It's that time again!

[indigo_league]

All right, trainers! Ready for your next big announcement post? If u can dig it, hop under the cut and check out what we've been working on!


-NEW/UPDATED INFOPAGES:

Ah, yes. The ongoing revamp! Bit by bit, we’re tackling the FAQ and other Navigation pages for the sake of decluttering and updating. Here’s a couple that we’ve polished up!

Newbie Guide: Previously, there were like… three separate links on the Navigation page that all led to this same page, as well as some weird outdated information (when was the last time Professor Oak stood around in the middle of New Bark like some kind of town crier? Probably not since 2010!) This is the post that newbies will likely be clicking on first, so we wanted it to be as helpful and up-to-date as possible!
IC Police Contact: The IC Police Contact now has its own page, rather than being stuck in with Plot Suggestions where nobody would think to look for it. Report IC crimes here!
Berries & Apricorns: Following up the Item Availability page (which has also been updated to reflect the new info), the Berries & Apricorns page has also received a slick update! Check it out, because...

-APRICORN ORCHARD:

So, for the past...since the game was opened, anybody who’s gone to look at the Berry page may have noticed the section on Apricorns and how Kurt would only make the special Pokeballs for people during small mod run events. Now, this has never actually happened, and won’t be happening in the future. BECAUSE… drumroll…

As of this Sunday, we’ll be opening up the APRICORN ORCHARD, right near Kurt’s house in Azalea! For a small fee, characters will be able to pick a variety from the orchard and take them to Kurt to be crafted into specialty Pokeballs, which are now available in the game for the very first time. Characters are still free to find Apricorn trees all over Johto and Kanto, but if they don’t want to go hunting for them on the routes and dragging bushels of them all the way back to Azalea, this is the place to go!

The mods will not be personally running the Orchard, so anyone can visit and interact with Kurt, just as they would any other location or shop. Just don’t try to bug him in the middle of the night-- he’s an old man and he needs his rest!


-AVAILABILITY LIST TWEAKING:

We’ve gotten quite a few questions, suggestions, and comments about Pokemon distribution in the last month! While it’s mostly fine, it’s clear that the Pokemon distribution across both regions could use a little fine-tuning. So before we went in there and got crazy, we wanted to put the question out to all of you: is there anything, availability-wise, you think should be different?

Is there a Pokemon that shouldn’t really be rare but is only located on a single route in a distant corner of Kanto? Or a Pokemon that would make a lot of sense to be somewhere but isn’t for some reason? We want to hear about it!

This is not to say we will implement every single suggestion, but we will take them all into consideration when we revamp the lists. Comment HERE to leave yours, so we have them all in one place! And keep realistic-- no wild Charizards swooping around in Cherrygrove or Sunflora in the middle of Ice Path!


-NEW RULES FOR ACTIVITY CHECK AND APPLICATIONS:

We’ve also gotten a few questions about samples. Namely about how the samples now require at least one thread, and also that the wording on what is needed for samples to begin with is unclear. Because of this, we’ve looked into the requirements and decided to tweak them a little for clarity.

There are still two samples required!
The first sample must be a thread (from anywhere) of at least five comments from you (previously, there were two different comment count requirements depending on the type of thread, which was confusing!). This requirement is so that we can better gauge how applicants are likely to play once in the game.
The second sample must take place in Victory Road’s setting and can be either a traditional sample post OR another thread, as long as that thread is from the Test Drive meme and has the minimum five comments from you. This requirement is meant to gauge how the character will integrate into the setting.
If an applicant has two threads of length on the test drive which spawned from the same toplevel, or just has multiple test drive threads, both may be submitted to fill the two-sample requirement.
Newbies who are going to be relying on the Test Drive for their required sample thread should feel free to state that in the subject line of their toplevel so that other players (or the mods, in a pinch!) know to give them a hand! The Test Drive meme post will be updated to reflect this information.

Accordingly, we want to encourage people to tag around on the test drive to help any potential newbies who don’t already have a thread available elsewhere, so we are ALSO going to be altering the Activity Check rules:

Starting with the next AC period, ONE out of your two+ threads may be turned in for AC from the Test Drive Meme, and unlike the normal in-game required comment count of three, it must contain at least five comments from you, for a total of ten comments in the thread. This is the length of a thread required for someone’s app sample. That way, it helps you and the newbies out! Teamwork!!

-FINAL DECISIONS ON TYPE: NULL:

In our last announcement, we addressed the Type: Null dilemma and put forward an idea for how to successfully incorporate it into the game, which we were delighted to see was received positively by the majority who responded! We want to thank everyone who weighed in with their feedback and, having taken it into account, are excited to announce the FINAL, OFFICIAL details:

Type: Null will both remain on the starter list as a “Provide Justification” option (which we plan to judge very strictly), and be available to already-present characters as a bootleg Silph Co. creation, with the following stipulations:

Characters MUST willfully fill out an IC application, in person, at Silph Co. headquarters in Saffron City in order to be approved as a Type: Null “beta tester”. There will be no way to ‘accidentally’ stumble into obtaining a Type: Null, or for one character to forge the application in another’s name. Put simply, the only characters who can obtain a Type: Null are ones who are actively motivated to go and do it.

In order for their application to be approved, characters MUST have no fewer than six (6) Indigo League gym badges, from either or both regions.

One character = one Null. No exceptions! Silph Co. will not allow any trainer to have more than one Null at once.

Characters who receive a Type: Null will be unable to gift or transfer their Null to another trainer for any reason. Type: Nulls left behind by dropped characters will be swiftly repossessed by Silph Co. and cannot be taken in or claimed by the dropped characters’ CR.

Type: Nulls are genderless. They cannot be bred and will not produce eggs. No, not even if you give it lots of playdates with your friend’s flirty Ditto.
As these Pokemon are effectively bootlegs based on stolen, incomplete research, they will be much weaker (think Larvitar or Dratini) than their canon counterparts. They can grow stronger with love and training just like any other Pokemon, but will never exceed what could be considered ‘normal’ strength for a Pokemon.
Type: Nulls received by incoming characters as starters will also be of the weaker Silph Co. variety.
Instead of using Memories to change types, each Type: Null (along with their evolution, Silvally) will be limited to a single type, the same way that a Pokemon’s “Hidden Power” attack-type is chosen. That is to say, pick a type for your Null and stick with it! Their “Multi-Attack” move will reflect this choice.
Silph Nulls may be noticeably ‘glitchy’ and exhibit odd behaviors or tics. The extent of which will be up to each player’s discretion (examples could range anywhere from having a tremor that flares up every once in awhile to being a total dysfunctional disaster Pokemon who bumps into walls and can’t seem to walk in a straight line), but as a general rule, they all seem to be a little… well, off.
While Type: Null’s unique function will likely come into play for a future event, there will not immediately be any information available to suggest its original rarity, power, or purpose. Silph Co doesn’t want people knowing that they stole the idea! This should prevent character confusion about its pseudo-legendary status in canon. As far as anyone in the game is concerned, Type: Null is Porygon’s weird, less-useful-for-cybercrime cousin.

We plan to implement this ICly sometime either in late April or early May. It will be accompanied by a big IC announcement when it happens, so characters will have plenty of notice!

Thanks again to everyone who responded to the previous announcement; we understand this continues to be a sensitive issue for some, and would like to both thank (and encourage going forward!) our playerbase at large for continuing to handle it maturely, being respectful to us and one another even when opinions differ, and keeping the game a friendly, welcoming place.

But in more immediate news...


-OMG YOU GUYS PROM’S COMING UP PUT IN YOUR APPS!!

As our players who’ve been around for a while might know, this is a very special time of year for the game!

That’s right.

IT’S PROM TIME.

“Pokemon Prom” has been a yearly party event since 2013, and is admittedly mostly an excuse to get everybody dressed up in glitzy formalwear and partying hard with all their friends. Venues have been everywhere from the Elite Four’s private vacation home to the freaking moon. Needless to say, this is a tradition we’ve enjoyed for years and certainly don’t plan to break now! And boy oh boy, have we got some exciting ideas!

Prom will be held this year starting on April 8th, and a detailed informational/plotting post will go up on April 1st along with April’s calendar-- and we do mean plotting, because this year’s Prom comes with a twist! We wanted to let all of you know well in advance, because there is one more app round before the event! So if anybody was wondering if they should get those apps in quickly, here’s your reason!




And that's it for now! As before, everyone please feel free to jump in with questions or concerns about the above announcements-- particularly if you have suggestions for Pokemon availability!

Comments

POKEMON AVAILABILITY SUGGESTIONS

[indigo_league]

Comment here with your availability ideas!

[sunnysidewalkstreet]

Firstly, thank you for all of this again...

And I may edit this as I look at the lists. But one Pokemon which has stood out for me for rarity? Horsea. It's only in two locations. I feel it should be more avaliable - perhaps in the same locations as Skrelp? Or in Cerulean as a reference to the anime?

With the new apricorn orchards - which are hella neat - perhaps Crabrawler should appear there?

Spinda should appear somewhere - as should Eevee. There are places with at least Glaceon, perhaps there should be a place where the pre-evolved state appears rarely? I think that being able to capture it instead of simply getting a bred one would be neat.

Cutiefly should also appear outside of the Bug-Catching contest - perhaps in Ilex Forest/Viridian Forest?

If Sevii has Alolan forms, perhaps Comfey should appear there?

That's all for now.

[dreamsofahero]

I haven't combed over the list in detail, but I do know from looking at it before that it's nearly impossible to get Clamperl and its evolutions, since it's only found in one high-level location. Sion only got one because it happened to be available at Tohjo Falls for one of the prom events, and I don't think I've seen anyone else ICly use one. So that I imagine could go more places where Shellder is also found!

Another thing is that there's... a lot of places to get psuedo-legendaries, ESPECIALLY the dragons. I get that places like the Dragon's Den and Victory Road and such obviously are gonna have dragons available, but if you count the number of places you can find Dratini it's, well, a lot, compared to some other theoretically more "common" pokemon. And some of those places it's not even marked as being especially rare. So those I think may need to be re-evaluated, maybe bumped up in rarity.

[torsion]

Personally, I'd love to see Dedenne hordes. It's only available in one place in Kanto (unless find is betraying me) and with how small they are, it could be interesting to have them in more places but more difficult to find. Swablu is also only available in two places (though I am appreciative that it's in both Kanto and Johto).

Otherwise, I'd love to see a randomized set of mid or final tier evolutions scattered about, maybe as EXTRA ULTRA RARES or something? It's an interesting aspect of the game, where you can miss the earlier evolutions and maybe have them missing any attacks they'd learn during pre-evolution or something to even it out? Something like that or maybe having some that are randomly moved around (maybe have it in a specific color code for mod ease?) every few months or disappear and are switched out.

+1 on the above, especially when it comes to Horsea and Spinda. I'm not sure how to feel on Eevee because while they're supposed to be rare, especially in the last few gens it's been easy to grab unlimited ones in the games and it's already pretty easy to get them via breeding here. I'm not sure if there's anything that can be done that would even that field while also emphasizing game/anime mechanics of it so it might just be easier to have it appear maybe in just one place in each region in droves?

I think the availability overall is more than gracious and set up in a way that it's easy to get what a player or a character might want, though I would maybe toss more "common" types around more?

[eclectictype]

Bounsweet not being on the Sevii Islands or at least in the Ilex Forest seems a little weird too? Like it's on the route near Mahogany which is pretty far off for most people. I get that the Alolan Pokemon would be introduced a bit more slowly since the games are still brand new but being able to find Rowlet in Ilex and not Bounsweet (or Comfey for that matter) is weird to me.



also this is a minor nitpick but Rowlet isn't spelled correctly in the availability post, not sure if it isn't in the starter page too

[11121_assumption]

Couple of things I've noticed from like, a brief glance;

Water and Fire starters are in very late locations/hard to reach areas which makes sense, but...grass starters are in Ilex and Viridan Forest, very early areas in Johto/Kanto. It strike sme as a bit odd.

It seems like there's less Pokemon in Kanto in general? Like, glancing at the lists for routes and cities and there's not many Pokemon there. Big dungeons have a massive list (Cinnabar and the Seaform Islands for example) but the routes themselves are somewhat bare.

There's no wild Pawniard? In either region? I don't recall them being extremely rare, especially when you do find dragons in both regions.

[darkened]

I mentioned this on the FAQ before, but could we please get more Alola species in Kanto? Like, in general. There is some clear favoritism towards Johto in terms of variety, and for someone whose character lives in Kanto, it's a bit disappointing.

For example, you can only get Alola starters in Johto. But in general, it seems the vast majority of species are Johto-exclusive, which leads to a very clear imbalance.

ink on the wrong account again boy howdy

[terribibble]

+1 to the Grass starters in Johto being oddly easy to obtain. Not that I'm against that or anything but they seem much, much easier to get to than the other starters which throws me off.

I also notice that there's no way to obtain Porygon in Kanto; it's only a Game Corner prize (does it cost the same as in the games? That would be nice information to have, re: all game corner Pokemon). Kanto definitely has less variety but that in particular stuck out to me, especially because there is a Game Corner in Celadon that isn't noted on the availability page so it would be easy to include it. (Though there are also some Pokemon that appear only in Kanto! Which I like).

There is also no way to get fossil Pokemon as far as I'm aware of except as event Pokemon or starters; I understand they're a special case since you need to actually revive a fossil but it might be nice to look into a way to make those available. Perhaps finding their fossils is a very very rare occurrence only in very specific areas and you do still have to take them to the region-specific fossil lab to be revived.

Other things I noticed: Bergmite is strangely rare and I'm not sure why? It's not particularly rare in the game and yet it and Cubchoo are both only available in Johto, rarely, on the Ice Path. Common Alola Pokemon are also oddly rare, like Grubbin only appearing in Ilex Forest, period. Same story with Mudbray -- just one route in Johto, and rarely. I get we don't want to inundate the game with everyone loading up their teams with the cool new generation Pokemon, but with so many to choose from already I honestly don't think that's too much of a concern. I'm not gonna go through and note down every single one this happens for but my guess is it's a fair number.

[schachmeister]

I'm going to second Ink's request about fossil pokemon. I can totally understand how they might not be available in the wild (cause they are dead) but if possible, I'd love to see a mechanic added whereby characters can obtain them ICly some way. I understand breeding exists, but some of the fossil types are really rare, even among the players pokemon, so it gets a bit troublesome.

Maybe add a place where fossils can be found or won, plus a place to revive them in? If the mods want to prevent the flood of totally cool fossil pokemon hitting the game, it might even work to build in some limitations to the revival service, such as a waiting period (how quickly can you extra DNA and fix it up and create a living pokemon from it, maybe it is something that takes up to two months?) or the ability to only revive one fossil at a time? Or both. I definitely don't feel it needs to be made super easy to obtain fossil pokemon, just... possible.


Also, very minor thing, but there are some routes where Wailmer/Wailord are available but there are no Wishiwashi. According to the pokedex, Wailords feed on Wishiwashi so please feed the Wailords. They hunger.

[armoredsoul]

Skitty could do with some spreading around--it's only on one route across both regions, which seems really weird considering most of the other cat-like Pokemon are pretty easily found. And I definitely agree that the starters should be made a bit more rare and scattered out better? They're ones I could see being reasonable as only found on one route anywhere.

[bertall]

Trapinch definitely needs more range, I think! So far on the availability lists, they can only be found in Kanto and ONLY in the Cerulean Cave that you need all the Kanto badges to get into, plus it looks like it's closed for the moment on top of that.

Even a cave seems a little "off" considering that Trapinch are supposed to be a desert-dwelling species that builds their pit-nests in the sand (the Safari Zone has one desert zone), but I could picture them being super rare near beaches and certain mountains where it can be dry and/or on the warmer side!

[notvaljean]

Here I am, wandering in over a year later with a Voltorb request.

Jean's inadvertent Voltorb breeding program (he calls it a program, but really it's just Blitz and Donner doing what Pokemon in love do) is up and running on Sevii Island number four! We talked about it before here, so can we please have more Voltorbs out there in the world?

(she requests, knowing full well Jean will "gift" any new person he talks to with a Voltorb, whether they want one or not)

OTHER QUESTIONS AND CONCERNS

[indigo_league]

Got any questions regarding the above announcements? Ask here!