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I am a semi-active Pokemon Go player in the SF Bay Area and I can tell it's definitely died down over the last few weeks. In the beginning, every Friday/Saturda

I am a semi-active Pokemon Go player in the SF Bay Area and I can tell it's definitely died down over the last few weeks. In the beginning, every Friday/Saturday/Sunday night, the whole downtown area would be lured up and people would be out mingling and catching pokemon in the local park. This past weekend, there were only a few lures and a few diehards milling around the park. There's a few dynamics at play based on personal experience: 1) Many players don't care about the gym battling system and just wanted to "collect" Pokemon. Once you've collected most of the ones in your area, you're going to get bored catching the same pidgeys, weedles, and rats/bats. My SO and I have gone to different areas to catch other Pokemon but you just need to go a few times and now we both have "most" of the common Pokemon. We're not hardcore enough to want to spend more time hunting the last few missing in our deck. 2) The lack of support and response from Niantic when the game was badly broken turned off a lot of casual players. Hardcore players will forgive them but casual players especially on iOS expect a lot more polish and "it just works" from a top selling game. I wonder how much of a fit Nintendo threw when this happened given they are a partial owner/investor in "The Pokemon Company". 3) The gym battling system mechanics are not great. You basically can throw bodies at a gym until you knock them down. There's no P2P battling which would make it more exciting since the gym AI is predictable in their attack patterns and most players know the dodge, attack, dodge routine now. The whole premise is to take down a gym, revive your Pokemon, collect potions/revives, do it all over again.

rm_-rf_slash 10y ago
I agree with everything you say, but I think it all boils down to "it's the PVP, stupid." Imagine if the actual Pokemon games never had trainers outside of gyms. I don't know about you, but after a while it would start to feel like a repetitive chore.
- thatswrong0 10y ago
  Yep. I grew up with Pokemon and didn't even install Pokemon Go.. but if it had legit PvP battling and trading, I would definitely give it a spin. How cool would it be if you were walking down the street with your phone in your pocket.. and all of a sudden it started vibrating, you pick it up - TRAINER BATTLE. You look around, and you see someone else with their phone out looking around too. Now all of a sudden you're in a pokemon battle with a total stranger! So much potential for cool experiences.. and yet they're doing nothing of the sort.
  - foobarian 10y ago
    > So much potential for liability FTFY
    - thatswrong0 10y ago
      Throw an 18+ limit on the IRL trainer battles and you essentially have Pokemon Tinder. Not too big of a deal.
  - ivm 10y ago
    Something like this actually exists on Nintendo 3DS: http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/StreetPass http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/StreetPass
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kayla210 10y ago
I also think interest has died down because users in suburban/rural areas (like myself) are getting tired of not having any Pokestops to refill on Pokeballs within walking distance. It was fun and interesting driving to the city/parks to pick up all the Pokestops and catch Pokemon we normally wouldn't at home, but a lot of people have grown tired of having to do that to continue playing.
jobu 10y ago
> The gym battling system mechanics are not great. That's a huge understatement. Initially the battling system was super confusing, but with enough trial-and-error we were able to figure it out. I even got into a couple fun battles with groups fighting over a gym, but every time it starts getting glitchy. The gym or the app become unresponsive - sometimes crashing or kicking people out mid-battle. They need to make it more organized with a queue that blocks people out for a time if they lose. It would also be cool if they allowed people near the gym to actually watch other battles.
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SyneRyder 10y ago
Your point #1 is spot on. The gyms killed it for me because it made Pokémon Go really competitive. The atmosphere of random people being friendly to each other & exploring their city together quickly changed to people insulting and taunting each other for being on opposing teams. I'm still refusing to join a team because of it. What I enjoyed was the "Geocaching" aspects - going outside with friends, helping each other search together, visiting new places I normally wouldn't go to (ie new Pokéstops, catching a train to new suburbs to explore what's there). I also like the fitness aspect, ie tracking how far I've walked. But Pokéwalks with friends aren't fun when someone is more interested in defending a specific gym, rather than Pokémon being an excuse to hang out and go for a walk by the lake together. I've spent more on this than any mobile game (probably $15 - $25, I kept needing to upgrade my Pokémon storage and bag storage). But I uninstalled the app earlier this week.
- deleted 10y ago
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- calbear81 10y ago
  I feel like this is the aspect I enjoy the most too. It would be great if they added "Journeys" which are planned routes with Pokestops and tasks to complete or even like a scavenger hunt you can play with friends with medals/prizes for completion. The other thing that would make the game way more fun for me is global events for all players like a sea monster is attacking the waterfront, all trainers head there to defeat it for a special badge. It's brining in the dungeon raid co-op aspect into the game.
  - SyneRyder 10y ago
    The 'global event' is a really interesting idea to me - it's easier to meet & chat to new people when you've just had a shared experience, more so if it's co-op rather than competitive. Wow, if Niantic had an event on the waterfront, and they happened to get city permission so when the sea monster is defeated it triggers a local fireworks display, that could be really interesting - and newsworthy. And no doubt the local cafes and food vendors would be selling out again afterwards too if you can create an event like that....
stephaniepier 10y ago
Completely agree on #1. It's turned into just blindly walking around and hoping you run into something. My SO and I played this past weekend and saw a porygon on the "sightings" list. We covered as much ground as fast as we could but never actually saw it. Where's the fun in that? I'm still playing for now, but catching new things was one of my favorite things about the game and now it seems to be almost entirely based on chance as "sightings" are pretty useless. Another thing that bugs me is uneven catch rate. Having something break free 7 times in a row then running away (even when using razz berries, ultra balls etc.) seems to be in place purely to annoy you. Then other times I catch a stronger pokemon the first try with a regular pokeball. Why???
- Larrikin 10y ago
  I assume its something atleast as complicated as what they use in the real games [1], but the system would be much better if you could actually fight the wild Pokemon in the game to lower their health instead of relying on the shrinking circle. [1] - http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Catch_rate http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Catch_rate
- onetwotree 10y ago
  If you're on a bike or in a car, you can often home in on pokemon based on them appearing and disappearing on the nearby list, along with some knowledge of areas where pokemon tend to spawn. My SO and I have caught a couple of rare ones like this (one person drives, and the other operates both phones). But I agree completely that it's more fun when you have a map or the long lost footprints to be able to zero in on foot.
weberc2 10y ago
I relate best with your third point, but more generally, the original Pokemon games were strategic--to win battles you had to pick a good moveset, understand the type system, and train your pokemon to high levels. In this game, battles are mostly just screen mashing, and leveling up is purely about catching (either by catching a high level or catching enough pokemon to have the stardust to level one up), and battles are still not a major component of the game. I've actually gone back to playing the original games for the first time in over a decade, and it's a lot more fun than Go. :/
cloakandswagger 10y ago
I'm surprised that point #2 isn't more widely touted. Even a month after release the game was still crashing regularly, gym battles only worked 50% of the time, constant server downtime, etc. No word from Niantic on the problems or what they were doing to resolve them. I uninstalled the game at that point so I don't know whether or not it improved, but it's 2016 and I see scalability as a mostly solved problem. Persistent downtime a month after release is inexcusable.

rm_-rf_slash 10y ago

I agree with everything you say, but I think it all boils down to "it's the PVP, stupid." Imagine if the actual Pokemon games never had trainers outside of gyms. I don't know about you, but after a while it would start to feel like a repetitive chore.

thatswrong0 10y ago
Yep. I grew up with Pokemon and didn't even install Pokemon Go.. but if it had legit PvP battling and trading, I would definitely give it a spin. How cool would it be if you were walking down the street with your phone in your pocket.. and all of a sudden it started vibrating, you pick it up - TRAINER BATTLE. You look around, and you see someone else with their phone out looking around too. Now all of a sudden you're in a pokemon battle with a total stranger! So much potential for cool experiences.. and yet they're doing nothing of the sort.
- foobarian 10y ago
  > So much potential for liability FTFY
  - thatswrong0 10y ago
    Throw an 18+ limit on the IRL trainer battles and you essentially have Pokemon Tinder. Not too big of a deal.
- ivm 10y ago
  Something like this actually exists on Nintendo 3DS: http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/StreetPass http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/StreetPass

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

kayla210 10y ago

I also think interest has died down because users in suburban/rural areas (like myself) are getting tired of not having any Pokestops to refill on Pokeballs within walking distance. It was fun and interesting driving to the city/parks to pick up all the Pokestops and catch Pokemon we normally wouldn't at home, but a lot of people have grown tired of having to do that to continue playing.

jobu 10y ago

> The gym battling system mechanics are not great. That's a huge understatement. Initially the battling system was super confusing, but with enough trial-and-error we were able to figure it out. I even got into a couple fun battles with groups fighting over a gym, but every time it starts getting glitchy. The gym or the app become unresponsive - sometimes crashing or kicking people out mid-battle. They need to make it more organized with a queue that blocks people out for a time if they lose. It would also be cool if they allowed people near the gym to actually watch other battles.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

SyneRyder 10y ago

Your point #1 is spot on. The gyms killed it for me because it made Pokémon Go really competitive. The atmosphere of random people being friendly to each other & exploring their city together quickly changed to people insulting and taunting each other for being on opposing teams. I'm still refusing to join a team because of it. What I enjoyed was the "Geocaching" aspects - going outside with friends, helping each other search together, visiting new places I normally wouldn't go to (ie new Pokéstops, catching a train to new suburbs to explore what's there). I also like the fitness aspect, ie tracking how far I've walked. But Pokéwalks with friends aren't fun when someone is more interested in defending a specific gym, rather than Pokémon being an excuse to hang out and go for a walk by the lake together. I've spent more on this than any mobile game (probably $15 - $25, I kept needing to upgrade my Pokémon storage and bag storage). But I uninstalled the app earlier this week.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
calbear81 10y ago
I feel like this is the aspect I enjoy the most too. It would be great if they added "Journeys" which are planned routes with Pokestops and tasks to complete or even like a scavenger hunt you can play with friends with medals/prizes for completion. The other thing that would make the game way more fun for me is global events for all players like a sea monster is attacking the waterfront, all trainers head there to defeat it for a special badge. It's brining in the dungeon raid co-op aspect into the game.
- SyneRyder 10y ago
  The 'global event' is a really interesting idea to me - it's easier to meet & chat to new people when you've just had a shared experience, more so if it's co-op rather than competitive. Wow, if Niantic had an event on the waterfront, and they happened to get city permission so when the sea monster is defeated it triggers a local fireworks display, that could be really interesting - and newsworthy. And no doubt the local cafes and food vendors would be selling out again afterwards too if you can create an event like that....

stephaniepier 10y ago

Completely agree on #1. It's turned into just blindly walking around and hoping you run into something. My SO and I played this past weekend and saw a porygon on the "sightings" list. We covered as much ground as fast as we could but never actually saw it. Where's the fun in that? I'm still playing for now, but catching new things was one of my favorite things about the game and now it seems to be almost entirely based on chance as "sightings" are pretty useless. Another thing that bugs me is uneven catch rate. Having something break free 7 times in a row then running away (even when using razz berries, ultra balls etc.) seems to be in place purely to annoy you. Then other times I catch a stronger pokemon the first try with a regular pokeball. Why???

Larrikin 10y ago
I assume its something atleast as complicated as what they use in the real games [1], but the system would be much better if you could actually fight the wild Pokemon in the game to lower their health instead of relying on the shrinking circle. [1] - http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Catch_rate http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Catch_rate
onetwotree 10y ago
If you're on a bike or in a car, you can often home in on pokemon based on them appearing and disappearing on the nearby list, along with some knowledge of areas where pokemon tend to spawn. My SO and I have caught a couple of rare ones like this (one person drives, and the other operates both phones). But I agree completely that it's more fun when you have a map or the long lost footprints to be able to zero in on foot.

weberc2 10y ago

I relate best with your third point, but more generally, the original Pokemon games were strategic--to win battles you had to pick a good moveset, understand the type system, and train your pokemon to high levels. In this game, battles are mostly just screen mashing, and leveling up is purely about catching (either by catching a high level or catching enough pokemon to have the stardust to level one up), and battles are still not a major component of the game. I've actually gone back to playing the original games for the first time in over a decade, and it's a lot more fun than Go. :/

cloakandswagger 10y ago

I'm surprised that point #2 isn't more widely touted. Even a month after release the game was still crashing regularly, gym battles only worked 50% of the time, constant server downtime, etc. No word from Niantic on the problems or what they were doing to resolve them. I uninstalled the game at that point so I don't know whether or not it improved, but it's 2016 and I see scalability as a mostly solved problem. Persistent downtime a month after release is inexcusable.