Posted on

Pokémon GO Kanto Event Review

With the Kanto Event officially over I have to say I’m pretty happy with how things ended up.  I’m curious as to what this means for the future of Kanto spawns in the game.  Are they going to be strictly limited outside of events?  At the release of Gen 4 there will be nearly 500 Pokémon available in the game.  Divided equally that will seriously dilute the Kanto pool.  Will grinding for Starly be the new grinding for Pidgey*?

*I had to look that up as I have no clue about Gen 4 at this point.

Here are some of the highlights and regrets about the event now that it’s over.

Kanto Event Highlights

The 7km Egg Hatches

7km egg hatches were exciting for maybe a week when they were first released as you had a chance to catch the Alolan forms for the first time.  They quicky became stale as there were really only four Pokémon that you could hatch that weren’t spawning int he wild.  After you hatched them all the thrill was gone.

Having 7km eggs have the prospect to contain something more interesting (the regionals) they became more exciting.  The prospect of getting the never before released regionals was exciting as well and that it was dependent on this new friendship system was very cool.

I ended up with seven Kangaskhan, six Mr. Mime, and ten Farfetch’d.  I have no idea on how many Tauros as I transferred all but one.

Now with my Kanto Pokédex finally complete I can move on to simply waiting for the release of the missing Pokémon or eventual release of the other regionals I am missing from the Hoenn region.

Building Up Candy

It seems like they have made Pokémon from outside your normal biome spawn in increase numbers.  I have never seen a Doduo or a Sandshrew in my neighborhood but they’ve been out in huge numbers for two weeks.  Still that hasn’t been enough to entice me to catch either as they are not really relevant to the meta.

I have, however, been able to add thousands of candy for the the Kanto starters even though I already have tons from Community Days.  I have also gotten thousands of Machop, Geodude, and Rhydon candy which are all incredibly relevant for battling so that’s been great to stock up on, not knowing when they’ll be out in such numbers again.

Chansey, Chansey, Chansey!

Like most players I’ve encountered a tiny number of Chansey since the game launched and it was truly my last Pokémon to get in the original Kanto Pokédex excluding regionals and my own stubborn need for a good IV Dratini to evolve.

This event started off with a bang for me.  I caught six Chansey on the first day, something I normally don’t catch in six months.  Then things slowed considerably.  Here’s the total count:

September 14: 6
September 15: 1
September 16: 1
September 17: 1
September 18: 1
September 19: 2
September 20: 0
September 21: 0
September 22: 0
September 23: 0
September 24: 2
September 25: 1
September 26: 0
September 27: 0
September 28: 0
September 29: 0
September 30: 0

Total: 15

That’s 90 Chansey Candy, bringing my total Chansey Candy to 473 as of the end of the event.

Most importantly I finally got my first Chansey with Great IVs:  98%.  The only problem is its CP is 153.  To max it out will cost 348 candies and 268,400 stardust.  Normally I just bring Pokémon up to level 30 (which would cost a mere 251 candies and 118,400 stardust) but with a near perfect Chansey it may be hard to resist maxing it out.

I’m also planning on trading for some lucky Chanseys so who knows?  Maybe I’ll get a higher CP Chansey with similar or better IVs!

Overall this has been a great event.

Kanto Event Regrets

Where is Snorlax?

I didn’t encountered a single wild Snorlax!  I’m not complaining about the Chansey but I haven’t seen a Snorlax in the wild since January.  It would have been great to catch a few during this event.

Third Tier Evolutions

There really weren’t any third tier (or even second tier) evolutions spawning during this event.  I have only encountered a wild Dragonite once in this game.  It was nice having Dratini as a raid boss but it would have been cool if they upped the possibility of running into a Dragonite, Charizard, or Poliwrath even a little.

Overall Rare Spawns

The first few days, even week, we saw Tangela, Porygon, Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan, and Chansey popping up.  These are Pokémon that many players could easily be missing.  It makes me wonder why we didn’t see more overall diversity in the spawns.  I didn’t see Clefable, Scyther, Kabutops, Onix, or any number of rare spawns that could have made given the event a little more excitement.  Imagine running into a wild Muk or Vileplume.  They’re useless in the meta and I’m not hurting on candies for either but it would certainly be fun to see them out and about.

Shiny Disappointment

Two new shiny Pokémon were introduced for this event: Grimer and Geodude.  I managed to catch a Grimer but came up empty on the Geodude.  I missed out on Omanyte a few months back and the likelihood of catching them outside of the spawn rates of an event is pretty tiny.  I’ve caught hundreds and hundreds of Geodudes with no luck.  Growlithe was released shortly before this event and no luck with a shiny on that front either.

I Almost Forgot!

This event was so good at building candy and stardust for meta relevant Kanto Pokémon that I almost forgot we had a Community day in the mix as well!

I only hunted for Chikorita for a little over an hour but came away with seven shinies.  The spotlight was stolen by a new Pokémon which we learned, days later, is named Meltan.  They dominated the end of the event but, sadly, all transformed immediately into Dittos after being captured.

It appears that this is a tie in to the upcoming Nintendo Switch games “Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu!” And “Pokemon Let’s Go Eevee!”

I’m a father of three in his forties so, naturally, this got me super pumped for this release!

Gotta catch ’em all*!

*Before your midlife crisis is over!

Posted on

I Have Pokémon GO Storage Anxiety

I am constantly living in a state of storage anxiety with Pokémon GO.  Mostly this is an anxiety brought on entirely by myself.  With the latest event I am constantly finding my storage full for the first time in a long time, transferring a few at a time just to make space to catch one or two more.

A year and a half ago when they changed the way training works in gyms there was suddenly a need to hoard all of these Pokémon in the 1,000 CP range as they were perfect for battling your own teams’ gyms and opening up slots to put your Pokémon in.

When Niantic got rid of that system with the gym overhaul in June of 2017 I breathed a sigh of relief.  Finally I was able to transfer all of those mid-level Pokémon and free up storage space for catching.  They’ve subsequently increased storage and all was well.

Then they introduced trading.

Trading brings with it so many reasons to hoard Pokémon and for a natural hoarder such as myself, this puts me in a tough position.  With trading every Pokémon has value.  Before trading I would catch a Pokémon, check IVs, then transfer for one candy.  If it was something really rare I’d hold onto it until a double candy event to transfer for two candies.

Now there are so many factors that play into the difficulty of keeping storage slots available.  Here are my main struggles.

High CP

With this current system any Pokémon with a high IV is of value.  Trading it with the potential of making it lucky for another player is key.  I am constantly on the lookout for a high CP Chansey I could trade for one of my 2016 Pokémon with the potential of making it lucky.  Newer player would also love to roll the dice on getting a good high level Pokémon

Old Pokemon

Anything old now has value since lucky Pokémon were introduced.  The older the Pokémon being traded, the higher the likelihood of the traded Pokémon becoming lucky.  Now that they’ve added guaranteed lucky status for any Pokémon from July or August of 2016 I am holding onto quite a few valuable trade offers in hopes of getting some important lucky Pokémon I will be able to power up at a discount.

Rare Pokémon for Candy

Anything rare that you are looking to evolve has high value.  Trading it with a distance Pokémon from another player will yield you three candies, the same results as using a Pinap berry.  If you take into account the transfer you could be looking at ten candies per Pokémon using this system and a great way to speed up your evolutions or power ups.

Distance Pokémon for Candy

Any Pokémon from a far away distance will not only help toward getting more candy it will also increase your distance for your Pilot medal.  Having some distance Pokémon available for trading will make it more likely that another player will trade with you for their own candy benefit.

Lucky Pokémon

Holding on to rare or meta relevant Pokémon is crucial in order to convince someone else to trade something of similar value in hopes you will both obtain a lucky Pokémon.  Some will likely collect lucky Pokémon (I’ve seen some out there that already have a complete Pokédex of lucky Pokémon) but most will look for meta relevant Pokémon such as Machop, Chansey, Geodude, or Larvitar to be able to power them up with less stardust to make them battle ready.

Double Candy Events

Ever since the first double candy event I’ve had the habit of hoarding Pokémon so that I can transfer for double the candy.  With trading you can now get three candies per trade but for traded Pokémon that you do not want you will be able to get two candies for a transfer during a double candy event.  So my standard rule is to catch with a Pinap berry, trade for distance, then transfer for a total of ten candies.  Theoretically if the next Halloween event is straight double candy across the board we’re looking at twenty candies per Pokémon caught.  Possibly up to 48 candies for a third stage evolution.

Souvenirs

Then there’s the main reason for hanging on to some Pokémon and that is as souvenirs.  I’m a pretty sentimental person so keeping Pokémon caught from certain location or with certain CP values is something I like to do.  I’ve long wished there was a way to memorialize them in some way rather than hanging onto them.  An interesting CP level does nothing with the new gym system whereas in the old gym system you would see 10 Pokémon with a CP of 420.  I’m not really into numerology in any other facet of my life but in Pokémon GO it entertains me for some reason.
The long held rumor is that with the release of Gen 4 that we will see a storage increase of up to 2,000.  While that will be welcome I am really hoping they up it even higher than that.  I will continue to spend Pokécoins on as much storage as I can in order to collect as many Pokémon as I can and, ultimately, to keep my anxiety level down.
And, who knows, maybe one day I will find someone that wants one of my dozen Witch Hat Pikachus.
Posted on

How Niantic Can Make An Extra $1 Billion With Pokémon GO

Sometimes I think Niantic just doesn’t like making money.  This seems odd to say about a company that’s made nearly $2 billion on Pokémon GO.  Often I’ve heard fans complaining about Niantic doing things as a money grab.  I actually think quite the obvious.  I think they’re leaving  a ton of money on the table with simple features that they could get Pokémon GO’s most active players to very willingly plunk down money on.

I’m extremely lucky.  I live in the perfect area for Pokémon GO.  I’m not in the city so I can easily hold a gym (or multiple gyms) for the necessary time to get my 50 coins a day in the game.  I’m not in a rural area so I don’t have to worry about my Pokémon unintentionally holding a gym for a month.  I’m living the suburban dream.  I casually stick a few low tier Pokémon in gyms every day then collect the in game currency.  I don’t even have to worry about reviving or using potions because they’re usually recently caught Pokémon that I plan on transferring anyway.

At 50 coins a day that amounts to 350 coins a week or 18,250 coins a year.  That’s a cash equivalent of $182.50 if you don’t take into account the coin discount you get with larger dollar amounts in the shop.

With all those coins coming in on a daily basis I don’t spend much on the game.  That being said I’ve probably logged more hours playing this one game in the past two years than I have on nearly every other video game I’ve ever played all grouped together.  I could think of a lot of ways Niantic could force me to part with my Pokécoins quicker and run the risk of having to spend more real life money in game.

Here’s what I would gladly pay money for in Pokémon GO:

1.) Wider Sighting Radius

One frustration I often have with the game (and mentioned in my Pokémon GO Quality of Life Improvements article) if that if we’re around any number of Pokéstops we only see activity there.  We have no idea if there’s a Blissey just hanging out 150 feet away.  When playing at home I am often able to see Pokémon that are just a few feet away that my wife or kids cannot see due to subtle differences in their GPS drift.  Wouldn’t it be great if, as a paid feature, we could expand the radius?  Not infinitely, just enough to be able to casually catch Pokémon that were just a little farther away than what we currently have.

Proposed Cost: 200 Pokécoins per 50 meters up to 500 extra meters
Total Cost:  2,000 Pokécoins

2.) Extra Infinite Incubators

This is something that any hardcore player and even a lot of casual player would gladly cash in coins for.  I know plenty of players that don’t buy incubators because of the temporary nature of them but would be more than willing to pay a lot more for an incubator that will last forever.  I’m sitting on tons of incubators and I still don’t use them unless there’s some sort of special egg event where my changes of actually hatching something decent are greatly increased.  If I could buy two more infinite incubators I’d certainly be using them all the time.  I don’t think you should be able to have nine, mind you, but an extra two would really help out people’s egg game.

Proposed Cost: 2,000 each, up to 2 additional incubators
Total cost: 4,000 Pokécoins

3.) Extra Egg Slots

It would also be a great feature to add an additional 3 or even 6 egg slots.  I’ve already proposed separating out 7km gift eggs into their own storage area but it would be great if you were also able to just hold more eggs in general.  7km eggs have definitely made egg storage a little crowded and the lack of variety in 7km eggs makes them fairly useless for anything other than gaining a little trade distance.

Proposed Cost: 2,000 each, up to to 3  additional slots
Total cost: 6,000 Pokécoins

4.) Extra Buddy Slots

Extra Buddy slots would also be a great feature.  In the main game you’re walking around with up to six Pokémon at a time.  Six Pokémon to train, develop, and get to work together.  I don’t know if we need a full six slots, two may suffice, but it would be great to have some additional slots available.  Perhaps even expanding the Buddy system to include actual training to raise battle readiness and stats.

Proposed Cost: 10,000 Pokécoins each, up to 2 additional slots
Total Cost: 20,000 coins

5.) Temporary Pokéstops

Every so often I’m in a spot where there’s just no Pokéstops.  Having the ability to plop down a Pokéstop for say 12-24 hours and have that introduce wild spawns and be a source of items would be incredible.  This could be particularly useful for people on vacation or in rural areas.  I’m not sure if these Pokéstops would be visible by other players (like lures) or just for the trainer who uses them (like incense) but either way this would be a great feature.  This isn’t something I would use every day but I can certainly think of occasions where this would be a great feature.

Proposed Cost: 10,000 Pokécoins for 24 hours
Total Cost: Limitless

6.) Extra Battle Parties

This is something I’d really wanted to see developed when it first rolled out and the raid bosses were fairly challenging.  With the whole Regice, Registeel, Regirock crew it doesn’t seem like selecting a Battle Party even matters.  However, if raids and the gym battle system were to be altered to make them a more challenging part of the game this would be something that would be really helpful to have going into battle

Proposed Cost: 200 Pokécoins each, up to 15 additional parties
Total Cost: 3,000 Pokécoins

7.) Increased Pokémon Storage

With the release of Gen 4 imminent this is something I’m sure we’re going to see.  However, I’d be more than happy to increase storage to 3,000 slots and beyond.  With the introduction of trading and lucky Pokémon I’m far less willing to part with anything these days in the case I may want it for a friend in need.  Honestly I’d probably keep forking over 200 Pokécoins at a shot until the maximum storage is achieved no matter how high that number was.

Proposed Cost: 200 Pokécoins per 50 slots, up to 3,000 slots
Total Cost: 6,000 Pokécoins

8.) Gift Storage

I only have 66 friends in Pokémon GO and managing it is already challenging.  Having the ability to bank more gifts would really keep me able to exchange gifts more frequently on a day-to-day basis and level up my friendships.  I don’t think you should be able to increase gift storage infinitely but an additional ten slots would make a huge difference.  I’d love to hear from someone that has 200 friends and see what their ideal gift storage would be.

Proposed Cost: 500 Pokécoins to go from 10 gifts to 20 gifts
Total Cost: 500 Pokécoins

9.) Pokémon Center Storage Unit

In the main series games there are Pokémon Centers where you can store items and Pokémon as well as healing them up and trading with friends.  If Pokémon Centers were introduced in Pokémon GO it would be a great way to have a storage unit where you could do the same.  Perhaps we’re getting greedy where 2,000 slots is not enough.  Sometimes I just don’t want to trash valuable items (rare candy, golden rasberries, TMs, etc.) but I also don’t want to be carrying them around all the time.  The ability to store them somewhere in the physical world where I could pick them up later when needed would be really cool.   It would also be cool to have some sort of exchange where you could trade items or sell to other players in game.

Proposed Cost: 200 Pokécoins for 50 slots up to 2,000 slots
Total Cost: 8,000 Pokécoins

10.) Golden Lures

We have super incubators, golden raspberries, and now silver pinap berries.  Why note an advanced lure that lasts longer?  This would be great paired with a temporary Pokéstop when in a remote area or on vacation.

Proposed Cost: 150 Pokécoins each, or bundled for savings

11.) Golden Incense

This would be the same as above.  I’m usually on the go when I’m playing but if I was stuck in an area where I wasn’t able to access Pokéstops or decent spawns this would be a great way to be able to sit back and catch Pokémon in conjunction with lures

Proposed Cost: 150 Pokécoins each, or bundled for savings

12.) More Research Storage slots

When research first came out the number of slots seemed fine.  With so much research now relying on special events, catching limited time shinies, and Spinda forms I find myself having to spin stops, check research, and trash tasks constantly.  It would be great to build a little more of a buffer up to make that process a little less tedious and I’d be willing to pay for that.

Proposed Cost: 500 Pokécoins each, up to 3 additional slots
Total Cost: 1,500 Pokécoins

The total cost of buying the max of all these additions (and one of each of the temporary items) comes to  61,300 Pokécoins.  That’s  $613 ($423 with the 100 Pokécoin discount).  That’s a huge sum of money.  Not everyone would buy everything but there’s a number of items there that I, for one, would be extremely likely to purchase.  There are some items on this list that, quite honestly, I wouldn’t have any interest in.  I’m just going on what I know other players would like to see.

Pokémon GO has about 65 million active monthly users and 5 million daily active users.  Even if a small fraction of these users bought a small fraction of these items Niantic would be swimming in even more cash.  The great thing about this game is that in its current form your ability to spend money on the game does not impact anyone else’s game experience.   There are maximum limits on competitive advantage.  Spending money really only improves your ease of playing.

We will see what Gen 4 brings and if any of these things will ever become a reality.