Anyone else think it's weird that they returned distances for pokemon and not just coordinates? Obviously they are already handing back timestamps. Seems kinda weird to me that they would want to do the range calculation server side and poll every couple seconds or whatever when it would be a lot easier to only download the coordinates once and maybe only ask for an update after several minutes. You'd have to pass back a start time for future ones in some cases... but that just seems easier to me. You're not losing anything as far as server authority in this case in any way different from how things already work, you'd still confirm the clients actions the same way, but just reducing the overall overhead.
You could make the argument they want to obfuscate their data to somehow make the game more interesting, but then people can bypass it the way they currently have the API functioning. And having some kind of rationale for searching makes way more sense than it just being an obtuse pedometer sort of thing like it is now.
I think one of the other reasons people started searching for a different way is the distance on each step, 100M. 100, 200, 300+, if you're unlucky on a cross pattern search, you can walk up to 700m before even getting another clue that you're going in the right direction. And yeah, some people will do it anyway, but most people will try once, maybe see that the prints aren't decreasing, and either give up, or look for an easier method.
They have little incentive to help the paying customer either. Bulk transactions from a tiny fraction, plus diffuse transactions from the rest, is plenty.
They'll have to raise the level caps forever. They'll have to keep the game going steady state with just enough novelty (new gen pokemon) to avoid people quitting for good.
Don't expect this game to ever be much more than it is now.
I started using a service that called like "PokeFinder" that got like a cease-and-desist from Niantic on Sunday or so. I guess technically against their rules but at the same time, if you're unwilling to give a good indication of where I might need to move to get to a Pokemon then let someone else do that work.
This is just sort of anecdotal for the moment, as far as I know nobody has done any rigorous testing of this but apparently they were pretty lazy with the pokemon generation and use the same math as they used in ingress.
If that's true, it'd be pretty trivial to make an app to use the stuff perfectly visible in ingress to guess where pokemon are. I don't think that's against the ToS, but I've not read them so /shrug.
Why would they allow that? The people most likely to pay them are the most likely to be mad if other people get to "cheat."
They could remove the radar stuff entirely, never bring it back, and make pretty-much the same money.
How is that cheating? The only thing you can buy that gives you any sort of advantage to the individual person is the incense, and those will show you Pokemon that only you can see anyway.
This all seems reminiscent of Destiny not allowing people to matchmake for raids and the like, so people started making their own services. If you get rid of those services you're just making a more frustrating experience for everyone involved. Everyone has the same opportunity to use said services.
I think if you were to take this as anything more than a casual experience, especially enough to spend money, you'd be seeking out any and all advantages. The incense already give you an inherent advantage of allowing you to discover random Pokemon that other's literally cannot discover (even if it ends up just being garbage most of the time anyway). The services mentioned will not help you in any way with that, and nothing you can buy would give you that extra advantage.
I will say that the negative in Niantic's favor is that you will spend less time in their app if such services exist (possibly). So you no longer need to wander around aimlessly, You can just go right to where something might be. However the inclusion of eggs sort of offsets this by requiring you to have the game running to work, and I guess you can add egg carriers to a paid advantage. But again, it's completely personal, services will not help you.
Could someone feel cheated by the experience of having to wander around without direction while others do not? Most likely, but that would mean that you refuse to use such a service. In which case that's on the individual. I suspect that you're right in a sense where they might feel that it threatens their model in a way where people who don't know or understand how such services would help might be put off by them. And they're probably just hedging their bets by just never giving people the option.
I haven't bothered to power up any pokemon—because I don't know what I'm doing, and I'm capturing stronger pokes along the way—but now that I'm at level 20 or so, I can take on gyms. Granted, the fighting is still garbage because the ui is fucking terrible, but at least now I can earn some coins and a pittance of xp. Lucky Eggs seem to be the only thing worth buying, though?
Lucky Eggs seem to be the only thing worth buying, though?
I don't actually need any lucky eggs at the moment, since I only use them when doing an evolution blitz and those are pretty rare. (I'm level 21, have blitzed twice, have three eggs left.)
So what's a good purchase? I'm thinking of saving for the backpack upgrade, as that's the only limit I've run into so far.
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That's still as funny today. The accents make it.
Anyone else think it's weird that they returned distances for pokemon and not just coordinates? Obviously they are already handing back timestamps. Seems kinda weird to me that they would want to do the range calculation server side and poll every couple seconds or whatever when it would be a lot easier to only download the coordinates once and maybe only ask for an update after several minutes. You'd have to pass back a start time for future ones in some cases... but that just seems easier to me. You're not losing anything as far as server authority in this case in any way different from how things already work, you'd still confirm the clients actions the same way, but just reducing the overall overhead.
You could make the argument they want to obfuscate their data to somehow make the game more interesting, but then people can bypass it the way they currently have the API functioning. And having some kind of rationale for searching makes way more sense than it just being an obtuse pedometer sort of thing like it is now.
It's already making its money. It's already more than the minimum effort required to make that money.
There is very little incentive to make this thing much better on any reasonable timeframe.
They have very little incentive to make this any better for the non paying customer.
They have monetary incentive to make this better for the paying sort though.
They'll have to raise the level caps forever. They'll have to keep the game going steady state with just enough novelty (new gen pokemon) to avoid people quitting for good.
Don't expect this game to ever be much more than it is now.
EDIT: It was PokeVision, not PokeFinder.
They could remove the radar stuff entirely, never bring it back, and make pretty-much the same money.
If that's true, it'd be pretty trivial to make an app to use the stuff perfectly visible in ingress to guess where pokemon are. I don't think that's against the ToS, but I've not read them so /shrug.
This all seems reminiscent of Destiny not allowing people to matchmake for raids and the like, so people started making their own services. If you get rid of those services you're just making a more frustrating experience for everyone involved. Everyone has the same opportunity to use said services.
It's not cheating in any other sense. But it makes the cash cows of the game feel cheated, so it's a threat to the business model.
FTP games rely on frustration and annoyance to make money.
The first one is the reason I think there's an incentive to improve the experience for the paying customer.
I will say that the negative in Niantic's favor is that you will spend less time in their app if such services exist (possibly). So you no longer need to wander around aimlessly, You can just go right to where something might be. However the inclusion of eggs sort of offsets this by requiring you to have the game running to work, and I guess you can add egg carriers to a paid advantage. But again, it's completely personal, services will not help you.
Could someone feel cheated by the experience of having to wander around without direction while others do not? Most likely, but that would mean that you refuse to use such a service. In which case that's on the individual. I suspect that you're right in a sense where they might feel that it threatens their model in a way where people who don't know or understand how such services would help might be put off by them. And they're probably just hedging their bets by just never giving people the option.
So what's a good purchase? I'm thinking of saving for the backpack upgrade, as that's the only limit I've run into so far.