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[jellies_two]

Niantic built a bias to busy areas into the game, it will be hard to change it. They used the massive data sets that Google has kept on us all to map movement from cellphones, and this was populating XM in Ingress. That means the more people constantly passing through a street, park path or junction the more XM can be picked up, and in Pokemon the more Spawn points are available.
I did a check of the number of Pokemon available to catch in any given area of 500m radius and it varies from none to literally 50. The latter extremes are in famous public precincts (like Santa Monica pier area) but also key areas in cities. In second rank tourist area it might be 15, in an unremarkable street in an unremarkable suburb it might be 6 and out in the middle of nowhere it dwindles to zero..
Basically it is in the games DNA to be heavily biased to crowded, trip advisor type areas.

 

[adamy]

ANYWAYS back to Pokemon: so I did the incense experiment on the highway this morning. Don't do this! It turns out Reddit and GAF were right and you really can't catch Pokemon above a certain speed. It's kind of hilarious to watch, though:

But also, my pokemon weren't particularly rare, so it seems like my highway isn't distant enough from civilization to qualify. The second incense I used out in the countryside was only marginally better, and then I lost reception and wasted most of my incense time. The amount of work it would take for me to really take advantage of incense versus someone who already lives in a sparsely populated area is pretty high. I probably won't bother with it again, but it's interesting that this might be the one and only mechanic that actually helps rural players more than urban ones.

yeah I've already posted it many times, but you def cannot catch pokemon when moving above certain speeds

i literally wasted like 5 incense confirming this

best use of incense IMHO seems to be going on a leisurely bike ride or quick jog

that speed seems to most ideal for spawning pokemon while you have an incense going

 

[Fuu]

sorry for y'all losses but hearing about bans due to bot use gets me like

 

[Quonny]

sorry for y'all losses but hearing about bans due to bot use gets me like

Anyone who bots shouldn't care about their accounts anyway. And to be clear I never partook in any gym shenanigans. That's douchey.

 

[NobleGundam]

Talking about impossibilities, my friend named his first Eevee as Rainy and it turned into a Jolteon.

He was angry as fuck and I saw it with my own eyes.

LOL

 

[Drain You]

I was so tempted to use a bot or GPS spoof or whatever only because this ridiculous humidity got me not wanting to go outside but I'm too afraid of getting banned. Did catch a nice Starmie today while being a passenger. I've had two 5km eggs stuck at 4.8km but I cant be assed to go for a walk right now.

 

[NoblesseOblige]

Anyone who bots shouldn't care about their accounts anyway. And to be clear I never partook in any gym shenanigans. That's douchey.

What level did you get to before being banned?

 

[Naughty_Doge]

Niantic banned my IP an hour ago or so. Fortunately it was temporary and only lasted about 20 minutes. I'm not a botter or spoofer, I was only using the pokemonnearby.io tracker from here as well as PokeAlerts.

Either I was unlucky or Niantic is starting to ban people who use 3rd party trackers too and not just botters/spoofers.

 

[Quonny]

What level did you get to before being banned?

26, I believe.

 

[Durden77]

I hate to break it to you, but Onix has always sucked.

It has less base HP then Weedle, less base Attack than Oddish (nearly half that of Geodude) and less Special Defense than Psyduck. It has amazing defense and absolutely nothing else.

Well make him good! Jesus it's been 20 years! His CP is so low I almost think they're preparing him to for Steelix to release so he can evolve.

Funny enough, I just read this: 'Onix is a viable matchup against a Charizard 3 times its CP' L20 489CP Onix (15/15/15) vs L20 1486CP Charizard (15/15/15).

See more here

Hmmm....very interesting...that's kind of rad.

 

[hirokazu]

Well, got banned.

Game was fun for the first couple days but after that it was garbage to anyone in the country. I caught 22 new Pokemon in two hours botting at normal walking speed and only catching Pokemon every 20 seconds in Chicago. In two weeks of pretty heavy legit play in my area I caught 41 Pokemon total.

Maybe I'll come back if they ever make it not dog dookie to us ruralfolk or actually make the game part fun. Still interested in the game from a meta-stance, though.

You didn't have fun with the game in the country, but instead of GPS spoofing as someone playing in a city, you botted your account so you'd continue to have no fun?

Yeah, nah, that makes no sense.

 

[hirokazu]

Niantic banned my IP an hour ago or so. Fortunately it was temporary and only lasted about 20 minutes. I'm not a botter or spoofer, I was only using the pokemonnearby.io tracker from here as well as PokeAlerts.

Either I was unlucky or Niantic is starting to ban people who use 3rd party trackers too and not just botters/spoofers.

They've been temp banning IPs pinging their servers too much within a given time for at least a week now. Seems like your PokeAlerts is scanning too often if there's a setting for that.

 

[BowieZ]

Well, I'm fucked if they ban Pokeadvisor log-ins.

That would be kinda cruel though, and a bit stupid as I've spent AU$75 on the game, and plan to spend more. (Best gym membership ever! Worth every penny.)

 

[Lee Chaolan]

Just caught my 3rd wild Nidoqueen

 

[adamy]

Well, I'm fucked if they ban Pokeadvisor log-ins.

That would be kinda cruel though, and a bit stupid as I've spent AU$75 on the game, and plan to spend more. (Best gym membership ever! Worth every penny.)

I'd imagine if you stop using it now you should be fine

Probably not worth the risk currently in light of all the recent bans

 

[NoblesseOblige]

They've been temp banning IPs pinging their servers too much within a given time for at least a week now. Seems like your PokeAlerts is scanning too often if there's a setting for that.

Their permanent banning is too inconsistent to really generate an idea of what triggers it. It's definitely not hits to a server in a time frame, not if legit people are triggering it while many illegitimate players continue to spam with no punishment. Either it's not automatic or it's something else.

 

[dreamlongdead]

I received my 3rd 10km egg yesterday, and today's Hitmonlee hatch really isn't that bad after thinking about things. I was very disappointed to learn that Low Sweep is a bad move, but I got whopping 27! candies from the hatch and it wasn't Jynx, Onix, or Eevee! If I can somehow find a wild Hitmonlee with Stone Edge, he would help beat gyms after a few power ups. My current one will then be dumped.

I also hatched my third Sandshrew, and I have 49 candies. He's at 420 CP and the evolved Sandslash can potentially be good depending on his move set. I still have not seen one in the wild. It sucks, because I'm literally one away!

I used Lucky Egg evolving to instantly get to 21, and I still have all of the level 20 rewards. Leveling up is going to be rough, and I'll be taking a break from the game. I am still interested in building up my team. I've consistently earned 10 Coin bonuses over the past three days, but I want to get some bigger ones now. I'm still against using real money, so I'm going to save my incubators strictly for 10km eggs. If I'm efficient, I can still hatch at least two 5km-eggs in one session with the infinite incubator anyway.

I won't be posting here until maybe Thursday/Friday when I plan on doing my next binge. I will mostly have strong water types.

Since July 7, this app has used 284 MB of cellular data + a few MB of Location data. The data usage is actually pretty damn small. I might be tempted to actually do egg hatchings directly in my neighborhood knowing this. I've primarily been playing by PokeStops.

 

[WhiteRabbitEXE]

Niantic banned my IP an hour ago or so. Fortunately it was temporary and only lasted about 20 minutes. I'm not a botter or spoofer, I was only using the pokemonnearby.io tracker from here as well as PokeAlerts.

Either I was unlucky or Niantic is starting to ban people who use 3rd party trackers too and not just botters/spoofers.

pokemonnearby.io shouldn't be sending your IP to Niantic, so that should be fine. Definitely PokéAlerts.

 

[RetroHazard]

Since July 7, this app has used 284 MB of cellular data + a few MB of Location data. The data usage is actually pretty damn small. I might be tempted to actually do egg hatchings outside my house knowing this.

My understanding is that nearly all of the data processing is handled server-side, meaning that very little actually needs to be transferred between your phone and the servers.

Unfortunately, it's likely because of this method of implementation that they've been plagued with server issues since day 1.

 

[spyroflame0487]

pokemonnearby.io shouldn't be sending your IP to Niantic, so that should be fine. Definitely PokéAlerts.

I don't understand why they've been so adverse to third party tracking applications. As far as I can tell it's no security risk on Niantic's part, and to be honest, most of them are much better than what we're given. For instance, a Jigglypuff appeared on my nearby lists. I checked Pokemonnearby to see which direction it was at and it still took me about 10 minutes figuring out where it was pointing towards. None of the tracking apps I saw gave you direct absolute pinpoint accuracy and it's not like you could just fly there...you'd have to physically walk to get to the Pokemon and capture it anyways.

It'd be nice if they worked on that specifically because it's one of the biggest problems still plaguing the game that has a relatively easy fix for QoL.

 

[WhiteRabbitEXE]

I don't understand why they've been so adverse to third party tracking applications. As far as I can tell it's no security risk on Niantic's part, and to be honest, most of them are much better than what we're given. For instance, a Jigglypuff appeared on my nearby lists. I checked Pokemonnearby to see which direction it was at and it still took me about 10 minutes figuring out where it was pointing towards. None of the tracking apps I saw gave you direct absolute pinpoint accuracy and it's not like you could just fly there...you'd have to physically walk to get to the Pokemon and capture it anyways.

It'd be nice if they worked on that specifically because it's one of the biggest problems still plaguing the game that has a relatively easy fix for QoL.

Three reasons:

1) They're extra traffic on the servers
2) They're technically against the TOS and have been since day one, so they're enforcing pre-existing rules
3) They seem to fall into the group of developers that don't appreciate people playing their games in unintended ways, even in circumstances where it's benign

Also, clicking the paw prints on pokemonnearby.io actually gives you the exact coordinates, fyi.

 

[hydragonwarrior]

Why the hell is Onix so weak?

I have one with 97% IVs that's bar is almost maxed out at 485CP. I'm level 22. The fuck.

He's one of my favorites. This sucks.

Don't worry man, Steelix is likely going to come in and kick everyone's ass

 

[Quonny]

You didn't have fun with the game in the country, but instead of GPS spoofing as someone playing in a city, you botted your account so you'd continue to have no fun?

Yeah, nah, that makes no sense.

It became just a way to see how many Pokemon I could get botting. Come back from a day at work and go "huh, cool, 100% IV Snorlax" and then go to bed. Like a cookie clicker. This game takes no skill, anyway. Not that that's a bad thing. I like idle games and mobages.

 

[chrominance]

yeah I've already posted it many times, but you def cannot catch pokemon when moving above certain speeds

i literally wasted like 5 incense confirming this

best use of incense IMHO seems to be going on a leisurely bike ride or quick jog

that speed seems to most ideal for spawning pokemon while you have an incense going

Right, but only in a rural area with very few pokemon stops or else everything is weedles and rattatas.

Hard to complain as a city dweller when the rest of the game is very biased towards me, of course, but that does seem like a very narrow set of requirements to make incense useful.

 

[Lee Chaolan]

Brisbane, Australia
Level: 30
KM: 429
Hatched: 234 (8x 10km, no exclusives)
Pokedex: 129 including Kangaskhan

My ex lived in Brisbane. Said Summer always felt like death there =/ gonna be rough to Poke in the Summer for you I imagine.

I'll post my stats soon.

 

[Masked Man]

I swear, if I hatch one more Horsea/Krabby/Goldeen, I'm gonna scream.

 

[El_Chino]

Well, got banned.

Game was fun for the first couple days but after that it was garbage to anyone in the country. I caught 22 new Pokemon in two hours botting at normal walking speed and only catching Pokemon every 20 seconds in Chicago. In two weeks of pretty heavy legit play in my area I caught 41 Pokemon total.

Maybe I'll come back if they ever make it not dog dookie to us ruralfolk or actually make the game part fun. Still interested in the game from a meta-stance, though.

How'd you get banned?

 

[Jailer of Hope]

Found a Ninetails today fairly easily with the in game tracking as-is. I still prefer the step tracking but Pokemon disappearing from sightings as they should has helped a whole lot.

 

[Lee Chaolan]

I've only spent one buck I got from Google opinion rewards but no "actual" money yet. I have a friend who spent 5 euros and stopped playing a week later.

I've now earned $3.25 from Google Rewards, and nothing out of pocket. I'm sure the moment I do I'll stop playing. Although earning it takes too long, I'd love those bag upgrades =/

 

[jellies_two]

pokemonnearby.io shouldn't be sending your IP to Niantic, so that should be fine. Definitely PokéAlerts.

Yeah pokemonnearby doesn't (cannot) pass any Personally Identifying Info to Niantic. if they want to ban use of my radar tool or the tools offered by anyone else, they'll ban the server IP I am using, or the accounts I am using first.

 

[jellies_two]

Three reasons:

1) They're extra traffic on the servers
2) They're technically against the TOS and have been since day one, so they're enforcing pre-existing rules
3) They seem to fall into the group of developers that don't appreciate people playing their games in unintended ways, even in circumstances where it's benign

Also, clicking the paw prints on pokemonnearby.io actually gives you the exact coordinates, fyi.

I feel pretty sure that it wouldn't matter what anyone does with the API, Niantic have the attitude it isn't allowed, and will be stopped sooner or later.
Even if it was a perfect facsimile of their Nearby function, with zero extra load and offering no extra info, they would still attempt to evict it. The game isn't Facebook with an API offered to third party developers. They owe zero documentation to anyone outside their company and zero help to anyone piggy backing their interface.

 

[Lee Chaolan]

Found a Ninetails today fairly easily with the in game tracking as-is. I still prefer the step tracking but Pokemon disappearing from sightings as they should has helped a whole lot.

What CP was yours?

Mine was like 156 something =/

Disney trip coming soon, will be nice to Poke there.

 

[Hawkian]

Can't get enough

 

[Lee Chaolan]

Can't get enough

Looks like my Zoo's map.

Great mixture of steps for hatching and Pokestops. Have fun!

 

[BowieZ]

My ex lived in Brisbane. Said Summer always felt like death there =/ gonna be rough to Poke in the Summer for you I imagine.

I'll post my stats soon.

Indeed, and it gets hotter and sweatier every year.

But I have my shorts shirts sunnies and thongs (flip flops) ready to roll. New Pokemon for new skin cancer, whatever!

 

[wmlk]

Can't get enough

Half of them used to be lured like 2 weeks ago probably. A bit disappointing now that the zeitgeist is pretty much over. :/

 

[adamy]

Biking is seriously clutch when it comes to hatching eggs

You can maintain the exact highest possible speed for egg hatching

 

[Joco]

So question: my girlfriend and I have been playing this game pretty avidly, and sometimes we'll be out and about separately but we'll see something good, so for example today two Rapidashes popped up at the same time, I grabbed them on my account, logged out, then logged into her account and my phone and got them for her as well.

Is there anything against this in the terms of service? Could two accounts coming from the same IP somehow cause a flag in the system, risking a ban?

 

[adamy]

So question: my girlfriend and I have been playing this game pretty avidly, and sometimes we'll be out and about separately but we'll see something good, so for example today two Rapidashes popped up at the same time, I grabbed them on my account, logged out, then logged into her account and my phone and got them for her as well.

Is there anything against this in the terms of service? Could two accounts coming from the same IP somehow cause a flag in the system, risking a ban?

Personally haven't read the TOS but I would be surprised if it was against it

I've run into tons of large families that have little kids each with their own account. They do exactly what you just described daily. Haven't heard of any issues so far.

It makes sense given the appeal to the younger audience and the fact that young kids usually don't have their own cell phone

 

[Hawkian]

Half of them used to be lured like 2 weeks ago probably. A bit disappointing now that the zeitgeist is pretty much over. :/

Soooorta disagree, it's not my city or anything, but this was 11pm on a Sunday, in the afternoon today and at like 9pm yesterday there were lures everywhere and the one spot where four are together had all lured for like 5 hours straight

 

[Toki767]

So question: my girlfriend and I have been playing this game pretty avidly, and sometimes we'll be out and about separately but we'll see something good, so for example today two Rapidashes popped up at the same time, I grabbed them on my account, logged out, then logged into her account and my phone and got them for her as well.

Is there anything against this in the terms of service? Could two accounts coming from the same IP somehow cause a flag in the system, risking a ban?

Is it against TOS if I were to say, give my login to someone in Asia so that they could get me a Farfetch'd? lol

 

[L Thammy]

Half of them used to be lured like 2 weeks ago probably. A bit disappointing now that the zeitgeist is pretty much over. :/

I saw at least 7 lures today. A set of 3 and a set of 2 scattered around a university campus in the morning (on a weekend), a set of 2 in a suburb at nearly midnight. I don't think it's quite over yet here.

Wanted to set up a lure for my buddies, but one of them couldn't log on.

 

[masud]

They didn't ban an obvious cheater in my neighborhood. The guy has 5 accounts with similar names all over level 30. Ive seen him take down and level up gyms while not actually being there several times.

 

[demosthenes]

How close do you have to be a lure to gain its effect, inside?

 

[zroid]

Is it against TOS if I were to say, give my login to someone in Asia so that they could get me a Farfetch'd? lol

isn't that what LORD was doing lol

 

[L Thammy]

How close do you have to be a lure to gain its effect, inside?

I think you just have to be in range of the Pokestop's ring, but I'm not 100% sure.

Also, just finally have a Gengar! I finally feel complete as a Ghost Pokemon fan.

 

[(mat)]

Just caught the only one of these bastards I've ever seen using the grass-tracker. I love how reliable it is now. Stoked.

 

[WhiteRabbitEXE]

So is the egg distance tracker completely broken now? I felt like it was reasonably accurate at one point, but at the very least I can say for sure right now it's only logging a small fraction of my distance walked. And that's with even with power saver mode disabled. A 2K egg probably took 3-4 times as much distance for me, and near 2 hours of almost continuous walking logged maybe 3K towards a 10K egg.

 

[El_Chino]

So is the egg distance tracker completely broken now? I felt like it was reasonably accurate at one point, but at the very least I can say for sure right now it's only logging a small fraction of my distance walked. And that's with even with power saver mode disabled. A 2K egg probably took 3-4 times as much distance for me, and near 2 hours of almost continuous walking logged maybe 3K towards a 10K egg.

I think it's completely broken.

 

[ciD_Vain]

Accidentally evolved my 64cp Bulbasaur instead of transferring it... now I need 25 more Candies again to get Venusaur.... Ugh