Pokémon GO

[pika pal]

https://www.reddit.com/r/TheSilphRoad/comments/1cr6w3g
I wasn't expecting Marshadow to get spectral thief, but I was expecting it to actually get ghost moves.

Supposedly it still looks good in PvP, but still... no ghost moves at all??

With Sendai ghost GO fest being in a couple of weeks it's probably not worth hoping it's just early datamine placeholder, either.

Light trio sig moves do exist, though, and are apparently busted: https://www.reddit.com/r/TheSilphRoad/comments/1cr5zh1
And more details on blacephalon, stak, & naganadel event are out: https://pokemongolive.com/post/dusk-mane-dawn-wings-necrozma-fusion?hl=en

Marshadow I think they're afraid to play too much with because of Ghost/Fighting neutral pressure, but it doesn't have a good deal of distinction from Annihilape who DOES have Shadow ball (nevermind Rage Fist being prime CD move) without Shadow Claw or Punch or something. Better in ML if you roll a good one since Fighting coverage is rare but useful to back up Dragons, but not gonna make many waves since it leaves Giratina and the incoming Necrozmas as massive walls.

That said, Annihilape DID get Shadow Ball added near-last-minute before it debuted proper; I believe until literally 2 days (January 17th) before the event dropped (the 19th) it had Primeape's Moveset minus Legacy Cross Chop, then had the same plus Shadow Ball in a dump that mostly put preview data for the new UBs we're only now getting to and some Gen 9 Legendaries. While Spectral Thief is probably something we won't see for a while if at all (like the post-Fest freebie several Mythicals get), it's proven it's never too late for Niantic to change a mined moveset, for better or worse (the latter in the case of Gogoat losing PvP Rock Slide).

As far as the Light Trio, it continues something I very much disliked about Palkia and Dialga: arbitrarily limiting it to the form they can sell now (Origin then, the Necrozma fusions in this case) at the originals' expense. Palkia and Dialga it did bother me more since they still tried to push them alongside the Origin forms in the same event, but not a fan here since you get things like Dawn Wings directly outclassing Lunala as is (to the point of getting a move buff everyone clamored for on the latter with Shadow Claw). The mons themselves are OP but still not a fan of this approach.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

I've not been playing much recently beyond the daily checklist of "catch, spin stop, complete field research, open gift, done" but the prospect of a new Master Ball made me interested enough to log in this morning.

The research is immense so I was like, yeah there's really no need to go hard on this, gonna take weeks for sure.

And yet I had a very dull day at work today in which I was sat in lots of virtual meetings with not much to contribute, so I kept my phone open and ended up very nearly completing the first page. Only ~50 catches away.

Admittedly I was helped in this by the spawns around my house being insane today: Zorua is seemingly everywhere, I chanced upon a Frigibax, a Jangmo-o, and a Sliggoo (since when were those things in the wild...?), and Ioads of evolved stuff which gave loads of CP. Plus I caught a shiny Munna which was one I hadn't yet found so that's nice too. I wondered if these were are all special spawns for the event but apparently there aren't any! So clearly Niantic are showering me with the good stuff to reel me back in.

Though is anyone else finding Jangmo-o really common for a Pokemon you'd expect to... well, not be? Maybe it's my biome or hemisphere or whatever but I'm catching one or two a week atm.

 

[R_N]

So Sandygast's a kind of rare Pokemon, and Sneasel's popular and kind of fits the Team Rocket task,a nd Whiscash is an anime reference but

Why Dubwool? Kind of a random reward



Also gotta say I'm stunned how....reasonable? This is as research. Oh sure the numbers are big, and will take a while but not as big or intensive as I could have expected. Hell there's nothing pertaining to raids or trades oranything, even.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

So Sandygast's a kind of rare Pokemon, and Sneasel's popular and kind of fits the Team Rocket task,a nd Whiscash is an anime reference but

Why Dubwool? Kind of a random reward

Wooloo is still pretty rare (as are basically all Galar mons not in eggs) and Dubwool has been in the weekly reward pool this season. Plus it's evolved, so that's... something. Always appreciate the extra stardust and guaranteed XL.

Also gotta say I'm stunned how....reasonable? This is as research. Oh sure the numbers are big, and will take a while but not as big or intensive as I could have expected. Hell there's nothing pertaining to raids or trades oranything, even.

I could have sworn I read in the blog post announcing this that raids were part of it, but idk if I mixed that up with something else. Either way, I agree, it's basically the sort of research you'd eventually achieve just by playing normally and not having to go out of your way for anything (even if it took months on end).

 

[pika pal]

So Sandygast's a kind of rare Pokemon, and Sneasel's popular and kind of fits the Team Rocket task,a nd Whiscash is an anime reference but

Why Dubwool? Kind of a random reward



Also gotta say I'm stunned how....reasonable? This is as research. Oh sure the numbers are big, and will take a while but not as big or intensive as I could have expected. Hell there's nothing pertaining to raids or trades oranything, even.

Dubwool is sometimes used in PvP and Galar raids are still extremely rarely given out excluding Regional Variants I guess.

Admittedly I was helped in this by the spawns around my house being insane today: Zorua is seemingly everywhere, I chanced upon a Frigibax, a Jangmo-o, and a Sliggoo (since when were those things in the wild...?), and Ioads of evolved stuff which gave loads of CP. Plus I caught a shiny Munna which was one I hadn't yet found so that's nice too. I wondered if these were are all special spawns for the event but apparently there aren't any! So clearly Niantic are showering me with the good stuff to reel me back in.

Though is anyone else finding Jangmo-o really common for a Pokemon you'd expect to... well, not be? Maybe it's my biome or hemisphere or whatever but I'm catching one or two a week atm.

So anecdotally, I think this is because of the lack of event spawns lately after the Rediscover Kanto stuff ended. I've also seen a couple of the Pseudos and evolved stuff so my theory is they normally have decent rates, but only as the "generic" spawns for the season which we very rarely get time to go out and hunt, usually only there for 2-3 days between events. This season has been lighter on spawn heavy content to push them out, so even if they're like a 1/500 chance, there are more of those chances to roll them atm.

 

[Expert Evan]

I'm not rushing on this master ball task especially since I heard the limit I can have in my inventory is 2. I believe I have just one and I'm reserving it for when I really need it.

 

[pika pal]

I'm not rushing on this master ball task especially since I heard the limit I can have in my inventory is 2. I believe I have just one and I'm reserving it for when I really need it.

This is only our 3rd Master Ball, but I think people confirmed you can hold more than 1 so they assume it's not capped, just rarely given out (I used one on a high Power G-Zapdos, but saving my others for something like Hundo Necrozma-last-ball Situations).

I can't confirm if it caps out at 2 for reasons given, but very few other items in the game do (they usually artificially stop you from acquiring more like Rocket Grunts not dropping Components while you have a Radar) even if you have to force them (such as stacking Giovanni Research for SRR or Takeovers letting you get components via Research Tasks)