pokemon go

An Updated Ramble about the GO Battle League

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Community Day Exclusive Pokemon You Should Evolve

One of the more-viewed posts on the Daily SPUF is an article about the GO Battle League. The article was released when the GO Battle League first came out. However, the new battling feature was… pretty broken. There were lots of issues and the experience was all-round pretty bad. But that article is pretty damn old now, and things have changed with the GBL. Mostly positive changes. More leagues and options A lot more Pokemon are viable for each league now. Although not all Community Days have been amazing for the GBL, we do have a lot more options. Niantic… [Continue Reading]

A Feeling of “What now?” in Pokemon GO

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Hoopa appeared in the loading screen over GO Fest

So, GO Fest has been and gone. It was two days of fun for me, I had a great time. However, as the event ended on Sunday, I had a weird feeling in the back of my head. That feeling faded over night, but came back in full force on Monday morning. That feeling was simple. “What now?” GO Fest was a little too much fun GO Fest was so fun that I got sun-burnt. On day 1 alone, I walked like 10km back and forth (I hatched 5 2km eggs on day 1), and we probably managed a good… [Continue Reading]

On Luck and Collections – Collection Tasks and Medals

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The 5th Anniversary Collection Challenge

Over the last year or so, a new type of research has popped up. Collections are pretty simple tasks that tend to run over the course of an event. These events feel a bit like the main series games. All you have to do is catch the Pokemon on the list. Once you have all of them, you get a nice little reward. But while collection tasks seem simple and fine on the outside, there are some traps that need to be pointed out. It all depends on what is required. There have been small collections and big collections. One… [Continue Reading]

GO Fest 2021 Day 2 – Raids, But Not The Ones We Wanted

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The Legendary Birds Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres

For the second day of GO Fest 2021, there was a very obvious theme. A mysterious Pokemon appeared in the Pokemon GO loading screen, and mysterious portals could be seen floating above us. Rather worryingly, the sky was not a standard blue, but dark, purple and ominous. While Day 1 may have just been a bunch of biomes, Day 2 was all about raids. Lots and lots of raids. Actually, too many raids. We had constant raids pretty much all day. Five minute egg timers, and 30 minutes to do raids after they hatch. During this time though, we had… [Continue Reading]

A Nice, Calm First Day of GO Fest

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Meloetta on stage

I won’t lie, I’ve been looking forward to GO Fest for a while. For the small price of €5, I can catch a ton of Pokemon and get early access to a new Mythical. Last year’s GO Fest was rather hectic, so was the Kanto festival earlier this year. This year’s GO Fest, at least the first day, was much calmer. Four biomes, varying spawns Just like previous GO Fest expeditions, the 2021 GO Fest was split into four biomes of an hour each. Last year, they were kinda based on emotions, because it was about Jirachi. However, despite this… [Continue Reading]

The New Graphics in Pokemon GO are Pretty Neat

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A sunset in Pokemon Go

Out of the blue, Pokemon GO got a visual update. A bunch of graphics were added, sprucing up the game for its 5th anniversary. While the changes are mostly related to gyms, there’s a few nice touches here and there. Sunsets and Gyms First off, the gyms are pretty frickng sweet. They actually look a bit more like arenas filled with people. Of course, gyms aren’t completely to scale, but the fancier graphics really do make raids feel less, well, lame. The gym battles and raids seem more action-packed, as well as all-round better to look at. The nicer thing… [Continue Reading]

Pokemon You Should Never Use in Raids

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Spirits of the Lake being eaten by various bird-like Pokemon.

The idea of Raids in Pokemon GO is pretty damn simple. You pick a team of Pokemon that counter the raid boss, then you tap your screen until it’s dead. Sure, there’s some nuance to be had. There are definitely Pokemon that do better. I also didn’t bother mention dodging, because that’s finicky at best. However, there are definitely Pokemon you shouldn’t use in raids, just because, well, they don’t do much. While you can get away with using an evolved Pokemon with the right stats, it’s important to try and get a hold of some decent raid Pokemon. Not… [Continue Reading]

The Second Best Team Rocket Grunt

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Shadow BIDOOF

Back in March of 2021, I wrote a long-winded article about the best Team Go Rocket grunt. Sure, all these grunts are the same. They’re the same copied and pasted model and they all have pink hair. But there’s something about one grunt that stood out. I was, of course, talking about the water-type grunt with 3 Magikarps as his Pokemon. A team like that is so bad that it’s actually good. Well, good for us at least. But all of a sudden, I have run into the second best Team Rocket Grunt. The Grunts have changed a bit since… [Continue Reading]

Poor Emboar – Tepig Community Day

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A couple of Tepigs

I’m going to be honest. Somehow, I completely forgot about Tepig Community Day. I was under the impression it’d be next week. But no, I was wrong, and July 3rd was Tepig Day. There’s a few… pros and cons around here. Everything about this event feels nerfed. Okay, I get it, there are few Pokemon as interesting as Gible. That day was great. Unfortunately, Tepig just doesn’t have much weight about it. So, even before we start, expectations are lower. But even the spawns and incense felt nerfed. Normally, when a Community Day starts, you get a huge explosion of… [Continue Reading]

The Bidoof Event was Fun

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A Level 5 Bidoof Raid

For the end of June, we had a very silly event in Pokemon GO. Now, most events aren’t particularly serious, but most of the time things are pretty normal. All you get are different spawns, maybe some research and eggs. When the Bidoof Breakout event was announced, everyone just assumed it’d be a normal event, with increased Bidoof spawns. Well, we were… kinda right. Niantic seemed to go all out for this event. Rather than just plonking down some spawns, we actually got a  rather odd, general increase. The event started off with just a handful of Bidoof scattered around… [Continue Reading]