Pokémon Go! Lapras and Articuno

[Haruna]

Spoofers. Ugh. I posted before that they took over tons of gyms around the end of May; I've been slowly chipping away at the Snorlaxes and Blisseys, etc. after work at a gym I count as "mine," since as a semi-casual player I don't have the time or resources to do more. A few other teammates must have joined in because finally on Thursday I saw that I wouldn't have to finish the gym off after work that day; it was finally my team again, level three. I made it level 4 and added a Pokémon.

Then the next day when I came to work I saw that it was level 10 again, filled with most of the same spoofers. 

I'm not sure whether these players are spoofers who use their GPS to go to gyms they're not physically at or whether they just use some sort of tracker to get tons of Blisseys and Snorlaxes and other strong Pokémon. But if they're not GPS spoofing, they're super coordinated to get 10 high-level players together on a Thursday night just to win back this gym.

In another gym, the one my sister and I won back together a while ago but that was taken over soon after, there's a player sitting in the top spot with a 3000-level Dragonite whose username is "LazyMattSpoofs." *bangs head against wall*

In happier news, I actually caught a perfect IV Eevee today. That's never happened to me, and I've caught almost every Eevee I've seen. Eevees are among my top favorite Pokémon and I'm so excited about this! I kind of want to risk it and see if he'll evolve into a Vaporeon (I used up the naming trick long ago), but I might evolve him into an Umbreon.

Well, this summer will be fun. The Legendaries and PVP is coming for sure!

Oh really? Where did you hear that?

When winning an award for Pokémon Go, the global marketing lead (I think) said, in the five words they're allowed (the speeches have to be short like that), that "This summer will be legendary." So it's just a rumor, but I think the rumor's pretty well-founded. I just wonder which legendaries they'll release and how. How ridiculously hard might they be to catch, for instance, or will we just be able to get the legendary bird of our respective team (I hope they don't team-lock them like that), or will they even do all the legendaries this summer (since now there are 8-ish? not counting Mew and Celebi). I can also imagine gyms full of Zapdos, Moltres, Articuno, Mewtwo, which could get strange . . .

[sailorstitch]

Looks like fire and ice are next! Another chance to track down Lapras.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2017/06/04/details-leak-about-pokemon-gos-new-fire-and-ice-event/#4d1e04b06d31

[Rainbowrific Renia]

Oh yeah, I saw the "this summer will be legendary" thing. I'm taking it with a grain of salt, like the whole "save your candies" quote from a few months ago. Considering this summer will be the 1 year anniversary of the game, I DO hope they give us an awesome event/new content.

Looks like fire and ice are next! Another chance to track down Lapras.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2017/06/04/details-leak-about-pokemon-gos-new-fire-and-ice-event/#4d1e04b06d31

Yay! I don't need any of the ice types, but I welcome more fire types with open arms!

[Aitsuki]

Developers recently confirmed that they would be releasing the legendaries this summer.

[Rainbowrific Renia]

Developers recently confirmed that they would be releasing the legendaries this summer.

I just read about that. It would be cool if the legendaries are part of the 1 year anniversary event- which I'm hoping they'll make a big deal out of.

Regarding the event next week, I wonder if we'll be getting Delibird? I know people are saying we may not get it until next Christmas, but that seems silly to me. Waiting that long to get a Pokemon that, let's be honest, isn't going to do much in gyms. Same with Smeargle. Unless they plan on completely revamping gyms sometime this year. Like... it's just strange to me that we haven't gotten those two. I did read that Niantic was probably having issues implementing their signature moves (Present and Sketch) into the game, so I guess that's a good excuse.

[Haruna]

I added a fifth Pokémon to a friendly gym yesterday and saw this morning that he had been kicked out. At first I wasn't too surprised, as he (my third-strongest Vaporeon) was only one up from the bottom slot, but I visited it today and saw that the entire gym was filled with the same 10 darned spoofers, with their Blisseys and Snorlaxes, who have taken over all the other areas!

It would be cool if the legendaries are part of the 1 year anniversary event- which I'm hoping they'll make a big deal out of.

That would be the perfect time for the legendaries!

Regarding the event next week, I wonder if we'll be getting Delibird? I know people are saying we may not get it until next Christmas, but that seems silly to me. Waiting that long to get a Pokemon that, let's be honest, isn't going to do much in gyms. Same with Smeargle. Unless they plan on completely revamping gyms sometime this year. Like... it's just strange to me that we haven't gotten those two. I did read that Niantic was probably having issues implementing their signature moves (Present and Sketch) into the game, so I guess that's a good excuse.

Niantic is a mysterious company whose logic I don't always understand. Yeah; it seems like they should release those two sooner than Christmas, especially because one would hope Gen 3 would be out by then.

[Duenia]

This morning I left for work and walked straight into a Dragonite outside my apartment, that was a huge surprise 

[Rainbowrific Renia]

A little bit of info about the first year anniversary of the game:

"Trainers,

We’re celebrating two amazing milestones—Pokémon GO’s one-year anniversary and 750 million global downloads—and you’re invited to join in on the fun! Over the next few months, we’re hosting real-world and in-game events planned alongside some very exciting new features that will get you outside exploring the world with family and friends. Get ready for an action-packed couple of months!

To kick things off, we will be hosting the Solstice Event starting on June 13, 2017. This in-game event will feature Fire-type and Ice-type Pokémon, huge XP bonuses for throwing Poké Balls accurately, and discounted Lucky Eggs in the in-game shop. Soon thereafter, you can look forward to a new update focused on collaborative group gameplay features that will get you playing Pokémon GO in fun new ways. In preparation for these exciting features, we’ll be temporarily disabling Gyms for a short period of time.

We’re also excited to announce our first ever real-world Pokémon GO event coming your way: Pokémon GO Fest Chicago! This event will take place in downtown Chicago, Illinois, USA at the beautiful Grant Park on July 22, 2017. Join us as we celebrate the Pokémon GO community with a ton of exciting festivities. Tickets and more information for Pokémon GO Fest Chicago will be available at PokemonGoLive.com/Fest on Monday, June 19 at 10:00 A.M. PDT, so make sure to mark your calendars and follow our social media channels to be notified when tickets go live! European Trainers can look forward to Pokémon GO celebrations hosted across the continent from June through September in partnership with Unibail-Rodamco shopping centers. We'll be posting a complete schedule for these events very soon. Also, The Pokémon Company is organizing “Pikachu Outbreak”, a Pokémon event in Yokohama, Japan, in August where they’re exploring a unique Pokémon GO experience. Stay tuned for even more details surrounding each of these events in the coming weeks.

Keep an eye on PokemonGoLive.com and our Pokémon GO social media channels for the latest news and updates surrounding the exciting features and events coming your way. See you outside!


—The Pokémon GO team"

Is it bad that I kinda want to go to the Chicago thing? My husband and I didn't plan any vacations for this summer, and I do love Chicago. It's one of my favorite cities. We've been talking about taking a train there for a weekend trip. I mean, we wouldn't be going there just for this event, we'd just plan our trip to coincide with it. I'm just really curious as to how the festival will go. Hmm...

[Haruna]

^Exciting news! The gym rework should be interesting. At the very least, even if it's a terrible rework, I'll be happy that momentarily the spoofers will all get kicked out, ha ha, since our Pokémon will be returned to us while the gyms are down.

Is it bad that I kinda want to go to the Chicago thing? My husband and I didn't plan any vacations for this summer, and I do love Chicago. It's one of my favorite cities. We've been talking about taking a train there for a weekend trip. I mean, we wouldn't be going there just for this event, we'd just plan our trip to coincide with it. I'm just really curious as to how the festival will go. Hmm...

That would be cool, especially if you were already planning to go and you live somewhat close. I wonder what it'll be like -- whether people's lofty predictions of legendaries will prove true or whether it will be some other type of special event.

[Snapdragon]

Ooh legendaries!! Another event!! All very exciting! We have a lot of fire-type Pokemon around here, being a desert and all, but I'm excited for more ice-types! Maybe I can finally evolve my Seel!!

[Rainbowrific Renia]

Hopefully you'll be able to, Snapdragon!

I'm looking forward to more Cyndaquil and Houndour. Oddly enough, Cyndaquil has been popping up a lot for me lately.

That would be cool, especially if you were already planning to go and you live somewhat close. I wonder what it'll be like -- whether people's lofty predictions of legendaries will prove true or whether it will be some other type of special event.

Yeah, I'm not too far. We've driven to Chicago twice before, and I checked train schedules and it seems like we'd be leaving late at night and get there early the next morning, which is great. We wanted to take a short weekend trip this summer since I'm interviewing for a new job and I don't want to take a full blown vacation just in case I manage to land something, plus I don't want to take off any extra time at my current job just in case. A quick trip to Chicago would be perfect.

I'm really hoping we'll see the legendaries this summer. I need Lugia in my life, or at the very least, Zapdos.

[Aitsuki]

I think that the Go Event is ticketed, so if you want to go, check that out!

[Haruna]

Fire and ice event has started! How's it for you guys so far? Once I got off work I was able to get lots of my favorites -- Vulpix, Growlithe, lots of Charmanders, and even a Houndour. Hopefully I can get a Houndour with good IVs during this event!

[Rainbowrific Renia]

I just need a few more Houndour and I'll be done! I got Typhlosion this morning.

I think that the Go Event is ticketed, so if you want to go, check that out!

Yeah, I think they'll have more info on the tickets in the next few days.

[Aitsuki]

I think I figured out why the event's in Chicago today...... ChicaGO. I don't know if it's just my pun obsession, but it feels to me like that's the reason...