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Pokémon Go


DonRocks

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4 minutes ago, dracisk said:

I don't understand what this is and, admittedly, haven't spent a millisecond of time or energy trying to figure it out.

Signed,

a member of Generation X

I honestly think this game will be remembered - long into the future - as having revolutionized the use of the internet. 

Yes, it might literally be in history books.

Remember!

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My 16 and 19 year olds have been playing incessantly for the last week. They have been taking late night walks to find more Pokemon and hatch their eggs.

No idea if this will last long, but it's definitely an obsession at the moment.

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1 hour ago, dracisk said:

You might be right.

I have now spent 90 seconds to understand this. I hate to sound like a crotchety old lady, but I have little to no interest in playing this game.

The coolest thing about it, for me, is that it gets you to monuments, sculptures, etc. You know that "historical marker" you've been passing near your home for the past five years? The one you've been telling yourself that you should really stop and read? There's likely a Pokémon hiding there. :)

I think the historic aspect isn't so much "the game itself"; it's the seamless integration of the internet with reality. I guess Google glasses did that to some degree, but I don't know much about those.

It was creepy to see the Bulbasaurus sitting right in front of me on my coffee table.

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Note that the company that released this game, Niantic (a Google spinoff), has had a game out there called Ingress for the past few years. It's essentially the same gameplay as Pokemon Go, and the database of waypoints in Pokemon is based on Ingress' database.

So in many ways Ingress was the beta release for Pokemon.

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My 19-year-old son is obsessed. I have never seen him voluntarily go on so many walks. Last night he taught himself the Pokemon theme song on his guitar.

I have a 52-year-old friend who loves it, too, and enjoys catching Pokemon with her kids. So far, I have avoided it. Words With Friends already takes up too much of my time!   

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17 hours ago, DonRocks said:

The coolest thing about it, for me, is that it gets you to monuments, sculptures, etc. You know that "historical marker" you've been passing near your home for the past five years? The one you've been telling yourself that you should really stop and read? There's likely a Pokémon hiding there. :)

Does it really count as going somewhere if you don't lift your face from your phone the entire time you are there? IMO the Pokemon zombies may even have a decreased appreciation for the monuments, sculptures, etc as they are trivialized into treasure hunt sites rather than being noted for what they are.

I almost ran over 2 kids in an industrial park on bicycles with their noses stuck in their phones yesterday. Tragedy is an inevitable offshoot of this game.

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2 hours ago, farmer john said:

Does it really count as going somewhere if you don't lift your face from your phone the entire time you are there? IMO the Pokemon zombies may even have a decreased appreciation for the monuments, sculptures, etc as they are trivialized into treasure hunt sites rather than being noted for what they are.

I almost ran over 2 kids in an industrial park on bicycles with their noses stuck in their phones yesterday. Tragedy is an inevitable offshoot of this game.

I thought about this too, and you're probably right. However, for *me*, personally, there's a park that's just a block from my house that I've never been to - this game will get me there, and I'll take the time to enjoy the park, too. My son said he got some prize for walking ten miles this week.

And remember: Pokémon doesn't kill people; *people* kill people! :lol:

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6 hours ago, farmer john said:

Does it really count as going somewhere if you don't lift your face from your phone the entire time you are there? IMO the Pokemon zombies may even have a decreased appreciation for the monuments, sculptures, etc as they are trivialized into treasure hunt sites rather than being noted for what they are.

I almost ran over 2 kids in an industrial park on bicycles with their noses stuck in their phones yesterday. Tragedy is an inevitable offshoot of this game.

I thought about your comment some more this morning. I think what bothers me even more than the situation you describe - which is pretty much the same problem we have with text messaging - is this:

What's preventing a pedophile from sitting in his car, waiting in a desolate industrial park where he knows there's a Pokémon?

(I'm sorry to bring that up so graphically, but somebody needs to.)

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On 7/15/2016 at 2:35 PM, DonRocks said:

What's preventing a pedophile from sitting in his car, waiting in a desolate industrial park where he knows there's a Pokémon?

I have read that this has already happened - not a pedophile, but robbers using the "lure" feature in the game.

More from cnn.com: "What Pokémon GO Has To Do with an Armed Robbery and a Dead Body" by Clara Lindh

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How are the pokestops determined/identified?

There is a pokestop behind my office building that's just a small steel sculpture (6 feet high, 4 feet across?). It ain't like people come from miles around to see it-- or even feet around.

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8 minutes ago, Al Dente said:

How are the pokestops determined/identified?

There is a pokestop behind my office building that's just a small steel sculpture (6 feet high, 4 feet across?). It ain't like people come from miles around to see it-- or even feet around.

I have a small sculpture in my house.  I'd like to make it a Pokestop.  :ph34r:

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47 minutes ago, Al Dente said:

How are the pokestops determined/identified?

There is a pokestop behind my office building that's just a small steel sculpture (6 feet high, 4 feet across?). It ain't like people come from miles around to see it-- or even feet around.

Currently, you have to request a new one (or an existing one be deactivated) by a support form on the Niantic website.

But the Pokemon Go database was created during the beta run of Ingress, which ended last year. People had pretty free reign to create stops in Ingress.

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In something of a blatant rip-off, Sprite is capitalizing on the Pokémon Go! craze.

Screenshot 2016-07-31 at 12.01.11.png

(And if you haven't seen the video in my previous post, it's really funny and worth watching.)

---

Dec 11, 2016 ETA - The above example is *exactly* why I capture a screenshot as well as linking. The URL of the link now takes you to something completely different, but the screenshot is locally captured - I would not have remembered what I was referring to had the screenshot not been there.

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FYI, you don't HAVE to stare at your screen the whole time.  There is a mode that you literally turn the phone upside down, the screen goes into energy saving mode and stick it in your pocket and it will buzz if you are walking and are close to something.  I know this because I just had an 18 year old with me for the last two weeks in Japan (although the app released really late there thank goodness).  Sadie taught a whole bunch of Japanese people that you could pick the balls back up, she was a good Pokemon samaritan.  You also have no idea how many Pokemon you can catch at the Pokemon megastore in Tokyo (but don't go on Saturday, whew the line is crazy).  Matt on the other hand is trying to get the Poke-stop removed from the tomb of George Washington (they don't mind the others per-se, but don't want one at the tomb out of respect).  All the Pokemon talk I have listened to is fairly overwhelming.

Oh and if you haven't read this article, you should: 

"Pulitzer Prize-Winner Phil Kennicott's Pokémon Go Diary" by Philip Kennicott on washingtonpost.com

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This is admittedly kind of nerdy, but I've figured out pretty much of an ideal way to use your Lucky Eggs (you don't get very many of them, so you should use them judiciously).

* Catch as many Pidgeys and Weedles as you can, since they only take 12 points to Evolve (3 catches and transfers). Don't worry about these 3 having good IV - they're really only useful for Evolving and getting points. I have yet to see a Pidgey, Weedle, or, for that matter, a Rattata (which takes 25 XP to Evolve) that is worth much. Common wisdom says to do the same thing with Caterpies, but I have two Kakunas (an evolution of Caterpies) that appraised very highly, so make sure to check your Appraisal for these. I'm going to save up my Caterpie points to Evolve my Kakunas into Beedrills, which, if the Kakuna appraisals are correct, should be good fighting Pokemon.

* The Evolve process takes about 30 seconds if you're focused and fast, so try and save up at least 50, preferably closer to 60, before using a Lucky Egg - when you do it, stay focused, concentrate, and be fast for the full 30 minutes. An Evolve is usually 500 XP, but with a Lucky Egg, it's worth 1,000 XP, so you'll get 50,000-60,000 from this alone.

* These two things are REALLY important, and I haven't seen them written anywhere else; I figured them out myself, but they can provide a tremendous amount of points:

** Save your Lucky Egg Evolve Session for the 7th Day of your Pokemon and Pokestop streak. These are normally worth 2000 XP, but using a Lucky Egg, they'll be worth 4000 XP each!

** Make sure to be camped underneath a Pokestop where a Pokemon is, and as soon as you activate your Lucky Egg, catch your 1st Pokemon of the day, and spin your 1st Pokestop of the day - these are normally worth 500 XP, but with the Lucky Egg, will be worth 1000 XP.

Using this strategy, a Lucky Egg session can be easily worth over 60,000 points, and if you're really good, closer to 70,000.

It's also advantageous to use Lucky Eggs when you're at a higher level, so be patient! Once you get past level 20, the game turns into one hell of a grind. I'm not sure if anyone has notice, but Niantic has released "baby Pokemon" which "precede" the heretofore lowest-level Pokemon - I got a "Smoochum" which is the Pre-Jynx, an my Pokedex now has 238 entries in it, with Smoochum being #238 - I have no Pokemon (except silhouettes) for #141-237, so this is obviously a tease that they'll be releasing more Pokemon - maybe baby Pokemon - in the future. I see no advantage to having these other than collecting them.

Pokemon Go seems to have no End Game, although I'm still trying to learn how to fight at gyms - I can't figure it out. I'm at Level 23, so I've got some good Pokemons; I just have no idea what to do at Pokegyms. Does anyone have a good link for beginning fighters?

This game seems to be more of a "way of life" than it is a "thing to win."

Also, I've only gotten *one* 10km egg, which is *really* frustrating - the higher the kms on the egg, the better Pokemon you hatch. Does anyone have any thoughts about this? And I absolutely *refuse* to spend a penny buying anything - that's where I draw the line.

One more question: If you have a fully evolved Pokemon that appraises well with a really high IV, is there any reason *not* to Power Up to the max, other than a shortage of Stardust?

And another question: Pokemons such as Flareon, Jynx, and Pinsir are almost always worth over 1,000 CP, but they don't (usually) appraise well - is there any reason to hoard these just because they have such high CP? They're starting to become annoying, and I'm thinking maybe I should only keep my best two of each.

I've been using a Magikarp as my buddy, hoping to get a Gyarados, but I can't find a Magikarp with a great Appraisal, so I'm wondering if this is a waste. I have a perfect Ivysaur (literally, perfect - 100% IV), and could use 25 more Bulbasaur candies to Evolve it into a Vensaur, but this damned Magikarp takes *400* candies to Evolve - is there any drawback in switching my buddy to a Bulbasaur, then switching back to the Magikarp after I have my 100 Bulbasaur candies?

Good luck!

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You need to google how to fight in Pokémon gyms and look for youtube videos.  There is literally a yellow flash that precedes the computer attack, and if you dodge immediately after you see the flash, you'll avoid damage (at least some, you would still sustain some damage from long-form attacks).  Lots of articles are out there regarding how to fight best.  And you have to match up your fighters against the fighters in the gym to take advantage of their weakness.  E.g., use Vaporeon to beat Flareon.  By putting your Pokémon in a gym, you can collect Pokecoins.  When you have Pokecoins, you can buy incubators which hatch eggs. 

 

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1 hour ago, Ericandblueboy said:

You need to google how to fight in Pokémon gyms and look for youtube videos.  There is literally a yellow flash that precedes the computer attack, and if you dodge immediately after you see the flash, you'll avoid damage (at least some, you would still sustain some damage from long-form attacks).  Lots of articles are out there regarding how to fight best.  And you have to match up your fighters against the fighters in the gym to take advantage of their weakness.  E.g., use Vaporeon to beat Flareon.  By putting your Pokémon in a gym, you can collect Pokecoins.  When you have Pokecoins, you can buy incubators which hatch eggs. 

Isn't there some way to leave a Pokemon in a gym your team already has? I can't figure out how.

Every time I try to fight, I get destroyed, because one monster after another keeps coming at me.

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You can place a Pokémon in your team's gym only if there's a spot.  Each gym can hold up to 10 Pokémon, but you usually have to "train" at the gym in order to raise its prestige, and thus create a space.  For example, if someone just takes over a gym, then 3 Pokemons from the same team can initially be slotted into the gym.  At that point, the gym's prestige is 8,000.  You have to raise the gym's prestige to 10,000 before the 4th slot opens up.  You raise the gym's prestige by fighting and beating your own team's Pokemons in that gym.  To really raise the prestige significantly, you have to fight with lower CP Pokemons against higher CP foes.

You get destroyed because you don't know how to fight yet.  I can take a low CP Vaporeon and beat 2-3 higher CP Flareon, I can take a low CP Venusaur and beat 2-3 higher level CP Vaporeon.  In each case, I'm using a Pokémon that exploits the weakness of my foes. I'm also dodging and not taking any direct damage.  If you really want to learn out to fight, watch a video and then go out and practice but figure out the weakness of your foe first.  Use winthegym.com to figure out the weakness of each Pokémon.

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Type Strong Against Vulnerable To
Normal N/A Fighting
Electric Water, Flying Ground
Fairy Fighting, Dragon, Dark Poison, Steel
Water Fire, Ground, Rock Electric, Grass
Poison Grass, Fairy Ground, Psychic
Ghost Psychic, Ghost Ghost, Dark
Ground Fire, Electric, Poison, Rock, Steel Water, Grass, Ice
Fighting Normal, Ice, Rock, Dark, Steel Flying, Psychic, Fairy
Fire Grass, Ice, Bug, Steel Water, Ground, Rock
Steel Ice, Rock, Fairy Fire, Fighting, Ground
Flying Grass, Fighting, Bug Electric, Ice, Rock
Bug Grass, Psychic, Dark Fire, Flying, Rock
Psychic Fighting, Poison Bug, Ghost, Dark
Dark Psychic, Ghost Fighting, Bug, Fairy
Dragon Dragon Ice, Dragon, Fairy
Ice Grass, Ground, Flying, Dragon Fire, Fighting, Rock, Steel
Rock Fire, Ice, Flying, Bug Water, Grass, Fighting, Ground, Steel
Grass Water, Ground, Rock Fire, Ice, Poison, Flying, Bug
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You will tend to see some common yet strong Pokemons in the gym: Dragonite, Gyarados, Vaporeon, Snorlax, Exeggutor, Lapras, Rhydon, Flareon, and Jolteon.

Each of these Pokemons have one or more weakness - I'd use ice against Dragonite, electricity against Gyarados, grass against Vaporeaon, fire against Exeggutor, electricity against Lapras, water against Rhydon and Flareon, and ground against Jolteon.  Against "normal" Pokemons such as Snorlax, I use a Vaporeon.  Each Pokémon actually has several different types of short and long attacks.  You will soon figure out that you want a fast short attack and a long attack that does maximum damage.  For example, a Vaporeon with water gun only inflicts damage of 6 but you can squeeze in 3 or 4 attacks between each computer strike.  As for the best Vaporeon long attack, the hydro pump does damage of 90.  Since the long attacks all take a long time, you want to inflict max damage.  Again, there are websites that evaluate each attack.  So when you're building your collection of Pokémon for fighting, you need to pay attention to each Pokémon's attack type.

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13 minutes ago, Ericandblueboy said:

You will tend to see some common yet strong Pokemons in the gym: Dragonite, Gyarados, Vaporeon, Snorlax, Exeggutor, Lapras, Rhydon, Flareon, and Jolteon.

Each of these Pokemons have one or more weakness - I'd use ice against Dragonite, electricity against Gyarados, grass against Vaporeaon, fire against Exeggutor, electricity against Lapras, water against Rhydon and Flareon, and ground against Jolteon.  Against "normal" Pokemons such as Snorlax, I use a Vaporeon.  Each Pokémon actually has several different types of short and long attacks.  You will soon figure out that you want a fast short attack and a long attack that does maximum damage.  For example, a Vaporeon with water gun only inflicts damage of 6 but you can squeeze in 3 or 4 attacks between each computer strike.  As for the best Vaporeon long attack, the hydro pump does damage of 90.  Since the long attacks all take a long time, you want to inflict max damage.  Again, there are websites that evaluate each attack.  So when you're building your collection of Pokémon for fighting, you need to pay attention to each Pokémon's attack type.

Wow. Thank you so much for these notes - this is more than I could have ever hoped for. Now, it's up to me.

Thanks Eric!

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4 hours ago, Al Dente said:

How old are you people?   :P

Old enough to realize that the latest download (yesterday) changed things dramatically - lots more Clefairys and Lickitungs - but more importantly, catching a Pokemon is now worth 6 points; transferring one is now worth 2 points ... that is *huge*.

lickitung.gif <--- Lickitung

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E-a-b-b started the firehose supply of knowledge, here's where to go for full immersion: https://www.reddit.com/r/TheSilphRoad/

Yesterday was the start of the Valentine's Day Event, in which the spawn frequency of all pink pokemon is increased (look for Chansey and Porygon, the most rare of these).  Also, as you note, "double candy" is  part of the event, which includes, if you haven't noticed, a halving of the distance needed to walk with your buddy to get a candy.  The event goes through the afternoon of the 14th, I believe. 

Also, you can see where certain pokemon have nests or frequently spawn--look for the "Nest Atlas" link on the home page for the above link, or go to: https://thesilphroad.com/atlas.  The nests and spawn points have been changing every two weeks as of late.  It is my understanding that, since this is all based on user input, it does not violate the game's ToS.

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20 hours ago, JBag57 said:

Yesterday was the start of the Valentine's Day Event, in which the spawn frequency of all pink pokemon is increased (look for Chansey and Porygon, the most rare of these).  Also, as you note, "double candy" is  part of the event, which includes, if you haven't noticed, a halving of the distance needed to walk with your buddy to get a candy.  The event goes through the afternoon of the 14th, I believe. 

Thank you both - I didn't realize there *was* a Valentine's Day event; I was hoping they'd doubled the points for capturing/transferring, but alas, it's only for a week.

What difference does it make if something is rare if you already have 1-2 of each? My problem is I have a few rare Pokémon, but they don't appraise very well, and don't have much in terms of IV. So, other than "collecting" them, i.e., "Catch 'em all!", what good do they do me?

My son advises me, "A good rule of thumb for capturing Pokémon, other than for getting XP, is: 'Will you eventually fight with it?" I now have two Lickitungs worth 700+ points each, but they don't appraise well - what good will they do me?

I'm about to take Step 2 in this game, and it's a *major* change in philosophy - I have a decent set of Pokémon, but I need to learn to fight, and that's a brand new skill that seems to have very little to do with collecting the little buggers.

I've fought at gyms about five times, always with the same result: I practice my piano trilling, then end up defeating one Pokémon, then a Snorlax will come up and just sit there, destroying me with the greatest of ease. I don't seem to have much choice as to what to fight with, as a little screen pops up at the bottom with about 9 favorite Pokémons on it - one after the other is taken out. Fortunately, restoring them doesn't cost very much - I've been discarding my Revives and Hyper Potions up until now, so using them is no big deal.

I read what Eric says, and it makes sense, but applying it is another thing entirely. Maybe I should just keep catching them and trying to Level Up, and a year from now I'll be at Level 28 or something? I don't have a single Snorlax, and I have only one Pokémon worth over 2000 points (and that's only because I Powered it up to the max).

Am I going to have to scale Mt. Everest to find a Mewtwo?

I'm hoping that eventually, Niantic will reward people like me who play fairly consistently (there's no reason *not* to play when you're out-and-about, other than that it drains your battery). But there just doesn't seem to be any end-game.

I'd really like my next stop to be depositing a Pokémon - any Pokémon - at a gym, but I've yet to have the opportunity.

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Pokemons should be categorized based on usefulness in fighting or not.  I would only keep the highest CP rare but useless Pokemon, such as Lickitung.  As for my fighting Pokemons, I like to keep a roster of them ranging from 1600-2200 CP for each type.  For example, I have Vaporeon, Omanyte, Golduck, Starmie (all have water gun as the short attack and hydro pump as long attack) as my water type attack Pokemons.  They are interchangeable, but each has a different CP.  You want to use low CP Pokemon against higher CP Pokemon foes to get maximum prestige (either in training at your own gym or attacking another team's gym).  I also have a roster of fire Pokemons - Arcanine, Flareon, Magmar. For your fighting Pokemons, you want to keep them based on their attacking forms (i.e., whether they have the optimum short and long attacks.  For water types, that would be water gun and hydrop pump).  Consult this list http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-12-15-pokemon-go-moves-movesets-move-list-and-highest-dps-attacks

Your fighting Pokemons should include these types: water, fire, electricity, ice, grass, and ground.  With these Pokemons, you can beat most of the common Pokemons in gyms.  The rare but weak Pokemons that you occasionally see in gyms, I use water as a default (you can fight with up to 6 of your own Pokemans against up to 10 Pokemons in a gym, so you can't literally match one of your attacker against each defender based on type, sometimes your Pokemon has to do double duty or triple duty against defenders.  In any case, you want to use the minimum number of attackers to maximize prestige).

Lastly, you want a roster of high CP Pokemons that you can stash in a friendly gym.  If your Pokemon doesn't have high CP, it'll always be the first Pokemon knocked out of the gym when someone attacks it.  The Pokemons that can achieve high CP are Dragonite, Gyarados, Vaporeon, Snorlax, Rhydon, Exeggutor, Lapras - that's why they're the most commonly found in gyms.  Evolve only the strongest Pokemons.  For example, only evolve Eevees with CP higher than 680.  There are articles on the appraisal process, but Winthegym.com has an Evolver feature which tells you what you can get from evolving each Pokemon based on its existing CP.  You don't care about the attacks of these Pokemons since you don't fight with them - you just put them in gyms.

Most Pokemons have weaknesses.  Snorlax (and other normal) is only weak against fighting types, but fighting types are rare and they have shitty attacks.  That's why I just use a Vaporeon.  Between each Snorlax attack, I can hit it 4 or 5 times with a water gun (which charges your long attack).  Use your long attack immediately after the Snorlax uses it long attack to ensure that you don't get hit by its long attack while you're in the midst of your own long attack.  You can dodge the damage from pretty much all the short attacks, and you can dodge the damage from most long attacks, as long as you dodge immediately after you see the yellow flash.

If you go anywhere with Magikarps, get 400 candies to evolve into a Gyarado.  Gyarados can achieve very high CP.  You sometimes luck out when hatching eggs - here's a list of Pokemons by distance chart https://rankedboost.com/pokemon-go/egg-hatching-chart/ It's hard to find Dratinis around here, but I seen them more often in Baltimore.  I recently got my first Aerodactyl around Ritthouse Sq in Philly.  I've hatched a few Lapras and Snorlaxes (in contrast, I've caught maybe 1 or 2 Snorlax and I've never seen a Lapras in the wild).  Unfortunately, you have to spend money to buy incubators.

The higher your level, the higher the maximum CP of your Pokemon.  If your Pokemons currently max out at below 2000 CP, then you're not evolving the right Pokemons.  If you want to know what it feels like to put a Pokemon in a gym, then find a weak gym.  There are always newly turned-over gyms with only 1 defender or friendly gyms with open slots.  You stick your Pokemon in and then hit "shop" to collect your 10 Pokecoins.  You get 10 Pokecoins for each Pokemon in the gym at the time you collect.  You can only collect once every 21 hrs.

Here's a fighting video.  http://bgr.com/2016/08/16/how-to-play-pokemon-go-gym-battle-video/

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If you already had Chansey and Porygon, you are well ahead of the curve in terms of finding rare Pokémon.  Their increased spawn rate during this event is a godsend to many (although I did already have these).  As you can see from Eric's very helpful and concise summary on fighting, neither will be of much use in gym battling at this point.

I am a terrible fighter, though.  I can't keep straight what types are better than others against certain types.  I also have never been able to learn how to dodge effectively, which would help me immensely.  When I am fighting another team's gym, I just grab 6 pokemon with high HP and good attack moves, and hope for the best.  When "prestiging" my own team's gym to make space for one of my pokemon, unless there is some really low CP mon at the bottom of the gym, it is important to select a team of 6 all of whom have a CP lower than the lowest CP mon in the gym.  It increases the amount of prestige (points) per defeated mon.  If you can get good at dodging, you can max out the amount of prestige per defeated mon by selecting a team of 6 that all have half or less the CP of the lowest CP mon in the gym.  I am nowhere close to being able to do that.

 

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42 minutes ago, JBag57 said:

If you already had Chansey and Porygon, you are well ahead of the curve in terms of finding rare Pokémon. 

Hmm, I have one Porygon that I've had for awhile (got it in Fairfax on Jan 6, btw), but no Chansey - maybe I'll find one in the next few days. But other than "collecting," they do no good, right?

(Why do I feel like I've become immersed in "Pet Rocks?")

You all are amazing.

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The reason why Snorlax are hard to beat is that they're "normal" but have abnormally large health points, almost double that of other Pokemons. That's why Snorlax are great gym defenders.  Each fight also has a time limit, but rest assured, once you get the hang of fighting, a water type can knock out any Snorlax within the time limit.

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52 minutes ago, Ericandblueboy said:

The Pokémon update available as of yesterday may have slowed the gym fighting for attackers.  My quick attacks took longer time so I was getting fewer attacks in btwn computer strikes.

Ah, yes, but there are so many new silhouettes in my neighborhood - I caught a Teddiursa from my bed!

Is there any point to these baby Pokémon other than collecting them? (I think one day, people are going to look back and think this was insane - that's assuming they don't already).

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New berries - the only thing of note is that I read that the Pinap berry is only good for the Pokeball thrown immediately afterwards.  So if the Pokémon is caught immediately after a Pinap berry is used, you get double the candies (6 instead of 3 under normal circumstances).

Human attacks have definitely been slowed.  It's throwing off my timing.

Right now, I'm collecting all the new Pokemons for my daughter to see.  Once you evolve them, some may be worth keeping for fighting purposes.

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5 hours ago, Ericandblueboy said:

New berries - the only thing of note is that I read that the Pinap berry is only good for the Pokeball thrown immediately afterwards.  So if the Pokémon is caught immediately after a Pinap berry is used, you get double the candies (6 instead of 3 under normal circumstances).

You know, I've always suspected it has been like this, even before (not the double candies; just the raspberry only working for one throw). I find that the raspberry being right there encourages me to use it more often. 

Here's the definition of cynicism: I have vowed and declared never to spend any money on this game. But now I (along with millions of users) have over six months invested in it, and they just added almost 100 new Pokémon, but kept the backpack at the same size, which can only hold 250. I think Niantic's long-term strategy is going to be to milk as much cash as they can from their players. There may come a point where you *must* spend some money - I could really use some incubators, for example, and more Lucky Eggs would be *really* nice, too. The occasional Lucky Egg I'd get from leveling up will now come probably once every six months (I'm almost at Level 25), which doesn't really cut it.

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The pinap berry doesn't double the candy, it gives you 5, and it works until you catch the Pokémon or it flees.

the attack damages have been rejiggered,  generally everything inflicts more damage, especially the long attacks.  Dodging is now really important because you will take more damage if you didn't dodge.

lapras CPs have been reduced.

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I just had the Mother of All Pidgey Parties.

My first move (based on my strategy of having the Pidgey Party on your 7th day of both Pokestop and Catching-Your-First-Pokemon) - unfortunately for me, I wasn't in sync with both types of 7-day streaks, and only had the Catching-Your-First-Pokemon available for quadruple points. Still, you can see the power behind this strategy - this is from catching *one* Pokemon!

IMG_3150.png

And now, the before-and-after pictures:

IMG_3149.pngIMG_3151.png

So, great! A 125,000-point Pidgey Party! Has the quality of my life improved? Not one iota.

Incidentally, I got my first coins last week - I left a 100-IV Pokemon at a stop, and was shocked to see that it stayed there for two days, giving me a total of 6 PokeCoins. To put that in perspective, you can buy 100 PokeCoins for 99 cents, so I earned the equivalent of about a nickel.

I refuse - *refuse* - to spend any money on this game. I'm going to do the best I can without it, and not let it take over my life ... life ... life ...

Oh, and be sure to note the name, because I'm coming after your PokeGym! ;)

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Help me out here (Eric?) - I just found one of my own team's Pokégyms I figured I could defeat. 

I fought it, and won, at the expense of nearly 3 Pokémons - easily enough revived.

However, despite me winning, getting a medal (Training 10 times), and being told the gym's prestige was raised, I didn't get *squat*. 

Nothing, no coins, no obvious XP, no place for me to put a Pokémon at the gym ... nothing.

What's the point?!

---

Also, it appears that instead of 3 coins per 21 hours, you now get 10 - is that right? When did that change?

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First, was the gym full?  If the gym already has 10 Pokémon, then it's full.

Second, if the gym isn't full, did you raise its level? If you raised its level, then you can put your Pokémon in.  Sometimes, a gym simply has an empty slot and you can just put your Pokémon in.  

Look at the pic below.  It's a gym near my house, it's level 3.  Level 3 means there can be up to 3 Pokemon in the gym, indicated by the crown and 2 dots.  The crown is the highest CP Pokemon in the gym.  Next to the crown there's a red dot (the red means I'm looking at the Pokemon in the second slot), and an unfilled dot, that means there's an empty slot.  If there's an empty slot, you can just insert your Pokemon without training.  When someone first takes over a gym, he can put a Pokemon in, but that automatically frees up another slot.  A second player can put another Pokemon in and free up another slot.  But after level 3, you have to fight to raise the level.  In this case, the prestige is 4,000, and you need to raise it to 8,000 to bring it to level 4.  Look at the bottom picture, on the bottom left of the pic, there's a symbol with a + sign, that's what you hit to add your Pokemon to the gym. 

Each Pokémon in a gym always provided 10 coins.

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13 hours ago, Ericandblueboy said:

First, was the gym full?  If the gym already has 10 Pokémon, then it's full.

Second, if the gym isn't full, did you raise its level? If you raised its level, then you can put your Pokémon in.  Sometimes, a gym simply has an empty slot and you can just put your Pokémon in.  

Look at the pic below.  It's a gym near my house, it's level 3.  Level 3 means there can be up to 3 Pokemon in the gym, indicated by the crown and 2 dots.  The crown is the highest CP Pokemon in the gym.  Next to the crown there's a red dot (the red means I'm looking at the Pokemon in the second slot), and an unfilled dot, that means there's an empty slot.  If there's an empty slot, you can just insert your Pokemon without training.  When someone first takes over a gym, he can put a Pokemon in, but that automatically frees up another slot.  A second player can put another Pokemon in and free up another slot.  But after level 3, you have to fight to raise the level.  In this case, the prestige is 4,000, and you need to raise it to 8,000 to bring it to level 4.  Look at the bottom picture, on the bottom left of the pic, there's a symbol with a + sign, that's what you hit to add your Pokemon to the gym. 

Each Pokémon in a gym always provided 10 coins.

You answered my question (I think). The gym I attacked was Level 3, and contained 3 Pokémons. However, I didn't take note of the prestige vs. the amount needed to raise the level - I knew nothing about this. When you defeat a gym, do you raise the prestige by 1,000 points only? If so, that *must* be what happened to me - I probably raised the number on the left (the "prestige") by 1,000, but it wasn't enough to match the number on the right (the "level-raiser"). So, is it correct that each time you defeat your own team's gym in training, you'll raise the prestige by 1,000, but you won't raise the level (and therefore create another slot) until the prestige matches the level-raising number?

And if that's the case, and I'm by myself, is it safe to assume that I shouldn't attack a gym solo when the numbers differ by, say, 4,000 points, because I'd have to fight and defeat the gym four times in order to leave a Pokémon in it? Did I get anything *at all* for this one defeat, or did I waste my time?

One thing I'm learning - with this game, it pays to actually *do things* instead of just reading about them, but you've got to be told at least one time what the rules are. Thanks Eric.

PS - My 100% IV Venusaur is proving to be an excellent Pokémon to place into a gym with an empty slot - it's usually the lowest-CP in the gym, but apparently has a very strong defensive component. Twice now, it has survived for longer than an entire day, and it's only about 1,900 CP. Does your Pokémon only get kicked out of a gym if the gym changes colors?

It's amazing what a grind this game is. You have to go through a lot of *crap* just to get an occasional great Pokémon - for example, I'm at Level 27, and have only gotten 1 10 km egg *ever*. Also, it's amazing how many people have reached Level 40 - I always see gyms with 3,100 CP Snorlaxes in them, and the players are at level 40. Getting to level 40 seems like the equivalent of doing hard prison labor, or spending your entire days doing crossword puzzles from morning-til-night.

I'm quite certain that, when I got my first three coins, the numbers went from 3, to 6, to 9. Then one day I looked and had 30 points instead of 9 - maybe there was a bug that got fixed? I now have only 50 coins (which I could buy for 50 cents if I wanted to), and they all result from me simply leaving a Pokémon in an empty slot - that seems like the easiest thing to do at Level 27. 

What is your philosophy on raising levels of Pokémon which get the highest appraisals? Those are the only ones I raise, but it seems like some - no matter how great the Professor says they are - will never be great fighters. Pinsir, for example - what's the point? They're not horrible, but they won't win you any gyms either. And all these things like Natu - why do they even exist?

The 12-point evolvers (Caterpie, Weedle, and Pidgey) I always catch, and the 25-point Ratata is always easy to catch, too, but I've never seen any of these amount to anything except helping you evolve during a Lucky Egg session.

Any thoughts on what to spend my coins on, once I have enough to buy something? Incubators would be nice, I suppose, but 150 coins is a lot for a 1-2 use incubator.

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You get prestige points by defeating Pokémon in your own gym, the actual number of points depends on the CP of your attacker vs the CP of the defender.  You get more points if your CP is lower than that of the defender.  I don't think it matters whether you beat just one Pokémon or all the Pokemons in the gym.

Yes, you raise the level by getting to prestige points to match the number on the right.

You get XP points for training, but if you didn't put a Pokémon in a gym and collect coins, it's largely a waste of time.

Anytime a gym is below level 7, it's pretty easy to level up as long as you know how to fight.  The jump from level 7 to 8, 8 to 9, and 9 to 10 are each 10,000 prestige points. 

Learn how to fight (watch the video, and definitely learn to dodge attacks) - use your fighter against the weakness of defenders, use lower CP attackers (I generally find defenders CP range from 2,600 to 3,300), all my attackers have CPs in the high 1,000s or low 2,000s. 

The higher the CP of defenders, the easier it is to level up because you get more prestige points each time you defeat a defender.  Low level defenders actually make it harder to level up because it takes more time to fight.

You can collect coins as soon as you put your Pokémon in a gym, you just can't try to collect for another 21 hrs.  When I first started, I was under the mistaken impression that my Pokémon has to stay in a gym for 21 hrs in order to collect coins.  So one way to collect more coins is to run around and put as many Pokemons in gyms as possible and then hit collect (even if your Pokemons get knocked out later).  Each Pokémon that is in a gym when you hit "collect" gets you 10 coins.  To collect, you go to "Shop", and if you have Pokémons in gyms, the top right corner will have a number reflecting the number of Pokemons you have in gyms, and you tap that number.

As for your Pokémon to put in a gym, you want to put your highest CP Pokémon in a gym.  They are ranked based on CP.  If an attacker takes down the gym by a level, the Pokémon with the lowest CP gets booted.  So the gym doesn't need to change color to lose a defending Pokémon.  Each level demotion will knock out one defender.  1,900 CP for your Venusaur is good for attacking Vaporeons (water is weak against grass) but not good at putting in gyms as you will be on the bottom of the totem pole.

I've never seen a level 40 player (that would take a shit load of time).  I've probably spent over $200 buying Pokecoins to buy incubators to hatch eggs.  You literally will not catch all the Pokemons, you have to get lucky and hatch them from 10 km eggs (you can catch a few Dratinis here or there, but you get more candies from hatching them, however, never evolve anything that came from hatching because they always have relatively low CPs, unless you can never catch one). 

Only power up Pokemons that have potential to get very high CPs (so you can stick them in gyms).  Dragonite, Vaporeon (which evolve from Evees, there's trick to evolving Vaporeons, google it), Snorlax, Rhydon, Gyarados, Tyranitar, Blissey, Exeggutor (just look around your local gyms and see who are the high CP defenders). 

You catch other Pokemons just for XP, candies and stardust.  I keep the other Pokemons that can evolve, because that gets you more XP points.

Sometimes I use the evolved garbage Pokemons to attack (or defend a gym that I know will soon be retaken) and when they get knocked out, I transfer them to the professor instead of reviving and healing them. 

The only things worth spending coins on are incubators and lucky eggs.

 

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7 minutes ago, Ericandblueboy said:

You get prestige points by defeating Pokémon in your own gym, the actual number of points depends on the CP of your attacker vs the CP of the defender.  You get more points if your CP is lower than that of the defender.  I don't think it matters whether you beat just one Pokémon or all the Pokemons in the gym.

Yes, you raise the level by getting to prestige points to match the number on the right.

You get XP points for training, but if you didn't put a Pokémon in a gym and collect coins, it's largely a waste of time.

Anytime a gym is below level 7, it's pretty easy to level up as long as you know how to fight.  The jump from level 7 to 8, 8 to 9, and 9 to 10 are each 10,000 prestige points. 

Learn how to fight (watch the video, and definitely learn to dodge attacks) - use your fighter against the weakness of defenders, use lower CP attackers (I generally finder defenders CP range from 2,600 to 3,300), all my attackers have CPs in the high 1,000s or low 2,000s. 

The higher the CP of defenders, the easier it is to level up because you get more prestige points each time you defeat a defender.  Low level defenders actually make it harder to level up because it takes more time to fight.

What, exactly, are prestige points other than the leftmost number at a Pokégym? And do I personally benefit from anything relating to prestige points? I'm all for helping my fellow man, but it would be nice not to completely waste my time. 

If I got XP points for taking down this Level 3 gym once, it must have been under 1,000 XP - I didn't even notice a difference, although I don't know what my exact score was.

Yes, I guess my next step is learning how to fight - I'm a pianist, so I simply do a piano trill with both hands, and occasionally move my left hand left-and-right to move around. Once in awhile I'll hold the screen down for a couple of seconds, and that sometimes seems to be very effective.

Do you have enough time to know attacks are coming to be able to dodge them? This is a whole new area of the game for me.

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