Everyone's outside, and it's because of POKÉMON GO

the 90% fail rate seems to have been repaired this AM

i can't find any indication that that's the case in either of this weekend's releases (i don't know when a.m. falls where you are but assuming america). i can't test it either because from where i am no pokemon have spawned within range in the past few hours. normally i'd go out and test it but it's not appealing enough in its current state.

most people over level 20 reported a 90% fail rate anyway, which is just an excellent design choice if your goal is punishing humanity

the update turned every pokemon into an evil little shit constantly jumping and taunting and being random unknowable distances away

and breaking out of balls and running wayyyy more often

so being level 20+ makes cp10 pokemon harder to catch, but this new update makes those same pokemon even harder to catch

yeah, it's like any other MMO where you get to a high level and all the level 1 enemies have scaled so ridiculously that you can't even kill them and also all the level 80 enemies are so difficult you can't kill them and if you do actually manage to kill either you still get the same amount of exp for each that you did at level 1!

damn you've been burnt by some bad MMOs it sounds like

which is weird for a nintendo-related property, because the classic nintendo technique for 20+ years has been to make early achievements easier while introducing new challenges. it doesn't make sense, especially in nintendo circles, to punish players for becoming more powerful.

in replaying pokemon silver last week, i remembered acquiring new skills like cut and flash to open new areas and shortcuts, but also that a level 17 croconaw obliterates a level 3 rattata. that's classic nintendo levelling, and it's the essence of pokemon. that's what training achieves. that's the point of having a starter and grinding it.

pokemon go's cp10 weedles should be tricky to catch when you're level 3, but insultingly easy at level 22. instead it's arse backwards.

and if you do actually manage to kill either you still get the same amount of exp for each that you did at level 1!

this is nuts. i've been ignoring cp900 pokemon because what's the point? i get loads more out of catching two crap pidgeys than one formidable pinsir.

xp to qualx

so the incentive to explore was in itself an incentive to discover new areas of the neighbourhood. that was great. i've learnt so much about nearby blocks i didn't even know existed, including gorgeous old buildings and graffiti (melbourne's graffiti game is phenomenal atm). but the game itself doesn't give you further impetus to explore or even exercise, because the further in you get the worse it treats you.

and i'm lucky enough to have 100+ pokestops within 2 km radius. i hate to think how suburban/rural players are getting anything at all out of this. it's not like they can just wander down the street and collect a load of pokeballs.

is there a point to exp when the game gets less enjoyable the more you level? it's so easy to take down a gym and get your dumb 10 coins before someone else beats you, what's the point in trying?

what's especially weird is that the exp jumps from level 20 on are already so insane it would be decently balanced if cp10s stayed easy. grinding out weedles and pidgeys over and over again is enough of a boring hassle, why make it difficult too?

wanna give leveling a real purpose after 20, make a real gym defender bonus or something. 10 coins for getting your pokemon in a gym (once a day), 2 coins every hour they last. something like that.

is there a point to exp when the game gets less enjoyable the more you level?

nah. i started dreading level-ups because it just means the game got less fun to play.

it sounds like the pokemon company/nintendo/game freak/whomever just handed over a load of assets and ip/brand guidelines, and let niantic do whatever it liked. niantic is skilled at geo (which it's done very well, if you ignore the imbalance in pokestops) and not much else. even its comms strategy is terrible.

I havent' seen any increase in escape rate. I'm level 22.

At least not in my perceived escape rate.

i found if they break free from the first ball they'll burn off a heap of balls and run. i've also given up on anything >120 cp unless it's a seel or something.

i also noticed the flee rate was ridiculous ~3 hrs ago and much better ~2 hrs ago, so maybe they tuned stuff at their end.

Actually I was coming confusing escape and flee. Yeah, they escape a lot, but I don't get many running away.

Of course as soon as I post that I have 3 Pidgey's run away from me on my commute. Thanks AA!

wanna give leveling a real purpose after 20, make a real gym defender bonus or something. 10 coins for getting your pokemon in a gym (once a day), 2 coins every hour they last. something like that.

― qualx, Monday, August 1, 2016 11:21 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^ was thinking something like this. like 1/2 coin every 30 minutes you have a thing in a gym to keep the precious 10/gym ratio.

re: my breakout observation yesterday; it looked like they updated twice in, like, 12 hours yesterday and the more aggressive taunting/fleeing behavior was nerfed.

wld also really be into the distance mechanism being tied into real steps/the health app so that ur winter treadmill running counts. can't wait to see how horrible this game is when it's 10 degrees out

god it really doesn't seem so complicated to make this into a good and maybe even excellent game. it's just so half-assed.

the structure is absolutely there and parts of it are rock solid. i suspect nintendo pressured them to get it out early while the northern hemisphere was still in summer (which is weird for a company that delays heavily for the sake of perfection, but sun/moon is locked in for november).

at a guess, based on reports that niantic is ~40 members, it needs at least another three months of portal/pokestop processing, fine tuning of mechanics and gym development to get where it needs to be.

can't wait to see how horrible this game is when it's 10 degrees out

― How Butch, I mean (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Tuesday, 2 August 2016 23:59 (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it's painful. two thermal t shirts, scarf, overcoat and thermal socks are sometimes enough if you're out of the wind.

Of course as soon as I post that I have 3 Pidgey's run away from me on my commute. Thanks AA!

― Jeff, Tuesday, 2 August 2016 23:59 (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

commute? if you're in a moving vehicle at the time, they're probably moving out of range. the range was apparently reduced in the latest release.

(thought i posted this 3 hours ago, apparently not)

Bus. I still caught plenty of stuff, but maybe that is the case.

I have acquired the knack of visiting pokéstops from a reasonably fast moving train. It doesn't always work - you have to touch in at exactly the right time - but travelling from south to central London can be quite profitable.

via the dancehall thread: http://djstefanomusic.com/music/mr-vegas-nuh-play-pokemon

also - http://i.imgur.com/m0WUIe0.mp4

spent a couple hours at the big local hotspot, which is a big nu-outdoor-commercial-area-you-have-to-drive-to situated around a lake (the rio in maryland) with about 15 stops around it and one gym no one really cares about. and if you were there you'd have no idea the craze has died down at all. hundreds of people all doing the same thing on a wednesday night.

sad thing is that it really does feel like a social taboo to actually interact with other people. everyone has their little groups they're with and people are wearing pokemon shirts/hats and even playing with the sound on but it's like an unspoken agreement that you won't actually acknowledge anyone else to their face

https://twitter.com/PokemonGoApp/status/761301330967326720

Trainers, a new bug affecting throw accuracy increases the odds of escape and omits the XP bonus. We are working on a fix, stay tuned...

more and more this feels like the biggest botched opportunity of the year and I am including JEB!

at least they're communicating now

i mean i sort of get this. they're are relatively small team, and they and nintendo/tpc knew it'd be big but not this big. now they're having to deal with users who are angry that features in a game that didn't even exist (beyond beta) five weeks ago are broken or have been hidden. all evidence is that they're doing everything they can between users screaming at them and nintendo demanding international rollout.

launching it without trading pokemon or simple fights (even of the kairosoft variety where you have no control!) is just unconscionable imo

they should've known it'd be big enough to have a single PR person on staff

I feel like the absence of all this stuff gives it an air of mystery, but I just play it when I'm walking my dog.

I love all the new loading messages tho

DO NOT PLAY POKEMON GO IN NON-DORMANT VOLCANOES

WINNERS DON'T DO DRUGS

lotta hotspots on my dogwalking routine, people seemed excited tonight and it felt very 21st century in a good way

idk why it's free, not everything has to be

Still playing this when I can get the chance, but feeling increasingly embarrassed that I'm only at level 18. Getting used to seeing gyms I've spent ages taking down changing colour as soon as I'm walking triumphantly away.

https://66.media.tumblr.com/8c817e5fef67504c813f4be65d5b1394/tumblr_obb3o2mdnf1u73tgro1_500.jpg

i got bored of this after two weeks, i'm afraid. ingress lasted me about twice as long.

they should've known it'd be big enough to have a single PR person on staff

― qualx, Friday, 5 August 2016 12:51 (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

well yeah, out of a staff of ~40 people one person could have flung off a couple of explanation tweets in that first month. no excuse for radio silence. ingress players have complained about that all along.

launching it without trading pokemon or simple fights (even of the kairosoft variety where you have no control!) is just unconscionable imo

― thrusted pelvis-first back (ulysses), Friday, 5 August 2016 12:32 (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

they claim it's just the foundation for a much bigger game but eh. afaict it was only ever a marketing exercise to sell sun/moon and it's got out of hand. nintendo however will make hats out of money when 3ds/2ds sales explode in november.

you're probably right there. Are there stated plans for an new xmas pokemon for the handheld console?

pokemon sun/moon in nov

ah, as autumn said. first i heard of it

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/pok%C3%A9mon-going-gone-jonathan-meiri

There's considerable space between "more players than all other games combined" and "dead" - it may well be roughly the size that Niantic were planning for in the first place.

https://twitter.com/StateDeptPM/status/765209532695977984

just colloquially, the crowds in central park have started to thin and the roaming mobs aren't really out anymore