Tips for Pokemon Go

[DEMON]

I think part of the reason for the outcry is due to Niantic's poor communication with its user base. did they ever say they were bringing back the tracker? maybe I missed the announcement somewhere.

 

I'm sure they are going to be bringing it back, it is a crucial part of the game if you don't live in a big city where you're just running into Pokemon non-stop.  Right at the moment, the game can still be played.  Until the tracking issue is fixed, I'm hatching eggs (PokeVision also never worked in my area well to start with, so this is pretty much just the same as before.. randomly run into Pokemon, capture them etc).

[KashSenpai]

Completely put off by how hard The game has become from the updates

[jaehyun1009]

I'm sure they are going to be bringing it back, it is a crucial part of the game if you don't live in a big city where you're just running into Pokemon non-stop.  Right at the moment, the game can still be played.  Until the tracking issue is fixed, I'm hatching eggs (PokeVision also never worked in my area well to start with, so this is pretty much just the same as before.. randomly run into Pokemon, capture them etc).

still, it would be nice if they didn't keep the players in the dark, because being unable to actually track down pokemon is a big issue for this game.

[StrickenBiged]

still, it would be nice if they didn't keep the players in the dark, because being unable to actually track down pokemon is a big issue for this game.

 

Well, they finally gave a response a few hours ago on FaceBook. Copied here:

 

 

Trainers, As many of you know, we recently made some changes to Pokémon GO.

• We have removed the ‘3-step’ display in order to improve upon the underlying design. The original feature, although enjoyed by many, was also confusing and did not meet our underlying product goals. We will keep you posted as we strive to improve this feature.

• We have limited access by third-party services which were interfering with our ability to maintain quality of service for our users and to bring Pokémon GO to users around the world. The large number of users has made the roll-out of Pokémon GO around the world an... interesting… challenge. And we aren’t done yet! Yes, Brazil, we want to bring the game to you (and many other countries where it is not yet available).

We have read your posts and emails and we hear the frustration from folks in places where we haven’t launched yet, and from those of you who miss these features. We want you to know that we have been working crazy hours to keep the game running as we continue to launch globally. If you haven’t heard us Tweeting much it’s because we’ve been heads down working on the game.

But we’ll do our best going forward to keep you posted on what’s going on.

Be safe, be nice to your fellow trainers, and keep on exploring. The Pokémon GO team

 

So it sounds like tracking might be coming back, but it's not exactly clear. Question mark is over what the "underlying product goals" are. 

 

A bummer that they've blocked TP services too, especially when they were offering a solution to the problems. 

 

I tried playing the game yesterday, and it's a lot harder to find Pokemon I want. My town is weird, there are a lot of spawn points for the semi-rare species, but they are really spaced out. So playing now is basically walking from spawn point to spawn point hoping that you get to one of them at a time when the pokemon are waiting for you.

[Sir_Bee]

Well, they finally gave a response a few hours ago on FaceBook. Copied here:

 

 

So it sounds like tracking might be coming back, but it's not exactly clear. Question mark is over what the "underlying product goals" are. 

 

A bummer that they've blocked TP services too, especially when they were offering a solution to the problems. 

 

I tried playing the game yesterday, and it's a lot harder to find Pokemon I want. My town is weird, there are a lot of spawn points for the semi-rare species, but they are really spaced out. So playing now is basically walking from spawn point to spawn point hoping that you get to one of them at a time when the pokemon are waiting for you.

 

I think that this may be too little too late for some players.  I don't understand why companies don't seem to learn.  One of the most important things a company can do, is communicate with its playerbase.  Even if you are having issues, simply letting the public know that you are having issues, and maybe apologizing for them, goes a long way.  Yes, you will eventually have to fix the issues, and you will always have the players who hate on you right away, but you will keep many more interested just by talking.

 

I can appreciate that there are several reasons that they would not want the third party sites running.  They would add strain to the servers, when they are already struggling.  They are a breach of the TOS.  The reason I hear most however, is that they are "cheating" or "taking the fun out of the game".  I think honestly, for me and likely many other players, they are currently the only thing that makes the game itself fun at all, seeing as there is no way to track any pokemon near you (and the radar still doesn't refresh, so it just fills up with pokemon that are no longer there).  The game is literally blind luck if you find a pokemon, or just hanging out at a pokestop using a lure.  I don't need to know exactly where all pokemon in the city are, and how long they will be there, but I do need someway to find a pokemon that is "nearby".  Without that, I cannot play the game.  Sure, you can wander around, and just catch what you catch, and I can appreciate that being enough for you, but it isn't enough for me.  Too many times I would have a pokemon that I do not have yet spawn "nearby" and I have no clue how to even start looking.  Last I checked that nearby radar works on a 70m radius, which means you have 15 min tops to search ~15,000 sq m.  That is over 1,000 sq m per minute.  That is not how we have ever played any kind of pokemon game.  There are only really 2 solutions to this.  Either limit the spawn areas to designated areas (The worst of the two solutions), or implement a "hot-cold" like system to let you know if you are getting closer or further away.

 

Sorry to rant about this, but it made me really sad this weekend when I realized I cannot really play this game anymore, not if I want to get something from it.

[StrickenBiged]

I think that this may be too little too late for some players.  I don't understand why companies don't seem to learn.  One of the most important things a company can do, is communicate with its playerbase.  Even if you are having issues, simply letting the public know that you are having issues, and maybe apologizing for them, goes a long way.  Yes, you will eventually have to fix the issues, and you will always have the players who hate on you right away, but you will keep many more interested just by talking.

 

Precisely. A simple "the function is borked anyway right now, so we're taking away the steps completely as a temporary measure to prevent confusion" would be all that was required. Hell, they could have even put that in the patch notes!

 

 

I can appreciate that there are several reasons that they would not want the third party sites running.  They would add strain to the servers, when they are already struggling.  They are a breach of the TOS.  The reason I hear most however, is that they are "cheating" or "taking the fun out of the game".  I think honestly, for me and likely many other players, they are currently the only thing that makes the game itself fun at all, seeing as there is no way to track any pokemon near you (and the radar still doesn't refresh, so it just fills up with pokemon that are no longer there).  The game is literally blind luck if you find a pokemon, or just hanging out at a pokestop using a lure.  I don't need to know exactly where all pokemon in the city are, and how long they will be there, but I do need someway to find a pokemon that is "nearby".  Without that, I cannot play the game.  Sure, you can wander around, and just catch what you catch, and I can appreciate that being enough for you, but it isn't enough for me.  Too many times I would have a pokemon that I do not have yet spawn "nearby" and I have no clue how to even start looking.  Last I checked that nearby radar works on a 70m radius, which means you have 15 min tops to search ~15,000 sq m.  That is over 1,000 sq m per minute.  That is not how we have ever played any kind of pokemon game.  There are only really 2 solutions to this.  Either limit the spawn areas to designated areas (The worst of the two solutions), or implement a "hot-cold" like system to let you know if you are getting closer or further away.

 

When it comes to PokeVision, I can understand it. It was in breach of the ToS, and you can't let that slide or else it makes it harder to enforce the ToS against anyone else who comes along.

 

But! They could have done a number of other things. Like write a new contract with the guy giving him temporary licence to continue activities until such time as they fixed the in-game tracking. Or licenced his code and made it official as a stopgap. Or put their own version on their homepage as a stopgap. 

 

Some of the most fun I've had with the game has been because of PokeVision. Knowing I had just 5 minutes to get to the other side of my town to catch a Snorlax, me and another trainer dashing up the street. Seeing other trainers emerge from side-streets as we got closer. Getting there in the nick of time and the tension once you realise you've only got 5 normal balls, a great ball and 2 raspberries... and he's 1000+CP... etc.  

 

I don't consider it cheating because it was a community fix for a problem with the game as far as it was advertised. And I obviously disagree with Niantic's comment that it took away the fun. 

 

Without any kind of tracking, it's a guessing game. 

 

__________

 

Anyway, on a different note, did anyone else notice the pokemon "migrate" last weekend? Sat at work, I keep the app open in case any pokemon show up. Last 2 weeks, there was a charmander every 2 hours or so who would spawn within my detection radius. This week, it's changed to a bulbasaur. Other differences I've noticed is that the local vulpix nest has changed to Nidoran(m) and a spot where Doduo used to show up every now and again has Geodude. 

 

Most of the town is the same as it was though - a mess of Drowsee, Pidgey and Rattata.

 

Has this happened anywhere else?

[Cleggworth]

 

 

Anyway, on a different note, did anyone else notice the pokemon "migrate" last weekend? Sat at work, I keep the app open in case any pokemon show up. Last 2 weeks, there was a charmander every 2 hours or so who would spawn within my detection radius. This week, it's changed to a bulbasaur. Other differences I've noticed is that the local vulpix nest has changed to Nidoran(m) and a spot where Doduo used to show up every now and again has Geodude. 

 

Most of the town is the same as it was though - a mess of Drowsee, Pidgey and Rattata.

 

Has this happened anywhere else?

My house is the usual orgy of pidgeys etc but every morning between 5.30am and 6.30am i have couple of water pokemon show up. Shellders, seels, horseas and krabbys normally the occasional psyduck. Last two mornings they've been replaced with meowths and nidorans of either gender

[StrickenBiged]

My house is the usual orgy of pidgeys etc but every morning between 5.30am and 6.30am i have couple of water pokemon show up. Shellders, seels, horseas and krabbys normally the occasional psyduck. Last two mornings they've been replaced with meowths and nidorans of either gender

 

Damn, you get up early! (To be fair, with the recent heat, that's been me too...)

 

My town is dominated by water type pokemon. Which is weird, there's a small stream and a very small pond reasonably centrally, but we're not like a city with a massive river, like Bath for example. 

 

Pretty good that my work is sat on this bulbasaur spot then. Hopefully I'll find a good one and be able to evolve a decent Venusaur to start taking down all the water dominated gyms around here. 

[DEMON]

Pokemon nests were swapped, that's what you are seeing, Stricken.

[jaehyun1009]

Well, they finally gave a response a few hours ago on FaceBook. Copied here:

 

 

So it sounds like tracking might be coming back, but it's not exactly clear. Question mark is over what the "underlying product goals" are. 

 

A bummer that they've blocked TP services too, especially when they were offering a solution to the problems. 

 

I tried playing the game yesterday, and it's a lot harder to find Pokemon I want. My town is weird, there are a lot of spawn points for the semi-rare species, but they are really spaced out. So playing now is basically walking from spawn point to spawn point hoping that you get to one of them at a time when the pokemon are waiting for you.

they haven't exactly been clear about the "underlying design" and the "product goals" like you said. at least they responded.

[StrickenBiged]

Pokemon nests were swapped, that's what you are seeing, Stricken.

 

Bummer that it happened right when PokeVision went down. I'll just have to go to the old nests and hand around for an hour to see what shows up I guess.

[DEMON]

Bummer that it happened right when PokeVision went down. I'll just have to go to the old nests and hand around for an hour to see what shows up I guess.

 

It actually happened a little bit before PokeVision went down.  They have been changed for a while now.

[KashSenpai]

It's stupid how they r saying the 3 step feature was confusing to people but in the games are guide there were no mentions about the steps feature, if they did that from the start, there wouldn't be any need for this

[StrickenBiged]

It's stupid how they r saying the 3 step feature was confusing to people but in the games are guide there were no mentions about the steps feature, if they did that from the start, there wouldn't be any need for this

 

And it's also stupid because, if anything, it's now even more confusing. There are no steps at all, and there seems to be absolutely no rhyme nor reason to the nearby tab at all. There doesn't appear to be any particular order, and anything on your list just gets pushed down as new ones come in on the top. So they replaced a system that they thought was too confusing with one which is both confusing and pointless. Moronic.

 

Anyway, I stopped by to share this: Yang's (the guy who made PokeVision) open letter to Niantic. It's worth a read. 

 

 

 

An Open Letter to John Hanke & Niantic

I write this not as one of the creators of Pokevision nor as player who has gone through the past few turbulent days in Pokemon Go; instead, I write this as a fan of Pokemon ever since I was 8 years old.

 

My family and I moved to the U.S. in 1998, when I was in the first grade. I didn’t know much back then, and even less about popular culture. When my friends introduced their Gameboys and Pokemon Red/Blue to me, I couldn’t help but feel envious. I begged and begged my parents to buy me a Gameboy and Pokemon Yellow. I remember that when I finally convinced them to buy me a Gameboy for $70, they also found out that they had to buy the actual game too for $30. This was foreign to them, and I got yelled at a little. $100 was a lot back then, I believe it was almost 10% of our family’s income at the time. While this may seem irrelevant, even today, this amount of money is still not insignificant to many families in the US, not to mention the rest of the world.

 

So I got my game, and I played along with my friends for hundreds and hundreds of hours — trying to figure out all the puzzles in the game, like how to get to Articuno; battling our favorite Pokemon to see who’s stronger, train, repeat; and just trying to “catch em all.” I’ve spent countless hours in that video game with my friends, and it became my fondest memory of that time in my life. Pokemon is so ingrained within me, and I can’t imagine myself being the only one. I’m not the only one that vividly remembers how you beat the Elite Four, then go to the dungeons above Cerulean City and find Mewtwo for the first time, right?

 

Fast forward almost 20 years. I’ve barely touched anything Pokemon-related since then. I still have my Pokemon cards, as I’m sure many others do; but I haven’t bothered to take a look at them for quite a while now. Pokemon is something I’ll probably remember forever, but it’s not something that’s actively in my life — because it just doesn’t fit. On top of work, friends, family, etc, there’s just simply no time for Pokemon. It doesn’t mesh with life any more as well as it used to when I was 8. You can’t just bring up the topic of Pokemon and expect people to not give you an odd stare.

Enter Pokemon Go — 2016.

 

Admittedly, I was never too excited about Pokemon Go. With that said, I did not have many expectations for it. Pokemon is important to me, but I — like many others — have stuffed it in our little box of childhood things and never looked back.

 

But when I opened Pokemon Go for the first time, as cheesy as it sounds, it all came back to me. The nostalgia, the good feelings, and the happiness that Pokemon has always brought.

The “Hi, I’m Professor Willow,” “Pick your starter: Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle,” everything.

 

And now I can catch them in real life? At first, I was dubious, but this became the most amazing, yet simple thing I’ve seen in gaming. On social media, I saw that my friends and practically the whole world was talking about Pokemon Go, and the first thing I did was go out for a drive trying to “be the best.”

 

One of the best parts? Apart from having to own a smartphone, the game was free. No $70, no $30, free. This opened up Pokemon to essentially everyone in the world. Pokemon now can be shared with anyone.

 

As the days unfolded, the world became captivated by Pokemon Go. People absolutely fell in love. We saw stories of elderly learning about Pikachu for the first time. My parents that could care less beyond who the yellow mouse looking thing was 20 years ago, started asking what the other Pokemon were. It was phenomenal.

 

We saw investment bankers asking their kids how to play Pokemon Go so that they can better connect with their younger clients. We saw the elderly become more fascinated in the world of Pokemon. We saw kids going out more, exercising, and being active in general just because of Pokemon Go. And most importantly, Justin Bieber finally got to feel what it’s like to not be mobbed because everyone else was too busy trying to find a Gyarados to notice him.

 

Local stores integrated Pokemon Go in their services within days of the game’s release. Hospitals started praising the health benefits of having Pokemon Go around its patients. People traveled hundreds and thousands of miles just to play it. Players explored parts of their cities that they never knew existed, and befriended strangers on their hunt for Pokemon. These stories of triumph were solely because of Pokemon Go. Pokemon was no longer just a game, it was part of a lifestyle.These stories shouldn’t surprise any of us, we’ve all been there to watch it unfold.

 

You’ve simply captured all of our hearts with Pokemon Go, Niantic.

 

But then, you broke it all too quickly.

 

When the game broke every few hours or so and wasted our lucky eggs, we stood patiently, excusing the huge growth and thus, strain on servers, as the cause. We were happy to wait it out with our fellow trainers knowing that it’s worth waiting for. No one got mad.

 

When the in-game tracking “broke,” we all stood idly by, patiently, waiting for the game to update and fix.

 

Along came Pokevision. We made Pokevision not to “cheat.” We made it so that we can have a temporary relief to the in-game tracker that we were told was broken. John, at SDCC, you said that you guys were working on “fixing the in-game tracker.” This made everyone believe that this was coming sometime soon. We saw Pokevision as a stop gap to this — and we had every intention in closing it down the minute that Pokemon Go’s own tracker restored functionality.

 

As we waited more than 2 and a half weeks, the tracker was still not fixed. We noticed more and more of our friends leave the game; the only way I — and I know experiences vary here — could convince them to play was show them Pokevision, and say that “Hey, here’s a temporary remedy to the tracking issue — we’re still optimistic that Pokemon Go’s tracker will be fixed soon!”

 

Nobody heralded Pokevision as a permanent, end-all solution; in fact, all the media coverage of Pokevision was littered with comments such as: “Pokevision is okay, but when the tracker is fixed in game, I’m going to stop using this.”

 

For the past 4 weeks. Every single one of your 80+ million players had so much faith. Take a look at Reddit, take a look at all these journalists who don’t even play games (calling out Ryan Mac of Forbes), who became obsessed with Pokemon GO.

 

All of us were so eager for Pokemon Go to be “fixed” so that we can return to sharing Pokemon Go with our loved ones and friends. Remember when I said that before Pokemon Go came about, mentioning Pokemon Go would land you an odd stare? Pokemon Go reversed that — Pokemon Go became the conversation starter, the topic that everyone bonded over, the topic that guys used to pick up chicks with and not felt like a geeky nerd. That, and so much more, were solely because of Pokemon Go.

 

As almost 3 weeks have passed by, the in-game tracker is broken. People had a temporary solution in Pokevision, but we knew, and everyone else knew, this wouldn’t be permanent. We didn’t make Pokevision to spite you, Niantic — we made it so that we can keep everyone playing while we wait patiently. We want to keep sharing our Pokemon stories with everyone else. How many people in the world have gotten the chance to have a serious conversation about POKEMON with their parents for the first time? How many of us got to talk about Pokemon like it was socially acceptable in any context? It’s captured all of our hearts and imaginations, I cannot stress that enough.

 

After 3 weeks though, we started seeing that you guys seemed to not want to talk to us (the players). Pokevision, at this time has grown to almost 50M unique users, and 11 million daily.

Let that sink in for a second.

 

Half of the player base of Pokemon Go stopped by — and they didn’t do so to “cheat.” The game was simply too unbearable to play in its current state for many (note: many, not all). The main attraction wasn’t that they got to have an advantage with Pokevision, the main attraction was that it allowed them to play Pokemon Go more. This is what everyone wants — to play Pokemon Go more.

 

When we closed Pokevision out of respect for your wishes, and at your requests— one of which came directly from you, John — we trusted you guys fully in allowing the community to grow. I literally cannot express this more — we just want to play the game. We can handle the bugs every now and then, but please at least tell us you guys care. Yes, Pokevision does give some advantages that may be TOO much; but is it all that bad? Pokemon has survived 20 years — even grown, I would say. And Pokemon Go made it even bigger. If the argument is that “well, if you catch a Snorlax you weren’t supposed to find, but you found it on Pokevision, it might make you play less.” If that was your argument, I’d have to disagree! I’ll still catch a damn Snorlax even if I have 20 of them. Just like how millions of us have caught probably over 100 pidgey’s or zubat’s each.

 

Pokemon is everlasting. The same 151 Pokemon have been around for 20 years. If 80M people downloaded and played Pokemon Go within a week (before it even released in multiple major countries) isn’t an indication that no one can be sick of Pokemon, I don’t know what is.

 

After disabling the in-game tracker and Pokevision, the ratings on iOs and Android Google Play store went from 4.0 stars to 1.0–1.5. I am only one person, I admit that my sole opinion is not important, but what about the countless players begging for the game to be restored to its former state? I may be biased in saying that Pokevision being down had an impact on the amount of negative ratings, refund requests and outcry on social media — but could it be true? Nothing has changed between the time the in-game tracker broke and Pokevision went down. Could it just be possible that the tracker — no matter if Pokevision made it, or Niantic made it, is something that players desperately NEED — not want, but NEED — in order to play the game? Could it be possible that this is the very core fundamental feature that drives most players? I understand that there are some that want to walk around and stumble on a random Pokemon — to each their own. But, 50M unique users and 11M daily and the ratings on your App (with no significant change in itself) are big indicators of this desire. Are customers always right? Especially if over half of them are looking for an outside fix just so they can enjoy something they love? People are naturally inquisitive, and in this case, they just want to play more and more, so they sought out something that helps them do so.

 

Pokemon Go is a social game. Its enjoyment depends on the players and their environment. If you take away the environment part (tracking) but keep the social part (players and their friends) intact, sure, people will still play; but would you not rather it be at its fullest potential?

 

Everyone in the world wants to play Pokemon Go. It’s been a huge part of everyone’s lives already if it has not been clear enough. Look at the fans from Brazil — they aren’t spamming social media because they want to cause harm — they just want to play the game. Just as I saw my friends play Pokemon many years ago, and wanted to be a part of it — these guys are doing the same.

 

They just want to be with the rest of the world. Sadly, by the time they join, Pokemon Go may not be the game it was weeks ago.

 

Lastly, if money is an issue for you, Niantic, I must ask — why? You’ve captivated the world and introduced Pokemon to people that would have never touched it had it not been for Pokemon Go. To me, that’s priceless.

 

You won’t be remembered for the profits you made, you’ll be remembered for the world you changed through Pokemon and all of the lives you made better. Just look at all the stories — there’s plenty. So when millions of players are expressing their feedback to changes, is it not worth it to listen to what they have to say?

 

In its first few weeks, Pokemon Go has already enhanced millions of lives in unimaginable ways. It has so much potential to continue changing the world. Wouldn’t you, Niantic, want to see just how much good you can do with Pokemon Go — is that not more valuable than anything else? I sure think so.

 

Warmly,

Yang

____________________

 

Oh, and I was tipped to this site last night: https://pokeadvisor.com/

 

You log in, and it can tell you all your pokemons' hidden stats. So with a few clicks you can check to see which of your pokemon are particularly good examples of their species, which you might want to evolve and power up if you want to be, y'know, the very best. Much easier than entering all your pokemons' visible stats into a calculator one by one, and being presented with a range of possibilities. 

[bladesoframen]

I think that this may be too little too late for some players.  I don't understand why companies don't seem to learn.  One of the most important things a company can do, is communicate with its playerbase.  Even if you are having issues, simply letting the public know that you are having issues, and maybe apologizing for them, goes a long way.  Yes, you will eventually have to fix the issues, and you will always have the players who hate on you right away, but you will keep many more interested just by talking.

 

I can appreciate that there are several reasons that they would not want the third party sites running.  They would add strain to the servers, when they are already struggling.  They are a breach of the TOS.  The reason I hear most however, is that they are "cheating" or "taking the fun out of the game".  I think honestly, for me and likely many other players, they are currently the only thing that makes the game itself fun at all, seeing as there is no way to track any pokemon near you (and the radar still doesn't refresh, so it just fills up with pokemon that are no longer there).  The game is literally blind luck if you find a pokemon, or just hanging out at a pokestop using a lure.  I don't need to know exactly where all pokemon in the city are, and how long they will be there, but I do need someway to find a pokemon that is "nearby".  Without that, I cannot play the game.  Sure, you can wander around, and just catch what you catch, and I can appreciate that being enough for you, but it isn't enough for me.  Too many times I would have a pokemon that I do not have yet spawn "nearby" and I have no clue how to even start looking.  Last I checked that nearby radar works on a 70m radius, which means you have 15 min tops to search ~15,000 sq m.  That is over 1,000 sq m per minute.  That is not how we have ever played any kind of pokemon game.  There are only really 2 solutions to this.  Either limit the spawn areas to designated areas (The worst of the two solutions), or implement a "hot-cold" like system to let you know if you are getting closer or further away.

 

Sorry to rant about this, but it made me really sad this weekend when I realized I cannot really play this game anymore, not if I want to get something from it.

 

The problem is Niantic is not known to make successful mobile games. It is a spinoff from Google that knew how to make technologically advanced mobile games, but not knowing the ingredients for success to create a successful mobile game. On top of that, they didn't expect anywhere near this server load and had to play damage control for a long period of time. Since they barely had a PR to begin with, and a giant panic attack from the lag and other issues, they didn't put into the forefront the need to communicate and need to entertain the existing user base. Whether or not Niantic can fix this problem in a reasonable timeframe is something we'll have to wait and see.

[StrickenBiged]

The problem is Niantic is not known to make successful mobile games. It is a spinoff from Google that knew how to make technologically advanced mobile games, but not knowing the ingredients for success to create a successful mobile game. On top of that, they didn't expect anywhere near this server load and had to play damage control for a long period of time. Since they barely had a PR to begin with, and a giant panic attack from the lag and other issues, they didn't put into the forefront the need to communicate and need to entertain the existing user base. Whether or not Niantic can fix this problem in a reasonable timeframe is something we'll have to wait and see.

 

You might be on to something there. Google is notoriously quiet about it's back-end stuff. Niantic came from that culture. They need to get into the mindset of a modern game developer and realise the importance of community management and interaction with the players. 

[DEMON]

Niantic are hiring a community manager for this game.  I honestly think Niantic probably didn't think this game would kick off as well as it did since their other game, Ingress didn't have the same amount, this one however takes on something that already had quite a large fanbase and since it's popular with the fanbase, it has ended up being seen as a trend so there is more than just the fans playing.  I have honestly seen ones calling pokemon the weirdest names because they just don't know.  Some of these people playing it because it's seen as a trend will more likely drop it soon enough, the fanbase will be still there though and that's a pretty large playerbase by itself.

[KashSenpai]

A

 

And it's also stupid because, if anything, it's now even more confusing. There are no steps at all, and there seems to be absolutely no rhyme nor reason to the nearby tab at all. There doesn't appear to be any particular order, and anything on your list just gets pushed down as new ones come in on the top. So they replaced a system that they thought was too confusing with one which is both confusing and pointless. Moronic.

 

Anyway, I stopped by to share this: Yang's (the guy who made PokeVision) open letter to Niantic. It's worth a read. 

 

____________________

 

Oh, and I was tipped to this site last night: https://pokeadvisor.com/

 

You log in, and it can tell you all your pokemons' hidden stats. So with a few clicks you can check to see which of your pokemon are particularly good examples of their species, which you might want to evolve and power up if you want to be, y'know, the very best. Much easier than entering all your pokemons' visible stats into a calculator one by one, and being presented with a range of possibilities. 

Ah just checked out the website and it's pretty cool but what does iv score mean?

[DEMON]

A

 

Ah just checked out the website and it's pretty cool but what does iv score mean?

 

Level pretty much.  It's kind of like EV training from the normal games but much more simple.

Edited August 3, 2016 by DEMON

[KashSenpai]

Level pretty much.  It's kind of like EV training from the normal games but much more simple.

EV Training ? Isn't level the CP in pokemon go? Because if it is when it came to the percentages on the website it says that my zubat which is far from my best CP pokemon. One of my worst tbh :/

[DEMON]

EV Training ? Isn't level the CP in pokemon go? Because if it is when it came to the percentages on the website it says that my zubat which is far from my best CP pokemon. One of my worst tbh :/

 

EV Training is from the original games on the Gameboy/DS systems.  It's not in this game, but that's what IV kind of acts like as you usually get better IV Pokemon from eggs etc so that's where I see the similarity in the system.

[KashSenpai]

What does better IV mean tho?

[DEMON]

What does better IV mean tho?

Stronger Pokemon.

[KashSenpai]

But i don't understand because my Zubat has the worst stats and has like 400CP lower than my best CP so how can that be more powerful than my other pokemon?

[Hemiak]

But i don't understand because my Zubat has the worst stats and has like 400CP lower than my best CP so how can that be more powerful than my other pokemon?

I'm pretty sure IV takes everything into account. CP, Hp, Stamina, attack speed, type, potential growth. So that Zubat might not be your strongest right now, but he's the best overall prospect you have now.

Is it just me or are Wheedles the hardest thing to catch in the entire game? Seriously I have about a 60% catch rate with them. I can catch other 250-300 common Pokémon with one regular ball consistently, but I regularly see a sub 50 CP Wheedle break containment multiple times before running away. :/

Edited August 4, 2016 by Hemiak