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Niantic are trying again - Pokémon GO Fest to hit Chicago on July 14th/15th

Serebii

Serebii

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Oct 24, 2017
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As part of their "Summer Tour", they've announced a collection of events
summertour2018.jpg

Pokémon GO Fest returns to Chicago from July 14 to July 15. The event will be held in Lincoln Park with a walking course. Single day passes cost $20 and will go on sale on May 11th. It is said to be bringing with it a unique and immersive gameplay experience not seen in any of Niantic's previous live events
In Dortmund, Germany, a Safari Zone event will run on June 30th to July 1st in the Westfalenpark. It is open for all for free
There will be a Safari Zone event in Yokosuka, Japan later this Summer and more events held across Asia as the year progresses
The June and July Pokémon GO Community Days are on June 16th 2018 and July 8th 2018. The starring Pokémon are currently to be announced

https://pokemongolive.com/en/post/summertour2018/

GO Fest last year was victim of a myriad of issues where players couldn't connect. The goals weren't being met. People just couldn't play the game. It was the worst thing I have ever had to cover. There's even a class action suit where Niantic are now reimbursing everyone for travel and hotel costs.
 
The Pet of the Month

The Pet of the Month

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Oct 26, 2017
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Amalthea
Definitely not going downtown those two days!

Best of luck to Niantic especially since last time didn't go over so well. Really hope folks are a bit more reasonable, too. There's plenty of great restaurants in Chicago! Don't just go for the Pokémon event!
 
Barrylocke

Barrylocke

Member
Oct 25, 2017
391
Niantic has been doing similar events with Ingress for years without issues this major, but Pokemon GOs popularity, even now, is just on a whole 'nother level. Here's hoping they get it right this time.
 
DrROBschiz

DrROBschiz

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Oct 25, 2017
16,477
Pokemon Go eh...


Id actually play it again if they ever fixed the battle system. I cant see any reason why all the combat mechanics from the actual games cant exist.
 
Skittzo

Skittzo

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Oct 25, 2017
41,037
I actually got back into Pokemon GO after my daughter was born and decided to only nap when she's being walked in a stroller for about 2 hours at a time. They've added so much cool stuff since the last time I played (which was last summer).

Regarding this event specifically, hopefully they have learned a few important lessons from last year.

DrROBschiz said:
Pokemon Go eh...


Id actually play it again if they ever fixed the battle system. I cant see any reason why all the combat mechanics from the actual games cant exist.
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Then there would be no need for the actual games to exist on $300 hardware.
 
OP
OP
Serebii

Serebii

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DrROBschiz said:
Pokemon Go eh...


Id actually play it again if they ever fixed the battle system. I cant see any reason why all the combat mechanics from the actual games cant exist.
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Because this is a spin-off.

It needs a better battle system, I agree, but not the same one as the main games.
 

Deleted member 437

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Oct 25, 2017
11,039
Wouldn't be surprised if it works this time based purely on attendance. This was at peak pokemon go time last time, so shit probably got congested.

Go doesn't seem to be the phenomenon it once was, so this will probably work better.
 
Skittzo

Skittzo

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Oct 25, 2017
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Mikey Jr. said:
Wouldn't be surprised if it works this time based purely on attendance. This was at peak pokemon go time last time, so shit probably got congested.

Go doesn't seem to be the phenomenon it once was, so this will probably work better.
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It's still extremely popular, I guess just not at the level it once was. I still see people gathering for raids basically every day.
 
wwm0nkey

wwm0nkey

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Oct 25, 2017
15,553
Hopefully Verizon provides their mobile stations this time. I know that wouldn't have fixed everything(that many cell signals in one area is hell), but it would have helped a bit
 

t26

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
4,550
Mikey Jr. said:
Wouldn't be surprised if it works this time based purely on attendance. This was at peak pokemon go time last time, so shit probably got congested.

Go doesn't seem to be the phenomenon it once was, so this will probably work better.
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Tickets sold out for every Europe and Japan event. It is still one of the top grossing game on iOS and Android. Sure a lot of casual stopped playing, but the people who are paying money are sticking around.
 
Dingens

Dingens

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Are there still people who care about pokemon go? I thought the craze was long over
 
Forkball

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Dingens said:
Are there still people who care about pokemon go? I thought the craze was long over
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The game made nearly $900 million last year. It's definitely not at the level it once was, but you really can't expect something to be that big for that long.

I've actually been playing it a bit recently and I like a lot of the new features. I'm not really into raids though and I feel like the battle system isn't interesting enough, but it's not bad to pop it open every now and then to see what you can find.
 
ASaiyan

ASaiyan

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Oct 25, 2017
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I still play PoGO, but man, they should not even bother trying this again after the unmitigated trainwreck last time, lol. As it stands, having exclusive events in a specific place already pisses people off (see: Unown spawning at random cons, or the BS that is EX Mewtwo raids).
 
Opposable

Opposable

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Oct 25, 2017
2,367
Mikey Jr. said:
Wouldn't be surprised if it works this time based purely on attendance. This was at peak pokemon go time last time, so shit probably got congested.

Go doesn't seem to be the phenomenon it once was, so this will probably work better.
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This was definitely not at the peak, GO came out the year prior to this. That's when it was at insane levels with people quitting their jobs to play it 'full time' etc
 

yungronny

Banned
Nov 27, 2017
1,349
I was driving to I think Comic Con when this was going on last year and holy fuck was the park full. Lines for blocks and blocks down Michigan.
 
JigglesBunny

JigglesBunny

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Oct 27, 2017
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Fuck, the roads were a shit show last time and all for some people standing in a giant crowd screaming about network issues.
 
tadaima

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Wow, Serebii.net is a blast to the past. The first website I checked routinely. Must have been around late '99 or early 2000 that I discovered it, as I have associated school memories from around that time. Thanks for keeping at it for all this time!
 

Deleted member 42351

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I'm glad they are trying again. It's good to see a developer not crumble under the weight of its unbearable fan base.
 

gryvan

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Oct 25, 2017
487
better question is will they always be happening in chicago/germany from now on and not other locales maybe? >_>
 
Andri

Andri

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Sou Da said:
Why can't it have the main game's system?
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Because its a mobile game, and on mobile Action based combat systems are just more popular.

GO targets a way larger audience than just the players of the core games, so they went with something that has a wider reach and is simpler.

If GO had the same battle system as the mainline games, way less people would play it, simply because they could not be bothered to learn the types, and what attacks to use.
 
Qwark

Qwark

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Oct 27, 2017
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I don't think the traditional battle system would work well for this. This is supposed to be a quick mobile game, and a menu based system is not that... They can definitely improve the battle system, but going off of the mainline battle system is not the answer.

Luchashaq said:
Nope, and non urban players are still as fucked as ever.

For some reason fucking Starbucks has more Pokemon than a good damned forrest. So stupid.
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They're making baby steps for rural players. Stops and gyms are consistently being added with the ability to suggest stops in game coming soon (rumored), and you're able to get legendaries now from quests, which helps with impossible raids in rural areas. Still more work needed though.
 
Luchashaq

Luchashaq

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Nov 4, 2017
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Qwark said:
They're making baby steps for rural players. Stops and gyms are consistently being added with the ability to suggest stops in game coming soon (rumored), and you're able to get legendaries now from quests, which helps with impossible raids in rural areas. Still more work needed though.
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1 step forward two steps back for rural players imo.

Stuff like raids and the quest system has given more for rural players to do, but actually expanded the gap between urban and rural players even more.

When I'm in SF or Chicago I can just go to any random 5 star raid at 7 am and have a full raid. When I'm in suburbia it requires hours of annoying time wasted in discord only to likely fail to get enough people anyways.
 
Advc

Advc

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Nov 3, 2017
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I wish them the best because last years festival was so cringey to watch with all the stuff that went wrong during the event.

I used to be a MASSIVE Pokémon Go player to the point of obssesion (even though I barely spent money on getting incubators and stuff). I don't play anymore because of hackers infesting gyms and the updates have made this game barely unplayable on my dated iPhone 6 and I'm currently broke to get a new phone. This silly game already has a special place on my heart because of the awesome moments I spent and all the people I meet while playing. Back on the day I used to meet several dozens of people everytime I went to the park, no joke! Literally every single person was playing it back in 2016. Such great memories already :') Wish that craze could go back...
 
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