Pokémon GO

[pika pal]

https://www.reddit.com/r/TheSilphRoad/comments/1cr6w3g
I wasn't expecting Marshadow to get spectral thief, but I was expecting it to actually get ghost moves.

Supposedly it still looks good in PvP, but still... no ghost moves at all??

With Sendai ghost GO fest being in a couple of weeks it's probably not worth hoping it's just early datamine placeholder, either.

Light trio sig moves do exist, though, and are apparently busted: https://www.reddit.com/r/TheSilphRoad/comments/1cr5zh1
And more details on blacephalon, stak, & naganadel event are out: https://pokemongolive.com/post/dusk-mane-dawn-wings-necrozma-fusion?hl=en

Marshadow I think they're afraid to play too much with because of Ghost/Fighting neutral pressure, but it doesn't have a good deal of distinction from Annihilape who DOES have Shadow ball (nevermind Rage Fist being prime CD move) without Shadow Claw or Punch or something. Better in ML if you roll a good one since Fighting coverage is rare but useful to back up Dragons, but not gonna make many waves since it leaves Giratina and the incoming Necrozmas as massive walls.

That said, Annihilape DID get Shadow Ball added near-last-minute before it debuted proper; I believe until literally 2 days (January 17th) before the event dropped (the 19th) it had Primeape's Moveset minus Legacy Cross Chop, then had the same plus Shadow Ball in a dump that mostly put preview data for the new UBs we're only now getting to and some Gen 9 Legendaries. While Spectral Thief is probably something we won't see for a while if at all (like the post-Fest freebie several Mythicals get), it's proven it's never too late for Niantic to change a mined moveset, for better or worse (the latter in the case of Gogoat losing PvP Rock Slide).

As far as the Light Trio, it continues something I very much disliked about Palkia and Dialga: arbitrarily limiting it to the form they can sell now (Origin then, the Necrozma fusions in this case) at the originals' expense. Palkia and Dialga it did bother me more since they still tried to push them alongside the Origin forms in the same event, but not a fan here since you get things like Dawn Wings directly outclassing Lunala as is (to the point of getting a move buff everyone clamored for on the latter with Shadow Claw). The mons themselves are OP but still not a fan of this approach.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

I've not been playing much recently beyond the daily checklist of "catch, spin stop, complete field research, open gift, done" but the prospect of a new Master Ball made me interested enough to log in this morning.

The research is immense so I was like, yeah there's really no need to go hard on this, gonna take weeks for sure.

And yet I had a very dull day at work today in which I was sat in lots of virtual meetings with not much to contribute, so I kept my phone open and ended up very nearly completing the first page. Only ~50 catches away.

Admittedly I was helped in this by the spawns around my house being insane today: Zorua is seemingly everywhere, I chanced upon a Frigibax, a Jangmo-o, and a Sliggoo (since when were those things in the wild...?), and Ioads of evolved stuff which gave loads of CP. Plus I caught a shiny Munna which was one I hadn't yet found so that's nice too. I wondered if these were are all special spawns for the event but apparently there aren't any! So clearly Niantic are showering me with the good stuff to reel me back in.

Though is anyone else finding Jangmo-o really common for a Pokemon you'd expect to... well, not be? Maybe it's my biome or hemisphere or whatever but I'm catching one or two a week atm.

 

[R_N]

So Sandygast's a kind of rare Pokemon, and Sneasel's popular and kind of fits the Team Rocket task,a nd Whiscash is an anime reference but

Why Dubwool? Kind of a random reward



Also gotta say I'm stunned how....reasonable? This is as research. Oh sure the numbers are big, and will take a while but not as big or intensive as I could have expected. Hell there's nothing pertaining to raids or trades oranything, even.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

So Sandygast's a kind of rare Pokemon, and Sneasel's popular and kind of fits the Team Rocket task,a nd Whiscash is an anime reference but

Why Dubwool? Kind of a random reward

Wooloo is still pretty rare (as are basically all Galar mons not in eggs) and Dubwool has been in the weekly reward pool this season. Plus it's evolved, so that's... something. Always appreciate the extra stardust and guaranteed XL.

Also gotta say I'm stunned how....reasonable? This is as research. Oh sure the numbers are big, and will take a while but not as big or intensive as I could have expected. Hell there's nothing pertaining to raids or trades oranything, even.

I could have sworn I read in the blog post announcing this that raids were part of it, but idk if I mixed that up with something else. Either way, I agree, it's basically the sort of research you'd eventually achieve just by playing normally and not having to go out of your way for anything (even if it took months on end).

 

[pika pal]

So Sandygast's a kind of rare Pokemon, and Sneasel's popular and kind of fits the Team Rocket task,a nd Whiscash is an anime reference but

Why Dubwool? Kind of a random reward



Also gotta say I'm stunned how....reasonable? This is as research. Oh sure the numbers are big, and will take a while but not as big or intensive as I could have expected. Hell there's nothing pertaining to raids or trades oranything, even.

Dubwool is sometimes used in PvP and Galar raids are still extremely rarely given out excluding Regional Variants I guess.

Admittedly I was helped in this by the spawns around my house being insane today: Zorua is seemingly everywhere, I chanced upon a Frigibax, a Jangmo-o, and a Sliggoo (since when were those things in the wild...?), and Ioads of evolved stuff which gave loads of CP. Plus I caught a shiny Munna which was one I hadn't yet found so that's nice too. I wondered if these were are all special spawns for the event but apparently there aren't any! So clearly Niantic are showering me with the good stuff to reel me back in.

Though is anyone else finding Jangmo-o really common for a Pokemon you'd expect to... well, not be? Maybe it's my biome or hemisphere or whatever but I'm catching one or two a week atm.

So anecdotally, I think this is because of the lack of event spawns lately after the Rediscover Kanto stuff ended. I've also seen a couple of the Pseudos and evolved stuff so my theory is they normally have decent rates, but only as the "generic" spawns for the season which we very rarely get time to go out and hunt, usually only there for 2-3 days between events. This season has been lighter on spawn heavy content to push them out, so even if they're like a 1/500 chance, there are more of those chances to roll them atm.

 

[Expert Evan]

I'm not rushing on this master ball task especially since I heard the limit I can have in my inventory is 2. I believe I have just one and I'm reserving it for when I really need it.

 

[pika pal]

I'm not rushing on this master ball task especially since I heard the limit I can have in my inventory is 2. I believe I have just one and I'm reserving it for when I really need it.

This is only our 3rd Master Ball, but I think people confirmed you can hold more than 1 so they assume it's not capped, just rarely given out (I used one on a high Power G-Zapdos, but saving my others for something like Hundo Necrozma-last-ball Situations).

I can't confirm if it caps out at 2 for reasons given, but very few other items in the game do (they usually artificially stop you from acquiring more like Rocket Grunts not dropping Components while you have a Radar) even if you have to force them (such as stacking Giovanni Research for SRR or Takeovers letting you get components via Research Tasks)

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Goomy community day confirmed!

Really hoping they'll give us Hisuian Goodra at the same time, but it'll probably be part of the raid day a couple of weeks afterward (if it isn't Rayquaza).

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Okay, soooo... Mega Rayquaza is going to be in Elite Raids on the 29th after all (not a raid day then, is it Niantic?) the same day I'm out of London visiting a friend who also plays, but not religiously.

Anyone know the calculations on whether it's possible to trio Mega Rayquaza with party play...? I rather doubt it but you never know.

 

[RocketSurgery]

Some belated goings-ons for me:

-A week or so ago I finally finished the first page of the shaymin masterworks research, and am now working through the first 21 day time-gate; still better than catch 10 Keckleon.

-I was travelling during Bounsweet community day, so I only managed to snag one shiny; hopefully I can get 2 more in December for the living shiny dex. At very least that travel took me close enough to a river/beach biome to snag a Wigglet. (Sadly only managed the one).

-With the final step of the world of wonders research out I was finally able to evolve Poipole. Took a bit due to having to catch 20 dragon types that were spawning only sporadically, but I managed to do it before clicking on any gyms that already had a Naganadel in it and having the "seen" counter forever ahead of the "caught" counter in my pokedex.

-Lastly, with Blacephalon out I was finally motivated to do some raids again, since getting extra Blacephalon in the main games would be a chore. Too bad ultra beast raids still use premiere balls instead of beast balls, but hopefully GO fest gives some research that gives an encounter that uses a beast ball.

In other news, GO fest Sendai is tomorrow(?), so looking forward to seeing the Marshadow t-shirt that was data-mined and any other cool stuff they might have been hiding.

Possible datamined spoilers

This page speculates that Z-moves may be getting added, as 20 new moves were added and they figured 18 types + Solgaleo and Lunala. I will be annoyed if Diancie got to mega out of the gate but Marahadow doesn't get spectral thief and its Z-move, at least by global go fest!

 

[pika pal]

Okay, soooo... Mega Rayquaza is going to be in Elite Raids on the 29th after all (not a raid day then, is it Niantic?) the same day I'm out of London visiting a friend who also plays, but not religiously.

Anyone know the calculations on whether it's possible to trio Mega Rayquaza with party play...? I rather doubt it but you never know.

I think people managed to Duo Mega Rayquaza using ~Level 40-50 Shadow Mamoswine (best Ice Attacker bar none atm) during the initial Go Fest with 5 attackers and a Fainted Primal (10% Boost but don't have them battle, your own Mega Rayquaza also works for this if anyone has it). I mostly did Trios because I only had one Shadow, but my runs were usually comfortable (as in I didn't have to have perfect dodging

There are two notable differences here, one good and one bad.
- Go Fest had 2x Friendship Damage Boost
- Go Fest was BEFORE Party Power was implemented

So assuming you have decent Friendship levels between your 3 accounts to have a higher boost to that (even without the 2x Go Fest bonus), I think a Trio is tricky but possible. Work on Friend Interactions and building your Ice Types in Advance to be safe. If it's anything like previous Elite Raid Days there tends to be a decent crowd but better safe than sorry (Enamorus I had people throwing out stuff like Golem which helps but isn't optimized for example). It helps that the Eggs spawn 24 hours in advance so you can look for places where a couple hatch together and do multiple either expecting or attracting a Crowd.

For reference the 5 best options are: Shadow Mamo, Regular Mamo, Shadow Weavile, Galarian Darm, and Shadow Mewtwo with Ice Beam (no STAB but Psycho Cut gets it fast and it has high stat power to compensate).

tl;dr Possible, but build up as much as you can to be on the safe side.

 

[R_N]

Pro: thanks to having a remote raid pass, I was able to get Necrozma!

Cons: you cannot transfer Necrozma to Home.

I am hoping that like Poipole, that's something they're just going to enable later. Maybe when global fest happens.
My worry is due to the fusion mechanic, you just will never be able to transfer it so it gets to be next to Spinda & Zygarde

 

[RocketSurgery]

https://pokemongolive.com/post/scorching-steps-2024?hl=en

Scorching sands! Instead of not hatching Larvesta, you will now not be hatching shiny Larvesta! You will also continue to not be hatching Charcadet.

Maybe you'll hatch a shiny slugma or litleo as a consolation prize.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

https://pokemongolive.com/post/scorching-steps-2024?hl=en

Scorching sands! Instead of not hatching Larvesta, you will now not be hatching shiny Larvesta! You will also continue to not be hatching Charcadet.

Maybe you'll hatch a shiny slugma or litleo as a consolation prize.

It'll have a comm day before long, don't sweat

Also Unova Tour next year, so there'll be ample chances to get one in due course

 

[R_N]

I fully expect Larvesta to just remain in eggs forever. It seems to be something they are actively pushing as the premium pull in egg gacha. It's not just always in the egg pool (barring sinnoh tour) it's in all the eggs aside from 7KM.

Even in the Unova tour I expect it will remain in the Eggs

 

[pika pal]

The secret prize from this event for me isn't Larvesta (because I ain't counting on Hatching another one of those, much less a shiny), but just the smaller (Shiny) Egg Pools. I'm sitting on a bunch of the 7K eggs from this Emolga event, so the Hatch distance will be nice to clear out any I still have left by then, and besides a Charcadet for the other Evo, I need Shiny Turtonator, so the 10 K eggs are hard to go wrong with from a collector perspective (most of the others I own or could hunt easier via Research/Encounters).

That said this is the usual spell of "who cares?" events that tend to precede a period of big spending like Go Fest or the debut of a big game changer (Annihilape's event was like the only interesting one I recall in its month, but what an impact). The fact that there's no Rocket Takeover leads me to believe they want people worn out and itching for something to go hard on, then make them jump the gun with an event leading up to Go Fest akin to Road to Sinnoh's raids

 

[RocketSurgery]

I don't doubt* that larvesta and charcadet will be made more accessible in some future event, it's just that of all the nonsense Niantic does, egg events are particularly egregious. Except for the hatch days when the spotlight mon is literally the only thing in eggs, egg events are just never worth it. I have hatched one (1) larvesta since release, and as far I can tell there isn't going to be any significant boost to it or charcadet's hatch rates, so I have no incentive to spend coins on incubators just to get the same results I've been getting for months. For the folks aiming for shiny slugma or litleo maybe it will turn out to be worth it for them, but Niantic is definitely counting on whales to go hard on trying to hatch shiny larvesta. And to top it off, there aren't even any event spawns!

*Ok, I have some doubt. It's been 2 years since salandit was released and I don't think there's been any event to make it (particularly female salandit) more accessible, even despite varoom being the fancy new addition to the 12k egg pool.

 

[pika pal]

I don't doubt* that larvesta and charcadet will be made more accessible in some future event, it's just that of all the nonsense Niantic does, egg events are particularly egregious. Except for the hatch days when the spotlight mon is literally the only thing in eggs, egg events are just never worth it. I have hatched one (1) larvesta since release, and as far I can tell there isn't going to be any significant boost to it or charcadet's hatch rates, so I have no incentive to spend coins on incubators just to get the same results I've been getting for months. For the folks aiming for shiny slugma or litleo maybe it will turn out to be worth it for them, but Niantic is definitely counting on whales to go hard on trying to hatch shiny larvesta. And to top it off, there aren't even any event spawns!

*Ok, I have some doubt. It's been 2 years since salandit was released and I don't think there's been any event to make it (particularly female salandit) more accessible, even despite varoom being the fancy new addition to the 12k egg pool.

Technically speaking, Larvesta and Charcadet are advertised with higher hatch rates from the vague signage Niantic uses (1Egg Icon for rarity vs Larvesta normally being 5 vs everything in the egg pools), but obviously there's no number we can even concretely point to from survey data much less and official confirmation. At the very least the smaller "Icon Rarity" and fewer mons per egg does suggest they are more common than usual here, if not actually common. The bigger issue for me vs Hatch Day is that this event still uses All Eggs. Hatch Days reduce them to 2KM so you can cycle them faster (albeit still a lot of walking for a 3 hour period) while here you have to get lucky to even roll the Egg Type you want, much less the mon(s) inside once it hatches being something you want to get.

It also highlights why Hatch events suck in general: The Egg System is about 7 years out of date (arguably by design) to the point that a lot of players tune out instead of caving to buy Incubators for convenience. You can't dispose of Eggs you don't want to even bother checking outside of hatching them, so they always compete for resources in Incubators until you open them. You also can't pre-prep for this event the way you can for a Catch event (stock up on Pokeballs or clear out Storage) or a Raid event (Save coins for a bunch of passes and Power Up Raiders/Megas) since every major interaction in this game REQUIRES you to potentially claim eggs from them (spinning Pokestops, Fighting Rocket Leaders, Opening Gifts), which means if you want a clear egg inventory before the event, you have to basically stop interacting with anything from the moment you open an Egg Slot. It's impossible to act on the foresight for an Egg event without a massive Pokeball stockpile for catches (that only covering one aspect), so what damns this mechanic and event type is that it actively discourages playing the game on other fronts, even ones Niantic monetizes.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

*Ok, I have some doubt. It's been 2 years since salandit was released and I don't think there's been any event to make it (particularly female salandit) more accessible, even despite varoom being the fancy new addition to the 12k egg pool.

There are a handful of Pokemon which have just stayed rare, annoyingly. Sandile is a similar case; I assumed it might have a similar treatment to the pseudos (shiny released during Go Fest, then made gradually more common) but instead it's still purely an egg-exclusive. It hasn't even ever been in field research that I can remember. It seems the perfect sort of Pokemon for a community day but I can only assume the reason it hasn't had one yet is because, with Unova tour on the horizon, it's still one that can be monetised. Then it might eventually get a comm day in 2026 or something.

Salandit will very likely eventually transition to being a wild spawn. The vast majority of Pokemon initially confined to eggs or raids has slowly been filtered into the wild: Absol, Mawile, Nincada, Timburr, Mienfoo, regional forms like Alolan Raichu and Hisuian Growlithe (there's still a few that haven't, though, like Shinx and Pancham). There'll be an event incorporating it eventually - possibly the next Valentine's Day, or the next-but-one. I do expect it to get its shiny released relatively soon, though - that's another one where Niantic can expect to make a killing on incubators.

 

[RocketSurgery]

Technically speaking, Larvesta and Charcadet are advertised with higher hatch rates from the vague signage Niantic uses (1Egg Icon for rarity vs Larvesta normally being 5 vs everything in the egg pools), but obviously there's no number we can even concretely point to from survey data much less and official confirmation. At the very least the smaller "Icon Rarity" and fewer mons per egg does suggest they are more common than usual here, if not actually common. The bigger issue for me vs Hatch Day is that this event still uses All Eggs. Hatch Days reduce them to 2KM so you can cycle them faster (albeit still a lot of walking for a 3 hour period) while here you have to get lucky to even roll the Egg Type you want, much less the mon(s) inside once it hatches being something you want to get.

Where did you see it advertised that Larvesta and Charcadet would have higher rates? I don't see any indication of egg tiers in their blog post or infographic, and the text says "larvesta will hatch from 2 km, 5 km, and 10 km eggs, if you're very lucky," which sounds to me like the current low rates.

It also highlights why Hatch events suck in general: The Egg System is about 7 years out of date (arguably by design) to the point that a lot of players tune out instead of caving to buy Incubators for convenience. You can't dispose of Eggs you don't want to even bother checking outside of hatching them, so they always compete for resources in Incubators until you open them. You also can't pre-prep for this event the way you can for a Catch event (stock up on Pokeballs or clear out Storage) or a Raid event (Save coins for a bunch of passes and Power Up Raiders/Megas) since every major interaction in this game REQUIRES you to potentially claim eggs from them (spinning Pokestops, Fighting Rocket Leaders, Opening Gifts), which means if you want a clear egg inventory before the event, you have to basically stop interacting with anything from the moment you open an Egg Slot. It's impossible to act on the foresight for an Egg event without a massive Pokeball stockpile for catches (that only covering one aspect), so what damns this mechanic and event type is that it actively discourages playing the game on other fronts, even ones Niantic monetizes.

Mateo also has a unique 7 km egg pool that most people would be hard pressed to get by happenstance.

-------

Speaking of rare spawns, hopefully I will catch a komala this time around. I didn't get one during the original sleep event and as far as I know it hasn't been available in the wild until the current slumbering sands event.

 

[R_N]

From my experience it's not that uncommon. I've seen several today, the slakoth seemed marginally rarer. Even then I saw plenty of everyone; Slowpoke, Mareep & Psyduck are definitely the most common but over all not bad.