Latest News Updates & Free-for-All

[inkstone]

Hello trainers! I come bearing some news. :)

• A new update is rolling out for PokeGo. The release notes say that this update will reduce the loading time on Android (thank god!) and fix the Go Plus connectivity issues. Reports are also saying that sound no longer stops when you launch the game. Hopefully this means we can continue listening to podcasts uninterrupted now! The good folks at The Silph Road are currently doing a data mine of the latest update, so hopefully we'll find out if there are any other hidden changes soon. (source)


• Nests have indeed migrated once again. In the last post, people asked what a nest was and I realized, wow! We never explained that properly, did we? So here we go. Nests are basically locations where a certain type of pokemon spawns in increased numbers. The most obvious manifestation of a nest is one where a specific type of pokemon will spawn in a cluster of 2-3 at the same time. But it can be something more subtle where a specific type of pokemon spawns regularly throughout the day at the same location. I have a spot like this outside my neighborhood, for example. Nests are not the same thing as biomes and early in the game, people got them confused. But half a year out, they're pretty clearly delineated. Want to find out if there are nests near you? Check out The Silph Road's nest atlas! This is user generated though, so all caveats apply.


• In a blast from the past: Remember last summer when certain jurisdictions wanted to pass an ordinance requiring that augmented reality games obtain a permit to function in certain parks? They're still at it. Wow. (source)

Any news from your neck of the woods? How's your game playing going, trainers?

Comments

[malnpudl]

Faster loading! OMG thank all things merciful! I have been swearing a blue streak over that.

And this:

Reports are also saying that sound no longer stops when you launch the game.

That would be AWESOME. It has long driven me bonkers that I couldn't play and listen to anything else at the same time.

As always, thanks so much for the update!

Me, I'm halfway between levels 33 and 34, though at this point in the game that has pretty much ceased to have meaning. Mostly I'm having fun just walking and playing, in between drenching storms, and am grateful that I live where it's never too cold to go out and play.

I've caught or hatched everything available in the US, so now it's down to collecting better versions of the various mons and refining my gym training and battling technique -- I was initially hopeless at this and have progressed through abysmal all the way up to moderately incompetent (yay?) -- and waiting for new features to roll out.

The most exciting thing that's happened lately is the appearance of a couple of Grimers and Koffings and even one Weezing in the wee cemetery a block from my home. Yay, rare spawns nearby! It's doubly welcome because I live in a rural hamlet where usually it's nothing but vermin spawns.

[jack]

Ah! Thanks for the silph road link. I've seen user-submitted maps before, but they'd always looked a bit out of date. Something with reports from since the last migration is really helpful, even if it's not certain. Almost more helpful than a real-time map.

[jack]

I found grimer! Just sitting around on the road. Now I only have chansey (and regionals) as species completely unfound. But I need to evolve muk, dragonite, machamp and kabutops.

[malnpudl]

Chansey is so hard to come by, isn't it? I've never even seen one in the wild; do you know if it ever happens? I've hatched two, but they're the only ones I've seen.

[jack]

It sounds like, it does spawn wild, and it does hatch from eggs, but both are really rare: that's my impression from googling around, I don't have any first-hand knowledge. I don't think there's anything I can do but wait. Or buy incubators.

[malnpudl]

I think incubators are the one thing that's absolutely worth shelling out cash for. It's a big return, at least potentially, for very little money. (And I have very little money, so I thought long and hard about this.)

[inkstone]

NGL, I stocked up on incubators during the holiday event when they were having those giftboxes in the shop. Best investment!

[inkstone]

I saw one in the parking lot of a racetrack once. It ran away from me. I'm still salty about this.

[malnpudl]

I can appreciate that!

[lireavue]

I actually had one pop in the wild in the first WEEK of playing. ...and it ran away from me because I was so low level I didn't even have great balls yet.

Since then, I think I've had one? more wild spawn, but I've never heard of anyone getting a 10k with one in until now. (I know I caught one because it's sitting firmly in my stable so I can prove I have it. >.>)

[korafox]

I saw one on the sightings once, but didn't have time to go looking for it. ;__;

[korafox]

After the most recent migration, one of the big parks near us suddenly started cluster-spawning Omanytes! We braved the cold yesterday, and it took maybe half an hour to collect enough to evolve Omastar. That's definitely a big one checked off my list.

[cyanne]

Took my niece ice skating today and there were lots of Omanytes hanging around the rink. Congrats on getting it evolved, that's really cool.

[cyanne]

Thanks for sharing the updates. I really hope they fix both the length of time it takes to load the game (it's gotten much worse lately and I hate it when I switch to something else like Ingress and come back and it loads all over again from scratch and takes forever) and the audio issues. Those are my two major annoyances with the game at the moment.

[masu_trout]

Faster loading, huzzah! And thanks for that link to the nests map, I'd never seen that before.

[tyger]

I caught a jinx on my walk this evening! :D Also finally picked up another 10km egg, so looking forward to see what's in that. :3