I Caught A Ditto!

It all started when my mom was showing my brother; of whom is on vacation as he is in college, our Christmas lights we decided to set up early this year while the weather was warm. The Thanksgiving event is in place right now so my mom decided to catch a Rattata for the event bonuses, and hopefully a recorded breaking tiny Rattata for the badge. 

Moments later she looks at her screen to see if the Rattata was small enough to count toward the achievement and this happened! 

I am not sure of and strategies of coming across one of these because it looked like any other Rattata, there wasn't anything off about it. The best/ fastest way of getting one of these long sought for failed experiments is simply by catching everything you come across. 

Please let me know if you have or know of someone who also has a Ditto. This is the first of even hearing about it, and I'm glad to say that I too am one who actually has a Ditto, maybe one of few?

Pokemon known to transform thus far:

Rattata 

Pidgey

Magikarp

Zubat

Pokemon Hotspot: River Greenway Bluffton Indiana

Walking the River Greenway in Bluffton Indiana with my mom, brother, and a friend, This is what we came across. I live in a more rural area than most people so to most this probably isn't a whole lot, but to me, this was like winning the lottery. If you live around the area then this spot is differentially worth checking out. There aren't any Pokestops (yet) so I would come with a good 100 Pokeballs per hour you plan on walking... yes I went through over 100 Pokeballs within an hour. 

I started from the beginning of the trail, which you can get to by turning east on the first road past Hardees, I walked for about 30 minutes and turned back around after reaching a red bridge. Walking that distance helped me hatch 5 2k eggs and 3 5k eggs within the hour. I also put 2 incenses up which I was lucky enough to get a Dratini off of. 

Pokemon Go Improved Traking

In this update, the nearby tab has been updated. There now is a nearby along with a sighting. Still learning a bit about the new tracking system, it seems they whole things isn't working for everyone at the moment. Some only see the sighting section of the new and "improved" tracking system, while other see both features. I can't say much on the nearby feature because it doesn't work for me. Hopefully, though things work and Pokemon can now be easier to track. 

 Along with implementing a new tracker, there is now a "safer" way for player who drive. All though anyone can just tap the "I'm a Passenger" to allow the game to work after traveling so fast, it was more of a safety for Niantic more than the players. By approving you are a passenger so you can still play the game on the road, if by chance you are actually driving and playing, then it basically waves Niantic from any and all responsibility from those who choose to play the game while driving. All though Niantic still wasn't to blame for people playing and driving, it's now official that Niantic can't be blamed for stupidity of the players, though it will still happen.

The accuracy bug was also fixed in this update. For those who don't know what the bug was, basically experience wasn't given to those who threw a nice, great, or excellent. At first many thought the feature was taken out of the game because people were leveling too fast (not sure how that theory came about leveling is balanced coming from someone who plays a handful of MMO's). 

Everton Indiana Pokestops

Connersville Indiana Pokestops

Lynn Indiana Pokestops

How to Quickly get Candies for Rare Pokemon

Pokemon Go Nests have been sought out by many users once they were discovered and there are even maps for some locations that have the nests pinned. While I was in Newport, I was lucky enough to experience not 1 but 3 nests! They were close to each other, though I wasn't close enough to the Dratini nest so that still remains a shadow in my Pokedex.

A Pokemon nest is basically where there is an unlimited amount of one type of Pokemon, A breeding ground if you want to get technical. How do you know if you have come across a nest? Well, typically there will be several of a Pokemon showing up on your nearby. It is better it just accidently find a nest because they are so sparse, it would take a redundant amount of time to find a nest by strictly searching for one. 

 Other Pokemon can and will still spawn in nests, but for the most part, nests can be treated like they are unwanted Pidgeys and Weedles, that's how fast the Pokemon spawn. Though if you are after Pokemon just for the Pokedex entry, then I can attest you won't be there long. I got 50 Doduo candies in about a half hour, catching other uncommon's and rares in between.

I don't know the actual locations, but doduo was at the aquarium and Dratini was on one of the bridges close to it. Walking from Newport to Cincinnati on the foot bridge, the nest was to the left near the other bridge I believe you get to the aquarium on. If anyone has exact locations feel free to let me know so I can add them for others.

Changes:

As of today, 7-29-2016 nests have been changed. The Pokemon that used to inhabit a nest now have switched. To check out more information here is a list of Pokemon Nest Switches. Dratini nests now, sadly spawn eevees. I feel like that was a bit of a slap to every Pokemon Go player. Make a well liked/ strong Pokemon into well liked/ common Pokemon everyone has 100s of. Doduos nests however, now spawn Ponytas. Which where I'm from seems to be a fair trade (I have yet to see either in my area). Zubats... no one cares about them obviously, either I didn't find an actual nest because there aren't any Zubat nests, or Niantic has the same appeal to them as the average player does.

Pokemon Evolution Chart

Pokemon Evolution Chart Here is something I found a while back. It was something I was planning on doing a post over but it seems as if someone already beat me to it. All credit goes to Ericdrowell. This post is good for those who are wanting to know how many candies it would take to get their favorite Pokemon.

Bluffton Indiana Pokestops

UI Tips and Tricks

This will be a fairly short post as I don't know if there are more UI shortcuts or not. I only know of 2, let me know if there are more! 

So for the first one, when you click the Pokeball to go to your menu options, instead of clicking on the button you want, you can just tap and hold/slide your finger across to the button you want. Rather or not it's faster, it's all up to the users preference. Personally, I like being able to slide and choose the option I want, but others may not like it.

The second UI shortcut is a simple double tap when you're on the map. What this will do then is allow you to slide up and down to zoom in and out; easy zoom out for shotgun. You hold on the second tap. I found this out trying to quickly tap a Pokemon so I could hopefully get it. Instead the map zoomed out -.-

This isn't much of a short cut, and many may already know, but to easily move the camera around so you can see if anything pops up on the sides or behind you, just move your finger up and down to adjust the camera. When I first started I kept moving my finger in a circular motion, making it hard and frustrating to see things.

Wabash Indiana Pokestops

Save Your Stardust

Yes, I know it is very tempting to power up the 29 CP Scyther you picked up on your way home from work, but it is worth it to use the dust and candies required? The answer to the is mostly opinion based, but in terms of end game, no it's not worth it. You would be better off saving all your candies and dust until you hit max level. The reason being is because there are several people already in the high teens low twenties; their Pokemon would be much stronger, and it would just be a waste to try and top the combat points. 

When I first started I ended up using a good some of my stardust and Pidgey candies, mostly because I hoping to raise a strong Pidgey so someday I could have one of the best Pidgoets, though that isn't how this game works. I also was thinking, from past gaming experience when it comes to powering up before evolving or leveling. Most games have it so it's worth your while to upgrade something first, then evolve it. 

Now I am saving my dust for the Pokemon I hope to main, though I haven't found any, and I will probably wait until I hit the level cap or until I'm a much higher level to use any of it. Stocking up on it now it will allow me to get a stronger Pokemon faster with the large supply I will have. 

Battling Gyms Like a Champ

Scrolling through the reddit feed a few days ago, I came across a post titled "How to easily take down any gym". I have yet to get good at dodging, but perhaps this tip will be helpful to most others. Basically, the author of this post carefully watched his opponents attacks and came up with a theory to win battles without losing any hit points, in a numbered list from 1-9. 

Keep in mind I didn't create this theory, someone else by the pseudonym Zmedi off reddit did, I highlt recommend that you check the link above out for a more detailed article.  

1. The first time an opponent appears, it attacks twice. So dodge twice first: flash dodge flash dodge, then attack.
2. If the server glitches/lags, you can take damage
3. You can safely get in one quick attack before the next flash - sometimes you can get two (flash dodge, attack, attack, flashdodge, attack, attack...repeat).
4. You are vulnerable after using a special attack because you can't immediately dodge - don't use them unless you need to.
5. You're up against the clock. If your 800CP is against a 1400CP, you can avoid taking damage, but you may not be able to whittle down their health in time.
6. You can cut through Pokemon within +/- 200CP of your attacker like butter (without losing health)
7. You get a lot of xp at no cost for taking down high level gyms, and it's fun! (although it does take a while)
8. It is way more fun than spamming quick attack and it'll save you a TON of revive and health potions.
9. Bonus: you can really annoy the 'super-gyms' when you take them down by yourself!

Getting Missed Pokeballs Back

This is a nice little tip I learned from someone I work with. If you miss the Pokemon you are trying to catch; the ball has to completely miss, you have a "chance" of getting the ball back if you tap on the ball fast enough; tapping repeatedly until you can throw again normally helps. I put parentheses around chance because I'm unsure if this is just a glitch, or if it was meant to be in the game. Anyways while testing this I noticed I don't get the ball back everytime, maybe the game isn't registering that I tapped the ball, or maybe it is meant to be a chance.

Could this just simply be a glitch? I noticed when I do get the ball back, it doesn't show my ball count under the right side of the ball. It could be that you are tapping and the game isn't sure of what to do so you get a "free" ball. Let me know what you think, is this just a glitch or is there really a chance to save a wasted ball?

Gyms, Gym Rewards and What to Buy with Pokecions

Gyms are used mainly to battle and collect the in-game currency, though it could be a nice hang out to chat with opposing teams as well. Maybe teams will create truces and allow one another to take  the gyms at the daily reward cooldown. 

What if you don't want to share a gym? What are gym levels? Well depending on the level of the gym, you can have that many Pokemon in it at once. If your team owns a gym then you are able to level it up by fighting your own Pokemon. Now you can only have one Pokemon in a gym, but others on the same team can place one of their Pokemon if the gym isn't already full. I'm unsure of the level cap, but be kind and do a few fights to help level your gym. It will make it easier for those who may not have a whole lot of time. Owning and making sure your team owns a gym will be less stressful when it comes time to collect your daily reward, those I prefer sharing because right now it's easy to reclaim a gym. 

What rewards do you get? Unfortunately, I don't have a screenshot of this but for each gym you have a Pokemon in you get 500 Stardust and 10 Pokecoins. Here is what I think you should use your coins for.

Many people will probably use their coins to buy Pokeballs, Incense, Lucky Eggs, and Lures. Well hold off on those, if you really want one it will only cost a dollar to get 100 coins which you can get those listed for 100 coins or less. I would also recommend holding off on buying the incubator, mostly because it's only 3 uses and Eggs are very plentiful. What you really need to save up for is Bag and Pokemon storage upgrades.

 I believe the first one or two should be the Pokemon Upgrade, then focus a bit more on bag upgrades. The reason why is because once the game is out longer, the more Pokemon you will find and want to keep. Also, trading will be introduced in the game eventually so saving those rare Pokemon may come in handy. You will most definitely need bag upgrades because everything you get from Pokestop except for eggs is an item and counts towards your 350 inventory space. Mine has already been close to getting full, and the more I don't battle and use my potions and revives the less space becomes available, which is less space for Pokeballs. 

Tracking Techniques

After playing the game for about 2-3 days straight; learning how to encounter Pokemon in your nearby box from, not only experience but also from bypassers. Now let's start with the basics. When a Pokemon is near it will show up in the box on your bottom right corner of the game. It will only show 3 Pokemon at once unless you tap the box then there will be a total of 9 Pokemon. Starting out there will be several silhouettes of Pokemon you have not yet countered, once you do and if you catch it, the silhouette will then fill with colors of the Pokemon.

Tracking a Rare find. With the game still being fairly new, there are still several tips to learn! Did you know that if there is a specific Pokemon that pops up near you that you wish to find over the others; you can easily go into the full nearby tab and click the icon of the Pokemon you want. Not only is it easier to track how far it is from you, but it is also easier to see if you are heading in the right direction... you can see the direction??? Well kinda sorta, if you are getting closer to the Pokemon you are tracking then there will be a small outline flash from the nearby box. I tried to screenshot that, but it's simple to fast to capture. To untrack a Pokemon, just tap it's icon once again. 

Now if you happen to be lucky like me and live a good distance from a town, then this may be very helpful. Instead of walking away from the town, try walking towards it. Pokemon spawn much more in town and walking the short distance I need to get to town; I've noticed Pokemon stop spawning the further away I get. Another theory that I won't be able to crack myself, but I believe that it has something to do with Pokestops and gyms. Everytime I'm near either I see more Pokemon. Is it possible that the game is programmed to have Pokemon be more commonly found near the 2 stops in the game?

Please, however, if you track Pokemon this way, pay attention! It is much easier to lose sight and concentration of your surroundings. Trust me, the game is more enjoyable knowing that the wielder of the device is safe.