Belated Free-for-All!

[inkstone]

Hello trainers!

I hope you're enjoying the double XP/stardust event and that, if you live in the US, you had a lovely Thanksgiving.

The current in-game event + Ditto + CP rebalancing seems to have stolen a lot of attention, so not much in the way of news. I did find this little piece about how PokeGo can be used to encourage interest in conservation efforts. I thought it was a nice change of pace from all the "POKEGO IS DESTROYING OUR PARKS!!" articles, which -- if you do enough digging -- a not-insignificant number seem to stem from affluent people freaking out over the riff-raff.

Since it's been a while, how are y'all doing? Enjoying the in-game event? Struggling to find a ditto? Mad about the CP rebalancing? Let's chat.

Comments

[tyger]

I'm definitely enjoying the event! :D Haven't found a ditto yet, but I've gained a couple of levels, which is pretty great. :3 Also found a diglett, which is new to me.

I am constantly out of pokéballs, though. Anyone got any tips for getting a stash, or is it just luck?

[lemon_badgeress]

find a stop you can stay at for a reasonable length of time somehow, where NOTHING SPAWNS. :P Other than that I don't ever seem to get ahead.

[tyger]

Ahahahahaha, somehow I doubt that's gonna happen! Oh well, will just have to try and be more selective with what I catch, I guess.

[healingmirth]

Yeah, seconding this. The way that spawns got boosted, if you go on what I think most people would consider a normal walk and try to catch what you encounter, you end up way behind on balls. The secret, such as it is, is to avoid temptation and to stay in one place - preferably one place with multiple stops in reach - and you'll eventually pull ahead on items vs. pokemon.

[brightknightie]

I've found a big park in my area with 11 pokestops. When I can get there, I walk it in a brisk circuit and get the tenth-pokestop-in-30-minutes payout... as many times in a row as I can find the time for.

I've also found a restaurant where I can sit between 2 pokestops; when I take myself out, I take myself there. ;-)

Good luck!

[tyger]

Hooooly crap, that's awesome! I didn't even know there WAS a ten-in-30min bonus!

Maybe when I can walk better I'll try and find somewhere I can do that too! :D

[brightknightie]

Here's a Trainer Tips video about the "mega-pokestop" bonus. And here's the Silph Road discussion.

Spinning 10 unique pokestops in ~30 minutes or less (some say ~45 minutes or less; I try to be on the safe side), with no more than 9.9 minutes between spins, makes the 10th pay out with double XP and 6-9 items (reportedly, up to 10 if an egg is present; I've never noted this). It's okay to hit the same pokestop multiple times within the duration, but that pokestop counts only once toward the 10.

Apparently, there's an extra bonus if you can manage 20 unique stops, but it resets after that.

[tyger]

That's pretty sweet! :D

[inkstone]

When I'm low on pokeballs, I pretty much look for a pokestop dense area and make a couple circuits to load up. I made a note of those places around me during the summer.

[tyger]

Ahh, I think I'll have to go into town for that kind of place. But hopefully I'll be able to hit more local stops soon, my goddamn ankle IS getting better, so!

I also managed to take a rival gym down from level 3 to level 1 today! Wasn't able to defeat the last defender, but since it was a vaporeon with ~2K CP more than my strongest pokémon, I feel okay about that. (I've ALMOST broken 700CP? Almost. Gotta do an evolving and levelling up part sometime soon, probably.)

[ephemera]

That's some good gym battling - go team!

[malnpudl]

Congrats on leveling up! \o/

I go to a big, sprawling local cemetery where there are about 20 pokestops and almost nobody's ever there. So I cruise around at 5mph in my car, stopping (STOPPING, not rolling through) at each pokestop to spin and collect stuff. One or two circuits and I'm all stocked up, and usually hatched an egg or two, as well. One could say it's a form of cheating...? But then again, I have mobility limitations, so I figured I'm entitled to a bit of compensatory strategizing. *wry grin*