9. The 4 Different Types of Pokémon Spawns in Pokémon GO.

The 4 Different Types of Pokémon Spawns in Pokémon GO.

In this post, I’m going to briefly describe the 4 different types of ways that wild Pokémon can appear in the game of Pokémon GO. In another post, I will expound and give suggestions on how you can use this information to catch as many Pokémon as possible. In short, catching more Pokémon directly helps you, the player, in several ways: gaining player experience from the catch, receiving the candy of the Pokémon species you caught (used to evolve or power up that Pokémon family), and arguably most important, receiving stardust that is needed to power up any Pokémon in the game. Since these resources can be hard to come by, especially stardust, I find it imperative, or at least extremely beneficial, to be able to catch as many Pokémon as you can find, as quickly as possible, to stock up. 

First, let’s clarify something for those new to the game. This is an Augmented Reality game, which means, in the case of Pokémon GO, that the player must move in real life in order to move their avatar (the digital on-screen representation of themselves) in the game. As their character moves, they come in contact with Gyms, Pokestops, and of course, Pokémon. Once a player is close enough to one of these, they can interact with it as the game allows, like catching a Pokémon, spinning a Pokestop or Gym to collect items needed to play the game, battling in a Gym for team control, or battling in a raid (I’ll save discussing raids for another blog post). Simply put, that’s how the game works, on a bare bones level. 

Real quick, for those new to gaming, a “spawn” is a video game term that essentially means the sudden existence of something that wasn’t there before. In Pokémon GO, this basically means that a Pokémon appeared on your screen to catch. (There's more to it, but I don't want to get that deep yet).

In the game, there are 4 main types of spawns: natural spawns, weather-boosted spawns, lured spawns, and incensed spawns. (Lures and Incense are items that you get from leveling up, or from spending real money in the in-game shop). 

It's important to understand the spawn timers as well, to help you prioritize what you catch, and in which order you catch them.

Natural spawns last anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour and are visible to all players nearby.

Weather-boosted spawns are a sub-set of natural spawns.  Based upon the real world weather, the game will update hourly to the best of it's ability based on your local weather forecasts.  The different weather conditions currently in Pokémon GO are Clear/Sunny, Partly Cloudy, Cloudy, Rain, Snow, Fog, and Windy.  Each weather condition will display differently as appropriate in game (snowy weather will literally have snow on the ground and falling, etc).  In addition to visual changes, each weather condition "boosts" 2-3 types of Pokémon. Boosted Pokémon appear more frequently in the wild, are more likely to have higher IV and CP values than non-boosted Pokémon, and reward 25% more stardust when captured. They also seem to last as long as natural spawns before they despawn.

Lured spawns are visible to all players as well, even those that didn’t activate the lure, but despawn after only a few minutes (2-3).

Incensed spawns are only visible to the player that activated the incense, and disappear just one minute after they spawn.

You can use this information on spawn types and timers to better prioritize your Pokémon catching order, to make sure nothing (or as close to it as possible) gets away.

Also, see my "Quick Catch Glitch" Post when I post it, which helps cut down Pokémon encounter times from 18 seconds to just 8 seconds, allowing you to process many more Pokémon per hour.

Happy Hunting!

-Jameson (Rubiksguy)

If you want to learn more about what the community knows regarding how spawn points act and what creates a spawn point location, check out this article by the ever awesome PokemonGoHub:
https://pokemongohub.net/generation-2/researching-pokemon-go-spawn-mechanics/

PokemonGOHub strikes again! If everything I said on weather boosts was new to you, hit up this article.  There's a lot more to it then I was able to go into in my blog post:
https://pokemongohub.net/post/guide/pokemon-go-weather-system-explained-ivs-cp-boost-increased-spawns/

Some additional notes for myself

-focus on rarest/most important spawns first

-then lured spawns

-then incensed spawns 

 (All above while considering the despawn timers, known or unknown, on the Pokémon that are visible)

-when lure spawn > incense spawn and when incense spawn > over lure spawn.

8. A Thrilling Gyardos Encounter! (WITH VIDEO CAPTURE)

Magikarp:  It’s orange. It’s small. It only knows splash, a useless attack that does no damage. It’s generally seen as a useless Pokémon for most of the history of the Pokémon Franchise.

Gyardos: It’s Blue. It’s massive.  It’s angry.  It knows powerful attacks, like Hydro Pump, Outrage, and Crunch.  It’s a very useful Pokémon in Pokémon GO.

But when you see that it requires 400 Candy to evolve the measly Magikarp into the monstrous Gyardos, and how they rarely ever spawn in the wild, most players can barely see one in their distant future, IF they squint.

Pokémon GO has released a few events that make farming enough Magikarp candy easier, but it still requires about 100 Magikarp caught, or 50+ using a Pinap Berry on each one, to save up enough candy to evolve. 

This is one of those times.  The annual “Water Festival” in Pokémon GO greatly increases the number of Water type Pokémon that spawn in the wild, and as such, Magikarp are everywhere right now…But wild Gyardos are still extremely hard to find, most would never see one, even during this increased spawn event…

Not me:  I got so lucky one afternoon, upon returning home early from my usual cluster spawn clean-out, as to find a wild Gyardos waiting for me, nearly at my front door.  I pulled into my neighborhood, and glanced down at my phone.  Nothing. As I approached my house, the nearby list refreshed, and the lone Pokémon on that list was none other than the might Gyardos.  My heart raced.  I know the timer of the spawn point in front of my house, so I drive quickly the remaining few dozens meters to my house.  Sure enough, he’s sitting right there to greet me.  Looking at the time, I realize that there is only about 5 minutes left before this awesome, lucky, and rare spawns de-spawns. Tapping it quickly, I turn on my screen recording, and this happens.

TIP: When capturing rare spawns like this one, I always use the "Set Circle" Trick.  Check my Blog for my post on how to do this trick.

I’m not special; This could have happened to anyone.  I was just in the right place, at the right time….My house.

To learn more about the Water Festival, and any upcoming events, PokemonGoHub is an excellent resource, and they are usually the first to report on any new findings or announcements in the game.  Giving you tips to succeed in special events is kinda their thing:

https://pokemongohub.net

Also, here is the direct link to their article on the Pokémon GO Water Festival, 2018! Get those tips when you need 'em...now!

https://pokemongohub.net/post/news/pokemon-go-water-festival-2018-shiny-kyogre-and-everything-else-you-need-to-know/

7. Up Your Game! Pokémon GO Plus vs Go-Tcha: A Quick Comparison

Pokémon GO is an amazing game, filled with thousand of catches, PokéStop spins, and gym/raid battles. There are two accessories on the market that offer the ability to catch more, spin more, and log travel distance better; The Pokémon GO Plus, and the Go-Tcha.

These devices allow you to catch Pokémon and spin PokéStops with the press of a button, instead of having to open up your game to interact with it.  This allows eyes free gameplay, and can be very useful in picking up Pokémon and items as you drive, go on dates, or when you are otherwise occupied, regardless of the situation.  Play without playing, essentially.   

This quick blog post will compare the two devices, so hopefully you can decide which is best for you.

Pokemon GO Plus

Pros:

Official Nintendo Licensed Product

Catches Pokémon or spins PokéStops at the press of button

Extra batteries can be carried with you when it dies, but…

Cons:

Uses a battery; can be costly if replacements aren’t ordered online.

Requires a screwdriver to replace the battery

Requires a button press to interact with

Plastic could break if not treated with respect (mine was great, but I broke the plastic piece that holds the strap in when I tried to remove it from my wrist improperly)

Go-Tcha

Pros:

Allows Auto-catch/Auto-spin (no button presses needed)  Allows for truly eyes/attention free gameplay.

Rechargeable battery

Many wrist band options

Cons:

Unofficial, Unlicensed, third party product

Might be against terms of service; grey area.

Rechargeable battery requires special adapter to charge that is easy to lose

More expensive than the GO Plus

Both devices can suffer from connectivity issues, so that doesn’t seem to be a determining factor.

Most of my group loves their Go-Tcha’s, but if you’re concerned about your account getting banned for using third-party hardware, stick with the GO Plus.  Both are amazing and will help up your game!  You can, of course, do fine without either of these devices, they just free up your eyes and your time, and can help you increase the amount of Pokémon you catch and PokéStops you spin. These are devices that I believe every Pokémon GO trainer should have.

If you want an outside perspective, here's a link to a Reddit thread discussing the pros and cons of each. Feel free to chime in on their conversation if you have something to say!
https://www.reddit.com/r/GoPlus/comments/7xxvj2/go_plus_vs_gotcha/

Additionally, if you end up having connection issues on either of these devices, try some of the techniques suggested in this Reddit thread:
https://www.reddit.com/r/pokemongodev/comments/6ueazj/my_pokemon_gotcha_wont_connect/

6. The "Set Circle" Trick: Catch More Raid Bosses and Conserve Poké Balls in Pokémon GO!

EDIT: You can now get up to 4 extra Premiere Balls when raiding with your friends in the new "Friendship System" in Pokémon GO! This means that you can now receive up to 18 Premiere Balls in a raid.  Regardless, I'd still highly recommend using the "Set Circle" trick I describe below, as those extra balls can go quick.

You’ve finally got a raid group together. You're all standing around, tapping your screens manically as the final seconds count down to victory.  ‘Maybe we should have brought more players’, you think.  But, as the clock counts down, 3, 2, 1, and the boss starts shrinking, having been defeated in the last second available, you all take a sigh of relief; it's over..

Except it's not.  You still have to catch the raid boss, remember?

In raid battles in Pokémon GO, you are given a certain number of attempts to catch the raid boss, in the form of 6-14 Premiere Balls. The number of Premiere balls you receive is based on a few different factors; If your team controlled the gym before the raid boss hatched, how much your team contributed to taking down that raid boss, and how much damage you did as an individual player.  If you care about catching the raid boss, and why wouldn't you, it is of vital importance that you maximize your chances with the limited number of Premiere Balls you received, lest the raid boss flee.

But how to do this?  First, the basics.  There are several factors that influence your capture rate once you hit the boss.

1.  The level of your appropriate Pokémon type badge for the raid boss

2.  Which berry, if any, you used on that throw attempt.

3.  Did you throw straight? Or throw a curveball?

4.  Whether or not you hit inside the targeting circle on this throw attempt.

5.  The size that the targeting circle is on the Pokémon when you make contact.

6.  Did you even hit the Pokémon, or miss your throw?

But there is one final factor that could happen that is up to chance:  If the Pokémon dodges your throw, making your miss your otherwise accurate shot, or worse, attacks your Premiere Ball back at you.

In my nearly 2 years playing this game, and 1 year of raid battles, I have witnessed many raid boss catches.  I find that most new, and even some experienced players only focus on getting the best throw that they can, and try to maximize their chances on factors 1-6.  But very few realize that there is a way that isn't very obvious at first to eliminate, or at least greatly reduce, the number of Premiere Balls that end up bouncing away from the raid boss, having been dodged or knocked away.  In the Pokémon GO community, this strategy is commonly known and referred to in raid battle parties as the "Set Circle” Trick.

As far as I know, this trick gained popularity when Pokémon GO YouTuber, ProdigiesNation, uploaded a video explaining it. I managed to develop my own similar method before his video launched, but his is much more efficient.  There are some things to realize before I explain the trick.  I'm sure you have noticed these to, as you caught your numerous Pokémon playing this game.  As you hold down on a Poké Ball of any type while in the catch screen of a Pokémon encounter, you'll see the targeting circle repeatedly shrink from large to small. The only times the circle stops shrinking are when you let go of the ball, when the ball is traveling through the air towards the Pokémon after being thrown...or when the Pokémon attacks.  This last one is important, and vital to this trick.

Normally, when you throw at Poké Ball at Pokémon, you're going on faith alone that you'll hit the Pokémon and it won't dodge away from, or attack your Poké Ball away.  This trick virtually eliminates this from happening, and, once perfected, you can be nearly assured that EVERY ball you throw will make contact. 

THE "SET CIRCLE" TRICK

As the name implies, we are going to be setting the circle to the size we like before we throw.  But how do we do this properly? First, I need to say, that while this may seem daunting at first, after a few tries, you should be able to get the rhythm down, and it becomes rather easy, rather quickly.

1. Set the circle: Hold down on your Poké Ball of choice until the targeting circle on the Pokémon is at the smallest size THAT YOU FEEL COMFORTABLE HITTING INSIDE OF. (It's better to get any bonus over missing a smaller target that you thought you could hit, so heir on the side of caution, and practice getting better at hitting inside the smaller target circles over time)
2. Once the circle is set, release the Poké Ball back to the bottom of your screen.  If you throw the Poké Ball straight down with a flick of your finger, you'll never have it accidentally drop to your feet, wasting a Ball.
3. Wait for the Pokémon to attack. Not dodge, jump, stretch, or sit down in a chair and start telling you stories of its youth; only attack. Each Pokémon species has their own unique attack that they use, and this never changes.  For example, MewTwo backhands the screen after leaning slightly forward, even the common Pidgey chirps and jumps forward a bit, pecking at the screen.
4. During the attack (near the middle of the animation), wind up your curve ball, and release.  Your goal is to have the Poké Ball hit the Pokémon RIGHT as the targeting circle reappears.  
5. With practice, the Poké Ball will hit the Pokémon before it has a chance to defend against your throw.

Here's a link to the videos ProdigiesNation made on this topic:
https://youtu.be/4qdjCk-cT08

And his follow up video:
https://youtu.be/dmpj1hW4Ha8

Some tips:  Practice.  The smaller the time gap in step 4, between the circle reappearing and the Poké Ball hitting the Pokémon, the better, as there is less time for the Pokémon to dodge or attack again.  

THROWING TOO EARLY: If the ball bounces off their face and rolls away, you’ve hit it too soon, and that Pokémon hasn’t finished their attack animation.

THROWING TOO LATE. If the ball hits the Pokémon a decent amount of time after the targeting circle reappears, the Pokémon will have a chance to dodge, or double attack, knocking your ball away. If you notice, as you release the Poké Ball, that the targeting circle isn’t the same size that you set it to, usually getting larger, it means you threw the ball a little too late. You released the ball so close to the end of the Pokémon's attack that the game started resizing the circle again, even if it didn't display it. Practice throwing a tad earlier.

PERFECT TIMING. If the circle reappears and the ball hits shortly after, good work, but try to reduce that time by throwing ever so slightly earlier. The shorter the time gap between these two events (the targeting circle reappearing and the Ball hitting the Pokémon), the less likely the Pokémon will be able to dodge or attack your ball away.  If you time it right, you'll even be able to make successful contact between the back to back attacks that some Pokémon are notorious for doing (Tyranitar, Lugia, and most Legendaries actually).

That’s the “Set Circle” Trick, although it’s more of a technique than a trick.  Practice makes perfect.  If you don’t feel comfortable using this trick on raid bosses right away, no problem; you can practice on wild Pokémon just the same, although they usually don’t attack as frequently as raid bosses.  Remember that if you used a Nanab Berry on the Pokémon, this trick won’t be nearly as useful, as Nanab Berries reduce the amount of times the Pokémon attacks dramatically, so just throw as you normally would.  I also use this trick for really rare wild spawns, as I want to make sure I get the most accurate throw I can. 

One final note.  Since this trick takes Pokémon dodging or attacking out of the equation, you’ve essentially made it so very little to no Poké Balls will go to waste.  This is extremely useful to know if you are running low on Poké Balls and are in an area where you can’t restock as much as you are using.  For example, I traveled from my city on the West Coast, with lots of Poké Stops, to visit family on the East Coast for Christmas break.  There were almost no Poké Stops where I was staying, and as hotels are a notoriously great place for cluster spawns, I ran out of the several hundred Balls that I had stocked in just a few day.  I wish I had prepared more, but once I noticed the shortage creeping in, I started using this “Set Circle” Trick to conserve Poké Balls, making sure that none went to waste, and every Ball hit its target.

Happy Adventuring!

-Jameson (Rubiksguy)

5. How to Maximize Your Limited Item Storage

Pokémon GO is an amazing game, but without the proper items, you essentially can’t play. Without Poké Balls, you can’t catch new Pokémon. Without healing items like the many varieties of Potions and Revives, you can’t heal and reuse any of your Pokémon that have fainted in battle. In this blog post, I’m going to provide you some helpful tips to maximize the utility of the items you carry, since item storage is limited and comes at a premium.

When playing Pokémon GO, especially if you live in a city with lots of PokéStops, you will collect a lot of items along your journey. For the more rural players, you likely experience an item shortage. While this is unfortunate, these tips can still apply to you for when you visit a more Poké-Populated area, to make your return home as Poké-Filled as possible for as long as possible. But, for those players who see themselves in situations where they are overflowing with items, or low item storage numbers that are not financially reasonable for them to upgrade, it is important to prioritize which items you keep to make room for the more valuable, even paid from the shop, items. This is especially important during events or sales where lots of items can find their way into your inventory. You don’t want less useful items clogging the space that could be taken up by Incense, Lure Modules, or Raid Passes, for example.

Btw, if you ever find yourself in a situation where you have PokéCoins to spare, I would recommend using them on upgrading your items storage. I’ve upgraded mine to the newly raised cap of 2,000, and there are still times where I feel like it would be useful to have more storage capacity.

This was exemplified in my life when I traveled from my densely populated city to a more rural area, and I ran out of Poké Balls in just a few days. I want to make sure that I have as many Poké Balls and other items in my inventory as possible, so I don’t run out of my ability to catch the new/amazing Pokémon that I will see in my journeys, especially if I’m gone for a long time with no PokéStops nearby.

What items you save will also determined by what type of player you are. If your main focus is just catching Pokémon, items like Poké Balls, Great Balls, Ultra Balls, Incense, Berries and Lure Modules are likely the most important to you. If you’re more of a gym player/raider it is likely that you should hold onto more healing items, like Super Potions and Revives. It is necessary to find a balance between all of these items to make sure that you aren’t missing what you need at any time. I also recommend to never throw away any shop exclusive items, as it’s better to use them for reduced benefit whenever you can and save space that way, rather than straight up destroying them.

When it comes to Berries, it seems that Nanab Berries are the most unused Berry in the game. I find this to be true as well, however I like to always have about 10 on hand in case I encounter any quests (Field Research) that require me to make consecutive throws without the Pokémon dodging, attacking, or me missing. Nanab Berries are very useful in those situations, as they made to reduce a Pokémon's movements and make them easier to actually land a throw on. I recommend, though, that you feed any extra Nanab berries to Pokémon in gyms of your team color, rather than just trashing them. (Remember you can do this from a distance at anytime if you have a Pokémon defending that gym of interest).

I also like to keep about 20 Razz Berries on hand, but I’ve gone down to as little as 3 before and been fine. I always like to keep around 30 Golden Razz Berries for catching those super rare monsters that I would hate to lose, although I do start feeding them in gyms for the stardust when I reach 100+. For players that hardly raid, it’s especially important to treasure these, as they only come from raid battles.

Pinap Berries are extra special. I never feed them to Pokémon in gyms or destroy them, because they are extremely useful when it comes to the likes of the monthly Community Day or anytime you find a rare Pokémon that you want to get double candy from catching. I even Pinap most evolutions that I find in the wild, as the candy reward is even higher when doubled from the Pinap Berry.

The following is one of the biggest tips I can give to those players that hit up gym battles/raids a lot, or even find their items approaching their storage cap. Use the weakest healing items first. Rather than using a Max Revive, Hyper Potion or a Max Potion to immediately heal a Pokémon, use those easier to get healing items, like normal Revives, Potions, and Super Potions. This will use up more items faster, and when item storage is an issue, this can be helpful. Save those better healing items for later, as one item slot for a Hyper Potion is essentially equivalent to 10 Potion item slots.

Final tip. Save your extremely rare Max Revives for raid battles. They are put to the best use when your raid team is having trouble dealing the damage it needs and battling the timer. If it looks like your main team that fainted could be put to good use, you can Max Revive them from the Raid UI to save precious seconds to get back in the battle and beat that raid boss!

Additional note. If you find yourself in an area with lots of PokéStops and your item storage full, spend some time “upgrading” your items. Ditch or use any overflowing Potions/Super Potions, Revives, or Poké/Great Balls to make room for their better variants. If you have a Pokémon Go Plus, or the third party Go-Tcha device, these only use Poké Balls, so make sure you have a decent number of those as well. While these devices are amazing to increase the Pokémon you catch, they burn through normal Poké Balls FAST. 

Good luck, and happy catching!

-Jameson (Rubiksguy)

if hardcore talk about min/maxing your item storage really is your type of stuff, consider visiting TheSilphRoad.  They tend to write articles deep-diving into the intricacies of this game. Additionally, on Community Days each month, they have a system where you can check in with your fellow community to "check in" and receive a special digital badge signifying that you participated in that special day with your local players.
You can learn more on their site.

https://thesilphroad.com

Finally, if you're all about getting the most out of your items, I'd be surprised if you didn't feel the same way about your Pokemon. The in-game appraisal system for checking IVs doesn't give you nearly enough information, so I recommend using this site, since you don't have to sign into your Pokémon GO account, there's no risk of getting banned or having your account compromised.

https://pokeassistant.com/main/ivcalculator?locale=en

4. An Entertaining Raiding Adventure of Wins and Fails

An Entertaining Raiding Adventure of Wins and Fails

Written by Jameson (Rubiksguy) O'Connor

Hi there, fellow trainers!  Rubiksguy back again.  Today, I have a tale of a great experience, followed by many fails, and ending with a plea to Niantic, the company behind the fabulous game of Pokémon GO.  So let's get into it.

I started the day late, barely waking up in time after snoozing my alarm many times. But I had a 1:00 PM EX raid to get to (my 5th btw, with a 6th on the horizon).  I only had enough time to make my coffee and throw some microwave meatloaf down before I rushed out the door.  I made it in plenty of time, as we had to wait for more raiders to show up.  I led the group, and divided us into 2 raid teams, with Instinct and Valor on one, and with Mystic on their own, in order to help those teams earn more Premiere Balls (one raid squad had 6 members, and one had 8, IIRC).  Everything went great; I caught my friend's first Mewtwo, who wasn't feeling so comfortable with his throwing accuracy, and I even caught mine on a Pinap berry with plenty of balls to spare. Double candy!  Woot!

Right after the raid ended, I caught my 7 day Research Breakthrough Zapdos with perfect HP and DEF, and, as nearly everyone left the park, my buddy even surprised me with a nearly full box of donuts to take home; the remainder of what he had brought to that EX Raid to share. I suggested to my 2 friends that we should walk downtown and see if we could find anymore raids.  We left our cars and at about 1:30, headed downtown.

On the way, we engaged in some friendly banter about our hopes for the future of the game, as well as some inside jokes about how my friend has a 100% Machamp and I don't, even though I have caught nearly 50 Machamp raid bosses and over 600 Machop/Machoke/Machamp combined....Grrr.... As we walked, we saw a Machamp raid boss at the end of town.  It was a super easy 3 man takedown, and then we moved on to see if we could find any legendary raids.  Nothing.  After awhile, my friends say they need to go home, so I start walking them back to our EX raid spot where we all parked.  Then, as per usual, I checked the Discord chat channels to see if anyone posted any Legendary Latias raids...and saw the unexpected.

The post I read essentially said "Looks like Lugia is spawning".  What??  It was unbelievable, since Lugia hadn't been a raid boss for months, and we were expected to have Latias as our only Legendary Raid Boss option for several more weeks. However, this message came from the leader of our Discord group; a very reputable fellow.  I checked a popular source for news, PokemonGOHub, and nothing...but then the pictures started coming in, and had I checked the Pokémon accounts that I follow on twitter, I would have seen them posting about it as well.

Sure enough, without reason, Lugia was back, and I was stoked. As a young boy, I loved the concept of befriending Pokémon, and I would be lying if I said I didn't still wish that these wonderful Pocket Monsters were real.  I especially took notice when, in the Pokémon show, giant monsters or legendaries were befriended by Ash Ketchum, the main protagonist for 20 years and running, as I identified with him in some ways.  So when, in Pokémon the Movie 2000, the giant Lugia befriended Ash and helped save the day, I was full of love and happiness with this Pokémon especially.  I don't know why the other legendaries haven't taken up as much residence in my heart, but it is what it is.

After that explanation, I shouldn't have to expound on why I was over the moon that Lugia had returned, but I shall...Shiny Lugia IS a thing. I was committed to staying out until raids ended around sunset since the rumors had proven to be true.  However, with little news of Lugia raids hatching, I started heading home, and swung by my favorite cluster spawn on the way, after a 10 min drive. Then, as I was deciding if I would actually call it quits for the day, our Discord group posted a Lugia raid that had just spawned...downtown...where I just was. Needless to say, I posted that I was, "On my way!" and headed there immediately, calling my friend to see if she could tag along..sadly, she was working.

As I arrive at the raid, I notice that I'm the first, and only, one there, which isn't a good sign, but I'm not that worried, since there were still approximately 30 minutes left before the raid despawned.  Eventually, more trainers showed up, and we finally had 5 accounts to raid with.  Now, those that have battled Lugia in Pokémon Go know that is quite difficult to take down with small raid parties, as it has high HP and DEF stats, especially if you have low level trainers and not maxed out, ideal counters and move sets...not unlike our situation.  One was a sub level 30, underdeveloped account, and even I didn't have any 100% IV counters or a perfectly ideal Pokémon selection.

So, we waited for more.  I kept updating our Discord raid group with the time left on the raid, and there seemed to be some interest from 4 more trainers to come and help...but because of traffic, they wouldn't/didn't make it in time.  So, after waiting for 40 minutes, with only about 20 seconds left on the raid timer before despawn, our group of 5 accounts joined the raid...and it was CLOSE.  We got Lugia's health into the red section, but nevertheless, the raid battle timer ran out, and we got the "Time's Up!" message. After collecting our "participation award trophy" of 500 stardust we were greeted by the site of a normal gym; the Lugia raid had despawned. Little did I know at the time that this would be our one and only chance at my favorite legendary raid boss during this legendary wave, as it was later discovered to be a glitch or an accident on the company's end, possibly occurring as they switched out the special fighting type event raid bosses for the normal, pre-event set.

So, an equal amount bummed, salty, and hopeful for more Lugia attempts, I decided to keep my eyes out.  (Spoiler Alert: No more Lugia raids were found that night).  As 2 accounts left the Lugia raid, I head to another Legendary raid close by with the other members of our Lugia battle squad, plus one that met us there, for a total of 4 raiders, including myself.  Now, Latias may not be as difficult to down with small teams as Lugia is, but it still is a challenge, especially when it has Outrage, as this destroys it's best counters, like Rayquaza and Dragonite, who, as dragon types themselves, are weak to their own Dragon type attacks. This Latias, of course, had outrage. So, as I post for reinforcements, our group decides to give it a try.  We got even closer to beating it than we had Lugia, but regardless, our raid timer ran out and the game showed us our complimentary 500 stardust to try to cheer us up.  I posted again for reinforcements.  We tried again with the same team.  We did about the same.  So, with one final cry for help, I call my friend from earlier who lives nearby, and tell him to run to help us.  10 minutes left on the raid.  At 5 minutes left, we still haven't heard from him.  With 2 minutes to spare, I start thinking about where he will show up from, and how close he will physically be to joining the raid at that location.  With 1 minute till the raid disappears, I tell my other 3 friends I'll be right back as I try to find our soon to be raiding buddy.  In an effort to save time, I intended to tell him to start the raid as soon as he sees it.  Because the road curved, he didn't have to walk all the way up to us to engage the raid.

I check the raid lobby, but I don't rejoin...0 people in lobby. I walk/run out of range from the raid to get a better angle down the hill.  I don't see him...my holler produces no response.  I look back down at the game from the main map screen, and as I approach my friends without our expected raid buddy, I count off aloud the final seconds of the raid before despawn.  "2 seconds...1 second...and, gone!"

"He's here.  We're in the lobby.  Where are you, Jameson?"   

"What?"  I reply, "I didn't see him when I went to check"

"He must have joined the raid from the bottom of the hill", my fellow raider responded.

"Well, s**t" I say. "I left range of the raid to check on him".  I should have been checking the raid lobby count, I think to myself.  Damn.

"Well, we definitely can't do it without you, Jameson.  Everyone, leave the raid".

So, essentially, instead of getting our 5th raider that we needed, I managed to accidentally remove myself from the equation as we got a new 4th to replace me.  Great.  We totally could have beaten it too, I tell myself.

I start to see a trend of failure, but I'm still down when one of our bigger, finally-large-enough-to-actually-hopefully-take-down-a-legendary, group of 5 members suggest that we try another Latias nearby.  They decide to walk since it's close, and I drive.

Now, despite living in this city for several years, I've never claimed that I know my way around town all that well, but this time, as I could see the raid in the distance on the Pokémon GO map, I thought all was well, and I didn't ask for an actual Google Maps location to navigate to.  As you can probably tell by the way this story is going, I lost my way, and had to pull over, figure out where to go, and drive back the right way for a few more minutes once I got the location from my friend.  As I near his location, I pull over to find out that the raid is across a footbridge, and I was actually closer to it where I was earlier, and had even driven right past it on my way to where I was currently sitting.  With only minutes left on the raid, and odds of finding my way back in time to the right spot via car seemed dwindling, I decide to park in the most legal looking spot (it was fine, don't worry), and run across the footbridge full speed, yelling, "I'm coming!" to a group of young people on their phones that looked like my group, but...wasn't.  They were up the hill.  Oops.  With a phone that's laggy from overheating in the first decently warm summer day I've experienced this year, I find my group and yell for them to start the raid.  Only a minute or two to spare before it despawned.  Bad time for phone heat lag. It was clear to us that we wouldn't get a second chance once the raid battle actually started.  But, we thought, that would be fine, since we FINALLY had a team that was almost for sure strong and large enough to take down this freaking legendary Latias.  With our groups set, and butts sat in the shade, the giant "GO" text appears on the screen as the battle starts.  Phew.  We made it...but then...

"My game disconnected. I got kicked out", my other friend said.  What the...O.K. this is insane.  I quickly ask him for a raid timer before despawn, hoping that maybe we had enough time left to back out and restart with the full group, but I knew it was hopeless.  I had forgotten that the park we were at had kicked me out of a raid previously, and seemed to have trouble with cell service.  Oh well, our group of 4 tried our best, but was greeted with that annoying 500 stardust consolation prize at the end of the timer, nonetheless, and no Latias to throw Premiere Balls at.

With no new reports of Lugia raid sightings, and luck levels equivalent to those of broken horseshoes and delivery trucks full of shattered mirrors, my friends decided that it was time to call it quits.  I headed home as well, head hung low, defeated.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that I was bummed, and disappointed.  Normally, I don't mind if I miss out on a legendary, but when you try so hard for 3 raids back to back to get a group that ends up being just 1 or 2 shy each time, with reports of other people potentially on their way, along with missing out on an accidental spawning of your favorite raid boss that hyped you up so much earlier that same day, end up being the one left out of a raid as you try to assure the 5th person arrives so there's enough people to barely beat that same raid that you accidentally missed out on in doing so, and when you finally, FINALLY, have all your ducks in a row, your raid group sorted and ready to kick ass, and a raid boss catch on the horizon, to have someone's cell service cut out, it can really take a toll.

But, I'm recovered now.  It is just a game after all, and I do already have 5 Lugia and several Latias in my collection.  Plus, this experience has lead to a great story for this blog and my writing class, so it wasn't an entire loss.  Starting the day with a Mewtwo and a Machamp catch was really nice too. And even though, after essentially wasting 3, I'm now under 10 Premium Raid Passes, I did just receive some PokéCoins for my recent birthday, so I'm good on that front.  

Now, the plea to Niantic that I promised.  My experience today has made my gears turn.  I know Niantic needs to make money. That's an obvious one.  And I support their system of how Raid Passes and Premium Raid Passes are handled, with one exception.  From tonight's experiences I can see that there should be a Raid Pass refund system in effect.  They implemented the 500 stardust reward regardless of winning or losing as a sort of solution, but I think they need to do more.

Pokémon has always been a game of creativity and trying to push the boundaries of what seems possible to "Be the very best, like no one ever was". Using a Pokémon that is weak to your opponent?  You'll be at a disadvantage and likely lose, but there is a thrill in trying and the possibility of success.  In Pokémon GO, some players find their kicks in trying to take down powerful Level 3, 4 or even 5 raid bosses with as few players as possible, and I think that should be encouraged.  In fact, probably my favorite thing to do in this game right now is to solo Level 3 Machamp raids, as after nearly a year of playing, I finally had my team powered up enough to do so, and it was a rush to finally succeed after so long!  

It is nice that once you use your Raid Pass, you can keep trying to beat that raid boss until it despawns, but I believe we need more.  In situations where you have a group of players together, trying their hardest to beat a boss, and can't find any reinforcements from their community despite their best efforts, I think it would be amazing for the morale of the players and contribute to the long term health of the game if Niantic would refund your Raid Pass if you don't beat the boss, or, alternatively, that the game would not consume your Raid Pass UNTIL you beat the boss. To balance people abusing this suggested system by using their Raid Passes on bosses with the intent to fail, receive their 500 stardust windfall, reuse that Raid Pass on another boss, and repeat, I would support Niantic taking away the 500 stardust compensation reward for losing, and even for winning, if that's what it would take for this system to be implemented (although I would still want special events to increase stardust rewards like we recently had with the amazing 3,500 stardust per raid fighting type event).

With the way the system is currently set up, your Raid Pass is used first thing to start the raid, and once used, you're good for the entire raid to try and try again, as I mentioned earlier, but that Raid Pass is gone for good, win or lose.  And since there is only one way to earn more PokéCoins in this game, and a slow one at that, the loss of a  Premium Raid Pass can take at least 2 days to regain your coins spent on said Pass.

To clarify, I'm still supportive of having the Raid Pass be spent so long as the battle is won, even if the raid boss flees, since while RNG does play some role, the skill of the player comes into play, and can be improved with practice. But with scare resources like stardust and candy for the best attackers in the game, very little can be done at the time if you simply need more bodies to fill the lobby to knock out a raid boss. 

If Niantic made this change, it would encourage players to try more raid battles that they normally might not attempt, just for the challenge of it. As well, players wouldn't be as upset at failing just because they didn't have enough interest in the raid from their community (or, even worse, actually not enough players nearby in extremely rural areas).  

Pokémon has always held a warm spot in my heart. I also love Pokémon GO.  Nothing else has given me the willpower to step outside and exercise without realizing it, walking and exploring miles a day, socializing and laughing with friends.  However, I hope that while my experiences, and pain, today provide entertainment for my readers, I also hope that Niantic takes note and considers my suggestions.  While I know this is unlikely to cause swift change, or any change at all, I believe that if we as players speak up about improvements that we believe should be made to the game, that the company will listen, as they have been proven to do in the past, and we, developers and players alike, can come together as one big loving community and make Pokémon GO, an already amazing game loved and played by millions, just that much better, and a damned good one.

Oh, and my story ends with me realizing, a few hours after arriving home, that I received my first sunburn of the year. Gotta dress better next time.  To be fair, what else did we expect from that raid luck today though?  Surely there had to be one more thing to go wrong to top it all off. Ha.  :)

In my first blog post, I recommend two YouTube Pokémon trainers that I find entertaining.  I also love watching these two.

Reversal. He makes entertaining vlog adventures, and covers Pokémon GO news.
https://www.youtube.com/user/ReversalKnD

StraightUpKnives. His upload schedule has been sparse as of late, but when he does make videos, no one beats his Top 5s and Top 10 Funny Pokémon Sightings or Lucky Pokémon Sightings videos.
https://www.youtube.com/user/StraightUpKnives

3. My Pokémon GO Plus Amazon Product Review

Pokémon Go Plus Product Review

My Pokémon GO Plus Amazon Product Review

Written by Jameson (Rubiksguy) O'Connor

Since its release (in the USA) on July 6, 2016, Pokémon GO has taken the world by storm.  While the game can be played perfectly fine without the Pokémon GO Plus accessory, I would recommend it for the more hardcore of players who want to get every advantage in the game they can, or just want to increase their daily catches and PokéStop spins.  I’ll be reviewing this product below, and I hope it answers your questions so that you can make your own decision on whether or not you want to buy one for yourself.

When I first thought about buying a GO Plus, I looked at the $35 price tag, and thought it would be better spent on the in-game currency, PokéCoins, and wasn’t interested in buying one.   However, once several months passed, and having seen my friends use theirs, I was tempted, so I ran over to Target and bought one, considering that I might return it a week later.  That was over a year ago; it’s safe to say it’s grown on me.  I’ve even convinced at least 5 of my friends to buy one, going so far as to drive them over to the store myself while on a break from our adventures.

So what is the Pokémon GO Plus and what does it do?  The Pokémon GO Plus is a small device in the shape of a PokéBall with a single button in the middle.  The device is about the shape of a quarter, and about three-quarters of an inch thick.  It comes in the box, button cell battery included, with a wristband and a belt clip, which you can swap between with a Phillips Screwdriver.  I tend to use the wristband because the strap gives me something to hold onto, even when its not on my wrist, so I don’t risk dropping it.  

In addition to tracking egg/buddy distance traveled better than the app itself, the main benefit of the GO Plus is that it allows hands/eyes free gameplay. When the Pokémon GO Plus is connected to your phone via BlueTooth, it will vibrate if there is a PokéStop or Pokémon in range of you. A simple press of the button will collect items from a nearby PokéStop, or attempt to catch a Pokémon for you. This can be a blessing and a curse though.  It's a blessing because of the small conveniences, like if you’re sitting in Starbucks, having a coffee and working on homework, you can be using your phone for other purposes and just waiting for the GO Plus to vibrate, at which point you can either push the button and take your chances, or switch over to the game briefly to try and manually catch what it’s targeting for a higher chance of actually catching the Pokémon. This allows for an eyes-off style of gameplay that can also be used on the job, a date, or while driving, where it would be considered rude or illegal to check your phone, allowing you to just push the button instead. While not as beneficial as playing the game directly, it awards free Pokémon and items you wouldn’t otherwise get in these situations, with the simple press of a button.  It can be a curse, though, because while it does try to catch a Pokémon that it targets, it only throws one normal PokéBall, even if you have hundreds of Great or UltraBalls, and won't give the Pokémon a berry, or credit you for a Nice, Great, Excellent, or CurveBall throw. Worst of all, if it doesn't catch the Pokémon, the Pokémon WILL run away.  High risk, high reward.  However, for those moments when you wouldn't be playing anyway, it results in just extra stuff you wouldn't be getting otherwise; just don't check your journal afterwards if you don't want to see what ran away.

This hands/eyes free aspect of the Pokémon GO Plus allows for the single biggest reason I would recommend having one: what my town calls, Item Loops. I live in a city with a downtown that has 28 Pokestops in a perfect two street loop; straight up one street, straight down the other.  The speed limit is 20MPH, so I'm usually not worried about the in-game speed limit stopping me from collecting anything. Additionally, the loop is almost exactly a five minute drive to complete it, and since PokéStops refresh five minutes after spinning them, this almost always results in a perfect loop with no downtime. This allows me to collect hundreds of items and dozens of Pokémon while driving, listening to music, and keeping my eyes on the road, just by pushing the button on the GO Plus. 

Another benefit of playing with the GO Plus is the ability to interact with multiple things in game. For example, the GO Plus will target a random Pokémon near you, and once it has, you can click its button and enter the catch screen with another Pokémon or PokéStop on your phone while the GO Plus is dealing with the first. This also works during a raid or gym battle; since these often last several minutes while you're staying in the same place, the Pokémon GO Plus will pick up on new Pokémon that spawn while you're battling, or spin PokéStops as they refresh (you'll even see the items it looted flash up in the right corner of the screen mid-battle, which is kind of cool and unique).

These are the main benefits of the Pokémon GO Plus, and they make the device worth it in my mind, and can lead to an amazing experience... When it works...

One of the biggest flaws of the Pokémon GO Plus isn’t the hardware itself.  From time to time, there will be connection issues.  However, these are usually the fault of the game needing an update that Niantic, the company, hasn’t pushed out yet, that results in a bad connection between the phone and the Pokémon GO Plus. Sometimes, the GO Plus works great and I completely forget about any issues for days.  Other times, however, like I've been experiencing recently, it will disconnect itself every time you push the button to interact with it, essentially making it useless. While it has taken Niantic a decent amount of time to fix these issues when they arise, since it seems to be a software issue for everyone with the GO Plus, I suspect it will get fixed eventually, so I still recommend one, because when it works, it's amazing.

The GO Plus uses a button cell battery, and usually lasts a few weeks before you need to change it, depending on how much you play.  You can save battery by disconnecting it from the phone of course, if you know you don't need to use it for awhile, or just prefer to play the normal way for a bit.  Batteries cost about $5 at your local box store, but I buy an 8 pack off of amazon for just $1 each battery, found here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LY8TNRS/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=ARD7DP6BI3ZPJ&psc=1

The durability of the GO Plus is pretty good.  Mine has received just a small chip on the front side paint so far.  However, I did manage to accidentally break the wristband by pulling on the PokéBall part of the device when removing it from my wrist in a rush, causing a small piece of plastic that secures the wristband to the device to snap.  Regardless, that was my fault, and shouldn't be an issue so long as you unlock it properly, or just pull on the lock end of the strap when removing it, rather than the main device end. Basically, great durability so long as you aren't stupid with it as I was :P

In conclusion, the Pokémon GO Plus is by no means a required accessory to play the game, but I would recommend it.  If you have $35 to spare, it can help you stock up on items and collect more Pokémon than you would in a normal day, especially if you are otherwise occupied and can only push the GO Plus instead of playing the game the normal way. Finally, for those that live near a populated area with lots of PokéStops that you can drive between, this device can help you keep your eyes on the road and still play in the background.

If you decide you want to purchase a Pokémon GO Plus, you can find them at most big box stores that sell video games, like Best Buy, Target, and Game Stop.  Or, if you're more of a fan of online shopping, you can order it through amazon here:

https://www.amazon.com/Nintendo-Pokemon-Go-Plus-Android-iOS/dp/B01H482N6E/ref=sr_1_3?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1529141386&sr=1-3&keywords=Pokemon+go+plus

2. Pokémon Type Effectiveness Briefly Explained

Pokémon Type Effectiveness Briefly Explained

Written by Jameson (Rubiksguy) O'Connor

In the Pokémon universe, every Pokémon has one or two “types”. By this, I mean that a Pokémon specializes in certain abilities, and generally can’t use many, if any, attacks of different types. Think of these types as the elements of nature, like fire, water, wind, etc. For example, the most iconic Pokémon and the mascot of the franchise, Pikachu, is an Electric Type Pokemon. Because of this, each Pokémon has its own set of strengths and weaknesses in battle, and an understanding of this Rock-Paper-Scissors type battle system will give you a huge advantage over those who don’t know, including your former self!

Pokémon GO is no different, with 18 different types of Pokémon; Normal, Fighting, Flying, Poison, Ground, Rock, Bug, Ghost, Steel, Fire, Water, Grass, Electric, Psychic, Ice, Dragon, Dark, and Fairy. Inevitably the Pokémon franchise will, at some point, introduce new types, but this is all we currently have. 

As I mentioned above, Pokémon always are at least one of the above types, and are at most dual-typed. In addition, every single attack that any Pokémon can use in battle has a specific type. I will use Pikachu as an example again. This mouse Pokémon is an Electric Type, and has several possible Electric Type moves that it could learn, like Thunderbolt or Wild Charge, however it can also use Normal Type attacks, like Quick Attack. Similarly, most Pokémon are able to utilize an arsenal of attacks both of their typing and of types other than their own. This can be a blessing or a curse. For example, if your Pokémon goes into battle with an attack that is the same as its type, your Pokémon will get a damage bonus. However, it can also be an interesting strategy to throw your opponent off guard by using a super effective move against them that is not of your Pokémon’s type when they didn’t expect it.
One of the best type attackers to have in Pokémon GO at the time of this writing is the Fighting type.  Specifically, try to catch and power up as many good IV Machamp as you can, especially those with a 15 ATK stat.  Some of the best gym defenders, like Blissey, Snorlax, Slaking, and Rhydon, are all weak to Fighting type attacks. This means that having an army of powerful Machamp will be very useful in taking down and reclaiming lost gym territory for your team; it's an excellent Swiss army knife of a Pokémon.
Machamp are also great to use in certain raid battles.  At the time of this writing, we have experienced many different raid bosses, like Rhydon, Absol, Golem, as well as some legendaries to come, like Regice, Registeel, and Regirock, all of which have been, or will be upon their release, weak to the mighty Machamp.
Some of the common type match ups in Pokémon, and Pokémon GO as well, are as follows.  While I can't get into all of the counters in this post, this will get your started.

Note how cyclical these are. Also, note that if a Pokémon is weak to a certain type of attack, they are likely to do reduced damage to that Pokémon type as well. (as in Fire Pokémon are weak to Water, and as such they will take extra damage from Water types, but this also usually means that Fire type attacks will deal less damage to Water Pokémon)

Grass is strong against Water, but weak again Fire.
Fire is strong against Grass, but weak to Water.
Water is strong against Fire, but weak to Grass.

Electric is strong against Water, but weak to Ground.
Water is strong against Fire, but weak to Electric.
Fire is strong against Ice, but weak to Water.
Ice is strong against Ground, but weak to Fire.
Ground is strong against Electric, but weak to Ice.

The link I used to write those type effectiveness combos from above.  Keeping it simple to start:
https://rankedboost.com/pokemon-go/type-chart/

Additionally, if you want to get complicated and learn all of the combinations, here is a great resource for the full set of type effectiveness relationships:
https://pro-rankedboost.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/type-chart.jpg


Most Pokémon types are strong and weak against many different types, and since we have 18 different Pokémon types in the game right now, there are many combinations to remember.  Luckily, Pokémon GO is a social game, and finding the right answer of what's strong or weak against what is never further away than asking the members of your group, or a quick google search.

Notes for further expansion 

-when it’s good for a Pokémon to know a move not of its type

1. Rubiksguy's Pokémon GO Blog Introduction

My Pokémon GO Blog Introduction

Written by Jameson (Rubiksguy) O'Connor

When thinking back to our childhood, many of my generation remember our first encounter with a wild Pokémon in the video games, or our first trading card, or even our first time watching the television show. It’s truly astounding that Pokémon, what could have been considered a fad at the time, has been around for over 20 years and has been a part of my life for nearly as long. As the years pass, Pokémon just seems to stick around, having found its niche in popular culture.

On June 6, 2016, everything changed; Pokémon GO was released on smartphones, like iPhone and Android. This platform shift, from dedicated gaming consoles to the ubiquitous smartphone, greatly increased access to this cultural phenomenon. Suddenly, both hardened Pokémon Masters and novice players alike could enjoy this magical world of Pocket Monsters together, even if they’ve never thrown a Poké Ball in their life.

This new game allowed long-time fans to re-experience their childhood and combine the collecting and battling aspects of Pokémon with real world exercise and community building. In this blog, I hope to touch on several topics, including the basics of what Pokémon Go is, how to level up in the game, tips on finding and catching rarer and more useful Pokémon to fill out your Pokédex, an explanation of how the rock-paper-scissors-style battle system works, and some basic and more advanced tips to improve your gameplay experience.  Additionally, I hope to talk about the many benefits of gameplay in the real world, including organized monthly “Community Day” gatherings, raid groups that travel around towns together to beat powerful bosses and make friends as they’re doing it, and how Pokémon Go has gotten many a recluse like myself up, out, and walking miles a day.

Playing this game has led to some interesting stories in my life, and I love recounting my daily adventures with my family when I return home at night with a huge smile on my face. Even more than a year later, I still tell nearly everyone I meet through the game about the ultra rare Dragonite that spawned in my garage for only me to see, the day after the game launched, possibly weeks or months before most players would have had the chance to get one of their own. In the same vein, every Pokémon in anyone’s collection likely has a story behind it, and I hope to keep you informed on mine as we go along.

In conclusion, the Pokémon franchise has shaped the lives of millions of trainers around the world. While Pokémon Go isn’t as popular as it was on release, it is still played by millions of people daily, including myself. I hope that my expertise of the game can help those that want to learn and improve do just that; I might even learn something in our adventures along the way as well.

If you want to watch some other content creators in their journeys, I highly recommend these two trainers:

Mystlc7 https://www.youtube.com/mystlc7 (that's mystLc, with an "L")
TrainerTips https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrtyNMe3xtv3CLg5QR78HzQ