This will be an ongoing entry, where these are things that I may see that at first seem to need help, but they have worked themselves out before I make a blog entry. Maybe I was in a dry spell when I thought of these things, or I had a perception about something needing a fix (remember, perception is reality, even if it is not 100% true), or maybe some kinks were truly worked out.
Kudos to the managers for the reduction from the old Looming in the Shadows Giovanni quest to the new A Professor’s Work is Never Done Giovanni quest. Stage 2 of the original Looming in the Shadows was much too long: Spin a Pokestop 5 Days in a Row was not too bad. Purify 15 Shadow Pokemon was difficult, especially the first time around. We did not know when this first came out that we would have to save them up and purify them all at once was a pain. Trying to find at least 15 Rocket Grunts was very time consuming. I say at least since sometimes the Shadow Pokemon are very hard to catch and run away. (Granted, now that we know about this, it is easier since I know I kept all the Shadow Pokemon from every Grunt battle and we need to battle at least 18 more to finish the quest and even after that I battle every Grunt I see for the badge and experience and I like to defeat the Go Leaders multiple times in a month if they have a particular Pokemon I want – Sierra for Beldum in February is an example). Win 5 Raids is not too bad for me. Wednesday Night Raids covers most of these and I pick up a raid or two on weekends. However, I can see in more rural areas that could be more difficult. I hope that such players have found a place for them.
The A Professor’s Work is Never Done’s Stage 2 is now Spin a Pokestop 3 Days in a row, which is much less of a burden. That is a good thing. Purify 5 Shadow Pokemon is so much better. Even though every player who has played were aware of the 15 Shadow Pokemon requirement from the prior month, this is a relief. At least there is much less of a requirement. This also frees up 10 spaces in our Pokemon Storage, which is valuable. Any freed space is good. That and the lesser Stardust cost is valuable. Even with the cheapest to purify Pokemon, that is a 10,000 Stardust savings. The 5 raids is still the same. Still, this is a lot less difficult, and is a great improvement.
With the new “Feed Your Buddy” System in order to get the hearts needed to improve our buddy’s bonding with us on the road to Best Buddy. I know that the idea of the game is to catch Pokemon and we need Pokeballs to do that. Most of them come from the Pokestops and the Gifts. I was concerned that with the need to feed my buddy 3 times during the day, that I would eventually run a berry deficit. I can’t always feed my buddy at the right time to save a berry or two to fill my buddy up to 3 berries fed. Most weekdays I spend 9 berries for the feedings. The least is 5. I have noticed that I have not run out of berries yet, but the concern is still there. Hopefully the gifts/pokestops will continue to sometimes emphasize berries, or at least give a good mix. EDIT 5/18/2020: At least so far with the Play at Home emphasis, berries have been at less of a premium. Keeping the berries as less of a premium will be a key.
At least finding Giovanni seems to be better. I don’t want finding Giovanni being easy and always the first time or even on the first day of chasing after Giovanni every time. I remember in December finding 11 decoys before finally finding and defeating Giovanni. I know one of my local friends had the same number when I contacted her to say that Giovanni was real in a certain spot. It was getting deflating not finding Giovanni after 11 times. I later talked with someone who said he went through 20 decoys in November before finding Giovanni. I was thinking of a soft cap at about a dozen to make sure that the next one Giovanni hiding spot would be a real Giovanni. Of course, I have places that I can find Giovanni and many decoys. This should be scaled according to where someone lives/plays. I personally have not had as hard a time in January or February, so I am happy with this. EDIT 5/18/2020: March was also pretty good. I was able to get to Giovanni before the COVID closings, so I am OK there. I was for the April extension and the “vacation” until September. I await the reset of that part of the game and hope that once Giovanni comes back he will be a challenge, but not a drag.
One things I was concerned about when I originally started this was that there would be more and more “make x friends” in future quest lines. I was still stinging from the new player quest lines where there were a few of these “researches”. I remember this being a pain since I connected to Facebook and the game added so many of my friends and others who I knew who were already playing. I did not know of the “friends lists” resources out there and I really did not raid at the time when I started. I was trying to figure the game out on my own and then do the social aspects. At least now I have a lot more people I play with, but many I already have as account friends. Let’s just keep it this way.
More as I find things that are fixed. Thank you to the managers for listening.
Moose's Pokemon Go Blog 