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Definitions of Certain Phrases & Names of Pokemon/Other Characters

I use a number of words differently than the normal Pokemon definition and use words that tie into my experiences that make a lot more sense to me. Here are some of them. This is a work in progress, and I will come back to it and add from time to time.

Definitions:

Battle and Training “Leagues”/Divisions: There are 3 main divisions plus 2 others which are used in GO Battle League as a special event. (Side note: I think this nomenclature is confusing… why couldn’t the “Leagues” be called Divisions for clarity as to what the Battle League is and what the various classes are in the Battle League?). I have been a fan of combat sports (boxing and mixed martial arts being two of the most well-known) for well over 30 years. In such sports, weight-based division names are well defined. These classes are something I can understand, so I use these names often. Sometimes I refer to the divisions as u(max CP) like how youth divisions are categorized by age. Example: u18 tournaments are for age 18 and under players. Both of these sets of terms that I use should be easily understood and to me is much clearer than what the official names are:

Bantamweight aka u500: Elemental and Little Cups, the special event 4th division used only in Go Battle League encounters. Participation has not been required to advance in the Go Battle League in any way, shape, or form and should remain this way. This also should never be used as a division for Training.

Lightweight aka u1500: Great League. The smallest (lightest) regular division.

Middleweight aka u2500: Ultra League. The middle regular division.

Heavyweight: Master League. The largest (heaviest) regular division. This should be capped where no Megas are eligible to participate in, especially during special events where causals are courted to play. Even in combat sports there is a 265-pound weight limit, and this would reflect a similar kind of limit.

Megaweight: Master League with Megas eligible. I’m not sold on this division at all as a very casual PVPer at best. I made the name up since it is descriptive of what it is as this is not a truly Open Division, as only one Mega is available. This could be a lot of fun for the competitive PVPers, so I won’t rule it out, as long as it remains optional when the Heavyweight Division is used during times to court casuals to participate (eg. Go Battle Days).

Garbage Day/Night: When Spotlight Hour has the Double Candy for Transfer Bonus. So called since I collect a lot of Pokemon and transfer them all since they are Sub 3*. They are literally all garbage. At least I get an extra candy for transferring each of them, and that adds up. I try to save CD ones that I like and usually other ones that I am working on a better mon for.

starter (my definition): Any Pokemon that you get a lot of and are not necessarily the strongest. This is regardless of what type it is, unlike the official definition. A great example is Rattata – it’s not a Pokemon definition starter, but it comes in high quantities, is relatively weak, and even when evolved, it’s still relatively weak (Raticate doesn’t even get to 2000 CP!). Dunsparce is an example of the ultimate starter in ways. It doesn’t even evolve and doesn’t get to 2000 CP either! Some Pokemon Definition Starters are not by my definition starters. Charles Zard comes to mind, especially Mega Charles. This is more of a Role Playing Game version of the definition versus the game specific version of the definition.

Starter (based on the official definition): Most know that this is for the first 3 Pokemon from each generation. I did not know this definition at first, since I used a more Role Playing verision as above. I add Eevee and Pikachu to the list of “official” Starters. They are featured in their own games based on the mainline, are used by a character in the Pokemon series as a Starter, and are as popular, if not more popular, than the official Starters. Eevee can transform into 7 forms (and possibly more in the future… it would be neat if it evolved into each of the types). It is a fan favorite for this reason and can be considered a Starter for its versatility. Pikachu is EVERYWHERE and is the main character’s Starter. Before I played, I recognized Pikachu as “the face” of the game. Before I knew the official definition, I thought Pikachu was THE Starter in Pokemon. In Pokemon GO, there are at last count at least 34 costumed versions between itself, Pichu (evolution stage before Pikachu) and Raichu (evolution after Pikachu) with 21 of them being Pikachu itself. Some of the other Starters are in my definition of starter depending on how useful they are/become. Note: I have no particular loyalty to Starters and do not see that they are a Starter as a compelling reason to feature them in any way, shape, or form. In fact, I see that as a hinderance in a way since they get a feature already by being a Starter.

Pokemon/Other Character Names:

All names based on actual people/characters are meant to be an honor to the honoree. All other names are meant in fun only

Bacon Family – The various pigs/pig like mons in the game

BACON: Swinub/Piloswine/Mamoswine – just because I love Bacon and Swinub is a pig…
BACONSmokey: A Shadow BACON that I am working on
Bacon Hot: Tepig/Pignite/Emboar – they too look like pigs… and they are fire “hot” ones… so Bacon Hot
Bacon Spring: Spoink – Its tail is a spring
Bacon Grumpy: Grumpig

Zigzagzoon Family – Raccoons which due to their eye mask are known as “bandits”

Berthiaume: Galarian Zigzagzoon – Daniel Berthiaume was a goaltender most notably for the Winnipeg Jets in the mid-late 80’s. He was known as the Bandit. One half of “Pokey and the Bandit”
BurtReynolds: Zigzagzoon – Many know his role as the Bandit in the Smokey and the Bandit movie franchise. Fun Fact: Burt was a co-owner of the Tampa Bay Bandits in the original USFL and is why the team is called that.
KISS: Male Obstagoon – The evolutions of Galarian Zigzagzoon look like they were modeled after the Kiss band facepaint. Even Gene Simmons noticed and was flattered.
Morganna: Female Obstagoon – Morganna was known as “The Kissing Bandit” and was at the height of her popularity in the 1970’s and 80’s and was known for going onto the field and kissing many famous baseball and basketball players.

Charles Zard aka Charles: Charizard. I can’t spell this official name without cheating. I name my best/favorites after famous people called Charles. I have so far borrowed the last names of Charles Leclerc [Monaco born and based Formula 1 car racer], Charles Nelson-Reilly [American comedian], Charles Schultz [Peanuts Cartoonist] (the first three being perfects) Charles Darwin [very good shiny], Charles Manson [very good Shadow -This is not to condone his actions by any means, but we all recognize what he did.]

Dipsticks/Regular Rockets, Bozos and Bozette and The Pizza Boy/The Big Don: In order- Grunts, Leaders, and Giovanni. With Leaders it’s usually Bozo Arlo, Cliffy Bozo, and Bozette (since Sierra is the only female Bozo), so I know which one is which. Distinction is important since normally one or two are more desirable than the other(s). Sometimes it because one is particularly easy, others it’s because the reward Shadow is more desirable.

EldonReddic(k): Slopoke Family – The real Eldon Reddick was a hockey goalie who is most noted as being a teammate of Daniel Berthiaume’s in Winnipeg (Pokey and the Bandit) and has his name on the Stanley Cup as a backup in Edmonton. Eldon was called “Slowpoke” by his Father which eventually became Pokey. Even in context “dick” cannot be used in nicknames for Pokemon, hence the last letter being dropped. One half of “Pokey and the Bandit”.

Elvis (aka The King): Houndoom – Because it ain’t nothing but a Houndoom… crying all the time. (instead of Hound Dog… I know…)

Gary: Gyrados. This is not as well used as Charles. The only one I have named is Burghoff (the actor behind Corporal Radar O’Reilly).

Godzilla: My best Tyranitar.

Jim: Various Pokemon which are used in Gyms. Top ranked Slaking, Snorlax, Muk (especially Alolan), Blissey, Bouffalant, and Ludicolo are given this name. It just makes it easier to find “first Mon up” when wanting to fill a gym.

Orange, Floppy, and Useless (OFU): Magikarp. Yes, I know it eventually evolves Gary, but I have a pin that says I’m Useless and has a picture of Magikarp on it. I believe it. Sometimes it’s also called Magikrap when I don’t have to be so polite.

PUCKY: Wailmer – one of my favorites. So named after the former mascot of the Hartford Whalers (National Hockey League) club.

Swampy: Swampert… another favorite.

Tan, Floppy, and Useful: Slakoth. Meant to poke fun and Orange Floppy and Useless (see above).

New Year’s Resolutions for Niantic #2 – Make Nearby Raids Local

One positive change that I would like to see in 2024 is that if you can see the gym on your screen and it comes up in your Nearby Raids it is considered a local raid (Orange/Green Pass) and not a remote raid. There are plenty of times I see a raid nearby when outside playing that have others already in it and I want to join them. However, by the time I get close enough to use the Orange/Green Pass, the raid team is in already. Therefore, I get shut out of the raid. This has happened many times while playing in nearby parks. I look up, there’s someone or a group in a local raid… I look back to the game, I miss the raid. This happens a lot with 5* and Mega raids where we need a team to beat the raid boss.

There are other times when I see an on screen raid and I want to do it, but I don’t want to go out and it’s not worth a remote raid to do it for whatever reason. Usually there is either not enough time on the countdown clock to get up and go into public, the gym is actually a drive away (not just a walk), it’s during lunch at work (30 minute break so going places is tough), it’s late at night so going out is not a good idea, the gym is on/across a busy roadway, and/or the weather is poor. There are other factors based on any specific Trainer’s locality as well that I may not have thought of. Granted, these are usually 1 or 3* Raids, but again… if I haven’t used my pass and/or it is something I am hunting for, I want to be able to do it without having to spend a remote raid pass. I remember when there was such a thing being floated around, especially during COVID, I thought that the Remotes would be for truly remote raids… one across town or across the globe from me. Not one that was within sight, but I couldn’t really do because of restrictions of any sort.

New Year’s Resolutions For Niantic 1 – Much Better and Timelier Event Communications

Right now, we are in the Pokemon Go New Year’s 2024 event. We knew about this event since December 21, 2023. That’s a week and a half advance notice, which towards the end of what I want notice wise. I like to know at least two weeks in advance of what our game play will be. I want to know what the featured Pokemon will be and what we can expect in terms of bonuses. We knew that the costumed Pokemon which are New Year’s related, a new Jigglypuff (evolvable to Wigglytuff) with a ribbon, as well as Fire Darumaka would be featured, as well as the rare and semi-featured mon is Bronzor. We know what the line up for the support T1 and T3 raids are, as well as the tasks. We also know what the Community Days for January and February will be. We can make our decisions about if we want to go hard for the New Year’s Event if we can, since many of us have New Year’s Day off (spoiler: I did not). We can also make our weekend plans based on what’s going on. Many of us have friends, family, and many others who do not play the game and we should have a chance to make some plans in advance based on what’s happening and projected/known events.

Like what does Lustrous Odyssey mean? Does this mean we’re getting extra shiny luck on whatever we get? Does this mean we are getting certain colors regardless of type or just certain types? What are going to be the support raids? Are there going to be debuting mons? Things we should know in advance in order to make decisions about our game play, yet as of post time, we have no idea of what’s going on.

I can compare this type of scheduling to traditional sports scheduling. Unless there is something that is unpredictable that prevents a game from happening, the matches are scheduled well in advance. We usually know about 6 months or more ahead of time what the exact schedules are in many sports. Multiple sports release the next season’s regular season schedule before the current season ends. I would have to reasonably believe that Niantic knows what’s going on in advance… at least I would hope they have a general roadmap for 2024 already put together.

I am not asking to know everything right now. Like as of 1 January 2024, I don’t need to know exactly what the Raging Battles event will entail on January 19th-24th… but I can put together that PvP will be the focus and hopefully the mons out will be some of the best ones in Middle and Lightweights. I don’t know what those are, but at least I can hope. I don’t know exactly what Taken Treasure is, but I hope it’s the quarterly Rocket Event where we can fight lots of them and we can TM Frustration off. I don’t need to know what every single Community Day and Classic Community Day will be, but I want to know when they are so I can avoid as many avoidable conflicts as possible. I know for instance, I missed most of Togetic Community Day (a favorite) due to attending an event that I wouldn’t have missed (the closest that the University of Oklahoma Softball team has ever come to where I live). The memories I made that day were worth missing Togetic CD. Still, if it was something smaller that I could have missed, I would have. Then tell me as the quarter begins what they are so I can make a further decision so in case Aunt Susie is asking when she can see me, I can give her some weekend dates without missing something I want to do.

That and the fact that unofficial news sites like Leek Duck and Pokemon Go Hub have more up to date information than the Official Niantic based news site is unfathomable (except for Niantic). The fact that as of publication, the Official Pokemon Go News website made by Niantic has no January information on the calendar is useless. It still says Regigias and Mega Glalie are the feature Raids, even though they are not the current feature raids anywhere in the world (Baker Island will be about 11 AM on January 1, 2024 at publication time, New Zealand which is usually the “beta tester” is Noon January 2, 2024). Niantic needs better communication. It starts with this.

My 2024 New Year’s Resolutions Part 1

It’s been a while since I entered anything into this blog. The game has made a lot of changes… some good, some bad… but overall, I still enjoy the game. This year, I resolve to get back to publishing my thoughts more on this blog and share my ideas here. I do comment a lot on a couple YouTuber’s videos, so some of my ideas may have been shared there, but they will be here as well. More the merrier. I will publish weekly at least, if not more as I see things/think of things/review. So let’s start anew with some improvements that would Pokemon Go even better in 2024!

These Boxes are Rated L for LOUSY

Remember when the Adventure Box and the Ultra Box were actually good?

100% JUNK All these things we can get for free!
Remember when this has a bunch of Super Incubators? This is meh at best.
Maybe the best value… but still… frustrating. When I go out, I go through a lot of eggs… this won’t help.

Bring back the familar boxes and Remote Raid discount bundle.

July 2022 Lookahead… Some Hits, Some Misses

The July Content Update came out today. I was hoping to hear more about what was happening next month by now. I will only comment on things I can access. No need to comment about Go Fest in far off cities I won’t get to…

The events seem promising. The Anniversary Event is usually something to look forward to. However, Go Battle Weekend during this time is not amongst things I look forward to. New Pokemon are always something to look forward to. This gives the end of the month some extra spice. Hopefully the new adventures will be fun for everyone, including non-urban players. Of course, not much information is disseminated, so stay tuned. Very exciting and unnerving at the same time. Surprises are not always good and are not usually welcomed.

The Feature Raids are 7 for 8 in terms of desirability for me at least. T5 Raids feature the Counting Birds first 3 weeks of the month. These popular birds go in number order. I would think that most Trainers enjoy these birds and they will be a major hit. Get your Rhyperiors and Mega Aerodactyl ready. Dialga will end the month in spectacular fashion. Hopefully this means that Palkia will lead August off. Dragons are always welcome in this game. Mega Charles will be in the spotlight this month as Raid Boss for the first half. X (Dragon) and Y (Flying) will appear for 1 week only. Then the disappointment of Mega Pidgeot is week 3. I was hoping for a new Mega as the timing is right and the Datamining showed up for Mega Scizor. Not that I want another Bug Mega right now, but the excitement of a new Mega is always welcomed. Maybe for August? The month ends on one of my favorites overall, Mega Gengar. I enjoy Gengar as a character and am already looking forward to this one.

The Research Breakthough is a personal favorite… SCHLURP!!!! Better known in English to most of my readers as Lickitung, Schlurp is actually the official German name for this fun Pokemon. The shiny is gold, so be on the look out. I do understand how this can be just another disappointment as I am probably one of the few who actually like Schlurp. Still, the chance at a rare golden shiny should provoke excitement.

Spotlight Hours are, as usual, pretty disappointing. 2x XP for catching Ledbya is not an enticement. Double Catch Candy for Machop is worth something. I will have to go outside that day as long as it’s not too hot or raining and remember Mega Lopunny. Garbage Day (Double Candy for Transfer) is the 19th. Double evolve XP is never a favorite, no matter what the mon in the spotlight is. This is Meditite, which isn’t half bad as a future Mega though. At least the candies will help. Though I will probably forget about everything but Garbage Day. I look forward to Garbage Day in Pokemon Go Land.

The Community Day lineup gets an F for what it is. Regular Community day is Starly… why… just why… the only good thing about this is that it’s a new shiny. Otherwise, this is a very hard sell. I am considering getting 3 shinies and calling it a day. That and the after hours bonus is still a thing. Maybe they will have learned from the mistakes of June’s crapfest, but who knows. Still, it is yet another slap in the face to those in non-Urban areas who want longer Community Days. This is not longer Community Day. This is a gimmick. This also goes against the “GO” push that Niantic is trying to promote by tethering Trainers to a 300 meter circle around a gym after having to be within 80 meters to win a raid to trigger this bonus. Also, who knows if they have learned from the mistake of having a 30 minute lead time in between the ending of Community Day and the beginning of these raids.

Also, missing in action is Classic Community Day, unless they announce something later in the month. The last two Seasons, the second month had this new Classic Community Day where older Starters are given another chance. I was looking forward to having a fire Starter (rooting for Charles, but resigned to something much less desirable). Classic Community Day could also evolve to get the new Starters a Community Day and letting non-Starters rule regular Community Day. Unless this is announced later in the month, this is a missed opportunity.

All in all, let’s hope that July is on the whole a good fun month for all Trainers regardless of where they live and enjoy about the game. Let’s also hope that Niantic continues to give us information a few days before month end about the next month so we can plan ahead some.

Deino Community Day: High Hopes, Lousy Execution

The June 2022 Community Day was highly anticipated. Considering that last year, we got Gible after a shiny release where it was frustratingly difficult to get throughout June 2020-May 2021. This was a T1 staple and was something that Trainers were going nuts for. Then in June 2021, we got our Community Day. Highly rated Gibles were found throughout the day and shinies came like a normal Community Day. It was great… the day was fun. Gible was everywhere. I had high hopes for Deino after it was announced as June 2022 Community Day. I should have checked those hopes at the door.

Shiny count: 5. Not my worst CD, but below expectations. Everyone else in my party had similar results. Some random kid said he was near 20 for the day, so the ability to get shinies were out there. I consider 10 to be a good day and with all the hype around shiny Deino, I was expecting a lot more. This was one of the more sought after ones, so the lack of shinies was disappointing. None of them were anything to write home about either.

The biggest disappointment had to be the after hours Zweilous Raids. First off, the minimum 30 minute delay between the end of the spawns and the beginning of the Zweilous Raids was insane. I was expecting eggs to be lined up right away at virtually every gym in sight and there be a 5 minute counter at most. The long delay definitely turned me off… and the fact that only 1 of 10 gyms immediately had the correct egg was not helping matters. I sincerely doubt that many other Trainers were waiting around for 30 minutes in one spot for the raids to load. Then as the other gyms loaded with eggs, there were Mewtwo, Mega, and T1 Raids filling in the gyms, not only Zweilous. No excuse for that if there was supposed to be one featured raid. I was expecting 99% Zweilous. Very poor planning. The weather did not help either where I was either (I know, not Niantic’s fault, but it is a factor). It was mid-high 80s with little relief from the sun throughout the 3 hours. For the northeastern USA, that is very warm as Summer starts. Considering it was much more comfortable the rest of the week prior, it felt much worse. If there were immediate raids and/or some extra Deinos running around, it would have helped. I believe that these reasons did not help a park which usually has dozens of trainers around during Community Day had only a few to be seen. I had 3 other 40+ Trainers with me, and we only won the raid with 54 seconds to go. From what I heard, it was supposed to be a community thing, but that is borderline crazy. Who knows what would have happened if I was in a more rural area. We won, I expected Deinos being everywhere. Nope, barely a trickle. I cannot comment on the shiny rates, since I only played 1 Raid. The whole experience turned me way off from the rest of the hours with the Zweilous Raids. Also with the Deinos being only in a 300 meter circle seemed to be against the spirit of the Pokemon “GO” Season. It was more like… Pokemon “Stay within 300 meters of a spot even though COVID is still around”. I also felt like this was a horrible substitute for the 6 hour Community Day where I could go off to eat lunch somewhere and come back to the park after a break (or continue playing and walking around the park or go other places and try my luck). Tack on that you had to do them live, no Remotes, this was absolutely an exercise in dumb. I did go to another place afterwards and did not see others that I could recognize as Trainers and did not see any stray Deinos. This part of CD gets a big fat F.

Then there were the Zweilous that were a part of the “rewards” for having a large number of Pokemon caught at a certain stop. It sounds good… higher stardust and more candies, but it comes at a cost of catching shinies. Not a good situation for me who wants to get extra candy, but would much rather get the shinies. Both are highly desirable, but taking one means that you get no shot at the other. There is no really wrong choice… but there is no truly right choice either.

Also of concern was the lack of good Deinos to be found. I can only remember like a few non-research Deinos that were 3*. Even the 3* I did get were mediocre in the 3*range. I like to make a really good one or two to use for the evolution challenges on the ticket. I ended up doing two of my shinies since I like to have a complete set at the end of the day and figured I would get my usual end of the day shiny power. So none of the new Deinos and evolutions were that good. Disappointing is more the word of the day for this.

This being a 3 hour Community Day was also suboptimal at best. I will continue to make this point until the 6 hour Community Day is brought back. There are plenty of reasons for this, which I have outlined previously. No need to go over this.

There are some positives. This is a dragon, which is always desirable. This also saved Day 1 of December Community Day. The 5 others would not have made me want to go out for Day 1. Granted, I would have tried for another Cheeto-dude and would hope for that still elusive Shundo as Alolan Geodude is pretty relevant. July’s doesn’t do anything for me either though. Deino is also a fun one and was new for me… so I will take it. However, this was very poorly executed. Hopefully by June 2023 for Axew Community Day things will be cleaned up. Remember, you heard that here first if it comes true – after all June 2021 was Gible after it was highly sought after as a shiny for a year… so was Deino this past year. Axew will be the same I predict.

Shinies Matter (Especially During Major/Limited Time Events)

Recently, I read an article where executives at Niantic downplayed the lack of shinies saying that they believe that too many shinies would degrade the experience of Go Fest and that they value bringing the community back together. I call shenanigans.

I see and talk to my community often and see them a lot. There are some people I see often and some I see once in a while. One of the major topics is what is your latest shiny – both in person and in our online groups. It’s one of those brag things and we can compare notes and maybe… do you have extras? Wanna trade… or mirror trade? Shiny Pokemon are the only special things that stay during trades, which is why they are valuable in trades.

My first disappointment was Turtwig Community Day back in September 2019. This was my first Community Day that I took and experienced the full day of. I didn’t get into the Community Days until then, I was pretty much an independent player and I do not remember the game news being as robust as is now. At least I did not know the outlets back then. I got 0 shinies after playing 3 hours that day I was catching everything I could get to that day. The feelings of being shut out when others are getting multiples, especially 10 or more was a major discouragement and disappointment. Community Day is when shinies should be handed out with some regularity.

Two of three Go Fests I got pretty much skunked as well. In 2020, I got 2 wild shinies and 2 raid shinies total. I played the overwhelming majority of the hours over both days. So if I didn’t do raids, I would have gotten 2 shinies. I remember the last shiny I got was the last raid and encounter of the Sunday. I remembered people saying 20+, 30+, and more shinies for the weekend. In 2022, I got 10 shinies overall – 8 wilds, 1 hatch and 1 raid. The raid (Kyogre) and hatch (Galarian Ponyta) really don’t count since they are not truly event specific. Kyogre raids were ongoing before and after Go Fest and the Galarian Ponyta hatch could have happened any time. This was also not my first Galarian Ponyta, so it’s not very special. I personally do not count them for those reasons. I only got 1 event specific shiny (Galarian Wheezing) and 1 released for Go Fest (Numel)… and 2 Mudkips. Yes, I like Mudkip, but they are #9 & 10, so there was no real special feeling). I played hard for 14 of the 16 and casually during lunch time both days. So to get about as many shinies in 16 hours of a Go Fest celebration weekend as I expect to get during Community Day in 3 hours? What did I pay for?

The Shiny Smeargle event from a couple years ago I got 0 shinies and I took all 60 pictures. I did get my Platinum Cameraman Badge, which is little consolation. I figured that by doing all 60 pictures, I would have had a virtual guarantee of getting Shiny Smeargle. That’s the only reason I did all 60 encounters. This is especially annoying since Shiny Smeargle was a one time only event. Those of us who did all the pictures and got stiffed have no chance at getting one unless Niantic decides to bring Shiny Smeargle back, which who knows when this will be! At least with normal shinies there will always be a chance to get them again.

I later found out that according to some calculations that a major Pokemon news source made, 38.8% or so (so nearly 2 out of 5) of Trainers did not get Shiny Smeargle even if they did all 60 encounters based on a 1/64 odds of getting Shiny Smeargle in each encounter. That is unacceptable, especially since there is no way to get it through normal gameplay means.

The whole buzz around Shiny Meltan time with quicker Meltan Boxes just shows how important shinies are. People around me have been talking about this opportunity. So if Niantic doesn’t think that shinies matter,…

For Community Day, multiple day events where one specific Mon is featured, and Go Fest events where there is a major emphasis on the shinies, I reasonably think that getting one an hour minimum is not too much to ask for. Over 60 encounters, asking for 1 during a promotion and limited time event like Smeargle’s event does not seem to be too much to ask for. Doesn’t even have to be good. This is one of the few things is people discuss and compare notes on.

Various Desired Changes #1 – Just Let Me GO

This will be a recurring series of changes I would like to see. Some will be long enough to make a full post, others will be a few blended. The first one is simple… just let me GO!

While playing the game, there are times where I just want to get going. Be it having limited time to catch things or just sitting around waiting while the game drones on and on or whatever… Pokemon Go has its points that seem to contradict the spirit of the game.

TL;DR Mode would be helpful. Professor Willow has his moments where he just talks and talks and doesn’t make a point until the last frame, if at all. Usually Willow’s diatribes are during Community Day and very limited time events. Community Day problems are double now since it’s only 3 hours and time is of the essence. My goals are to catch good mons and shinies on Community Day. I don’t always know where the best are, and I am focused on catching as many of the feature Pokemon as possible. This is a limited opportunity to catch shinies and other high IV mons of the featured mon. This is especially true on the rarer and new that day ones.

Go Fest 2022 really highlighted this. This Rhi character made Willow look like he made a vow of silence. I remember tapping my screen like a madman yelling… SHUT UP! or SHUT UP ALREADY! ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! and finally… CAN I PLEASE JUST PLAY THE ACTUAL GAME ALREADY?!?! a few times. I swear Rhi had diarrhea of the mouth. This was highly annoying as there were regionals out there that are only catchable that weekend. Frankly, I am not jetsetting around the world just to catch regional mons, and I would think most Trainers won’t either There were also new shinies to the weekend and other very rare mons that I was hunting. Catching Pokemon is the crux of the game, after all.

Yes, the storyline is fun and certainly helps move the game along and make sense of what is happening in game. A good storyline especially helps in traditional Role Playing Games to give the player a reset after a tough Boss Battle. Catching a Raid Boss after beating it serves the same purpose. There is a small rush from beating a tough Boss in any RPG, especially the T4+ ones here in PoGo. I do appreciate the stoppage to catch something to get back to focus. The specific motions of catching is something that needs a calm to finish correctly and therefore, I go from hyped to now… OK… time to catch. The items screens and the who got what acclaim screen helps get the rush done. Finishing a few tasks is not the same by any means. There is no real rush to finishing a research task normally… save maybe something like 5 Greats in a row or 3 Excellents in a row, but those are not part of the storyline research. However, this is not what I pay for when I get tickets. I pay for the opportunity to get rare Mons, rare items, shinies, and other things that I cannot otherwise get. Not storyline outside of a basic concept.

My solution is a TL;DR button where the storyline is skipped over and Trainers can see the research tasks immediately. Let us be able to watch the storyline later, when there’s less pressure and FOMO. Have a dedicated site to where the storylines are available to (re-)read the storylines. I would have liked to have seen the lore of Nihilego and Rhi and what’s going on in another dimension of the game. Not while I am in the middle of the game though. Maybe make it available a day or two ahead so that people can read it before hand to know what’s going on. There isn’t always a limited event going on where time is of the essence to catch rare mons. There is likely a few minutes somewhere a Trainer can spend outside of a limited event to read some storyline and catch up.

TL;DR – Allow Trainers to have a TL;DR button so we can get back to the game and read storyline later. There are rare mons out there!!!