Prepare For The Christmas Event

The event going on now is disbelieved to be the Christmas Event. Why, though? Well, the double Pokestop items event was first believed to be the Thanksgiving event, or that there wouldn't be another event until Thanksgiving. It made since, and honestly, it was an enjoyable event. But Niantic proved us all wrong, Not only was there an event shortly after Halloween, but there was also a Thanksgiving event, shortly after the daily bonus event. This shows Niantic could care less about how often they through events out. There was even one for when Mcdonald's sponsored Pokemon Go. They increased the spawn rate of Pokemon... how many remember that? ;)

With Niantic holding an event for their sponsorship with Mcdonald's why not do it with other sponsors? Well, they are. That is was this event is right now, it's both the Starbucks and Sprint event. We have new Pokemon like what the leaked email showed, only they didn't come out on the 8th. Sprint caught up with the Pokemon Go team and sponsored them. Holding off on the release of the new Pokemon only makes sense at this point. To clear things up a bit, this is more than likely NOT the Christmas event, it is only a sponsored event.

How can we get ready for the Christmas event then? Put aside around 10 or so dollars, you will more than likely need to buy incubators and lucky eggs. If you are one who doesn't spend money on the game, it's truthfully well worth it. If you still aren't keen on buying items from the app, you may just be a bit behind in preparing and getting the most out of the event.

Why this event should be the biggest event; it's a larger holiday, and though not celebrated by everyone, new year's is. A combination of two events in the same duration would make since. Kind of like catching two Pokemon with one Pokeball.

There is a theory about eggs getting reduced distances, which is why you will need incubators. I wouldn't buy anything from the shop for this event though until it's a for sure thing. Another theory about generation 2 coming out soon is still of course around, which it should be, there just isn't a release date. Eggs give an astounding amount of stardust. If Niantic does the Thanksgiving event plus the Halloween event with a few extra bonuses, we certainly want to take advantage of it while we can. Hatching eggs aren't only good for experience and stardust, but candies as well. Doubling everything you get from eggs except the Pokemon will be a pretty epic event.


Don't use a lucky egg for hatching, though, you will want to stock up on Pokemon before hand. That being said you will also need a good amount of Pokeballs if you aren't around a lot of stops. With the new transfer feature, transferring Pokemon is now a breeze. If we get double candies for transferring Pokemon like in the Halloween event, holding onto Pokemon now wouldn't be a bad idea. Even if you plan on mass evolving.

Still need to complete that Ice badge? Not to worry, the Christmas event will more than likely increase ice type, water type, and Christmas themed Pokemon. Pokemon you evolve count toward the typing badges, so any Slowpoke, Seel, or Shelder's you evolve, they will count for the badge. Focus on catching those Pokemon if you still need the badge for mass transfer/ evolving during the event.

What you need for this event:

• Lucky Egg's
• Pokemon Stock
• Seel, Slowpoke, and Shellder's
• Incubators
• An easy way to hatch eggs/ walk buddy

Event Bonus Theories: 

• Legendary Pokemon release: Mewtwo, Moltras, Zapdos, and Articuno
• Reduced distance to walk buddy and eggs
• Double candy for catching, hatching, transferring, and evolving
• Double experience
• Double stardust
• Increased Items from stops
• Double catch rate from berries

How To Prepare For Generation 2

Along with new forms too exciting Pokemon, and the possibility of breeding being adding into the game. There are a few ways you can prepare for the coming of generation 2. Niantic has promised announcements on the 12 regarding "new" Pokemon. This could be about the legendaries, but it could also be about generation 2. Either way, there is some preparation that could help in the long run.

Saving candies to certain Pokemon will allow for players to already evolve some Johto region creatures. The amount of candies needed will more than likely be around 50 candies for Pokemon getting an evolution, 100 candies for Pokemon getting another evolution. Here is a list of the Pokemon that will get extra forms. "The 10 Pokemon That Will Have New Evolution In Second Generation".

A few Pokemon will have baby forms now. Generation 2 is when breeding and gender was introduced. Some of the Pokemon from Kanto will have baby forms that everyone can look forward to! This being said, I would save around four each of these Pokemon, just in case breeding comes out with or shortly after the new Pokemon a released.

• Pikachu
• Clefairy
• Jigglypuff
• Hitmonchan 
• Hitmonlee
• Magmar
• Jynx
• Electrobuzz

Some of these Pokemon may be hard to find, so not only will it be hard to get 3-4 each, but candies will be sparse too. If the Christmas "Holiday" event has any kind of bonus for buddies I would recommend putting these Pokemon to the top of your list to walk. Pokemon you still need to complete generation 1 should still come before these.

• Onix
• Porygon
• Chansey
• Scyther

Since Niantic will be adding new Pokemon soon, many feel there should be a 50 slot increase to their Pokemon storage. There really should be, but just in case buying an extra Pokemon storage or two may not be a bad idea if you still have the 250 spaces started with. The last and most important is a nice full bag of Pokeballs. I wouldn't worry too much about battling for about a week or two after generation 2 has been released. That being said use up all of your potions and revives then get rid of what you get from spins.
 

Don't Use The New Transfer Feature Just Yet!

As we can all tell by now, the 8th didn't bring any new Pokemon. A little disappointing yes, but I suppose that's what happens when confidential information gets leaked. It is also possible that Niantic just wasn't ready. The reason why I say this. It seems like Niantic's servers are facing a bit of latency problems. When selecting the Pokedex or scrolling too fast in your Pokemon bag, not all of them will show up. Their servers would be crashing left and right if more Pokemon were introduced.

Along with the new update came a fairly necessary feature if you asked me. This feature allows for trainers to mass transfer Pokemon to professor Willow. For some, it may not be a bit deal. When you have hundreds of Pokemon just waiting to be transferred, only put off because of the invested time needed. A feature like this could be your new best friend.

I believe there is a reason why Niantic choose to put this feature in now. Thinking about it for a bit, when new mechanics are added to the game, any game in general. People love using it when it firsts arrives. Sometimes developers do this for a reason, knowing of these statistics. We all know there should be an event starting here within a week or two. So why would Niantic release a patch with such a feature?


It has been heavily theorized that with the Holiday event, it will be very similar to the Halloween event. This means we can expect increased spawn for ice and possibly water type Pokemon, decreased distance needed for buddy candy, and that's right... double candy. There has been "rumor" of other event bonuses but I'm going to focus on the double candy bonus for now.

Typically when updates as such, they hint towards future mechanics to expect. I have seen "game changing" updates and patches in every game I've ever played. With all of this being said, though not confirmed, I believe Niantic added this feature to force inexperienced and unsuspecting trainers to use the feature before the release of the event.

Yes, you can use it if you would like, but for those who are so close yet so far from completing the Pokedex. I would highly recommend you save Pokemon. At least the ones you are still trying to get the tedious last candies for. It's not going to hurt anyone to save Pokemon. If this theory proves to be true, it may hurt players that transfer before hand.

Possible New Features Following the Release of the New Pokemon

Here is a list of a few new feature added into generation 2.

• Time specific Pokemon/ Happiness levels
• Shiny Pokemon
• Breeding/ Gender
• Berry "trees"/ Held Items
• Gifting/ Friend system
• Roaming Legendaries

Some of these features have already been confirmed or talked about by Niantic, like breeding. Others, on the other hand, aren't confirmed and really haven't been covered, so here I am to go over possible features we may see following generation 2. Keep in mind there are other mechanics that were added after, the Johto region, like Pokemon abilities, which I will cover those another day.

Widely known mechanics to look forward to are, breeding and shiny Pokemon. To start things off, a shiny Pokemon is a slightly altered color of its original species. The most iconic shiny Pokemon is the red Gyarados, it's original color is blue. Finding these off colored Pokemon though isn't as easy as it may sound; they are a rarer version of a Pokemon. This feature will allow players to fill out the Pokedex with normal and shiny Pokemon forms.

Breeding allowed for a female Pokemon and Male Pokemon too, well in simple terms, mate. In order for a feature like this to work, genders would have to be introduced into Pokemon GO first. How such an act will work without a daycare center, I'm not sure, to be honest, but it is widely believed to be seen in the future of the games life cycle. Breeding will affect players by an egg being given to them without having to hit a Pokestop. Bred eggs I suspect to work differently than eggs rewarded from Pokestops. 

This, a very unlikely feature, but something to question, berries and berry trees were implemented into the game in generation 2. In terms of Pokemon go, I'm not sure how something like these would work, or what different types of berries could be put in the game, so let's go ahead and combine berries and held items.

Like trading, the dueling system is supposed to reach the game live at some point. The dueling system would add a whole new style of battle with your Pokemon, with held items and berries could enhance the battling system even more. How so? The berries in the Nintendo games have healing properties, they can cure debuffs like paralysis and sleeping Pokemon. Other berries could heal a certain amount of hit points. If the "held item" feature gets infused with the coding, then I could see a larger variety of berries, held by Pokemon to use in battles.

The other features may be a bit harder to put into the game, the happiness level used for some of Johto Pokemon's evolution I don't see being put into the game because evolution stones weren't put in for generation 1. I do see them including the time specific Pokemon. What I mean by this is, in the morning you may have more of a Pokemon spawn, and same thing for afternoon and night. If this is added then we can expect Espeon and Umbreon spawning more in their time frames. If you evolve an Eevee within one of the time frames; morning you would get Espeon, and at night you would get Ubreon, this would probably only be a chance so trainers still have a chance of getting Jolteon, Vaporeon, and Flareon.

Without legendaries being in the game right now, it's going to be hard to determine what Niantic plans for the release of the first roaming legendaries; Entei, Suicune, and Raikou. An event for these legendaries and other roaming legendary Pokemon could include something like regional Pokemon, or like the Japanese Lapras event. This would give the effect of them "roaming".


Everyone enjoys being given gifts, and not so much, giving gifts. A feature allowing players to gift friends items could make its way into the game. First, of course, there will need a be a friends system. The friend system might work like the system in second generation, allowing the protagonist to add numbers of trainers (s)he comes across. I know I've had to delete Pokeballs I would have rather given away. If this feature is added, it could allow trainers to help each other out even more!

  

An Undiscovered Easter Egg

                      

I do not own any of these photos

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After choosing your starter Pokemon; Squirtle, Charmander, or Bulbasaur, from Professor Oak. You then proceed on into the wild where you encounter wild Pokemon. Route 1 is the first area in the game you will encounter Pokemon, which are just Pidgey and Rattatas in the original Red and Blue games.

From there you will find yourself in Viridian City, which will eventually get you to route 2. Route 2 is the home of Caterpie, Weedle, Pidgey, and Rattata until you get to Viridian's forest; you can add Metapod, Kakuna, and Pikachu to the list. These are the Pokemon that again, show up in the Red and Blue games.

After doing a short tutorial on how to catch Pokemon in Pewter City, and a quick exploration of the town, trying to get into the gym you forgot was owned by the 8th gym leader; route 3 is just east of the city.

Home to Pidgey, Spearow, and Jigglypuff, some may already see where I'm going with this. The only Pokemon we are missing so far would be Geodude, Zubat, and Clefairy.

After completing route 3; defeating all the trainers and making it to the other side so you can heal your Pokemon, you will find yourself standing with what appears to be, nowhere to go. Don't worry, though, that little black dot is to a cave, Mt. Moon.

Those missing few Pokemon can all be found here, plus Paras. I'm not sure why Niantic didn't include Paras in the same egg group, or maybe what I came across is just a mere coincidence, but I don't believe so. The odds of the developers making all these wild Pokemon in the Red and Blue games; found before and in Mt. Moon, being nothing more than luck just doesn't cut it for me.

  There is a reason I believe this to be an easter egg, only involving the Pokemon Red and Blue games. I did quite a bit of research. At first I suspected it might have been the first Pokemon Ash registered in his Pokedex. A few episodes in I noticed Ash registered a bug trainers Pinser in his Pokedex, so I went on to believe that maybe it was only wild Pokemon. 10 Pokemon into the theory, Ash Catches a Krabby, busting the theory and putting my semi-hard work to shame.

  I don't remember why I decided to research all the Pokemon that spawn in the games, Red, Blue, and Yellow, but I did. I started getting a little disappointed when I saw that Sandshrew could be caught in Mt. Moon. At the time I was just skimming the bulbapedia articles, only later to catch on that I found what I was looking for. Until Niantic confirms this, which I doubt they will see it, I'm still not 100% sure this was intended.  

If it wasn't for that one extra Pokemon, Paras. I would feel more comfortable about saying this is, in fact, an easter egg. Aside from Paras though, all the Pokemon caught up until this point are the same Pokemon we can hatch from 2km eggs. My biggest question about the 2km eggs was, why do we hatch, out of all the other Pokemon, Geodude from 2km eggs? I told myself I wouldn't stop until I found an answer and I did! The thing about Magikarp being hatching from 2km eggs is because of the amount of candies it takes to evolve.

Why We Don't Battle Before Catching Pokemon

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We can thank Pokemon's mascot Pikachu for allowing us to catch Pokemon in Pokemon Go without the hassle of battling them first. I personally liked that part of encountering and catching Pokemon but it's kool... it's kool. This isn't a confirmed easter egg, though if Niantic included this scene from the anime into the game, it would be an easter egg. 

If you haven't watched the anime, then hold up before reading the rest of this post. It may contain spoilers. If you don't wish to watch the anime, and or spoilers don't matter to you, then go right ahead and continue reading.  

This scene begins with Ash stumbling upon everyone's "favorite" Pokemon to catch, Pidgey. Ash demands Pikachu to attack, which instead of listening to his trainer, Pikachu decides to find itself a limb to climb on and lay down. Ash, being the stubborn trainer he is, decided he doesn't need Pikachu's help, he can just catch the famous Pokemon by simply throwing a Pokeball at it.



This can also be done in the games; not weakening a Pokemon before trying to catch it. Ash isn't the only stubborn master. It is more plausible that this feature was put in the game to speed gameplay up a bit. The main objective is to "catch'em all". But... it's more fun to believe this was an easter egg intended to be found. Niantic confirmed a while ago, there were still several unfound easter eggs within the coding. I'm unsure of how to find out for sure, we all know Niantic won't respond, but I may have found other easter eggs in the game, so I will be covering what I have found over the next few days.

One thing that would have been nice for Niantic to do; like in the first episode of the anime, Ask doesn't catch Pidgey and it ends up fleeing. Did Ash lose his Pokeball? No! But It's okay that's not a very important feature. Who knows maybe you don't lose a Pokeball after a Pidgey flees, I sure haven't been paying attention to that. 

How Much Stardust You Get From Eggs

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This may not be 100% useful information, but interesting nonetheless. This past week I have been collecting candy and egg data of 2km, 5km, and 10km eggs. It all started when I was typing my "Get the Most out of Thanksgiving" post. I was hoping to include both experience gain and stardust bonuses, but I couldn't find any figures over how much stardust is gained from hatching eggs.

I spent a good half hour to an hour seeing many people searching, but no one with the answer. I don't have a whole lot of data so when you hatch eggs, don't worry about the candy, I have the candy numbers marked in the top columns, all I need from you is the amount of stardust respectfully placed in the correct "candy" column.
2km Eggs
5km Eggs
10km Eggs

Based on the figured I have done so far, 2km eggs are the best to hatch if you want to farm stardust, but 10km eggs give the most stardust per candy ranging around 80-100 stardust per candy while 5km and 2km eggs range from 60-80 stardust per candy. To get these figures, just divide the amount of stardust by the amount of candies.

The reason 2km eggs are better to farm; even though you can't choose which egg you get, you can still focus on certain ones, the distance traveled for 10km eggs can still give you 1600 stardust which is the max amount for 5km eggs. This makes the average stardust given from 10kms anywhere from 160-320 stardust per kilometer, 160-320 for 5km eggs, and as for 2km eggs, 200-400 stardust per kilometer.

Those 2km eggs seem to be a lot of unwanted Pokemon and are the most hated egg to get, the now seem to hold a better purpose than what's inside. 10km eggs on the other hand, if you have all the Pokemon you can hatch from them, are almost useless in the sense of stardust, candies to even; 16 candies from walking 10 kilometers, no thank you.

Still uncertain, I think you get a base amount of stardust, depending on the eggs you hatch. The bases I believe are the same as the experience; 2km 200 experience, 5km 500 experience, 10km 1000 experience. This would be irrelevant if true because either way you get so much per candy and it will be hard to determine rather or not this is true.

The Christmas Event With Johto Pokemon?

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As many already know, yet another event is getting ready to hit in a few weeks. It's undetermined how long this event will last, or if it will last up until New Years. There are several theories about what's to come, and here is my predicament, basing these opinions off recent game updates, and the trailer of Pokemon Go. 

First, we will go ahead and start off with Mewtwo. He was seen in the trailer before Pokemon Go was even released, the event lead people to fight him. It is uncertain if you will be able to fight him more than one, assuming that defeating him is how you catch him. With Ditto being released for Thanksgiving; the developers thanking its supporters, Other Pokemon will be released during events. Niantic has mentioned a while ago, the legendaries will be event Pokemon. Mewtwo seems to me like a good finish and an excellent start to the new year.

While we are talking about legendaries, let's go ahead and get the birds out of the way too. Theories have mentioned you may need to collect feathers to get these famous birds, but I'm not here to say how to get them without there being a whole lot over that topic. I'm here to say they will more than likely be a part of the Christmas event, just before Mewtwo's release. I don't see a reason behind them holding on to these event Pokemon after the new year starts. There aren't many reasons for events until a few months after 2017. 

Pokemon we can look forward to seeing more are ice type Pokemon, along with a slightly increased spawn for water types and any Pokemon Niantic seems fit for the holiday. The ice Pokemon in generation 1 are. Cloyster, Dewgong, Lapras, and Jynx. The only water types really worth mentioning, in my opinion as I still need them, would be Magikarps and, though it's not water it is a water spawn Dratini.

There is a largely known rumor that generation 2 will be coming out here in a few days. If this leads to be true, then we can expect the event bonuses to apply to those Pokemon as well. When I covered the Johto Pokemon I explained why I believe this rumor to likely be more true than it is false, I've just played a handful of games and know a bit of how developers work. Now onto the other theorized bonuses.  

I don't know who didn't like the buddy reduced walking distance. Niantic liked the outcome (financial reasons) of their Halloween event, they decided to expand on it, mostly because Christmas, and if I am correct there are other major holidays around that same time for different religions and cultures, are largely celebrated so we can expect a larger event on larger holidays. One of the reasons the Thanksgiving event wasn't too spectacular. Anyways, Niantic may even use the same reduced 

distance on eggs as well! 

I'm sure most already have been, but SAVE any and all Pokemon you catch. If you don't have enough room then get rid of Pokemon you already have evolved forms for and reserve space for those you still need. If you already have the Pokedex complete... good for you, you can collect candies for the Pokemon you use to battle a lot. The reason behind this is because more than likely transferring Pokemon will also give 2 candies instead of 1.

My posts will probably be a bit scattered and can sometimes be really descriptive while others, not so much. This is because I am currently working on typing out my second book "The Guiding Stars" it's not the best, but I'm trying harder on this book and taking my time with it. I have also hit my downfall for major/manic depression, which unfortunately affects my writing. 

These are the bonuses we can possibly see during the event though

• Legendary Pokemon release: Mewtwo, Moltras, Zapdos, and Articuno

• Reduced distance to walk buddy and eggs

• Double candy for catching, hatching, and transferring

• Double experience

• Double stardust

• Increased Items from stops

The Problem with Catching A Ditto

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Ditto, the Pokemon the had more theories of how the critter would be introduced into the game. Maybe it was already in the game? Maybe it will be a regional Pokemon? The beginning of Thanksgiving update proved us all wrong. The Pokemon community was in an uproar, everyone thought pictures were fake, or that they had caught the very first ditto; I believed that myself too, there wasn't anything about people catching Dittos when I did, which was on its release date.

It all began when my mom was trying to catch a Rattata for her "Youngster" achievement. She was outside with my brother at the time, showing him all the Christmas lights; he was on break from college. Not paying attention to her phone until they return inside, she noticed that it was a Ditto, nor a Rattata.

Ditto

Pidge

A few days go where we don't catch any around our house, though we wasted several Pokeballs in the process. In the photos above, you will see a Ditto and Pidgey. I bet you can't tell which is which, without looking at the caption. 

In the Pokemon Snap game, to get a Ditto we have to "disturb" a Bulbasaur before it will finally transform back into its original form. In the anime, it's first seen not able to fully copy Pokemon, and in the other Nintendo games, it's just itself, meaning that in all the other Pokemon games, Ditto can clearly be seen as Ditto, or abused into showing it's true form before any Pokeballs are "wasted". 

A simple tap frenzy on the confirmed Ditto disguises would be something interest to add, that way People don't have to participate in Niantic's money thirst scheme, buying Pokeballs because stops no longer drop many, and now trying to catch a Pokemon that might not actually be there.

Pokemon Stopped Spawning?

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I wasn't planning on covering this topic. It didn't seem worth my time to cover it, to be honest. I'm not too fond of it because there is only one Pokestop around my area so the tracking system doesn't really affect me. At least that is what I thought. It turns out it affects rural players, not to the point we can't even catch anything.

Before this rolled out; I wished I had a screenshot, there were several Pokemon popping up, not just your commons either in fact I have completed most of my Pokedex from my own house. Rare Pokemon just seemed to keep spawning, every time there was a migration, the Pokemon that use to spawn changed, and from there I was able to catch different Pokemon.

I'm not sure if this is the same for those who live in more populated places, I just know I went from catching several Pokemon a day, to not even finding any the next. Normally, this wouldn't be concerning, but it seems like Niantic keeps punishing rural players. Many times people have reached out to Niantic, trying to help rural trainers but so far it seems like they do the opposite of what you would expect. Let me know if you are having this problem too, hopefully, it's just a bug with the sightings tab but I'm not going to get my hopes up. 

Update: I have now had the game up for 2 hours, the only thing that has shown up was a Magikarp... it wasn't a ditto :/