Team ValOrlando

Documenting my Pokémon Go! experience.

[teamvalorlando]

4/1/2018 I'm already approaching the silver medal. This update has made grinding substantially less of a chore.

[teamvalorlando]

3/5-3/17 2018

Taking advantage of the double XP event. Unfortunately, we didn’t get much partly cloudy weather during this time so I wasn’t able to maximize the number of Pidgey and Rattata caught. Still, I think I did pretty well.

[teamvalorlando]

3/8/2018

It’s going to be a good weekend.

[teamvalorlando]

2/20/2018

With just under 10,000XP to go I got in contact with three other trainers via Discord and together we were able to take down a Rayquaza! Which, I did end up catching but isn’t much to write home about with only 84% IVs.

[teamvalorlando]

2/10/2018

Thanks to the Gen 3 outbreak event I’m now up to 97 Pokémon from the Hoenn region!

[teamvalorlando]

2/2/2018 My first three Unown were "O" "R" "L" in that order. How appropriate for Orlando.

[teamvalorlando]

2/2/2018 My first gold gym badge!

[teamvalorlando]

1/9/2018

My first Mewtwo! Unfortunately, the IVs aren’t much to write home about and it has quite literally the worst possible move set. However, I’m glad to have it in the Pokédex! 

Mewtwo marks my 300th entry!

[teamvalorlando]

1/8/2018

Tomorrow I’ll be participating in my first ever Ex Raid Battle! This was, believe it or not, my first attempt at getting an Ex Raid Pass and I completed only two (2) raids at this particular gym. After seeing several comments from people who’ve missed out time and time again I have decided to share with you all my strategy. Maybe I just got incredibly lucky, maybe these tips will help someone obtain this elusive pass.

First, find out where these raids have been held in the past. I’m fortunate enough that Orlando has a very active Discord channel with this information readily available. I can’t speak for elsewhere but I imagine the same goes for other major cities. 

Here are some of the known Ex Raid locations for the Orlando area:

If your city does not have an active Pokémon Go Discord you’ll have to do some digging. These locations are usually sponsored gyms at Sprint and Starbucks. I, personally, found four gyms within reasonable distance of my apartment that were known to host Ex Raids.

I then checked which gyms were currently lined up to host an Ex Raid. Of those four gyms, one wasn’t hosting in late December.

With the exception of the two Altamonte locations the gyms are a fair drive from one another. Instead of taking the shotgun approach, spending a ton of money on gas, and trying to raise the Badge level of all four gyms, I focused solely on this one. Not just raids but gym battles, as well. I figured if it wasn’t included in this round the odds of it being included in the next were greater. Alternatively, If I focused on one that currently did have an Ex Raid planned I would run the risk of it being excluded in the following round. Despite having a high turnover rate, as Ex Raid gyms will, I was able to boost my badge to Silver in just a few weeks.

Basically, do a little research. Find known location for Ex Raids near you, then narrow that down to locations that aren’t hosting an Ex Raid in the coming round. As I said before, to-date I have only raided twice at this location. Both were Level 1 raids. The first raid gave me my Bronze Badge and the second was after I already had Silver.

A tip for anyone in Orlando who may be reading this as of early-mid January 2018; the following locations do not appear to have Ex Raids this round. Put your focus on them and good luck!

P.S. Yes, I blurred my trainer ID. No, my trainer ID is NOT TeamValOrlando. I do this just in case Niantic ever gets a bug up their ass and decides I’m somehow breaking their ToS and as a result bans my account. Call it paranoia but better safe than sorry.

[teamvalorlando]

12/28/2017 In a way this is old news as I mentioned already in my last post that I had already achieved the Silver Hoenn Medal. However, as I have not yet documented it due to work and my focus being put towards the Magikarp Master Post I now present to you my Silver Hoenn Medal!

[teamvalorlando]

Magikarp Master Post

12/18/2017

I achieved the Fisherman Gold Medal at Cranes Roost Park just after I finished my Christmas shopping. As I suspected in my Rattata Master Post this was a much easier medal to complete than the Schoolkid Gold Medal as 1. The size chart is most definitely unbalanced and 2. My interest level in Magikarp (compared to my interest level in Rattata) is much higher due to the potential for shinies and/or adding a useful Pokémon to my roster.

The numbers:

Seen: 2,233

Caught: 2,136

This means I reached the Fisherman Gold Medal with 948 fewer captures than it took for me to reach the Schookid Gold Medal. That is, to say the least, significant. While XS Rattata only appeared or registered at below 10% (roughly 9.4%) XL Magikarp appeared or registered about 14% of the time.

In Magikarp alone I have achieved the Swimmer Gold Medal 10x over (it would have been 11 had none of them fled!) and the Collector Gold Medal.

Of the 2,136 Magikarp, 14 were in the 90%+ IV range. That’s roughly .65%, which is more or less on par with Rattata at .68%.

I have managed to catch 3 shiny Magikarp, putting the odds of capturing a shiny at roughly .14%. Keep in mind, however, that’s only when considering the individual species.

My Magikarp named “PoGo+” was, indeed, captured with my Pokémon Go Plus (while wandering around Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios). Don’t ask me the odds of that happening as, at this time, they are incalculable.

Finally, I captured one each of a 100% and a 0%. Putting the odds of finding either at .046%.  I don’t actually keep my eye out for 0% Pokémon so, it is entirely possible that one slipped by my notice and was transferred.

I have now completed all the initial medals put out by Niantic aside from Ace Trainer. Unfortunately, unless Niantic finds a way to re-implement the training feature, that one will remain silver with 613/1000. Yes, it kills me.

The medals I have left to work on are:

Hoenn: Silver 53/90

Champion: Bronze 30/1000

Battle Legend: Bronze 24/1000

Unown: 2/26

[teamvalorlando]

10/25/2017

I had a busy night! Thanks to both the Halloween event and Downtown Winter Park being a Pikachu nest the week prior I finally reached 300!

[teamvalorlando]

12/7/2017 Update

I realize I didn't give this medal the attention it deserved. That being said I've added some photos and here are the numbers:

Since my initial post I have captured another 45 Pikachu, bringing the total count to 345 caught with an additional 35 fleeing.

Of those 345, 9 were in the top 10 percentile (90%+ IVs)

Of those 9, 2 have perfect (100%) IVs

I've also caught 1 "perfect" 0% Pikachu. It's worth noting that, according to a char that I now can’t find for the life of me, the odds of finding a 0% are equal to that of finding a 100% Pokémon. (.5%)

When it comes to event Pikachu I seem to have mixed logic during different events. I want to have at least one of every evolution if possible. During the Christmas event it seems I felt I wanted my strongest percentage to remain a Pikachu while opting to evolve my weakest. However, during the one year anniversary (Ash Hat) and the latest Halloween event it seems I opted to evolve my strongest while keeping my weak Pikachu in its original state. During the Pokémon Day event (Party Hat) it seems either I only caught one or only kept one for some reason unbeknownst to even myself. Sadly, I didn't hatch a Witch Hat Pichu during the Halloween event but I was able to hatch two during the one year anniversary.

Sadly, I have yet to capture a single shiny Pikachu.

[teamvalorlando]

12/1/2017

A few months back I joined pokemongo_orlando on Discord. This was initially only to participate in legendary raids as gathering a large group of people is otherwise nearly impossible. Two weeks ago I discovered they have a chat for locating rare Pokémon. Since then I have become absorbed with checking the app.

Had it not been for this incredibly useful tool I don’t know how long it would have been before I finally caught my first Unown. I raced out of my apartment, picked up my roommate, who had conveniently just gotten out of work and was roughly halfway to the spawn location. We were both ecstatic to finally enter this rare  Pokémon into our Pokédex’.

This is when I discovered a new medal. I’m sure the majority had been aware of this for a while but I somehow avoided this information until that point in time. Apparently, in order to complete this medal one must collect the entire alphabet.

[teamvalorlando]

11/29/2017

During the Global Catch Challenge event I gained 2,030,320 XP from Pidgeyvolving alone! I didn’t calculate my entire XP earned but it’s safe to say that number was well over 3,000,000.

To put things into perspective, 2,000,000 is the XP needed for the first 30 levels! It’s also the amount needed to go from Level 37 to Level 38. As I was already well into Level 37 at the beginning of the event, the accumulated XP was enough to launch me 1/3 of the way to Level 39.

Save those lucky eggs for Double XP events. In the mean time, catch every nuisance Pokémon. This way you won’t have to worry about having enough candy. Even by doing this I still found myself low on Hoothoot and Spinarak candy.

Also, increase your Pokémon storage several times over. Within thirty minutes one is capable of evolving 70+ Pokémon. If you have 140+ empty spaces in your storage you’ll be able to Pidgeyvolve twice before you have to go back to the grind. I had around 190 empty spaces and still maxed out my storage on two occasions.

[teamvalorlando]

11/23/2017

With the completion of the Depot Agent medal I now have gold for all types.

[teamvalorlando]

11/23/2017

Thanks to Lake Eola being a Magnemite nest I was finally able to complete the steel type medal.

The numbers: Magnemite- 167 Magneton- 4 Forretress- 2

Steelix- 3 Scizor- 6 Skarmory- 18

All three Steelix and six Scizor are in the 90% IV range.

[teamvalorlando]

11/21/2017 Lake Eola is currently a Magnemite nest. I've gone from fifty to a hundred in two hunts. At this rate I shouldn't have a problem reaching gold before the next nest shift.