally have two Pokemon at the same CP you want to evolve and you wanna figure out which one is actually better.
posted by numaner at 1:48 PM on August 31, 2016

A easier way to understand it might be like D&D, or any other RPG. The IVs are your pokemon's attributes, like Strength and Constitution. That arc is your pokemon's Level. The CP is how powerful of a fighter the pokemon is when you take into account its Strength and its Level.

So you could have a level 2 pokemon with 15 Strength. Your appraiser is going to say that is the best attack possible. But since he's only level 2, he's not actually a great fighter. Now if you levelled him up to 20, he'd have a much higher CP, and better than the same pokemon with a 10 Strength. Not that you should ever do that. It takes way too much stardust and you're bound to find a higher level one. Pokemon hatched from eggs are always level 20 with decent IVs.

The other piece, which is probably even more important than CP, is the actual attack. A level 20 fighter with a 18 Strength is still going to suck if all he has is a dagger. That piece isn't included in the CP or the appraisal. That's where the databases are most valuable, to tell you the Damage Per Second of your pokemon's attack.

The thing the CP is useful for is really just an at-a-glance "Is this pokemon in the same league as that pokemon". The particular attack and type are more crucial to whether you'll win a fight.
posted by team lowkey at 3:04 PM on August 31, 2016 [1 favorite]

Okay, I think we're drilling down into something I'm still confused about:

option 1
IVs are a secret set of values that render the known values (CP and HP) moot. Like, it seems like it's a 2000 CP Vaporeon but "it's not likely to make headway in battle," so it performs inexplicably worse than a Vaporeon with identical stats and attacks but better IVs.

-or-

option 2
IVs only come into play with a completely powered up Pokemon. One with great IVs will end up with higher CP and HP than one with lousy IVs when no more stardust and candy can be showered upon them.

I'm sorry, I think I'm repeating some of the stuff from upthread, but I'm still confused.
posted by purpleclover at 4:28 PM on August 31, 2016

Your pokemon have a semi-hidden level (estimated visually by the arc, and also shown by stardust needed to power up). As a pokemon increases in level (by powering it up or catching one at a higher level), its CP and HP values will increase. The IV modifies those increases - better IV means that at a given level, a pokemon will usually have better CP and/or HP than a lower IV pokemon at the same level.

Two situations can occur where a higher IV pokemon will have lower CP than a lower IV pokemon of the same type:

1) Most commonly, the pokemon are just different levels. At the exact same level, most of the time a higher IV pokemon will have a higher cp than a lower IV pokemon. Note: stardust cost only changes every few levels, so you can't get exact level from that alone. You can find out the level of your pokemon with an IV calculator (because you need to know the level to know the exact IV). Poke assistant has a pretty good one that uses appraisal info to really narrow down the IV.

2) There are 3 categories of IV: attack, defense, and hp (stamina). One pokemon could have perfect offensive IVs (15/15 attack) but awful defensive IVs (0/15 def and 0/15 hp). This terrible pokemon (15/45 overall) could have a higher cp than a more well-rounded one with higher IVs overall (like a 30/45 IV pokemon with 10/15 attack, 5/15 defense, 15/15 hp). This matters because cp isn't everything - if you can stay alive longer, you'll deal more damage than a less-tanky pokemon with the same cp.

Hope that helps!
posted by randomnity at 6:47 PM on August 31, 2016

It's more like option 2. The IVs themselves aren't checked when you are battling. A 2000 CP Vaporeon is exactly as good as another 2000 CP Vaporeon (as far as attack power is concerned).

This isn't how it works, but you can imagine it like this: You have two level 20 Vaporeons, one with an Attack IV of 1, and another with an Attack IV of 15. Say a level 20 Vaporeon has a base CP of 2000. The first might get an extra 1% CP for 2020, and the second might get an extra 15% for 2300.

Again that's not how it works, but it's kind of like that. You get some more CP every time you level up, and if you have higher IVs, you get more CP. If you level the first guy up a couple levels, it will also reach 2300, and they are equal again.

So, yeah, it kind of only matters when you are getting to the higher levels. Your level 22 Vaporeon with a 1 IV is just as good as my level 20 Vaporeon with a 15 IV. But when we both stall out at level 28, mines going to have a higher CP than yours.
posted by team lowkey at 10:27 PM on August 31, 2016 [1 favorite]

And just to be clear, I'm not talking about the player level. Again, the arc over the pokemon is the pokemon's level, they just don't tell you the number, so you have estimate (or use outside tools).
posted by team lowkey at 11:44 PM on August 31, 2016

oh my god please tell me i don't need to know my pidgeys thac0.
posted by ApathyGirl at 1:50 AM on September 1, 2016 [5 favorites]

Do we know what role size plays in IV or battles? I have pokemon that appraise really well, and they stay that way when I evolve them, but sometimes they evolve to be small. I can't figure out if size plays any part in battles.
posted by gladly at 6:16 AM on September 1, 2016

Size doesn't matter all, at this point.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:37 AM on September 1, 2016

Re: are people still playing the game. In a park yesterday evening, I heard someone call out "Squirtle!" in the distance and watched easily 100 people start to slowly wander over.

So did I. There was a Squirtle.
posted by figurant at 6:39 AM on September 1, 2016 [2 favorites]

Size doesn't matter all, at this point.

Then I will continue building my fierce but tiny army!
posted by gladly at 6:52 AM on September 1, 2016 [1 favorite]

Yeah, the game has potential to last a while. Sure, colder temps are coming for North America, but there's still plenty of warm spots on the globe. Hell, by spring the game should be good.

Plus, there's like 5 or six generations of pokemon, so they have plenty of raw material.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:54 AM on September 1, 2016

you do get medals for collecting certain sizes of certain Pokemon, so there's that
posted by numaner at 6:55 AM on September 1, 2016

Just medals, no stardust or XP though, right?
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:58 AM on September 1, 2016

not as far as I can tell. I feel like the medals should give you stuff, but alas, they're just like Achievements and Trophies.
posted by numaner at 8:19 AM on September 1, 2016

I keep forgetting to ask, has anyone else had this bug where you don't throw the ball very far physically, but on the screen it flies off into the distance? I might just be moving my finger too fast in that short span or something. Maybe this is to catch legendary pokemon later?
posted by numaner at 7:17 AM on September 2, 2016 [1 favorite]

YES! I wondered what was happening.
posted by Room 641-A at 7:24 AM on September 2, 2016

I GOT AN OMANYTE! RIGHT HERE IN MY OFFICE IN DC! wat

I think another migration just happened. Cubones are popping up in place of Voltorbs.
posted by numaner at 8:02 AM on September 2, 2016

yeah, have seen the flying ball bug.

Yay for migrations!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 8:18 AM on September 2, 2016

I just evolved a Marowak but only have one Voltorb, so if they switched I'd be a happy man.
posted by zombieflanders at 8:33 AM on September 2, 2016

Pokemon GO Hub has data-mined the latest version of the game and found a "buddy system". It lets you pick a pokemon to "walk", similar to hatching eggs, and you'll get candy from that pokemon's type to use to evolve or power up. The pokemon will even appear alongside your avatar on the screen.

I love this idea because I can evolve those random pokemon that I've only ever caught one type of. But I don't care about having it on the map because I already have enough problems trying to click on pokemon and stops when they're right next to other things!
posted by numaner at 9:21 AM on September 2, 2016 [2 favorites]

I have frequently watched Pokeballs sail off into the faaaaaaaar distance even though all I did was my usual gentle thumb flick. I hope they fix it. I mean, I find it HILARIOUS but yeah, would be great to have it repaired.

Also I would be happy to see either Cubones OR Voltorbs. I've only caught one Cubone (hatched another) and have never even seen a Voltorb ever.
posted by angeline at 9:31 AM on September 2, 2016

That buddy feature sounds really useful, hope its implemented soon.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 9:36 AM on September 2, 2016

I GOT AN OMANYTE!

These will totally take down Growlithes, and my 1155CP Omastar just took down a 2000+CP Arcanine last night. It's my favorite Pokemon, congrats!

Speaking of buddies, is anyone else getting pairs of like Pokemon popping up together?
posted by Room 641-A at 9:54 AM on September 2, 2016

I am also seeing:
- The shot-putting of my pokeballs.
- matched pairs of mons, like double rats and dear god the ekans.

I am not seeing:
- any evidence of migration in progress.

Current stats: lvl 18.5, caught 64, seen 66. Top 3 CP mons: Flareon 1208, Jolteon 976, Tauros 903.
Current Pidgey levels: 29 mons/225 candy. MOAR PIDGEYS PLS.
posted by ApathyGirl at 11:41 AM on September 2, 2016

According to the official Pokemon Go facebook channel, the buddy system will be implemented in "the upcoming version of Pokémon GO"...so probably pretty soon!

So excited that I'll finally be able to get candy for my little 1400 cp lapras :D
posted by randomnity at 11:42 AM on September 2, 2016

Just did a Lucky Egg session and finally got a Marowak (thanks to the recent Cubone migration), and a....

WIGGLYTUFF!!

* dances *
posted by numaner at 12:21 PM on September 2, 2016 [3 favorites]

Woot, got two Growlithes from two 5km eggs, within two minutes of each other!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:12 PM on September 2, 2016 [1 favorite]

I hatched my third 10K egg and got another Pinsir. whyyyyyyyyy

In better news, I figured out how to turn off the AR in gyms, which is great, because having to play gyms in AR was TERRIBLE.

In the best news: 430 Magikarp candy!
posted by purpleclover at 5:04 PM on September 2, 2016 [2 favorites]

I went to the zoo today and found a pair (at the same time) of Omanytes. I'd only ever found one at all before today.

My last three 10K eggs have again been three Evees. I now officially dislike Evee. Sad.

On the lighter side, do y'all have songs that regularly pop into your head while playing?

Staryu. Starmie.
We don't need another Spearow!
And I don't want ya, and I don't need ya.
I am a passenger.

I also find myself thinking the phrase "grist for the mill" a lot more than I'm comfortable with while collecting cute little sentient beings.
posted by team lowkey at 9:14 PM on September 2, 2016 [2 favorites]

Oh yeah, also:
Hey. It's a Dragon Attack.
posted by team lowkey at 10:03 PM on September 2, 2016

Every goddamn time a pokemon breaks free... cue the Queen.
posted by Cold Lurkey at 5:53 AM on September 3, 2016

Ha, this are great cues, thanks!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:03 AM on September 3, 2016

I had three goals for today:
Evolve a Magicarp, starting from the 348 candy I had this morning.
Walk out my 10K egg.
Level up to 23.
my achievements:
I caught a 150 CP floppyfish (with breathless appraisal from Blanche) that evolved into a 1700something Gyarados.
I hatched a beastly Lapras (1666)
and just blundered into leveling up.

ambition is a dangerous drug.
posted by Cold Lurkey at 7:51 PM on September 3, 2016 [2 favorites]

Ooh, lucky. Lapras is the best. She'll make a Dragonite tremble in fear. What attacks did you get?
posted by team lowkey at 11:57 PM on September 3, 2016

ice shard and blizzard... the gyms around here are still quite active, turning over every hour or so, such that i'm not really a gym ratatta at all. but, i do now have greater ambitions.
posted by Cold Lurkey at 8:29 AM on September 4, 2016

Be careful, the power is seductive! Beware the Dark Side! Because Dark moves aren't that powerful!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 8:45 AM on September 4, 2016 [1 favorite]

Nice. Blizzard is almost the strongest attack in the game.
posted by team lowkey at 10:13 AM on September 4, 2016

I saw a Snorlax on my radar yet again, but was unable to locate it to catch.

I shall never have a Snorlax.

Plus side, I did finally evolve a second Jolteon, and it's a beauty. Blanche is impressed.

Still have nine Vaporeon I can't bring myself to grind up into candy.
posted by angeline at 12:39 PM on September 4, 2016

Ran into a wild Blastoise today, but it escaped after I threw my entire stash of ultra balls at it.
posted by purpleclover at 1:53 PM on September 4, 2016

Best in game photo ever!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 2:11 PM on September 4, 2016 [4 favorites]

Be careful, the power is seductive!

True, my brother-in-law and I took over a poorly staffed level four red gym out in the 'burbs this evening (seriously, the first 'mon was a floppyfish) for team mystic, basically because we could. Apart from being exsanguinated by mosquitos, my floppydragon and deep water/ice bench made it relatively painless.

Psycho-social anectode: This is a really urban game. The closer you are to transit, sites of note, interesting architecture, waterways and parks, the more varied and also constantly rewarding your game will be. There is a watershed point, at least in Chicagoland, wherein you pass into a pokedesert past which there is nothing worth portal/stopping for and no geographical features to speak of. So it's relatively easy to take over these gyms in the pokedeserts with guys that wouldn't be sniffed at in the riches of denser city pokemon.

Quick survey: The gym dominators in my immediate area are all level 21-23. What is your gym landscape?
posted by Cold Lurkey at 8:42 PM on September 5, 2016

Yeah, the urban environment is very different. I work in SF. My bag is always full, and the gyms are constantly toppling.

In my exurban home, the main commercial strip has wardrivers flipping gyms on the regular. My team (Instinct) has managed to hold a couple gyms out in the neighborhood, off the beaten path, but now I've got a different problem. The dominators are level 26-29. I was able to camp in one of the gyms for almost a week, but my CP 2103 Lapras was the weakest in the gym. The top 5 are 2500-2700 Dragonites. I got booted, and someone else moved in. The gym is level 10, so no more room at the inn.

There's only 4 gyms within reasonable walking distance, and I've got a bad incubator habit, so I'm considering starting to drive around myself. It feels dirty and wrong, though. I don't think I'd be able to explain it to my wife. So far I've just been kind of trying to catch-as-catch-can when running errands.
posted by team lowkey at 10:42 PM on September 5, 2016

In the city where I live, the gyms change hands constantly, with players anywhere from around level 18 to level 25-26 or so. I work in deep suburbia though, and there is only one gym near my workplace. It's a level 10 team valor, and one of the Pokemom, a mid level 2000s dragonite, has been there for almost a month now. My theory is that the player behind it was cheating somehow (bots or GPS spoofing or something) and got their account disabled, and in the meantime the gym's just gotten more powerful around it, and there's not enough foot traffic for someone else to stage a quick takeover.

As a team mystic person this situation is driving me crazy. Someday I will find some team mystic coworkers to help me tear that shit down, but it hasn't happened yet.
posted by ActionPopulated at 1:58 AM on September 6, 2016

I spent Saturday walking around Valley Forge National Park, and while I didn't catch anything exotic, the gyms there change every half hour. It's laughably easy to take down gyms apart from the Visitors Center, and I even did the unspeakably evil thing of slipping my team into a gym that had just gone vacant (without having done any of the fighting myself). I did see one player at level 31, but mostly it's just level 25-27. I'm at 22, and I don't really care about holding a gym. I just like to take down a few opposing gyms and hold them long enough to collect my coins/stardust.

My most worthwhile investment was expanding my bag to 450 spots. I spent the first 200 coins in actual money, but after that, it was pretty easy to get the next 200 from gyms. I'm very incubator poor, though, and I'm considering buying some of those soon.
posted by gladly at 6:32 AM on September 6, 2016

I'm doing my best to get enough coins through gyms to buy the 8 pack of lucky eggs. Gyms here in Japan change over constantly, and I don't have enough strong Pokémon to hold them (or to train at a friendly gym to get a spot), so I'm stuck with 10 coins a day, and about 15 more days until I get the 500 I need. Meanwhile, I have a ton of pokemon ready to evolve, and all their attendant candies. I keep debating whether to just give in and buy a single egg, knowing that will set me back in my quest.

And yeah, the suburbs of Tokyo are pretty bleak. Not utterly devoid, but not great. My only good thing is that the school term just started, and the school I teach at is a 30 minute walk from the station. Not a ton of Pokestops, but I can usually hatch a 5km egg in one day.
posted by Ghidorah at 7:05 AM on September 6, 2016

The gyms around where I work in DC change constantly, with all sorts of levels; the tourists really make sure of that. I'll see how it stabilizes when tourist season is over.

At my house in a MD suburbs though, there's a few gyms around, and slightly more pokestops. I'm fortunate that there are commercial hubs around town that have landmarks or neat sculptures so you can get like 4-5 pokestops in an area if you're willing to do a 10 min drive. Near my house there's a level 8 red gym with a 2800 Dragonite that's been there for ages. I really really wanna take it down but don't know any mystics in the area.
posted by numaner at 9:57 AM on September 6, 2016

I caught my first ever Ekans today and judging by the shadow, this is the first one that has ever been close to me because I have not seen that shape before. The migration is real!
posted by soelo at 10:52 AM on September 6, 2016 [1 favorite]

I managed to get 10 gyms in one setting and cash out, for the first time ever a few days ago. I did it by hitting the gyms at various churches early on Sunday, between like 7-8, when everyone was pretty much sleeping. Hello new strategy!

It probably helped that that churches were located in supposedly unsafe places, i.e. black churches in black neighborhoods.

Also, have family visiting from Baltimore and they're struck by how Pokemon rich Savannah, GA is. I *think* it's because Savannah has about 23 squares downtown, filled with trees which show up green on the Poke maps, but still has a lot of foot traffic from people with cellphones, so that attracts a Poke variety.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 1:06 PM on September 6, 2016 [1 favorite]

My neighborhood is, sadly, an ideal place to concentrate one's gym battling efforts, because there happen to be three gyms within a three block radius. Which means I burned through 30+ revives battling down one and a half enemy gyms with like seven 1600 CP+ guys, and then had to give up because I had run out.
posted by showbiz_liz at 2:00 PM on September 6, 2016

Just had a popup on the TripIt app on my phone letting me know I can turn on pokestop locations in the app settings! Might have just been "popular" ones? I forget the wording.

Weird.
posted by ODiV at 4:12 PM on September 6, 2016

Another 10K egg, another gorram Evee. I think the game is trying to break me of my incubator habit, but quick.
posted by team lowkey at 10:10 PM on September 6, 2016

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