PokeStop

Niantic just announced the addition of more pokémon!

Professor Willow has discovered Togepi and Pichu hatching from Eggs! Starting later today, Trainers will have the opportunity to hatch these and several other Pokémon that were originally discovered in the Johto Region in Pokémon Gold and Pokémon Silver video games.

Trainers who play(ed) the main series, what other pokémon do we have to look forward to? Based on the wording, we'll be able to hatch more than just Togepi & Pichu.

ETA: Cleffa, Elekid, Magby & Igglypuff are confirmed! And if you get one of the new baby pokemon, make it your buddy & check out the ADORABLE.

In addition:

Starting later today through December 29, 2016, 10:00 A.M. PST, you’ll find limited edition Pikachu all over the world. These Pikachu will be wearing a festive hat to celebrate the season!

OMIGOD.

ETA: Raichu also wears the santa hat!

But with it getting chilly and downright wintery in certain parts of the world, this is all going to be very tricky!

(the full announcement)

ETA: NEW FESTIVE LOADING SCREEN.

Niantic rolled out a minor update with the patch note: "minor bug fixes." I don't know what those bugs were, but if your app updates, don't be surprised.

As for the tip: nest pokemon and water spawns are not affected by the Halloween shake-up. So take advantage of the doubled candies if you're working on, say, a gyarados and have water biomes near you!

Sorry, yesterday got away from me so it's a news + free chat combo post this week. Unlike the past couple round-ups, a lot happened this week. I'm going to try to organize things to make them easier to parse, so here we go.

Game Updates
• PokeGo has launched in over 40 new countries. Due to the number, I'm not going to list them individually but you can see the full lists here and here. Sorry, India and South Korea are not among the new launch territories. I know they've been waiting a while.

• Niantic added a server side update where new-to-you pokémon sighted in gyms are now registered as being seen in your pokedex. So if you're like me and still don't have a dragonite but your local gym meta is dominated by the orange Barney, you will see its silhouette in your pokedex.

• Look alive! Nests have migrated again!

• In a future update, the medals you've earned will now make a difference! More specifically, the medals you earn for catching specific types of pokémon will make catching future pokémon from that category easier. For example, earning a gold medal in catching pidgeys will make it easier to catch gyarados. (more details)

• Also in a forthcoming update, the way you train friendly gyms will change. You will be able to bring 6 pokémon (like if you were attacking a rival gym) and the CP of defenders will adjust to your level, which will allow lower level trainers to participate in the gym scene. (more details)

• Niantic continues its efforts to block third-party apps. (source)

( more highlights from this week )

That's it for this week!

Any thoughts about the latest in-game updates? What about the other newsbits? And how was your week in PokeGo?

Let's talk about it here.

Happy Friday, trainers! (...although maybe it's not Friday anymore for some of you...)

• There is a new update rolling out for PokeGo. It looks like it's mostly minor stuff, but we'll have to see. Based on previous rollouts, I wouldn't expect it to hit the app stores until next Monday or Tuesday. (source)

• There are reports that the Pokedex IV scaling bug has now been fixed. So we're now able to catch wild starters with good IVs (versus hatching them)! The trade-off, however, means that we're saying farewell to that steady string of eevees and dratinis with perfect attack IVs.

• All things come to an end. PokeGo is no longer the top grossing app in the iPhone store. (source)

What's going on in your neck of the woods?

All right, I received the update a few minutes ago. Hopefully, this means that it's live for everyone on both Android and iOS!

Here are the official patch notes:

• Implemented Buddy Pokémon: Trainers will now be able to choose one of their Pokémon to be their buddy. A Trainer can earn Candy for their Buddy Pokémon by walking a certain distance


• Made it easier to select smaller Pokémon on the screen


• Fixed an issue where Eggs would sometimes hatch without displaying the animation.


• Improved performance reliability when a device switches networks to no longer cause the application to hang or stop updating


• Pokémon GO Plus support


• Minor text fixes

Other changes not mentioned in the patch notes:

• Your trainer journal now notes when you receive an egg from a PokeStop


• The design of your profile page has slightly changed.


• So has the design of the team leader appraisal overlay.


• PokeGo no longer works on rooted or jailbroken phones.

And now for details on the Buddy System!
( Read more... )

I believe that's it. I'll update this entry if I stumble across anything else. If y'all discover other things, tell us in the comments!! Otherwise, tell us how you're planning to use the buddy system and who you're walking first!