its monetized by letting you buy pokecoins in the game for real money.

Pokecoins buy stuff like pokeballs, fruit, lures, eggs, incubators, potions etc. All of this is obtainable without using real money but at a pretty slow rate via pokestops and there is a bit of RNG with what you get. So you could get unluckly and not see any of one item you need across multiple pokestops.

So if you have a kid that plays a lot and cant aim for shit you're probably going to get hassled to buy pokeballs.

7/13/2016 1:06:04 PM

Pedestrian hit and run right in front of Patterson Hall at State today. I can't confirm it's Pokemon-related, but I'd bet it is. Plot twist - the driver was after the same Pokemon?

7/13/2016 2:23:06 PM

If they are smart they can monetize by allowing businesses to buy access to pokestops or gyms outside of whatever google maps determined. The ones who got one through luck are cashing in right now.

7/13/2016 2:51:11 PM

You can't buy potions with pikachu coinage. I'm short on Potions, which is ironically not the same problem that most of my friends are having (I have like 200+pokeballs, where they have like 200+ potions.)

[Edited on July 13, 2016 at 3:43 PM. Reason : .]

7/13/2016 3:43:08 PM

Businesses and people can buy lures. The Baxter is hosting a Pokemon Go night tomorrow and has a Pokestop which they will be posting with lures all night. Place is going to be crazy. Coworkers and I are planning on going.

7/13/2016 3:49:14 PM

So wouldn't this game be better if you actually fought the wild pokemon with your pokemon before you caught them?

Like in actual pokemon?

7/13/2016 4:42:13 PM

^ Yeah not sure why that isnt possible. Would make it more interesting.

The gyms are a joke...impossible to hold without repercussions for attempting to take over.

7/13/2016 4:45:58 PM

Freemium huh

[Edited on July 13, 2016 at 6:33 PM. Reason : Cool]

7/13/2016 6:29:01 PM

Quote :

"Magmars are popular around Lake Johnson (kinda off but whatever...)"

Second this, it was magmar city this afternoon

7/13/2016 6:42:09 PM

there's a gym near my apt that just had 1 raticate defending it. took my 950 flareon over there and laid waste. such a nice feeling to claim a gym. so i guess i have to survive for X amount of time before i see any real rewards?

7/13/2016 7:00:13 PM

Anyone know where to find Ponyta? I got two from eggs and one is really strong and I'm trying to evolve it

7/13/2016 8:20:30 PM

^^ the only reward for a gym is if you "cash out"in the store for pika coins. It only takes a snapshot of how many gyms you currently have Pokemon in, indicated by the number in the shield in the top roght. It doesnt care how many gyms you converted/captured, or how long your pokemon are in gyms. You get 500 star dust and 10 pika coins for each Pokemon in a gym at the time you claim your reward
Reward timer counts down 21 hours before you can claim again. I go to the gyms away from major public gatherings late at night. I either capture them myself or level up the gym to add my own Pokemon. I usually get 3 gyms that way each night, cashing out immediately and earning 30 coins and 1500 star dust.

[Edited on July 14, 2016 at 2:13 AM. Reason : .]

7/14/2016 2:12:20 AM

Quote :

"i must be crazy because i just don't get it. yeah, it's cool but wtf am I going to do with the pokemon. this game offers nothing to me other than the option to walk, which I already do plenty of."

7/14/2016 2:21:05 AM

Lol yeah if you're asking how it's monetized you clearly haven't been downtown lately.

Bars and various businesses are probably paying out the ass for this shit.

It seems ridiculous to me but I asked a barender about it and 30 seconds later i had a smokeshow practically in my lap showing me the app on her phone.

Like uh okay if girls that look like that are playing this is gonna be big. Like real big

7/14/2016 3:43:49 AM

Quote :

"Bars and various businesses are probably paying out the ass for this shit. "

Thats the thing I am not sure if you can pay to have something added to you or not these places just won the lottery of luck when the game launched from what I have heard and are just pouring a bit of money into lures to attract people and pokemon.

Quote :

"^^ the only reward for a gym is if you "cash out"in the store for pika coins. It only takes a snapshot of how many gyms you currently have Pokemon in, indicated by the number in the shield in the top roght. It doesnt care how many gyms you converted/captured, or how long your pokemon are in gyms. You get 500 star dust and 10 pika coins for each Pokemon in a gym at the time you claim your reward Reward timer counts down 21 hours before you can claim again. I go to the gyms away from major public gatherings late at night. I either capture them myself or level up the gym to add my own Pokemon. I usually get 3 gyms that way each night, cashing out immediately and earning 30 coins and 1500 star dust. "

Thanks for that its good info. I did my first few battles yesterday and took over a few gyms but thought you had to hold for 21 hours before you got rewards didnt know I needed to hit the shop right after I took over. Also if taking a gym you have to be fast once you take it it goes neutral and while deciding what pokemon to put in or healing yours up someone else can throw one in and you have to take it again. I did this yesterday 4-5 times to a pair of girls who didnt know I was there and couldn't figure it out until they started throwin F bombs and left haha.

[Edited on July 14, 2016 at 8:21 AM. Reason : .]

7/14/2016 8:18:27 AM

Lures are only like $1 for 30 minutes, I've seen several restaurants/bars/shops around North Raleigh that just set them out around lunch time and 5:00. Probably only costing them a few bucks a day.

Though I did see 3 shops next to each other that all had lures active and just a big group of teens just sitting outside of the shops using the lures...as well as 4-5 adults just parked next to them doing the same thing.

Can't wait to see the first studies on if using lures really does drive up revenue for businesses in general.

7/14/2016 8:18:56 AM

I am sure it will for the first few weeks but as people level higher where they start getting their own lures and players become bored with the game I doubt it will have a lot of sustained success but we shall see.

7/14/2016 8:22:57 AM

So, the lures haven't really given me anything special. More pokemon? yes. But just a lot of commons really. Incense only works for yourself (not to be confused with lure modules left at pokestops). Each incense nets you about 6 or 7 pokemon (~1 every 5 minute), though these are also mostly commons. You can see the ones that you've lured because they will have the same magenta colored aura around them as you do around your player while the incense is active. The pokemon attracted to your incense is at random and for you only. My gf and I both walked around with lures on and while we populated/found pokemon at the same time, they were different types.

Also, something worth noting... The pokemon that can be found in the wild are the same type for everyone, but their CP will vary depending on your player level. However, players of the same level should see the same wild pokemon with the same CP. Another words, I'm a Level 15. My gf is a level 16. We will both see the same Eevee in the wild, but hers may be a CP 108 while mine is a CP 335. But when we were both Level 15, all the pokemon we saw together were the "exact" same pokemon (same CP's, same attack skills).

7/14/2016 8:53:35 AM

FYI, I turned off music and have only crashed once or twice so far today. I tried turning off LTE yesterday but that made the pokestops load really slowly or not at all, so I turned back on

Is there any sense of whether I should be leveling up my pokemon at all early in the game? I'm Level 8 and it seems maybe futile to waste stuff on something with 170 CP when I'm going to find much higher ones later in the game

7/14/2016 9:18:47 AM

I'll give that a try since I play on silent most of the time anyways guess it cant hurt haha

7/14/2016 9:21:48 AM

went to trivia at Brickhouse last night and set some lures while I was there and got a ton of shit. several Evee, Pikachu and a few others.

Warehouse district has been really good. Also seem to find a lot by North Dorm / Aloft Hotel / Belltower

7/14/2016 9:50:03 AM

Constantly crashing. Not much fun for folks in rural areas either.

7/14/2016 10:24:38 AM

im almost level 14 and ive not spent any dust.

Id also not waste dust until you've fully evolved the one you want.

i find killing the app and restarting it, even if it doesn't appear to be having an issue will refresh the 'near by' list and often just spawns some immediately.

7/14/2016 10:30:10 AM

^5^ I am in the same boat. I am level 10 and I have not leveled up any Pokemon. As I get higher, I just find more powerful Pokemon so I just haven't done it yet. I want to do gym battles, though, and every gym I find has an 800+ guarding it. I am going to need to do some power boosting if I want to join in soon.

I figure I will stock up on commons that I can evolve then pop the Lucky Egg and go to town. Apparently you can evolve up to 60 Pokemon in 30 minutes if you are super quick. That should mega-boost my level, and I should find more powerful wild Pokemon which would be better to spend dust on to gym battle.

[Edited on July 14, 2016 at 10:35 AM. Reason : ]

7/14/2016 10:34:46 AM

60 pokemon in 30 minutes? Hm... I'm shooting for 90 pokemon in 30 minutes. I've got enough candy to do about 40 now, so I'll be able to try this out by next week I imagine...

I agree with saving stardust... The only pokemon I spend time with stardust are my Vaporeon, Flareon, Gold Duck, and Nidoqueen. They are maxed out to my level, so as I level up I can power them up each 2-3 times to keep their CP maxed.

Don't bother spending a ton of stardust powering up pokemon just before evolving. If they aren't already 85% maxed out in CP, release it and take the candy. It's worth spending the stardust on maxed CP pokemon that are effective as you level up. Save what you can though so that as you level up and find rare pokemon, you have the CP to keep them relevant in future fights.


I have music and sound effects turned off. I've downloaded the offline google map of Raleigh/Apex/Cary including everything within 540. 66MB and I noticed less connectivity issues (lag at times, but no disconnects). Maybe coincidence.
[Edited on July 14, 2016 at 11:46 AM. Reason : .]

[Edited on July 14, 2016 at 11:50 AM. Reason : .]

7/14/2016 11:43:57 AM

I'm evolving stuff at level 17 bc its sorta boring to save all of it.

Found a 701 ponyta today, you goddamn right it's gonna be a rapidash

7/14/2016 11:48:14 AM

http://gothamist.com/2016/07/14/pokemon_nope.php

7/14/2016 12:11:13 PM

Update, I'm crashing like crazy again...must have just been better in the morning when less people were playing

7/14/2016 1:18:59 PM

Yes, did usual lunch group lurefest at the hospital. Morning was okay but around lunchtime it went to hell in a hand basket. Got so bad I could not even log in, let alone the glitching out at the pokeball capture.

[Edited on July 14, 2016 at 1:37 PM. Reason : ]

7/14/2016 1:34:58 PM

Nevermind, got immediate bounce back email saying no new submissions right now. Pwnt.

[Edited on July 14, 2016 at 2:00 PM. Reason : ]

7/14/2016 1:58:49 PM

http://fox59.com/2016/07/14/two-men-fall-off-cliff-near-san-diego-while-playing-pokemon-go/

7/14/2016 5:29:31 PM

Quote :

"Found a 701 ponyta today, you goddamn right it's gonna be a rapidash"

damn that's high level. where'd you find it?

I hatched a level 450 one and thought it was primo. Does CP correspond to your player level?

7/14/2016 5:49:12 PM

im in denver. the next highest one ive found was under 400 so im not sure what happened there

7/14/2016 5:58:45 PM

Quote :

"Does CP correspond to your player level?"

Well, yes and no.

The CP limit for pokemon increase as you level up as a trainer. As you level up, the threshold for your pokemon's CP also increases. But if your pokemon is capped at say CP300 when you are level 6, it will still be at CP300 when you level up to 7, but now you can power up your pokemon a couple more times until they are maxed at at your Level 7 Trainer level.

7/14/2016 6:31:11 PM

definitely the best thing is to level up as fast as possible. as soon as i hit 15 i went to the mall to return some clothes. as soon as i walked in, i caught a 897 pinsir, lol.

7/14/2016 8:16:38 PM

Well I ran out of Pokeballs this morning. I swear I had like 50 yesterday but I've been losing one every fucking time the game crashes. I refuse to give them money because of this

7/15/2016 9:32:47 AM

Yeah either you have to buy some if you are playing more than super casually or you are gonna have to find an area with several pokestops and spend a few hours there hitting them up to reload. I have 3 or so I can hit in my car if I drive slowly to and from work each day so that is helping some.

7/15/2016 9:54:14 AM

Lost a level 10km and don't know how to get it back

Was at 9.7 when it crashed too.

7/15/2016 9:56:07 AM

Quote :

"I have 3 or so I can hit in my car if I drive slowly to and from work each day so that is helping some."

I wonder how many wrecks this has already caused

7/15/2016 10:21:39 AM

True there are several more I could probably hit but these 3 are in locations where I can just kinda pull over without any issue snag em and move on.

7/15/2016 10:30:39 AM

do you have to have the app open when you hatch eggs? I went running last night and fitbit shows me hitting like 15k steps (~6 miles) throughout the day but my eggs haven't really done shit.

7/15/2016 10:35:21 AM

Yep app has to be running unfortunately

7/15/2016 10:42:23 AM

Yep, app has to be up and open. I haven't been able to get it to work just having it up and minimized. Also it's GPS-specific, so if you run on a treadmill it gets you nothing even if the app is open.

7/15/2016 10:53:48 AM

Saw some kid riding around on a small scooter last night with a cellphone mount playing this. Seems like the way to go, even better than a bike

7/15/2016 10:57:01 AM

are you supposed to be doing anything to fight at a gym or is it just automatic based on points.

7/15/2016 11:01:49 AM

^^yes, until you get hit by a car, or run over a person.

7/15/2016 11:06:15 AM

I have heard even bike or scooter speed is too fast and it stops counting your distance although I dont walk a lot and am slowly accruing mileage so it has to at least count some of your stop and go driving at least.

Quote :

"are you supposed to be doing anything to fight at a gym or is it just automatic based on points."

Yes you tap the screen to attack and use your special moves and you can swipe left or right to dodge

[Edited on July 15, 2016 at 11:10 AM. Reason : .]

7/15/2016 11:09:16 AM

I can confirm biking at a normal speed is too fast for it to register

7/15/2016 11:13:23 AM

this game is amazing to play in bumper to bumper traffic in an uber

7/15/2016 11:48:36 AM

had a guy come up and scold me for not paying attention to my "lady friend" on our walk. he then ranted about seeing young people on their cell phones all the time.

couldnt get him to leave without explaining that 1) she was busy catching a pikachu and 2) we do other things also

thanks for the enlightened wisdom, though

7/15/2016 12:08:07 PM