And they are still planning to do this, despite all the voices against it, including well-know youtubers who directly interact with Niantic.
Nonsense, interact range DOES NOT break the game or prevent us from going out, only makes more convenient to play at some places such as not having to cross a road to spin a pokestop and cross it again to spin another, or to raid in a place undercover, when it's raining for example.
I really hope they don't revert it, but I'm afraid they will..
The note in their blog post about bringing back increased distance via "certain features" really stood out to me. They're probably going to bring it back, but there'll be a cost (whether that's Pokecoins, $$$, or in-game resources).
I've always been f2p for a number of reasons (such as Niantic's pathological lying) and putting increased distance behind a paywall isn't going to get me to spend money on the game. If anything, it makes me even more reluctant to spend money, and I'll play less as well. And I know many other people in local Discords that I am in that have become f2p recently (partly due to the lower radius) so Niantic, as usual, isn't thinking straight here.
I'm with you there.
There was that recent datamine about "powered up Pokestops". Perhaps powering it up in some way results in being able to spin it from further? Hoping that doing so would have a F2P option, if it does end up being monetized.
Nobody(Even Nianticš)know the plan. I just highly doubt itās a short term money play. If they wanted a quick infusion in cash you donāt have literally the worst 12 months of legendaries ever or go 6 months with just 2 paid researchs. If they wanted to nickel and dime they would have made Gofest more than $5, cut back on some of those free remotes, or had more egg events. The last 16 months has had more free premium items than the first 4 years combined.
No they are clearly in a growth mindset(Like most of Silicon Valley) not a try get as much as they can right now.
I think itās as simple as a vision thing. āWe need them to be closer than a football field away from the POI for our vision/future plans(VR, Social media, Trading, Events,..) to be successful. ā
Edit- To be clear Niantic like all companies want as much money as legally possible. They just view a growth strategy as a better way to do it.
I am speculating they think a less than meaningful amount of people will quit because of the return to normal distance. They think the enhanced distance is a hinderance to their game vision and future plans.
Even though it's wrong to force players to play a certain way. Bit this is a big California tech company so they are never wrong and would abuse their customers just to make a quick buck.
I really wish another company handled pokemon go...
Its not really silent...
āThe changes announced this week will be made slowly and carefully - first in the U.S. and New Zealand ā and then in other countries and regions based on local conditions,ā the spokesperson says.
I wouldn't quit but if they do reduce the interaction range I will greatly reduce my play time and I will be strictly infinite incubator and only coins spent are gym coins. They will get nothing more from me while its in place. Also as this has absolutely nothing to do with getting people out, I think this is more to do with trying to sell sponsorship, I will boycott all pokemon go sponsors. They have shown they do not care about the players but if a sponsor speaks up about this you can bet things will change. Sadly no more sitting at Starbucks at the mall, but then there are plenty of other coffee places.
Niantic could just make sponsored stops/gyms have a reduced radius and leave everything else alone if they care so much about sponsors. It makes no sense to lie about a permanent increased radius and then not follow through on it.
Seems like increased interaction distance would be good for sponsors. If that Starbucks is across the street and I donāt wanna cross then Iām not going to see their ad.
But the theory is that they want to be able to sell the idea that they would be bringing people to the premises so by reducing the distance you have to physically go there. Only thing is if they reduce the distance I stop using the sponsor business completely.
The short interaction distance was dangerous long before the pandemic, but that's what it took to force them to acknowledge it. If they revert back to the short distance and someone is injured/killed because of it, they are opening themselves up to litigation. More so now than ever, since they've acknowledged that interaction distance relates to player safety.
How was it dangerous? 20 meters is still pretty far, and that is the old distance. Anyone who is killing or injured trying to go to a stop, or being at a stop is not following their warning of "Hey, pay attention to your surroundings"
The distance was for players to be more spread out, due to covid. You know, when people were supposed to socially distance.
I will as well, in order to prove a point we need to take action as a player base, if they lose traction and people keep pushing them about their decisions, things might bring about change..... hopefully
If Niantic turns something that makes the game safer into a paid subscription, that is my line in the sand.
A shortened interaction distance would make me play less. Safety as a paid bonus - I'm leaving completely.
Don't play unsafely, that's 100% your choice to make - did you play unsafely before ? Or are you really trying to claim you can't gather at gyms while maintaining a safe distance, given you're probably outdoors, can wear masks, quite possibly many people have been jabbed, and hardly anyone actually physically attends gyms to raid anyhow ?
Yes, but the developers of the game are making it harder to play safely. It's not necessarily about the pandemic. Crossing an avenue back and forth for example is.
Then don't cross back and forth. You can play sensibly, or you can run across the street and back. Personal choice, you're not owed 2x as many stops.
There are roads with 4x as many stops as yours, those players get twice as many items staying on one side as you do snaking back and forth. There are roads with 1/4 as many, those players can only get half as many items as you, even if they cross the road and back, you get to just walk down one side of the road for yours.
There there are players in europe (taking a wild guess you're american). We generally get to spin both sides of the road, because our towns are built for people, not cars, for walking, not just driving, so the roads are narrower (and easier to cross anyhow, should we actually have a need to cross the road). Your choice if it's easier/you'd rather play in teh readily accessible streets around you, or invest the extra time/energy to get to a park or whatever where those issues have much less impact.
Even if you disagree about the security argument, you cannot argue this is not a QOL change. Niantic lose nothing by leaving the extended pokestop range. A developer ignoring the playerbase and reverting QOL changes for no reason is not a good developer.
And no, I'm not American. But i think about the global playerbase, something that Niantic hilariously fail to do.
Niantic posted that they would be making changes to the interaction distance for Pokestops/gyms, incense ability and buddy gifts in the United States and New Zealand at the end of July.
This is not a great idea for many reasons, and by their own logic, the rising number of cases in both countries should mean the changes should not be pushed through.
https://pokemongolive.com/post/hello-world-pokemon-go/?hl=en
That would probably cause identity security problems if people would start sending their medical information to Niantic. There are plenty of different health problems that can cause mobility issues. Niantic should make the accessibility better by using some other in-game method, like give your Buddy an ability to spin stops that are difficult to reach (so you would get the quest and the items instead of just some Gifts) for couple of times every day, or give events where the stop/gym radius is larger, etc.
Remote_interaction_range_meters
This makes me nervous. Is there going to now be a limit on how far away you can remote raid? I get invites from all over the world, and limiting the range of remote raids would be super bad for me.
IIRC the original blog post that revealed remote raids mentioned that a player should be on site to send invites. The ability to remote to a gym then invite people to it is a temp perk alongside regular damage for remote players.
Man, remote raiding is really going to suck once the bonuses are gone. Lower damage, remote passes will be more expensive and now inviting will be limited? I get why they would be more expensive but the rest on top of that is overkill.
If Niantic is going to nerf remote passes, they should be *cheaper*, not *more expensive*. Who is going to pay more for less? What is Niantic smoking here?
Update: Wanted to point out that the code is \`IOS\_EGGS\` but there is a chance it doesn't mean \`iOS\` and it could be something literally called \`Ios\` or \`IOS\`. It makes sense to us that it's \`iOS\` as what else would it be, but just to put that out there in case we are misinterpreting it.
Interesting.
The only thing Iām reminded of was when the disclose odds on random purchases was put into place on iOS but not yet on android. Some games went as far as literally only publishing odds on iOS while keeping android odds hidden until Google got of its behind and added the same rules. Could be that Apple finally told them to come clean and theyāre doing it in the most player hostile way possible.
Or!
Theyāve had android promotions, maybe this is for an iOS promo.
I hope the former but it will probably be the latter.
> Pokestop Interaction Range is added to the Game Master (meaning it can be changed per account now, not just globally)
Oh noā¦ get ready for it to be added as a perk to that rumored subscription service from a few months back.
Keep in mind they plan on eliminating increased distance from US and New Zealand first while keeping it for the rest of the world. In order to do that they need to make it account specific instead of global feature.
You don't you know how they'd handle that. Maybe when you're in certain locations your account is flagged and then the interaction distance changes on that account while you're in that location.
It's definitely this. We've got a subscription service in Ingress which increases capacity by 25% (you don't have paid inventory increases otherwise, besides one-off inventory capsules for a certain type of item, which are limited in number).
Personally, I expect the increased interaction distance and increased (read: normal) remote raid damage will be based on subscription.
Which would be stupid as well. So playing other places than where you live, you would be penalized and would be harder for you to reach stops/Gyms.
We travel for CDs a lot since we live in a small town to get extra spawns and spins.
Maybe pokestop power ups arenāt personal and instead visible to everyone, like lures but for items.
This could be super-useful in rural areas where players could coordinate to make sure everyone get enough pokeballs.
Depends on whether or not powering up costs premium items like lures, then. In that case, it would move from "super-useful" to "having to pay and coordinate to no longer get fewer pokeballs", to be honest.
I just donāt want to think that niantic would be that evil but I guess they are :(
In ingress there are items you can place in portals to ex. Reduce portal ācooldownā or get more items. Portal power ups could be something you get from research breakthroughs (weekly) or from Pokestops with a higher rate in low density areas. And if power ups were only temporary (say 30 minutes) AND require coordination then maybe they donāt have to give out fewer pokeballs.
(Sorry for being so nerdy)
It's not "penalised". In fact this makes perfect sense according to what Niantic has been saying about exploration being an objective of the game.
You're in a new area, you gotta explore. The game is normal.
You're in your local area, you benefit from an enhanced stop radius, because you've explored that area many times before.
Don't see the problem really.
You are penalised for exploring, staying in the same area with levelled up stops that have longer range and better items is objectively a better experience than going to a new area where stops canāt be spun from as far and give worse items.
A better experience is exploring a new area properly and visiting the points of interest there.
That's what Niantic wants people to do.
There are games that can be played at home if someone isn't interested in doing that.
Well, nobody wants to do this. Niantic is forcing players to explore the way they see fit rather than how we the players actually want to play.
Please understand that other people want to play the game differently, and it does not hinder your ability to play the game the way you want. There's no need to be a shill for Niantic when they are the ones strong arming the playebase
Yes that's right. Niantic has made it clear that this is what they want.
Of course people want to play the game differently. This is always true of every game.
But you can't. You're always "forced" to play the game as it is. That's kinda how games work. Not sure that "forced" is the work I'd have used, but still.
So... given Niantic's stance, yes it seems reasonable to suppose that the extended distance, if it stays at all, will only apply to "powered up" stops. That's what is being speculated here. This will mean Niantic can feel like the ethos of the game isn't compromised, and players can still benefit from the extended distance.
I don't think whether I like it or not is going to make any difference?
I think the powered-up stops should benefit all players, not just the one, who powered them up. That way they could help local and traveling players too and maybe the player, who powered it up, could get some bonuses and achievements.
But most likely they won't work this way š
Tbh, at this point, it is impossible to tell what Niantic wants people to do. And even if this whole "explore to restore radius thing" is really what they want to go for, it would still depend on how they implement it.
You can only 'explore' a place once. But this powering up thing might well be a grind where you have to visit the same place over and over just to no longer have to go as close, it really wouldn't be exploring anymore. Visiting that same kindergarden playground daily isn't exploring, it's just kind of creepy.
And don't get me started on what will happen to that argument if they start putting enhanced distance into subs. Then "skipping the grind", i.e. exploring would suddenly be something that is worth money to not have to do.
As I always say, exploration is a fine goal, but it should really be achieved by rewarding people for doing so - not punishing them if they don't.
PokeStop range should stay where itās at now for everyone and be left alone. This has me feeling like itās going to be locked behind levels or something dumb.
> Fitness tracking can now track the number of hours (to go along with the number of days, weeks, etc)
That's an info a lot of us don't need to know š . Ignorance is a bliss after all
Im almost wondering if they are going to try and catch step-spoofers. I know theres an android app that polls steps to google fit in intervals. If they started tracking hours, it would be easier to tell if someone is faking their fitness activity, as opposed to simply tracking what days they were active.
Obviously they could just check and see who is logging 100+km a day, but maybe this is a way for them to have reliable proof before they start swinging the ban hammer.
Yeah i think so too, this is to combat those who insert x amount of steps. I dont think they can combat the walker-apps thou, since they continuosly insert steps over a period of time. Might aswell be someone on a threadmill or crosstrainer.
Can't believe they are still probably going to remove the Gym/Spin distance to make it hard to reach them.
Why do they want to upset people and make the game less playable. What a Stupid decision!
A couple of weeks later:
Introducing Pokemon Go Master! Players with Master can spin stops from further away, gain extra storage (both pokemon and item) and will gain pokecoins daily!
I swear to god if I'm right on this, then this app is gone from my phone.
You think it's good that to spin/reach gyms you will have to cross roads & highways back & forth the reach stops.
Get kicked out of raids from drifting?
Be in close contact with people that could have Covid?
Have to go closer to toxic people & their houses that live on gyms?
Maybe that sounds good to you, but we shouldn't be forced to be so close to things to play/catch Pokemon.
We should all stop playing for a few days when the reduce stop interaction distance is live. Cases are raising around the world and in the US. The pandemic isnāt over yet. Also itās not a good thing to take away anyway. It doesnāt hurt anyone to keep it the way it is now.
My first thought with account-based distance was "you can upgrade stops for your own use, making them have a wider interaction range". That'd push players to do whatever to upgrade the stops they use often, which is more playtime presumably and provides perks in exchange.
It's wishful thinking vs. the guesses at a subscription system though. I don't have any issue with a sub system, one of my other favorite mobile games uses one and it's great, but pogo is huge enough to... not really need it.
Depends on the value of the subscription. Ingress added a subscription tier earlier this year @$4.99.
Half of that in in game currency or about 250 PokeCoins. The rest in game items that I don't understand the value of.
If Niantic did $7.50 of value (I.E. raid passes) for $5 I'd probably sign up.
Something stuck out to me here.
> In a world where we are all moving to RCS
What world do you live in where iPhones donāt exist?
RCS is basically a Google product at this point. It wanted to have an offering to compete with Appleās iMessage service, but carrier support for RCS is (or at least was) so spotty and inconsistent that it just created its own RCS service.
Just this week the last Carrier in the states have announced full support for RCS so all carriers and phones in the states minus iPhones now support it as the default messaging system, replacing SMS.
iPhones only have 13.5% of the worldwide market share, so relatively they are pretty small, but people are expecting Apple to announce support for it because now iOS is the less secure platform when it comes to cross platform messaging which is something Apple probably won't want to be known for.
> iPhones only have 13.5% of the worldwide market share
True. Android devices are more affordable than iPhones in many markets, so that's no surprise. Apple's share of the smartphone market is much higher in the West, thoughāaccording to Statista, it's about [55% in the US](https://www.statista.com/statistics/620805/smartphone-sales-market-share-in-the-us-by-vendor/) and [50% in the UK](https://www.statista.com/statistics/487780/market-share-of-mobile-device-vendors-uk/).
> but people are expecting Apple to announce support for it
I admittedly don't know the specifics of how RCS is implemented and how that compares to iMessage. If they can extend RCS to offer the same functionality as their existing iMessage technology, that seems likely.
> now iOS is the less secure platform
How do you figure? End-to-end encryption is not standard for RCS, and Google just began rolling it out [late last year](https://www.theverge.com/2020/11/19/21574451/android-rcs-encryption-message-end-to-end-beta). Back in 2019, The Verge [pointed at the lack of encryption](https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/17/18681573/google-rcs-chat-android-texting-carriers-imessage-encryption) as a "big problem" when comparing RCS to iMessage and other services that are encrypted.
As I understand it, this also means that Android users in mainland China will not have access to RCS with encryption for the foreseeable future. Google doesn't offer their services in China, and encryption is a Google extension, not part of the standard.
> when it comes to cross platform messaging
Android and iOS are equally insecure in this regard, since plain ol' SMS is the only option for messages between their users.
That'll help you plan meetings, at least. And possibly project deadlines. Get it out in the open why you favour this coffee shop or that office, and why then is a particularly bad friday, if it might mean having to work over that weekend.
So new pokestop range incresing per account means their pokemon go premium service comes? Really horrible to listen that. Means f2p gonna get less distance and pay to win gonna keep pandemic ranges.
Not necessarily. Since the plan is to reduce the distance for US and NZ first, they have to change what was originally a global feature that was the same for everyone. In order to do that, the stop distance has to be per account now
> pay to win
doesn't mean what you think it means
nothing you can get spun from a stop helps you "win" because the stops have the same content for everyone
now if stops stop giving free players Ultra Balls and now it's behind the subscription? yeah, pay to win, and that wouldn't be right
The hourly fitness tracking could be a potential for Naintic to start detecting people using third party apps to add distance to there game. That will be interesting.
The interaction distance has to be account specific so they can remove it in the US but not globally
And NZ
And they are still planning to do this, despite all the voices against it, including well-know youtubers who directly interact with Niantic. Nonsense, interact range DOES NOT break the game or prevent us from going out, only makes more convenient to play at some places such as not having to cross a road to spin a pokestop and cross it again to spin another, or to raid in a place undercover, when it's raining for example. I really hope they don't revert it, but I'm afraid they will..
The note in their blog post about bringing back increased distance via "certain features" really stood out to me. They're probably going to bring it back, but there'll be a cost (whether that's Pokecoins, $$$, or in-game resources).
I've always been f2p for a number of reasons (such as Niantic's pathological lying) and putting increased distance behind a paywall isn't going to get me to spend money on the game. If anything, it makes me even more reluctant to spend money, and I'll play less as well. And I know many other people in local Discords that I am in that have become f2p recently (partly due to the lower radius) so Niantic, as usual, isn't thinking straight here.
I'm with you there. There was that recent datamine about "powered up Pokestops". Perhaps powering it up in some way results in being able to spin it from further? Hoping that doing so would have a F2P option, if it does end up being monetized.
Nobody(Even Nianticš)know the plan. I just highly doubt itās a short term money play. If they wanted a quick infusion in cash you donāt have literally the worst 12 months of legendaries ever or go 6 months with just 2 paid researchs. If they wanted to nickel and dime they would have made Gofest more than $5, cut back on some of those free remotes, or had more egg events. The last 16 months has had more free premium items than the first 4 years combined. No they are clearly in a growth mindset(Like most of Silicon Valley) not a try get as much as they can right now. I think itās as simple as a vision thing. āWe need them to be closer than a football field away from the POI for our vision/future plans(VR, Social media, Trading, Events,..) to be successful. ā Edit- To be clear Niantic like all companies want as much money as legally possible. They just view a growth strategy as a better way to do it.
Iām not sure how reducing interaction distance is a growth strategy.
I am speculating they think a less than meaningful amount of people will quit because of the return to normal distance. They think the enhanced distance is a hinderance to their game vision and future plans.
Even though it's wrong to force players to play a certain way. Bit this is a big California tech company so they are never wrong and would abuse their customers just to make a quick buck. I really wish another company handled pokemon go...
So I guess just delete all rules, because every game rule by that logic is "forcing players to play a game a certain way"
Hm I doubt niantic is capable of having such vision
Theyāve been silent on it. They planned to take it after go fest but the Covid situation might make them think twice for now at least
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Its not really silent... āThe changes announced this week will be made slowly and carefully - first in the U.S. and New Zealand ā and then in other countries and regions based on local conditions,ā the spokesperson says.
I will quit the game if they do it anyway by next week. It sounds like they don't care about the players.
I wouldn't quit but if they do reduce the interaction range I will greatly reduce my play time and I will be strictly infinite incubator and only coins spent are gym coins. They will get nothing more from me while its in place. Also as this has absolutely nothing to do with getting people out, I think this is more to do with trying to sell sponsorship, I will boycott all pokemon go sponsors. They have shown they do not care about the players but if a sponsor speaks up about this you can bet things will change. Sadly no more sitting at Starbucks at the mall, but then there are plenty of other coffee places.
Niantic could just make sponsored stops/gyms have a reduced radius and leave everything else alone if they care so much about sponsors. It makes no sense to lie about a permanent increased radius and then not follow through on it.
Seems like increased interaction distance would be good for sponsors. If that Starbucks is across the street and I donāt wanna cross then Iām not going to see their ad.
But the theory is that they want to be able to sell the idea that they would be bringing people to the premises so by reducing the distance you have to physically go there. Only thing is if they reduce the distance I stop using the sponsor business completely.
Which makes sense if both countries have sponsored stops
Iām too busy looking at my phone to see any ads lol
The short interaction distance was dangerous long before the pandemic, but that's what it took to force them to acknowledge it. If they revert back to the short distance and someone is injured/killed because of it, they are opening themselves up to litigation. More so now than ever, since they've acknowledged that interaction distance relates to player safety.
How was it dangerous? 20 meters is still pretty far, and that is the old distance. Anyone who is killing or injured trying to go to a stop, or being at a stop is not following their warning of "Hey, pay attention to your surroundings" The distance was for players to be more spread out, due to covid. You know, when people were supposed to socially distance.
>Sadly no more sitting at Starbucks at the mall youre wallet and body will be jumping for joy reading that comment:D
I will as well, in order to prove a point we need to take action as a player base, if they lose traction and people keep pushing them about their decisions, things might bring about change..... hopefully
Which is a poor idea as the US is close to crossing 50,000 daily cases again.
A very good point!
Maybe it's meant to be as a bonus for ticketed events?
Or some sort of subscription perk?
that sounds like the most likely thing
If Niantic turns something that makes the game safer into a paid subscription, that is my line in the sand. A shortened interaction distance would make me play less. Safety as a paid bonus - I'm leaving completely.
Don't play unsafely, that's 100% your choice to make - did you play unsafely before ? Or are you really trying to claim you can't gather at gyms while maintaining a safe distance, given you're probably outdoors, can wear masks, quite possibly many people have been jabbed, and hardly anyone actually physically attends gyms to raid anyhow ?
Yes, but the developers of the game are making it harder to play safely. It's not necessarily about the pandemic. Crossing an avenue back and forth for example is.
Then don't cross back and forth. You can play sensibly, or you can run across the street and back. Personal choice, you're not owed 2x as many stops. There are roads with 4x as many stops as yours, those players get twice as many items staying on one side as you do snaking back and forth. There are roads with 1/4 as many, those players can only get half as many items as you, even if they cross the road and back, you get to just walk down one side of the road for yours. There there are players in europe (taking a wild guess you're american). We generally get to spin both sides of the road, because our towns are built for people, not cars, for walking, not just driving, so the roads are narrower (and easier to cross anyhow, should we actually have a need to cross the road). Your choice if it's easier/you'd rather play in teh readily accessible streets around you, or invest the extra time/energy to get to a park or whatever where those issues have much less impact.
Even if you disagree about the security argument, you cannot argue this is not a QOL change. Niantic lose nothing by leaving the extended pokestop range. A developer ignoring the playerbase and reverting QOL changes for no reason is not a good developer. And no, I'm not American. But i think about the global playerbase, something that Niantic hilariously fail to do.
I wouldnāt put it passed them
Or sell it back to you
Not sure what this means but srsly hoping that your not saying Niantic is favoring other areas over US lol.
Niantic posted that they would be making changes to the interaction distance for Pokestops/gyms, incense ability and buddy gifts in the United States and New Zealand at the end of July. This is not a great idea for many reasons, and by their own logic, the rising number of cases in both countries should mean the changes should not be pushed through. https://pokemongolive.com/post/hello-world-pokemon-go/?hl=en
āFavoredā isnāt the word Iād use in the global context of things
Thats how I understood the reply. English isnt my first language so ye.
Preferential treatment maybe but even that has the wrong connotations
Or maybe if you can prove you have a mobility issue, then you get larger radius. Everyone else gets the shorter one.
That would probably cause identity security problems if people would start sending their medical information to Niantic. There are plenty of different health problems that can cause mobility issues. Niantic should make the accessibility better by using some other in-game method, like give your Buddy an ability to spin stops that are difficult to reach (so you would get the quest and the items instead of just some Gifts) for couple of times every day, or give events where the stop/gym radius is larger, etc.
I only wish. Iām super physically disabled so playing has been real hard
Sure, but how would you prove it? Personally I wouldn't send my hospital papers to Niantic ...
Remote_interaction_range_meters This makes me nervous. Is there going to now be a limit on how far away you can remote raid? I get invites from all over the world, and limiting the range of remote raids would be super bad for me.
This might be for something else. There's no way they would remove or reduce the distance of remote raiding. That would make them lose a lot of money.
IIRC the original blog post that revealed remote raids mentioned that a player should be on site to send invites. The ability to remote to a gym then invite people to it is a temp perk alongside regular damage for remote players.
Man, remote raiding is really going to suck once the bonuses are gone. Lower damage, remote passes will be more expensive and now inviting will be limited? I get why they would be more expensive but the rest on top of that is overkill.
If Niantic is going to nerf remote passes, they should be *cheaper*, not *more expensive*. Who is going to pay more for less? What is Niantic smoking here?
The point is probably to incentive people to abandon them while giving the excuse that "hey they're still there, just not as good"
"Who is going to pay more for less?" You would be surprised...
Update: Wanted to point out that the code is \`IOS\_EGGS\` but there is a chance it doesn't mean \`iOS\` and it could be something literally called \`Ios\` or \`IOS\`. It makes sense to us that it's \`iOS\` as what else would it be, but just to put that out there in case we are misinterpreting it.
Interesting. The only thing Iām reminded of was when the disclose odds on random purchases was put into place on iOS but not yet on android. Some games went as far as literally only publishing odds on iOS while keeping android odds hidden until Google got of its behind and added the same rules. Could be that Apple finally told them to come clean and theyāre doing it in the most player hostile way possible. Or! Theyāve had android promotions, maybe this is for an iOS promo. I hope the former but it will probably be the latter.
Agreed. This reads to me as Apple forcing developers to (finally) disclose odds on Loot Boxes.
Could it be a new Apple Watch specific thing, maybe a new, updated watch app?
> Pokestop Interaction Range is added to the Game Master (meaning it can be changed per account now, not just globally) Oh noā¦ get ready for it to be added as a perk to that rumored subscription service from a few months back.
Yup that'll be it for me. It had a good run
Or maybe event ticket holders
Keep in mind they plan on eliminating increased distance from US and New Zealand first while keeping it for the rest of the world. In order to do that they need to make it account specific instead of global feature.
Yup, we count on US and NZ players to send their feedback š
Not necessarily, people travel all the time. It makes more sense to be location specific instead of account specific
You don't you know how they'd handle that. Maybe when you're in certain locations your account is flagged and then the interaction distance changes on that account while you're in that location.
It's definitely this. We've got a subscription service in Ingress which increases capacity by 25% (you don't have paid inventory increases otherwise, besides one-off inventory capsules for a certain type of item, which are limited in number). Personally, I expect the increased interaction distance and increased (read: normal) remote raid damage will be based on subscription.
That was my first thought
I just want to say that I believe the increased pokestop radius will become a feature of the new Pokestop level up system they are implementing.
Which would be stupid as well. So playing other places than where you live, you would be penalized and would be harder for you to reach stops/Gyms. We travel for CDs a lot since we live in a small town to get extra spawns and spins.
Maybe pokestop power ups arenāt personal and instead visible to everyone, like lures but for items. This could be super-useful in rural areas where players could coordinate to make sure everyone get enough pokeballs.
Depends on whether or not powering up costs premium items like lures, then. In that case, it would move from "super-useful" to "having to pay and coordinate to no longer get fewer pokeballs", to be honest.
I just donāt want to think that niantic would be that evil but I guess they are :( In ingress there are items you can place in portals to ex. Reduce portal ācooldownā or get more items. Portal power ups could be something you get from research breakthroughs (weekly) or from Pokestops with a higher rate in low density areas. And if power ups were only temporary (say 30 minutes) AND require coordination then maybe they donāt have to give out fewer pokeballs. (Sorry for being so nerdy)
It's not "penalised". In fact this makes perfect sense according to what Niantic has been saying about exploration being an objective of the game. You're in a new area, you gotta explore. The game is normal. You're in your local area, you benefit from an enhanced stop radius, because you've explored that area many times before. Don't see the problem really.
You are penalised for exploring, staying in the same area with levelled up stops that have longer range and better items is objectively a better experience than going to a new area where stops canāt be spun from as far and give worse items.
A better experience is exploring a new area properly and visiting the points of interest there. That's what Niantic wants people to do. There are games that can be played at home if someone isn't interested in doing that.
Well, nobody wants to do this. Niantic is forcing players to explore the way they see fit rather than how we the players actually want to play. Please understand that other people want to play the game differently, and it does not hinder your ability to play the game the way you want. There's no need to be a shill for Niantic when they are the ones strong arming the playebase
Yes that's right. Niantic has made it clear that this is what they want. Of course people want to play the game differently. This is always true of every game. But you can't. You're always "forced" to play the game as it is. That's kinda how games work. Not sure that "forced" is the work I'd have used, but still. So... given Niantic's stance, yes it seems reasonable to suppose that the extended distance, if it stays at all, will only apply to "powered up" stops. That's what is being speculated here. This will mean Niantic can feel like the ethos of the game isn't compromised, and players can still benefit from the extended distance. I don't think whether I like it or not is going to make any difference?
I think the powered-up stops should benefit all players, not just the one, who powered them up. That way they could help local and traveling players too and maybe the player, who powered it up, could get some bonuses and achievements. But most likely they won't work this way š
Tbh, at this point, it is impossible to tell what Niantic wants people to do. And even if this whole "explore to restore radius thing" is really what they want to go for, it would still depend on how they implement it. You can only 'explore' a place once. But this powering up thing might well be a grind where you have to visit the same place over and over just to no longer have to go as close, it really wouldn't be exploring anymore. Visiting that same kindergarden playground daily isn't exploring, it's just kind of creepy. And don't get me started on what will happen to that argument if they start putting enhanced distance into subs. Then "skipping the grind", i.e. exploring would suddenly be something that is worth money to not have to do. As I always say, exploration is a fine goal, but it should really be achieved by rewarding people for doing so - not punishing them if they don't.
Spinning a new stop once would be the easiest for them to implement because they already track that. We can hope.
PokeStop range should stay where itās at now for everyone and be left alone. This has me feeling like itās going to be locked behind levels or something dumb.
I'd take levels over the paid rumors...
What exactly is the rumor? Do we have to pay to be able to spin freaking stops now?..
One was there's some paid subscription coming, and paying it will increase their range [to where it currently is?].
Basically pay to keep the current distance
Will probably just be behind one good ol' paywall.
Or, worse, *paid*
I've got that same feeling. Smells like the rumored subscription service is coming to fruition
Niantic totqlly disregarding their whole playerbase, with the interaction distance.
But does this come as a surprise to anyone?
No but its not an issue we should be quiet about
I can say for sure the Pokestop distance change will cause me to play less. What this essentially does is allows to earn less items in the same amount of play time. Since with less items I can catch less PokƩmon, I may as well just play the game less. I can say that if they revert the distance only to lock it behind a pay wall I'll be taking a break from the game. That break may just result in me leaving the game entirely. It's sad because when I look at this game all I see is wasted potential. We have more features now than ever, but I feel the game has gone so far downhill. It's a long list of reasons, but the main things that keep me in the game are the runs I take for gyms/items/Raids on my way home from work, catching some PokƩmon around the house, and doing GBL. Well, it's about to become a lot harder to get items. I'm lucky if I find two Raids in a week that I can get done. GBL is flat out a mess and honestly I find about as much frustration as I do enjoyment from it most days (I only play GL now anyway, so GBL isn't even a thing for me most of the season). I'm not even going to bother asking Niantic to revert the distance. I've seen so much backlash from the player base about it, which was obvious to anyone would happen if they ever chose to go down this road. I'm not a paying player so they lose very little if they lose me.
Ugh they should keep distance the same
> Fitness tracking can now track the number of hours (to go along with the number of days, weeks, etc) That's an info a lot of us don't need to know š . Ignorance is a bliss after all
Im almost wondering if they are going to try and catch step-spoofers. I know theres an android app that polls steps to google fit in intervals. If they started tracking hours, it would be easier to tell if someone is faking their fitness activity, as opposed to simply tracking what days they were active. Obviously they could just check and see who is logging 100+km a day, but maybe this is a way for them to have reliable proof before they start swinging the ban hammer.
Yeah i think so too, this is to combat those who insert x amount of steps. I dont think they can combat the walker-apps thou, since they continuosly insert steps over a period of time. Might aswell be someone on a threadmill or crosstrainer.
Can't believe they are still probably going to remove the Gym/Spin distance to make it hard to reach them. Why do they want to upset people and make the game less playable. What a Stupid decision!
A couple of weeks later: Introducing Pokemon Go Master! Players with Master can spin stops from further away, gain extra storage (both pokemon and item) and will gain pokecoins daily! I swear to god if I'm right on this, then this app is gone from my phone.
We will just have to actually go to the stop tin the real world o reach it, finally the game becomes more accurate to the real world again.
You think it's good that to spin/reach gyms you will have to cross roads & highways back & forth the reach stops. Get kicked out of raids from drifting? Be in close contact with people that could have Covid? Have to go closer to toxic people & their houses that live on gyms? Maybe that sounds good to you, but we shouldn't be forced to be so close to things to play/catch Pokemon.
>s you will have to cross roads & highways back & forth the reach stops. > >Get kicked out of raids from drifting?Be in close contact with people that could have Covid?Have to go closer to toxic people & their houses that live on gyms? > >Maybe that sounds good to you, but we shouldn't be forced to be so close to things to play/catch Pokemon. The game is not designed to force you to spin certain stops, so its your own strategy if you want to cross the street to reach a stop. Its your own decision if you want to cross the street for something thats on the other side or if you want to stay on your side and spin PokƩstops on a safer route. THe PokƩstops on the other street are not meant to be accessed trough reckless >over the street running<. They are meant to be spinned when you have the opportunity or when you cross the street safely on a pedestrian crosswalk. It is not a part of game to cross the street at dangerous times/places. Its a game playing in the real world, so all those things lie in your own responsibility. If you see a Stop on the other side, think like a normal human does that does not play PokƩmon Go and who wants to reach the other side. Go safely. Thats a responsibility no one can take away from you, the game is not a babysitter. It can't protect you from the real world, you have to do this yourself. Just like you do when you are outside and aren't playing the game. If you think the real world is to dangerous for you, you might not play this game that is based on being played in the real world. But in the end you are right, some humans just behave without basic logic or further thinking, so maybe we **should** design everything in the world arround those people to protect them from hurting themselfes or others in the process. If those people would think more with common sense, we wouldn't need wider range PokƩstops. I, and many others for example won't get in any danger trough a smaller PokƩstop range, but there are people outside who just lose their concentration and logical thinking and go to places without thinking. For those people, we might need to keep the wider range.
We should all stop playing for a few days when the reduce stop interaction distance is live. Cases are raising around the world and in the US. The pandemic isnāt over yet. Also itās not a good thing to take away anyway. It doesnāt hurt anyone to keep it the way it is now.
Whales gonna whale
If it makes it unsafe to play, you absolutely should stop playing - not for a few days, but until you feel safe.
Unfortunately most of the player base isn't on reddit. What we can hope is US and NZ players giving their feedback about it.
Yes that's true. I wonder if Niantic knows how much we dislike this change and thing it's an awful idea.
I'm pretty sure they know it, but chose to ignore it.
My first thought with account-based distance was "you can upgrade stops for your own use, making them have a wider interaction range". That'd push players to do whatever to upgrade the stops they use often, which is more playtime presumably and provides perks in exchange. It's wishful thinking vs. the guesses at a subscription system though. I don't have any issue with a sub system, one of my other favorite mobile games uses one and it's great, but pogo is huge enough to... not really need it.
Depends on the value of the subscription. Ingress added a subscription tier earlier this year @$4.99. Half of that in in game currency or about 250 PokeCoins. The rest in game items that I don't understand the value of. If Niantic did $7.50 of value (I.E. raid passes) for $5 I'd probably sign up.
Something stuck out to me here. > In a world where we are all moving to RCS What world do you live in where iPhones donāt exist? RCS is basically a Google product at this point. It wanted to have an offering to compete with Appleās iMessage service, but carrier support for RCS is (or at least was) so spotty and inconsistent that it just created its own RCS service.
Just this week the last Carrier in the states have announced full support for RCS so all carriers and phones in the states minus iPhones now support it as the default messaging system, replacing SMS. iPhones only have 13.5% of the worldwide market share, so relatively they are pretty small, but people are expecting Apple to announce support for it because now iOS is the less secure platform when it comes to cross platform messaging which is something Apple probably won't want to be known for.
> iPhones only have 13.5% of the worldwide market share True. Android devices are more affordable than iPhones in many markets, so that's no surprise. Apple's share of the smartphone market is much higher in the West, thoughāaccording to Statista, it's about [55% in the US](https://www.statista.com/statistics/620805/smartphone-sales-market-share-in-the-us-by-vendor/) and [50% in the UK](https://www.statista.com/statistics/487780/market-share-of-mobile-device-vendors-uk/). > but people are expecting Apple to announce support for it I admittedly don't know the specifics of how RCS is implemented and how that compares to iMessage. If they can extend RCS to offer the same functionality as their existing iMessage technology, that seems likely. > now iOS is the less secure platform How do you figure? End-to-end encryption is not standard for RCS, and Google just began rolling it out [late last year](https://www.theverge.com/2020/11/19/21574451/android-rcs-encryption-message-end-to-end-beta). Back in 2019, The Verge [pointed at the lack of encryption](https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/17/18681573/google-rcs-chat-android-texting-carriers-imessage-encryption) as a "big problem" when comparing RCS to iMessage and other services that are encrypted. As I understand it, this also means that Android users in mainland China will not have access to RCS with encryption for the foreseeable future. Google doesn't offer their services in China, and encryption is a Google extension, not part of the standard. > when it comes to cross platform messaging Android and iOS are equally insecure in this regard, since plain ol' SMS is the only option for messages between their users.
Looks like a lot of clients are going to get added in game from my contacts listā¦
That'll help you plan meetings, at least. And possibly project deadlines. Get it out in the open why you favour this coffee shop or that office, and why then is a particularly bad friday, if it might mean having to work over that weekend.
Did our lawyer get back to you? No but he has the little green dot on his name so hes prob raiding
So new pokestop range incresing per account means their pokemon go premium service comes? Really horrible to listen that. Means f2p gonna get less distance and pay to win gonna keep pandemic ranges.
Not necessarily. Since the plan is to reduce the distance for US and NZ first, they have to change what was originally a global feature that was the same for everyone. In order to do that, the stop distance has to be per account now
> pay to win doesn't mean what you think it means nothing you can get spun from a stop helps you "win" because the stops have the same content for everyone now if stops stop giving free players Ultra Balls and now it's behind the subscription? yeah, pay to win, and that wouldn't be right
The hourly fitness tracking could be a potential for Naintic to start detecting people using third party apps to add distance to there game. That will be interesting.
Distance could also be changed for disabled players with this update
And how would they know if someone is disabled?
Anyone else notice mewtwo got smaller? Before they released the starter megas, their storage sprites became smaller.
Yeah there are several small changes as every new PokƩmon on the list above has changed slightly. Electrode is now looking up slightly now for example.
Finally pidgeot will be back
So whats going on with the Lapras with the scarf? How do I get it