Swablu Community Day rates an A

Swablu Community Day was very good. I was thrilled to hear that this at the time Future Mega was going to be Community Day and the day did not disappoint. I am definitely for the idea of making Mega eligible Mons Community Day focus.

Only negative for me might not be a net negative, but to me it’s something I miss. I pay for the $1 CD ticket. It’s truly worth the amount paid, as the value of the rewards far exceeds the $1 value. However, I did enjoy the free side research which gave minimal, but valuable rewards. I believe that the free box in the shop that appears for Community Day might be the same as the old free side research. However, the side research event made it feel like I earned the rewards. I think this has been gone for a few months, but it really hit this month. This also gave people who don’t pay to play a mini line to play with and get some extra supplies. Maybe I get more in the box… but I like the mini storyline.

Otherwise, no real complaints. Keep the future Mega Pokemon as the Community Day lineup.

Pokemon Snap Celebration gets a D-

Last weekend was the Pokemon Snap Celebration in Pokemon Go land. Whereas the event itself was fair to middling, the end results of it was very disappointing.

Good: I got 60 “surprise” encounters and finished my Platinum Cameraman Badge. This Badge is one of the more annoying ones to get since it is a random event except for the 5 guaranteed ones on Community Day. Glad to get my 21st out of the way. 14 left (I am not close to Level 48 to 49 Challenges, but any progress is good progress here). This would be my “Consolation Prize”.

Meh: It was kind of fun doing the camera work, but I doubt I will use it again. Yes, I will take pictures of my buddy for 1 heart and during CD, but I find the wild camera not useful. I like screenshots for wilds. Just easier.

Meh to Bad: The Pokemon selection for this event did not do a whole lot for me. Lotad was the only favorite.

Very Ugly: In 60 attempts, I did not get a shiny Smeargle. I understand that it’s a random chance, that keeps it fair for everyone. However, if a Trainer puts in the full effort and does all 60 encounters – 15 per day for 4 days in this event, that Trainer deserves the reward. On the last encounter, if a Trainer has not gotten the reward shiny and has put in the max effort to get the reward, it should be guaranteed. The game knows if you have done all the attempts, it counts towards the Cameraman Badge. I don’t care if it’s any good, a 0* will do. Just ensure that those Trainers who put forth the effort get the reward. If you have a shiny already, then the guarantee goes away on the 60th attempt. The game would know this since it’s a Pokedex entry. So now, I have to wait for a maybe in a future event (or a trade with someone who was much luckier, which is not the same)… not good. A friend of mine also got skunked. He did all of the photos too. Note, I will not begrudge the lucky who got 2+. If you did, congrats.

So overall, I give this a D-. Huge demerits for not getting Shiny Smeargle (and I know it’s not just me). Had I gotten one, this would have been a C… not the best event, but certainly, not bad.

Side note: this is the 3rd time I have been skunked like this. On my first Community Day (Turtwig in September 2019 – I was independent at first and I did not know the news sources back then.) I got 0 shinies while playing and catching for the entire 3 hours. Back then Community Day was 3 hours only. Everyone else I talked to got at least 3, some had 10 or more. Then Go Fest last year I got a whole 2 wild shinies and 2 raid shinies over both days. I heard Trainers talking about upwards of 40 for the weekend. I put in effort the overwhelming majority of the hours. To me, a Trainer who puts in a good effort should get good rewards. Shinies matter.

Special Statement on Goomy

As a Trainer and Blogger who was pushing Goomy for Community Day recently, I am excited that we will be seeing this Dragon make its debut on May 4 (8 days from Press Time). I had originally pushed for this particular Pokemon for Community Day since it would be a very interesting candidate and checked a lot of boxes. Goomy being a Dragon, didn’t have a shiny, and it double evolves is most of the argument. I was looking to help those along the All-in-One #151 trail that needed the 30 Dragon catches since Dragons are few and far between. The Rayquaza and Alolan Exeggutor raids have helped the cause, so I will give Niantic credit for those raids to help with the cause. Hopefully most Trainers have this part done, but a focus on Goomy (and other Dragons) should help pull everyone past that part of the challenge. This should also help those with their Dragon Tamer Badge. The accompanying Rainy Lure should prove interesting, as it will attract types that do not have a current semi-specific Lure (Water, Bug, Electric)

I look forward to catching Goomy and doing a double evolution of it to Sliggoo. I do not need to have Goomy as a shiny now. That would have been icing on the cake. Just having Goomy in the game is a win.

Sustainability Week – Mixed Grades

Sustainability Week is over, so I will give it a grade like I have the last few events. I will highlight the good, bad, and ugly.

Good: I like that Grimer was a co-feature. Grimer is a favorite of mine, especially Muk. I was glad to see, even though I don’t quite get why Grimer is a part of this week. I guess because it is sludge and drinks wastewater (according to the Pokedex).

Good: Seeing Trubbish out was also good… especially since it is a 750 Stardust per catch Pokemon. I guess the idea is pick up the trash for Sustainability Week?

Good: I liked the Collection Challenge. They are always fun and the XP reward was AMAZING.

Bad: The spotlight on only Grass types was a bit short sighted to me. I understand that most people associate Earth Day with grass, and greening but Water, Flying, Ground, and Bug types could have easily taken a co-feature role as a part of Sustainability Week to me. All of nature should be celebrated and these are the other top nature types. Spring already seems to bring out a lot of the Grass type already and with the Snivvy (Grass) CD recently and the two Grass types as the Mega Raids (Venusaur and Abomasnow), it seems to me that Grass has already had a high spotlight lately. This is not too bad, just something I would have liked to have seen.

So to me, Gameplay is a definite A… the “Bad” really isn’t too bad, but I would have liked to have seen some more diversity of the Sustainability Week featured Pokemon. Only for that reason does Gameplay not get an “A+”

VERY UGLY: The real life Sustainability Challenge was very poorly thought out. There were lots of problems with this.

The results were known on Earth Day itself – a Friday. The tweet said that as of just before Midnight on the 23rd GMT the results were finished. For me, that would be just before 8 PM (Eastern Daylight) and just before 5 PM on the West Coast of the US. Most other places to the east it was overnight hours. Yes, there are some Earth Day celebrations on the day itself, but I would imagine most of them were during this past weekend. Many Trainers, myself included, could not participate in any efforts since the only days for this were weekdays. I would have attempted to do something on Sunday based on the three big things that were discussed on the Niantic blog under Small Actions Add up to Big Change, which is the 2nd page to look at after the in game news. Saturday would not have been a good day. for me. I would have considered picking up some trash somewhere or maybe planting something . The other was volunteer time, which I did not consider due to personal reasons. These things all take time and quite frankly, after work does not afford a whole lot of time for most Trainers (myself included) to do something to help the cause. Of course, I did not know all of the “rules”…

The “rules” and the statement that something simple could have been done was buried even further as well. From the game, Trainers had to hit the news section, then go to the game blog, then to the Niantic Blog, then another site (Sustainability Campaign) just to get the mechanics and “rules” of the campaign. Only there would Trainers (and Ingress players) learn that simpler tasks like taking on a DIY repair task (I would think installing a lower flow shower head would count), or building a bee hotel (or similar structure for wild animals I guess) for those who are handy, making a donation to a cause (either fiscal or physical) or buying reusable bags/water bottle were mentioned as acceptable for the campaign. Only there the “this is how we count your contribution” was spelled out and how you knew how to participate. I can imagine there were some trainers who don’t use social media or did not know how to participate who would have added their contributions. However, navigating 4 separate pages was frustrating just to learn the “rules”. If the “rules” were spelled out on the original link from the News (Pokemon Go blog), I would imagine that the participation rate would have been much higher. I know I would have gladly bought a couple reusable bags for the cause and/or show myself using them at the store had I known and it been spelled out for me clearly.

I won’t even go into the “prize” we “won” since 1873 people participated and Niantic committed to plant trees to get to 2500 (627). Let’s just say that it did not much for me at all. If the challenge went on through the weekend and would have been awarded this coming Saturday or Sunday with the trio coming out, that would have been much more enticing.

So overall, the Real Life Sustainability Challenge gets a solid Needs Substantial Improvement. Hopefully they will learn from this and next year will promote the event better and make it much easier to participate in. Even the smallest changes make impact… let’s celebrate those as well.

Floors for Pokemon Encounters

As I mentioned earlier this month, my latest Giovanni defeat netted me a 9/8/7 Shadow Zapdos. To me, that is insane. Friends have shown me lower IV Shadow Zapdos and other Giovanni Shadows. This just should not be. There should be floors for every type of Pokemon received based on work put in and expected reward levels.

No Floor: Regular wild caught Pokemon – No effort is put in for this. All Trainers are able to perform the motions of catching a Wild Pokemon. The 0/0/0 should remain extremely rare though, so a 1 IV (0/0/1, 0/1/0, 1/0/0) is the de facto “common floor”. Guaranteed Spawn goes here too.

1/1/1: Rocket Grunts – In essence, a minimal floor. Some effort is put into this, as not all Trainers can beat a Grunt. Grunts are easy for most experienced players and a way to experiment with match ups. Sometimes I bring out a “B” Team for a challenge or to see how some of my lower CP Pokemon do in a battle. The payoff is having trusted Pokemon for gym battles against weakened defenders and constructing the 6 unique species teams for Level 47. I also use my Buddy as a 3rd even if they are a bad matchup since I know I will win with 1 Pokemon usually. One exception below.

Note: After discussion, I did not realize that Shadow Pokemon could also go 0/0/0. I had never seen or heard of such a Pokemon. So let’s call this similar to regular Pokemon with “No Floor”, but a de facto “common floor” as well then.

5/5/5 – Field Research – There is some work done, depending on what the exact research is. There should be a decent floor. The Guaranteed (Bonus) Field Research goes here as well.

8/8/8: The Hard Rocket Grunts (Winning is for Winners) – We all have seen them. The one Grunt that is difficult to defeat and pretty much stole the Leaders Shadow Pokemon (at least that sounds good in storyline). They are equal to Leaders in difficulty, as they bring out 3 of the toughest Pokemon to defeat. We should get a reward similar to a Leader, at least with the Shadow Pokemon encounter. They are rare enough to warrant their own floor.

Minimum 8/8/8: Rocket Leaders – There is effort put into this, even if you have the best counters already. We have to find the various Leaders. We have to beat 3 stronger Pokemons three on three team battle. I have seen much worse than this value prior to the Rocket Disappearance.

10/10/10 – Special Field Research – This is for the Community Day, Event, and Sponsored Field Research. Self-explanatory, I trust.

10/10/10: Raids – As is tradition. That is a fair deal. Even at the 1* level, there is some difficulty. Plus there is a minimum time commitment that is above many other parts of the game.

10/10/10: Eggs – “Eggs don’t hatch themselves!” – Me. There is work to be done to hatch an egg… even a 2k egg.

At least 10/10/10: Giovanni – There is some sort of timed research that players have to complete. Traditionally this a month long timed research, for April 2021, this was shortened to 1 week time limit with a greatly reduced task docket. I prefer the longer time research, it makes for a more complete storyline. Beating all 3 Leaders makes it seem like we have earned the right to face Giovanni. We can only get to face Giovanni once a month, so they should be special and meaningful. We have to normally search for him and we receive a Legendary Pokemon for winning the battle. Those are minimum 10/10/10 in raids. Why not Giovanni?

12/12/12: Lucky Trades – There is a lot of work to be done to get to Best Friend, so yes. This is tradition as well.

Note: None of these proposed floors are meant to go below a floor that is already established for certain types and/or acquisition methods of Pokemon. If there is a higher established floor that I am not aware of, that higher floor abides.

Rivals Week – Incomplete for Content

I’m giving Rivals Week an I (Incomplete) for the Content. There were lots of good, but the negatives were glaring.

Good: The focus on Fighting Pokemon was a definite positive. At least in my experience, fighting Pokemon do not get the spotlight for a long time like this very often. I enjoy them in general, especially the more obvious fighters (Machop, Makuhita, the Hitmons).

Good: It wasn’t just Fighting Pokemon that was in the spotlight. There were both Nidorans, Zangoose/Seviper (depending on your region which one was a limited release), Patrat, and Litleo were also co-featured. The different Pokemon made it feel like it just was not a “Focus on Fighting Week”. Seeing the different species made the week feel more complete and that a lot of thought was put into the week to not just make it dominated by one type. I hope for more of this type of week in the future… where one lesser promoted type gets the spotlight overall, but some other Pokemon of various types share the spotlight as well.

Good: Skrelp & Clauncher. Always nice to see more new Pokemon in the game. The hook is that they are “rivals”. I also like that these are part of the Kalos region and we get another 4 on the road towards the complete Pokedex.

VERY Bad: The elephant in the room. More Team Rocket encounters were promised during this week and there has been a failure to launch. Trainers on two levels have been directly impacted (44 to 45 and 49 to 50) as well as three levels’ challenges (43, 45, and 48). I am in the 44 to 45 category, which makes this double bad. Players trying to fight for 1000 or 2000 victories over Team Rocket have been indirectly affected as well (both Gold and Platinum for the various levels for Levels 41, 43, 47, and 49). Granted, they are less affected since there are many other badges to get, but a Trainer may have been close to finishing the badge level and looked forward to finishing the requirement for the badges (or add one more towards the requirement) with the Hero Badge. Who knows how much longer we will be without Team Rocket Encounters! Once we get the Rocket Battles back, the only right thing would be to give us a make-up week with the same bonuses that we should have gotten.

Inexcusable: The proliferation of PvP based Field Research for 20 Mega Lopunny Candies. I saw a lot of them over the weekend as I was playing a lot. This is NOT an acceptable substitute for the lack of Rocket Battles by any means. (In case it needs repeating, I HATE PvP.) Double worse that it was for something that is pretty useless – sorry, but Mega Lopunny is not a Mega that will be used very much in the future. I already mega evolved it once, no need to do it any more. This to me was a major slap in the face. I did none of these on moral grounds. I like doing Field Researches… but not ones for things I would not normally do. Especially for a lousy return on investment. Maybe I wouldn’t have noticed it if there were Rockets… and maybe this would have been fight a Rocket Grunt if there were Rockets out.

The lack of Rocket Battles nets the Incomplete Grade… I was really looking forward to that part of this event as well as the focus on some of the Fighting Pokemon. I may revisit this if and when we get the Rocket Bonus Week we were promised.

Bear in Mind Series – Post 1… What’s a Starter?

As my blog and my thoughts gain a varied audience, I have noticed that there times when my advocation is not completely understood. With this in mind, I am staring a “Bear in Mind” Series which highlights some of my “blind spots”. I have said some of these things in the past, but they bear repeating. Note that some of these will come from nuances that someone who knows the Pokemon series may think of these concepts as elementary, but since I do not have a Pokemon background, these “simple concepts” are not so simple. I do understand some of these concepts generally, but not necessarily how it pertains to Pokemon Go. I start with a concept that seems “simple”, but there is a specific meaning to Pokemon Go…

I understand that there are various classifications of Pokemon. Some are Mythical (Meltan, Darkrai). Some are Legendary (Mewtwo, Kyogre). There are so the various types (Ice, Dark, Dragon, etc…) Then there are the more specific sub-varients. Some are event specific (Party Hat varients). Others can be shiny, hatched, caught at a raid, traded (all of these are self-explanatory I think), etc… There is one classification I do not fully understand though. What is a Starter?

Seriously folks, what are the starters?

I read how some were happy that Snivy was the last CD since it’s a Starter (I argue that being a Starter should have no bearing on CD qualities, but it seems important to some). That designation had little meaning to me. I gather that fire (Charmander), water (Squirtle), and grass (Bulbasaur) are Starters Types and those four names I specified are all Starters. I have heard that even though Pikachu is Electric, it is considered a Starter from what I understand. That seems to be the only exception. There is no way to look up in game what the starters are. This does not help me to understand what the Starters are.

By my own definition, I would not call Charmander a Starter. Charmander does eventually turn into something quite useful… Charles Zard… and if you have enough Mega Candies, MEGA CHARLES ZARD (Charizard for those of you who can spell that without looking)! (cue superhero theme). So does Squirtle (Mega Blastoise). Snivy, however fits my definition. Even at L50, Serperior is not overly useful to me at least. I have no use for the low CP mons in general. Pikachu seems to run similarly. There does not seem to be any universal qualifications other than to be one of the three basic types (fire, water, grass). If it was not for that qualification, I would put Wurmple and Caterpie as Starters since they (and their evolutions) are Pokemon which do not do much of anything other that count towards the Pokedex and are a proverbial dime a dozen.

Does this mean that since Wailmer is a water that he’s a Starter and I can use that as part of my campaign for Wailmer for CD? I am serious. I want Wailmer for an upcoming CD and would love to be able to use this as a talking point. If not, I would use it as a counter since we just had a Starter in April, so let’s get a non-Starter in this month.

I cannot just assume that because a Pokemon is a certain type that it is a Starter. My personal definition of Starter is not correct. So what is a Starter. Please let me know if there is an easy to read list that tells me clearly what the Starters are. I would like to be able to go back to it so I can understand the game play better.

Briefs 4/14/21

Just a few things that came up recently that are not long enough to blog solo…

I am VERY disappointed that Rivals Week does not include the additional Rocket activities. This was one of the most important parts for me. I enjoy battling and defeating the Rocket Grunts and Leaders. Combined with the fact that there is no known make up (I assume this is due to the trial and error of debugging) compounds the disappointment. Hopefully in the coming weeks there will be a make up and extra Rocket battles week.

Regice’s “tickle spot” for the play with your buddy is his belly. Most are the head. (I am trying to put together an all ice team with 6 different species as well and Regice is a good defensive play to slow the carnage). Not sure of any others.

I would like to see in plain English which Mega Candy we are receiving when we complete a research. I have a hard time knowing/remembering what color scheme goes to which Pokemon. Sometimes two different Mega Candies look very similar and I would like to know which one I am going for. Some of the Pokemon I have plenty of, some I need a lot more of. At least then I can do my review before completing the research.

Glad to see the new Pokemon coming out. Skrelp and Clauncher this week as well as Binacle next week. Keep rolling the new Pokemon out.

Also glad to see the emphasis on Fighting Pokemon. They seem to be underrepresented in the themes of the week, so getting more of these is appreciated.

I was hoping that during Friendship Day that maybe this would be the one day a year we could do unlimited Lucky Trades with those who are not local. I am sitting on a Lucky Trade with out of state people from (order is how they appear on the app) Louisiana, upstate New York, Maryland, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Massachusetts, California, Washington State, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, North Dakota, and Long Island. I also have some in-state people I have not seen in a long time. I can also see in the future having similar problems with Trainers from even further places (I am already Best Friends with a few people from Europe). I would like to clear out these trades, but cannot. I would imagine many other Trainers have similar situations, especially since the Lake Trio has put many Trainers together from all parts of the world.